In the last 7 days 24 homes sold and closed in the Eastern Region MLS. With 1525 homes currently listed this would equate to over a years absorption rate. The highest priced sold was $287,000 and the lowest sold was $65,000.

After studying the homes that sold detail was quite obvious. Those homes that were priced for the reality of today's buyer market sold in a reasonable amount of time.

New Bern NC Home Sales

The last 5 days, M-F we had 18 homes close in our MLS system. There are currently 1543 homes for sale. This is over a years worth of inventory so your home to sell quickly you had better be offering something special to buyers.

Although it is a buyers market, certain price ranges are still selling and certain areas are still selling. In general, homes closer to Havelock below $200,000 are selling the best.

Thinking of selling? Call us for a free home audit that will include a CMS and suggestions to make your home more appealing.

New Bern Home Sales

The weekend of 10/17 through 10-18 was not very fruitful for sellers in the New Bern area. No sales were recorded during this time. However Monday and Tuesday made up a little lost ground. 8 homes closed and 19 properties pended.
 

New Bern NC Homes Sales

In the last 7 days New Bern had 26 homes close. This equates to a little over a years inventory of homes on the market. To take a look at what sold in the last 7 days click the link below.

http://easternncmls.com/new/maildoc/a001zF2142.html

Have a great weekend and check out some of the great theatre productions going on in New Bern.

Steve Tyson
http://www.newbern-nc.info/

New Bern NC Home Sales

The Multiple Listing Service had quite a bit of activity today. 12 homes closed including a $500,000 home in Taberna. The higher priced stuff has been really slow so it is a welcome sight to see that happen.

On another positive note a lot in Pamlico County closed for $272,000. That is the highest priced lot I have seen close in quite sometime.

There were also 12 homes that went under contract today. That is pretty good however 13 homes went on the market so there was a net increase in inventory of 3 homes.

New Bern NC Homes for Sale

The following link  http://www.newbern-nc.info/Chartmaster-3-09.pdf  will give you the best in depth information about the New Bern NC Real Estate market that I believe you can find. It may take a minute to load as it is a rather large file.

This data, along with an informed Real estate Broker, will give you much of the information you will need to price your home to sale. Study it carefully, and you will get a good idea where the market is heading.

SteveTyson  http://www.newbern-nc.info/

New Bern NC Homes for sale

The Mumfest, held in downtown New Bern, was a smashing success. I have been attending this event for years and believe this was one of the largest crowds we have ever had. I dare say that New Bern has as much going on in October as any small city in the country. Every weekend is filled with fun things to do.

Well, this past week we saw the existing inventory of homes for sale shrink a little. While this is good news I am not sure why this is the case but suspect it is because expired listings are not being renewed.

There were 91 closed homes in the last 30 days with the average sales price of $173500.00. The average days on the market for closed sales was 150 days. Pricing in today's market is critical. If you have to sale listen to your Real Estate Broker. They don't make the stastics up. If you cannot afford to sale for the price they recommend do not put your house up for sale.

Steve Tyson
http://www.newbern-nc.info/

New bern NC Homes for sale.

There are plenty of nice homes for sale in the New Bern area. The link below shows all single family homes for sale in New Bern and all of Craven County. Homes are listed by price range.

This link will only stay active for around one week so after that you would have to contact me if you want to see the data.

Click the link below to view homes for sale. If you want more information on any of these homes sent me an email or visitmy web site.

http://www.easternncmls.com/new/maildoc/b000xp2543.html

Realtor Steve Tyson
www.newbern-nc.info

How to Repair a Split in a Wood Door Panel

A common problem with older wood doors is split panels. Wooden panels were typically fitted into grooves plowed in the door rails and stiles and left to float so they could expand and contract without binding and splitting (for a primer on making wooden panels, see my last post). However, varnish, wax and dirt can build up over the years and stick the panel in place so it isn’t able to expand and contract. Since the wood can’t move, stress builds up and the panel eventually cracks and splits. This common problem usually isn’t a difficult repair and can be done by any homeowner with a few fix-it skills. Below is a step by step outline of the repair process.

