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About Lake Gaston

6/17/2014

Lake Gaston is on the North Carolina/Virginia border. The Lake is 34 miles long with 350 miles of shoreline. At its widest point, it's only about a mile wide, so its a long, skinny lake. In addition to the main part of the Lake, there are many coves. In the middle of the main Lake, it's about 52 feet deep with the middle of the coves averaging around 16 feet deep. The water is almost drinkable as it lies in the Lake.

There are currently no horsepower restrictions on power boats or jet skies on the Lake.

Lake Gaston is still uncrowded, with only about 60% of the waterfront lots having homes. The existing homes are about 60% vacation or second homes with the remaining 40% being retirement homes. Virtually all of the homes are single family residences with only a very few condominiums and townhouses sprinkled in.

The Lake is very small town friendly as virtually everyone living on it is from out of town or out of state. Fishing is excellent, and either a North Carolina or a Virginia fishing license is good on the entire Lake.

Several marinas which sell gas, repair boats, and rent boats are on Lake Gaston. We also have a Food Lion, several restaurants, a video rental store, and 5 golf courses within a half an hours drive. Numerous churches surround the Lake, there are plenty of civic and volunteer organizations, and our local theater group puts on really good plays at Lakeland Cultural Arts Center.

Both Richmond and Raleigh are each about and hour and 45 minutes away. The Raleigh Durham Airport is particularly good.

The average waterfront lot is probably a little over half an acre with about 110 feet of waterfront. The water level of the Lake varies only about 1 foot plus or minus under normal conditions, so we have fixed docks and leave our boats in our boathouses year round.

In general, Lake Gaston has a semi-rural feeling – safe, small town friendly, uncrowded - which will probably remind you of the 1950’s.

Now on to "Lake Gaston Activities".

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We got it

6/17/2014

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You thought about it, you chose a Lake Gaston real estate agent to work with, you looked around, you gave the agent candid feedback, you make an offer, you countered, and you’ve got a signed contract! What do you do next?

The agent you’re working with will guide you, but the key thing is to get several things rolling quickly. The absolutely first thing to get moving is your financing. There are ten or so active lenders around Lake Gaston, and if you can use one of these, things will be much easier.

It used to be that if you were a good customer of a bank, they’d give you a little lower rate on a mortgage. Those days are pretty much gone since most mortgages are now resold before the ink is dry, but check with your local lender if you wish. However, in 11 years, I’ve only had one buyer’s home bank beat the lenders around the Lake.

Quite candidly, the main holdup in the closing process is a delay in getting documents or confirmation of salaries, bank accounts, etc. to the lender. So be sure and stay behind these requests.

If buying a home, immediately order the home inspection, about $400. Your Good Agent will have an inspector she can recommend. I personally think it’s very helpful, but not essential, for the buyer to go around with the inspector. A good inspector will point out not only problems, but things to watch for in the future as well as things that may appear to be problems, but actually are not.

At Lake Gaston, sellers normally will only agree to fix problems that are either structural or hidden. However, you may ask for any repair you wish. The seller should respond promptly so that in the unlikely event you can not agree on what is to be repaired, as little time as possible will be lost. However, at the Lake, it’s very rare for the parties not to reach an agreement.

Also if buying a home, you’ll want a termite inspection. Normally in North Carolina the buyers pay for the inspection (in Virginia the sellers normally pay), about $100, and the seller will normally pay (in both states) for any needed treatment or repairs. Don’t panic if the inspector does find an infestation. It’s not at all uncommon around the Lake and is usually easily remedied.

About 2 weeks before the date of your home closing, make sure your real estate agent gives you the contact information for the utilities so you can make arrangements to have them transferred into your name on the day of closing. Also be sure and let your real estate agent know well in advance if you and your spouse are not going to be present at the closing.

Around Lake Gaston, good lawyers are busy and may not have the closing statement prepared until you sit down for the closing. The lawyer or his representative will go over it line by line, so ask if anything’s not clear. Usually your real estate agent will be at the closing, but not the sellers.

Normally at the end of the closing, if a house, the real estate agent will hand you the keys and you can proceed to your new home.

It was a lot of work, but wasn’t it all worth it? Welcome to Lake Gaston.

The above is not legal advice, but only the writer’s opinion.

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Making An Offer

6/17/2014

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You’ve selected the real estate agent you want to work with, she’s shown you around, and now you think you’ve found it. A Lake Gaston home or lot you’d like to own. You’re ready to make an offer.

If your haven’t already done so, you’ll now sign an agreement with your agent stating whether she’s a seller’s agent (and therefore representing the seller) or a buyer’s agent and therefore representing you. At Lake Gaston, we’re a little behind the trend and in most cases the agent is acting as a seller’s agent.

