Sometime back, I wrote a post about Hickory Dickory Dock, located in Hickory, NC offering free birthday parties to kids Monday through Thursdays. This is going on through the end of this year and it's free for up to 8 children and only $8.20 per child after that.
Just wanted to post here to say that it's a TOTALLY AWESOME party!!! We just had my son's birthday party there and I'd highly recommend it for anyone looking for something great to give your child, but save some $$$ in the process, too.
With the party, the kids get pizza, drinks, chips and cake (ALL FREE). The HDD workers serving the party were top-notched. Of course, the big fun for the kids is that they get to ride bumper cars, play putt-putt, climb in the play area and play video games, too (again, limited but still free).
And for a little extra, you can try your hand at beating your kids at lazer tag (I'm sure that I used to move faster!), and for the more adventurous types, you can see how long you can ride the wild bull (machine)!
A very good experience and if you haven't visited the Dock yet, or lately, stop in and see what they've got to offer. There is literally something for everyone.
Thanks, HDD.
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Roger Johnson is a Realtor with CENTURY 21 American Homes in Hickory, NC.
You can reach me by email at rogerajohnson@century21.com or by phone at 828-568-2121 ext 310.
I enjoy helping the first time home buyer find that perfect place. If you're ready to start your search for your Hickory NC area home, sign up for my free DreamHome Finder service to start your journey to home ownership.
Click here to visit my website to view all Catawba County area real estate: RogerAJohnson.com
I service the Catawba and surrounding counties, and the Hickory, Newton, Conover, Taylorsville, Claremont, Statesville and Charlotte, NC real estate markets.
Subscribe to My Blog via Email AR Members Subscribe to My Blog
Copyright© 2009 Party Success at Hickory Dickory Dock by Roger A. Johnson
I was reading through my feeds on my news reader and came across this post about the new Conflicker by Christopher Null, and wanted to share getting the news out on this threat.
Here's the short and sweet of it: The newest worm threat is called Conflicker C and it's the third variant of the Conflicker worm, and according to the news, it will 'attack' on April 1st. The main purpose of a worm is to create a "zombie" machine out of the infected computer which the author of the worm would then be able to control.
The Conflicker worm is tough because it uses a large number of URLs to communicate back to the author, making it very hard to track. The first Conflicker used 250 URL. The newest worm, an estimated 50,000 URLs!
On April 1, all infected computers will come under the control of the author. The problem is nobody knows what's going to happen.
Make sure to take steps to protect yourself. Update Windows completely. Update your anti-malware software, as well. Finally, make sure your anti-virus program is actually running.
If you happen to have any information on the creator of this worm, Microsoft is offering a $250,000 Reward.
Take care.
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Roger Johnson is a Realtor with CENTURY 21 American Homes in Hickory, NC.
You can reach me by email at rogerajohnson@century21.com or by phone at 828-568-2121 ext 310.
I enjoy helping the first time home buyer find that perfect place. If you're ready to start your search for your Hickory NC area home, sign up for my free DreamHome Finder service to start your journey to home ownership.
Click here to visit my website to view all Catawba County area real estate: RogerAJohnson.com
I service the Catawba and surrounding counties, and the Hickory, Newton, Conover, Taylorsville, Claremont, Statesville and Charlotte, NC real estate markets.
Subscribe to My Blog via Email AR Members Subscribe to My Blog
Copyright© 2009 Tighten Your PC Security: Conflicker C Worm May Attack! by Roger A. Johnson
With the state of the economy and most real estate markets, short sales seem to be the topic at large. Here at the Rain, I've seen several posts come up about them. Some some agents get them, some don't. Some think that they are good potential deals, others try their best to avoid them! One thing's for certain, a lot of people, agents and consumers alike, still have a lot of questions about them.
States have different laws concerning real estate. If you're a seller that is in a short sale position, it's very important that you get with a knowledge, professional REALTOR® in your area today. For agents, your Multiple Listing Service may have specific guidelines for listing and maintaining short sales, so if you've got one as a listing, find out what your MLS rules are for them.
The basic definition is it is a sale where the Purchase Price isn't enough to enable the Seller to pay for the costs of selling and the Seller is not able to pay in full all deeds of trust (mortgages) that are due and owing to one or more lenders, the Seller does not have sufficient liquid assets to pay the difference and the Lienholders have agreed to release/discharge their liens against the property for less than the total amount owed.
The process is fairly simple, though it isn't easy and it definitely isn't Short! A short sale can take anywhere from about a month to 4 months from OFFER to Lender Acceptance. That doesn't include any marketing time. So if you're a Seller or Listing Agent, hang tough! If you're a buyer considering making an offer, don't be in a hurry.
As a seller/listing agent you need to get a few things together. The listing agent is going to need an Authorization to Release Loan Information signed by ALL the people on the note, so that they can communicate directly with the lender.
From there, you need to start a short sale package. Lenders vary as to what they want exactly and some may forward you a specific package. But, in general, you'll have to supply the following:
Things work differently with a Short Sale offer/listing. This is true whether you're the buyer, seller or agents involved in the deal. It's important to know a little of the 'in's and out's of short sales if you're going to be involved with them.
1. The Buy/Sell Contract is just an offer until the Lender approves of the short sale. You should have a form explaining this to both parties. In NC, we've just got a new form, the "Short Sale" Addendum that fully discloses that the contract is contingent up to the day of closing on the lender approving the short sale.
2. There is no guarantee of the LienHolder's Approval or Timeframe of Approval. Again, this is spelled out in our new form. The buyer can back out of the contract with no penalties (earnest money returned) up to the time that the Lender makes a formal written acceptance of the deal.
