The following contribution is the second in a series this month featuring our Fonville Morisey Falls Sales Office, located on Falls of the Neuse Road in Raleigh. This week, they had a special Guest Speaker from Wake County Public Schools at their Sales Meeting. This is a recap of what they learned.

The Fonville Morisey Falls Sales Office being in the heart of Wake County, nestled between I-440 and I-540 along Falls of the Neuse Road, services many homebuyers and sellers in Wake County. We pride ourselves on knowing our area, including our school system as we help our families make a transition throughout or into the County. This past Tuesday, we were delighted to learn more about our Wake County Public Schools thanks to our Special Guest Speaker, Maria Rosa Rangel, Senior Administrator, LEP Parent Outreach for the ESL (English as a Second Language) Department.

Ms. Rangel shared with us that the Wake County School System is currently the largest school district in North Carolina with a student enrollment around 150,000. WCPSS has a total of 169 schools with students that speak over 200 languages. Additionally and just as interestingly, she went on to explain the different types of schools within the WCPSS besides the more traditional schools, each having their unique objective:

Magnet Schools are structured to provide expanded educational opportunities while also serving as an important mechanism to help reduce the high concentrations of poverty and support diverse populations and they also help maximize the use of school facilities.

Renaissance Schools are outfitted with the latest technology and additional teaching staff for each grade level. They also offer flexibility in the school day and school year to provide more instructional time.

STEM Schools focus on applying the knowledge and skills fundamental to the engineering design process and utilizing project based learning across all disciplines.

Global Network Schools focus on developing global literacy across all disciplines and provide world language opportunities.

Career Academies are smaller learning communities that focus on a career theme and then integrated into the students’ studies including their core curriculum courses.

Year Round Schools prevent kids from regressing during the summer months and provide for a constant learning opportunity.

~ Full explanation courtesy of the WCPSS website

WCPSS recently moved to base school assignments. To find out where your base schools are, visit their website at www.wcpss.net.

Being that we are located not too far from Durant Road Middle School, we’d like to take this moment to CONGRATULATE Wake County Teacher of the Year – Luke Miles. Mr. Miles has been teaching Social Studies for three years now where he does a fantastic job of integrating technology and digital media into his curriculum and lesson plans. Here he is in his 8th Grade classroom doing what he does best -

We are so fortunate to live in an area with such fine schools! Whether it be academics, the arts or athletic achievements the Wake County Public School System continues to prove why moving to or in and around this area makes it a wonderful place to live.

Special thanks to Maria Rosa Rangel for joining us at our Sales Meeting this week!

Wake County Public Schools logo provided by WCPSS media department.

]]> http://blog.fmrealty.com/2013/05/fmfalls-wake-county-public-school-system/feed/ 0 http://blog.fmrealty.com/2013/05/fonville-morisey-sales-offices-raise-money-for-komen-race-for-the-cure/ http://blog.fmrealty.com/2013/05/fonville-morisey-sales-offices-raise-money-for-komen-race-for-the-cure/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 20:59:11 +0000 fmrealty http://blog.fmrealty.com/?p=3135

Every year the Fonville Morisey family participates in the Komen Race for the Cure on behalf of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, specifically as a part of the Susan G. Komen North Carolina Triangle to the Coast chapter. The race itself takes place on June 8th this year in and around the Meredith College campus. As a company we raise awareness and funds collectively through 12 teams comprised of our Corporate office and our eleven sales offices throughout the Triangle. This week, several of our offices are hosting events to help raise money for the cause.

Fonville Morisey Chapel Hill Hosts Event at Tarantini Restaurant

Wednesday, May 15th

Our Fonville Morisey Chapel Hill Sales Office is gathering at one of the BEST Italian restaurants in the Triangle, Taratini Italian Restaurant in Chapel Hill tomorrow night where our own Scott Schillin will be playing piano while diners dine. Taratini is owned by FM Chapel Hill REALTOR, Elaine Lopes and they are graciously donating 10% of the proceeds from that evening’s sales to the FM Chapel Hill Team’s efforts.

