Episode 78

Happy 250th, America: Buddy Blake's July 4th Market Update, D.R. Horton Deals & Where to Find Us at Carolina Beach

Hosted by Buddy Blake, Buddy Blake Real Estate
Jul 5, 2026β€’πŸŽ§ 00:05:16 listenβ€’πŸ“Ί Video available
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0:00Welcome back to Real Estate Stories.
1:03going on overseas.
2:06What's going on there?
3:10That rebate comes out of our commission
4:12and we get the job done.
From celebrating America's 250th birthday at Carolina Beach to breaking down why the Wilmington market has paused, Buddy Blake shares insider updates on builder incentives, buyer rebates, and what sellers really need to hear right now.

Episode Summary

Hi, and happy 4th of July week, and happy birthday to America, 250 years. I'm actually old enough to remember in 1976, the Bicentennial, what a big deal that was. So anyway, I just wanted to put that out there, wish a very, very happy 4th of July to everybody. I hope you have a great time. I understand in our region, we're expecting anywhere between 75 and 100,000 visitors between Wilmington and Topsville Beach, Carolina Beach, Wrightsville Beach, and then of course, North Carolina's official celebration, which is in the Little River community of Southport, North Carolina. Our family will be down at Carolina Beach at our place down there. Otherwise, I wanna give you some updates on what's going on in our world. Right now, the market is just kind of paused. It's just kind of holding on right now, waiting to see what's gonna happen overseas, waiting to see what's happened with the economy. Interest rates are back up, but we expect that to settle down. And we're still seeing, interestingly enough, the higher the price, the more likely the house is to sell because the folks in the Northeast and the West, Colorado, California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington, and Virginia, their markets are still pretty busy. I actually talked to an agent yesterday who has been very nice to us. She referred us a customer from New Jersey, and she's actually moving to Florida. The agent put her house on the market down at the shore in New Jersey. And in one day, I think maybe one or two days, she had multiple offers, and she got 100,000 more than she was asking. Okay, I wanna go ahead and tell you, if you're thinking about selling your house in our area, that's not happening unless we mark your house way down, and then we go for the bid up process. But anyway, I just wanted to let you know that a lot is going on in our area. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to share some ideas and I've lived here my whole life, so I'll be glad to share what I do on 4th of July. Sometimes it's stay away from everybody, but this year, I'm gonna dive right in because the scenery, the sights, it is just entertaining to see so many people, and I love seeing visitors. I'm not one of the locals that hates to see outsiders. I love it. I'm married an outsider. My wife is from New Jersey, so now we have completely southernized her in all ways, other than cooking. Still, the word casserole does not exist for people from up north, and I just don't understand that, especially sweet potato casserole. How can you not like that? Down below, I'm gonna be talking, there's a couple links to some podcasts I did about right now, if you're looking for something, if you're looking for a deal, you're an investor, want a second home, or you're a first-time home buyer, I'm gonna spotlight one of the national builders in the area. And now I come from a world where we did not want national builders, and I'm not gonna lie, it was a lot better, in my opinion, when we had regional and local builders, but that ship sailed a long time ago. D.R. Horton, we're gonna spotlight them. Now, other builders have some great incentives too, but right now, D.R. reached out to our team, and they asked us to let our folks know they've got over 100 homes available in our three-county area. And just like they do every summer, and then at the end of every year, whatever they got available, they cut the prices, and then they offer incredible incentives. And right now, you'll see below, just click the link, and it's about a four-minute podcast, you can hear me talking about it, but you can get interest rates for 3.99, 4.99, plus they will throw in literally the kitchen sink, you know, refrigerator, washer, dryer, and give you $10,000 to use as you choose for closing costs or whatever if you use their lender. But they've got some really great incentives, and they will even consider doing contingencies, as long as you list your house with an agent that they're confident with, and they're very confident with us. I just want you to know that. But the other thing I wanna point out is, if you work with them, just keep in mind that if we, our team, is acting as your buyer's agent, they will agree to pay the buyer-agent commission. Some builders don't do that, but they will pay that, so that's something you do not have to pay as a buyer's aid, as a buyer. But the other thing is, we have a Homes for Heroes program that we've been doing for many years, so if you qualify for that, you know, law enforcement, active duty military, veteran, healthcare industry, teacher, first responder, firefighter, clergy, all these things, they go into that, you actually may qualify to get a rebate check after you close for thousands of dollars, and that comes out of our commission. We do that to give back to those that serve us, and we just wanna thank you for doing that. We've given back well over $250,000 over the last five or six years of our commission. So that is something you get on top of that. So I want you to think about that, because I'm gonna tell you, we've got agents in my office right now looking for either primary or investment properties, and they're looking at this, because we know that when the market is slower, like it is slower now, there's no question about it, just kind of paused. The house prices aren't crashing, but they are adjusting, and people, sellers aren't getting what they had hoped to get three or four years ago, what their neighbor may have gotten. But holy cow, if you've owned your house for more than five or six years, you have made a lot of money, and don't be greedy. Get what you can and go. You've done well. Celebrate, enjoy it. I wanna just point out that you need to watch this, because this is gonna go away. This is for things that they sell in July and August. So if you're interested in that, give us a call. We have the list of all of their homes that are available, that you can see, and that from what I understand, we've been told by their people that it applies everywhere. Now, some areas have nicer appointments in the homes, because D.R. Horton has about three different levels of homes, all the way down to their bottom-end, budget-conscious, no-toilet-paper-holder homes, all the way up to their porch countertops, super-nice homes. So they've got a little bit of everything. They've got townhomes, they've got single-family. They've got communities with incredible amenities, like Blake Farm, and lots of those places, all in our area. And we would love the opportunity to work with you as your buyer's agent, and if you have a home you need to sell this in our area, we've even gotten an agreement with them where they will consider doing a contingency deal, as long as we list the home and we get it on the market, because they're confident that, A, we're gonna tell you what's really gonna happen, and they know we get our job done. I've been doing this for almost 30 years. We have a high degree of success because we are just straightforward with people. And just like anything else, anytime you're unhappy with our service, whether it's as a buyer's agent, whether I'm listing your house, you can fire us at any time while you're not under contract to buy a property or sell a property. And the reason why is, I don't want the only reason you do business with us to be because of a piece of paper. Thank you so much. Have a great 4th of July. Please, please say hello if you're down at Carolina Beach. We're gonna be down there in the mix, taking in the sight and the scenery, just like everybody else, and just eating a lot. And if you want the really good eating places, the locals like, let me know, because I've been going down there for about 20 years, and I know the best places, in my opinion. Thanks a lot. Take care.

