Tales from Charlotte's wild housing market
Plus: The top news of the week: NC adds a congressional seat — Apple plans huge tech campus in Raleigh — CEOs make bank
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Realtors share their most shocking stories from this market-gone-bonkers: ridiculous requests, enormous profits, high drama
Housing prices are soaring in Charlotte, and new construction is booming, as the demand outstrips the supply. (Photo courtesy of The 5 and 2 Project)
by Cristina Bolling
If you know any Realtors, chances are you’ve heard some unbelievable stories about the crazy housing market that’s been ramping up over the last few months. (That is, if they have time to talk to you.)
Charlotte’s housing market is gangbusters, with the March inventory of homes for sale in Mecklenburg County dropping 67% year-over-year, and only 18 days’ worth of homes for sale. (In a balanced market, we’d have about 6 months of inventory.) Median sales prices are up 16% in a year, to nearly $336,000.
From buyers making huge offers and writing five-figure checks for non-refundable due-diligence fees to sellers making outrageous demands, agents say they’re seeing things they never thought they’d witness in their careers.
Here’s a sampling of the wildness out there. Do you have an insane residential real estate story to share? Let us know.
Agent gets in car crash; more worried about missing a showing
Last weekend, an agent called me and was so upset because on the way to show my listing, she was rear ended, so they missed their showing window. Appointments were booked up for the rest of the day, and she and her clients were so worried they would not get a chance to see it. They were able to find a slot the next day and see it, but I felt so bad for her, as she was more worried about showing the house than her wrecked car. — Jen Wetzel, Bliss Real Estate
Sellers wanted to live rent-free in the house they were selling
I had clients submit an offer on a property where the sellers needed a 90-day leaseback (which is when a homeowner sells a house to a buyer and then continues to live in it and lease it back from the new owner for a period of time). My clients were fine with the leaseback, but they would have to make the first mortgage payment in 30 days, meaning that for 60 of the 90 days, they would be paying on a property that someone else was living in. In a typical market, you would ask for a market-value rental rate. However, the sellers were expecting to not have to pay anything!
This is happening more and more because some buyers are willing to do it. My clients were not and decided to let someone else win the deal. We found a better house at better terms a few weeks later. — Kamilah Peebles, Keller Williams
Sellers make a cool $200K profit … on a duplex
One of my investor clients purchased a little duplex in Lincoln Heights back in 2010 (off Beatties Ford Road in west Charlotte). It was a foreclosure listed at $22,900, but he got it for a cool $15,000. Fast forward to 2021, when he’s had it rented for a decade of income, and we sold the unit (after some updates for the tenants) for $215,000 — just added a 2 to the front of the number! — Julie Taché, Homes with Cachet
House draws 40 offers; husband enlisted as data-entry assistant
I recently listed a home for sale in Matthews and people were lined up to see it for two days. The sellers received more than 40 offers, and to prevent my clients from getting overwhelmed, I had to act quickly! I created a simple spreadsheet and read off the details from each contract while my husband filled in the blanks. The sellers were able to quickly look through the spreadsheet of offers to choose what was most important to them and sign the winning offer. Being organized keeps real estate stress-free! — Marcia Folnsbee, Helen Adams Realty
Greedy sellers want buyers to pay both agents’ commissions
I have clients in the $350,000 to $450,000 price point. We’ve put in 10 offers with 50% down, waiving appraisals and contingencies and inspections, and we’ve lost out on all of those deals. I asked the last listing agent what we could have done differently, and he came back with a list of items that made the winning offer stronger. One I found the most interesting — and disturbing — is that the buyers ended up paying both sides of the (agents’) commission. (In North Carolina, home sellers are generally responsible for paying the real estate commission of both the agent representing them as well as the agent representing whoever buys their home — and each agent typically receives 3% of the sales price.)
Of course, my buyers are completely devastated, but I told them, “You are never going to pay my commission.” That’s a total of 6%. I wouldn’t even know how to have that conversation with the buyer — “What you can do is pay me, AND pay the seller’s commission.” It just seems like next-level. — Anonymous
$51K over asking price isn’t even enough
There are just crazy multiple offers on everything. I’ve got a customer who’s looking for a place in Montclaire (a neighborhood in south Charlotte). We made offers on four houses and didn’t get them. On the last house, we offered $51,000 over asking price. There were 17 offers on the house — 17! — and we didn’t get it.