Please join the FM Chapel Hill team. Delicious food coupled with exceptional musical accompaniment all to benefit a GREAT cause!

Fonville Morisey Lochmere Holds Silent Auction Amongst Their Team and Invited Guests

Wednesday, May 16th

Our Fonville Morisey Lochmere Sales Office is holding a Silent Auction to generate awareness and raise donations to their Team’s efforts this week as well. They have TONS of fun items being auctioned amongst their real estate agents and staff, including a $50 gift card to Firewurst restaurant (locations in Cary and Raleigh). Firewurst is also catering their event Thursday night and from what we understand the food is fabulous!

Fonville Morisey Preston Hosts a Musical Event at The Hibernian Pub and Restaurant in Cary

Friday, May 17th

The Fonville Morisey Preston office presents -

“A Kick-Off Concert for THE CURE”

Featuring the enchanting music of award-winning folk duo Barnaby Bright, please join FM Preston for Happy Hour from 5-6pm and the performance from 6-8pm. The FM Preston team will be collecting donations for Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure throughout the evening. For a sneak peek at what to expect in musical entertainment, check out Barnaby Bright performing their song “Gravity” -

Again, great food, wonderful musical entertainment, and donations for a GREAT cause. You can’t beat it!

As we learn of additional events our Sales Offices may be hosting between now and June 8th, we’ll post them here. In the meantime, check out the events in Chapel Hill Wednesday night and in Cary on Friday.

One final thought -

• 75% of net funds raised for Komen North Carolina Triangle to the Coast are invested locally to fund education, screening and treatment programs.

• 25% of net funds are dedicated to research and finding the cure(s) for breast cancer.

~From the Komen North Carolina website

We can make a difference. Help us raise funds for this worthy cause today!

The following contribution is the second in our series this month featuring our Fonville Morisey Falls Office. In this particular piece Amanda Boswell describes their support for the Boys and Girls Club of Wake County, specifically the Washington Elementary location just south of downtown Raleigh.

The Falls office has always had a commitment to helping others and it has been our privilege and pleasure to work with the Boys & Girls Club of Wake County at Washington Elementary for over ten years. We enjoy providing them with some of the basics that we take for granted throughout the year: shoes, water, snacks, fans for their gymnasium, etc. During the holiday season we even provide warm dinners at Thanksgiving and Christmas, including a visit from Santa.

Members of FM Falls with the children of the Boys & Girls Club of Wake County – Washington Elementary. Christmas 2012.

Their mission is simple but powerful -

“The Boys & Girls Clubs mission is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.” ~ From the Boys & Girls Club of Wake County website

It is a misconception that the program is only offered to low-income families. All children are welcome. Right now, they are serving 100 kids per day and that number swells during the summer to 140 children. They are open every day after school and on Saturdays to meet the needs of the community.

The Boys & Girls Club does so much for the community. According to Eric DeShield, Director of the Washington Elementary Club, they work on three key elements with the kids: academic success, good character and a healthy lifestyle. They do this by providing a safe, fun and positive environment enriched with supportive relationships. The children are given opportunities to do well and the expectation is that they will succeed. If you are interested in helping this great organization, please call Eric at 919-706-3274.

Of course, please visit the Boys and Girls Club of Wake County official website and if the Washington Elementary Club is the perfect location for you, visit their official page as well.

We also invite you to visit our holiday recap video from Christmas 2012 with the Boys and Girls Club of Wake County – Washington Elementary Club. Providing those children a Christmas celebration is one of our favorite events each year!

What local organizations do you support that you’d like to give a shout out to? Please leave a comment below!

The following contribution comes from our Anthony Pellegrino, Sr. Mortgage Consultant based out of our FM Lochmere office. Thanks for sharing your expertise, Anthony!

