Greater Raleigh Chamber Blog

One of the most exciting, most personal, and potentially most daunting moments in the lives of young professionals is the moment that they decide to become first-time homeowners. No more landlord. No more rent. They are moving into a home that they can truly call their own.

For our Young Professionals Network, they would choose to become first-time homeowners in one of the hottest residential real estate markets in the country.

“We talk in real estate about the average days on the market,” said Amanda Hoyle, regional director for Metrostudy. “Right now, the average time on the market for some homes in the Triangle will be calculated in hours, not days.”

Hoyle spoke at our March meeting of the Young Professionals Network at PNC Arena. The topic was tracking Triangle trends in residential real estate for 2019 and beyond.

“It’s going to remain a seller’s market for the foreseeable future,” said Hoyle. “We’re going to see bidding wars.”

She talked about why the Triangle market has been so hot, mentioning recent high-profile jobs announcements from companies including Pendo, Advance Auto Parts, and Arch Capital.

Hoyle also discussed how Forbes ranked North Carolina the No. 1 State for Doing Business.

“More millennials are choosing to go the route of buying and remodeling, rather than buying new,” said Hoyle.
She talked about how home sale prices have been increasing, as has the price of land.

“That’s making land more competitive for builders,” she said.

For those who rent, Hoyle mentioned how apartments and multi-family units are still in high demand.

“The Triangle added 21,000 new apartment units in the last five years,” she said.

Her forecast was for slower, but steady, growth in 2019 and beyond.

Hoyle then opened up a moderated discussion with three other experts, each representing a different aspect of the residential real estate business.

Ann-Cabell Baum, owner/broker of the Glenwood Agency in Raleigh, spoke from the realtor’s perspective. Amy Bonis, with the Amy Bonis Mortgage Team, spoke from the mortgage broker’s perspective. Alaina Money-Garman, the founder and CEO of Garman Homes, represented the homebuilder’s perspective.

“Building a home for someone is an honor and a privilege,” said Money-Garman. “I love my job.”

She mentioned how the biggest challenge is affordability.

Speaking about how quickly some homes move in this market, Baum said, “If something comes open inside the beltline, you need to be ready to move on it in a couple hours.”

Bonis said one thing that first-time homebuyers need to be aware of is the number of down payment assistance programs that are available in North Carolina.

As for the entire home buying process, Baum advised, “Ask questions of the agent, the lender, and the builder. Ask for a referral. Know what you’re getting yourself into. Make sure your agent is smart and have them walk you through the process.”

We would like to thank all of our speakers for their great insight and stories that they shared. To see more about the discussion, check out our official event hashtag on Twitter, #RaleighYPN. We also want to thank our sponsors who made this event and other YPN meetings such a success.

Please join us on May 16 for our next meeting of the Young Professionals Network. We will learn about planes, trains, and automobiles in Raleigh. Hear from top experts in the Triangle about what’s coming down the pipeline to improve traffic, advance public transportation, and…

By Jessie Rumbley
Marbles Kids Museum communications + freelance writer
 
“Healthcare is the great equalizer. In one bed, you can have one of the richest men in the area. Next door, you can have someone who can’t afford to pay. They’re both vulnerable in these places, and they both need care.” WakeMed Health & Hospitals CEO Donald Gintzig aptly summarized the importance of healthcare in our – and in any – community during a panel discussion for Leadership Raleigh 37’s Healthcare Day. It’s a vast and complex sector to understand, and we spent the day learning firsthand about each of the county’s key players.
 
“There’s a collaborative spirit here that transcends competition,” said Steve Burriss, president of UNC REX Healthcare, in the same panel discussion. In that spirit, we visited three major medical hubs: Duke Raleigh Hospital, WakeMed Hospital, and UNC REX Heart & Vascular Hospital. Often, they work together, such as the two-year-old Cancer Care Plus+ collaboration and innovation partnership between Duke and WakeMed. Partnerships like these aim to provide a wider network of care locations that will create a stronger, and together more comprehensive, system that truly serves the best interests of community health.
 
At Duke Raleigh, we learned about its steady growth and “high-end boutique” procedures and services. The Raleigh location is a relatively small slice of the Duke hospital network, which is based in Durham. It is small but mighty, and gearing up for physical expansion in the near future.

