Invest in the Mountains of Murphy NC – Especially Now!

Posted by I Love Murphy on December 27, 2008

With the Holiday season coming to a wrap and 2009 young and vibrant, we all are looking forward to a year of progress. President Obama’s term is getting ready to begin, and regardless of whether you are a supporter or not, I’m certain we are all hopeful for an improved economy and a prosperous nation.

Real Estate is a huge opportunity for investment prosperity as our economy continually shows signs of improving. Not only that, there are many choices for homes and land. The hardest part is just picking which is your favorite! As Donald Trump said, “It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.” You’ll always be able to stand on it, touch it, enjoy it, and ultimately sell something that is real – not just a paper investment.

Real Estate is a low cost opportunity right now as interest rates are continually dropping. You should be certain to contact one of our many local lenders to find the opportunities in place right now. Feel free to visit our “Gotta Guy” list to find several local lenders (that’s our local recommended contractor list). Cost of ownership is extraordinarily low with very favorable county tax rates. For example, current rates for a home assessed at $200,000 will be in the neighborhood of $800 for the year. Homeowner’s insurance runs in the same neighborhood as well. If you purchase land, you shouldn’t need to pay insurance for it since your current homeowner’s policy should protect you for most things under personal liability coverage (be sure to check your own policy to see what specific coverage is offered).

There are many different types of real estate investments in Murphy NC available suitable to practically every budget. We have land opportunities as low as $10,000 and with sizes ranging from lots to parcels with thousands of acres. Looking for a home you can enjoy now or don’t want to build? We have brand new cabins and homes in the low 100’s, and from there, the sky is the limit. You can also search the Murphy NC MLS for free.

The investment standpoint is always a good way to look at it, and with a degree in financial planning, I tend to look that way first. Truth is, that’s only a very small portion owning a property in the mountains. Waking up with a warm cup of coffee overlooking a stunning mountain view is something you cannot even begin to put a price on. Living on a cool mountain river watching trout swim around catching flies is something that simply can’t be replaced. Sitting on a soft leather couch in the evening watching the sunset on the Appalachian Mountains right beside a crackling fireplace is of no comparison.

Now is the time to move from dreaming and to start planning. Come to Murphy! There are many great cabin rental companies and hotels to choose from so you can come and truly enjoy yourself. Curious about the area and want more information about weather, what to do, and more? Contact us and we’ll send you our FREE Murphy NC Information Packet; it’s filled with tons of information about the weather and climate in Murphy NC, things to do, and much more! And until you get here, keep dreaming of mountain views, comfortable weather with four seasons, and great people!

***Be sure to read this article in the January 2009 Edition of our local Cherokee County Newspaper, The Cherokee Scout. You’ll find it and our full page ad in Country Roads.***

John Poltrock, Certified Residential Specialist – Murphy NC – The POLTROCK TEAM at RE/MAX Mountain Properties – www.MyMurphy.com – JohnPoltrock@gmail.com – Call us Toll Free at 1-866-Murphy-NC or 1-866-687-7496.

Tired of Making Bad Investments? Consider Buying Real Estate in Murphy NC!

Posted by I Love Murphy on October 21, 2008

Have you ever bet your life’s savings on the craps table? How about taking a weekend to Vegas with everything you’ve worked for? Would you ever bet everything on one spin of the wheel? Although Ashley Revell sold everything he owned, traveled to Las Vegas and bet it all on one spin of the roulette wheel, it’s simply not a smart idea. (See below for Ashley’s Vegas Adventure)

Right now, the stock market looks like a good investment – yet you simply don’t know. This year alone, the Dow has lost 5,228.04 points, or an astonishing 37.1%. This past Friday it dropped a whopping 1.41% in one day! So I pose my question again – have you ever bet your life’s savings on roll of the dice?

This past week, a couple who are very good clients of ours wanted to make a pretty sizeable investment – and it accounted for a very large portion of their savings. Where did they put their money? Real Estate. What did they buy? Land. Why did they buy it? Because it was a smart, safe bet. We found two tracts of land that works perfectly for them and are very likely to provide a safe, reliable place to put their money.

In watching properties on the market, the best properties are getting snatched up at record rates. We sold one of the properties as an investment to the couple above 84% faster than the market average! Why? Because it was a phenomenal opportunity that simply doesn’t stay on the market and you have to act fast for opportunities like it.

