New Bern Home Sales

The week in review

How were sales this past week?

 Slightly better than this time last year but a little slow overall. During this time of the year buyers are on vacation and it is normal for sales to be off. From Monday to Friday 6/24-6/28 there were 32 homes that closed in Craven, Pamlico, and Jones County. This market has not yet experienced the surge in home sales that are being reported by the national media. Below is a list of sales by price range.
$25,900-$100,000=6 sales
$103,500-$150,000=10 sales
$150,500-$200,000=7 sales
$200,500-$250,000=6 sales
$250,500-$300,000=1 sale
$309,900-1 sale
$385,000-1 sale

Have a great 4th and we will continue to work hard to get your home sold.

Home Sales in the New Bern Market

Home Sales Year to Date in the New Bern Area

Well the year is almost 1/2 over, so how are sales? Well, lets take a look.

Currently there are 1536 residential homes for sale in our MLS. There were 1367 homes sold in the past year so this data would suggest it is still a strong buyers market in New Bern. However, it seems to me that the Real Estate market is firming up and that home prices seem to have bottomed out. I think the worst is behind us.

I work with a lot of clients from other states and many of them are telling me the market is recovering in their area and that it is not unusual to see multiple offers on homes for sale. I hear this mainly from clients coming from larger metropolitan areas such as Raleigh and the DC areas.  The ability of these areas to create high paying jobs and along with jobs, home buyers, far exceeds our ability in rural Eastern NC. With that said, many of the larger metropolitan areas are seeing home prices rising.

To date, there have been 651 home sales in Craven, Jones and Pamlico County. This compares to 584 in 2012, 586 in 2011, 599 in 2010, and 521 in 2009. Looks like we are heading in the right direction for the most part, however, we need to factor in Bank Owned sales.

 Bank Owned sales from January 1-June 23.
2009=38
2010=69
2011=127
2012=108
2013=155

I read in USA today that banks were unloading more homes that were in default because they they believe they can get more for their money now than perhaps they could have 6 months ago and therefore were not so quick to start the foreclosure proceedings on delinquent loans. What ever the reason, these Bank Owned properties are competing with other homes and help keep prices from rising. Until they cycle through the system and we get back to normal number of foreclosures it will be tough for home prices to rise.

To sell your property you need a Top Agent that can give you the competitive advantage. This is not a market to pick your best friends cousin to represent you.

Fantastic buy in New Bern

Help Wanted!!!!! We have a 4 bedroom home listed for $165,000 in Brices Crossing and I need your help selling it. Fantastic home and a great buy. Creekside Elementary School. 15 minutes from Cherry Point and 12 minutes from downtown New Bern.

Buying Property with a Road Easement? Investigate Before Purchasing!

The real estate market is finally starting to pick-up in Central California. In Fresno County, realtors are complaining of a shortage of housing inventory. There are more buyers than properties to purchase. Are you one of those buyers? When purchasing property, do not forget to investigate road easements thoroughly. 

Easements are a frequent source of neighbor disputes. An easement gives one landowner rights in property owned by another. Most properties have easements that burden the property, such as the rights cable and public utilities to come onto the property and service power poles and lines. But the type of easement I want to speak about today is the right to travel across a property to get another property. For families living in urban areas, this is a rare problem—these folks have public roads that take them to their house. But if the property is in the foothills or on agricultural properties, a road easement from a public road might be the only way to access real property. In my experience, disputes often arise because a property owner misunderstands the easement rights. Sources of confusion come from the following: How wide is the easement road? What kind of vehicles can travel on the easement? Can the easement road be improved from dirt to gravel? How many neighbors have a right to travel across the road? The list of disputes is quite large. These are some good questions to think about when considering purchasing a property accessed by a private easement.

Here are some suggestions to begin reviewing a private easement while in contract to purchase property. Obtain a preliminary title report right away on the property. The report is prepared by the title company. The escrow company hires an investigator to review county records to find recorded easements. The report will provide a brief description. It would not hurt to ask the title company for a copy of the actual easement so that you can review it. If you do not understand the rights provided, talk to a professional. Let me give you an example of an issue that might occur: You look at a property and discover an easement road. The easement road looks to be about 15 feet wide. However, the granted easement provides an easement road 60 feet wide. In addition, review closely the seller disclosures of the property. Sellers of residential property need to complete a disclosure of known issues to the property. An easement would be one of them. Moreover, investigate the physical property. Look for worn trails which might indicate a prescriptive or implied easement. By properly investigating an easement road prior to purchase, you might be able to avoid a surprise and future neighbor dispute.

Ken Jorgensen, California Attorney

www.fresnolawgroup.com

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minniemouseaunt/

Interesting Article on Foreclosures

I have noticed an increase in foreclosures in the local paper lately and was wondering what was going on. According to an article in USA Today, foreclosures in North Carolina jumped 60% from April to May. Nationally, during the same time foreclosures were up 11%. According to the article banks were pulling the trigger quicker on the foreclosure process due to, get this, their perception of a shortage of homes on the market and a rise in home prices. I believe this is true in the larger metropolitan areas but not in the smaller cities.

