lake wylie information

CLT Airport to Expand

May 21, 2022 by lkw_df Leave a Comment

It was announced that the Charlotte Douglas International Airport will once again be under construction. This time, the expansion will bring 10 more gates to help ease travel and possibly offer new destinations for travelers.

The project is expected to cost $231 million and will also include as part of the 10 gates, three common use gates. The new gates will be numbered A31-40. Currently Charlotte airport is the fifth-busiest in the world for arrivals and departures and the sixth-busiest for passenger traffic. These numbers are from the Airports Council International 2021 preliminary rankings.

In addition to the gates, the project will bring 191,848 square feet of space with automatically tinting windows, high ceilings, and scenic windows. Passengers will delight that they can charge devices at your seat at the gate. A new store, restaurant, and two bars should help fill in the space as well.

The new space will also boast many new works of art to proudly display the culture of the Piedmont. Two of the new pieces of artwork have been commissioned in part with the Arts & Science Council by artists Benjamin Ball and Val Britton.

The new expansion is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2024 so we will have to deal with the sounds, and dust from construction for a while. It should be a showplace that will signal to travelers what Charlotte is all about.

If you want to know more about any of this upcoming project or want to schedule a showing on a home in the Lake Wylie area, call us at 803-831-8588. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.

Where to Find the Best Holiday Lights and Markets around Lake Wylie

November 23, 2021 by lkw_df Leave a Comment

If you’re like us, you’re thinking about all of the celebrations we have missed out on for the last few years. You probably want to make up for lost time, and we have a few great ideas for the best holiday lights and markets to help you start celebrating early. Here are a few of our favorite places for holiday lights:

Carowinds Winterfest – Fort Mill, SC, lights, parade, treats, and activities all for $24.99 per person.
Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Speedway Christmas – Concord, NC, 3.75 mile drive through event, $30-40 per car with a fast pass option for $70/car.
Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens Holidays at the Garden – Belmont, NC, outdoor event with food trucks, beverages, and marshmallow roasting. $14.95 per adult, savings for seniors, and kids, children under 2 are free.
Festival of Trees in Belmont – Belmont, NC, a free event in historic downtown Belmont.
McAdenville’s Christmas Town USA, McAdenville, NC. This free event is perfect for driving through, or walking.

We also love many of the holiday markets. Here are just a few:

Charlotte Christmas Village – Uptown Charlotte. Shopping and European food and drink options. $5/day or season pass for $35.
Hot Stuff Holiday Market – Plaza Midwood. Crafts, Food, and community. Free.

For more information on buying or selling a home in the Lake Wylie area, call us at 803-831-8588. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.

Affordability Crisis, Charlotte and Lake Wylie

November 23, 2021 by lkw_df Leave a Comment

If you live in the Charlotte area, it’s no surprise to you that there is starting to be an affordability crisis. According to Axios Charlotte, you now need to make $70,000 per year to be able to afford the median priced home in the Charlotte region.

That median priced home has climbed dramatically in the last few years from $190,000 in December 2015 to $335,000 as of October 2021. That’s a rise of $145,000 in just under 6 years. To put that in terms of a monthly payment, at 3.61% interest that’s $660/month more on the same home six years later.

That means that you could have financed a $190,000 home at 3.61% interest and had a mortgage payment of $865 per month before taxes and insurance. Today that would cost you $1,525 per month at the same 3.61% rate.

Many people have not seen their wages increase at the same rate as home prices so they are not able to afford a home in this market. This is keeping many people renting that would otherwise already have bought a home.

There can be a disconnect as well when the bank says you can’t afford a home, but your rent is more than the payment on a purchase. More and more people are finding that to be the case because the bank uses more than just the monthly payment to see if you are eligible for a mortgage.

We are starting to see a correction in wages for many industries, but without more supply of homes available for purchase, we are unlikely to see the prices for homes come down anytime soon. It will be interesting to see what the spring brings as we expect many more listings.

For more information on buying or selling a home in the Lake Wylie area, call us at 803-831-8588. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.

Allison Creek Access Re-Vamp To Begin Soon

July 29, 2021 by lkw_df Leave a Comment

If you are a frequent user of the Allison Creek Access Area and boat ramps, you will need to find an alternate access point starting next month. The two boat ramps and fishing access will be closed for improvements.

The area is scheduled for a much needed upgrade which will feature RV and tent camping, picnic area, trails, canoe/kayak launch, and ranger station spaces. York County recently rezoned 165 acres as part of the project.

The work is slated to begin in August of 2021 with a reopening planned for late in 2022. In the meantime, you can use access points at Buster Boyd, Ebenezer Park, Nivens Creek, or South Point. All of these areas have boat ramps, but there are many other public access points for the lake that do not have boat ramps.

This project is part of the requirements for Duke Energy as part of their federal license to continue operations of hydropower plants on the Catawba River. They have many other improvements in the area including restrooms at the Buster Boyd Access Area, a new riverfront park in Rock Hill, and the restoration of Great Falls. There are many other improvements that have been completed already, are in the works, or have been planned.

For information about buying and selling homes in the Lake Wylie area, give us a call at 803-831-8588 and we can put together a plan for you and your family. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.

New Casino Opening in Kings Mountain

June 21, 2021 by lkw_df Leave a Comment

Rendering art courtesy of the Catawba Indian Nation and Delaware North

Early in July, a new casino will open in a temporary location in Kings Mountain. The casino, called Two Kings Casino Resort, has long been awaited and is part of the Catawba Indian Nation. It is a great day trip from Lake Wylie and is perfect for those days when you are recovering from a sunburn, or on rainy days.

