Huntersville - United States

Closed sales, new listings show double-digit gains

A preliminary report just released by the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association (based on data from Carolina Multiple Listing Service) shows May 2013 sales posted solid gains across the region, jumping a healthy 30.6 percent compared to May 2012. Closed sales last month climbed to 3,402, compared to 2,605 for the same period last year.

The report also shows median and average sales prices continue to rise, marking 18 consecutive months of regional price gains. The median sales price of $173,000 was up 4.8 percent from May of last year, and the average sales price climbed seven percent — from $217,442 in May 2012 to $232,564 last month.

Some 35 years after my first foray into the newspaper business, it's easy to forget, but fun to sometimes recall, how much more efficiently newspapers are produced as computers and innovative software have revolutionized publishing.

Just a few years removed from linotype machines back in the late 1970s (if you want a description of those, you'll have to look it up), it required six people from the fingertips of a reporter on a keyboard through the composing room, on to the press camera and finally the plate room to write, process, paste up galleys of copy onto pages, shoot full-size negatives of the pages, strip in photos and finally to make press-ready plates.

Two weeks ago, "What Say You?" touched on the subject of economic development and the variety of approaches being advocated by municipal officials and business leaders to fuel the local economic engine (read the original story from the May 16 issue on HYPERLINK "http://www.lakenormancitizen.com" www.lakenormancitizen.com under the "Business" tab).

With the hiring of Ryan McDaniels as the new executive director of the Lake Norman Regional Economic Development Corp. has come a decided shift in focus toward creating more product for businesses looking to relocate here or expand their existing facilities.
In addition, Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain has become somewhat of an international advocate of late, participating in a 10-day trip to China this month to talk up the town's economic treasures abroad. Davidson has shown a recent willingness to embrace business growth — CHS is building a behavioral health facility on the town's eastern edge and a New York-based company will open its new co-headquarters at Exit 30 later this summer — while try as it might, Cornelius still struggles to find a balance between the quantity of business it attracts and the quality of life it wants to maintain.

I asked readers if they agreed with the LNREDC's approach to creating a better stash of buildings and land, as well as what they thought could be done by elected officials to make this area an economic development destination. I also invited LNREDC execs and our local mayors to chime in. Here's what they had to say.

Business owner and author Bonnie Jesseph knows that's all women really need.

By Lori Helms

CORNELIUS, N.C. -- What do you buy for the girl who has everything?

A T-shirt with a witty, nod-and-a-wink wine drinking reference only a woman would understand? Of course.

A cookbook loaded with simple wine- or chocolate-based recipes and spiced with some sassy humor? Why, thank you.

A bejeweled lanyard just perfect for holding a wine glass tucked into a clever, blinged-out insulator at her next wine tasting?

Yes. Yes, you do.

But if you found all these things in your shopping bag, what would you really be buying for that girl who has everything?

The one thing she likely craves, and that's "sanity," with a capital S.

CORNELIUS, N.C. -- At the recent graduation ceremony for Leadership Lake Norman Class XVI, four of the program's alumni were recognized for continuing the program's legacy of creating emerging community leaders in the fields of municipal, nonprofit, corporate and entrepreneurial leadership.

Leadership Lake Norman was created in 1997 by the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce to develop a group of informed, committed and qualified individuals capable of providing visionary leadership for the Lake Norman region. Approximately 300 area business leaders have graduated from the program since then.

Hoteliers report 'solid' holiday weekend occupancy

If the old travel and tourism axiom about putting "heads in beds" is a true indicator of overnight visitor interest in an area, it appears the Memorial Day holiday and race weekend combo was a win-win for the region.

Courtney Wolfrom of Visit Lake Norman says local hoteliers reported "moderately solid" out-of-town visitor numbers for the long weekend. She says the approximate average occupancy for Lake Norman properties last Friday and Sunday nights was more than 80 percent. On Saturday night, that number jumped to more than 90 percent. Fans of the NASCAR events in Concord last weekend accounted for about half of those visitors.

Walmart exec: let your hard work — not your hard knocks — define who you are.

Walmart exec: let your hard work — not your hard knocks — define who you are.