Real Estate Information

Posted by Judy Burrell.  A very impressive exhibit opens Saturday June 28 in downtown Raleigh.  Twelve of The Dead Sea Scrolls are being exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  This is an amazing chance to see an immensly important part of history. 

The Museum will be exhibiting 6 scrolls for a three month run, then exhibiting another six scrolls for the next three months, for a total of a six month display ending in December.

The exhibit details the exciting discovery of the Scrolls in 1947 and traces their history up to the present day.  The display includes replicas of the area where they were found, and an understanding of the life and culture of that area.  Then the scrolls themselves are exhibited in The Gallery of Scrolls.  The Scrolls are exhibited along with a translation next to them and explanations of their importance.   The Scrolls have some of the earliest original versions of documents that are important to both the Jewish and Christian faiths. 

The Scrolls to be displayed were specially selected for this exhibition.  Four of them have never been publically viewed anywhere in the world.  Included in the Biblical Scrolls are  works from the books of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy and Isaiah. Other scrolls include The Community Rule and the Damascus Document.

Exibitions like this put Raleigh on the cultural map, as an important City in the United States worthy of a special display of several documents that have never been seen anywhere else.  We have many situatuions where Raleigh is on the "Best Of" lists, and now we are getting more respect as a city with special cultural events.

Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see a very important part of history.  The NC Museum of Natural History is located at 11 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601.  The phone is 919-733-7450.

Submitted by Lisabeth Tunell. 

Since 2004 Raleigh’s downtown has been trying to lure not only businesses and restaurants but also incentives for projects that involved converting old building into condos or replacing them altogether.

It seems to be working….

Several projects have been completed in the “center-city’s renewal” district and are on the market and selling despite the market. It seems that people are looking at downtown Raleigh as they would any other large downtown city except for less money.

These projects are among several recent changes on a six-block cluster southeast of the intersection of Fayetteville and Martin streets.

On the block across Davie Street, a pair of towers including an eco-friendly mix of shops, offices, hotel rooms and residences is scheduled to be built. The project, called Edison, would surround a 1,250-space parking deck being built on the block.

To the northwest is the RBC Plaza and that is presently the Triangle's tallest tower and of course the 96-year-old City Market is also poised for upgrades.

As you can see there are many choices to choose from so if you are in the market for a condo that has that “urban” or “eclectic” feel to it contact us.

 

Submitted by Lisabeth Tunell:

My oldest daughter graduated and leaves for college in August. My youngest daughter is a junior. This leaves me with the question of whether I start to think about downsizing after she leaves the nest next August (09). My home is large enough to accommodate all but with just me and my husband….we would be rattling around.

I am sure many couples face this question when their children leave home and move on.  I myself would like to downsize simply because I am tired of cleaning 4200 square ft.!!! I would much rather have a smaller home and have a place where my children can come home to visit (for a while) and leave again.

We are in a golf/tennis community and play both so I would like to stay in the same community.  I have come to love my home as we have it decorated just so, the drapes, the wallpaper, the fabric and the paint all coordinate. My closet is organized so I can find everything as is my kitchen.  My Christmas decorations fit in the unfinished basement just so as does my workout gym and the rest of my “junk” When I think about moving….I get a headache….and yet it is appealing. Why?

I don’t know I just know that a lot of couples do and that is why the Real Estate industry still does business.  No matter what the statistics tell us there will always be someone looking to buy/sell/move…. so I will be in the market starting next spring and selling/buying regardless of what the economy tells me because cleaning a smaller home has to take “half” the time which will leave more time for golf and tennis!!!

 

If interested in downsizing, call us and we can help you also!

 

Posted by Judy Burrell.  The Fresh Market in Raleigh has moved.  I have enjoyed The Fresh Market for years and years.  It is an upscale grocery store which offers lots of unique and tasty items, WAY different from your average grocery store.

Last month The Fresh Market moved down the street from it's old location on Falls of the Neuse.  It is now about 1/2 mile south in Sutton Square behind Winston's Grille in the former Harris Teeter site.  They have added more than 5,000 square feet to their store!   It is such a delight just browsing through all their unusual, hard to find items.   How fun!   

