Wendy Burns

ARTS IN APEX

The growth of the the Arts community has added such value and enjoyment to our Apex, NC town. The recent opening of the Halle Cultural Arts Center was an event to enjoy. The building, originally built in 1900, was beautifully renovated to include a 140 seat theatre, galleries and classrooms. The opening day was celebrated with free childrens acting classes, art classes, and several performances to entertain the guests. There are art classes and acting classes offered in the classroom areas. Camps are offered for children during school breaks or "track-outs" (another blog subject for those of you not from the area). A Raleigh area theater group, Raleigh little theater, offers great experiences for the kids to learn and gain confidence. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed their program. Art Exhibits of local artists rotate in the lobby. The building is beautifully restored with a blend of historic charm and modern architecture. You would never guess of it's previous uses as a prison and as the former town hall. The Apex Arts Council www.apexarts.org/ is discussing starting a local theater group.

Every Spring, Apex also hosts a Salem Street Arts Festival. The main street in the Historic downtown area is closed off to traffic, and local visual artists, performing artists and food vendors set up to display and sell their wares. At the end is a kid zone with rides, kids performers and pony rides. The downtown merchants also participate in this event.

Our downtown merchants include several artists, among them are The Red Canvas Gallery, Studio 123 and Out of the Kiln. The Red Canvas Gallery sells original paintings and offers art instruction. Out of the Kiln sells various pottery, art glass and other artworks -plus offers pottery and glass art studio classes. Studio 123 sells original acrylic paintings and offers great kids painting classes. I was amazed at the works my neighbor's child brought home after just a few lessons.

Our downtown Restaurants support the local artists by displaying and selling their artworks.

Apex is really a must see community for the art lover in you.

For more information about the Apex, NC area, feel free to call me (Wendy Burns) at 919-449-5665 at Keller Williams in Cary, NC.

North Carolina Triangle area September Real Estate Trends

Raleigh and Durham area real estate market is down 3.5-3.8% overall according to housingpredictor.com , but Apex, Cary, Morrisville area may be fairing a bit better than others. Now, a 3.5% decline is not all that bad, considering what is happening to markets nationwide.

According to Housingpredictor.com, a site that claims to be an "independent real estate site that forecasts for over 250 cities in the 50 United States, the "North Carolina real estate market is only in the early stages of the National real estate recession." They describe North Carolina as being "one of the country's strongest housing markets with appreciation that didn't get out of whack" They credit the large amount of retiree's moving to the area as an influence on the state in general.

In the Raleigh/Durham area, Housingpredictor.com credits a strong regional economy, lower cost of living, lower home prices, and high employment levels for keeping the market in check during 2008. They do predict softening prices in our area, an average of 3.5% to 3.8% as foreclosures and increasing inventory hit the market.

Housingpredictor.com describes their research as gathering information on "over 20 factors including economics, regional political influences, business development, construction, employment levels and other socioeconomic issues from independent sources." They do update the information regularly, and as markets adjust.

When comparing their forecast to the Triangle MLS market update reports for September 2008, there was some good news not noted by Housingpredictor.com. While inventory, showings, pending sales and closed sales numbers were slightly off from this time last year, the average sales prices of both new and resale homes were up 6% from this time last year. The average new home price is $269,000 and the average resale is $232,500. Apex, Cary, and Morrisville areas also had a notable difference from the rest of the region. While the region has a current 8 month supply of inventory (up from 5 months in 9/07), Apex, Cary and Morrisville have only 6 months supply. The national average is 11 months. Some price ranges in Apex, Cary and Morrisville ($0-$299,000) only have 2-4 month supply. This is good news for sellers in those areas, usually translating to fewer days on the market and/or offers reasonable to asking price.

If you have any questions about the market or selling or buying a home, please feel free to give me (Wendy Burns) a call at 919-449-5665 at my Cary, NC office of Keller Williams. I would be glad to help you or answer any questions.

Scott's Mill in Apex, NC is a wonderful community with so much to offer. The first time I drove into this neighborhood, I fell in love with the architecture and just knew I had to live here. The homes are are modeled after historic homes throughout North Carolina. What they all have in common is a welcoming front porch. It is these front porches that evoke an allover friendly atmosphere. Recently completed is the paved woodland greenway with wooden bridges over the small creeks. A lot of people walk, jog and bike on these trails which connect to surrounding neighborhoods.

Also recently opened is the retail area of Scott's Mill in the Green. A neighborhood hangout is the Booda Beans coffee shop which offers coffee, baked goods, ice cream, smoothies, candy, beer, wine, and light meals of soup and sandwhiches. Social events for kids, teens and adults take place there. We also enjoy the newly opened Hopper House. Hopper House offers kids recreation, parties, drop-off care, and track-out programs. The little ones really love it! We now have a new music studio offering music lessons, a photography studio and dentist. All within walking distance to the homes.

In addition to the great public schools our kids currently go to, The Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School and Church are attached to The Green at Scott's Mill, right across from the coffe shop and center park. We also have a very successful swim team, the Scott's Mill Sea Dragons and several active social groups. The social groups range from the children's committee to the golden agers club - with several in between.

We have home offerings of 1340sf -1800 sf townhouses and about 1350sf - 3,000 sf single family homes (with a few homes over 3000sf). The recent sales on townhomes (Jan-March 08) have averaged $114/sf while single family homes for same time period averaged from about $130/sf to $147/sf.

This neighborhood is a hot commodity in " The Peak of Good Living" Apex, NC!

If you're interested in seeing real estate for sale in Scott's Mill, let me show you around!

Wake County offers one of the best ranked pulbic school systems in the country. Our great schools are one of the reasons families relocate to the Triangle. Newcomers move in to enjoy the same benefits we are pleased to offer our children. With this growth, we have experienced some growing pains. Many Parents and students are starting to question the school boards practice of frequent student reassignments to accomodate the growth and to redistribute the family income levels among schools. Neighborhood schools are disappearing and busing is the new norm. Year round school calendars have also been implemented at many area elementary and middle schools. If the method of handling growth and reassignment does not change our school system will suffer.

One of the main complaints is that the school board holds public sessions, but seems to ignore the parental input from these sessions. The reason is simple. Our school board is composed of 9 elected members. Each member represents one of the 9 districts within the Wake Co. School system. These members make decisions that effect the entire school system, but on election day only face the votes of people who live in their small district. We do not go to the polls and vote for all 9 members, only the one seat of our district. A growing grass roots effort to change this is organizing in wake county. They are asking residents to contact their mayors, commissioners and town council members to bring about legislative changes to allow "at large" elections of our school board members. It could be a first step toward a positive change in our school system. The board members would then be accountable to all of the voters they represent.

Schools are so imortant to many home buyers. It ican only help to be involved in the issues that effect the desirability of the area we live and work in.