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First Act Mini Guitar Amp, for the musician in your life

Gold brocade carpet bag

10-pound Galaxie Bowling Ball w/ carrying bag

We’ll be updating with more items in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. We’re constantly looking for donations of new items services, tickets, anything that will bring in the bids! If you have something in mind, contact Barbara Gilliland at 854-5868 or bpgilliland@grra.org. And mark your calendar for June 2, when we’ll open the floor to bidding!

]]> http://greensbororealtors.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/rpac-auction-sneak-preview/feed/ 0 greensbororealtors First Act mini guitar amp DSC03836 DSC03835 http://greensbororealtors.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/tax-credits-and-march-housing-numbers/ http://greensbororealtors.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/tax-credits-and-march-housing-numbers/#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:17:01 +0000 greensbororealtors http://greensbororealtors.wordpress.com/?p=120 ]]> It was a long, cold winter, but warmer weather seems to have brought out the buyers.

Sales of existing homes in Greensboro were up 48 percent in March over February of this year.

In High Point, March home sales climbed by 106 percent.

From News 14′s report on March home sales in the Triad.

More Greensboro numbers.

He brought along excerpts from the school’s strategic plan, which you can view in full here.

One topic the superintendent wasn’t able to talk about in detail was the budget for the coming school year, which he planned to unveil to the school board later that day. He did warn of further belt tightening, and news reports from the meeting outline exactly what that might mean.

But spring is approaching, and you can expect tax-credit seeking buyers to be out in full force.

If you were unable to attend the training, you can download the quick reference guide and the full manual from the Realfast website with the links below:

Full Manual

Quick Reference Guide

Thanks to all who participated, and thanks to John and Linda for coming in — look for more Realfast info in the coming months here at the GRRA!

• Despite rumors to the contrary, the down payment for an FHA contract is not currently expected to increase.
• As a rule of thumb, allow between 30 and 45 days to process an FHA loan.
• There aren’t FHA-specific appraisers, but conventional appraisers typically know when they’re dealing with an FHA loan as opposed to a conventional loan.
• You may have heard of “Rapid Resolve” changes to credit scores for potential borrowers — while some agencies use these, most lenders won’t look at Rapid Resolve because it’s not always accurate.
• Seller-paid closing costs can sometimes adversely affect FHA loans because the FHA requires the buyer to have a certain level of investment in the property. If the seller covers too much, the loan won’t go through because the buyer doesn’t have enough invested in the property.
• The FHA loan to value percentage is 96.5% based on sale price.
• How lenders generally use the terms “pre-approved,” “pre-qualified” and “approved”:
  • Pre-qualified: Lender has run a credit check and conversed with the buyer, but no paperwork has been completed
  • Pre-approved: Buyer has submitted W-2 forms, pay stubs, etc.
  • Approved: Loan has been successfully submitted to underwriter.
• To ensure enough time has been allowed, FHA loan packages should typically go to attorneys 72 hours in advance of closing.
• As a general rule, communication is key — lenders differ in their standards, and just because the FHA doesn’t require it doesn’t mean the lender won’t want to see it. Keep the lines of communication open to ensure that you’re providing everything to the lender that his or her company requires.
• Finally, be sure to notify the lender of any changes in the contract. It could affect your closing.

Thanks to Kelly Krants of Wells Fargo Mortgage, Barbara Stewart of Forman, Rossabi & Black Attorneys at Law, Christie Caldwell and Chris Coffin of Elm Street Mortgage, Rai Alexander of Taylor Pope and Herring Inc.,  and Patrick Burns of Re/Max of Greensboro for helping make this a great panel.

RESPA Explained

And stop by the GRRA on March 5, when Robbie Cox of Chicago Title will be on hand to explain the new laws more in-depth.

That was part of a message Greensboro City Councilman Robbie Perkins delivered at the monthly luncheon of the GRRA-REALTORS® Commercial Alliance on Tuesday.

He spoke in support of an aerotropolis for the Piedmont Triad (“aerotropolis,” if you’re not familiar with the term, refers to a business structure designed to attract and support airline-dependent businesses and industries).

Creating more jobs, he said, started with identifying our assets, such as our mid-Atlantic location, our highway infrastructure, our health systems, colleges and universities. An aerotropolis could harness the power of an “underutilized” PTI.

“We need to take advantage of that asset and build up a new economy around the airport,” Perkins said, noting that the chances to do so are coming soon, as FedEx and HondaJet ramp up their presence (the talk came just one day before the new runway at PTI was officially opened).

Here are a few quick points from Perkins’ talk:

• He expects the aerotropolis to have a 60-mile draw, from Southern Virginia to southern Randolph county.
• He believes a lower corporate tax rate at the state level would help attract more businesses to the area
• Because of the massive scale of such a project, cooperation between all the affected cities and counties is a prerequisite. That means collaborating on land use planning and steering the land toward development that is friendly to businesses who might one day want to locate in the airport area.
• Greensboro should consider hiring a lobbyist to campaign for federal dollars
• Having “shovel-ready” highway projects would greatly help in securing those dollars.
• The current state of broadband in the area will likely not support the scale of this project. The airport area needs a fiber optic network that would allow companies to conduct their business globally and instantaneously. This will require significant communications infrastructure upgrades (an estimated investment of between $20 and $25 million).
• The success of the aerotropolis depends on “a positive attitude toward our friends in other areas,” Perkins said.

GRRA members haven’t heard the last of the aerotropolis – representatives from the Piedmont Triad Partnership will be on-hand at the March 2 luncheon to talk about its benefits.

We received coverage from several local media outlets — here are a few highlights:

Home sales in Greensboro end ’09 on upswing (N&R)

Greensboro Realtors Release 2009 Housing Numbers (WFMY/DigTriad.com) – with video

Thanks to Dr. Don Jud, who led the press conference, and our friends in the local media for their interest.

The full report will be up shortly on the GRRA’s Market Information page.