In some places, it’s common to make a very low first offer. This isn’t the norm at Lake Gaston however. Sellers at Lake Gaston are often quite wealthy and somewhat older, so this can sometimes lead to a tradeoff. By making a very low offer, you might snag the property at a bargain price – the good possibility. However, the bad possibility is that the seller may be insulted and simply refuse to counter. I’ve even had sellers (against my advice) refuse to deal with a particular buyer after they made an extremely low first offer.

Nobody can tell you how much to pay for a particular property. However I would take into account your alternatives. When we saw the lake house we ending up buying (I was not in real estate then), my wife and children were wild over it. The sellers dug in on their price and I was considering walking away. However, we had already looked around extensively and none of the other homes generated anything like the enthusiasm this one did. Even though we had never met, I was stupidly taking the sellers’ intransience personally. I swallowed my false pride and agreed to their counteroffer. I’ve never regretted it.

You will normally write a personal check to serve as earnest money. This is to give the seller a measure of confidence that you’re a serious buyer. As a practical matter, once a property is marked “pending” (for contract pending) in our multiple listing system, the agents will stop showing it. Understandably, the sellers don’t want to effectively take their property off the market only to find out later the buyer wasn’t really serious.

Usually your earnest money check will be held undeposited until you reach an agreement with the sellers. When you do reach an agreement, it will be deposited in the listing company’s escrow account. At closing, this amount is of course credited to you.

Obviously, the larger your escrow check, the easier it is for the sellers to believe that you’re really serious, credit worth buyers and will in fact close on this piece of property. The average escrow amount around Lake Gaston is probably between $1,000 and $2,500. However, over the years, I’ve had several low offers accepted when the buyers put down earnest money of $10,000. In the final analysis, it’s your decision.

Next you have to decide on what contingencies to put in your offer. A contingency basically says “This offer is good only if I can also do the following”. The main contingency is the amount and terms of your borrowing. In other words, this offer is only good if I can borrow $290,000 at a 5.75% fixed interest rate for 30 years. If your financing contingency is to borrow 80% or less of your offering price, the seller will likely pay it little mind. However, if you’re borrowing more than 80%, the seller may become concerned as to whether you’re really going to be able to borrow that much.

The solution if you’re a 95% borrower is to work with your realtor and get a preapproval letter from a local lake lender as to the amount they’ll lend you. There’s no charge for this, but it could take a couple of weeks to get, so plan ahead.

The next major contingency is the home inspection, if you’re offering on a house. Basically this says in many, many words “The buyers will have a home inspection (usually about $300). They will then present a list of items they’d like repaired to the sellers. The sellers then have 3 days to reply. If the sellers say “We’ll fix everything on your list” everything’s fine. If the sellers say “We’ll fix some, but not everything on your list” and you agree, everything’s fine. If you don’t agree or if the sellers say “We’re not fixing anything on the list” then the deal is off unless you decide to accept the sellers’ decision.

A common contingency at other places is “I’ll buy your house when I sell my house”. This is uncommon at Lake Gaston and sellers will rarely accept a contract with such a contingency. The reason is the same as above, once a home is marked with this contingency in the multiple listing system, many agents will stop showing it, effectively taking it off the market.

Offering, counter offering, and counter counter offering is rather muted at Lake Gaston. Probably the average is the buyer offers, the seller counters, and the buyer makes a counter offer which the seller accepts. If you’re like my wife and love to bargain, you might want to draw a deep breath before you start as this can be a real turn off to many lake sellers.

You’ve got an accepted offer, so now on to We got It!

The above is not legal advice, but only the writer’s opinion.

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Stretching your Home Buying Dollar

6/17/2014

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There’s no doubt about it, waterfront home prices are high at Lake Gaston. Here’s how to stretch your buying dollar.

First, if you’ve looked around and you’re just no where near being able to afford a waterfront home, consider looking for one off the water but in a neighborhood with a lakefront park. Several neighborhoods – Eaton’s Ferry Estates, Spinnaker Point, Tanglewood Shores, Timber Creek, and Wildwood Point - have lakefront parks with boatslips for property owners. In some cases, there is a boatslip assigned to your house where you can leave your boat year round. In others, the boatslips are just for day use. Your realtor will have current specifics.

Another alternative is to buy an offwater home, but rent a boatslip at one of the marinas. Click on boatslips for rent for a list of those that offer this service.

If you’re close, but not quite able to comfortably afford a waterfront home, consider renting your future vacation home part of the time. This will not only provide income to help with your mortgage payments, but will kick in some additional tax deductions as well.

