Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Offers Comparison Data

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools recently announced a powerful new tool that allows users to compare school performance against each other, state values, and more.  Several years in the making, this new softward gets down to the nitty gritty – are busses running on time?  what do the parents think of the school?  how does a school rate in relation to the state scores?

With newcomers to the Charlotte area hungry for information on our schools, this tool will be invaluable.  I haven’t tried it out yet, so I can’t offer an opinion on how user friendly it is.  If anyone has tried it, let us know what you think.

Read the story on the Charlotte Mecklenburg Dashboard.

Access the Charlotte Mecklenburg Data Dashboard.  (Instructions are in the upper left hand corner)

Finding A Trustworthy Realtor

Would you place the single most expensive investment you’ll ever make into the hands of someone you may not know or trust?

Think about this for a moment; you’re asking for advice of the very person that has a financial gain yet you don’t know them.  You want them to tell you it’s o.k. to make this purchase and your probability of showing a profit is strong.  Is that correct?  We continue to trust people in my very own industry without knowing what they’re about.

When you select a Realtor® to represent you, you had better make sure that your well being is at the top of their list.  Here’s how you can do that:

Start by asking for and working with seasoned professionals that understand the industry, and have the agents define what it takes to be successful and what is their accessibility.  Do they return calls after 5pm?

Get references and check them out.  Does company ranking make a difference?  You bet it does.  Would you want to be seen by a doctor that practices part time or someone that really knows their craft? 

From my entry into this career field 17 years ago I’ve always conducted my self in a way that places my clients first at times even before my family.  My job is to protect my clients by telling them what not to buy.  They’ll know what to buy when the time is right.  I’m here to find them they best property at the best price in the best of locations.  It sounds so simple that everyone tries to be in Real Estate but the reality is that only 10%  are at the top. 

I continue to do business the old fashioned way, I earn it one transaction at a time.  If you have a real estate question you are welcome to look around my website and learn more about me and the rest of my great team. 

American Idol Concert in Charlotte

Sunday evenings in many cities tend to be quiet. But if you’re like me you may want to take advantage of our wonderful city and hit the concert trail. Last evening my wife and I went to Time Warner Arena and enjoyed the American Idol Concert tour. Some people may think we’re too old to see a concert of this type but believe me this was a great venue and even better concert. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. This is just one of the many things to do and places to go should you visit or even move to Charlotte North Carolina.

Parks in Charlotte, NC

If you ever wonder why Charlotte North Carolina is so beautiful just look at our parks. It’s wonderful to see that not all of our city is taken up by Real Estate and that’s difficult for me to say considering I’m a Realtor. Colonel Francis Beatty Park is located in Southeast Charlotte and has some of the best areas to enjoy. There’s a lake for boating, several ball fields and biking trails. There’s a great park located on Pineville Matthews road between Rea and Providence roads that is so great (Davies Park). Nestled among fine homes this park has several soccer fields and plenty of areas to enjoy. The recently added dog park in Davies are some of the best, with a large dog area that is over 3 acres!
Our Greenway system is continually being expanded and has become extremely popular with walkers, bikers, runners, and others. I guess that I’m just spoiled here!

Relocating to Charlotte North Carolina

When I speak with new clients, the most often asked question is, “Where should I live?” Well, that depends on your needs. If you have school age children you need to be considering the best schools. As a parent that moved here over 26 years ago my research was limited. Now I would go to NCReportCards.org and schoolmatters.com. In addition, for Charlotte North Carolina schools, you can go to CMS.K12.NC.US. My clients have used these sites and find them to be worthwhile. We were lucky that in spite of not having accessible data we landed in the better school zones. Our children are grown, out of grad school with outstanding careers here in Charlotte.

So what else is important in order to find that great home in that perfect community? Selecting that right Realtor that cares more about your success happiness than the income they will receive. E-mail me with your questions and concerns on these two very important topics and I’ll elaborate. I can be reached at Irv@TopCharlotteAgent.com

Google Maps Street View in Charlotte, NC

Go to Google maps and put in your home address and then click the Street View tab.  I did mine and it was unnerving how the feel of my street came through as I panned around the cul-de-sac.  We have been looking into how to incorporate googlemaps into our site as we have found it very useful.  I was reading an article in my monthly Realtor magazine and thought this would be cool to check out.  It currently covers 40 cities and I haven’t been able to spend the time to see if this includes the suburbs as well, but what an incredible tool for home buyers relocating from somewhere else.  For the first time our buyer clients will be able to get a feel for not just an individual home, but the surrounding streetscape.  Lynn, our web guru says it creeps her out.  She’s sending a link to her parents who don’t like the idea of big brother looking over their shoulder-better watch out he’s here!

