September 24-27, 2009
THURSDAY September 24 - 6 pm – 9 pm
FRIDAY September 25 Kid's Day 10 am- 1 pm
FRIDAY September 25 - 1 pm- 9:30 pm
SATURDAY September 26 - 10 am – 9:30 pm
SUNDAY September 27- 11 am – 6 pm
Showing posts with label CollinsPark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CollinsPark. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
45th Festival in the Park
September 24-27, 2009
THURSDAY September 24 - 6 pm – 9 pm
FRIDAY September 25 Kid's Day 10 am- 1 pm
FRIDAY September 25 - 1 pm- 9:30 pm
SATURDAY September 26 - 10 am – 9:30 pm
SUNDAY September 27- 11 am – 6 pm
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Charlotte Restaurant Week Continues
Queen’s Feast - Charlotte Restaurant Week! July 10-19, you can get a three course meal at nearly 100 of Charlotte’s best local restaurants for just $30 per person (tax and gratuity not included).
This 10-day feast is a great opportunity to try some of Charlotte’s most remarkable chefs and trendy hot spots. If you are working on a budget you can’t beat these deals. See the menus of all the participating restaurants.
Almost all my favorites are on the list. In the Elizabeth neighborhood, Carpe Diem, Customshop and Cajun Queen all offer a great New American menus. In Dilworth you can do a “Taste of the World” tour with the scrumptious Italian of Dolce, Indian at Copper, Spanish at Sole and fine Asian at Zen.
You may want to walk to your choice restaurant so that you don't gain too much weight.
This 10-day feast is a great opportunity to try some of Charlotte’s most remarkable chefs and trendy hot spots. If you are working on a budget you can’t beat these deals. See the menus of all the participating restaurants.
Almost all my favorites are on the list. In the Elizabeth neighborhood, Carpe Diem, Customshop and Cajun Queen all offer a great New American menus. In Dilworth you can do a “Taste of the World” tour with the scrumptious Italian of Dolce, Indian at Copper, Spanish at Sole and fine Asian at Zen.
You may want to walk to your choice restaurant so that you don't gain too much weight.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Pet Palooza Raises $90,000 for Animals
Pet Palooza Raises $90K for Animals
Where do you go to enroll your beloved pooch into Camp Bow Wow or commission an oil portrait of your diva-dog? Why Pet Palooza, of course! What is a Pet Palooza? It is an event to raise much-needed money for the Humane Society whose goal is stop the euthanizing of any animal. Pet Palooza raised $90,000 to save the lives of wonderful companions and loving pets! Congratulations!
And you can indulge your perky pet from gourmet pet food to couture clothing to sending them to swanky doggie-day care! Oh, to be a dog!
Click here for more pictures from Pet Palooza!
Where do you go to enroll your beloved pooch into Camp Bow Wow or commission an oil portrait of your diva-dog? Why Pet Palooza, of course! What is a Pet Palooza? It is an event to raise much-needed money for the Humane Society whose goal is stop the euthanizing of any animal. Pet Palooza raised $90,000 to save the lives of wonderful companions and loving pets! Congratulations!
And you can indulge your perky pet from gourmet pet food to couture clothing to sending them to swanky doggie-day care! Oh, to be a dog!
Click here for more pictures from Pet Palooza!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Market is Improving!!!
Inventory is down from 6 months ago, and more importantly, "under contract" listings (as a percentage of overall) are up! Over the past 6 months, the average percentage of listings (houses + condos) under contract has been 12.87%. Today, it's over 14%!
It will get better for everyone in Charlotte. We have to maintain the course and keep our outlooks up and positive.
It will get better for everyone in Charlotte. We have to maintain the course and keep our outlooks up and positive.
Friday, April 3, 2009
6 Resons Why It's Still a Good Time to Buy!!!
The housing market is looking healthier. Here are six reasons why now is the time to jump into the market.
1. Uncle Sam is willing to help. First-time buyers (defined as anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the last three years) are entitled to a maximum $8,000 tax credit; interest rates are at record lows; and the Federal Reserve is doing its best to make mortgage loans available.
2. People have to live somewhere. About 800,000 new households are formed each year in this country, ensuring that the housing market will tighten, even if the economy doesn’t soar.