It’s a GREAT time to buy a home in the Raleigh-Cary market. With the number of homes sold up 15% on average from March 2012-March 2013, our market is hot! But, before you begin the process of finding your new home in Cary, Raleigh, or surrounding communities, it is important to speak with a lender ahead of time to make sure you qualify for a mortgage and to make sure you are looking in the right price range for your income. 

Pre-Qualified vs. Pre-Approved

The first step is to get “pre-qualified” with a lender.   A pre-qualification is basically a conversation with a lender in which you review the following about your financial stability and history where you discuss such things as:

1.       Your payment comfort level

2.      The breakdown of your income

3.      What current debt payments you have

4.      The various loan programs that may be available to you and down payment options

Once you have completed the pre-qualification, the lender is now able to give your REALTOR® a letter saying you have been pre-qualified and can potentially purchase a home.  We say “potentially” due to the fact that none of the above has actually been verified.  For this reason, most real estate agents and lenders would prefer that you get “pre-approved” instead.

Going through the pre–approval process is more involved, but not difficult.  When you are pre- approved for a mortgage it means you have supplied the lender with some (if not all) of the following:

1.      Paystubs

2.      W2’s and income tax returns if applicable

3.      Bank statements to verify down payment

4.      A tri-merged credit report

Once the lender has verified all of the above, they can now issue a Pre-Approval letter. 

How Can Getting “Pre-Approved” Help You Further?

Before any seller accepts an offer from a buyer they almost always like to see a pre-approval letter versus a pre-qualification letter.  Very few lenders will charge a borrower for a pre-approval so it’s good to be pro-active and make sure your loan is good to go before submitting any offer to purchase. 

The sooner you get started in this process the better off you will be.  Of course, our FM Lending Mortgage Consultants are available at any time to assist you. If you have any general questions that might benefit others, leave a comment below. If you’d prefer to speak to someone privately, feel free to contact us.

Buying a home is one of (if not THE) largest purchases you will ever make. It’s important to know that you are taking the right steps to get there as quickly as possible.

The following contribution comes from our Roxanne Sparkman, Sales Associate with Triangle Specialist Team / FM Brier Creek. Thanks for sharing this awesome organization with us, Roxanne!

As real estate agents serving homebuyers and sellers in and around the communities that make up The Triangle region of North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas), we often notice that our clients and potential clients accumulate a lot of “stuff”. Whether listing a home for sale in Raleigh or helping a buyer move to a new home in Cary, one of the biggest tasks to accomplish is trying to figure out what to do with the items our buyers and sellers accumulate. For Sellers, we recommend (and sometimes assist with) staging their homes for a successful sale. For Buyers looking to make their transition smoother, we often recommend putting aside items they don’t wish to keep and donating them. This is where the wonderful nonprofit organization, The Green Chair Project, comes into play.

In a nutshell, Raleigh-based The Green Chair Project collects items that are new or gently used to be redistributed to families in need at low cost to them through various partner agencies associated with the organization. The Green Chair Project not only relies on donations, but they also need the assistance of volunteers to help unload, clean, sort, identify, etc. the donations they receive.

Recently, Roxanne’s Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Raleigh, participated in a volunteer day at The Green Chair Project. Volunteer jobs were varied and included everything from very light work to heavy moving of the donations as they were being delivered, among other assistance.

Says Roxanne -

I had a blast with this project! It was such a great fit for us REALTORS to help encourage our clients to donate through moving transition. It instantly goes to a great cause and makes a difference!

This Saturday, May 4th is their premiere fundraiser – Comforts of Home 2013 and tickets are still available. They’ll be both a LIVE and silent auction, plenty of delectable food and beverage treats, and much more. Visit the event page for more information.

To give you an idea of what a “happy shopper” at The Green Chair Project looks and sounds like, watch this short video -

Real Estate Agents, their clients, and The Green Chair Project each win when they work together.

