CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - First, the bad news. The housing market is still looking really rough. In fact, home prices in the Charlotte area fell to their lowest level in March since the real estate bubble burst. Prices in the metro area slid 2.4% from February and 6.8% from March. It was the fourth straight month that numbers here hit a new low.
"Charlotte looks to be doing worse than the south, and the south is doing a little worse than the nation on a whole," says real estate expert Joe Emison.
But if there's a silver lining to all this, Emison thinks he's found it.
He's the co-founder of BuildFax, a company that collects construction data, and he says there's a new trend out there - one that could breathe new life into the economy.
Emison says many homeowners who can't sell have started to remodel, thinking,"We're stuck in our home, we want to make it nicer, and so we're improving the quality of our current home," he says. "Right now, major remodels in Charlotte are averaging about fifty thousand dollars."
And that means remodeling is an industry to watch.
Or better yet...if you're unemployed...to join.
"Right now, the most common remodels are decks and garages, and then that's followed by kitchen remodels," says Emison.
There are trade schools that can teach you everything you need to know, and online schools like Penn Foster get you textbooks, video instruction and tests on everything from hanging drywall to drawing up plans, estimates and contracts.
"Remodeling is going to continue to grow in Charlotte, it's going to continue to grow in the south," Emison says.