Part of our strong system is access to nutritious food. At UNC REX Heart & Vascular Center we learned about the hospital’s award-winning culinary approach. Chefs James McGrody and Ryan Conklin lead an outstanding and creative food program, serving menus that are flavorful, healthy, and rooted in local ingredients and seasons. On my group’s tour of the beautiful new heart facility, we ran into a visitor who knew our tour guide. “I’m here to visit a friend,” she said, “and enjoy the food!”
 
To conclude another jam-packed Leadership Raleigh day, a few classmates chose to tour the new Poyner YMCA facility downtown. It’s a gleaming space including several group exercise spaces and specialty fitness classes, such as hot yoga and TRX training. We ended on a high note when we learned about an exciting new initiative the YMCA is helping to develop: a “medical membership” program where doctors can write a prescription to patients … for the YMCA. These patients receive a special discounted membership rate to use exercise equipment and take classes. The program is an important step toward systemic preventative care, and felt like an optimistic full-circle end to Healthcare Day.

By Marisa Bryant
Contract Affiliate, moss+ross, Salt Strategies

Leadership Raleigh is all about connecting with our community, and a BIG part of that community is our schools. The Wake County Public School System is the largest school district in the state, the 15th largest in the country, and the third largest employer in our county. Our county also is home to 12 traditional universities and colleges, Wake Technical Community College, and numerous satellite campuses and for-profit institutions of higher education. The Raleigh community’s education culture is unusually rich and it was so informative to learn more about it.

Education Day was timed perfectly for our Leadership Raleigh 37 class, since we had heard so many panelists talk about the need for quality educational opportunities from pre-K through college during our Local Economy Day. We started Education Day with a panel discussion at Meredith College on trends and projections for education in North Carolina. Our panelists included deans from the schools of education at local colleges and the director of the Teaching Fellows program. We learned about the looming teacher shortage crisis, the lack of diversity among educators in our state, the rural/urban divide regarding teacher retention, and many other complex issues facing education in our state.

We then toured Exploris Elementary School, one of the oldest charter schools in the state, near downtown Raleigh. Our class participated in student-led tours where we saw student projects, peeked inside bustling classrooms, and heard the big dreams of our fourth and fifth grade tour guides.

From there we toured the Vernon Malone College and Career Academy, where students not only work on their high school education, but also can begin taking community college classes on site through a partnership with Wake Tech. Students can earn credits in programs such as biopharmaceutical technology, welding, and cosmetology. Each of the seven credit programs offered was selected because of the high demand for that trade among Wake County employers. While enjoying lunch at Vernon Malone CCA, we heard tips on common sense leadership from Tom Cavanagh, chief customer officer and vice president of the intellectual property solutions division at Eastman Kodak Company.

Finally, we visited the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, the most visited attraction in North Carolina. We met with scientists and naturalists who help run the museum’s educational programs, both at the museum and off-site. We also were wowed by the survivalist skills demonstrated on one of the museum’s mobile learning carts. We had fun testing out our science knowledge with a quiz game in the museum’s three-story Daily Planet Theater.

As always, our Leadership Raleigh day was engaging and informative, and we all are now better informed citizens of our education-rich city!  

​By: Spencer Lazzari
VP of Operations
Proforma Brand Centric Solutions

Networking can truly happen anywhere. Whether you are in a coffee shop, at an industry event, or at an event at a jewelry store! The Young Professionals Network, a program of the Raleigh Chamber, hosted a social at Diamonds Direct Crabtree in February with great success. Here is why you should attend the next one:

1. Great People

At Raleigh Chamber YPN events, you always will find great ideas and great conversation. You will meet and make lasting connections with other young professionals. Wonderful moments happen when our people come together. At the most recent Raleigh Chamber YPN social, everyone was mingling and having a great time. There was not a lone individual looking for conversation.
   
2. Fun Activities
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Networking events are always more fun when there is something to do. This could be anything from a "speed networking" type setup, where there is an enforced format, to a table with food that sparks conversation. At the recent Raleigh Chamber YPN event hosted by Diamonds Direct, there were several of these activities. J Alexander’s catered hors d'oeuvres; the Carolina Hurricanes mascot paid everyone a visit; and members were stopping by a station to get their rings cleaned. There also were some spectacular giveaways including North Carolina Symphony tickets, Carolina Hurricanes tickets, and a pair of diamond earrings from Diamonds Direct. Be sure to attend the next one, and you could be our next winner!

For more details on upcoming outings that you won’t want to miss, please visit www.raleighchamber.org/ypn.