Wilmington’s fast growing population has fueled home sales despite a nationally declining marketing, according to a Money Magazine article published earlier this month. With an average 1-year price increase of 9.1%, Wilmington’s appreciation in 2007 was nearly 3x the national average. Please click here to read the full article.

Thank you mortgage consultants Eleanor and Steve Thorne for providing the below “By the Numbers” report.

1. FED – The Fed’s # 7 meeting of 2007 will conclude on Wednesday (10/31/07). The Fed funds futures market is priced to reflect a 92% chance of a ¼ of 1% rate cut, a 8% chance of a ½ of 1% rate reduction, and a 0% chance of no rate cut (source: Barron’s).
2. HOME SWEET HOME – The average size (in square feet) of a new home built in the USA is 2,500 today, an increase of +47% since 1970. Bill Gates, the richest American, owns a home with 66,000 square feet (source: Money Magazine, Rocky Mountain News).
3. A FEW OWN A LOT – Americans own 40% of the globe’s wealth yet they make up less than 5% of the world’s population (source: Business Week, Census Bureau).

It seems downtown Wilmington has a lot in store for it’s future: a convention center, performing arts center, marina, condo developments… the proposed list goes on and on.

Most recently proposed is a Gateway project that would provide Wilmington’s southern downtown with a much needed make-over. This project is one of the largest proposed developments in the history of the historic riverfront area – a $150-million, 14-story, mixed-use complex with condominiums, retail, a hotel, and restaurant surrounded by a park area at the base of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. If approved, the target date for completion would be four years.

Fans of the proposal say it will give the southern section of downtown an economic boost and provide a better first impression of Wilmington for visitors driving in over the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. Critics are concerned that the historic roads, many of which are brick, won’t be able to support the resulting traffic. These concerns stem from traffic challenges caused by a similar mixed-use development (Mayfaire) that opened on the other side of Wilmington prior to there being sufficient roads and infrastructure in place. Projections show that car traffic in the southern downtown area would increase from 136 car trips per day to anywhere between 11,000 and 16,000. Gateway developers say they plan to improve the roads in the area with a variety of turn lanes and traffic signals.

While it’s difficult to tell what the outcome would be, I do know that there are several certainties in Wilmington. One is that traffic is terrible. Another is that the west entryway into Wilmington is embarrassing. Between the giant Hooters billboard, the large ugly public housing towers and the homes in disrepair along Wooster, I can only imagine what visitors think upon entering our little port town. Would this proposed Gateway project be able to correct the latter without worsening the former? Or does Wilmington need to put a halt on the growth? Please tell us what you think!

As you may (or may not) have known, I’ve been helping plan the Good Shepherd Block Party for the last few months. This is one of two annual fundraisers for the Good Shepherd Center, which is the main homeless ministry here in Wilmington. The block party will be this Saturday from 7-10PM at the Mayfaire Town Center in Wilmington.

I’m sending you this email to invite you to come and enjoy a casual dinner and live auction. The live auction will have lots of items ranging in price from the $100s to $1,000s so there’s something for everyone. I’m especially proud of the playhouse that Keller Williams Realty has constructed for the auction.

All the proceeds will go to benefit the Good Shepherd Center. Tickets are $50/person. If you’d like to order tickets, you have three options:

1) Call Suesan Sullivan at 910.763.4424 Ext. 113
2) Send an email to CB(at)FineCoastalLiving.com
3) Visit the website at GoodShepherdBlockParty.com

I really hope you’ll be able to join me for an awesome evening that will support the Good Shepherd Center!

We’re extremely excited to present the new and greatly improved FineCoastalLiving.com!! The Fine Coastal Living Team and our friends at SecureNet (who have been chained to their desks fixing bugs for the past few days) have been hard at work since June visioning, designing and programming what we hope will be the most user-friendly, content-rich Wilmington NC website in existence. This new site offers visitors a plethora of benefits including:

• No registration required to search for homes
• Easy access to listings via “Quick Search” links located on the left side of many pages
• Larger property photos
• Ability to save searches and receive updates via email
• Ability to save favorite properties (and add comments that you can read later)
• Access recently viewed properties
• Ability to identify other listings in close proximity to a home you like
• Google map technology
• Larger buttons and a more concise, organized navigation
• Additional content
• Instant messaging
• Flickr photos
• And more!

Please take a look at FineCoastalLiving.com, play with it, try to break it, and let us know what you think. All feedback is welcome. As this website is designed to be YOUR ultimate Wilmington real estate resource, your opinion truly matters.

Thank you!

As many Wilmingtonians are aware, property values in New Hanover County are re-assessed for tax purposes every eight years, and 2007 was an 8th year. You could practically hear the moans and groans from residents as they opened their mail in February to discover their home’s assessed value had increased by 75-100%.

