Community Documents Attached- Subject to Developers Changes and Attorney’s Whims

http://townofcarrboro.com/PZI/PDFs/Winmore%20Design%20Code.pdf

Winmore Master plan ( 6 MB so give it about 50 seconds to load, it’s worth the view)

 http://www.winmoreneighborhood.com/Documents/MasterPlan.pdf

Winmore is a new mixed-use development in Carrboro off of Homestead Road . It’s just a hop skip and a jump to I-40 and less than 5 miles to downtown Chapel Hill’s boutiques and restaurants. The land is spectacular and not surprisingly was bird dogged by Scott Kovens, developer and one of several builders in the neighborhood. We real estate agents are in awe of the way Scott finds land, holds it until the market is ready and carefully plans a community around the natural terrain, not through it.

Winmore is expected to have approximately 96 single family homes, 86 town homes and an unspecified number of funky condos above retail stores. In other words, beautiful and functional without the Pleasantville feel. It’s hard to say where prices will fall and I don’t have preliminary condo information yet but homes should start in the 400’s and hit low 1 million mark. That’s my guess, not their stats.

This is a place where you may work and play where you live leaving your car in the garage for days on end. That alone makes me “green” with envy but for those of us who must drive we appreciate the strict green building requirements and energy efficient systems. The kids will love being so close to the elementary, middle and high schools that they can walk to and fro. The town now offers sidewalks from the neighborhood although not all the way to elementary school yet. Have I mentioned the new neighborhood pool being built, bring out the bikes, roller blades and wagons it’ll be hot again before you know it.

Photo By Fotosearch.com

Just in the nick of time for the holidays, closings are appearing like presents under the tree. New kitchens with granite counters, gorgeous master spas, media rooms for “football season” and large center islands for festive entertaining are just a few of the standard features. My clients have the green light to move in now and will begin the joy of unpacking ornaments and lights just in time to start re-packing them for next year. Oh well, I guess it’s a small trade off for an incredible, luxurious house in a brand new neighborhood. They’ll be thinking of you this summer when they take a dip in the Winmore pool and you’re cussing out your own boxes.

10 Questions to Ask a Home Inspector

1. What are your qualifications? Are you a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors or National Association of Home Inspectors?

2. Do you have a current license? Inspectors are not required to be licensed in every state.

3. How many inspections of properties such as this do you do each year?

4. Do you have a list of past clients I can contact?

5. Do you carry professional errors and omission insurance? May I have a copy of the policy? 6. Do you provide any guarantees of your work?

New Price $1,649,000    Golf course neighborhood in The Oaks     Features include heated tile floors, sauna, grill house

Is there a state contract that agents and builders use for new construction as a standard practice? The answer is “no”. We as agents, have a new construction contract and addenda from the North Carolina State Bar Association which we can use but ultimately it’s the decision of the builder which contract he will accept. Many have their own company contracts that have been written by their own attorneys. Others will use the new construction contract and still some will use the standard Offer to Purchase and attach addenda. You should be able to discuss any of the contracts with your agent and of course an attorney is always recommended. I’d like to suggest two more ideas you might like; try to give your deposit in two to three increments. The dates should follow the builders construction schedule and he can tell you at the initial meeting (when the contract is signed) when to expect to write checks. The other is PLEASE hire an inspector to do a specific new construction inspection. It too will coincide with construction schedules. Usually it’s three or four inspections and the fee is well worth it. It’s very exciting to see a design on paper transform into a building process. Enjoy it! 

The national average for home appreciation is 4.25% down from 12.6% , In our area Raleigh/Cary appreciated 6.42% and Durham appreciated 7.07% first quater 2007. Eighteen months ago it was 5.11% and 5.61%. Numbers for Orange county were not available in the report. I have seen 6-10% over the last few years depending on location, floor plan and condition. I think Winmore will do very well on appreciation, similiar to Southern Village and Meadwmont.

On June 4^th the public is invited to a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Southern Community Park. It will take place at 11:00am at the edge of the woods by the Park and Ride Lot in Southern Village. A tour of the park will take place at the end of the ceremony. Construction should begin in late June or July this year. It will be the 11^th largest park in

Many people think that a “Buyers Market” means great prices for buyers and desperate sellers are willing to negotiate much more willingly. That may be true in areas of the country where house appreciation varies by 10, 20 or even 30% but in our area we are much more conservative with  market swings. Historically the average re-sale home averages 98.5% of the asking price and a six week closing is normal. In Chapel Hill we have a finite number of houses in the school district and new home neighborhoods take years to get approval from the town. We’re fortunate in that these two factors shield us  more so than in other towns. We also have a great number of employers in various industries that are within commuting distance of Chapel Hill thereby protecting us from a major layoff that might put too many houses on the market at one time. My experience has been that our prices pretty much remain the same but we’ll wait longer for a contract. If you have the time, it’s not a bad market at all for sellers. The last listing I sold only took 2 months and they got full price.

I have a new Listing at 217 Nottingham Drive in The Oaks. Just 3 minutes from the country club and close to all the conveniences in southwest Durham and Chapel Hill. It has about 6300+ heated square feet and another 1400 SF of fabulous outdoor areas including a grill house, raised patio, elevated fireplace. It also has two master suites with heated tile floors, a steam room, custom dressing rooms, not walk-in closets! There are too many features to even begin to give it justice, you just have to see it. $1,790,000.