If you’re a homebuyer or seller in our community and have donated to this wonderful cause, we’d love to hear from you. Please comment below!

The following contribution comes from our Harriette Doggett, Assistant Manager of Fonville Morisey Falls Office. Thank you for sharing your expertise with our readers!

TAX REFORM….What’s happening now in downtown Raleigh matters to all homeowners!

National Association of REALTORS® President Gary Thomas speaks to NC REALTORS® about tax reform in NC and how it could affect tax reform across the country.

On Wednesday, April 24^th, hundreds of REALTORS® from across our State came together to express concerns over pending tax reform in NC.  They were joined by Gary Thomas, President of the National Association of REALTORS®.  The message they brought forth was not only important to REALTORS® practicing in North Carolina, but to their clients and potential clients as well – homeowners themselves.

While REALTORS® recognize the need for tax reform in our state, they do not want such reform to be on the back of homeownership, especially when we are finally starting to see recovery in the housing market.   Our Legislators have not identified exactly what tax reform in our state will look like, but they have identified several possibilities that would affect ownership of real estate –   

• Loss of the mortgage interest deduction along with the property tax deduction. 

• They are also exploring a ‘tax on services’ which could mean that a sales tax of up to 8% would be incurred for services involved in a real estate transaction such as: home appraisals, home inspections, surveys, pest inspections, any repair services, radon gas inspections, attorney’s fees, real estate commissions, etc.   

• Another avenue being explored is transformation in the way Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) are being taxed, with filing fees for LLCs being increased from $200 to up to $500 and, in addition, a tax on an LLC’s holdings.  This could greatly affect the real estate investment market as many investors hold their investment properties in LLCs.

All of this affects YOU – the REALTOR® and the Homeowner

These discussions being held by our Legislators regarding tax reform could greatly affect a homeowner’s ability to own and sell real estate in our State. 

For more information, please visit –  http://www.taxreformfacts.org/home/ .  The website has been put together by the North Carolina Association of REALTORS to inform homeowners and others about how pending tax reform can affect homeownership in NC. Of course, if you have further questions, don’t hesitate to contact your Fonville Morisey REALTOR®. We’re here to help!

Image courtesy of Harriette Doggett.

This is the final installment this month in our series on the Wake Forest / Youngsville community as we highlight our Fonville Morisey Youngsville office.

2012 Six Sundays participant, Phatbread. Copyright 2012 Meredith Gilley. All Rights Reserved.

The Town of Wake Forest together with Wake Forest Arts kicks off the spring season with its annual concert series “Six Sundays in Spring” this weekend at the E. Carroll Joyner Park Amphitheater. Bring your lawn chair or a blanket and get ready to join your fellow neighbors for some fantastic music each Sunday for the next six weeks!

Scheduled to take the stage first is Children of the Horn. The band combines jazz, R&B, soul, and world music to create a unique sound all with their brass instruments. Check out this video below to get a taste.

There will also be several local food vendors including the VFW food trailer, Lemon Tree, Sweet Traditions, and of course everyone’s favorite – Lumpy’s Ice Cream.

Six Sundays in Spring is a great event for the whole family! Check out the website for the rest of the concert schedule and for more information.

Which band are you excited to hear? Please leave a comment below.

The following contribution comes from our Roxanne Sparkman, Sales Associate with Triangle Specialist Team / FM Brier Creek. Roxanne is also the District Secretary of Rotary District 7710. Thanks for sharing this news with us, Roxanne!

Roxanne loves working with her buyers and sellers in Raleigh and surrounding communities. When she’s not listing homes, working with home inspectors, first-time homebuyers, etc. she is active in her community, especially with her local Rotary District.

Rotary District 7710 was on a mission as the new year began. Their goal was to collect and donate 45,000 books to four charities within the Triangle region. As a matter of fact our Cindy Poole of FM ITB and current President of Rotary Club of Raleigh led the charge for this effort as it began back in January. It was a lofty goal, but not only did Rotary 7710 succeed, they SURPASSED it!

