Fayetteville, NC Real Estate Blog

For incoming soldiers and soldiers who need renewals of driver's license's, going into Fayetteville will become a necessity. 

The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles driver's license office at Knox and Randolph streets closed permanently Tuesday.

The building will be demolished to make way for the future headquarters of Forces Command and U.S. Army Reserve Command. Staff members from the Fort Bragg location will move to other driver's license offices in the area, said Andrew Sawyer, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Transportation. Other area offices are:

• South Fayetteville, 2439 Gillespie St., 486-1353
• West Fayetteville, 841-A Elm St., Eutaw Village at Bragg Boulevard, 484-6249

The 7th Special Forces Group will hold the 29th annual Jingle Bell Jog on Friday on Fort Bragg.  This is a long time tradition of the Fort Bragg army community.

The 10-kilometer race begins at 9 a.m. Organizers expect as many as 1,000 runners.

The race is geared toward runners, but some participants will push children in strollers and lead dogs on leashes in the five-kilometer fun walk.  Running is not required, we try to include all of the family members by offering a walk as well.

The event is open to everyone. It begins and ends at the John F. Kennedy Plaza on Ardennes Street.

Proceeds will go to the 7th Group Association, a fund that provides financial assistance to needy soldiers in the group.

Please come out and support this worthy cause and show our soldiers that we here at home are in support of them.

Our local baseball heroes, the Fayetteville Swampdogs, are trying their hand at playing Santa's helpers this year.

The Fayetteville Swamdogs will be collecting toys to benefit the Toys for Tots program in our area and to provide a Christmas to those children who might not recieve anything on that joyful morning.

The Fayetteville Swampdogs will have a collection site set up at the J.P. Riddle stadium, their home field, this week.  Toys may be dropped off from 9am-4pm MOnday through Friday.  The toys will be delivered to the Salvation Army for distribution the the children.

As a way to create interest in donating, the Fayetteville Swampdogs will be offering each person who donates two general admission tickets to a home game in the upcoming season.

Toys do not have to be wrapped and if they are used should be clean and in working condition.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact 426-5900.

I have come to find out that there are good agents in this business and then there are the not-so-good agents. 

There are the ones who will give up their commissions without so much as even a effort to make sure that they are paid what they are worth...or then again maybe they are paid what they are worth.  Then there are the agents that overprice a listing just to get their sign in the yard in this market.

I think the second, overpricing a listing, is worse than the first.

Why...why...why...would you do that?  Why, when you have the numbers so readily available would you knowingly inflate a listing price just to get your sign in the yard?  I personally will walk away from a listing if I know that the seller just will not listen to what the market is saying and insists on overpricing the house.  BUT, I can then continue to conduct my business with the integrity and high standards I always try to commit to.

Do these agents NOT understand that they are doing several injustices by doing this?

They are first and foremost doing a injustice to the seller.  They are basically saying to the seller that I am not good enough to tell you the truth...but I will lie to you in a second just to get my sign in your yard.  Think that is the only thing I will lie about?  Think again...

Secondly, they are doing a HUGE injustice to themselves.  I KNOW that I am a good enough agent to analyze the numbers and interpret them CORRECTLY for my sellers.  I KNOW that my services are worth every bit of the commission I charge.  I KNOW I owe it to myself and to my family to conduct my business in a truthful manner.  And lastly, but not least...I KNOW that my business will grow further and be stronger for conducting my business by those beliefs.

Third...they are doing a HUGE injustice to the market.  Overpricing a listing makes that listing sit on the market LONGER and that's where the bad news of the market not moving is being generated.  I always feel for those agents that are so inept in thier business that they must do this and then they have a listing that has been on the market forever.  Apparently their training is really lacking or they just don't care about what the reputation they are building for themselves is.  I take pride in telling my sellers my average DOM, I just wonder if those agents who are knowingly overpricing the listings share their DOM with the sellers or if they just paint a beautiful picture for them.

I have had two listings in the past month...NEITHER made it to the 30 day mark before having a FULL OFFER and accepted contract.  I am proud of that and my sellers love me.  I tell my sellers upfront at the listing appointment that I am not going to tell them lies, that I may say something they do not want to hear but they need to hear.  I tell them the truth.

I never want to be in the shoes of the overpriced listing agent.  I NEVER want to have to admit to my seller that I was way wrong on my numbers and now they must reduce the house (losing money that they were already looking forward to) just to make it competitive.  I cannot think it would be pleasant to have to answer the bombardment of questions from the seller and to deal with them being upset because I failed to do my job.

I wrote all this as a result of my local MLS.  Everyday I check the newest listings on the market.  EVERYDAY there are several that are way overpriced.  Everyday I see agents stooping to the level of letting the home seller set the price no matter what the market is saying.