This white pine exterior door was built in a Minnesota millwork shop around 1863 and hung in the rear entrance of the LeDuc House in Hastings, MN (for pictures and a description of the LeDuc, see my post below). The exterior side of the door is very weathered and one panel has failed, leaving a large split which lets water and drafts into the building.

The interior side of the door is in good shape, although it appears the LeDuc family owned a large dog which badly marred the lock rail.

The first step is to remove the bolection moulding around the panel. The safest way to accomplish this is to use wooden shims. I use a razor blade to score the varnish and gunk between the moulding, door and the panel and then slowly push wood shims under the length of the moulding. Work slowly and carefully since the thin strips of moulding are fragile and can easily break. The card stock under the shims keeps them from abrading the old varnish.


Continue to slide more shims under the first ones until the moulding begins to lift. Once it is lose, carefully use a small pry bar to pry the moulding up. Be sure to place the end of bar near nails as that will put less stress on the molding. You can also slide shims under the back edge of the moulding. The trick is to keep even pressure along the length of the piece. Be sure to number the pieces as you remove them so you can return them to their original position.


Once all the moulding on both sides has been removed, gently clean the edges of the panel using mineral spirits or naptha and a soft cotton rag. Use 0000 steel wool if the dirt and grime are especially thick. Once you are done, carefully scrape away any remaining gunk and allow the panel to dry completely.



The next step is to open the split as carefully as possible. This is necessary because glue will not adhere to dirty, oily or decayed surfaces. Exposed wood oxidizes and erodes over time leaving a poor surface for gluing. Years of dirt, grime and gunk also make good glue-ups difficult. Once you have opened up the split you can use strips of cloth with solvent, dental instruments, small knives and 220 git sandpaper to clean the surfaces. BE VERY CAREFUL AND DO NOT REMOVE TOO MUCH WOOD!! If you are sloppy and sand or cut away good wood along with the dirt and grime you will not be able to close the joint completely and get good glue adhesion.


A close-up of the cleaned split which is ready for gluing and clamping.


One difficulty in gluing up a door panel is clamping it. To do this you need to glue wooden blocks on both sides of the panel along the split. Be sure to place the block on areas that will be covered by the pieces of moulding once they are replaced. I use a hot glue gun to do this because the hot glue really binds the blocks to the panel so you can clamp firmly. Once you are done the blocks can be removed easily and cleanly with a chisel because hot glue has very poor shear strength.


I used a syringe to inject glue into the crack and a bit of a shim to spread a good amount of glue on both surfaces of the split panel. I clamped the panel tightly and cleaned up any squeeze-out with a damp cotton cloth.

Once the glue set up I removed the clamps, blocks and replaced the pieces of molding using new cut nails. Be sure that the panel is floating in its grooves so that it able to move and will resist splitting in the future. Since this door was so badly weathered the split did not close up as tightly as I would hope despite clamping it quite tightly. To make the split less obvious I used colored wax matched to the stain to hide the crack.

Although you can still see the split, it is now less obvious, closed and weather tight. The key to maintaining exterior wooden doors is regular maintenance. Be sure to repair splits, refinish regularly and care for your doors as problems arise. If neglected, problems will worsen making repairs more difficult and less successful.

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New Bern NC Home Sales

The Eastern NC Multiple Listing Service includes all of Craven County, all of Pamlico County and a small part of Newport which is in Carteret County. Last week 25 homes closed in the entire MLS.

This equates to about a 14 month supply of homes for sale. A real estate market is considered to be stable with a 6 month supply. So unless you have a special home in a very desirable location and you have it priced to sell it is going to take some time to sell.

If you are trying to sell your home in today's market I strongly recommend picking an experienced Realtor and asking that they be upfront with you about price. A Realtor that buys your listing by telling you your home is worth more in today's market than it is, with hopes of convincing you to reduce the price later, is someone you do not want to market your property.

So, if you have to sell now, call the Tyson Group, pictured above, for an honest opinion on what your home will bring in today's market.