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Business owners are encouraged to share ideas of potential changes to Cabarrus County regulations during three "listening" sessions this month. The goal is to identify regulatory changes that may help increase employment and job growth. Organized by the Cabarrus County Council for a Sustainable Local Economy recommendations will be forwarded to the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners. The three forums all start at 6:30 pm: Feb. 16, Kannapolis Train Station, 201 S. Main Street, Kannapolis; Feb. 23, Vintage Motorclub, 325 McGill Avenue, Concord; Feb. 28, Buddy’s Restaurant, 1470 S. Main Street, Mt. Pleasant. Comments may be emailed to regulatory@cabarruscounty.us. The Cabarrus County Council for a Sustainable Local Economy was established by the Cabarrus Board of County Commissioners and charged with performing research and analysis, educating the community, developing strategies and making policy recommendations that encourages entrepreneurship and supports local, independently owned businesses. More info: Shannon Johnson, 704-920-2181. |
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Feb. 2 Hendrick Automotive Group has purchased Tim Marburger Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Concord for an undisclosed amount. Wes Watkins is the executive manager of the dealership which has been renamed Hendrick Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Concord. |
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| Jan. 27 The cost to live in an authentic French chateau will now set you back $5.9 million, not $8 million. The luxurious lakefront home in Mooresville, built by the former owner of Boyles Furniture for upwards of $22 million, is listed by Debbie Monroe and Amber Garchar of Lake Norman Realty. Like a lot of homes in all price ranges, this one is bank-owned. To see the brochure, click here. |
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Jan. 25 A "Hiring Our Heroes Job Fair," designed to help military personnel adjust to civilian life, will be Feb. 13 from 9 a.m. to noon at Embassy Suites in Concord. |
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Jan. 25 Karen Bentley, a business-friendly representative on the Meck County Board, will run again. |
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Jan. 24 John Bradford, the owner of Park Avenue Properties in Cornelius, has been named business person of the year by the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce.
Bradford, who is also a member of the town board in Cornelius, received the award at the chamber’s annual dinner last week. Matthew Hayes, principal at North Mecklenburg High School, received the Duke Energy Citizenship and Service Award , while David F. Peete, the principal planner for Huntersville, was named volunteer of the Year.
The new chairman of the chamber, Jack Salzman, president of Lake Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram, said the chamber would focus on “customer relations” with members and former members to ensure that all see value in their membership. Emphasizing that the chamber’s board of directors would “not be a puppet board,” Salzman stated: “In every thing we do as a board our focus must be always to benefit our community where we live, work and play.”
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| ANERALLA |
Jan. 21 N.C. Senate hopeful John Aneralla, a conservative Republican who has lined up endorsements from Cornelius Town Commissioners Lynette Rinker, Chuck Travis and Dave Gilroy, reports that he has $30,000 in his campaign treasury.
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Jan. 21 The Town of Cornelius will host a special meeting 9 am Wednesday, Feb. 8 in the Community Room of Town Hall to hear an analysis of the Red Line by a senior fellow of the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank in Raleigh. Randal O’Toole will discuss the business/finance plan behind the proposed 25-mile freight-commuter line between Mooresville and Charlotte.
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A business plan competition sponsored by the Centralina Workforce Development Board, Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce, Iredell County, Mitchell Community College, Mooresville-South Iredell Chamber of Commerce, Mountain State University, the Small Business Center and the Small Business and Technology Development Center is getting under way in Iredell County. Meetings will be held in the Continuing Education Center Auditorium at 701 W. Front Street in Statesville. There will be hands-on workshops for participants to develop and assemble a complete business plan. More info: Suzanne Wallace 704-878-3227
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The Lake Norman Chamber will host a presentation on the Red Line by the consultants from Parsons Brinkerhoff and Jeff Hare, Cornelius Commissioner and chairman of the Cornelius Red Line Task Force. The session starts at 8 a.m. Jan. 27 on the second floor of the chamber building on West Catawba in Cornelius. |
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Author and motivational speaker, Nathan Jamail, reminds us not every hire is the right hire and not every job is the right job, but accepting a bad decision is wrong — for everyone involved. |
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| DeMAO |
Sherre teaches us the most effective business owners know how to get things done beyond the confines of their minds and their capabilities. As a result, they make more effective decisions and take more effective action when choices need to be made. Make 2012 the year you become a manager of your destiny. |
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| KANE |
Cheryl Kane teches us that time allocation, prioritizing how time is used, and controlling access to your time for specific efforts are all necessary to efficiently and effectively use your most rare and valuable asset: time. |
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Charlotte-area home prices edging higher; lower-price homes lead recovery |
There’s two sides to every story, including real estate. Home prices rose slightly in March and April, indicating that increasingly affordable prices are enticing hesitant buyers. The flip side is that prices are still down from last year, giving fits to most anyone who bought during the residential real estate bubble.
Prices of existing homes in the Charlotte area climbed 0.3 percent in March from February, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index. It was the first increase since June a year ago. Only Denver among other U.S. cities saw another month to month increase. March’s greatest rate of month-to-month price decline was in Minneapolis, down 6.1 percent from February, S&P said.
