Charlotte homes see drop in negative equity

Charlotte homes see drop in negative equity

Courtesy of the Mecklenburg TIMES

By: Roberta Fuchs January 13, 2015

The number of the Charlotte area’s mortgaged homes with negative equity fell to 6.8 percent in the third quarter of 2014 from 8.4 percent in third quarter 2013, according to CoreLogic.

 

The third-quarter 2014 figure rose slightly, however, from the second quarter of 2014, when 6.7 percent, or 31,652, of the homes in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord metropolitan statistical area carried negative equity. In the third quarter, that figure was 32,244 homes.

 

Negative equity means that borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. The situation can occur because of a decline in real estate value, an increase in mortgage debt, or a combination of both.

 

The CoreLogic report found that an additional 3 percent of area homeowners with a mortgage in the third quarter had near-negative equity, or less than 5 percent equity in their homes. The number of Charlotte area homes in near-negative equity decreased from the previous year, when 4.1 percent of homeowners with a mortgage had less than 5 percent equity in their properties.

 

The number of mortgages that were near negative equity in the second quarter of 2014 was 2.9 percent.

 

John Chesser, senior analyst at UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, says he believes the year-over-year decline in negative and near-negative equity reflects the steady recovery in the overall housing market, and strong growth in the local employment rate, which has boosted Charlotte-area home sales.

 

“The rise in negative equity during the recession was a natural consequence of the rapid drop in home values,” Chesser said. “Now, lending is tighter, so new home purchases result in a more solid equity position for purchasers and the overall rise in prices is helping reduce the negative equity situation that existing owners have been in over the last few years.”

 

Nancy Braun, owner and broker-in-charge of Showcase Realty in Charlotte’s South End, agrees. She attributes the drop in negative equity to a strong appreciation in housing prices, which is a reflection of the local economy.

 

“Plus,” she said, “We still have investors purchasing in the Charlotte-area market, which has bumped up prices as well. Low inventory is also boosting higher offers.”

Continue reading at The Mecklenburg TIMES

Showcase Realty among ICIC and FORTUNE’s Inner City 100 winners

The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and FORTUNE announced that Showcase Realty, owned by Broker in Charge Nancy Braun, was selected for the 2014 Inner City 100, a list of the fastest-growing inner city businesses in the U.S.

Showcase Realty ranked 9th in the professional services industry category and 57th overall on the list of 100. The Inner City 100 program recognizes successful inner city businesses and their CEOs as role models for entrepreneurship, innovative business practices and job creation in America’s urban communities. Showcase Realty, an innovative boutique real estate firm in Charlotte’s Historic South End district located, reported 2013 revenues of $1.5 million and a gross growth rate of 219.5 percent from 2009-2013.

“We congratulate Nancy Braun on her accomplishments and impact in Charlotte while growing Showcase Realty,” said Mayor Dan Clodfelter. “Showcase has been recognized several times as a thriving business with a dynamic owner. Her success demonstrates the countless opportunities available to entrepreneurs in our city.”

“It’s an honor to represent Charlotte and the state of North Carolina with this prestigious award, says Braun, whose firm is among a very elite group of companies with the announcement of its ranking of 46th in HousingWire’s Fast50^TM. We definitely want to be an example of how a HUB Zone located company can succeed and hopefully inspire other entrepreneurs to start or relocate their businesses in transitioning neighborhoods.”

Braun started Showcase Realty, LLC, in 2008 after working with a large Charlotte real estate office for 12 years. She opened Showcase Realty with one full-time assistant and a part-time bookkeeper with the goal of designing a new model for buying and selling real estate. Braun’s innovative structure maximizes Internet marketing, computer technology, and training to create an ultimate service experience.

Today, Showcase Realty sells more than one home every 16 hours, for a total of 527 properties in 2013. This is nearly a 16% increase from 2012 when 455 homes were sold. Braun is on a mission to help people become home owners & neighborhood revitalization. What’s more impressive than the increase in volume is Showcase Realty’s increase in workforce. 12 months ago, Showcase Realty employed only 19 people, and today, it employs (employees and independent contractors combined) 42. This is a staggering 221% increase in workforce that shows no signs of stopping. Now with offices in Charlotte and Gastonia, Showcase Realty has expanded to more than 40 employees and independent contractors and hundreds of properties.

“Nancy Braun and Showcase Realty have done a remarkable job in the South End area proving that Charlotte and North Carolina are great for starting a business,” says North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory. We commend Nancy and her team for the local and national recognition they have earned.”

