Welcome to my first real estate Blog posting.  Over the past 13 years that I have been in the real estate business, I have written articles on wine and photography (my other two passions), but never about my local real estate market.  Of course, I speak about the local market all the time, but it never occurred to me that blogging about Charlotte real estate would be so exciting. 

Charlotte real estate is exciting now more than ever because of the tremendous amount of growth that is happening here, especially in Uptown Charlotte.  As I travel around the country, most recently to Las Vegas, I find very few places that have as many construction cranes being used as I see here in Uptown Charlotte.  Yeah, I know... the mortgage industry has collapsed and real estate is declining around the country, but someone forgot to tell Charlotte Uptown!  We are building and Buyers are buying!  Why here? Why now? Because we did not experience 20 to 30% year over year increases in property values over the last 8 years as my home town area in South Florida experienced.  We also started at and are still priced lower than other parts of the country, like Manhattan, San Francisco, Boston, etc... There are a number of other reasons, but we will discuss those in upcoming Blogs.

That being said, real estate is still and will always be a local game. Some investor gurus will tell you to buy site unseen if the numbers are right.  But how do you know if the numbers are right, if you have not seen the property?  I've been investing for 13 years now, so I have definite opinions about that, but we will leave that for another Blog and another day.

Today, I would simply like to hear from you about your thoughts on Charlotte Uptown.  Do you think that all the high-rise condos are a bubble waiting to burst?  What are your thoughts about the home pricing in Charlotte compared to other parts of the country?  Tell me what you think about this and any other topic of interest to you about Charlotte and I promise you that I will share my opinion as well.

Over the next few weeks I will discuss subjects such as debt elimination, first-time home buyer programs, DPA or down-payment assistance programs and investing in real estate now.  I will be discussing other areas of Charlotte and the suburbs such as Ballantyne, Weddington, Fort Mill and Mint Hill. 

A lot of people have been asking me lately why I joined United First Financial (UFirst).  They wonder why I would want to give up tax deductions by wiping out my mortgages in 10 years.  Up to now my answer has been...duh?!  However, I will spend some time explaining the simple side of "Factorial Math" and the time value of money as I have learned it from some brilliant people.  Those of us who have been in and around the financial services business, we often talk about the "Rule of 72" and compounding interest, but for the average person they just want to know the quickest way to accomplish what they want with as little risk as possible. 

Finally, my wife and business partner Maurissa, will discuss one of her favorite subjects...Fixed-Index Annuities.  We call it the "safe money" investment, because that is exactly what it is all about.  I know you thought this was going to be just another real estate blog, but it will be so much more.  So I encourage you to join this adventure with me as I start Blogging.  I know we are going to have a lot of fun with this!

Larius Woodson