I say this must be brought under control, NOW!  The agents that are doing this practice are the ones who are feeding the media the news that the market is so bad.  I don't know about your area, but houses are still moving in my area...but if these agents continue to overprice that will soon stop.

On November 17, 2007 Keller Williams Realtor, JT Prevatte and State Farm Insurance Agent, Ann McLeod came together once again to host the "Fill the Trailer and Feed the Hungry" food drive benefiting the Fayetteville Urban Ministry.

Along with the help of State Farm employees, Jaime Prevatte and Robyn Owens this event was a huge sucess!  This event surely would not be possible without the help of the caring employees of State Farm Insurance.

While it was a cool morning, the energy level was at an all time high.  Much planning and preperation had been invested into this event by everyone involved and we even had a special appearance by the the State Farm Insurance "Good Neigh-BEAR" who made sure the little ones who came out had a good time.

JT Prevatte was quoted as saying..."Real Estate and Insurance go hand in hand so what better alliance to come together and collect food for the less fortunate of our area.  It is always important to give back to a community that has given so much to us."

State Farm Agent Ann McLeod, recently recovering from a surgical procedure made sure that she was there.  Quite a commitment to the community.

"Fill the Trailer and Feed the Hungry" is a food drive that was started in 2006 and will continue for as long as possible.

Here are a few of the pictures...

It's that time of year again!  Time for the second annual "Fill the Trailer and Feed the Hungry" Food Drive.  The food drive is sponsored by Keller Williams Reator JT Prevatte and State Farm Insurance Agent Ann McLeod.

All donations benefit the Fayetteville Urban Ministries Food Pantry to assist the less fortunate of our area.

If you are in the area and would like to contribute please come out and support this worthy cause!

I d imagine that some of you already know about the site, Neighboroo.com.  If not let me bring you up to speed. 

Neighboroo.com was created to display statistics about neighborhoods...and it was good at it too!  Talk about a way to become the neighborhood professional representative.  You could find and learn the statistics for an area that you wanted to have more business in and then talk about that area with a commanding presence.

I have been checking the site daily as I have a little project that I want to persue on my website....and well, it says they are taking time off to revamp the site and will re-launch in November.  I don't know about you but my calendar says November!  The suspense is killing me!

                         Neighboroo is taking some time off to revamp our website.

A smaller-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall is coming to Fayetteville today.

The traveling wall is roughly 80percent the size of the real wall in Washington and is made of aluminum instead of granite. But the premise - giving honor to service members killed in the war - is the same. Every name etched on the Washington wall is etched on this traveling one.

Several replicas of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall travel around the country. This version, the American Veterans Traveling Tribute, is 370 feet long and about 8 feet tall at its highest point.

The exhibit features art displays that honor Vietnam veterans, displays of gold dog tags to honor service members killed in other conflicts, and a stand-up exhibit with lighted replicas of the World TradeCenter.

The wall is expected to arrive in Fayetteville, NC around 1 pm with about 25 members of the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club serving as escorts from Interstate 95 into Fayetteville. 

Organizers have planned a reception for veterans Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. and a memorial service from 11 a.m. to noon Sunday.

Organizers raised about $10,000 to bring the wall to Fayetteville - about $6,000 less than the total they needed. Dozier said the group will accept donations at Festival Park.

For more information about the exhibit, visit www.avtt.org.

Well as most of you know, yesterday was voting day.  Yesterday was the day when the "land ransfer tax" issue would be decided in NC. 

In talking to many homeowners there was a clear concensus that they did not want to see this tax pass.  This tax would have meant quite an increase in the taxes that the government levied on a home seller.  This tax might have made it impossible for some to sell their homes if they were already marginal.

So HOO-RAY!!!! VICTORY!

Here is the article about the defeat in the local newspaper.

Fayeteville Observer - NC voters reject land transfer tax

There is a huge buzz around the Fayetteville, NC area right now and a lot of excitment!

The troops are beginning to return home to the Ft. Bragg base!  For a little town that basically survives on the military members it has been a hard time with them gone.

About 200 members of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment and even more members of the 2nd of the 505th have returned this week with the rest of the battalion scheduled to return over this weekend.

We thrive on our soldiers around here and they are a big contibuting factor to the Fayetteville, NC economy, not to mention the unforetold service that they have provided to the citizens of our United States.

While we are in a buyer's market like the rest of the country, although it was a little slower to become a buyer's market around here due to the constant shipping in and out of the military, things are going to be on the change.  Yesterday we had over 4200 homes on the market that were currently active which is a large number for us.  Our average is around 2700. The returning soldiers are sure to be a boost to the local economy.

So I want to personally say welcome home to the troops and job WELL DONE!  Thanks for all that you have done to protect our freedom and the United States.   We can never say thank you enough!