How many times have you heard people, friends and families say, “When this election gets out of the way, things will really turn around.” Mentality of the people you know and of the nation makes a tremendous amount of difference as to when fortunes are made. The election is less than a month away. Would you like to be ahead of the curve and buy an investment while the market is at the bottom or buy when prices are on the way up?

If you want to find the best real estate investments, call us or your Realtor today before the election and market upswing. Find out what properties are available, look at them, size them up, and decide what’s best for you. Don’t see what you want? Ask to be set up on automatic notification so you can be alerted as soon as a property hits the market before anyone else has time to find out about it. We would be happy to do this for you for free of charge and start getting your investment portfolio where it should be – well diversified and profitable!

Written by John Poltrock, Contributing Writer for The Cherokee Scout. Be in “the know” by visiting The Cherokee Scout’s Website to have their paper delivered to your door.

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What’s Happened to the Value of My Real Estate in Murphy, North Carolina?

Posted by I Love Murphy on July 24, 2008

Real estate in Murphy NC, as for most of the United States, is a high topic of conversation. Whether it’s about an individual home or land or the prices of them, you can expect to hear about it at any local hangout. Now, most folks don’t walk around and openly say, "my home is worth a gajillion dollars," but they do watch what’s selling and for sale in their neighborhood.

So it’s natural to wonder, "What’s happened to my property value over the last few years?"

Since Murphy, NC doesn’t have subdivisions with 100’s of the exact same house, it’s difficult to track a definite percentage of how much our market has adjusted. Fortunately, there’s still a good way to calculate it based on a popular style of houses. Like most areas, we do have a popular style. And nope, it’s not stucco, brick, or any of the common houses you see in primary markets. We have a popular home style called the chalet.

Because we have many chalets for sale and in turn help families buy a lot of them, we can get a rough idea of what the market has done. Without a doubt, these numbers will not apply to every home – especially unique ones. This is intended to give you a benchmark.

**Market Summary**
	2006	2007	2008	2006 to 2007 Difference	2007 to 2008 Difference	2006 to 2008 Difference
List Price	$253,031	$269,155	$237,730	Up 6.37%	Down 11.68%	Down 6.05%
Sales Price	$246,777	$259,757	$217,813	Up 5.26%	Down 16.15%	Down 11.74%
List to Sale Ratio	97.37%	97.01%	91.99%	Down 0.37%	Down 5.17%	Down 5.53%
Days on Market	111	221	225	Up 99%	Up 1.8%	Up 102.70%

*Based on an average of all 2/2 chalets on a basement sold in Cherokee County in the given year as sold across the Mountain Lakes Board of Realtors®. You can view more market statistics on our Murphy NC State of the Market Reports.

The large and short of it is that we have seen sale prices decline about 11.74% over the last 20 months. The stock market has lost 13.3% in 2008 alone (based on the DJIA index). With that said, it appears your money is far more stable and secure in the tangible asset of real estate rather than stocks.

This chart is a great indicator as to how the market trends. The year 2007 was our transition year where values began to decline. One of the largest indicators as to this is that days on market practically doubled while prices still increased. This indicates that although there was appreciation, it took longer for buyers to find and buy homes on the market. Since days on market is remaining quite stable, it shows a strong sign our market is reaching the "trough" (or bottom) of the business cycle.

Since it looks like we’re riding the wave at the bottom of the market, now is a great time to buy. You can purchase your real estate at low prices that we haven’t seen in years. If you’re waiting for the market to go up, you’ll miss out on huge amounts of appreciation that’s in store for us soon.

Are you considering selling and want to know what this data means for your individual property? Contact your local Cherokee County Realtor® for a free market analysis to interpret what your home is now worth. If you’d like us to research it for you, please feel free to call us or use our FREE Online "What’s My Home Worth?" form.

Are you considering buying and want to find the best buy on the market? Be sure to contact a local Realtor®. They’re the ones living and breathing real estate and you should rely on their expertise. You can also call us to find your new property or use our FREE Online "Find My Dream Home!" form.

Written By: John Poltrock, your Cherokee County Certified Residential Specialist – www.MyMurphy.com – Call Toll Free (866) 687-7496 and demand The POLTROCK TEAM! – Real Estate in the Mountains of Murphy, North Carolina – Email me at JohnPoltrock@gmail.com – RE/MAX Mountain Properties

*Watch for this article in the upcoming issue of the Cherokee Scout’s Country Roads, which is the *new* real estate section of Cherokee County’s newspaper. Be sure to subscribe to the Scout newspaper and have it delivered at your home for 38 cents per week!

