Charlotte and the south is known for its churches. If that's what you're looking for, then this is a great place to come and find it. I've seen a statistic that says that Charlotte has 700 churches in Charlotte and its surrounding areas. I can't tell if that is a big number or a small number. I am not actually positive that it is right.    03/21/2009

Here's a great american tradition for you. The Harlem Globetrotters have made their way to the Time Warner Cable Arena on their tour arount the world. I guess they just tour to show everyone how good at basketball they are. Their basketball tricks have become world famous. They put on a show that's great for kids. Some Globetrotters have even become NBA Players. 03/21/2009

It's official, the Jonas Brothers have announced their tour dates for the next few monts as they embark on their three continent tour. They've chosen June 15 to stop in Charlotte, their only tour stop in North Carolina. The Jonas brothers have already seen fit to make a stop in Charlotte a few months ago, when they promoted their new movie by showing up at Regal Theaters at Stonecrest in South Charlotte, near Ballanytyne Real Estate. The Jonas Brothers have become one of the biggest pop groups in the nation over the past couple of years. They come from the Disney inventors who have made stars out of kids for years.  03/21/2009

Charlotte NC Heydon Hall:  A Real Old Fashioned Neighborhood What other neighborhood offers you your own private entrance to the Quail Hollow golf course?!  There is just no other neighborhood like Heydon Hall.  This neighborhood is representative of an old-fashioned, gated community which is truly representative of what a real ‘neighborhood’ is.  An abundance of parties, games and children’s activities are available—and there’s plenty of entertainment for the adults too!  There are progressive dinner parties, Bunko and much more.   In Heydon Hall, the friendships formed last a lifetime.   You’ll not only love the community but, we have a brand new listing that is simply fabulous also!  This stunning brick home is situated on one of the best lots in Heydon Hall!  The gourmet kitchen is ... 03/21/2009

How much earnest money should we put down with the offer?   Isn't that always a fun conundrum. 1%, 2%, %%%, none, or an option. What is the right answer? The right answer is basically dominated by local custom. Sounds quaint doesn't it? The buyer always asks " what if the deal goes bad...can I get my money back?" This is where it becomes important that the buyers (at least here in N.C.) become earnest. They have to be earnest in fulfilling the contract for all their obligations. There are rarely few exceptions. I tell them "And even if you do your part to the letter and the seller fails on their part, there is no instant refund. Both parties have to agree to its release." Then I tell them "The money is held in a regulated trust account, not in my pocket" and I have to assure them I am n... 03/21/2009

OK...I know it has been a rough couple of months out there but don't worry it is now Springtime. To start the spring off right Lake And Town Realty has now lined up 7 closings in the next 2 weeks with a possible 2 more by the end of April. I am not sure if its because of the birds chirping or flowers blooming but we are now starting to see a lot more activity. Charlotte also got some great news this morning. GMAC will be opening another branch in the Queen City that will employ several hundred employees. That is great news for a lot of bankers who may have lost their job in the past couple of months. Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone else and would love to hear how your part of the country is doing.   03/20/2009

When a dryer fire occurs in an apartment complex, a lot of lives are in danger and many people end up homeless, due to the negligence of one tenant     Charlotte, NC - Over 15,000 clothes dryer fires are reported annually; fires are most devastating when they occur in apartment buildings.  Emilie Benvegna recently spoke at a real estate investor's association meeting where she displayed a model of a dryer vent system as she explained its function.  She showed everyone how easily a fire could start in the dryer vent and how quickly it could spread throughout the apartment complex.   Emilie explained, "Lint is highly combustible.  When a dryer vent is clogged with lint, air-flow is restricted, causing overheating and eventually, a fire.  This is especially devastating in an apartment buil... 03/18/2009

We had too much stuff A couple weeks prior to moving you stage a garage sale and expose your "stuff" to the enquireing public. People mull over your past choices and reward your decisions with meager offers. Most likely you accept the offer and watch a once precious item scurry off in the clasp of a stranger. This process continues until all is gone or any offer at all is accepted. Most of the people who come by are neighbors. Common questions arise: Why are you selling your "stuff"? You respond ...We're moving. Then the ambigious and gossipy question follows: Why? and where are you moving to? You have exposed your story to all the public. Many conjour thoughts of financial harm or worse divorce, illness, or heaven forbid secret information of doom about the neighborhood.  The only doom... 03/16/2009

  Birkdale Village I finally got a chance to try out the Red Rocks Cafe in Birkdale Village on Saturday night. What a pleasant surprise! After living in south Florida for 15 years I got accustomed to eating really good fish dinners. Unfortunately, unless you live near the coast it sometimes is a challenge to find good seafood in the Charlotte, NC area. However, Red Rocks has a great selection of seafood and the preparation was excellent. I had the Mahi-Mahi and my friend had the Tuna. It was reasonably priced and service was great. If you get a chance to get up to the Lake Norman area you may want to give Red Rocks a try.     03/15/2009

First time home buyers in North Carolina, take heart!  You may be able to purchase your first home without a down payment.  You may also be able to use a federal tax credit program to help you qualify for a loan.  And you may be able to get payment assistance if you lose your job during the first two years of the mortgage. Who offers these first time home buyer programs in North Carolina? The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA) is the state agency that offers these programs for qualified first time home buyers.  The NCHFA's mission is to create affordable housing opportunities for home buyers who cannot meet their housing needs in the regular marketplace.  The agency provides financing through the sale of tax-exempt bonds and the management of federal tax credit programs. Who ... 03/15/2009

