Real Estate and Related Topics

Archer Lodge 4th of July Parade...First Official One As North Carolina's Newest Town.

Yep Archer Lodge had it's annual 4th of July Parade today and it was a little different from all previous parades in that Archer Lodge is now a Town. In fact it is North Carolina's newest town having only recently becoming incorporated. The threat of being taken over by Clayton or (god forbid) Wendell was too much for many.

Check out a certain congress man who appeared recently on the network I used to blog this!!

This is one of the best family days I have seen. Archer Lodge puts on a great day, starting with a 5K run. Parade, BBQ cookoff, raffle, bounce houses for the kids. A wet down by the Archer Lodge Fire Department.

I am such a cheap skate I always buy last years t-shirts, this year I bought three 2009 t-shirts for $3.00 a pop.

Raleigh NC is Number 1 again...Well this is embarrassing!

We've know for a while that Raleigh and The Triangle were great places to get jobs, raise a family, retire. The reasons are many depending on your perspective, good schools and affordable housing for young families. Warm weather,access to great health care, active communities for retirees. High tech jobs for graduates and some of the top medical facilities in the country for doctors and cutting edge bio technologies for scientists.

Now there is a new report out from Portfolio.com, (a bizjournals property) that says that Raleigh offers the best quality of life out of all of the major metropolitan markets in the country.

Here are the factors that pushed Raleigh to the top over Washington DC and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

• Raleigh is growing at a rapid rate, no major market is expanding as rapidly as Raleigh whose metropolitan population has expanded by 37% since 2000.

• It has a vast inventory of new homes, more than half of all homes in the Raleigh area were built since 1990. Las Vegas is the only other market above 50% for new homes.

• It has an impressive supply of high level jobs. Forty -four percent of Raleigh's workers hold management or professional positions, surpassing all but three markets.

• It has a well- educated workforce. Raleigh at 41%, ranks sixth in the share of adults holding bachelor's degrees.

Other reasons include it's large percentage of young adults, it's historically low unemployment rate and it's impressive array of big houses and prices lower than most markets.

Read the report from Portfolio.com 

If you are thinking about moving here, there are many towns and communities surrounding Raleigh and the Triangle and something for every budget and lifestyle. Get to know them and what commuting will be like and keep in mind the distance to the beach and the mountains!

Wine Tasting In Raleigh

There will be some fantastic wines to taste at Total Wine at North Hills off Six Forks Road in Raleigh this weekend, March 26th and 27th. Tastings are held every Friday from 4-7pm and Saturday from 12-6pm.

On the tasting table this weekend they will have a Riesling from Dr Heidemanns.This is a crisp and refreshing Riesling from Dr. Heidemanns,one of the finest estates in the Mosel.

Also on offer is Ramal Road Chardonnay, from Carneros CA, this chardonnay has flavors of fresh apple and pear layered with bright citrus.

A great Pinot Noir from Martin Ray in Santa Barbara CA. Elegant medium bodied with black cherry flavor.

Ch Rochemorin Rouge Pessac, a Bordeaux with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot.A chocolate, berry and smoke aftertaste.

Where is Social Media Taking You.......Try Skylines Cafe in Clayton For Networking 101.

I've said this before about Social Media and writing a Blog, that you must never forget the SOCIAL aspect of it all and where it can take you, you have to get out and press skin.

My fellow Active Rainer Eleanor Thorne and I noticed that there was no social media groups in Johnston County and Clayton, so we met with some local business owners and decided to start one. We had our first meeting last night at Skylines Cafe in Clayton and considering the weather forecasters were predicting 3-6 inches of snow we had a great turnout.

We met B.J. Deal from Deal Realty, Paula Anderson with Southern Cruise Connections, Lisa Sullivan with lisasullivanpr.com, Geneve "Raye" Hayden with Triple R Travel, Jason Pedley, a Freelance Copywriter and Internet Marketing Consultant, Beth Montanaro with Primary Residential Mortgage Inc., Steve Thorne with First Financial Services Inc. Lisa Smith with The Rodney Carroll team at HomeTown Realty, Tina Bolick Owner with Skylines Cafe.

Eleanor got the meeting started with a great agenda and laid the ground work for where we should be going, I met some great people who are serious about using social media and together we can help grow each others business's.

I'll keep you posted!

"Fresh" at The Clayton Center Gets People Talking About Organic Food In Clayton

Clayton is going ORGANIC!! Who Knew?

