Triangle Real Estate Blog

Save Gas….Ride the Loop, Bus Loop that is!

Submitted By: Lisabeth Tunell Wake Forest bus loop started last month and has been a huge success. It is a weekday circulator bus that will make a clockwise one hour loop through inner Wake Forest and part of Wakefield Plantation. Stops include schools, government offices, a hospital, shopping centers and supermarkets!!!! What a great way for all of us to save on gas. The first morning bus leaves Lowes Foods in Wake Forest Crossing off Capital Boulevard at 5:35 a.m. and the last bus leaves at 7:00 p.m. Other stops include White Street at Elm Avenue (with a connection to the express bus to Raleigh, read “Downtown Express for a bargain at $2.50”) and the Kroger supermarket at Wakefield Commons on Forest Pines Drive. This is an awesome convenience for not only seniors but for young adults in the Wakefield community who do not drive yet and have always relied on their parents to drive them around. Now all can get to the library, post office and the movie ..(read more)

Downtown Express for a bargain at $2.50!

Posted By: Lisabeth Tunell In addition to the Wake Forest Loop starting up, the city has also implemented “Wake Forest Express”. This express will not only take workers downtown but also many, many others to the Triangle Town Center for only $2.00. The bus will leave from a new park-and-ride lot in downtown Wake Forest at White Street and Elm Avenue, once each hour on weekday mornings starting at 5:55 a.m.. The first bus stops at Triangle Town Center at 6:20 a.m. (with connections there to Capital Area Transit buses) and arrives at Moore Square in Raleigh at 6:50 a.m. There are three early morning and three late afternoon runs to Moore Square. Between 8:55 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., the bus from Wake Forest goes only to Triangle Town Center for those who work in retail and for all those shoppers, young, and old and in between. So let’s all do our part in saving our money, gas, the environment and help the city out by using ..(read more)

Triangle Area saving gas, riding Triangle Transit!

Posted By: Lisabeth Tunell Triangle Transit ridership hits record… Triangle Transit announced Monday that bus ridership in June 2008 hit an all time high, an increase of 30% over June 2007. The escalating price of gasoline is partly responsible for the increase in riders, along with additional routes such as the Wake Forest Loop and Express. June marks the third consecutive month of increased ridership this year. April was at a 20.5% increase over last April, and May saw a 14.5% increase over the previous May. This is when you know that the price of gas is hitting close to home….our pocketbooks. Also it is great to know that in a time of need the city responded with adding and revamping its transit system…just in time I might add.

Huge Tax Benefits for First Time Buyers of Raleigh Real Estate

posted by Tim Burrell - The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 was just signed by President Bush with some amazing benefits for first time homebuyers. When is the last time someone gave you a $7,500 loan, that has no interest, no payments for two years, and if you do not make enough profit when you sell, you do not have to pay back the loan? That is what first time homebuyers get. Call everyone you know who wants to buy their first home, this is too good to miss. If you have not owned a home in three years, you are a first time home buyer. If you buy a home after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009, you qualify for a credit. Call your friends who just bought a home and tell them they may take $7,500 off their tax bill if they qualify. It has to be your principal residence, so rentals do not count. The tax credit is 10% of the cost of the home, up to a maximum of $7,500. So, if the home costs $65,000, your tax credit ..(read more)

The New Housing Bill and Raleigh Real Estate

Posted by Tim Burrell - President Bush just signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The first thing I noticed is that some first time homebuyers may need to hurry. If you are a buyer that does not have 3.5% downpayment and you want to buy some Raleigh real estate, you have to buy before October 1, 2008. The program where sellers can arrange for downpayment assistance ends on that date. If you are a first time home buyer, you can get an amazing benefit of a tax credit of 10% of the purchase price of the home you bought, up to a maximum of $7,500. This is not just a deduction to reduce the amount of income you have. It is a tax credit, i.e. it is directly lowers your taxes. For example, if you buy a home that is worth $100,000, you get the maximum tax credit of $7,500. If you were going to pay $17,500 in income taxes, you reduce the amount of tax you pay to $10,000. So, you can buy a home ..(read more)