Many Fonville Morisey branches took part in this effort. Thank you for all of your help and support!

During the Rotary District Conference the weekend of April 12th, District members revealed the final tally to be just above 51,000 books! Roxanne and her family even assisted with placing Rotary stickers in over 38,000 of them that weekend at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley. Once all the stickers were placed, thousands of books were donated straight from the Marriott. The estimated totals in all were -

Read and Feed – 17,500
Book Harvest – 12,500
YMCA – 5000
Communities in Schools of Wake County – 5000
Taken back to Henderson for local school – 500

We think it’s safe to say The Rotary District 7710 Read and Feed Book Drive was a GREAT success!

Image of Roxanne and her daughter, Savanna, placing stickers on books.

Image courtesy of Roxanne Sparkman.

The following contribution comes from our Beth Prochaska, Senior Mortgage Consultant with FM Lending. Thanks, Beth for sharing your expertise!

If you are selling your home in this “hot” spring market there are a few important points to note.

501 N. Blount St, Raleigh listed by John Butler, FM ITB

Before you list your home with a REALTOR® you should make sure you have a pre-approval with a reputable lender like the smart folks at FM Lending NC. The pre-approval process is a brief phone call to a lender – going over your income, years with current employer, debt, current mortgage balance on the home you are selling and approximate value of the home. Those are the initial steps.

You should then request they run a current credit report so that you know there will not be any problems obtaining another mortgage for the next home you purchase after you sell your current one. This is very important!

Next, you will want to discuss down payment options on the new home you plan to purchase and make sure you have a good faith estimate to see what the closing costs and prepaid taxes and insurance will be on your new home. Your lender can detail all the costs for the purchase of the new home so that you are extremely prepared to go out with your Fonville Morisey Realtor and make a competitive offer.

Heads up!

Many sellers are finding themselves with multiple offers AND offers that include quicker closing dates.  So, it is critical to be ready to move once you put your house on the market!

On a Positive Note

The good news is that many sellers are receiving offers with higher prices than they could get last year as buyers are finding inventories shrinking in the market.

The best advice for you as a seller is to be financially prepared when your Fonville Morisey REALTOR® lists your home! Do that and you will not only have a successful sales transaction, but you have a better chance of making a promising purchase on your new home faster. Everybody wins!

If you’ve sold and purchased a new home using these tips before, we’d love to hear from you. How easy was the process? What did you learn? What do you still have questions about? Please leave a comment below. You may inspire others going through the very same process.

Around this time each year, the National Association of REALTORS® kicks off the spring home buying season with the National Open House Weekend. Home Sellers are becoming increasingly confident in the housing market, which in turn helps to improve our overall economy as well. Seventy-five percent of home buyers believe this particular spring is a good time to buy. So, why not collectively open the doors of homes for sale throughout the country simultaneously? What a GREAT way to encourage buyers!

1102 Doverfield Lane, Youngsville – Offered by David Harney, FM Youngsville

There is a ton of data to support this, but we’ll focus on three bullet points from the NAR’s 2012 Profile on Home Buyers and Sellers as showcased on the NAR website -

• In 2012 45 percent of all buyers used an open house as a source in their home search process.
• Repeat buyers are more likely to find their home from an open house than first-time buyers and repeat buyers use open houses more frequently.
• Buyers in the South are most likely to find a home through an open house compared to those in other regions.

If you’re searching for a new home or you have listed yours this spring, we shared 40 tips in our February and March blog series. We encourage you to check those out!

In the meantime, we hope to see you at one of our over 100 Open Houses scheduled for this weekend. Not sure where to go? Easy-peasy! Just click this link to the Open House search on FMRealty.com.

Image of home for sale courtesy of FMRealty.com and TMLS.