CarrboroWeb- Carrboro and Chapel Hill, North Carolina- Layman's Guide to Real Estate- A Case Study #7

The The Layman's Guide to Buying Real Estate in Chapel Hill-
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Case Study
Property #7

Property #7 James Street

This was it and we knew it as soon as we found it. An 1800 sq foot house with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and an attached 1 bedroom apartment on 1 acre in town(3 blocks walk from the local Elementary and Middle School), There were high tension wires in the back 70 feet(and an easement) but there was 100 feet of woods to buffer us.

The asking price was $260,000 which was way higher than we originally planned on paying. We were hoping for something closer to $150,00, but after a short time of searching we slowly raised our expectations of what we would have to realistically pay.

I researched the property trying to figure out an accurate value. All the properties around it were listed for over $300,000 but they were larger homes on a little more land in some cases. The best I could find was a house a couple of houses down(that I had been inside of amazingly enough when they asked me to take pictures of it for their website). This house was immaculate at the time of being sold and sold for $205,000 2 years earlier. It was appraised about $7,000 higher by the town than the house I was looking at. The house I was looking at had been a rental property and although it was in great condition, there was still work to be done to it to transform it from a rental to a primary residence(the apartment was perfect to be my office/studio and Rebecca's salon)

I went to a real estate agent friend, Jay Parker, who the family has used for years and we talked about the property. Without looking at the property and going on what I told him, he came up with a price between $235,000 and $245,000 depending on "how much I was willing to pay".

I completed an offer to buy contract and offered the seller $241,900. He looked read the offer and suggest that we meet in person and discuss it. He told me how he came up with his price and I told him how I came up with mine. We both expressed that we wanted to be sure that each of us was happy with the final price. After a little discussion we came up with $243,500.

We corrected the contract, made copies and I passed it on to my attorney Richard Bircher who as handled most of real estate transactions. He works out of a basic no frills office in Carr Mill Mall and is very pleasant and efficient to work with. His informal office and demeanor suits me just fine!

And that was the process of finding and purchasing a home in Carrboro.

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