Charlotte NC has a ton of different things to do and different people with different interests. Creative Loafing is the free paper that serves the community. The idea is to create a publication that serves readers who don't necessarily care about the stuff that goes on at the city council meetings.  The paper is aimed at younger people who go out to bars and art shows. The paper doesn't mind being edgy and doesn't censor much. They print curse words and go after subjects that would never make it in the Charlotte Observer, the daily paper. I'm not endorsing it. But with the newspaper industry the way it is, there have been many opportunities for people with a bunch of extra money in their pocket to start a paper and print whatever they feel like printing.  Call it free speech or what you... 03/14/2009

Since Charlotte NC has experience such amazing growth in the past 20 years, the city has expanded to the size of the county almost. There are several towns outside of Charlotte, but inside of Mecklenburg county. Many departments of city and county government have merged to provide better services to these communities and the county as a whole. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department is one of the department. I really don't know all the ins and outs of the policing in Charlotte. But there are Mecklenburg county Sheriffs. I have no idea what they do though. If the city and county police are the same thing, then where do the county sheriffs patrol? Maybe they just take care of the county jail or something. You really don't see many sheriff's cars around in Charlotte.  The schools are a... 03/14/2009

Charlotte and Mecklenburg county have come together to issue the Fit City Challenge in Charlotte NC. Its basic mission is to try to make people walk 5 miles a week and eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day. The idea is to get as many people moving and eating healthy so that the city's medical bills start going down instead of up. I don't think that there are very many ways that you can slice it that this is a bad thing. Encouraging people to be fit is a great way to build community and to help people become healthy.The more you read and think about it, the more difficult it is to be sure that you are eating healthy and doing the right things to be healthy. It's even more difficult to muster the energy and drive to get up and excercise everyday. Many people need a little encouragement to eit... 03/14/2009

The Mecklenburg Aquatic Center is the downtown pool for the county. There are some high schools with olympic sized swimming pools already in them in Charlotte, but this serves the high schools with no pool as well as holds tournaments for big events. It is a great pool, cool enough that the men's olympic decided to do their training there as they ran up to the Beijing Olympics. The word on the street is that Michael Phelps and the rest of the relay team trained at this complex in uptown Charlotte. The pool is massive and is home to many of the big swim meets. I think they are a lot like high school track meets. There are a ton of people at them and they don't happen very often. The other thing is that seems like the only people who know about track meets or swim meets are the people who... 03/14/2009

ImaginOn is a building in uptown Charlotte on 7th street that hosts shared events for young people. There were two competing service groups who came together to share this facility to teach children. The public library and the childrens theater of Charlotte joined together to make this happen. I've already posted about an event going on at the venue, but I wanted to write about what the space is all about.  It is named after Joe and Joan Martin, two people who gave to their community. Joe was an author who published two books. The building was finally completed in 2005 after the idea was originally floated in 1997. It works on the principal that children learn in many different ways. Some can hear something and remember it, others like to act it out. Either way, it is designed to engage... 03/14/2009

There was a bit fundraiser recently at the Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte NC for Dessert First, a fundraiser for the V Foundation - a foundation that supports cancer research. The foundation is named for Jim Valvano, a coach at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He took N C State to the championship and won if I'm not mistaken. He was also struck down by cancer later. Dick Vitale, the college basketball announcer always mentions it several times a broadcast. He supports the program by getting the name of the program out to the college basketball audience. Dessert First, served dessert first. Then they had a silent auction of stuff, probably sports memorabilia or something and then everyone went home.  Nick Valvano, Jim's older brother was on hand to meet people and to m... 03/14/2009

The Saint Patrick's day parade that I said was going to happen this weekend in uptown Charlotte has been postponed.  Bad weather has caused the parade to shift its date to next Saturday. I'm not sure that Saint Patrick would like that. Maybe he would have wanted everyone to tough it out with a parka on.  The weather here over the weekend has been difficult to accept. After a week in the 80s, someone flipped a switch and turned Charlotte into a wintery, rainy place to be. They actually cancelled it on Friday, because they feared bad weather. They were right. The cold rain may have a lot to do with the way Ireland really is. But it has nothing to do with our sunny green idea of what Ireland should be. I think its funny that a ton of people have an idea of what they think Ireland must be l... 03/14/2009

It's the big day tomorrow. Thousands of office pools will be circulated in Charlotte NC offices on Monday after the brackets are announced for the NCAA tournament tomorrow.  The people who run college basketball are probably hard at work deciding who goes where based on a bunch of information that is supposed to tell us how good each team is. Most of the teams are probably already set in their place. But there are still some teams that are on the bubble whose performance in their conference tournaments will affect how they are placed. Teams are admitted to the NCAA tournament if they win their conference tournament, but there are some good teams that could possibly win the tournament that did not win their tournaments that will get in at-large. The University of North Carolina at Chapel... 03/14/2009

The charlotte public library is holding an event for people to come get their myspace photos done. There's nothing worse than having your high school yearbook photo as your myspace photo.  I'm sure they'll have someone come up with something that is more intersesting than just a well lit shot.  The event is at Imaginon: The Joe and Jean Martin Center, which is downtown and frequently has events for kids.  It is one of the events I found on the city's website. It may seem like a lost cause to look on the city's websites for cool things to do, but I found some really good ones. It seems that someone keeps the website up to date in Charlotte NC.  The library is a great source of not only information, but a free resource for internet access if you decide that a home connection is too expens... 03/14/2009

The Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the best college basketball conferences, is close, along with just about every other basketball conference, to finishing the end of its post season tournament. In many cases around the country, the outcome of the tournament will affect how the teams are seeded for the NCAA tournament, the big end of season tournament that people like to call March Madness.  The ACC tournament is a big deal in North Carolina because there are four universities from NC in the tournament. Many of those graduates find their way back to Charlotte NC.  This year finds Duke and Florida State in the Finals of the ACC tournament. FSU knocked off the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill today to make it there. Chapel Hill is currently ranked number one in the nation go... 03/14/2009