Real Estate Information

Greenville, NC and East Carolina are growing! Let's take a look at a few new businesses and restaurants.

The Facts:

• Tastyville Pizza –Pizza Buffet just opened a couple weeks ago. - 1605 E Firetower Rd, Greenville, NC 27858 - (252) 364-8704- http://www.tastyvillepizza.com/
• Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant will be opening a new location in the Arlington Village Shopping Center on the corner of Red Banks and Arlington Blvd - Greenville, NC – (252) 551-3190 - http://mazatlannc.com/
• The Carolina Ale House is opening this weekend in front of the Greenville Mall, off of Greenville, Blvd. It looks very nice! - 704 SE Greenville Blvd, Greenville, NC 27858 - Phone 252-317-0005 - http://www.carolinaalehouse.com/greenville-nc 
• Pete's Wicked BBQ on Red Banks is now open. (note: The Winterville location is temporarily closed.) 610 A Red Banks Rd, Greenville - 252-353-5353 - http://www.peteswyckedgrill.com/ 
• AT&T Wireless is building a new location at the intersection of Arlington and Greenville Blvd, with-in the Big Lots Shopping Center - http://www.att.com/
• BoneFish Grill Restaurant has plans to open a location in the Greenville Square Shopping Center. (aka K-Mart Shopping Center) - http://www.bonefishgrill.com/
• Mellow Mushroom is coming. It is suppose to be near the the intersection of Arlington and Greenville Blvd. Apparently plan's have been submitted to the City of Greenville for approval. - http://www.mellowfranchise.com
• Chick-fil-A is currently building a new Winterville, NC location across the street from Sam's Club off of Hwy 11. Due to open Oct 27, 2011 - 4253 Winterville Pkwy, Winterville - http://www.chick-fil-a.com/
• O'Reilly Auto Parts is about to open a new location near Winterville off of Fire Tower Rd. - 1908 E Fire Tower Rd, Greenville, NC 27858 -  (252) 215-0837 - http://www.oreillyauto.com 
  

• Dairy Queen is possibly going to build near the Sheetz gas station, across from Pitt Community College on Hwy 11. - http://www.dairyqueen.com
• Sonic is looking at land for a 4th location in Greenville... - http://www.sonicdrivein.com
• Ayden, NC is due to get a Wal-Mart Express.  There has been a lot of utility work and land prep seen behind Food Lion and Kerr Drug where the the Wal-Mart would be located. - http://www.walmart.com/
• Greenville also has a second Wal-Mart location in the works off of Portertown Rd and Hwy 33. - http://www.walmart.com/

The new Revised Pitt County Public School Calendar has been released. 

Click here for the PDF that you can print or download to your PC.

From the Pitt County School's Website:

July 12, 2011 - The State Budget Bill (House Bill 200) that was ratified on June 4, 2011, includes language that impacts school calendars for ALL school districts effective next school year.

The new legislation increases the minimum number of instructional days from 180 to 185 and the minimum number of instructional hours from 1,000 to 1,025.  Left in place are the parameters that school for students must not start before August 25^th and must not end after June 10^th.

With some disclaimers and waiver opportunities to the State Board of Education included, the legislation essentially eliminates the 5 days that were previously added to the calendar for protected teacher workdays.   Stricken from §115C-84.2 (School Calendar) as a result of this legislation is the following:  “Five days, as designated by the local board, for use as teacher workdays, These days shall be protected to allow teachers to complete instructional and classroom administrative duties.  The local school administrative unit shall not impose any additional tasks on these days.  The local board shall schedule one of these days at the beginning of the school year and one at the end of each academic quarter.”

Many groups lobbied to postpone the effective date of this action until the 2012-13 school year, as most all school districts had already approved and distributed their 2011-12 school calendars, but that did not occur.  However, the State Board of Education advised that it would be approving temporary waivers to this new requirement for districts that commit to using the five additional days to train teachers on the Common Core and new essential standards.  (The State Board also advised it will not be as flexible in future years.)

Pitt County Schools submitted a waiver request that was approved by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction meeting the required guidelines by providing a detailed “Scope of Work” plan showing how the waived instructional days will be used for professional development on the essential standards and the Common Core.  The new essential standards and Common Core standards are scheduled for classroom implementation in the 2012-13 school year.

The immediate impact of this action is that we must adjust our 2011-12 Calendar for Students and 10-Month Employees in several ways.

• In accordance with the waiver approved from the State Superintendent, the following teacher workdays will be used for staff development on the essential standards and Common Core instruction. 

•   October 28, January 18, March 2, March 23

• December 19^th will be added as an instructional day for students.  This was previously an unscheduled day. Corresponding with the changes above, make-up days for inclement weather have been adjusted as well as the placement of system designated workdays and the last day for staff.

Click here to review the revised calendar which reflects these revisions. This will be reprinted and redistributed to parents and students. We recognize there may be some confusion as the school calendar was already set, printed, and previously distributed.  We will do everything we can to communicate the correct dates and we will need your help as well. We also will need your help explaining that this late action was not a local decision but rather was directed by General Assembly legislation.