This year, for the first time in the ICIC list’s 16-year history, the Inner City 100 consists of 10 fast-growing businesses from 10 industry categories. The 10 industry categories are: Construction; Manufacturing; Professional Services; Food and Beverage; Retail; Media and Communications; Software and Information Technology; Transportation and Logistics; Healthcare and Biotechnology; and Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation. Applicants ranked according to revenue growth against their industry peers, as well as overall.

The full list of winners can be viewed at Fortune.com

The rankings for each company were announced at the Inner City 100 Awards on Thursday, October 16, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts. Preceding the Awards celebration, winners attended a two-day small business Symposium designed exclusively for urban firms featuring business management case studies presented by Harvard Business School professors and peer-to-peer learning sessions led by CEOs of fast-growing firms. Keynote speakers included Harvard Business School Professor and ICIC Founder and Chairman, Michael E. Porter; Honest Tea Founder and CEO, Seth Goldman; Rapid7 President and CEO, Corey Thomas; Communispace Chairman, Diane Hessan; and Launch Co-Founder and CEO, Ben Fischman.

The Inner City 100 list provides unmatched original data on the fastest-growing inner city businesses in the U.S. In the last 16 years, 805 unique companies have earned positions on the Inner City 100 list, representing 183 cities and 41 states. Chevron Corporation and Staples, Inc. are long-time sponsors of ICIC and the program.

The 2014 Inner City 100 winners represent a wide span of geography, hailing from 53 cities and 23 states. The winners grew at an average compound annual growth rate of 39 percent and an average gross growth rate of 336 percent between 2009 and 2013. Collectively, the top 100 inner city businesses employ 8,276 people and have created 5,119 new jobs between 2009 and 2013. Not only are the winners powerful job creators in their communities, they also help develop their employees – 73% provide business skills training and 69% provide professional development training to all full-time employees.

Highlights of the 2014 Inner City 100 include:

• Employ 8,276 workers (approximately 35% are inner city residents).
• Created 5,119 new jobs in the last five years.
• 25% have woman CEOs. Nationally, only 10% of companies with over $1 million in annual revenues are woman-owned.
• 35% have a minority CEO. Nationally, only 21% of all companies are headed by minorities.
• Average company age is 17 years.
• 39% average compound annual growth rate.
• Companies generated $42.2 million in 2013 revenues on average and $4.2 billion in the aggregate.

To qualify for the Inner City 100 list, companies are required to be an independent, for-profit corporation, partnership or proprietorship that is not a public company, bank, or a holding company; headquartered in an economically distressed urban area; have at least 10 full-time employees; and a five-year operating sales history that includes at least $200,000 in revenues in the first year of consideration, an increase in year five sales over year four sales, and fifth-year sales of at least $1 million. For the 2014 list, ICIC looked at total revenue growth from 2009 to 2013 and the specific rankings were based on these growth rates. ICIC defines an inner city as an economically distressed urban area that has a poverty rate of 20% or higher, excluding currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students; or a poverty rate of 1.5 times or more than that of the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and a median household income of 50% or less than that of the MSA an or an unemployment rate of 1.5 times or more than that of the MSA.

Showcase Realty has grown in many tangible aspects such as revenue, work force, and number of transactions. However it has grown in the community as well. Nancy Braun has always had a special place in her heart for kids. She is a mother of two and knew early on that her drive and passion for business needed to also be balanced with a significant presence in the community.

In 2010, Showcase partnered with REO4Kids and through Nancy’s intense collective effort REO4kids has raised more than $1,000,000 for the Boys and Girls Clubs and other children organizations. Braun is dedicated to children in the community and was inspired in 2011 to take on the active role as the Chairperson of the Resource Development/Executive committee and the Advisory Board for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Charlotte. Showcase Realty’s continued support of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Charlotte is exemplified by its role as the 2013 Corporate Title Sponsor of the Fun Fest at Blakeney Annual Golf Tournament which help raised funds for the nonprofit. Braun is more than a supporter of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Charlotte she is committed to its mission: “To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”

Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)

ICIC is a national nonprofit founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter. ICIC’s mission is to promote economic prosperity in America’s inner cities through private sector investment that leads to jobs, income and wealth creation for local residents. Through its research on inner city economies, ICIC provides businesses, governments and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information in the field about urban market opportunities. The organization supports urban businesses through the Inner City 100, Inner City Capital Connections and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programs. Learn more at www.icic.org or @icicorg.

