Real Estate Information

Posted by Lisabeth Tunell:

FINALLY what we have all been waiting for.....Trader Joe's in Raleigh!

How many of us have driven to Cary to go to Trader Joe's for "Two Buck Chuck?" Well as of October, or so we have been promised, we only have to drive to Holly Park Shopping Center, conveniently located at Wake Forest Road and Interstate 440. Lat Purser, a Charlotte company's Raleigh division has spent more than a year totally overhauling the shopping center.  Despite months of delays the exact date is still in limbo but the month has been established. Fans of the California grocer fretted as the project was delayed in the city approval process but Lat Purser installed a sign Wednesday in front of the now-under-construction store declaring "Trader Joe's Coming Soon". The 13,000-square-foot store will be fully enclosed in about two weeks and work on the building is expected to be completed in September said Chad Cooper, who is overseeing construction for Indiana-based MDC Construction.

Posted by Lisabeth Tunell:

This years festival runs Friday 6 to 11 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with an eat-local theme.

The festival attracting more than 25,000 people will feature live music, food, a car show and children's games. On Saturday, a locally raised pig will be roasted all day and served to the crowd.

Organizers could not find a local organic farmer who could supply 3,000 lbs of meat for Saturday's pork cook-off, they did purchase hams and shoulders from pitmaster Ed Mitchell's network of Eastern North Carolina farmers, who raise pigs that are hormone-free, antibiotic-free and fed all-natural grain.

Mitchell, who co-owns The Pit in Raleigh, will not only judge Friday's ribs cook-off between 9 and 11 p.m. but then at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Mitchell will then judge the shoulders and hams cook-off with the help of Walter Royal, executive chef of Raleigh's Angus Barn and the musical chef Mel Melton of Papa Mojo's Roadhouse. Should be an interesting event......

For more information, go to www.hogdays.com

Posted by Judy Burrell.  This week is Triangle Restaurant Week in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area.  From May 11 through May 17 more than 50 great restaurants are offering Fixed Price Lunches for $15 and Dinners for $25.  You will be able to enjoy an appetizer, an entree and a dessert for the fixed price fee.  What a great opportunity to try out a new restaurant or visit one of your local favorites!

To find a list of which restaurants are participating in the Triangle Restaurant Week please visit www.trirestaurantweek.com.  There you will find out where you can go to enjoy this fun idea in dining.  But hurry, it is only for this week, May 11th through May 17th.  Bon Appetite!

Posted by Lisabeth Tunell:

Recently my husband and I had plans to take our daughter and 3 of her friends away for spring break and 4 days before we were to leave "we" the parents almost did not get to go.....

Our passports had expired in January of '09 and there was no way we were boarding any planes with expired passports regardless of having birth certificates, drivers licenses, marriage certificate, voter registration cards, library cards, YMCA membership cards, Sam's cards, business cards, credit cards and all the cash in the world....we were NOT boarding any planes. I stand corrected, we could GO to Mexico but upon our return we would not be allowed back into the United States. That posed a little problem and as much as I would have liked to extend my vacation reality would eventually set in.

Needless to say PANIC set in. After numerous phone calls and some very nice, informative people that we spoke to on the phone we finally go to the one person who could actually help.

You need a letter from your Senator to present at the Special Issuance Agency in Washington, DC. Have the Senator's Office alert the Special Issuance Agency staff that you will be arriving at 8:00 a.m. to submit passport renewal applications. My advise IS to ARRIVE by 8:00 a.m. since ours took 7 hours to process. Please remember that you will need to take your current expired passport book, (2) new passport style photographs, the completed DS-82 (which you can download beforehand), and method of payment, $135.00 per person (payable to U.S. Department of State). Another important thing that we were told but forgot when we got there...we ended up standing in the LONG line that starts to form outside the Passport Office BUT when you are renewing you actually go into the building next door and go up to the second floor. There was NO line :).

The drive to DC was long and there was NO place to stay in and around the area unless you wanted to pay upwards of about $350.00. We choose to drive around and back out of the city limits to find something suitable in the $80.00 range. It was nothing to write home about but the free coffee in the morning was good.

My advise to all who travel and a good friend of mine gave me this advise is, when making your air travel plans ALWAYS check your passport expiration date. One last thing I will say is that if the person in the Senator's Office had not followed through with with what she said she was going to do (letter, phone call, emails, faxes, etc)we would not have had such a spectacular time with my daughter in Mexico. We would have been shall we say left out in the cold...Burrrr! and might I add what a "Sunny" disposition she had throughout the whole situation.

Posted by Judy Burrell.  I went to the opening day for the North Raleigh Farmer's Market last Saturday.  I was so excited to have a Farmer's Market close to my home in North Raleigh.  Unfortunately, I got a late start and didn't get there until 11 am.  I should have gotten there earlier.  Apparently the Farmer's Market had a great opening day because by 11 am it was pretty sold out.  There were only a couple of venders who had any produce left to sell.  The one vender in the corner with some produce left had a huge group of people trying to see what he had to sell.  The strawberry stand still had berries and their line wasn't too long.  The bread vender had some items left to sell as well.

My advice to all of you -- GO EARLY!!! 

The North Raleigh Farmer's Market is located at the Falls River Town Center near Falls of Neuse and Durant Roads.  The hours are 8am till noon on Saturdays and on Wednesdays from 4pm till 7.  For more information visit www.northraleighfarmersmarket.com

North Raleigh Farmer’s Market Coming to Falls River Town Center

The Falls River Town Center on Durant Road and Raven Ridge will be the new location for the North Raleigh Farmer's Market! The Grand Opening for The North Raleigh Farmer’s Market will be Saturday, May 2, 2009, and will include a two-story shopping cart courtesy of The Department of Agriculture, “Grillzilla,” music, ice cream and many local farmers’ market vendors.
So come out and enjoy the festivities and support your local farmers'.

