Donna Johnston

Free RE/MAX Client Party! Top realtors in Charlotte will be there.

October 13th, 2008 categories: About Our Realtors, The Charlotte Scoop

Ride in the RE/MAX Hot Air Balloon

Party with Charlotte Premier Realty in style! We are hosting a client appreciation party on Saturday Oct. 18th from 4-8pm. The RE/MAX hot air balloon will be there giving rides to all our guests. We will be having a Chili Cook off so bring your favorite Chili and let's see how it rates. I heard Rhonda's Chili is pretty tasty. There will be a large screen inflatable screen and we will be having play station and WII competitions for all those that dare to check out the virtual sports. There will be games for the wee ones to have fun with and they may wear their Halloween costumes if they would like to win a great prize. There will be many door prizes and give aways. So come test the skies and get ready for the hot air balloon event in Mooresville on Oct. 24-26th. www.carolinaballoonfest.com Bring your wallet for that fest but ours is free! Wanna come? Saturday Oct. 18th from 4-8 at the Steeplechase Subdivision in Mint Hill. Call or e-mail us and let us know you are coming. Click here directions and let us know you will be there. We wouldn't want to run out of that great Chili now would we?

"Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me"

October 15th, 2008 categories: Giving Back in Charlotte, Sunday Inspiration

Today is October 15, 2008 and if you're like most Americans you are full up with political nonsense, scared to death about your finances and worried about your children's future. Fair enough, it's been a heck of a few weeks!

But I'd like you to take a few minutes to think bigger, to give some thought to people just miles maybe even steps away from you who are worried too, worried about where they will sleep tonight, if they will have enough to eat and worried if their kids will even have a future.

Today thousands of bloggers are writing about poverty and millions of readers (like you) are reading... together we can make a difference, we can make a start to finish poverty.

Rather than ramble on and on I am going to hand this off to none other than Bruce Springsteen ~ I'll let his music and words speak for me. All I am asking is that you listen (turn it up, WAY UP!) to Bruce's Ghost of Tom Joad his homage to John Steinback's Grapes of Wrath a poignant duet with Tom Morello (it is a stunning performance). (there is a more beautiful video version on iTunes if you like)

If you would please watch the video and read the lyrics ~ I hope it moves you like it moved me ~ please let me know what you think by leaving me a comment below. End poverty, now.

The Lyrics: The Ghost Of Tom Joad

Men walkin' ‘long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

(Chorus)
The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box ‘neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin' in the city aqueduct
(Chorus)

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight ‘gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."
(Chorus)

Original Blog Action Day post at Behind the Button

Any First Time Home Buyers in Charlotte "Swinging" on the Fence?

October 17th, 2008 categories: Home Financing, Real Estate Grind

Mom on Swing

If you are on the fence and are financing FHA with down payment assistance, you need to purchase a home prior to January 1st. There is an important FHA change coming January st that you need to be aware of. At present FHA borrower must put a minimum investment of 3% of the sales price into a transaction. This can be a down payment of 2.25% plus .75% in closing costs/prepaids. Effective January 1st, the minimum downpayment on an FHA loan will to to 3.5%...(closing costs/prepaids can not be a part of this.) This basically means that as of January 1st, you will need to come up with an additional 1.25% of the sales price.

This really bothers me but it is what we have to look forward to. This may not sound so horrible but to put a number on it if you were to purchase a home for $250,000 your down payment after January 1st will have to be $3,125 higher than it does today. That is significant especially for the first time home buyer that is saving every penny to purchase their first home.

With prices being down and interest rates favorable, you only have a couple of months left, so what are you waiting for? Give us a call to find your dream home.

Should I buy or should I sell? Yes.

October 18th, 2008 categories: Charlotte Real Estate Trends

OK I guess I have some explaining to do! I am actually going to let Nancy Stancil at the Charlotte Observer do most of the heavy lifting, she does a superb job in her article "The Upside of the Housing Downturn".

And OK I apologize for the obnoxious ying/yang symbol but I crave attention (if I get 5 comments I'll change it to a more peaceful version!) the thing is I think the housing crisis as bad as it is (like most crises) is a bit overblown (see The Charlotte Sky is Falling. Or is it?) and if you think about most crises are not 100% bad ~ there might even be a silver lining for some!

From Nancy's article:

Brian Cook just moved into the Huntersville subdivision (suburb of Charlotte) he wanted at a price he finally could afford. He paid $300,000 for a 2,800-square-foot, brick two-story in Wynfield. A year ago, someone would have snapped up that house for as much as $350,000, said Kevin Belk, his Allen Tate Realtor.

Dot Munson, president of the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association sums up the Charlotte market best "Sellers here are getting an average of 94 percent of their asking prices, down from 98 percent last year. You'll find good deals, not steals."

And Stormie Benfield, a three-year Realtor with Keller Williams makes a good point, "The good news for Charlotte is that people are coming here and they still want to buy," she says. "A lot of renters will go straight into the buyers market when conditions improve."

Please read the article, I think you'll find it a level-headed and rational look at the real Charlotte residential home market. Are you ready to sell? to buy? YES we can help!

(just make sure you don't get a YingYang Realtor!)

Charlotte's "Race Playce" is no place for disabilities!

October 19th, 2008 categories: Fun for Kids, Sunday Inspiration

That's right disabilities have no place at Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation' new Race Playce because this new playground was designed so that no child has to be left out! Children of all "abilities" now have place to play and have FUN together!

Karen Sullivan reports today A "Playce" for kids with disabilities in the Charlotte Observer that...

3,700 volunteers with varying abilities...turned towering piles of lumber into an 11,780-square-foot NASCAR-themed adventure called Race Playce. Park and Recreation's goal was to take $400,000 approved by the county and create a playground where a disability would not be a barrier. Planners studied similar projects in other communities.

Then the planners brought together about 170 children with varied abilities in November 2007 to ask how they would build a playground....(read more)

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