Every normal person is initially nervous about renting out his lake home. However, fortunately, the normal rental family Lake Gaston is Mom and Dad and middle school age and younger children. They are not at all the Myrtle Beach party down crowd. In my personal Lake Gaston rental experience, our own children put far more wear and tear on our lake house than our paying guests.

Whether you rent or not, your mortgage interest and property taxes are usually fully tax deductible. However, if you rent, virtually every additional expense – homeowners insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc. - becomes a prorata tax deduction. Because of the relatively high home prices at the Lake, your rental income will not pay for the house, but they can make a healthy contribution. Of course consult with your tax advisor before taking this route.

The other option you might consider is to purchase your lake home with another family. We did this with a family, who were not relatives, and I’ll have to admit, somewhat to my surprise, it was a smashing success. Even though my partner was someone I don’t think I could live with (we both want to run everything), he was great as a co-owner. I think it’s because at the Lake we were both in vacation mode. I took care of the yard and renting the home, he took care of home repairs requiring skill, his wife took care of the inside of the home, and, as she put it, my wife was in charge of sun bathing.

We so much enjoyed having another family around, that when we were there and they weren’t, we’d call them and urge them to “forget about the wedding and come to the Lake.”

Since we were shaking the piggy bank hard to buy the home, we did two of the above. We both went in with another family and we rented out our lake home part of the time. You can consider doing the same and possibly afford the Lake Gaston home you really want.

A final option would be to put more of your assets into your Lake home. I’m a great believer in the stock market and have been investing since I was fourteen. However, looking at the scarcity of waterfront lots on the Lake, I feel the likelihood is very high that over the next ten years appreciation on the Lake may outstrip that of the stock market. Thus, you might consider, carefully of course, shifting some of your investment from the stock market into Lake Gaston real estate.

Now, on to "Making an Offer".

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Lake Gaston Highlights

6/17/2014

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Lake Gaston is on the North Carolina/Virginia border. The Lake is 34 miles long with 350 miles of shoreline. At its widest point, it's only about a mile wide, so its a long, skinny lake. In addition to the main part of the Lake, there are many coves. In the middle of the main Lake, it's about 52 feet deep with the middle of the coves averaging around 16 feet deep. The water is almost drinkable as it lays in the Lake.

There are currently no restrictions on power boats or jet skies on the Lake.

Lake Gaston is still uncrowded, with about 60% of the waterfront lots having homes. The existing homes are about 60% vacation or second homes with the remaining 40% being retirement homes. Virtually all of the homes are single family residences with only a very few condominiums and townhouse sprinkled in.

The Lake is very small town friendly as virtually everyone living on it is from out of town or out of state. Fishing is excellent, and either a North Carolina or a Virginia fishing license is good on the entire Lake.

Several marinas which sell gas, repair boats, and rent boats are on Lake Gaston. We also have a Food Lion, several restaurants, a video rental store, and 5 golf courses within a half an hours drive. Numerous churches surround the Lake, there are plenty of civic and volunteer organizations, and our local theater group puts on really good plays at Lakeland Cultural Arts Center.

Both Richmond and Raleigh are each about and hour and 45 minutes away. The Raleigh Durham Airport is particularly good.

The average waterfront lot is probably a little over half an acre with about 110 feet of waterfront. The water level of the Lake varies only about 1 foot plus or minus under normal conditions, so we have fixed piers and leave our boats in our boathouses year round.

In general, Lake Gaston has a semi-rural feeling – safe, small town friendly, uncrowded - which will probably remind you of the 1950’s.

Now, on to "We're Considering Buying".

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We’re Considering Buying!

6/17/2014

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You’ve thought about it and you’ve decided to buy a home or lot at Lake Gaston.

First, we have multiple listing at Lake Gaston, so every real estate agent can show you any listed home.

How to choose the right realtor? First, if you know anyone who’s had a recent experience with a Lake Gaston realtor, pick their brain. If not, you’re still okay. Call one and candidly describe what type of property you’re looking for. Be straight forward about your budget and your time frame. If the realtor seems to be on your wavelength, proceed. If not, try someonelse.

On your first “shopping” visit, what frequently seems to work is to just look at a variety of properties around your price range. Tell the realtor what you like, “I love this open great room with the kitchen at the back. I don’t want to be off in the kitchen while John’s visiting with our guests.” And also what you don’t like, “This lot is just too steep for us. John will never be able to get down to the water and back.”