3. Borrowers leverage their investment. If you put $10,000 into the stock market and it earns 10 percent, you’ve earned $1,000. If you put $10,000 down on a home and its values increases 10 percent, you’ve made $10,000.
4. When prices come back up, you’ll have instant equity. In parts of the country where foreclosures have driven down prices, better times will mean the price of the home you buy will rise rapidly.
5. Mortgage costs stay the same. If you get a fixed-rate mortgage, the monthly payment stays the same – while everything else, including rent, goes upward.
6. You own it. There is something comforting in the notion that your home is your own. You can paint it any color you want, let the dog run in the back yard and hang a swing for the kids in the front.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, June Fletcher (03/27/2009)
1. Uncle Sam is willing to help. First-time buyers (defined as anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the last three years) are entitled to a maximum $8,000 tax credit; interest rates are at record lows; and the Federal Reserve is doing its best to make mortgage loans available.
2. People have to live somewhere. About 800,000 new households are formed each year in this country, ensuring that the housing market will tighten, even if the economy doesn’t soar.
3. Borrowers leverage their investment. If you put $10,000 into the stock market and it earns 10 percent, you’ve earned $1,000. If you put $10,000 down on a home and its values increases 10 percent, you’ve made $10,000.
4. When prices come back up, you’ll have instant equity. In parts of the country where foreclosures have driven down prices, better times will mean the price of the home you buy will rise rapidly.
5. Mortgage costs stay the same. If you get a fixed-rate mortgage, the monthly payment stays the same – while everything else, including rent, goes upward.
6. You own it. There is something comforting in the notion that your home is your own. You can paint it any color you want, let the dog run in the back yard and hang a swing for the kids in the front.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, June Fletcher (03/27/2009)
Monday, March 23, 2009
Home Maintenance Tips
Repair the Ravages of Winter
As Spring approaches, keep these tips to freshen the outside of your home.
1. Prune your trees and shrubs.
2. Head to the shed and do a “tool inventory” to make sure you have all the items you'll need in the months ahead. Inspect the tools you already have. For example, test your hoses for leaks.
3. Spring is a good time to paint fences and the exterior of your home, especially wood surfaces, to protect them from summer heat and sun. Wood decks should also be sealed once a year.
4. Now that the heating season is over, have a chimney sweep clean fireplaces and flues.
5. Inspect door and window screens for tears. You can often repair small tears using a kit from your local hardware store. This will prevent insects from getting into your home, and keep you comfortable on the screened porch.
6. Have your gutters cleaned.
As Spring approaches, keep these tips to freshen the outside of your home.
1. Prune your trees and shrubs.
2. Head to the shed and do a “tool inventory” to make sure you have all the items you'll need in the months ahead. Inspect the tools you already have. For example, test your hoses for leaks.
3. Spring is a good time to paint fences and the exterior of your home, especially wood surfaces, to protect them from summer heat and sun. Wood decks should also be sealed once a year.
4. Now that the heating season is over, have a chimney sweep clean fireplaces and flues.
5. Inspect door and window screens for tears. You can often repair small tears using a kit from your local hardware store. This will prevent insects from getting into your home, and keep you comfortable on the screened porch.
6. Have your gutters cleaned.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Healthiest Housing Markets for 2009
Builder Magazine, in conjunction with Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, debuts its metric for determining markets with the best and least potential.
By:Boyce Thompson
With most economists and builders expecting a national market decline this year, this may not seem like the best time to be selecting the "healthiest" markets in the country. Virtually every market was down last year. But a close look at the numbers reveals that some markets have way outperformed others during the last four years and are likely to continue to do so this year.
When the housing market stages its official recovery, the markets listed on the following pages are likely to lead the parade. It may take a year or more for the weakest markets--where burgeoning foreclosure sales are still pounding new home values, making building and selling new homes an exercise in futility-- to finally stage a turnaround. We’ll present that list next week.
The healthiest markets have many things in common. Most of them are great places to live, either close to the ocean, mountains, or major universities. Most of them didn’t have a huge run-up in prices during the boom and aren’t experiencing rampant deflation during the bust.
To compile these lists, we analyzed the top 75 housing markets in the country. We ranked them based on population trends and job growth, perennial drivers of housing demand. We also examined what’s happened with home prices; many of the healthiest markets have managed to hold the line on home values. And finally, we considered the rate building permits, which may be the single best ongoing indicator of builder confidence in a market. We combined all these metrics to produce a score for each market. Here are the top 15, in reverse order.