Another house came on the market this week. We offered $40,000 [over asking price] and we got it. We’re seeing huge due diligence fees, $10,000 to $20,000, which is non-refundable. A thousand or two isn’t the end of the world, but to a lot of people, $10,000 to $20,000 is approaching the end of the world. — Bill Gordon, Allen Tate
Waiting pays off: multiple offers, off-the-chart fees and hefty sum
One of my clients hit the jackpot and was able to snag a house to buy in the end of January with only one other offer to contend with. By the time their house went on the market late in February, we were in full frenzy mode. They had one offer sight unseen during “coming soon,” which was very good, and they were tempted to accept.
But we had almost two full days of showings booked, so I encouraged them to wait. People were taking five-minute appointments and a few even snuck in between appointments. Long story short, we had 14 offers, all over asking price, off-the-chart due diligence fees and it sold for 9.4% over asking price. — Lisa Warren, Cottingham Chalk
➡️ Share your crazy Charlotte housing market experience. We’ll print more in a future issue of The Ledger.
Related Ledger article:
“It’s a 🔥🔥 seller’s housing market” (March 31)
Today’s supporting sponsor is Soni Brendle:
This week in Charlotte: Gathering limits raised, NC gets new congressional seat, CMS asks for more money
On Saturdays, The Ledger sifts through the local news of the week and links to the top articles — even if they appeared somewhere else. We’ll help you get caught up. That’s what Saturdays are for.
Politics
NC adds congressional seat: (AP) North Carolina will gain another seat in Congress for the next decade, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday. The additional U.S. House seat, the 14th for North Carolina, marks the third time in the past four census cycles that the state will have increased the size of its congressional delegation.
Budd, Beasley enter Senate race: (Politico, AP) Rep. Ted Budd and former justice Cheri Beasley entered North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race this week, in what is likely to be one of the top battleground races in the country next year. Budd, a Republican, announced his candidacy in a video featuring a monster truck referred to as the “liberal agenda crusher.” Beasley, a Democrat, has strong name recognition as a former judge with a track record of raising lots of campaign money.
Education
CMS seeks more money: (WFAE) Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will ask county commissioners for an additional $26.5M in local money, or a total request of $551M. CMS expects to get $446M in Covid relief money, but Superintendent Earnest Winston says those funds come with a surge in need and a lot of rules.
More grandmas at graduation: (WCNC) Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will now allow each graduating senior to have four tickets to graduation ceremonies, an increase from the previous plan to give each senior two tickets. Graduation ceremonies will be held at Bojangles Coliseum, Ovens Auditorium and the Charlotte Convention Center and will be live-streamed for remote viewing.
Local news
Boone shooting: (WCNC) A welfare check in Boone on Wednesday ended in the shooting deaths of a sergeant and a deputy with the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, as well as two other victims and the shooting suspect. Sgt. Chris Ward died after being flown to the hospital for treatment, while K-9 Deputy Logan Fox died at the scene. Michelle Annette Ligon, 61, and George Wyatt Ligon, 58, were both killed inside their home, officials confirmed late Thursday. Deputies identified their son, 32-year-old Isaac Alton Barnes, as the gunman.
Mass gathering limit doubled: (WFAE) Gov. Roy Cooper has doubled the cap on mass gatherings to 100 inside and 200 outside. He also eased a requirement on outdoor face coverings, which previously were supposed to be worn if social distancing of six feet apart could not be maintained.
Tensions in Elizabeth City: (Washington Post) Residents of Elizabeth City, a town in the northeast corner of North Carolina, are grappling with the aftermath of the fatal shooting of a Black man by police, after a judge ruled that body camera footage of the shooting will not be released to the public. The shooting and the events since have awakened a deep sense of suspicion and mistrust in a community.
Business
Apple tech campus heading to Raleigh: (Ledger Monday; Ledger Wednesday 🔒) Apple on Monday announced plans to build a new $1B+ technology campus in Wake County with 3,000 jobs in areas including artificial intelligence, machine learning and software engineering. The plans are aided by tax incentives worth more than $845M over 39 years. The Ledger’s Tony Mecia talked with Brooks Raiford, the CEO of the N.C. Technology Association, about what the plans mean for the Triangle and for the state — and how even Charlotte will reap some of the benefits.