Pick the Best Airline Seat

Posted by Judy Burrell. Have you ever boarded a plane and found out your seat, unfortunately, does not recline and you are flying all the way across the country? Or, that your assigned seat is right in front of the restroom and you have to endure people standing over you while they wait in line to use the "facilities"? Your flights will be much more enjoyable with the help of www.seatguru.com. When you go to seatguru.com you will be able to first pick your airline and then pick the model of your particular aircraft. When you have found your aircraft, such as the MD80 or 757, you will then be shown a diagram of the inside of the plane with lots of useful information. Some seats are marked in red (try to avoid them at all costs!), They are the worst seats on the plane. Some seats are marked yellow and have some cautionary words of wisdom for you, such as the seat does not recline, or the seat width is narrower because of a tray in the ..(read more)

Our Contest: Raleigh Real Estate is Strong But the Media is Strange. Why?

Posted by Tim Burrell - It is true that housing has problems, banking has problems and there are more foreclosures. But, did you know that most of the prices of homes in the United States are going up? Did you know that these prices have been going up consistently since February? Do you think that information would help prevent a recession? Here are the facts. According to National Association of Realtor statistics, the median home price has fallen from a high of $230,200 in July 2006 to a low in February 2008 at $195,600, a drop of 15%. That is the bad news, and that is what you hear in the media. Since February, however, the median home price has risen steadily every month. By May the index had risen to $208,600, up $13,000 and a full 6.6%. It will be interesting to see what the next index shows when it comes out the end of July. Another indicator, the mean home price (most of us would call it the average home price), ..(read more)

Want to plant some trees? Are you sure?

Submitted by: Bob Rodwell When I bought my Raleigh home on 4/10 of an acre it had one tree, and it was shorter than the house. I knew that needed to change. I read that I should plant shade trees to the South and West, and evergreens to shield the home from cool breezes on the North. Sounded simple to me. And that’s where things started to go wrong, horribly wrong. I’ve been in that home a long time now, and if I had it to do all over again – I’d buy a townhouse.
Are you thinking about planting some trees on your lot? If so, maybe you can learn from my mistakes. I’ll hit just the big ones here. Bradford Pears – beautiful trees, all year long – in your neighbor’s yard. I like symmetry. So it made sense to me to plant one near both of the west-facing corners of my house. They were small sticks to begin with, so 15 feet away looked right. Wrong. The flowers ..(read more)

Why does the size of a home differ between tax records and MLS?

Submitted by: Bob Rodwell I hear that question a lot. Since home prices are often shown as a price per square foot, and property taxes seem to be based significantly on the home size, both sources should be accurate – so why do they disagree, and sometimes by a lot? There are several reasons. In Wake County (see www.wakegov.com/tax/default.htm), tax records use measures in whole feet, so they show rounded rather than precise figures. Picture a two-story simple box-style house, for which the tax records show a “footprint” of 40 feet long by 30 feet deep, or 2400 square feet. If the true measure of the home is 40 feet long by 30 feet 3 inches deep, that’s really 2420 square feet. So tax record measures will rarely match an appraiser’s or real estate agent’s measure, even if both are right, as in this example. But that’s a relatively small difference, and does not explain some of the much ..(read more)

Jesse Helms Funeral in Raleigh

Senator Jesse Helms died July 4th 2008 here in Raleigh. His funeral was held in Raleigh at Hayes Barton Baptist Church in Five Points. Helms served the Senate for 30 years from 1973 to 2003 when he decided not to run for reelection. Prior to running for office, Helms was a student a Wake Forest University in 1941, but did not finish college. He was in the Navy during World War II. Helms entered the political arena in 1957 when he joined the Raleigh City Counsel and then went on to share his views as an editorialist for WRAL and through his column carried in nearly 200 newspapers and then on to Washington DC. Regardless of how you feel about Jesse Helms, we all have to acknowledge he was a leading force in many political changes in North Carolina and throughout the nation. Helms had many views that seemed "old fashion" to many, yet right on target to others, but the fact is almost all of us know his name and his views. Helms and his ..(read more)