Charlotte, NC Housing Market Update – May ’08

Is it a buyers market or sellers market?  The most often asked question is this a good time to buy or sell Real Estate in Charlotte North Carolina?   That depends on who you are.  As of May 08 we have 2386 sold in May with an average of 91 days on the market.  I’d say that’s back to normal for this agent. 

If I’m a seller I need to price my home aggressively.  I need to know that there are other homes in Charlotte that are doing the same.  I have to be well presented both inside and out so that when someone is looking for homes for sale in Charlotte they will see the very best.  As the inventory begins to dwindle in Charlotte North Carolina it will quickly become evident that the market has swung to the seller. 

Some sellers believe that many Realtors like a quick turn and therefore we price our homes too low.  Well this Top Charlotte Agent believes that you have to price it correct and it will sell.  The true market value of a home in Charlotte is set by the buyer and not anyone else.  I want my clients to get the most for their home, in the lease amount of time and with the least amount of effort.  I’ve been representing clients for 18 years in the greater Charlotte North Carolina area and I clearly understand the importance of pricing it right and presenting and marketing it well. 

Our housing market reports page offers several market reports on various real estate areas of Charlotte.

Does anyone have any experiences both good and bad that they would like to share?   

Charlotte, North Carolina – A Great Place To Live!

Here’s what makes Charlotte so great.  I’ve just come back from a cruise and I still feel that I’m on vacation.  Yes that sounds so corny but it’s true!  Why?  It’s the ease of flying into Charlotte at Douglas International Airport and the ease of driving home.  O.K. so that’s one small part of what makes us so great.  Charlotte is green, clean and beautiful.  If you want to get uptown to an event or dinner it’s easy in and easy out.  We have the best of hospitals and a great climate.  Speaking about our climate lets examine our work climate.  One of the main reasons The Charlotte area continues to out pace the rest of the nation is the opportunity to find employment. 

The Charlotte housing market continues to out pace the rest of the nation.  What would $300,000  buy you if you lived in New York, Chicago or L.A.? 

 

If you’re interested in knowing more of what I think about living in Charlotte please e-mail me at Irv@TopCharllotteAgent.com.  If you have some comments I’d like to hear from you too. 

Charlotte NC America’s #1 Place to Live

Charlotte has been voted America’s #1 city to live in by Relocate-America.com  I’ve been here since 1995, and have been visiting regularly since the early 80′s.  I would never have imagined that there would be so much to do in my adopted hometown, while at the same time keeping the small town feel and relative affordability to other areas.  Check out the links below and let me know what you think?  Agreement/Disagreement/Comments???

Charlotte #1 Place to Live

Charlotte Dethrones Asheville

I moved here 13 years ago with no job and a couch to sleep on in my aunt & uncle’s house.  Now I am raising a family and running a successful business in what is in my opinion the best city in America!

Buy low, sell high applies to real estate

Many people in Charlotte and around the country are realizing that there are opportunities to be had in Real Estate.  It’s funny that so many folks seem to forget the old adage buy low-sell high!   It applies in stocks, real estate, or whatever.  We had two of our clients (see featured article from the Charlotte Observer) who took advantage of a seller who was willing to sell the house below market value in order to get their equity out.  Our clients will have to put in some cosmetic repairs and spruce the place up, but at the end of the day they were able to buy the house cheaper than most of their neighbors.  With solid schools and a great location this was a great opportunity.  Many people are beginning to ask themselves how long will these deals remain on the table from motivated sellers and homebuilders looking to get rid of excess inventory.  Centex homes recently had a one weekend blowout event to reduce the inventory of completed homes.  It worked and they have a much smaller number of available homes and their prices have been restored to the previous levels.  If you didn’t buy that weekend you might have missed an opportunity.  I don’t have a crystal ball – if I did I would be in Vegas knowing when to bet it all on black 17 – but I do know that the way to make money in America still involves the concept of buy low-sell high.