CEO pay: (Axios Charlotte) The pandemic year was a lucrative year for the CEOs of the largest publicly traded companies in the Charlotte region. Total pay increased about 17% on average for the 20 executives who lead the largest publicly traded companies in the Charlotte metro, according to an Axios Charlotte analysis. At the top: LendingTree’s Doug Lebda, who reported $52M in total compensation in 2020. Next up: Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, at $25.9M.
Sports
Panthers’ #1 pick: (ESPN) The Carolina Panthers selected South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn with their first-round pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday. He’s expected to help the team’s pass defense because of his size — 6’1”, 205 pounds — since the Panthers “face so many big receivers in the NFC South,” ESPN reported.
Panthers field goes turf: (ESPN) Bank of America Stadium will rip out its natural grass field and replace it with artificial turf before the Carolina Panthers preseason starts in August. It’s a move that comes as the stadium gets ready to host Major League Soccer and other big entertainment events.
Good reads
Sun City shines again: (Ledger) After a year with no wine club, cooking demonstrations or water aerobics due to Covid restrictions, residents of the Sun City Carolina Lakes 55+ community are getting their activities and busy schedules back, thanks to Covid vaccines.
A difficult job: (QCity Metro) A funeral home director tells QCity Metro about the challenges of working through the Covid pandemic — and how he found the strength to persevere: “You just go to your faith and you just stay in your faith, stay prayed up, ‘God, deliver me and give me the things I need to get through this.’”
Ledger originals
Bye-bye driveway mailboxes: (Wednesday 🔒) It’s a growing trend in new home construction — discontinuing mailboxes at the end of the driveway, in favor of “cluster mailboxes” down the street. It’s a mandate from the United States Postal Service, and builders say it saves them money, too.
Retailers go small: (Friday 🔒) As many big retailers struggle, there’s a movement toward developing smaller retail shops, which encourage more experimentation by nontraditional entrepreneurs. From South End to uptown to Optimist Hall, small retailers are opening up all over — and the trend helps explain the success of a new “cereal bar” in Charlotte that has customers lining up for $7 combos of Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops and gummy bears.
Under-the-radar proms: (Wednesday 🔒) With Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools canceling all proms for this school year, high schoolers and their parents are planning alternative proms so students don’t miss out on the coming-of-age event.
2040 Plan revisions: (Monday) City leaders are eyeing revisions to the proposed 2040 Comprehensive Plan, and the city’s planning department is working on a “streamlined” new version that could be shorter than the current 320 pages.
CMS survey: (Monday, Wednesday 🔒) A survey commissioned by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to gauge families’ history with the district and school plans for next year confused many parents, who said they didn’t know if the survey was legit, or if it was spam.
Evaluating North Carolina’s Covid response: (Monday) Did North Carolina really manage Covid better than most states in the country, as Gov. Roy Cooper recently claimed? We looked at the stats on Covid deaths and job losses — and found that N.C. is doing better than most states but isn’t at the very top.
Myers Park says it’s listening to women: (Friday 🔒) The president of the board of Myers Park Country Club said in an email to members that “our females’ voices and concerns are being heard,” following a rift that has emerged over renovation plans to expand a men’s-only area in the clubhouse. The club formed a committee, hired a consultant and held focus groups.
Huge healthcare fundraising effort: (Friday 🔒) Atrium Health is planning a $500M fundraising campaign called “Giving Hope.” It launches toward the end of May, but The Ledger got a sneak peek of the Charlotte A-list celebs who are backing it and learned where the money will be going.
LoSo restaurant deal?: (Friday 🔒) We leave most restaurant and brewery announcements to others, but we do like to keep readers ahead of the pack on development trends. A land sale The Ledger unearthed in LoSo, near the Scaleybark light rail stop, suggests that a Charlotte restaurant owner with several well-known Asian eateries is planning something in the area, across the street from what could be a German brewery we reported last week.
Nerf gun snipers: (Monday) Leave it to Nextdoor to get riled up over the latest prank to hit SouthPark — a blond teen in a white Lexus, shooting Nerf bullets at pedestrians and then zooming away. “Nerf guns … the gateway weapon,” wrote one resident.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory