Front Porch Realty - Come Support Our Local Schools!

Come Support Our Local Schools!

We are hosting our Annual Back to School Supply Drive here at our Front Porch Realty office in Fuquay-Varina! Whether the kids will be going to school this fall or studying at your kitchen table they will still need the proper materials. Let us come together as a community to support these young students. All donations will be collected throughout the month of August and will be donated to schools in Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina. For those being home-schooled we are open for you to drop by the office and pick up some supplies as well! Here are some ideas of items you can donate:

Notebooks
Agendas / Planners
Backpacks
Pencils and Erasers
Pencils Cases / Pouches
Pens – Blue, Black, and Red
Pocket Folders
Binders
Highlighters
Glue
Rulers
Index Cards
Coloring Materials – Markers, Crayons, and Colored Pencils
Scissors

Thank you again for your help! The students,teachers and families will be grateful for this act of kindness. We can’t wait to deliver the supplies to our local schools! If you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact us!

2019 Labor Day Weekend Activities

What is Labor Day and why do we celebrate? There have been several official start dates for Labor Day. It seems it actually started in Toronto, Canada in 1872 before being celebrated for the first time in New York City in 1882. Oregon was the first state to make it an official holiday in 1887. Labor Day began as a demonstration for workers rights but has evolved into a celebration and recognition of the last unofficial day of summer and officially the last appropriate time to wear white. Although, Emily Post says that’s not true anymore, especially in warmer climates like ours here in North Carolina. So go ahead and wear your white shoes, pants, anything you want and celebrate! Here are a few activities we found happening in the Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs area for the holiday. Rock Solid Warrior Labor Day Grand Opening Celebration is happening Monday, September 2nd from 7am – 1130pm. Check here for more details! Something for all ages and fitness levels! 5-Year Anniversary Walk Around Bass Lake! Monday, September 2nd at 630pm. Come on out for a 1.75 mile walk and celebrate the 5-year anniversary of this meet-up group! This is a great event for first-timers to come out and meet some fellow members. As always, dogs and kids are more than welcome to come along as well. We will go counter-clockwise around the lake, so if you arrive late, just head clockwise and eventually we will run into each other.

Run the Quay is in its 15th year!

Are you ready to Run the Quay? Yes, it’s true this Chamber of Commerce sponsored Annual event has been going on every year for the last 15 years, it’s a tradition! How about the brand new Downtown Cooldown, happening at the same time in downtown Varina? Well, here’s all the info you need to get ready! The Chamber is anticipating over 1,000 runners this year! Check out the race routes, and come out to cheer on your favorite brave runners! Then, head on over to Varina to Celebrate. There will be something for everyone at this FREE family friendly event including food trucks galore, Live music, kids activities like a bounce house, Fhairy Sparkles Hair, yard games, and even the Stormy Mascot from the Carolina Hurricanes! We hope to see you all there! Run the Quay – Saturday, June 1st, from 9am – 2pm. Downtown Cooldown – downtown Varina at the old Stephen’s Hardware 9am -2pm Register here for the 5K, 10K, or the Kids Fun Run – REGISTER Pick up your race packets here – Thursday, May 30th, 4:00 – 6:00 pm @ Omega Sports Cary Crossroads Friday, May 31st, 4:00 – 7:00 pm @ GNC of Fuquay-Varina Saturday, June 1st – Starts at 6:00 am at race site Parking & Course Maps PARKING MAP STREET CLOSURE MAP 10K COURSE 5K COURSE MAP Register here to VOLUNTEER FOOD TRUCKS AND BOOTHS Aloha Shave Ice Brooklyn Boys Pizza Corner Boys BBQ Dusty Donuts Las Gringas Pints Ice Cream Qspresso Cuban & Latino Fusion TJ’s Kitchen Tropical Delights Aviator Brewing Company, Inc. Fainting Goat Brewing Co. Vicious Fishes Brewery

SW WAKE COUNTY MARKET UPDATE | 2018 YEAR-END

Happy New Year! Take a look at the 2018 Market Update of our local housing inventory. We saw little or no change in the volume of homes closed in our area of the county as compared to 2017. However, average sales prices were up and average days on market were down. We are still deep in a seller’s market as most markets have less than one month supply for re-sale homes, and a two or three month supply for new construction homes. We expect another robust sales year in 2019, however we may not be seeing a real estate “frenzy” again this year, which in my opinion, is a good thing. Healthy, steady growth will be much more beneficial for all of us. FRONT PORCH REALTY had some exciting changes in 2018. We unveiled our new logo and launched our new website featuring “Our Towns”. We have also added five new real estate agents to our team and upgraded our Holly Springs location. We Live, Eat, Play and SELL Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs! We will be hosting the Fuquay-Varina Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event on February 7th at our Fuquay-Varina office, please SAVE the DATE we would love to see you there. We will be kicking off our 10 year Anniversary year-long celebration! We are here to help you, your relatives, co-workers, employees, and neighbors. Please consider Front Porch Realty as YOUR LOCAL real estate professionals! Please LIKE us on Facebook if you haven’t already, we are always posting LOTS of local news and happenings around town!

Join us as we Celebrate Fuquay-Varina!

Thursday, October 4th, 6:30 – 9:30 PM in the Varina Business District Festivities begin with one of Soul Music’s all-time great groups, Chairmen of the Board. Join us for the Celebrate Fuquay-Varina Festival Saturday, October 6, 2018 10 am – 4 pm Downtown Fuquay-Varina Here’s a MAP of the main areas: * Museum Tour * Mayor’s walk * Artist Village * KidZone and Rock wall * Chili Cook-off * And lots of food trucks – See the full list here There’s lots to see and do this coming weekend in Fuquay-Varina. All of us here at Front Porch Realty love our town and we love a good celebration, be sure and stop by our booth for some neat give-a-ways and to say “hi”!

1st Q 2018 Market Update

By now, you’ve heard Front Porch Realty’s exciting news; we have elevated our brand and we have a new custom website! We are still the same “Front Porch Realty” you have known for years but have begun to concentrate our business in Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs. We are already the #1 Independent real estate office in these two towns and our goal is to become the #1 real estate company overall. We want to become top of the mind status for you and all things real estate! Here is our quarterly 1st Q 2018 snapshot of our local housing inventory. We are still deep in a seller’s market, especially for re-sale homes; new home inventory is up 17% across the Triangle while re-sales inventory is down 15% from the 1st quarter of 2017, according to our Triangle Multiple Listing Service 1st quarter market stats. This imbalance of supply is causing record increases in sales prices; average sales price of new construction is up 9% and average re-sale homes sales prices are up 10%. Inventory is still low on our end of the county and demand is high. As we can see from our 1st quarter local data, months of inventory are very low at most price points at less than 2 and units sold have increased across both markets. We are here to help you, your relatives, co-workers, employees, and neighbors. Please consider Front Porch Realty as YOUR LOCAL real estate professionals!

If you ever use free online photos, here’s a great new tool!

Would you like to add photographic flair for free, use Unsplash!

Here at Front Porch Realty we’re always on the lookout for new sources of free photos; we use photos in newsletters, blog posts, social media and presentations. We are happy to find Unsplash and introduce you to a service which offers fantastic, crowd-sourced photos that can be downloaded and used in your own projects. They offer beautiful, free pictures in the categories of Business, Nature, People, Technology, Food, Travel, and so many more! Best of all, Unsplash’s photos don’t look like stock photos. While their inventory isn’t especially deep (yet!), there are still lots of hight-resolution images with truly eye-catching, creative views. Save yourself some cash and grab some great pics here at their website: https://unsplash.com/ We’re sure that no matter what your picture needs are, you’ll find something to use with this great and free tool!

