Greensboro, NC Real Estate Larry Story's Blog of the Triad!

Okay all of the equestrian businesses, farms, ranches, and everyone even interested in horses listen up.

In 2004 Rockingham County retained a long time equestrian center manager and a show promoter and sponsor to take a look and do a feasibility study on building an equestrian center in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina. The study showed great interest and even some other facts like within a 60 mile radius of the Piedmont Triad there is in excess of 30,000 horses. On top of that fact with the central location in the state and the easy access and closeness to Virginia a site in Rockingham County near Reidsville, North Carolina is perfect.

The economic impact could be excellent for the area. The land for the park over 150 acres is already purchased. The Board has been raising money and I just heard from one of the board members that they almost have all the money to complete the project. This project will be well run from the start since they refuse to strap the local municipal budgets and will not break ground until they have ALL the funds necessary to finish the project.

The Park will have one large indoor show arena, a covered schooling/show ring, 400 permanent stalls with the capability to expand that to 700 stalls. Parking for exhibitors and spectators, Vendor areas, an administration building that will house a banquet hall, restrooms, conference rooms, showers, and offices. They will have parking spots for campers, shop locations for permanent tack and tack repair shops, Equine art and gifts, and then of course maintence facilities.

This is a very exciting development for the Triad and I personally cannot wait. Oh did I mention that my next post will be a 30 acre farm with practically new barn and 3 bedroom home with gardens and 3 fenced pastures only approximately 8 miles from where this facility is to be constructed!

So check it out for yourself at the offical Rockingham County website.

http://www.co.rockingham.nc.us/equestrian.htm

Proehlific Park is now open! Ricky Proehl of the Carolina Panthers has opened a state of the art sports facility for the youth of Greensboro. On Jessup Grove Road in Northern Greensboro a brand new sports training facility for just kids has emerged. There is 60,000 square feet of training space for indoor activities. This includes a full size 70 yard indoor turf field, three basketball courts and volleyball courts, a weight room and an academic center. You see Ricky does not just want to train these kids he wants them ready for college. Then you have the outdoor areas of 3 baseball fields, 3 more multi-use fields a concession stand a nd a picnic area. Of course for the real small ones there is a playground.

Don't worry parent Mr. Proehl did not forget you. He offers free Wi-Fi for us in the comfortable mezzanine level. They will train your youngsters in baseball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, softball, volleyball, and of course football. So for the serious young athlete that wants to excel to the top of their game it looks like your ship has arrived.

I live and work in Irving Park here in Greensboro, North Carolina and truly love the feeling and serenity of a well established solid neighborhood. A peaceful setting nestled around the Greensboro Country Club just minutes from everything. This is a place where we all walk our dogs, go running, walking, or biking on all then slow paced wide streets and greenways with fantastic homes all around.

When most everyone else has seen some drop in home values we have escaped the turmoil that seems rampant in most major metropolitan areas. The homes here in Old Irving Park are mostly older homes that stand tall an proud on large well maintained lots. These homes range from stately manors whose value is in the millions to extremely nice smaller homes as low as in the $200,000 arena. I have seen the value of these homes hold steady and also increase over the years and do not every see that changing. Irving Park has the convenience of all the shopping you could need or want. Not five or so minutes away are The Shoppes at Friendly Center with all new high end shopping has joined forces with the adjoining Friendly Center and well established venues that are already there. Our favorite movie multiplex is there The Grande and it is by far one of the largest and cleanest in the area.

So where else should you be? Just like a rock solid blue chip stock shouldn't one of your largest investments by in a home that is just as solid of an investment. Well, even the New York Times agrees that Irving Park stands alone like so many other premier neighborhoods.

So whether you are buying or selling make sure the agent you pick has a passion for "your neighborhood". That way you know your investment is safe and in good hands.

Well the media thinks that the real estate market is in the tank. The only problem with that statement is that in the Greensboro Triad area is not experiencing the same downturn as in other parts of the country. According to the Triad's multiple listing service data the average sale price for homes in this area has actually gone up in the last year with no significant change in days on market (days on market being how many days a home has been listed for sale). A recent New York Times article quotes Douglas Fenichel of Hovnanian Homes as stating "that when a home is priced properly, people will buy," showing that nothing is as it seems. Basically it is great time for people to be moving up in home size and buying a house anywhere from 20 to 30 or even 40 percent larger than their present home. The thought process is that you will actually gain more on the purchase of your new home which far outweighs any loss that you may incur on the sale of your present home. I personally have spoken with numerous individuals that are doing just that moving up into a larger home. At an open house today I met with a young husband and wife presently selling their home and looking to buy a larger home in an upscale neighborhood. To summarize, we find that many savvy first time homeowners are recognizing that this is the perfect time to sell their home even at a small discount so as to be able to buy a larger home at a greater discount