Real Estate and Related Topics

Caterpillar in Clayton Announces Big Expansion of Clayton Plant Adding 200 Jobs!

Great news on the job front for folks in Clayton, North Carolina, Caterpillar made the announcement on Wednesday February 2nd 2012 that they were expanding their current manufacturing facility in Clayton and would be adding 199 new positions. ( Wait for cheering to subside!).

The Caterpillar Plant on HWY 42 East in Clayton produces  small wheel loaders and when completed will be the world source for these types of machines.

The average pay will be $41,000, and along with manufacturing jobs there will be design and engineering jobs also.Caterpillar will add the jobs and additional facilities over the next five years.

This is a great sign for the Clayton and greater Raleigh area which was just selected to outperform all other real estate markets in the US.

Custom Built Home In Equestrian Community Just Minutes From Raleigh.

This is the newest home we have listed in the Churchill Section of Portofino an equestrian community in Clayton, North Carolina which is a short twenty minute drive to Downtown Raleigh. JordanBuilt Homes is building a range of Craftsman style ranch and two story homes in Churchill.Standard features include, site finished hardwood floors, granite counter-tops, crown moulding, stainless steel appliances, tile floors. The homes in Portofino are heated with efficient Natural Gas, screened porches and grilling decks are standard.

Portofino is the Raleigh area's finest equestrian community with miles of trails, pastures, state of the art 22 stall barn. dressage arena showjumping arena. even if you dont own a horse there is so much to see and here, from walking the trails to kayaking on the river, fishing in the pond.

Swimming in the pool or enjoying an evening in front of a roaring outdoor fire at the clubhouse.
This home has three bedrooms downstairs and a bonus or forth bedroom up. it has a separate dining room, and study. a screened in porch with a fireplace. the fireplace in the living room has built in bookshelves on either side. Hardwood floors, granite countertops, mudroom with shoe boxes!

Four Bedroom Plus Bonus in Gated Community, Clayton,NC

Buy This House And It Will Save You A Boat Load Of Money, Year After Year Because It’s Energy Star Certified.

What does that mean? First off it has Radiant Barrier Insulation. Aluminum foil-based Radiant Barrier insulation which was originally developed by NASA helps keep the heat in during the winter and out during the summer. There is some good information here about Radiant Barrier Insulation

Sealed Crawlspace, it has  a sealed crawlspace, do you hate spiders etc? Open and vented crawlspaces are the norm and they rely on air movement to keep the area dry. There is moisture in the air aka humidity and moisture in the soil, if not properly vented out they can be quite a problem, wet and wood never good! So the crawlspace in 154 Sicily Dr. has a gravel base, a heavy PVC barrier. Insulation on the walls, the walls having been previously treated with moisture retardant. Now here is the kicker, the crawlspace is conditioned, meaning the air being pulled into the house is already cooled or heated, thus reducing your energy bills. Cleaner air also, so for people with allergies, you'll love this house!

Tankless Water Heater, set it and forget it! You set the temperature you like the water to come out of the tap and then you wait.........Until you need some hot water, in which case presto you turn on the tap and instant hot water. Most standard water tanks are constantly heating the water, when you're asleep, when you're at work, wasting energy all the live long day.

Other Energy Efficient Features Included in this home

Air Sealed House And Ducts

Low E Windows

Programmable Thermostat

Energy Efficient Appliances.

Great Ranch home in Clayton,North Carolina.

This very well kept ranch home in Clayton is in Wyndfall Subdivision, a small neighborhood of about 100 homes, mostly ranch with some two stories and nearly all on about an acre of land or more. The schools for this neighborhood are some of the best in Johnston County, River Dell Elementary, an Honor School of Excellence, Archer Lodge Middle and the newest school in Johnston County, Corinth Holder High School, all of two years old.

Wyndfall is located in the town of Archer Lodge but has a Clayton mailing address, Archer Lodge is North Carolina's newest town having just been incorporated last year. It is a short drive to Downtown Clayton, is about thirty minutes to Downtown Raleigh, close to hospitals, colleges, the beach is two hours away and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains are about three and a half hours away. Please enjoy this Video of 149 Carrie Dr, Clayton,NC and call with any questions or if you would like to schedule an appointment to see the home in person.