In May, foreclosure starts were up 4% from April but down 33% from a year earlier. Nationwide, home prices were up 12% in April, year over year. This data comes from RealtyTrac, a source that I believe is usually accurate. 

On the local level, home prices seem to be firming up, but not rising. Interest rates are moving up on both 30 year and 15 year mortgages.  A 30 year mortgage on a $300,000 loan that you could have got a few weeks ago would cost you $1347 a month.  At today's rates the same loan amount would run around $1450, a hundred dollar a month increase.

The moral of this story is to buy now to take advantage of the still historically low rates. You can search the entire New Bern MLS at www.TysonGroup.Info 

Links to Fight Real Estate Fraud in Fresno, Madera, Tulare & Kings County

This week, I wanted to post the links to several district attorney's offices that help fight real estate fraud. These specific units investigates real estate fraud related cases occurring in Fresno, Kings and Tulare County. I could not find a specific link of a real estate fraud unit in Madera County. However, I am confident that by contacting their office directly, you will be able to get into touch with someone that can help. District attorneys do not prosecute every instance of fraud. They just do not have the time or resources. Our district attorneys concentrate their efforts on several types of fraud:

1. Fraud in the transfer of title of real property: these are cases where the perpetrator pretends to be the owner of the property. Most cases involve the perpetrator taking a loan on the property or selling the property without the real owner's consent.
   
2. Refinancing scams: Here a bad lender promises low monthly payments, but has the borrower sign loan documents that are much higher than promised. The homeowner is tricked into signing a stack of loan documents without a chance to review the paperwork.
   

fake buyer: this scam is a hybrid of identity theft. In these types of cases, the victim never knows he bought real property until his/her credit score drops from delinquent payment history and/or foreclosure.  
   
If you believe that you are victim of real estate fraud, here are the links to the Central Valley's district attorney's offices:

Kings County: http://www.countyofkings.com/da/RealEstateFraudUnit.html

Fresno County: http://www.co.fresno.ca.us/DepartmentPage.aspx?id=5390

Tulare County: http://www.da-tulareco.org/fraud2.htm

Madera County: http://www.madera-county.com/index.php/department-overview

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neighborworksamerica/

Ken Jorgensen, California Attorney
www.fresnolawgroup.com

New Bern Home Sales by the month

Home Sales this 2013 through 5-31-13

January           2013=84                2012=58         2011=84

February        2013=103              2012=85         2011=83

March           2013=112              2012=110        2011=109

April             2013=129              2012=108         2011=119

May             2013=147              2012=116         2011=116

Looks like 2013 is up every month so far. However, the amount of Bank Owned sold so far this year is up by 55 units compared to last year over the same period. While it looks to me that in general home prices are not decreasing, in my opinion Bank Owned sales will need to start decreasing before we start to see home prices rise in our area.

               

Lis Pendens: An Anchor Preventing a Sales Transaction

I wanted to discuss an important tool that I use frequently in my real estate practice. Lawsuits can take a long time to obtain a judgment. In Fresno County, it is not uncommon for a lawsuit to take almost two years. In Kings, Madera and Tulare County, lawsuits usually take more than a year to reach trial. If the lawsuit involves real property, recording a Lis Pendens is a great tool  that can prevent a property from being sold to a bona fide purchaser before a judge or jury can decide the case.

A Lis Pendens to real property is like anchor is to a boat in water.  An anchor prevents a boat from drifting in water.  A Lis Pendens prevents property from being sold.  It is a lien on property. It provides notice to the world that a lawsuit is filed against a piece of real property. Lis Pendens are recorded with the County Recorders' Office.  Fresno's county recorders office is located downtown.   The notice will be found by title companies serving as escrow.  A Lis Pendens is also called "Notice of Pendency of Action." 

A Lis Pendens is a very potent weapon. A Lender will likely not issue a loan when it learns the property is involved in a lawsuit.   Potential buyers know that if they buy property with a Lis Pendens, they are buying the property subject to that Lis Pendens. Thus, buyers shy away from property with an active Lis Pendens. 

Thus, it is very important that if you are involved in a legal dispute over real property, consider recording a Lis Pendens.  Likewise, if you are a buyer, you will want to have the Lis Pendens expunged from the property before purchasing.  

Ken Jorgensen, California Attorney

www.fresnolawgroup.com

Photo by:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewdean/  

New Bern Waterfront homes for sale.

Waterfront sales up 32% year to date over last year.

Waterfront sales are up 83% over the same period in 2011, thru 6-2,  and 32% over last year, same period. That is great news for folks that have been trying to sell for some time. Many of the metropolitan areas around the country are seeing major improvement in their markets, smaller towns with less diversified economies do not seem to be doing as well.

I have been getting more calls this year for waterfront property than I have in some time about 6 years and this makes me very happy. I am starting to see prices firm up, the bottom may have finally arrived.

So, if you are considering buying a waterfront property I encourage you not to wait to long. Give me a call today at 252 514 9157.