Sorry, this isn't about UNC Fraternities, Sororities, Undergrads, Medical Students or any thing else related to college life, it's about The Meat House; Chapel Hill's newest butcher shop catering to the area's lovers of fine foods.

I had a few spare moments yesterday and thought I'd stop in and check them out and will admit I was impressed. It's looks great, clean, contemporary and focused on customer service. The staff was friendly and the guys I spoke with behind the counter seemed to know their meat. The prices were pretty good for the quality of their products, certainly comparable to other higher end stores like Whole Foods, A Southern Season, Cliffs Meat Market and others. They had a nice selection of wines, spices, pastas and the usual upscale…

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Buyer broker I see and answer this basic question countless times on Zillow, Trulia and other real estate websites that are a daily part of my business, and I guess what surprises me the most is just how often these questions are posted by homebuyers. What's obvious to me is apparently not so obvious to all.

Be Weary Of Dual Agencies

Homebuyers do you honestly believe that one agent will do a great job getting you, the best possible terms and prices while at the same time their getting their Seller the same?

Dual Agency is designed to end run Buyer Agency and was bought about by pressure by state Realtors specifically for one purpose; to keep all the commission with one agent in complete and utter disregard for the contractual obligations made to their buyer…

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Real estate investments I feel like the William Tell Overture should be blasting over my sound system as I look at the cover of this months Fortune Magazine trumpeting the return of real estate. Forget stocks, forget gold, and put your money where it's bound to grow over time good old real estate.

You can read the entire article for yourself, but honestly this comes as no real news to me, it simply mirrors what I've long been saying, as long as population continues to rise, there will always be a demand for real estate.

Real Estate Is Still A Top Investment Choice

It's simple, most of the planets land is either uninhabitable or undesirable, leaving a limited supply of places people can and want to live. If you don't believe me go online and take a look at some US…

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Having worked as long as I have as a Realtor; I often forget that most people don't know as much as I do about real estate and how it works until I speak with people and quickly realize they really don't understand even the most basic things such as what the job of a real estate agent or broker is, why they should want an agent who is exclusively looking out for them and why the last thing they should accept is an agent who wants to work both sides of a transaction. It doesn't help that despite the protestations to the contrary, that the majority of agents with the blessing of their State Real Estate Commissions, absolutely want to have their Buyer clients purchase their listings and allow them to “represent” both sides. (This is known as Dual Agency)

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Trulia.com one of the nations largest real estate web sites released their most recent quarterly report on the relative value of renting versus buying in the fifty largest cities in the United States. Here's a link to Trulia's Rent vs. Buy report.

In general they found when comparing rental prices to purchase prices on comparable 2 bedroom units that in fully 72% of the urban areas they looked at that it was highly likely to make more financial sense to buy rather than rent. In 8% of the cities they looked at it still made more sense to rent rather than buy and in the remaining 20% it was neutral. In other words not sure what you'll be doing or where you be in the next five years you'd be better of renting, thinking you'll be in the same place with a…

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How To Know Who The Market Is Favoring

Building floorplanA frequent question I am asked by my Buyer clients is, "Given that the local market is favoring Buyers at this time with more than 6 months of inventory* on the market in most price ranges, do you think it makes more sense to build, buy a new already constructed home, or buy a re-sale home and improve on it as needed?"

As is almost always the case there's no one answer that works best for everyone, but I do have some thoughts that I feel apply in most instances.

Opting To Build A New Home

Given the amount of existing homes currently on the market, I believe the least cost effective answer is to build new. While building new certainly gives you the utmost ability to customize your home, in today's…

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