Posted by Tim Burrell- It takes 1.5 trees to provide the paper for the average household to receive its junk mail annually.  I will bet you have thought about whether there is a way to stop this waste of paper, fuel, printing, etc.,as you tossed the unsolicited catalogs and direct mail materials directly into the recycling bin.  If you want to eliminate unwanted junk mail, simply log onto https://www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/ and opt out of direct mail lists.  There is no cost for this service.

At this site you can also select the materials you want to receive, such as credit card offers and catalogs. In other words, you do not have to turn off all the commercial mail, just the stuff you do not want.

Another site, www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist allows you to opt out of unwanted mailings, but it charges one dollar for the service.

To get only the catalogs that you want, go to www.catalogchoice.org .  There, you can eliminate catalogs that you do not want while keeping only the ones that you actually enjoy.  Just think how many trees, printing material, delivery fuel and other resources that you can save by eliminating the catalogs that you do not use. 

Please go to one of the sites and stop this waste of trees.  The person who delivers your mail with thank you.

The Harnett County Animal Shelter is in a crisis with overcrowding. They have 100 animals that will be euthanized on June 18th if they are not adopted. They have a lot of cats and dogs of all breeds and ages, 25 puppies that are 2 months old, 11 kittens, and a BEAUTIFUL Siamese mother that just gave birth to 11 kittens. The Siamese would have to be fostered or adopted with the 11 kitttens since they are still nursing. If you are looking for a great pet, please call Tino Medina at (910) 814-2952. These animals deserve a chance to grow up in a loving home. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD to all your blog friends.

EXCITING NEW Team UPDATES!

We have GONE GREEN! In an effort to conserve paper, we are now emailing as much correspondence as possible.

We have a NEW WEBSITE and are very excited about all the new services and links we now provide.

We provide STAGING SERVICES for our SELLERS in order to get your home in model condition to SELL FASTER and for MORE MONEY.

We will provide an updated market survey of your area to you for FREE.  Call us at 919-270-3931 for yours.

We have a FREE website available to past clients- www.TriangleVillages.com- It's like a FACEBOOK for friends and family where you can communicate, send photos etc.. Ask us about signing up today at 919-270-3931.

Submitted by: Leslie Tunell

Submitted by Lisabeth Tunell

Nationwide Tour…professional golf in my backyard…..

I have missed only ONE Nationwide Tour so far and that was the first year it started at Wakefield in 2000. What a great experience it is to go out your back door to watch these guys play and know one day soon you will possibly see some of them on the PGA Tour. This is golf at its best because these guys have a big incentive….. to win and play with the “big boys”.

The Nationwide Tour has arrived at TPC Wakefield Plantation and starts today through Sunday June 8^th. Total purse is $500,000 and winning share is $90,000.

The Tournament Players Club Wakefield Plantation opened as a private member club in July of 2000.  The par 71, 7,257 yard, 18-hole championship golf course was designed by three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin. The TPC at Wakefield Plantation lies on 217 acres adjacent to Falls Lake.  Here, native pine trees, ponds and creeks remain in their pristine natural condition, framed by 18 carefully sculpted holes whose beauty will only serve to complement their surroundings. Five different sets of tees allow for a enjoyable round for players of all skill levels.

The course is set up differently for these pros but on Monday June 9^th members get to try their drive, swing, pitch and putt on the same course and see how they would have faired.

If you are a golfer and would like to say “Professional golf in my backyard…..”next year, call us! 

Posted by Tim Burrell - The Fourth Annual Downtown Raleigh Home Tour for 2008 took place today.  The event was hosted by the Department of City Planning for the City of Raleigh.  I have to applaud them, not only for a wonderful event, but for having a department that wants to show the results of their efforts to encourage a variety of housing in Downtown Raleigh.  For the City's website on the tour, look at http://tinyurl.com/5vkabr .