For Whom The Road Tolls

For years, Raleigh residents have enjoyed the convenience of its I-440 beltline and I-540 partial beltline, all traveled freely without tolls. But soon North Carolina will join the league of states who effectively tax drivers for the convenience of highway expediency. Say goodbye to the I-540 beltline and hello to the Triangle Expressway. The Triangle Expressway is composed of three sections — the Triangle Parkway, the Northern Wake Expressway, and the Western Wake Freeway. Of these, the Northern Wake Expressway was recently opened as an extension of I-540. Ultimately it will function to join the other two segments as a contiguous toll road of 18.8 miles managed by the NC Turnpike Authority. The toll is projected to be about 12 cents per mile, but only for vehicles equipped with an infrared transponder costing between $8 to $20 that will allow a computer to deduct fees from a prepaid account. Drivers not having a transponder will not have to slow for a toll booth, however, as ..(read more)

Driving Permit For All

A new law goes into effect in July where a driver’s license is no longer issued on site at a DMV office. Instead, a driver who passes all DMV tests will be issued a temporary driving permit good for 20 days, though can keep his old license for use as a photo ID. The extra wait time allows for more sophisticated background checks in an effort to thwart identity theft and fraud. Most drivers should receive their new driver’s license by mail within five days. Anthony Williams

The Patton Collection

A gift of more than 100 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs by some of the 20th century's most important artists is headed to the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh. Scheduled to open in April 2010, a new gallery building will house much of the Patton collection of seminal artists including Milton Avery, Richard Diebenkorn, Jackie Ferrara, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Motherwell, Sean Scully, Frank Stella and Donald Sultan. The gift is being made by Jim and Mary Patton. Both having grown up in Durham, they traveled widely and began collecting art in the 1960s. Their love of art brought them together with Charles Millard III who became curator of the UNC Ackland Art Museum in 1986. Though Millard has since retired, the Patton’s long ties to UNC and the Ackland played a part in their decision to make the endowment; and the new NCMA gallery fits their timeline well. Anthony Williams

A Fungus Among Us

Franklin Garland has a brand new bag, of truffles that is. In 1978, he came across an article in the Wall Street Journal about truffle growers in France, and soon decided to venture to Europe to learn more about the clumps of fungus that are prized among gourmet chefs. A year later, Garland became one of the first people in the United States to try growing tuffles when he planted 750 innoculated trees on his farm in Hillsborough. A mere twelve years later, he harvested his first truffles. Truffles are an epicurean’s delight, having a nutty, earthy aroma much like a mushroom. They have a dense, almost crunchy texture. Their flavor is delicate yet pervasive — less than one half ounce can flavor a pound of butter. Known scientifically as tuber melanosporum, truffles grow on the roots of trees such as oaks, hazlenut, and filberts. They were traditionally collected in Southern Europe using pigs to sniff them out, but since the 19th century they have been successfully domesticated. ..(read more)

Number 2 Nationally

There’s no doubt that real estate prices have risen in the Triangle in recent years, in no small part due to the national attention it receives. It seems that each year ushers in more accolades, and 2008 is no exception — check out the June issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine and you’ll see that it rates Raleigh as the second best city to live, work and play in the United States. But don’t run and tell everyone just yet, because this area remains a deal as the cost-of-living index is but 99 (100 being the national average). Long regarded as a hotbed for high technology fueled primarily by the research centers of the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University and Duke University, many companies have relocated to the area; bringing with them a great influx of people in creative fields such as scientists, engineers, architects, educators, writers, artists and entertainers. This healthy mix of professionals acts as a catalyst to the vitality and livability ..(read more)