In the first quarter of 2008, 11 luxury homes in Durham sold, which was 5 better than last year’s 6 during the same period. This seems encouraging at first blush since sales in the $700,000 or more category decreased in both Orange (22 down from 33) and Wake (101 down from 110.) That means that Durham doubled its marketshare from 4% to 8%. This seems like a positive development and maybe some of it is but it is not all rosy. The discounts from the original list prices ranged from $12,500 to $390,000 and the average was $128,500. Throw out the high and the low and the average was still $111,000. I did not calculate the average time on the market because to be meaningful I would have had to track back over several listings on some of them. One had been listed 4 separate times before it sold. Hope Valley, The Oaks and Meadowmont each had two sales. Croasdaile, Southpoint Manor, Tyndrum, Trinity Park, and Marydell each had one sale. (more…)

This blog was originally intended primarily for Durham residents wishing to sell luxury property. The link on the sidebar for the 2008 Luxury Home Report provides some strategies for improving the marketing of luxury homes in Durham. However, since the blog was begun it is starting to show up in searches on the key search engines. This means that buyers as well as sellers will find the blog. To make the site more useful to buyers, especially those moving to the Triangle from other areas, I have created another report entitled “A Newcomer’s Guide to Luxury Real Estate in Durham.” I would also send this to any inquiries I received from other sources about the area. This is part of the strategy of not just selling a home to a prospect but also selling Durham since luxury home buyers often can go anywhere in the Triangle. The report is in a PDF format that you can read in Adobe Acrobat. Click to open and read, save, or print.

Newcomer’s Guide to Buying Luxury Real Estate in Durham

I found this video on another real estate blog geared towards investment advisors. It provides a pretty good assessment of the current situation in the national real estate market. However, all real estate markets are really local. There was a story in last week’s New York Times about a family trying to sell a home in Detroit so they could move to Arizona. The home was an attractive tudor style with over 2300 square feet. It was priced at $200,000 and the owners were concerned that they might have to accept $120,000 like a neighbor in a similar home on the next block. Detroit is an example of an exceptionally bad market. The Durham luxury home market is stagnant but far from hopeless. However, it is going to take a different approach to marketing for Durham to capture more that the 5% of the Triangle luxury home market that it got in 2007. The video is fun. Enjoy.

 

This has nothing to do with luxury real estate in Durham but it could mean the difference between enjoying it or not. I’ve been a gym rat most of my life. I’m now on the back end of middle age and can still handle some pretty heavy weights but bad feet and knees made me give up real running several years ago. I can also still get a pretty serious workout in on a stationary bike or an elliptical trainer and my resting heart rate is less than 60. My problem is that a couple of nagging little injuries have made me really feel old. It seems my flexibility has disappeared. (more…)