The foreclosure process is taking longer than ever, which is slowing the foreclosures from coming to market.

 Recently there is an average 400 day period from the default notice until the day the bank reclaims the property. "That's up from 340 days a year ago and more than double the average 151 days it took to foreclose in the first quarter of 2007, at the start of the nation's foreclosure crisis.", says USA Today.

Experts say the the added delays although increase the homeowners time without monthly payments, the bank and loan-owner's losses become greater.

"April foreclosure activity hit a 40-month low, mainly because of processing delays, RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio says. Default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions were reported on 219,258 properties in April, down 34% from a year ago."

"In some cases, lenders are taking longer to begin foreclosing on loans more than 90 days delinquent because they're waiting longer to allow for modifications or short sales — when lenders take less for a house than what's owed — or other alternatives, Saccacio says."

Call The Pistol Tingen Team at 252-321-6161 or send us an email if you would like any information regarding the subject of foreclosures.  We are a wealth of information; please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or for advice.

Resources: USA TODAY,

The rental market in Greenville and Pitt County is H-O-T right now.

More than three quarters (82%) of the independent owners say they hire someone who lost a house in foreclosure, if the applicant had traditionally a good credit rating, according to a survey published today by the National Association of Independent Business Owners.

"The owners generally do not rent to applicants with poor credit and a foreclosure absolutely Slam someone scores. The exception is when they see people who have paid their bills all his life but lost his job, can not meet your mortgage and must hand over the keys to the bank, "said Tracey Benson, president of the National Association of Independent Business Owners.

Although the recent credit problems, Benson said, applicants with a foreclosure can be a good hazard, especially because I did once had its own home: "These people are used to taking pride in where they live often lost their jobs and homes through no. beyond their control. "

Increasingly, mortgage defaults due rather to the loss of jobs that poorly equipped borrowers who lost their homes that never should have bought, "said Benson. A background check, as conducted by the National Association of Independent Business Owners indicate in which class an applicant falls, and if the financial problems are part of a recent spate of bad luck or a trend throughout life.

"Because of this abundance of default, there is a higher need for rent, so that owners carefully vet applicants, " said Benson.

The National Association of Independent owners polled 563 members from 21 March to 25 March 2011.

+About The National Association of Independent Landlords

The National Association of Independent Landlords is the country's largest provider of services for small landlords.  Services include credit reports, electronic rent collection and tenant screening as well as information about property management, rental laws in all 50 states and other issues critical to property owners. Visit us at www.landlordassociation.com or call 800.352.3395.

SOURCES: http://www.landlordassociation.com - http://www.prnewswire.com - http://www.realtor.com

Fixed rate mortgages have reached a new low this week says Freddie Mac. On Tuesday (Nov 9, 2010) the average of 4.24% fell down to 4.17% on a 30-year loan.  15-years fixed rate loans have a new average of 3.57%.  5-year fixed rate loans have a new low average of 3.25%.

These average rates from Freddie Mac are calculated by tallying rates country wide Monday-Wednesday.  As we have mentioned before, you can expect rates to be different at different lenders and throughout the country.  These average rates do not include fee's, which are also competitive and different depending on lender and customer's credit scores.

Call The Pistol Tingen Team at 252-321-6161 or send us an email if you would like some lender recommendations along with their phone numbers.  We are a wealth of information; please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or for advice.

Resources: USA TODAY, Associated Press

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now own about 25% of all foreclosures in the United States. It is being reported their maintenance and and carrying costs are now over $2 billion (aka $2,000,000,000.00) annually!

"Fannie and Freddie, which buy mortgages from lenders and package them into securities to sell to investors, own or guarantee half of all U.S. mortgages. Together, they have more than twice as many foreclosed homes now as they did this time last year, with a combined value of $24 billion."

With so many homes in their foreclosure inventory to maintain, the costs buildup fast. Fannie Mae, for example, pays up to $400 for an initial cleaning of a foreclosed property and up to $125 to have the grass cut two times month. Frequently the homes have so much "trash" left behind from the previous owner, there are additional costs during the initial cleaning. Another cost included with almost all foreclosures is a locksmith to re-key the property.

Freddie Mac currently has 82% more homes in their inventory than last year and the numbers seem to be on the rise with many foreclosure companies. So more than likely Freddie and Fannie's holding costs will continue to increase for some time.

Currently we are seeing more than half our foreclosure inventory in the Pitt County area being put "on hold and unable to market status" until officials have investigated whether the foreclosure documents were properly executed.  This recent development is entering the second month, causing increasing losses from this inventory that is not selling. Mean while costs are adding up as all of these "on hold" homes still have utilities turned on and require normal maintenance.

"The longer foreclosed homes stay on their books, the larger taxpayers' expenses will be. "Taxpayers are covering their losses. We are the ultimate deep pocket," says Lawrence White, a New York University economics professor."

For more information about current real estate topics including foreclosures or for assistance searching for real estate located in the Pitt County/Greenville, NC area, please contact The Pistol Tingen Team at (252) 321-6161.

Resources: usatoday.com and realtor.org