Let’s say you see a property you’d like to buy, but it’s listed for $50,000 more than your highest affordable price. Make an offer any way! You never really know what a seller will accept and wouldn’t it be a shame if he would have taken your offer if only you’d made it. I can’t tell you how many sellers have said to me “I won’t take a penny less than $380,000” and ended up selling for less than that. To be fair, I also can’t count the number of buyers who’ve said to me “We won’t go a penny higher than $360,000” and ended up paying more than that.

A good realtor will make adjustments to the properties she shows you based on your comments. Often it comes down to her learning what you like and waiting for it to come on the market. So be candid with your comments so she’ll know when that perfect match comes on the market.

Now, on to "Stretching Your Home Buying Dollar".

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Our House is under Contract!

6/17/2014

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You’ve decluttered, cleaned beyond clean, kept your curtains wide open, keep the air conditioning/heat at the normal temperature, left the water on, put a lock box on the house, left when the buyers came, received an offer, and now you have a signed contract. What do you do next?

First, carefully read the “Offer to Purchase” under paragraph 2. If, as is the normal case, following “EXCEPT the following items:” it say “none”, that means all the foregoing items stay. Thus, window treatments, satellite dishes, and any other item attached to the property stay.

The following are irrelevant in this regard: “My grandmother gave me that wall mirror. That chandelier was special ordered and cost $450. I’ve always taken my Ohio State mailbox in the past.” So if you want to take an item with you, make sure it’s listed after “except”.

At Lake Gaston it’s normal for the sellers not to be at the closing.

Your lake attorney will prepare the deed, which you and your spouse will need to sign, from you to the sellers. Your real estate agent will look over the closing statement for you, but you should also look it over carefully yourself. If there’s anything you don’t understand, now’s the time to speak up.

Since the buyers’ attorney will prepare your check, make sure you convey to your agent how you want your funds conveyed to you.

If you’re a nice person, and I know you are, leave all the appliance manuals, warranties, etc. lying on the kitchen counter. It’d also be nice if you left a note explaining any quirks (all homes have a few) of the home and your new telephone number inviting your home’s new owner to give you a call if he likes. Lastly, give all your keys to your agent.

Now, on to "We’re Considering Buying!".

The above is not legal advice, but only the writer’s opinion.

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We've got an offer!

6/17/2014

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Your Lake Gaston house has been on the market and your listing agent has just called and said they have an offer. What do you do?

First listen to (your agent may read you the offer over the phone) or read the entire offer. Terms can make a difference. Do these buyers want to close in your time frame? Have they put down a reasonable amount of earnest money to show they’re serious? Is the interest rate in their financing contingency slightly above the current market? And lastly, is the price offered at the current market value?

You can counter on any or all of the terms. But keep in mind, that once you counter, you’ve voided their offer. If they turn down your counter offer and you say “Well, okay, we’ll take your first offer” the buyers are completely within their rights to say “No, you voided that offer when you countered. We’re no longer interested.”

Your agent should discuss each of the terms with you. These buyers want to close in 30 days. Can you pack up and be out by then? If at all possible, try to go along with them on this. Lake Gaston buyers are notoriously eager to get into their new lake houses, particularly as warm weather approaches.

As a practical matter, once the listing agent marks your home “pending” (for contract pending) on the multiple listing system, most agent will stop showing it. The earnest money is to show that the buyers are serious. Your listing agent will tell you if she thinks the amount they put down is adequate or if you should ask that it be increased. Fortunately, it’s rare at Lake Gaston for a buyer to back out regardless of the amount of earnest money they put down.

The financing contingency basically says “If we can’t get this size loan on these terms, the deal’s off.” Of course mortgage rates vary day to day. Thus if current 30 year fixed rates are 6.0%, you’d like to see the contingent rate slightly above this in case rates increase while they’re working with their mortgage lender. But again, it’s rare at Lake Gaston for a buyer to back out because interest rates have risen slightly.

And now, the price offered. In some markets, the buyer’s first offer is frequently far below the asking price. That’s not the norm at Lake Gaston, but if it is the case with your offer, don’t take it personally, simply discuss with your agent what would be a reasonable counter offer in light of how long your house has been on the market, the number of buyers who’ve looked at it, and any other offers you’ve had. Remember, the buyer doesn’t know you, so don’t be insulted by a low offer. As a smart agent once said “This offer is better than the one we got yesterday.” “We didn’t get an offer yesterday.” “That’s my point.”

Now, you’ve accepted the initial offer, or countered, or maybe even re-countered, but at last you have a signed contract! Congratulations! Now, on to "Our House is Under Contract!"

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Our House hasn’t Sold!

6/17/2014

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Your Lake Gaston house has been on the market for several months and hasn’t sold. What should you do?