The Clayton Farm and Community Market hosted Johnston FRESH where local farmers and suppliers came out to showcase their products. This was a great event and showed the vast amount of suppliers both Organic and Traditional who farm in our area. There were vegetable growers, beef producers, honey, dairy and seed sellers, herb farms, along with the Johnston County Ag. Extension Dept.

There was a great turnout which shows there is a lot of interest in locally produced food and organically grown crops and livestock. Johnston County is a Farming county with lots of homes sprouting up and the number of people moving into towns like Clayton, Archer Lodge, Smithfield is growing all the time. So with all this farmland and all these people it makes sense that we should be buying our food locally.

The Piedmont area of North Carolina has a long growing season and the number of fruits and vegetables available is impressive. The number of farms practicing Organic Farming in Johnston County is growing and we heard of two local farms that are starting the process. The night featured a showing of the movie Fresh along with folks from the following:

Riverman's Mushrooms, Bushrods Produce, TayLee Organics, Happy Hollow Farm, Toad Song Farm,
Lazy-O Farm, Sunday Morning Farm, Smith's Nursery, Shamrocks Buzzy Bees, Triple T Ranch,
Farm to Fork Meats, Inc. The Produce Box, Creekside Farms, Rare Earth Farms,
The Seed Lady from Hudson's Hardware, Organic Gardeners, JoCo Ag Extension Dept, Clayton Community Garden Group.

More Jobs For Clayton NC With Northeast Foods Plans To Build Plant

Northeast Foods a supplier to McDonalds has announced it will build a plant in Clayton North Carolina. The Company will build an 80,000 square foot bakery on U.S. 70 Business in Clayton. They plan on creating 84 jobs paying an average annual salary of $41,815.

The decision to choose Clayton was the proximity to the new Golden State Foods warehouse in Garner, Golden State Foods  supplies Mc Donalds in several states. This is the latest in a series of good news on the job front in Clayton, along with the recent announcemment by Talecris that they will be expanding their facility in Clayton and adding 200 plus new jobs.Along with the recent opening of a plant by the company Turlington, a maker of commercial bakery equipment.

The proximity to I95 for transportation and the recent ranking for Clayton in Business Week Magazine as one of the most Affordable places to live with the best schools, were also factors.

Glen Laurel, Clayton NC Market Report and Homes for Sale

 So as of today, February 22nd 2010 there are

42 Active Homes For Sale

1 Contingent sale

3 Pending Sales

3 Sold Homes

The price range for Active homes is $299,900- $599,900

The Average Price per Square Foot for Active Homes is $114

The Average Price Per Square Foot for the Pending Homes is $112

The Average Price Per Square Foot for the Sold Homes is $98

Of the Active Homes 1 is a Foreclosure and 2 are Short sales.

New Construction accounted for 4 Actives, 1 Contingent and 1 Sold Home

If you would like to see any of  the homes for sale in Glen Laurel  visit my web site, davidhodoherty

If I can provide additional information about Glen laurel Subdivision or any other subdivisions in Clayton please let me know

This information is time sensitive. the information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. The homes listed represent homes listed on TMLS. Seller concessions may affect the sales price and may not be reflected here.

I Called It .....Winter Is Outta Here! In Clayton, North Carolina Anyway.

Yeah I know you're thinking "he's crazy, February 20th!" but until you've lived here in North Carolina.

 This

 -------->

       to this

You see we get a short Winter, a nice Spring, a nice Long Summer ( it can get a little toasty) and a Beautiful Fall. So yesterday I was back out in the yard, raking the grass that will consume me in a short while, while the sun beat down. The temperature was in the Fifties and today Saturday expected to be 58 and Sunday ready....63!

So what else, well the boys played outside yesterday from the time they got off the bus until about six thirty,one didn't even come in the house. Today they likely will be outside most of the day. I might squeeze in a trip to the Logans Garden Center at Seaboard Station in Raleigh between showing houses. I will probably get seed potatoes, onion sets and carrot seeds, all things that I will spend hours trying to grow.

I have become interested in wild birds after watching them in the snow, so I would like to put up some feeders, ones that won't be a food source for the squirrels! I'll go and talk to Tony at Wild Birds Unlimited in Clayton.

