Bethany Fuller | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | April 29, 2008

From their cove-side vacation home off Barber Loop in the Lake Norman area, Mary and Jerry Oliver have watched a lush green forest turn into four-story homes worth millions of dollars.

When Jerry sold his drag racer for $3,000 in 1969 to help pay for the remaining 10 years of a Crescent Resources lease, Lake Norman was considered “the boonies.”

Living on the lake used to be for people with a pioneering spirit, said Lake Norman Realty president Abigail Jennings.

“It’s changed 100 percent,” Jerry Oliver said.

In 1971, a good main channel lot on the lake sold for around $5,000; now, buyers will pay as much as $480,000 for a lot with an old shack on it, said Century 21 Hecht Realty President Bob Hecht.

Hecht said he sold his first house in the area in 1971 for $25,000. Today, the average price of a home on the lake is $712,128.

Lots and homes along the lake and in Mooresville have been hot grabs for years. As more people move into Iredell County, the booming market around the lake is expected to trickle into the Troutman and Statesville area, local real estate agents said.

Already, thousands of houses are slated to be built in the Troutman area, not to mention the Larkin development off Interstate 77’s Exit 45.

And some real estate agents say that’s just the beginning.

The draw of the lake
Streets like Barber Loop still have several trailers, fish shacks and cabins from the second homes that once dominated the lake.

“It was almost unusual for people to live there permanently,” Hecht said of decades past. “You didn’t sell a lot at the back of the cove because for ($5,000) to $10,000, you could get a great lot.”

Many of the waterfront lots along Lake Norman were marked off in the early 1960s and leased out by Crescent Resources, which managed the land for Duke Power, said Century 21 Hecht Realty president Bob Hecht.

In the early 1980s, Crescent began selling these lots. Leaseholders were offered the first right to purchase the lots. The Olivers and others were given the opportunity to buy their leases for around $60,000 or $150,000.

The Olivers had already purchased their lease in 1973 for $7,300.

Some of the lots are now owned by employees of Duke Energy, who were offered a discount price.

New residents were lured in by the quality of life around Lake Norman, interstate access to Charlotte, water and sewer accessibility and new job and business opportunities.

“As the growth started occurring, we started seeing the lake itself was a draw for people moving into the region,” said Iredell County Manager Joel Mashburn.

“You had that influx of more affluent people coming from the different areas of the country, and that mixed with the people who have lived here their entire lives. It is just economically more diverse, culturally more diverse.”

The real estate boom
When Crescent was making arrangements with lease holders, a waterfront lot was selling for $90,000 and a house on a lot cost $300,000, Hecht said.

“We are talking about 10 years ago. The same lots now are worth a lot of money,” Hecht said.

Over the past 13 years, the number of residential building permits has nearly tripled,  from 958 in 1994 to 2,789 in 2007, according to the Iredell County Inspections and Permitting Department. Since 1998, the number of residential building permits hasn’t dipped below 1,500 a year. Each year, the estimated home values climb.

In 1989, Crescent started its first master-planned community on Lake Norman, The Peninsula, in Mecklenburg County. In the mid 1990s, Crescent started its first community on the Iredell County side of Lake Norman, The Harbour, off Brawley School Road. Construction at The Point began in 1998, and The Farms opened in 2003.

The Point, which is in Davidson Township, has spurred the southwestern portion of the county into becoming a densely populated tax engine.

In 2007, the escalating property values in Davidson Township generated 40 percent of the $77.1 million in real estate property taxes, according to the Iredell County Tax Department.

The present market

The Olivers are trying to sell their waterfront lot in order to move away from the congestion and traffic on Brawley School Road.

“It’s not fun anymore,” Mary Oliver said. “We had 30 years to ourselves, so we can’t complain.”

Mary said they are having some trouble selling their three-bedroom, ranch-style home because of the shape of the housing market. There are also several larger homes in The Point that have the same $699,000 asking price.

Despite a national slump, the Charlotte area’s real estate market is one of five nationwide that hasn’t taken a major downturn in the past couple of years.

ReMax Properties Plus owner Beverly Gish said the price of homes and land have definitely increased in the Mooresville/Lake Norman area, though Statesville and North Iredell have essentially stayed the same. Land in North Iredell has always been desirable, she said.

Most of the people who move up to North Iredell go for the scenery and fresh air, Gish said, and a lot of the farmers don’t have any intent to sell.

“I don’t think they want to see the growth,” she said, but “it’s not inexpensive property.”

Real estate agents said people can still sell homes in Iredell County, you just have to know what you are doing.

“You have to know how to stage a house — you have to know how to market it,” Hecht said.

Photo: Mary Oliver can look across the cove from the modest Lake Norman home, that she and her husband have shared since 1989, and see rapid growth and the construction of new, much larger homes, coming their way. Bruce Matlock photo

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