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Hi city data community!
We are a young family transferring from (you guessed it) the northeast. I went to high school in charlotte so I have a basic understanding of the area and some of the neighborhoods. We are hoping to buy a house that needs work and fix it up over the time that we live there (probably 2-4 years) and hope to sell it for a profit. We will be looking for a "deal" in the $300-$350k range in a neighborhood where something fixed up would go for higher. We didthat 3 years ago when we moved i to our current house and have become very handy and expect to sell our house for a decent amount more than we paid. Personally, I would love a house with some character, non-traditional, around 2000 square feet. But it's more important to me that our house be very sellable. What are buyers in the $400k range typically looking for and find least desirable? I assume elementary schools that feed into Myers Park and Providence are the most sought after? I'm not interested in areas farther out than 485.
All ideas and opinions are welcome but a couple of specific questions are:
Do people prefer brick to siding?
Are people looking for a lot more square feet, like 3000+?
Is a 2 car garage super important?
Is a pool considered a plus or minus?
Is a 2 story more desirable?
Is a busy street (Providence, Carmel) a deal-breaker for many?
Unfortunately for me I think that most of my personal preferences don't match up with the typical Charlotte buyer, based on what I'm seeing of listings and prices. But like I said, it's more important that we can easily sell our house since it's likely we will be transferred again in a few years. Thanks for your help!
I'll answer from my perspective:
Do people prefer brick to siding? Brick. We chose a house with siding because brick was too expensive.
Are people looking for a lot more square feet, like 3000+? SQ Footage isn't as important as the layout. I've seen some houses with a lot of SQ footage but they felt cramped.
Is a 2 car garage super important? Yes, especially without a basement or attic for storage.
Is a pool considered a plus or minus? For us minus because of insurance and maintenance.
Is a 2 story more desirable? Not eally. I know a lot of people that were looking for one story homes.
Is a busy street (Providence, Carmel) a deal-breaker for many? Yes. Unless it's an absolutely amazing home, especially with the increase in population and traffic.
If you want to flip the home I think you should stay off of a main road. Myers Park High School district is a good choice but might be hard to find a good 'flip' house. Most homes in that area sell at a premium. Closer to central Charlotte the better, buy at the bottom price range for the neighborhood. Good luck.
All ideas and opinions are welcome but a couple of specific questions are:
Do people prefer brick to siding? - Yes, but under 400k you are looking at likely a ranch
Are people looking for a lot more square feet, like 3000+? Not at $400k
Is a 2 car garage super important? Yes
Is a pool considered a plus or minus? Depends on the family, depends on the pool. We specially bought our current house because of the pool. Also looked at places where the pools were in less than stellar shape and were big turn offs.
Is a 2 story more desirable? - Typically
Is a busy street (Providence, Carmel) a deal-breaker for many? Yes, but I only refer to being directly on on that road
Can't go wrong with vinyl siding, chain-linked fences and laminate floors. Throw in a barking dog chained to a tree and you won't have any trouble finding buyers.
This is a very hard time to try to "flip" anything as prices have crested in the Charlotte area. Unless you know somebody with a dying relative or some sort of off MLS gem, it's going to be really hard for you to buy at the right price with that budget. I would encourage you to buy a home that you are absolutely sure you could stay in for a long time and pick features that YOU like best instead of anticipating what will market to other buyers.
I like the other posters' suggestion to look for opportunities central to downtown. The light rail line and some of the transitioning neighborhoods nearby would be more attractive for a flip.I know interest rates are low and the city is still growing, but you have to plan for the worst and hope for the best!
Unless you were willing to buy a lot for that price and build a super large infill home, the Myers Park district is difficult to "flip".
This is a very hard time to try to "flip" anything as prices have crested in the Charlotte area. Unless you know somebody with a dying relative or some sort of off MLS gem, it's going to be really hard for you to buy at the right price with that budget. I would encourage you to buy a home that you are absolutely sure you could stay in for a long time and pick features that YOU like best instead of anticipating what will market to other buyers.
I like the other posters' suggestion to look for opportunities central to downtown. The light rail line and some of the transitioning neighborhoods nearby would be more attractive for a flip.I know interest rates are low and the city is still growing, but you have to plan for the worst and hope for the best!
Unless you were willing to buy a lot for that price and build a super large infill home, the Myers Park district is difficult to "flip".
Good luck!
Just curious why you think prices have "crested"?
Not saying I have any idea, but are you just saying that because values are about where they were before the last decline? That may be true but the increase has been more gradual this time.
Not saying I have any idea, but are you just saying that because values are about where they were before the last decline? That may be true but the increase has been more gradual this time.
And I wonder what he/she means by "crested"? That are going to fall moving forward? Based on what?
This is definitely a guess and my advice was tailored to the OP's budget and area (feeder areas to Myers Park and Providence). No one knows what will happen for sure on the time horizon I'm talking about (5 years). The surest way for them to be happy to to buy a home that they can see themselves in for a longer time period if they need to be. There are too many unknowns to make that kind of decision if you're going to be unhappy if stuck. There are a lot of companies flipping houses in Providence and Myers Park right now. But they are knocking down 50's ranches bought for 300k, then spending 400k to build a 1M home. It's a risky game for them, but with a bigger budget they are doing it. In the OP scenario, band aid fixing a ranch will not return their money as assuredly as it would if they could take the same approach and knock one down for new construction. I'm not suggesting they do that, just explaining that with the market as an unknown, flipping a home bought for 300k is really hard unless you get lucky or make a more dramatic difference. The new kitchen, bathroom and countertops aren't going to do that. Especially when you're competing with new construction in the same area.
I think Charlotte's outlook is great over the next 20, but there will be a dip in between IMO in response to the inevitable interest rate hike. The hike will impact the purchasing power of buyers, thus reducing demand, thus resulting in price decreases for those who are in a 'need to sell' scenario.
At the moment, many lots in established neighborhoods feeding Myers Park are selling for over 300k. The $/sq ft for the area they specify has really shot up over the last 5 years. I think the OP can find what they're looking for, but would hate for them to pull the trigger too early if a correction occurs. That said, if they are borrowing a lot of money, maybe locking in a low interest rate makes sense. Every scenario is different.
Another factor is that our school districts will likely change in the next 5 years. If they can be smart about finding the neighborhood that "becomes" Providence or MP that wasn't prior, there may be some good deals there.
But the surest protection is buying a home that they see potential in AND they can see themselves in for a long time if they need to. Life has a way of challenging our best laid plans and it's important to be ready for alternatives if they can't sell due to an unforeseen factor.
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