Show Notes

πŸŽ™οΈ Real Estate Stories β€” Episode Happy 250th, America: Buddy Blake's July 4th Market Update, D.R. Horton Deals & Where to Find Us at Carolina Beach From celebrating America's 250th birthday at Carolina Beach to breaking down why the Wilmington market has paused, Buddy Blake shares insider updates on builder incentives, buyer rebates, and what sellers really need to hear right now. πŸ“– Read the full blog post: https://www.buddytheblogger.com/r/S4uvV2QX ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ About Your Host Buddy Blake, Buddy Blake Real Estate πŸ“ Wilmington, NC πŸ“ž (910) 395-1000 βœ‰οΈ buddy@buddyblake.com 🌐 https://buddyblake.com πŸ’Ό Sell Your Home & Keep The Most $: https://expresshomesale.com πŸ“± Follow & Connect: β€’ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@buddyblakenc β€’ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buddyblakedotcom Powered by https://buddyblake.com
πŸ“ Full Episode Transcript

Full Episode Transcript: Happy 250th, America: Buddy Blake's July 4th Market Update, D.R. Horton Deals & Where to Find Us at Carolina Beach

This is the complete, auto-generated transcript of the episode. Timestamps are provided for quick reference.

0:00Welcome back to Real Estate Stories. I'm here with Buddy Blake. And man, we've got a lot to dive into today. Buddy, first of all, happy 4th of July week.

0:09I heard you were reminiscing about the bicentennial back in 76. That's wild that you remember that. Oh, man.

