Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Lake Gaston Real Estate End of March Update
Lake Gaston Real Estate Update - End of March 2013
The
first Quarter of 2013 is in the history books. The spring season brings us much
sunshine, blooming flowers and wildlife that is more active. Boats start
venturing out. I am always excited to
hear the early morning bass anglers run up and down the lake. We love all the spring season brings us. Spring
also brings tourist to our area. Lake Gaston is not only a great place to live
but it is a favorite trip destination. Whether staying a day or weeks, we
appreciate every tourist who comes our way. Each dollar they spend in our area
helps fuel the local economy.
Commercial
growth is happening around the lake. Now open is Wakeboard Willie’s ice cream
shop (in the old Chamber building on the corner, near Food Lion). Dollar
General has two new stores in our area, one in Bracey VA and the other in
Gasburg VA. Family Dollar has announced
a new store opening soon for the lake area.
A
good number of Lake Gaston visitors will want to look at properties for sale
while they are here. Local REALTORS® are
eager to show them beautiful homes for sale, tell them the history of Lake
Gaston and all our area can offer them.
This
year we continue to see a slight increase in potential buyer activity. We have closed 57 properties in Q1 of 2013,
which consist of 29 waterfront homes, 11 offshore homes, 6 waterfront lots and
11 offshore parcels totaling $15,109,270.
The first quarter of 2012, we closed 46 properties totaling $12,732,600.
The
National Association of REALTORS (NAR) just released their 2013 Investment and
Vacation Home Buyers Survey covering existing and new-home transactions in
2012. They report vacation home sales
rose 10.1% over 2011 levels. The survey
also shows investment homes sales declined 2.1% over 2011 numbers. Vacation homes sales accounted for 11% of all
real estate transactions according to NAR.
Favorable
conditions such as the housing recovery overall and the strong stock market
recovery, both help people in their prime ages afford vacation homes. The survey states seventy-eight percent of
all second-home buyers say it is a good time to buy compared with sixty-eight
percent of primary home buyers. The typical
vacation home buyer was 47 years old with a median household income of $92,100
and bought a vacation home that was a median distance of 435 miles from their
primary home. The survey says 34% of
vacation home buyers purchase a vacation home within 100 miles from their
primary home.
Lifestyle
factors remain the primary motivation for vacation home buyers. Buyers listed many reasons for buying a
vacation home, the top reasons were to use as a family retreat followed by
using property for a second home now with anticipation of retirement.
Recent
article in REALTOR® magazine stressed the importance of not getting caught up
in the national numbers. Real estate is
a local business as are the market statistics.
We continue to be in a buyer’s market that simply means the buyers have
many properties in any given price range to choose from. It is important in today’s real estate market
to make sure your home is priced correctly the first time and in great
condition. Always consult a full-time
REALTOR® whom will share current market facts in writing to help you in the
home selling process.
Barney Watson
with RE/MAX On The Lake can be reached at (cell) 252-532-3274 or (web)
www.barneywatson.com
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