Cary Real Estate Blog

Are you going to Lazy Daze in Cary, NC this year?  That’s the question alot of my friends were asking over the weekend.  One of the reasons I work at LG Real Estate is to be able to shop. 

 Right now, the high for Saturday is only supposed to be 86 degrees – that would be amazing.  Remember to go early – most of the vendors are ready to sell by 8:30am and you can actually see their items before all the crowds arrive. 

Of the 3 streets that are included in the festival, my favorite one is between the center of the Town of Cary and the old elementary school.  This is the street that I go to 1st.  Bring a small purse and remember that most of the vendors are happy to store your things for you at the booth until you are ready to go home.  And, if you want a bit of adult refreshment for a shopping break, you can drop in on the beer garden.  Check out the vendor CD this year to get a preview of the Lazy Daze wares.  See you there!

 It all Started with a Fruit Dryer

If I had only known 15 years ago when our youngest son Matt requested a fruit dryer for his 14^th birthday how that would change his life.  We had recently moved to the Cary area from CA.  Matt, the youngest of our four sons was the only one to make the move to the foreign country of NC. He came kicking and screaming which is very typical of any rising 8^th grader. 

The Food Channel, Cary High, and UCLA

While getting acclimated to his new life without a plethora of friends on his doorstep, Matt gained a real fondness for the TV Food Channel.  After learning to make beef jerky from his new contraption he started playing with recipes.  We never gave it a lot of thought until we heard about a Thanksgiving meal he fixed for his college roommates at UCLA.  By this time Matt had graduated from Cary High School in 1999 and went on to become an English major and Spanish minor at UCLA.  He was fortunate enough to spend a year at the University of Barcelona and during the summer he went to a culinary school in Spain. 

Eat This Not That!

Moving the clock forward several years Matt is now the co author of the “Eat This Not That” book series.  His real pride and joy is the latest book of the series “Cook This Not That”.  On Sunday April 18th,  Matt will be at the Cary location of Barnes and Noble to discuss his books.  The book signing and discussion will begin at 4pm.  On Wednesday, April 14th at 3am (the only weird time in the country) Matt will be on the Bonnie Hunt show along with David Zinczenko demonstrating several of the recipes. 

James Beard Food Writing Award

A few weeks ago Matt was nominated for the James Beard Food Writing Award.   This is a great honor and is considered the Oscar of food writing.  The nomination was for an article he did for Men’s Health Magazine called “Beauty and the Beast”.  He just arrived back to NYC from a trip to CA to work with Carl’s Jr/Hardees to help them devise a healthier menu.  There is an article about Matt in the April18th edition of the Cary News.

Proud Mom

As his Mom of course I beam with pride but taking that aside he is a wealth of information and if you meet him on Sunday you will be glad you did.

Meet the LG Real Estate Swat Team

One of the things I am most proud of is that our LG Real Estate listings have the reputation of showing in top condition. In today’s highly competitive market, agents can typically present a buyer with as many as 30 to 50 homes that fit their price point and location. That’s why I place a priority on ensuring our homes stand out; when they do, they get the showings and ultimately the offer and contract. As an agent, I work very hard educating and guiding my new clients about the expectations of their homes as resales in a heavily saturated market.

 HGTV has done wonders to educate and inspire homeowners to be creative and tackle many projects to make their homes special, comfortable and personal. Yet, when a home is on the market and needs to appeal to a broadcross-section of potential buyers, neutral is actually best. To give the best advice to our clients, my supporting staff-Lee Ann Crowder and Jennifer Grinter-are specially trained and equipped to help our sellers. Once I have all of the paperwork signed to market a home, Jennifer Grinter makes an appointment with our new clients for the SWAT Team visit.

Swat Team Visit

 Jennifer and Lee Ann arrive at your Cary home with notebook and pad in hand and a very keen eye for all of those things we each overlook as we are busy just living our lives. Not even a spider web is too small to be

Jennifer & Lee Ann

overlooked, but don’t worry: we don’t suggest more than is necessary. Our goal is to ensure the home’s exterior and interior is as clean as possible and all the features show in their best light. This may mean anything from suggesting that you repaint a bath to “pop,” trim those shrubs blocking the front of the house or move the sofa from upstairs in the bonus to downstairs in the family room to enhance the scale of the room.

Helpful Suggestions

 Both team members are very detailed and have experience and training in design placement and style. Jennifer takes the lead on documenting all of the home’s features and creating our executive home brochures. Lee Ann focuses on placing the furniture and ensuring the client’s home looks as neat and as peaceful as possible for potential buyers. It helps for clients to have somewhere they can store personal belongings until they move. Friends’ homes, donation locations and even recycling sites can be of assistance.

 Our SWAT team takes this job seriously, and we are always sensitive to each seller. As we say, no one really lives the way you need to while you are selling your home. You may have to live lightly for a while, but it will get YOUR HOME SOLD. If you are serious about selling your home, call us at 919-653-2647.