The tour had a wide range of housing, from one bedroom apartments restricted to to lower income renters to luxury condominiums with spectacular furnishings.  My favorite is the single family home at 318 East Davie Street.  The home is down a gravel driveway, looking like a small brick warehouse.  It used to be a stable for the horses that were part of the fire department in times gone by.  Inside, it is spectacular, open and bright, with only one door in the whole place (on the guest bathroom).  The kitchen is amazing with a huge island, and long bar for casual conversation.  The master suite is grand, with a shower out of Star Wars, featuring two shower heads, spray columns of other shower heads, several music speakers, and curved glass doors.  It has a loft up a flight of stairs nearly in the middle of the property, where the raised roof is made of opaque glass over four short walls made primarily of windows. 

One of the other exciting propertis is the Urban Loft on West Martin Street, where a wonderful architectural firm has its partners living in lofts above their office. The lofts have open liviing spaces for kitchen, dining and living areas, then the master suite covers the entire upstairs (with his and hers offices).  The entrance is throught the old receiving dock for a long since departed electrical company, with the building transformed 18 year ago into two residences over the retail and office space on the street.

Several new projects presented their sales offices with samples of kitchens, bathrooms and other features.  The Hue Condominiums are under construction, and their sales staff is showing what the features will be (for details visit  http://www.hueraleigh.com )   Luxurious Bloomsbury Estates will have one, two and three bedroom suites that will be some of the most elegant in the downtown (see http://tinyurl.com/6nnjbm for more information, but watch out for the Jazz music that plays on the site if you are looking at work).  West at North is nearing completion with wonderful amenities.  Many of these properties are going for over $300 per square foot,  much higher than anything else in the Triangle.

Most of the new Downtown Residences are condominiums featuring the Atrium Condominiums, the Martin Place Condominiums (http://tinyurl.com/5abzbh), the Park Devereaux Condominiums, ( http://tinyurl.com/5t87tq ) Dawson on Morgan Condominiums (  http://www.thedawson.com/ ), the 222 Glenwood Condominiums (  http://tinyurl.com/5n8ccc ), the 510 Glenwood Condominiums ( http://tinyurl.com/5lbu6v ) , the Cotton Mill Condominiums (http://tinyurl.com/6dtebv)  and the Palladium Plaza Condominiums (  http://www.palladiumplaza.com/ ).   I liked the Founders Row Townhouses ( http://www.foundersrow.net/ ) for its location close to City Market, and you get more home for the money.   

The Blount Street Commons has the best of both worlds.  The development is moving 25 historic homes to preserve them and concentrate them within the development.  Then, 400 new residences will be constructed, with a range of residential styles from carriage homes, row houses, flats and detached homes.  They have an excellent website at http://www.blountstreetcommons.com/

The Village a Pilot Mill keeps the orignial Pilot Mill buildings next to the new community of single family homes.  This provides a different style of living from the abundance of condominiums being created downtown. See http://thevillageatpilotmill.com/ for more information.

The entire tour was well staffed with helpful guides to get you to the right locations, and to greet you at each property.  Some of the homes had their owners prosent, my Realtor friends Keith and Mary Ann Larsons greeted us at their son's condo, and everywhere you went there was someone present to help.

Downtown Raleigh is going through a wonderful renaissance.  It is not there, yet, as it is a work in progress. But, you can see the progress and the end result will be exciting. 

Well I have to admit I felt a little uninformed when we had to submit our request for Magnet school applications this year with all the changes to the Wake county school system.  My daughter attended a year round magnet school all through elementary school and when we applied for middle school I was not ready for the change. 

Of course we had been told it was on a modified calendar, but we honestly did not know what that meant until we were accepted.  What we found out was that the modified calendar starts July 20th.  Because the school system only recently notified parents of placement acceptance this of course will now give us a short summer break which will be a change to get used to for our family.  For our family and many others we need to be prepared and plan family vacations in accordance to the schedule we have been accepted into.

Have you and your family found yourself confused about what is going on with the redistricting and calendar changes to the public school system?  Well, don't feel bad you are among a very large crowd.  For more information on what is happening with the Wake County School District and the differences between tradition, modified and year round calendars visit our links section of our website for a link to the Wake County Public School Systems website.

No matter what schedule your children are on or even if you don't have children the site is full of great information that you can pass along to friends and family with children.  And no matter what the schedule they have been assigned, supporting their education is one of the most important things you can do for your children.