Lake Gaston Real Estate Update
May is a wonderful time of the
year to live and work around Lake Gaston.
The weather is finally stabilizing and summer is just around the
corner. This year Lake Gaston will
celebrate its’ 50th birthday. The Lake Gaston 50th
Birthday Splash kicked off this past weekend and continues through June. Summer
always provides an increase in activity around the lake, but this year we
expect to be extra busy.
This April we had 16 waterfront homes,
6 waterfront lots, 3 off-shore homes, 19 off-shore lots and two large
waterfront tracts sold in the Lake Gaston area totaling $10,726,400. The large tracts of waterfront property
consisted of 935 acres close to Buggs Island Dam that sold for $3,100,000. Sixteen of the 19 off-shore lots sold
consisted of one group of 16 lots in foreclosure. In April of 2012, we had 19 parcels close for
a total of $4,122,750. The first four
months of 2013, we closed 87 properties for a total of $25,395,670 as compared
to 65 closed properties in 2012 totaling $16,855,350.
Lately media reports mostly
positive news about the housing recovery.
Some markets report increases as much at 50%. Some real estate markets show a shortage of home
listings, while others are now leveling off.
Real estate is local just like the weather. Consumer confidence and job numbers are
gradually improving, so we hope people will feel better about spending their
money on second homes and investment properties.
A group of REALTORS from Lake Gaston traveled
to Raleigh in April to attend the Legislative Day at the Capitol Building. We met with Senator Clark Jenkins
representing Northampton County, Senator Angela Bryant representing Halifax &
Warren Counties and Representative Michael Wray from Northampton County. We voiced our concerns about the bills in the
House and Senate regarding tax reform.
These bills propose elimination of Mortgage Interest Deductions at the
state level as well as the taxing of services such as attorney fees, real
estate fees, surveyor’s fees, etc. One
bill plans to impose a 1% transfer tax on property at closing. These fees will add a substantial amount to
the closing cost for the buyer as well as the seller. If passed these additional fees could make
property unaffordable to some buyers and create additional cost to sellers.
The overall plan for the tax
reform bills is to increase income to the state of North Carolina and reduce
personal income and business taxes. For
more information go to www.taxreformfacts.org.
Our message to our
representatives is this; North Carolina needs to approach tax reform in a way that
does not harm our overall economy or hurt our housing’s fragile recovery. The
goal of tax reform is good, but funding it by increasing the tax burden on
homeowners and the housing industry is counterproductive to North Carolina’s
economy.
Barney can be reached at (252)532-3274 or email: lakegaston1@gmail.com his website is http://www.barneywatson.com