0:16Yeah, I do remember it. It was such a big deal back then. And now we're hitting 250 years for America. So it's pretty cool.

0:26Our region is actually expecting somewhere between 75,000 and 100,000 visitors this week. Everybody's heading to Wilmington Carillon Beach, Wrightsville Beach.

0:36My family's going to be down at Carillon Beach at our place. So we're going to be right in the mix of it all. Oh, wow. 75,000 to 100,000 visitors?

0:44That's insane. So the beaches are going to be packed. But OK, let's talk business for a second. You mentioned the market is kind of paused right now.

0:53What's that looking like from your perspective? Yeah. So right now, we're just kind of holding steady. The market's waiting to see what happens with the economy, what's going on overseas.

1:04Interest rates have ticked back up. But here's the interesting thing, and this surprised me a little, the higher the price point, the more likely the house is to sell.

1:15Like folks from the Northeast, California, Colorado, all those markets are still pretty active. I actually talked to an agent yesterday who referred us a customer from New Jersey, and her house sold in literally a day or two with multiple offers.

1:29She got 100,000 over asking. But that's not what's happening here in our area. No kidding. So you're saying if you're thinking about selling here, you can't just list it at your dream price and hope for the best?

1:41Exactly. If you're selling in our area, we're going to need to price it right, maybe even market down. And then we go for that bid up process.

1:51But look, if you've owned your house for five or six years, you've still made a lot of money. Don't be greedy. Get what you can and celebrate it.

1:59You've done well. That's actually really solid advice. So let's talk about D.R. Horton. You mentioned they reached out to your team.

2:06What's going on there? So D.R. Horton has over 100 homes available right now in our three-county area. And just like they do every summer and at the end of the year, they're cutting prices and offering some incredible incentives.

2:21Right now, you can get interest rates at $3.99, $4.99. And they're throwing in the kitchen sink, refrigerator, washer, dryer, plus $10,000 to use however you want for closing costs if you use their lender.

2:38It's pretty sweet. OK, so that's the incentive side. But I'm curious, what about buyers working with your team? How does that work?

2:46Great question. If we're your buyer's agent, D.R. Horton will pay the buyer agent commission. So you don't have to worry about that.

2:53And here's the thing. If you qualify for our Homes for Heroes program, you could get a rebate check after closing for thousands of dollars.

3:01We're talking law enforcement, active duty military, veterans, health care workers, teachers, first responders, firefighters, clergy, a lot of categories. That rebate comes out of our commission because we want to give back to those who serve us.

3:16We've given back over $250,000 over the last five or six years. Oh, wow. That's incredible.

3:23So you're not just helping people find a home. You're actually putting money back in their pockets if they qualify. And you mentioned they have different levels of homes, right?

3:32Yeah. D.R. Horton has about three different levels. You've got your budget-conscious homes on the lower end. And then you go all the way up to some really nice stuff with porch countertops and great finishes.

3:47They've got townhomes, single-family homes, communities with amazing amenities like Blake Farm. Something for everybody, really. And one more thing.

3:55You said they're even willing to do contingency deals in certain situations. Right. As long as we list your home and get it on the market, they'll consider contingencies.

4:05They're confident in us. Because honestly, we've been doing this almost 30 years. We tell people straight up what's going to happen, and we get the job done.

4:13That builds trust. I love that approach. Just being real with people. So if someone's listening and they're thinking about making a move, whether it's buying or selling, this is a good time to reach out.

4:25Absolutely. And I'll be honest. When the market is slower like it is now, there are opportunities.

4:32House prices aren't crashing, but they're adjusting, and sellers need to be realistic. But for buyers, there's some really good deals happening, especially with these incentives.

4:42Just don't wait too long. These offers are for July and August, so they're not going to last forever. Got it.

4:52Well, buddy, this was awesome. Thanks so much for breaking this down. And hey, enjoy Carolina Beach this week. Sounds like you've got the inside scoop on the best local spots.

5:01I do. And I'm telling you, 20 years of going down there, I know where to eat. If anyone's down there and sees us in the mix, say hello.

5:10We're going to be taking in the sights, eating a lot, and just enjoying it like everybody else. Thanks for having me.

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