The 20-city average year-to-year decline was 19.1 percent. Charlotte’s year-to-year decline, only 9.3 percent. In year-to-year comparisons, only Denver, Dallas, Boston, Cleveland and Charlotte saw price declines of less than 10 percent.
Indeed, we’re in much better shape than many cities around the country. Year to year price declines were in excess of 30 percent in Phoenix (down 36 percent year to year), Las Vegas (down 31.2 percent) and San Francisco (down 30.1 percent).
The National Association of Realtors says existing home sales increased between March and April, which saw a 2.9 percent increase in sales of single-family homes from the prior month. On a national level—and in Charlotte—the real estate community is seeing the most activity in lower price ranges.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said first-time buyers continued to influence the market in April, but there was a rise in repeat buyers as well.
“Most of the sales are taking place in lower price ranges and activity is beginning to pick up in the mid-price ranges, but high-end home sales remain sluggish,” Yun said. Foreclosed properties and short sales will probably continue to affect the market during the remainder of the year, Yun said. These properties should continue to attract bargain-hunters.
It’s a start, at least.
Realtors all across the Golden Crescent are saying there are increasingly signs of life in the lower price ranges, although, here and there, a high-price home is selling.
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| HONEYCUTT |
“Information is confirming what we have seen in our market in the last 30 days and that is consumer confidence is definitely improving, which is necessary to turn things around,” said Diane Honeycutt of Allen Tate’s Concord office.
“May showed the biggest jump in six years sending a positive signal that maybe things will continue to improve. Although the Charlotte Region has seen some decline in prices, the S&P/Case Shiller report shows that the Charlotte areas is among the strongest of the 20 areas monitored,” Honeycutt said, pointing out that would-be buyers who offer 20 percent and 30 percent less are going to be disappointed. “We just haven't experienced that kind of decline in our market,” she added.
There were no closings over $500,000 in Cabarrus County during the past month. There were four closings between $400,000 and $500,000, so activity finally is happening.
Is your house too big?
The average American home size, about 2,500 square feet, is 140 percent larger than it was in the 1950s.
Housing has become a competitive sport where bigger is better. If the kids are gone, and resources are scarce, does that 6,000 square foot house look as good as before? Maybe not right now, but when the economy is back on solid footing we think it will.
Sales
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| DEAN |
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| 18610 Square Sail Road |
A custom home in The Peninsula has sold for $527,000, having been listed at $540,000 by Dixie Dean from Allen Tate’s Cornelius office. The house, at 18610 Square Sail Road, has an office and the master bedroom on the first floor. The house has a fireplace, built-ins and a SubZero refrigerator. Robin Puckett of Keller Williams in Cornelius represented the buyers.
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| 17617 Spinnakers Reach |
A waterfront home at 17617 Spinnakers Reach in The Peninsula has sold for $1.175 million. The house, which features an outdoor kitchen and a private dock, was listed at $1.299 million by Joyce Fox in Allen Tate’s Cornelius office. Built in 2000 with four bedrooms and 3.5 baths, the house sold in less than three months. Mike Kessler with Knox Realty was the buyer's agent.
Real Estate People
Mandy Renegar has joined the Denver office of Lake Norman Realty. She has completed the company’s in-house professional post-licensing.
Kenny Hall and Jennifer Fournier have joined Weichert Realtors—Craven & Co. in Concord. Both are members of the Central Carolina Association of REALTORS®. |
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Guest
Opinion
MARY HOPPER
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By Mary Hopper
The University Research Park (URP) remains a bright spot in office activity in the Northeast submarket. Located at Harris Boulevard and I-85, the 2000-acre park has a 45-year history of fostering cutting edge technology dating back to its early days when IBM was making ATMs there and Verbatim was producing floppy discs. Its growth came in spurts over the years, with First Union’s CIC complex and TIAA CREF as two of its past wins.
The latest uptick began in 2008 when SPEED renovated a former Verbatim building to become home to a state of the art, all-digital TV network. The motorsports channel now reaches 84 million homes in North America with additional worldwide distribution. The pace continued with David Bowles’ 2009 acquisition of the 70,000 square foot Louis Rose building that had housed IBM and then First Union Mortgage. Bowles used his skills to create Environmental Way as one of the region’s first LEED Platinum buildings and a workplace laboratory of sustainable systems and design. |
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| Mooresville: This home on Easton Dr. in Mooresville sold for $880,000 |
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In Mooresville
A house at 171 Easton Drive in The Point has sold for $880,000 after being listed by Doris Nash of Ivester Jackson Distinctive Properties at $929,900 two months ago.
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By Dave Yochum
New statistics from the N.C. Secretary of State indicate North Carolinians gave less to charity in 2011 than 2010. However, the same report also indicates people supported the non-profits that got better returns.
The Charitable Solicitation Licensing Division Annual Report says that charities licensed by the state collected $26.7 million from North Carolinians during the 12-month period.
The 2010-2011 report shows that of the money collected, $13.2 million went directly to the charities for which the fund-raising campaigns were being conducted. That’s a 49.46 percent return to the charities for each dollar donated. |
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