Lets see what else? Yard sales will be starting in earnest soon. I plan on going to more this year it's the whole getting up at the crack of dawn thing(we'll see if that happens) it's a great way to meet people and if you are disciplined you can always find something. I bought a fly fishing rod for a couple of bucks just to try and first cast on a local pond, caught a little sunny.

Which brings me to fishing, this year I want to get the boys out much more, we have so many places around here, it is quite common to see stocked ponds in subdivisions and any one with land nearly always has a pond.

The beach! Any Hahn, Crystal Coast REALTOR was the inspiration for this post as she did a great story about the beautiful Crystal Coast. We can be on the beach in two and a half hours from here in Clayton.

Oh Yeah the other thing that's great about this time of year is houses start selling, people are out looking, and change and growth and newness is in the air.

Come and check it out, besides all this we have great affordable housing, we have all kinds of homes from townhomes to million dollar estates, we have good schools, jobs and an area that constantly gets awarded one of the best places to live.

I'll show you around.

Carolina Premium Outlets in Smithfield

The Carolina Premium Outlets in Smithfield just off Interstate I 95 has over 80 stores from Adidas to Wilson's Leather Outlet. They are centrally located in Johnston County and attract shoppers from the entire state but especially from Raleigh, Durham, Clayton and points East. As it is located right on I 95 it also attracts travelers and it's not uncommon to see a multitude of states represented in the parking lot.

Some of the most popular retail stores in the country have outlets here and the savings they offer can be quit remarkable, stores like Tommy Hilfiger, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic,Eddie Bauer, Brooks Brothers, Coach,Carolina Pottery.

There are others too like Nike Factory Store, Reebok, Crocs, OshKosh B'gosh, Bath and Body Worksand of course for the adventurer in all of us and not exactly an outlet but definitely a place to go and peruse while the other half shops, is Shelton's Harley - Davidson Mall shop.

The address is Carolina Premium Outlets 1025 Industrial Park Drive, Suite 905 Smithfield, NC 27577

 
(919) 989-8757. Check out their website for sales and events here  Carolina Premium Outlets

St Valentines Day in Clayton NC at Skylines Cafe. What A Deal!

Why drive to Raleigh when you can be sitting down at your table in Skylines in ten minutes and home in time for whatever!

Skylines Cafe is located at 8878 US Bus HWY 70, Suite 100 in the Southern Village Shopping Center and they have a Valentines Day menu they are featuring all weekend. They will be open on Sunday 14th from 5-9pm. They have two packages available:

Dinner For Two which includes

1 Appetizer, 2 Small Salads, 2 Entrees, and 1 Dessert for $50.

Throw in a bottle of Salvator Principe Malbec and pay $65

The menu includes some of these delicious offerings.

Appetizers

salmon dip ~ served cold with cream cheese and fresh herbs, garlic pita points    7

bleu cheese chips ~ handmade chips, warm bleu cheese sauce, bacon & green onions    6

artichoke dip ~ spinach, cream cheese and parmesan cheese with herb crisps     7

calamari ~ lightly battered & flash fried then drizzled with honey and balsamic glaze    7

bbq shrimp ~ sautéed in sweet baby ray’s BBQ sauce with creamy coleslaw     8

southwest crab cakes ~ served with nappa cabbage slaw and chipotle aioli      11

Entrees

Dijon Crusted Pork Tenderloin ~ garlic mashed and vegetable medley   14

Seafood Fra Diavolo ~  scallops, shrimp, clams and calamari with SPICY marinara sauce   18

Stuffed Chicken ~seasoning, cream cheese and baby spinach panko breadedwith dijon  parmesan sauce, garlic mashed and veg medley    13

Bourbon Pecan Salmon ~  freshly cut salmon sautéed and topped with a bourbon pecan glaze,sweet potato mousse and vegetable medley   18

Crab Stuffed Mahi Mahi ~ lump crabmeat with tri color peppers served over creamy risottowith fresh blackberry salsa and a shiraz reduction   19

8 oz. Filet Mignon ~ seasoned and grilled with garlic mashed potatoes,vegetable medley and your choice of a small salad    23

Ribeye ~ 12 ounces, seasoned and grilled with garlic mashed potatoes,vegetable medley and your choice of a small salad    23

Desserts

Red Velvet Cheesecake    

with cream cheese icing on a chocolate crust

Peanut Butter Pie

on a chocolate crust

Flourless Chocolate Torte

with Belgian chocolate topped with chocolate ganache