The Healthiest Markets for 2009
15. Myrtle Beach, S.C.
2008 total building permits: 3,211
Though permit activity dropped sharply last year, Myrtle Beach remains one of the hottest markets in the country, especially when you analyze the number of permits pulled per resident. Only 266,000 people live in the Myrtle Beach metro area, which until recently had been growing its population by nearly 5 percent a year. That means builders pulled one permit for every 82 residents. A steady influx of people, many of them retirees, are drawn by close proximity to the ocean and 117 golf courses at last count. That has helped keep home prices steady; they fell only 4 percent last year to an affordable $189,400. Most of the home building is split between Brunswick and New Hanover counties. Jobs are dependent on the tourist industry, though, and the metro area was rocked last year when a $400 million rock-and-roll themed amusement park, Hard Rock Park, opened and then filed for bankruptcy. Myrtle Beach added jobs last year, but as of December employment was decreasing at a 4.2 percent rate compared to a year earlier.
Busiest builders: Centex Homes, D.R. Horton, Beazer Homes, Bill Clark Homes, Pasquinelli/Portrait Homes
14. Wilmington, N.C.
2008 total building permits: 3,551
Wilmington has the second highest ratio of permits pulled per resident, behind only Myrtle Beach. The population here, 355,700 by Census estimates, has been growing at a better than 3 percent annual rate for the last five years, well above the national average. Primary residents are drawn by a four-season climate, close proximity to Atlantic beaches, and affordable housing. Median home prices, at $203,100 last year, are just about the national average. The area gave back 1,100 jobs in December of last year, after gaining 20,000 the previous three years. Wilmington has had a 60 percent decline in permit activity since 2005, around the national average, but its track record for population growth helps it make this list.
13. Charlotte, N.C.
2008 total building permits: 12,231
People and businesses must love Charlotte, because they are moving there at a high rate. The metro area of 1.76 million has grown its residents by 4 percent annually over the last five years, one of the highest rates in the country. They are drawn by relatively affordable housing for the East Coast—median home prices are only $197,800, and they’ve "corrected" downward by only 3.2 percent in the last year. A strong fourth quarter helped Charlotte record 12,231 permits last year, a 44 percent decline since 2005. Charlotte’s strength relative to other markets led the investment banking firm UBS to predict last year that it would be one of the first markets to recover from the housing downturn. Charlotte is still a single-family market, with 62 percent of the residential activity in stand-alone homes. The job market in this banking hub contracted last year, after growing 3 to 5 percent annually the previous three years.
By:Boyce Thompson
With most economists and builders expecting a national market decline this year, this may not seem like the best time to be selecting the "healthiest" markets in the country. Virtually every market was down last year. But a close look at the numbers reveals that some markets have way outperformed others during the last four years and are likely to continue to do so this year.
When the housing market stages its official recovery, the markets listed on the following pages are likely to lead the parade. It may take a year or more for the weakest markets--where burgeoning foreclosure sales are still pounding new home values, making building and selling new homes an exercise in futility-- to finally stage a turnaround. We’ll present that list next week.
The healthiest markets have many things in common. Most of them are great places to live, either close to the ocean, mountains, or major universities. Most of them didn’t have a huge run-up in prices during the boom and aren’t experiencing rampant deflation during the bust.
To compile these lists, we analyzed the top 75 housing markets in the country. We ranked them based on population trends and job growth, perennial drivers of housing demand. We also examined what’s happened with home prices; many of the healthiest markets have managed to hold the line on home values. And finally, we considered the rate building permits, which may be the single best ongoing indicator of builder confidence in a market. We combined all these metrics to produce a score for each market. Here are the top 15, in reverse order.