Denied septic permits results in ‘useless’ land – The Cherokee Scout – Cherokee County, N.C.’s local newspaper – News

Posted by I Love Murphy on February 28, 2008

Septic permits continue to be a hot topic in Cherokee County that literally revolves around… well… crap. I must point out, we live in a county where one of the most politically involved issues is a septic permit – we’ve got it great here in Murphy!

I recommend, as does any responsible real estate agent in our area, that anyone buying a lot has their property gets a "perc" test as most people call it. This ensures your property can have a septic system installed, and thus have a house built.

Very seldom, that doesn’t mean anything. In this case of the article in the Cherokee Scout, one man had a permit that was revoked. This happened because a soil specialist who worked for the county did not do his job properly. He issued permits that should not have been because of unsuitable soil conditions.

Now the question is this: The property is virtually useless so who is responsible for paying? The arguments:

The homeowner is up a creek (which is wrong)
Cherokee County is responsible because the permit issued here
The state of North Carolina – who licenses and approves soil scientists

It seems to be a finger pointing session with the buck not stopping any where. Although I feel confident it will be resolved soon, it’s a matter of working it all out and going through the hoops. Since the property owner did everything that should have been done, I don’t believe they should be penalized. Now the question is, "Who’s Paying?" The state or Cherokee County?

Read the full article from the Cherokee Scout: Denied septic permits results in ‘useless’ land – The Cherokee Scout – Cherokee County, N.C.’s local newspaper – News

John and Jessica Poltrock – The POLTROCK TEAM at REMAX of Murphy, NC – www.MyMurphy.com – JohnPoltrock@gmail.com – Call Toll-Free (877) 837-3002 and demand the POLTROCK TEAM! – Real Estate in the Mountains of Murphy

*Note* Out of all of the tens of thousands of permits issued, this issue has affected far less than 0.1% of property owners.

John Poltrock in the Mountain Lakes Board of Realtors 2007 Million Dollar Club!!!

Posted by I Love Murphy on February 6, 2008

Just released in the Cherokee Scout Newspaper, the announcement of the Mountain Lakes Board of Realtors 2007 Million Dollar Club achievers! Congratulations to everyone who reached their goals in 2007.

It is folks like these who make valuable contributions to our community and economy. Many of the agents in this class and production level donate their time and money to things like the Mountain Lakes Board Scholarship which is given to outstanding students in areas our Board services to help offset the cost of loans.

When the Million Dollar Club winners are calculated based on production, it is done by sides involved. For example, if a $100,000 home is sold, the "listing agent" would only be allotted $50,000 toward his production level if another agent sold it. If the "listing agent" also worked with the buyer, the full $100,000 would be allotted toward their production. A minimum of $1,000,000 in production is required for that club and $750,000 in production to be awarded the Diamond Club award. Some folks have the misconception it is how much money that person made last year, and I can assure you it is not how much money that person made.

Again, congratulations to all of our Realtors who achieved a spectacular level of production and professionalism.

John and Jessica Poltrock – The POLTROCK TEAM – RE/MAX Mountain Properties in Murphy NC – www.MyMurphy.com – JohnPoltrock@gmail.com – Call (877) 837-3002 and demand the POLTROCK TEAM!

Thank You for Making RE/MAX #1 in not just Murphy, but all of Cherokee County!!!

Posted by I Love Murphy on February 6, 2008

Thank you to everyone who made RE/MAX #1! Nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX – Now fact in Cherokee County – which is Murphy and Andrews, North Carolina!

Cherokee Scout Advertisement

About 4 years ago, David Ritz (who is also my brother-in-law) left a prominent real estate company here and opened up RE/MAX. A completely new idea in our area, the new real estate phenomenon started in a small office and grew in just four short years from the underdog to the #1 selling real estate office – period. Now in the new office – Cornerstone – it has gone from not only a real estate company, but to a landmark in our community.

We look forward to bringing another successful year at the end of 2008. We appreciate all your support and are excited about helping you find homes and land that will make your dreams of the mountains become a reality!

John and Jessica Poltrock – The POLTROCK TEAM at RE/MAX of Murphy NC – www.MyMurphy.com – JohnPoltrock@gmail.com – Call us toll-free at (877) 837-3002 and demand the POLTROCK TEAM!

This ad is from our Cherokee Scout Newspaper Ad showing where we closed a property every other day with all the homes and land pictures in the background.

Tag: Cherokee Scout