The temporary facility is located off exit 5 on Interstate 85 near the Kings Mountain Boulevard interchange. It is a 29,000 square foot complex with 500 slot machines that will bring in revenue for Cleveland County, the town of Kings Mountain, and the Catawba Tribe in North and South Carolina. The permanent facility will have an additional 1,300 slot machines, games tables, and sports betting. The casino will eventually employ thousands of people, but for now they are hiring hundreds of people to staff the temporary location.

Food and drinks will be available from an onsite bar in addition to an outdoor patio with food trucks. Eventually there will be restaurants and additional bars with enough seating capacity for 940 people.

The final location is currently being developed and is expected to be complete in 2022. Until then, expect the casino to be crowded right after launch as everyone rushes to check it out. It will be open 24/7 so you can come late in the evening or early in the morning to see it when it is not so crowded.

For more information on buying or selling a home in the Lake Wylie area, call us at 803-831-8588. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.

May Market Report: Greater Lake Wylie Area

June 15, 2021 by lkw_df Leave a Comment

The May numbers have been published by the Canopy Realtor Association and they look very similar to previous months. There is still a severe lack of supply of homes, with high demand driving prices higher and we are still seeing homes sell for more than list price. There are new homes coming on the market, but so far supply has not caught up with demand.

In the Charlotte area as a whole, there are now just 3,104 homes for sale, representing a 0.6 month supply of homes. They are selling for an average of almost $395,000, up 27.4% from last year at this time. Sellers are receiving on average 101.6% of the list price for their homes. Homes are selling quickly with the average home going under contract in 16 days, down 55.6% from last year.

When you look at the numbers for the greater Lake Wylie area, you see that we are following the same trend. There are 130 homes on the market right now representing a 0.8 month supply of homes. The average sale price rose 36.2% from last May to just over $515,000. Sellers are typically getting 101.8% of the list price for their homes. Homes are receiving a contract after an average of 18 days on the market.

When you look ahead based on this report, you can see that there are more new listings than last year at this time, 34.6% more, but we still have not recovered from a slow spring. We may see more people listing homes over the summer so they can get settled in new schools before the next school year starts. If we get more supply, it could finally be more than the demand and we could see prices start to stabilize. Until then, expect multiple offer situations and offers above list price to continue.

Give us a call at 803-831-8588 to learn more about buying or selling a home in the Lake Wylie area. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.

How to Handle a Multiple Offer Situation

June 1, 2021 by lkw_df Leave a Comment

If you are thinking about buying a house in the next few months, chances are you will find yourself in a multiple offer situation. The Charlotte region is one of the hottest markets in the country right now with buyers outnumbering sellers. This puts extra stress on homebuyers as they have to figure out ways to stand out from the crowd. Here are a few tips for handling multiple offers.

As a seller, multiple offers are really easy. Just sit back and let offers pour in and pick the best of the lot. As a buyer, they can be nerve wracking exercises with plenty of disappointment. This is probably keeping many more risk averse people out of the housing market. For those people with high risk tolerance, they can still be challenging because it is hard to know how much to offer and what terms will entice a seller to pick your offer out of the crowd.

One of the best things you can do is to make an aggressive offer. This may seem like obvious, but you don’t know what the other offers are and if you really want the home, you need to be willing to pay for it. This can take the form of an offer over list price, or more earnest money to take the home off the market, or both if you deem it necessary.

Another way to stand out is to take most of all contingencies out of the contract. This can mean not asking the seller to make any repairs, being willing to pay the difference if the home does not appraise for the contract price, and taking off loan conditions to name a few. It also means not making your offer contingent on selling your home first.

Another way to stand out is to offer to let the seller stay in the home for nominal or no rent for a few months so they can find their next home. This can be really attractive for a seller who will turn right around and become a buyer.

Personalized letters that are thoughtfully crafted can sway a seller to accept your offer. If you have a good story why their home should become your home, you can sway a seller away from a potentially more attractive offer. There is no guarantee that this will work, but it is definitely worth a try.

If you are a buyer about to enter the market in the Lake Wylie area, call us at 803-831-8588 to talk over your options and what you can do to prepare to make an offer on a home. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.

Lake Wylie Lumber Prices More Than Double

April 26, 2021 by lkw_df Leave a Comment

Due to slowdowns at the factories and increase in demand from builders and home improvers alike, lumber prices are up over 200% from pre-pandemic prices. These prices impact the entire industry helping drive already high prices even higher still.

With many people spending more time at home during the pandemic, home improvement stores have seen profits soar as homeowners decided to tackle projects. Many of these ranged from painting to bathroom remodels, to creating home offices, to dedicated school rooms. Most of these didn’t need lumber, but there have been shortages of items, and long lead times for special order items as well.

For the larger jobs, getting a contractor is increasingly difficult with many so busy that they can’t even return calls for potential new clients. Contractors are also having a hard time pricing jobs and accurately predicting completion dates due to lags in supply shipments and scheduling demands of sub-contractors.

New construction is facing lags as well, and is having to pass off increased costs of construction onto the buyers. This is causing cost and timeline overruns on many new construction homes. Most new construction neighborhoods are experiencing long wait lists for homes as there is not much supply, but there is tremendous demand.

These slowdowns don’t just affect people doing renovations on their homes. You also see slowdowns for people trying to get repairs done. This can even affect a typical real estate sale when you are trying to get repairs done. This could lead to sellers offering money towards closing costs instead of making a repair because they can’t get it done in a timely manner. We are also seeing buyers waiving repair negotiations to make strong offers in our competitive market.

If you are ready to buy or sell a home, call us at 803-831-8588 to get started on the process. We can help you get your home ready to sell for top dollar, or help you get the best deal when buying a new home. You can view current listings and create custom searches on our website here.