Charlotte, The New Atlanta

Last week The Huffington Post released an article listing “America’s Top 5 Cities To Keep On Your Radar,” with Charlotte coming in at number 3 on the list of cities. Charlotte, dubbed the new Atlanta by the author states that Charlotte is quickly catching up to one of the largest major southern cities. The article portrays Charlotte in a great light saying, “With the addition of the new BB&T Ballpark, a buzzing nightlife scene geared toward professional singles AND the return of the original Hornets team name, Charlotte is lookin’ good.” We at Showcase would have loved to see something about our thriving real estate market and our Carolina Panthers but we will accept the number three spot on the list!

Kansas City came out on top of the list recognizing their jazz, barbecue, and their affordable prices around the city. The south was also represented with Richmond in the second spot and San Diego and Minneapolis rounding out the rest of the list.

 

Charlotte’s Top Selling Areas

Last week the Charlotte Business Journal listed its two top selling residential neighborhoods for the year of 2013 ranked by number of single family home closings. The lists comprised of new home sales and over all sales included Sun City Lakes in Indian Land and the Lawson neighborhood in Waxhaw.

Sun City Lakes was in first position on both lists with 392 closings, with the average list price of about $315,000. This active adult community boasts over 135 social clubs, indoor and outdoor pools, a community garden and dog park, and various courts for games.

The second neighborhood on the list was Lennar Corporation’s Lawson neighborhood in Waxhaw. This community closed 186 homes with 168 of them being brand new homes. This up and coming

neighborhood boasted an average sale price of $298,000. Showcase has a property listed in the hot Waxhaw area located on a golf course in Eagle Bend. This luxurious house has many amenities aside from backing up to the golf course. The Mediterranean style villa has a professional grade kitchen and features an outdoor living space fit to host any gathering.

Investing in HUD Homes

HUD homes have become a very hot commodity in today’s housing market because of the opportunity for investment. The Department of Housing and Urban Development acquire these homes as a result of an FHA-insured mortgage being foreclosed. HUD then becomes the property owner and offers the sale of these homes to recover the loss on the foreclosure claim.

Millenials are beginning to take the most advantage of these programs as they enter the housing market because of the great deals and assistance they can receive with this program. Two such programs are the $100 dollar down program and the Good Neighbor program. For some qualified individuals you can put a down payment of $100 dollars on a house and work out the financing from there, which gives a great opportunity to people that do not have much cash on hand. The other program that is beneficial is the Good Neighbor progam, this program helps teachers, fire fighters, police, and emt individuals buy their home at 50 percent of the HUD value

.

HUD homes are discussed in our July 17 podcast of Nancy Brauns News Talk 1110 WBT show “How’s the Market: Real Estate. Real Answers.” In this episode Nancy and Wes Pruitt speak with a new millennial home buyer, Heather Hamilton, about her experience in buying her first home. Wes speaks about the down payment assistance program that many first time home buyers are starting to take advantage of. This investment opportunity is not only for first time buyers though many homeowners are using these HUD houses to generate more income as rental properties.

For more information you can visit the HUD website at Hudhomestore.com you can see a full inventory of local homes and others across the country. In fact when on this website if houses are listed for over 60 days they become discounted. To view available listings you can visit the website above or call our office at 704-997-3794.

How’s the Market: Real Estate. Real Answers. Now on News Talk 1110 WBT

Nancy Braun, Owner and Broker in Charge of Showcase Realty, knows that the ups and downs of the Charlotte real estate market can be confusing to home buyers and sellers. That’s why she decided to put her years of experience to good use with her weekly radio
show, How’s the Market: Real Estate Real Answers.

 

Airing on News Talk 1110 WBT every Saturday at 5 p.m., How’s the Market proves weekly why Showcase Realty is one of the fastest growing companies in the Queen City. Since its debut a few months ago, listeners have gained invaluable advice on topics such as renting vs. buying, purchasing a HUD property, and low cost improvements to make before selling a home.

With its hyper-local focus and honest conversation with area experts, How’s the Market is quickly becoming the show of choice for those with questions about the Charlotte home market. It’s expert panel is comprised of Laurie Baker from Baker Law, Wes Pruitt with Reliance First Capital and Jim Potter from Old Towne Development. Braun’s extensive knowledge, coupled with her easily accessible conversational style, gives listeners the information they need to make informed decisions and gain insider secrets that buyers and sellers cannot gain anywhere else.

For those who would like to catch up on previous shows, podcasts of How’s the Market are available on iTunes and the website www.CharlotteMarketRadio.com, with new episodes available each Tuesday.