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PHOTO COURTESY LANDMARK SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY
The view from the top sale in Landfall, 2336 Ocean Point Drive.
Some of the big-ticket increases seen locally could be attributed
to the prestigious 2017 Wells Fargo Golf Tournament held the
first week in May at the ultra-private Eagle Point Golf Club.
Others see it as influencing future sales for 2018 and 2019.
Buzzy Northen touts the tournament.
“We had over 20,000 people a day attend the golf tournament and were
introduced to the area,” he says. “Worldwide TV viewing was phenomenal.
The tournament was viewed by over 20 million people from 225 countries,
and it showcased Wilmington. Most of those who came had never been here
before and they could not believe how nice the golf course was, the location
and the quality of life in Wilmington.”
Vance Young agrees the exposure was undoubtedly valuable.
“The Eagle Point golf experience is such an out-of-this-world experience,
it’s responsible for bringing in a lot of folks for the golf tournament. It was
incredible exposure,” he says.
Michelle Clark sees it as a long-term impact.
“It’s hard to quantify what kind of impact that made on us,” she says. “It
certainly made an impact on our area; we had great visibility to people that
had never heard of Wilmington before. The fact that the $1 million plus,
the $2 million plus, the $3 million plus — those price ranges are all better
than they were in 2016 could be a direct result of that. However, I haven’t
had someone call me and say, ‘I didn’t know of Wilmington until the PGA
tournament was held there and now I want to live there.’ But if you look
at the numbers, it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some kind of impact. I
think it’s going to be more long-term.”
Regardless, it set the stage for a promising year ahead.
Pat Bradford has been a licensed NC Real Estate Broker since the early 1980s, and
was actively engaged in real estate brokerage in the greater Wilmington area from
1993 to 2001. All numbers reported and used for analysis are from the Cape Fear
Realtors MLS System as of Dec. 31, 2017. Additional 2017 sales may have posted
or even been corrected after the Jan. 10, 2018, date drawn.
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