The Healthiest Markets for 2009
15. Myrtle Beach, S.C.
2008 total building permits: 3,211
Though permit activity dropped sharply last year, Myrtle Beach remains one of the hottest markets in the country, especially when you analyze the number of permits pulled per resident. Only 266,000 people live in the Myrtle Beach metro area, which until recently had been growing its population by nearly 5 percent a year. That means builders pulled one permit for every 82 residents. A steady influx of people, many of them retirees, are drawn by close proximity to the ocean and 117 golf courses at last count. That has helped keep home prices steady; they fell only 4 percent last year to an affordable $189,400. Most of the home building is split between Brunswick and New Hanover counties. Jobs are dependent on the tourist industry, though, and the metro area was rocked last year when a $400 million rock-and-roll themed amusement park, Hard Rock Park, opened and then filed for bankruptcy. Myrtle Beach added jobs last year, but as of December employment was decreasing at a 4.2 percent rate compared to a year earlier.
Busiest builders: Centex Homes, D.R. Horton, Beazer Homes, Bill Clark Homes, Pasquinelli/Portrait Homes
14. Wilmington, N.C.
2008 total building permits: 3,551
Wilmington has the second highest ratio of permits pulled per resident, behind only Myrtle Beach. The population here, 355,700 by Census estimates, has been growing at a better than 3 percent annual rate for the last five years, well above the national average. Primary residents are drawn by a four-season climate, close proximity to Atlantic beaches, and affordable housing. Median home prices, at $203,100 last year, are just about the national average. The area gave back 1,100 jobs in December of last year, after gaining 20,000 the previous three years. Wilmington has had a 60 percent decline in permit activity since 2005, around the national average, but its track record for population growth helps it make this list.
13. Charlotte, N.C.
2008 total building permits: 12,231
People and businesses must love Charlotte, because they are moving there at a high rate. The metro area of 1.76 million has grown its residents by 4 percent annually over the last five years, one of the highest rates in the country. They are drawn by relatively affordable housing for the East Coast—median home prices are only $197,800, and they’ve "corrected" downward by only 3.2 percent in the last year. A strong fourth quarter helped Charlotte record 12,231 permits last year, a 44 percent decline since 2005. Charlotte’s strength relative to other markets led the investment banking firm UBS to predict last year that it would be one of the first markets to recover from the housing downturn. Charlotte is still a single-family market, with 62 percent of the residential activity in stand-alone homes. The job market in this banking hub contracted last year, after growing 3 to 5 percent annually the previous three years.
Community University is for everyone!
Feeling lost in your own neighborhood? Maybe you need Community University! This is a series of classes put on by Charlotte Mecklenburg Neighborhood Development Department. They want neighborhood leaders and leaders-in-waiting to know that there are services available to them to help with your community organization. The classes are FREE!
CU is a neighborhood capacity building program dedicated to providing high-quality training to Charlotte residents to improve the strength and vitality of neighborhood organizations and the overall quality of community life. The courses are intended to engage, inform and equip participants with the training and assistance needed to help them improve and maintain their communities.
March workshops will be held at the Methodist Home Recreation Center, located at 3200 Shamrock Drive from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. and include:
Tuesday, March 10, How Are We Doing: Neighborhood Checkup
Thursday, March 19, 501(c)(3) Status and Neighborhoods: What it Means for You
All workshops are free and open to Charlotte residents. To register, visit neighborhoods.charmeck.org and click on the CU icon or email neighservs@ci.charlotte.nc.us.
Customized training
If your neighborhood has a specific need, email neighservs@ci.charlotte.nc.us to arrange for a customized training workshop. To see a list of topics, visit neighborhoods.charmeck.org. Please note that a minimum of 10 participants is needed for a customized training.
CU is a neighborhood capacity building program dedicated to providing high-quality training to Charlotte residents to improve the strength and vitality of neighborhood organizations and the overall quality of community life. The courses are intended to engage, inform and equip participants with the training and assistance needed to help them improve and maintain their communities.
March workshops will be held at the Methodist Home Recreation Center, located at 3200 Shamrock Drive from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. and include:
Tuesday, March 10, How Are We Doing: Neighborhood Checkup
Thursday, March 19, 501(c)(3) Status and Neighborhoods: What it Means for You
All workshops are free and open to Charlotte residents. To register, visit neighborhoods.charmeck.org and click on the CU icon or email neighservs@ci.charlotte.nc.us.
Customized training
If your neighborhood has a specific need, email neighservs@ci.charlotte.nc.us to arrange for a customized training workshop. To see a list of topics, visit neighborhoods.charmeck.org. Please note that a minimum of 10 participants is needed for a customized training.
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