After all, a lot has happened in the past eight years. New Hanover County saw an average 20% appreciation for both 2004 and 2005. To help shield against the uproar, NHC announced their plan to make taxes “revenue neutral” for 85% of residents by lowering the tax rate (which was previously $1.14 per $100 of assessed value for city + county). Well, the new rates have been published and are available for your viewing below.

Drum roll please…

Below you’ll find the new/current tax rates for New Hanover County and surrounding areas. Remember, this amount is per $100 of assessed value so to calculate your annual taxes you would do (current value/100)*tax rate.

Keep in mind that with most areas you add the city rate to the county rate to get your total. Some communities, such as Bayshore Estates, Marsh Oaks, Northchase and Porters Neck, are outside the city border and thus owners are only required to pay county taxes. Please let us know if you have any questions!

In a real estate market where sales have dipped 20% since last year, Keller Williams Realty in Wilmington continues to advance in market share, agent count and closed dollar amount. In June, our office reported having 81 agents, a 14% increase from the year before.

When our market center opened in 2004, we were known as Keller Who? People are still shocked to learn we have over 80 agents, but I think they’ve become more familiar with our brand. In my opinion, it’s really just a matter of time before we’re a major player in Wilmington. In many large markets, such as California, Texas and Boston (to name a few), Keller Williams has already advanced to the head of the pack.

Nationally, Keller Williams Realty is the fourth-largest real estate franchise company with more than 650 offices and nearly 75,000 agents. In 2006, The Wall Street Journal added Keller Williams Realty to its elite “Franchise High Performers” list, and Entrepreneur Magazine ranked the franchise in several categories, including No. 66 in the Franchise 500® and No. 52 fastest-growing franchise.

For those who don’t know, Keller Williams Realty is a “learning based company” that treats agents as partners and offers educational programs focused on personal productivity, marketing skills, and career development. Other features that make this company unique are the capped commission structure and profit sharing. By simply switching to Keller Williams and doing nothing else, most agents would realize a 15-30 % increase in gross commission income. And this isn’t even taking into account the resources and training offered.

If you’d like more information about those numbers or anything else, please give us a ring at 910-442-2030.

The current ocean water temperature in Wilmington is 75 °F, and it feels great! I should know- I took a dip yesterday after jogging the loop at Wrightsville. The ocean water was warm and relaxing. This is what living on the coast is all about! After all, the beach and our port are the main reasons why Wilmington is here and why people keep coming. What would we be without our waterways?

No seriously. What would we be without our waterways??

Many residents don’t realize that our beaches, inlets and harbors are in a state of crisis. As the ocean moves sand down the coast, it wiggles into inlets and clogs the waterways. Previously, the Corp of Engineers has kept an eye on this. But recently, the budget and maintenance for it were cut. And not just for Wilmington… funding was abandoned all over the US with no advanced notice.

So what do we do from here?

(more…)

At a government briefing today, I caught a glimpse of proposed plans (featured below) for Wilmington’s riverfront district. The highlight of the plans is a performing arts center – a venue many Wilmingtonians have long been longing for. With a 1500-2000 person capacity, the proposed center would be capable of hosting a plethora of cultural attractions including symphony, opera, concerts, dance performances and more.

Of course, at this point nothing is set in stone.

ARCH is currently working with architects to weigh the pluses and minuses and make sure downtown is the most suitable area for the project.

If approved, the plans would also include an extended riverwalk, marina, residential condos, hotels, and retail. The hope is that the center and surrounding improvements would help Wilmington become a hot spot for the “creative class” and draw in more prominent industry attracted to culture.

It would be an understatement to say this all makes me very thrilled about the future of our Port City. Please check back often for updates regarding this exciting project!

Above: proposed plan for Wilmington’s northern riverfront district. Click for larger view. Please note we are waiting to receive a more recent rendering. In the above image, the hotel between the marina and condos is the site considered for the performing arts center.

Two years ago, the City of Wilmington spent $3.7M on riverfront land and signed an agreement with developer Armada Hoffler to build a $52M convention center and hotel on the lot. Since then, the project has been held up by numerous redesigns, a lawsuit and, most recently, termination of its agreement with Armada Hoffler (after the developer said it was no longer “financially feasible” to build a full-service hotel on the site).

This has left city officials questioning whether the project should continue. Those in favor of the convention center believe it will fuel the downtown boom – making Wilmington a destination for conventioneers and a focal point for the entire region.

Critics argue that the new face of downtown (post PPD, etc) presents us with more choices than before and that Wilmington would benefit more from a public-private partnership such as a multi-use performing arts and civic center.

“We don’t need to close our eyes and pretend there’s not other options on the table,” said Councilman Jason Thompson.

For now, the city is hard at work trying to find a new developer and still plans to break ground late summer.

Let’s hear what Wilmington residents have to say! Are you for or against a new convention center?