Gated Community in Clayton,NC.

Neuse Colony in Clayton, NC is a wonderful gated community build around three or four lakes. This home at 205 Magnolia Circle is on a lake and has some beautiful waterfront views from the two forty foot porches. There are walking trails throughout the neighborhood and these are along the Neuse River.

Neuse Colony is ceentraly located on Hwy 42 East. It is minutes from downtown Clayton and area shopping. It is also close to Raleigh and major hospitals, theaters, museums etc.

This home is on a cul-de-sac lot, has been very well maintained by the current original owners with all records showing the constant improvements and upgrades.

Building A Custom Home In Portofino In Clayton, A Diary.....It's Finished!

This is a magnificent custom built home in the equestrian community near Raleigh called Portofino. The house has four bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, an office, a bonus room, finished walk-out basement. There are so many features and details, too many to list. The following series shows the different stages of construction in the building of this home in Portofino, the Triangle's premier equestrian community, named 2010 NC Community of the Year!

For further information about this or other homes available in Portofino call or text David at  (919) 601-2268

Building A Custom Home In Portofino In Clayton, A Diary.....Day 1

Building A Custom Home In Portofino In Clayton, A Diary.....Day 2 & 3

Building A Custom Home In Portofino In Clayton, A Diary.....Day 6&7

Building A Custom Home In Portofino In Clayton, A Diary..... Day 10

Building A Custom Home In Portofino In Clayton, A Diary.....Week 3

Building A Custom Home in Portofino In Clayton, A Diary.....Week 7

Building A Custom Home In Portofino In Clayton, A Diary.....Month 5

                             How Important Is The Direction Your House Faces

It depends! What are your interests? Where do you like to spend your time and doing what?
Do you like to garden, grow vegetables,flowers,grass? Do you have sensitive rugs, paintings. Do you read a lot, paint, draw.Do you have a Plasma TV, or watch a lot of TV?
Well unless you are buying or building a mansion, you won’t be able to cure all these nor would you want to spend the time figuring it out, but with a little planning and a good builder you can maximize your homes potential.

The first question is where in the world are you building, we’ll just deal with the US for today. North, South, East, West, or a combination of them. Being in the South-East we have mild winters and warm summers so shade in the afternoon is important to keep the house from heating up too much. I started this post after being in two houses yesterday, both had three season rooms. The first house which faces East-South East, has a fantastic three/four season room with tile floor, Eze-Breeze windows, bead-board vaulted ceiling and it was frigid cold in there. Now the builder could probably add a vent to take the chill off. The next house we went to faces North North - West, same four season room, tile, Eze-Breeze windows and this one was toasty, in fact you could have opened the windows and let a breeze in.

Quite a remarkable difference, which got me thinking. If you live in a colder climate that gets a lot of snow there might be an advantage to having your driveway face towards the sun to melt the snow, I’ve seen streets where one side is cleared completely and the other side is still dealing with frozen snow and ice.

This is a fascinating subject and there is a lot of opinion out there on it, there is one issue that is common and that is using the suns rays in the winter but shielding the house from them in the summer. This can be done with proper placement and also the correct overhangs. Vital to have the correct insulation also. Getting the sun into the kitchen, bedrooms in the morning is another favourite, the placement of the garage can make a difference, trees, and the type of trees, deciduous trees look and act a whole lot different in the summer time versus the winter, (they loose their leaves, silly!)

Many a patio goes unused in the summer because it gets too hot, and many a lawn suffers through life with no sun. I have seen many amateur gardeners start their vegetable garden in the shade only to curse their lack of edible vegetables...no I haven’t! That was me!!
So building your dream house just got harder, well not really, better to find this stuff out before you build rather than after you move in, and with the technology available today, and the advances in building materials there is a lot of help out there, start by getting a compass app on your phone!