What does that mean anyway: Real Estate Lingo

Real Estate brokers have sometimes been accused of “shortening our words” or using terms that we think everyone already knows! So, here’s a little helpful guide, if you have trouble navigating real estate terminology! What it says versus What it means conveys with sale … it will STAY with the home EIK … eat in kitchen SS … stainless steel HDW, HWF, Hdwd ….. hardwood floors WIC …walk-in-closet FDR ….. formal dining room MLS...multiple listing system FSBO ….. for sale by owner Pre-approval … based on information you are able to provide to the lender. This will look much better than a pre-qualification to the seller. Pre-qualified …. based on a 5 minute phone call to the lender and only on what you tell the lender. This is needed in order to even make an offer on a home. due diligence funds …the funds the buyer gives the seller at time of contract to “buy time” off the market while they do their due diligence due diligence or DD…all of the inspections and loan process, etc a buyer can exercise on a prospective home during their due diligence time period Due diligence money- is non-refundable The good news is the money is typically credited towards the purchase of the home at closing. Earnest money is “good faith” money. The buyer is showing the seller they are serious about buying the home. contingency … a contract on a home that is dependent on you selling your existing home 3 BR/2BA 3 bedrooms and 2 baths *************************************************************************************************************************** I’m sure we’ve missed a few, feel free to leave comments with any you might still be wondering about and we’ll do our best to define them. We are here to help you navigate your real estate needs and ALL the terms that come along with that! Welcome home!

Our Schools Need Us!

Fuquay-Varina Bengal Proud!

I was recently asked to speak to a group of local Fuquay-Varina Middle and High School students as a business owner in the community. I wanted to share my experiences, in hopes that more business members in our community would be inspired to volunteer. Each activity took me less than an hour. I know that hour could lead to a big impact on these young adults as they begin to think about their future. As always, I know I got more out of it than they did! My friend, colleague, and educator, Mr. Rodney Jenkins, is the Career and Technical Education Coordinator for Fuquay-Varina Middle School. He recently approached me and asked if I would speak to his entrepreneurial class. My topics included: why I started my own business, what’s involved with owning my own business, the hardest part, the easiest part and more. I brought along my company’s advertising goodies like stadium cups and pens, and tossed some candy to the students that participated. The students had awesome questions and provoked my own thoughts on why I do this. I was overjoyed to hear the students decided they are going to arrange a “field trip” to visit our office sometime soon. I can’t wait to see them again! There are so many opportunities to get involved with students in Fuquay-Varina. I was also asked to address the first Fuquay-Varina Youth Leadership Group conference. This initiative is the first of its kind for Fuquay-Varina and the students selected to participate. I was asked to speak about Front Porch Realty’s application process and how I determine good candidates for our firm.

Laura Moody recently addressing both students and staff.

These bright, energetic high-schoolers had so many great questions for me! They are eager to learn how to make a difference in our town and they are striving for greatness. I commend the staff of Fuquay-Varina High school for working so diligently to start this leadership program and make a difference in these student’s lives. Imagine all the lucky businesses that get to hire these young folks someday! If you are interested in helping any of our community schools in ANY way please contact our office or join the FV Business Alliance. Our next meeting is coming up soon!

Seller’s Market: Inventory still low across the Triangle

FRONT PORCH REALTY has exciting news; we are the #1 LOCAL Independent Real Estate firm in southwestern Wake County! See our 3rd quarter local real estate market snapshot . It is no surprise that we are still in a seller’s market; inventory is still extremely low across the Triangle. Know that in this competitive market, Front Porch Realty brokers are equipped with professionalism and the expertise to help both our seller and buyer clients navigate multiple offer situations. If we can be of any assistance to you or someone you know, rest assured they will be extremely satisfied. Please watch our website, Facebook, and Instagram for all housing, and other local news around town and to see our new listings as soon as they hit the market. If you would rather receive this report either by email or snail mail please contact Laura .

Inventory is low, it’s a great time to sell.

Happy fall! Laura Moody Broker/Owner Front Porch Realty www.FrontPorchRealtyNC.com