The North Raleigh Farmer’s Market will be open every Saturday from 8:00am-12:00pm and Wednesday from 4:00-7:00pm from May until the end of October.

Posted by Lisabeth Tunell:

Now that I have your attention.......that is what was found last year when volunteers were cleaning up the Neuse River, along with 378 trash bags with 9,260 pounds of garbage! WOW!

The seventh annual Neuse River Spring Clean-up will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 4th, rain or shine. Volunteers will meet at points along the 50 miles from the Falls Lake Dam to Smithfield Town Commons in Johnston County. The Neuse River runs through 11 North Carolina counties, from Durham County to the Pamlico Sound. The annual cleanup gets volunteers in the form of youth groups, civic organizations, students and nature lovers organized to keep the river from becoming a wasteland.

Wake County stations include Falls Dam next to the Paddle Creek; the Buffaloe Road Canoe Launch. Gloves and trash bags will be provided at the clean-up stations. Paddlers should arrive about 8 a.m.. Those cleaning the shoreline should arrive between 9 and 10 a.m. Large groups should register by sending an e-mail to jackie@neuseriver.org or for more information go to www.neuseriver.org. Volunteers should dress for muddy and wet conditions and should bring sunscreen, bug repellent and a snack.

Think of it as a scavenger hunt....in the meantime you will be helping a good cause and you never know what you will find out there! Happy Hunting!

Posted by Lisabeth Tunell:

For those of us who live in North Raleigh you know how long we have waited for this news. The Falls River Town Center on Durant Road will be the home of the North Raleigh Farmers Market and will open May 2nd!!!! The market expects about 20 farmers to sign on to sell their produce by the time it opens. Rules and regulations were to be planned out and worked on this past Monday between the growers. Some of the discussions include sorting out the rules for backyard gardeners who want to sell their harvests. Steven Elliot, who presented the case for the town center at the meeting owns Falls River Books and said the group also will talk about expanding the market to twice a week, which some farmers supported at the meeting.

Other area markets:

Wake Forest Farmers' Market: 110 S. White Street, downtown Wake Forest. www.wakeforestmarket.org

Durham Farmers' Market: 501 Foster Street, Pavillion at Durham Central Park. www.durhamfarmersmarket.com

North Hills Farmers' Market: Commons Square Shopping Center (movie theater off Six Forks) www.northhillsraleigh.com

State Farmers' Market: 1201 Agriculture Street, Raleigh   www.agr.state.nc.us/markets/failities/markets

Moore Square Farmers' Market: Martin and Blount Streets, Raleigh www.godowntownraleigh.com/farmersmarket

Good Healthy Eating! Visit our websites:

www.teamforYOUrdreams.comand www.timburrell.com

Posted by Lisabeth Tunell:

Beer is finally flowing from the taps after more than two years of delays at Boylan Bridge Brewpub (201 S. Boylan Ave). Actually it is "beers" flowing....six of them in fact. Ranging from Rail Pale Ale to Pullman Porter to the Polar Bear Winter Beer which is served seasonally. Brewmaster Mark Fesch has kept his focus on traditional variations of the British ale theme and opted not to go with any hyper-hopped or fruit-flavored brews. Raleigh's downtown was devoid of a good brewery pub ever since Greenshields (original brewery) closed in back in 2004. The "Bridge" as it's called, looks like a good prospect to fill the gap and eager beer fans have kept the Bridge packed since its opening.

For those of you who like to eat something with your beer, head cook Thad Petit has developed a streamlined menu of traditional American pub fare that offer plenty of variety. One would expect on the menu...fish and chips, onion rings, oven-roasted chicken, salad and sandwiches: Reuben to beer-braised bratwurst with spicy mustard and sauerkraut on a soft roll. All of which allows the the beers to take center stage.

Owner Andrew Leager adds his own touch to the third side of success-ambiance! Leager, an architect (and amateur brewer himself) has transformed a 1950s era railroad building into a space that's open and contemporary and at the same time manages to maintain that warm neighborhood watering hole feel. Just a heads up for those of you that are sports enthusiasts, there are no TVs. Leager doesn't want them to distract from either the company you are with, the beer you are drinking or the spectacular view of the Raleigh skyline available on the pergola-shaded patio.

More information: www.boylanbridge.com or call 803-8927 and as always if you are looking for a home call us or visit our websites: www.teamforyourdreams.com or www.timburrell.com we have one that will fit your budget!

Posted by Judy Burrell.  The Raleigh St. Patrick's Day Parade is coming!  This year it will be held Saturday March 14 starting at noon in downtown Raleigh.

The parade grows bigger and better every year. The Raleigh parade is the second largest in the Southeast.  It has over 3,500 marchers including floats, bagpipe and drum bands, horses, dancers and many mascots you’ll recognize. The parade starts at the corner of Cabarrus and Wilmington streets at Noon. The route proceeds north on Wilmington to Davie Street, then turns west to Fayetteville Street and continues north to the State House. The route will pass the State House on the east side and then turn heading east on Edenton Street. The route then turns south on Blount Street.  The parade ends at Moore Square.

After the Parade has ended, the Festival will begin in Moore Square.  See all of the wonderful entertainment at the Wearin' O' the Green Festival.  There will be live music and dancing.  In addition, there will be a wide variety of vendor booths including Irish Organizations, Irish jewelry and other trinkets, food vendors, children's games and activities. It will be fun for the entire family.  So come out for the Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade, bring your family, and be sure to wear Green!