3. No Repairs. If seller cannot pay their loan in full, they cannot make any repairs. Simple.
4.
There may be other offers. Even if you are the first one to make an offer and go 'under contract,' other offers may come in between the time of your contract and when the lender makes final approval. Under NC Law, these offers must be presented to the lender for review and approval as well.
ADDED POINT: Related to this is how a short sale appears in the MLS system. The new addendum to our listing agreements clarifies this. An agent must continue to market the home "For Sale" until such time as the Lender has made a written formal acceptance of the offer/contract. Now, as a listing agent, you should inform all people making offers when there are multiple offers on the table (There is nothing that makes this a legal requirement. I think it's just good business).
5. The property may foreclose before final acceptance. Banks are slow. And they also frequently have the problem of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, which means that while one branch may be trying to work out a short sale solution, another part of the Lender's office is following through with the foreclosure process.
Short sales may be a lot of work, but they may also be the best chance for the Seller to get out of a bad situation. For the buyer that has the ability to wait it out on the process, they can really get a good deal, often times better, in fact, than if the property was foreclosed and resold by the lender as a REO property.
One of the reasons that many agents don't like to work with short sale properties, both as a listing agent and as a buyer's agent, is because of the amount of work involved compared to a "normal" sale AND the fact that most lenders attempt to reduce the total commission on property before they will accept a short sale. NC Realtors® new addendum to the listing agreement on a short sale handles this.
Firm's Compensation: Seller understands and acknowledges that Firm's entitlement to the fee set forth in the Listing Agreement shall not be affected by a Short Sale or any other sale of the Property.
So, don't fear a short sale, just learn the process and make some sales!
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Roger Johnson is a Realtor with CENTURY 21 American Homes in Hickory, NC.
You can reach me by email at rogerajohnson@century21.com or by phone at 828-568-2121 ext 310.
I enjoy helping the first time home buyer find that perfect place. If you're ready to start your search for your Hickory NC area home, sign up for my free DreamHome Finder service to start your journey to home ownership.
Click here to visit my website to view all Catawba County area real estate: RogerAJohnson.com
I service the Catawba and surrounding counties, and the Hickory, Newton, Conover, Taylorsville, Claremont, Statesville and Charlotte, NC real estate markets.
Subscribe to My Blog via Email AR Members Subscribe to My Blog
Copyright© 2009 The Short on Short Sales: A Guide to Understanding the Process by Roger A. Johnson
The Catawba Science Center, located in the Viewmont area of Hickory, NC is now taking registrations for it's annual Summer Fun Science Camp, which will run June 15 through August 21.
The Summer Fun classes will be held Mondays through Fridays from 10am to 12pm at the Science Center. For an additional cost, CSC is also offering an early arrival starting at 7:30am and also an afternoon time that will run until 5:30p.
Just some of the topics for this year are Space Explorers, Kooky Chemistry, and Looney Tunes Physics. Summer Fun is usually open to Pre-K through to rising six graders, but new to this year are offerings to 7th through 9th grades.
Catawba Science Center has some really cool and interesting stuff, even if you're not a science "geek." I only wish they had a summer camp for adults!
If you'd like more information on the Catawba Science Center, Summer Fun Camp or to register, call (828) 322-8169 or visit CatawbaScience.org.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Roger Johnson is a Realtor with CENTURY 21 American Homes in Hickory, NC.
You can reach me by email at rogerajohnson@century21.com or by phone at 828-568-2121 ext 310.
I enjoy helping the first time home buyer find that perfect place. If you're ready to start your search for your Hickory NC area home, sign up for my free DreamHome Finder service to start your journey to homeownership.
Click here to visit my website to view all Catawba County area real estate: RogerAJohnson.com
I service the Catawba and surrounding counties, and the Hickory, Newton, Conover, Taylorsville, Claremont, Statesville and Charlotte, NC real estate markets.
Subscribe to My Blog via Email
The First United Methodist Church is sponsoring a 5K run/walk and Tot Trot on Saturday, March 28th, 2009. The Tot Trot is free and is open to all children that have not begun kindergarten.
The Tot Trot begins at 8:30am on Saturday and the 5K race will start promptly at 8:45am and is rain or shine.
For those interested in running, early registration is $15 until March 15th, and $20 after that up to 8:30am the day of the run. You can sign up using this FORM and if you'd like more information, you can visit the church's website at www.fumcnewtonnc.org. All money raised is being used for an expanding Praise service offered by FUMC.
If you would like to become a sponsor to the event or to donate or to lend a helping hand, please contact Amy Cable at acable@charter.net. All sponsorships must be turned in by this Friday, March 13th.
Come out and participate, help out or just watch! It should be a fun day for EVERYONE!
____________________________________________________________________________________
Roger Johnson is a Realtor with CENTURY 21 American Homes in Hickory, NC.
You can reach me by email at rogerajohnson@century21.com or by phone at 828-568-2121 ext 310.
I enjoy helping the first time home buyer find that perfect place. If you're ready to start your search for your Hickory NC area home, sign up for my free DreamHome Finder service to start your journey to homeownership.
Click here to visit my website to view all Catawba County area real estate: RogerAJohnson.com
I service the Catawba and surrounding counties, and the Hickory, Newton, Conover, Taylorsville, Claremont, Statesville and Charlotte, NC real estate markets.
Subscribe to My Blog via Email
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Realtor for CENTURY 21 American Homes. Specializing in Residential Sales, Investment property and Shortsales.
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