Cary Real Estate Blog

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.

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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!

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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?

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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!

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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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I have been working with Lenda Goulding and her team at LG Real Estate for 16 months now.  I have learned so much in my short time here, but my family and I have decided to put my new found knowledge to the test.  My husband and I have bought a new Cary home and we are in the process of what so many of you are doing too – getting our house ready to sell.

I hope you enjoy following us along the way.  Maybe you can learn from us, maybe you can teach me a few things…

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We augment our real estate team with many experts, one is Dan Miller, our marketing specialist.  We asked him to guest write on our blog.  We hope you enjoy.

“Cary-dise”   

It’s hard for me to name all of the things we like about living in Cary NC, but from this family-of-three’s point of view, Cary is truly our little paradise.

As with most families, our world mostly revolves around our 8-year old and his daily activities and Cary offers us a lot of advantages given our hobbies and schedule.  If we take a look at a snapshot of a typical day in our lives during the Summer Holiday, it is easy to see why we love Cary.

A typical Cary NC Summer Day:

8 AM:  My wife Lisa and son Fitz sleep in a bit. I leave our residence in MacGregor Downs, a 40-year old neighborhood with large wooded lots, that is “five minutes to anywhere”.  After a short nine-minute commute I arrive at my office near the RBC Center.  Lisa and I own BLADE CommStrategies, Inc. a communications consulting company.  We help small companies and organizations grow by sharpening their competitive edge. We have a number of clients, a few including LG Real Estate are located right in Cary.

930 AM: Lisa joins me at our office.  Fitz is up and spending time with his grandmother.

11 AM: “Gram” and Fitz make the two-minute trip to meet his friends at the pool over at MacGregor Downs Country Club to stay for a few hours.  They have lunch there.

12 Noon: Lisa and I head out for lunch – usually in downtown Cary – at one of a gazillion choices including Serendipity, The Food Factory, or Mia’s.

530 PM: Lisa and I get home and it’s time for some evening fun. We might grab Fitz and head back over to the Club to hit some balls or play nine holes, then cool off in the pool afterward.

8 PM: Time for some dinner and the choices within five minutes are unbelievable. We might choose Wasabi for some Thai, Circus for the best burger and milkshake in town, or Michelangelo’s for a pizza..  We might hit Blockbuster or Goodberry’s on the way home.

10 PM: Time to crash!

Advantages of living in Cary NC

While we could never take advantage of all the great things Cary has to offer in just one of our own typical days, over the past 15 years, I’d say we have experienced almost everything.  A few more things we love about where we live in Cary follow:

• 5 minutes to Western Wake Hospital (Where Fitz was born!)
• 15 minutes to the RDU Airport
• Under 2 hours to Wrightsville Beach
• Only 3 hours to the Blue Ridge Parkway
• Dream Camps Soccer (Our youth soccer league – at least the games are in Cary)
• USA Baseball Stadium
• Koka Booth Amphitheatre
• Shopping – Cary Town Center, Crossroads, Waverly Place, Saltbox Village, Trader Joes
• Entertainment – Cinemas, College Sports (UNC, NCSU, Duke)
• Dining – Ruth’s Chris, Danny’s BBQ, tons of locally and nationally owned eateries
• Home & Garden Supplies – Lowes, Home Depot, BJs, Sam’s Club
• Great Schools
• Small Town Feel/Big City Amenities
• Golf, Golf, Golf! Prestonwood CC, MacGregor Downs CC, and Lochmere Golf Club are all here in Cary NC.

           MacGregor Downs CC Cary, North Carolina

Yes, Cary is indeed a slice of paradise.  Come join us, it’s a great place to buy a home and raise a family.

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