General Assembly overrides the Governor’s Veto of SB166
Last week the general assembly voted to override 5 of Governor Coopers vetoes. Among them was SB166 which would have changed building codes of new construction but there were also retroactive requirement regarding septic systems that would have placed many NC homeowners in incredibly difficult positions if they were in need of a septic repair.
Thankfully with this decision the provision that local environmental health officials have had of being able to use their best professional judgement was brought back without restrictions. This is great news for property owners who under the law would have been required to abandon existing septic systems that may have only needed minor repairs, regardless if local officials could have recommended a repair in place and move to a designated repair area to install a brand new system if their existing system was in need of repair.
237 Laurel Woods Way in Currituck is SOLD!
Congratulations Sara and Chris and family! You have been absolutely fantastic to work with and I could not be more excited for all of you to start your journey in this great neighborhood and community. I wish you many happy memories in your new home!
682 Methodist Church Rd in Elizabeth City has SOLD!
Congratulations Wayne on selling your home in EC! We are grateful you trusted us as your real estate listing agency and partner in selling your home. We appreciate you trusting us and being such a fantastic seller. We are thrilled that we were able to navigate a successful sale for you. Best of luck in all your future endeavors!
Aug 17th changes
If you’ve been following the Sitzer Burnett case and the news about changes in the real estate industry, August 17th is the date that those changes will become effective everywhere. Our local MLS’ (multiple listing services) have already begun implementation. After many long legal hours for those involved here are the main changes that are being made across the country and our take on it.
If you would like to tour a home as a buyer, the agent showing you the home is required to enter into a written buyer agency agreement with you that outlines what services they offer and compensation details. These will be required for both in person and virtual tours. You can still tour open houses on your own without this agreement. The good part about this in our opinion is that this provides an opportunity for full transparency in that before you tour a home and essentially begin working with an agent, you will know what services the agent showing you the home offers and what they charge for them. However, what if this showing is the first time you’re meeting this agent and you’re not sure if they are the right person to hire? Are you being forced into a contract with someone you aren’t sure about yet? This concept may understandably cause some consumers anxiety. In fact in Colorado right now, consumer complaints about just this are rolling into the real estate division of within the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. While we are in North Carolina, the changes being implemented are national and the responses that begun to take effect anywhere can have some relevance across the board. So what are we doing about this concern @ Salted Pines? We want to discuss the needs of every individual client as they pertain to them. Honesty, transparency and problem solving are what have made us successful and we don’t plan to change that at all. Our goal always has been to make sure that every consumer is fully informed and gets the best services possible. So if you are interested in working with us to represent you as your buyer’s agent which includes showing you properties of interest, we will fully discuss with you what this means PRIOR to any showings or signing of any agency agreement. You will never be forced or rushed into signing anything. We will continue to provide buyer agency agreements in writing as we always have.
Cooperative compensation has always been and remains negotiable. It now cannot be referenced in or entered into a MLS in any way. It can continue to be offered by sellers as it always has as an incentive to broaden the availability of potential buyers. Despite what some news media sources have put in their headlines, there has never been a fixed amount of compensation real estate professionals get nor is it true that due to the settlement cooperative compensation can no longer be offered. The only change is the way in which it can be advertised and there is also increased documentation to ensure that home sellers are aware this is a fully negotiable option and home buyers are aware of the exact amounts their agents are receiving for the services they provide. We do believe that incentives offered by a seller when selling their homes can offer a great benefit as it can increase the number of home buyers who show interest in a property. When the seller agrees to cooperative compensation they are telling their agent that they are permitted to share their agreed upon compensation with an agent who represents the buyer of their home. It is similar to when sellers agree to offer concessions that will go towards helping a buyer pay their closing costs- it’s a negotiable item. It will remain the seller’s choice whether they want to offer cooperative compensation. For our sellers who do agree to offer this, we will ensure that we advertise this well in all aspects of our marketing for the purposes of bringing in the most amount of interest for your property as possible.
See the below links for Homebuyers and Homes Seller info sheets from the National Association of Realtors®
Homebuyers:
Home Seller:
211 Laurel Woods Way in Currituck NC has been SOLD!
Congratulations to the sellers of 211 Laurel Woods Way who trusted us to help them sell their home. Their property had been used as a rental and we were able to help them assess whether any repairs/ updates were needed, provide our assessment of resale value in the current market and get their property on the market quickly. Once listed we received multiple offers and were able to obtain a contract within 16 days and get to a quick close of 30 days which was beneficial to both the sellers and buyers of the property.
If you or anyone you know is interested in a comparative market analysis to determine the market value of their home, a home equity report to determine how much equity you may have in your home, or aren’t sure what the highest and best use of your property may be i.e. resale, long term rental, short term rental, commercial etc… feel free to reach out to us at anytime! We are here for our clients before during and after any transaction and can help give you the information needed to make the best decisions with your real estate.
We are open for business!
We have officially opened Salted Pines Real Estate! Thank you so much to all of our clients, friends and family who have reached out to offer words of encouragement! We are off to a busy start and very excited for 2024. On this page you will find updates about our business as well as local real estate information. We hope to be your trusted real estate experts for many years to come. If you haven’t already, head on over to the “join our network” section at the bottom of this site and sign up to receive updates directly to your email. We promise to not sell or share your information to 3rd party sites and to only provide the most helpful and interesting content.
Opening Day coming soon!
Our first blog post…well of course we’re going to share the biggest thing happening in our business this week…its grand opening! This is the first blog post of the site. Salted Pines Real Estate is on it’s way to being open. We are still in the process of filing paperwork and paying fees…all the wonderful things about opening a business but it will all be worth it as we know it will give us the flexibility and resources to continue to improve the services we offer our clients. We are excited for an amazing 2024 and cannot wait to check in with past clients to see everything 2024 has in store for them and meet new clients that we can help to make 2024 the year of exciting real estate plans! As always, we are so appreciative of all the referrals we receive from friends, family and fellow agents. Keep them coming!