Hopefully you’ve been talking with your listing agent every month to get her feedback, so you already have a good idea why it hasn’t sold. If not, now’s the time to ask “My house has been listed for sale for 6 months and hasn’t sold. What do I need to do to get it sold?”

This is the time to listen, so please resist the temptation to tell your agent why you think it hasn’t sold “I think it’s priced right, maybe it’s because gasoline has gotten so expensive.” Simply ask the question in a straightforward manner and listen to her answer. I can almost guarantee you she knows why it hasn’t sold.

It’s hard for a listing agent to say “You remember when you listed your home, I suggested you list it for $424,900 and take any offer above $410,000. I believe you felt the home was worth more than that, so we listed it for $449,900. Unfortunately, it appears the market is telling us we’ve overpriced it in comparison to other homes on Lake Gaston and buyers are purchasing them instead. I believe we need to reduce the price to $424,900.”

In an active market, overpricing is probably the cause of a home not selling in 80% of the cases.

In perhaps 20% of the cases, the home is properly priced, but doesn’t show well.

There was a house in Myrick Estates that looked fine from the outside and I was surprised it didn’t sell, although I had never seen the inside. Then a couple showed up that seemed like a good match for the house, so I took them to see it.

As the sellers were leaving, they said “Open the curtains if you like. We leave them closed to save on the air conditioning.” The problem was, by the time I got the curtains open, the buyers had walked into another room. Making matters worse, the house was filled from top to bottom with a doll collection. The buyers said somewhat disappointedly, “It’s too bad the rooms are so small.” I replied, “Actually, I think they’re fairly large. Why don’t you walk down to the water and I’ll go get my tape measure.” While they were outside, I opened every curtain, turned on every light, and lowered the thermostat 4 degrees.

The couple ended up buying the house, but at a price I really thought was below its market value. And I couldn’t help but wonder how many earlier buyers had passed it by just because it didn’t show well.

In that rare case where your listing agent doesn’t seem to know why your house hasn’t sold, you’ll have to make a decision as whether to switch to another firm when your listing contract expires or to talk with the broker in charge of the firm you’re with (your contract is actually with the firm, not the individual agent) and ask that another agent be assigned to handle your house.

In any case, hope you get an offer soon. Now, on to "We've got an Offer!"

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We’ve listed our House for Sale!

6/17/2014

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You’ve listed your house for sale with a Lake Gaston real estate firm. Now what?

First, agree with your agent’s request that he be allowed to put a lockbox on your home. Buyers at Lake Gaston are usually here only for the day, and if the showing agent has to go out of his way to pick up a key or coordinate with the seller being there, he may simply show another home instead.

Then, and I know this is hard, but agree that when an agent calls to ask if he can show your home, the listing company can say “That’ll be fine, go right on.” The listing company will then call your home and tell you, or leave a message on your answering machine, “Lake Country Realty will be showing your house in about 20 minutes”.

You’ll get far more showing with this procedure than with “Have them wait until 3:00pm to show my house.” Lake Gaston has 350 miles of shoreline and at 3:00pm the showing agent may be on the far side of the Lake or even worse, the buyers may have said, “Now we have to leave at 2:30pm”.

Since agents can show your home anytime between 9:00am and 5:00pm, whenever you leave home during those hours, you should leave it ready to be shown. In addition to being tidy, have all the curtains open, the air conditioning/heat at the normal temperature, and the water left on in case the buyers need to use the bathroom.

Also leave the sign-in register on the kitchen counter where it can be easily seen so the showing agent can sign-in and get extra spec sheets if he needs them. And please, once you list your house for sale, no smoking in it. To the non-smoker, a smoked in house seems dirty.

Now you’re at home and you’ve gotten a call that an agent and buyer will be there in 20 minutes. Of course you’ll open all the curtains and start tidying up. But when the doorbell rings, answer it, welcome them, say “take all the time you like”, and go for a drive or a long walk. It’s very hard for an agent and buyer to have the kind of conversation they need to have if you’re in the house. “I couldn’t live with this master bedroom carpeting.” “Yes, it looks like something I’d pick out without my wife. Good carpeting runs about $3.00 a square foot installed, so you could replace it for about $700.”

We agents at Lake Gaston normally don’t call the listing agent after each showing, so don’t be too hard on your agent if you don’t get much feedback. I think the best agreement is to ask your agent to call you on the first of every month and give you an overview. Does he still feel the price is right, does the market seem to be improving or declining, is buying traffic in general good, bad or average; in summary, is there anything we should change?

If not, simply keep doing the same thing and try to be patient. Now, on to "Our House hasn't Sold!"

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