Cary NC is a great place to raise a family and of course be a grandparent. Cary is a vibrant community of 132,000 (2008 count) located between The City of Raleigh and the Research Triangle Park.  The average age in Cary is 33.7 which means families, children, and of course lots of grandchildren.  There are wonderful parks, great schools, beautiful neighborhoods, and plenty of activities for children and grandchildren.

Allie & Ashley

We (Dave & Lenda Goulding) have 2 married sons that live in Cary and 3 precious little granddaughters.  Our oldest son Rex and his wife Lora live in the Preston area of Cary and have 2 daughters – Ashley age 6 and Allie age 4.  They love swimming at the Prestonwood CC pool and fishing in their backyard which is located on one of the Preston Lakes. 

Sadie

Our 2^nd son Ryan and his wife Dani live in the Weston Manor subdivision of Cary. They have a daughter, Sadie Claire, who will celebrate her 1^st birthday in a couple of weeks.  Sadie is now walking and loves to explore and play games with GG (Lenda) and G-POP (Dave).

Normally, we as parents follow and locate close to our children so that the grandkids are nearby.  We are very fortunate to run a business- LG Real Estate- in a town so inviting and conducive to young families.  Our oldest son Rex moved to Cary from Boston in 2003 and Ryan moved here from California in 2007. 

Cary Senior Center

So not only is Cary a terrific place to raise a family, it’s also a great place for grandparents to reside.  The parks, recreational, and cultural department of the Town of Cary operates the Cary Senior Center.  The Cary Senior Center is a 17,000 square foot recreation and education facility designed by and for the adults 55 and older in Cary.  The center sponsors such activities as the Senior/Teen Wii Bowling Challenge, Ice Cream Socials, Annual Evening Concert (free), Tai Chi and other exercise classes. 

 So grandparents come to Cary – the kids and grandchildren will follow!

Last weekend, my husband Joe and I took our 1 1/2 year old mini labradoodle , Kanga Ru, for a short drive from our Preston neighborhood in Cary, NC to the American Tobacco Trail.    While Kanga had to be on her leash, per the trial rules, we all had a great time just enjoying our walk.  We accessed the path at the White Oak Trailhead just off of Green Level Church Road.  The actual address is 1305 White Oak Church Road, Apex, NC  27523.

Kangu Ru ready for her walk!

We passed a lot of bikers and walkers.  I think next time we will bring along some friends who have a labradoodle as well.  In our real estate business, LG Real Estate, plenty buyers are always asking about local things to do in Cary.  I can’t believe how long it has taken me to enjoy this option that is so close and accessable to our home.  Do you have any ideas for local outings?

Wow!  Am I excited.  As what seems like a rarity, I am a local girl who grew up around farming and lots of fresh veggies.  Many summer nights were spent hanging out under a HUGE old oak tree while the family shelled beans and told great stories; often after a fun evening of baseball.  An all veggies dinner is still something that I love!

Veggies for Sale!

One of our favorite neighborhoods which we specialize in at LG Real Estate is Carpenter Village.  Just last weekend, they opened  a weekly Farmers Market which is open each Saturday until November from 8am- 12pm.  You can find out more about the amazing local vendors, fresh from their farms at www.westernwakefarmersmarket.org.  The address is 1226 Morrisville Carpenter Road.  Perhaps I’ll see you there!

Well…LG Real Estate did just that!  Our team went to the NC State Fair on Wednesday, October 15th, the day prior to the opening this year.  A few years ago when I worked for various software development companies, I was introduced to this tradition.

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Continuing Getting My Cary Home ready to sell

Among the suggestions that Lenda and Lee Ann had were:  remove the wallpaper in the dining room.  I love this wallpaper.  I am not a fan of wallpaper in general, but this one was beautiful in my eyes.  It was blue and white (like my china) with a white on white print in the background.  It took forever to pick out and hanging stripes isn’t easy, but I did it.

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So what was next on the list of things to get done?  De-brass.  One of the suggestions from Lenda and Lee Ann who work with me at LG Real Estate was to de-brass the house – replace the ‘gold’ door knobs and hinges, swap out the brass light fixtures, change the kitchen cabinet knobs, etc.  Well, I had planned on doing the entire house, but after looking at the price of door knobs, budget constraints came into play.  We decided on the first floor to give a great first impression to buyers as they come into my home.

Controlling Cost When Preparing Your Cary Home for the Market?

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So, how did we start?  Well, my husband and I decided that we needed a little more room in our house.  We investigated adding on to our Cary home, but decided it wasn’t going to work for us.  Typically we would never buy a house before we sell our own, but we have also never moved in town before.  But, before we even made the conscious decision to buy a new home in Cary, we started to do things we knew would need to be done.

De-cluttering Our Cary Home

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