Beginning January 1st, 2011 North Carolina is changing the offer to purchase. This effects buyers as well as sellers. The current way the majority of people make a purchase has been eliminated. The only way to make a purchase after Jan 1st is by putting up money for the opportunity to make an offer. Called a Due Diligence Fee, basically you would pay the seller an agreed upon amount for the right to make a decision over a certain period of time. If you purchase the house this money is credited back to you at closing, if you don’t purchase the house the seller keeps the money. The money is only refundable to the buyer if the seller breaches the contract. This is not earnest money…this is an additional amount of money. During this period of time, you must conduct all inspections and research the property.

an example: I want to make an offer on a house. I have to pay the seller for the opportunity to make an offer. This can be any amount that he agrees to, including $0 (if he agrees) for any amount of time. Lets say He agrees to $500 for 1 week. I must conduct all my inspections and research of the property in the one week and make my decision whether I want to buy his house based on the results. If I don’t buy his house for any reason, seller keeps the $500. If I continue with the purchase the $500 gets credited back to me at closing.

This is still pretty new to all of us, so don’t feel silly about asking questions. We’ll find out the answers for you.

****UPDATE****

No worries…it’s so drastically a buyer’s market that sellers are accepting zero dollars as the “due diligence” fee. Sellers these days are just happy to get an offer at all. But when the tide turns to a sellers market it will be a whole different story!!!

Dawn Judge, Broker/REALTOR® 704-929-2261                                                                                               Home Advantage Partners                                                                                                                                    Meet me on Facebook, WordPress, Twitter, LinkedIn and HomeAdvantagePartners.com!

Keller Williams Lake Norman-Mooresville                                                                                                       118 Morlake Dr Suite 100                                                                                                                                  Mooresville, NC 28117                                                                                                                                              No matter where in the world you are, I can get you the best real estate assistance in your area through our vast network!

I am a Lake Norman Area REALTOR® in Mooresville, NC. For the past couple of years, meeting family after family in fear of losing their home has been very disheartening, to say the least. 

Real Estate Agents have to take a lot of classes to stay abreast of all the changes in the economy, loan programs, real estate, building trends, state and local planning and government programs. (It’s a good thing for me that I like school!) One class I took was a (Dept of Housing and Urban Development) HUD short sale/foreclosure class. In this particular foreclosure class, we learned how to help our clients to STAY IN THEIR HOMES…to avoid foreclosure via a government program! AWESOME! How promising! Of course, I gave out the program’s contact info on most of my marketing materials. However, I had never heard whether the program actually worked for anyone.

Well, today I learned that the advice I gave my clients helped them to stay in their home! The contact info that I learned at the HUD foreclosure class over a year ago had actually worked for someone! YAAY!! What a fulfilling feeling! I have a great sense of pride to have been able to help! Even though all I did was to direct them to a program, what a monumental effect it had on this family…and me! I am so grateful for the trust of my clients and the opportunity to help!

Prosperity Unlimited, Inc.           704-933-7405            email: contact@prosperitycdc.org           1660 Garnet Street Kannapolis, NC 28083

Dawn Judge, Broker/REALTOR®           704-929-2261           email: dawnjudge@kw.com             Meet me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress and HomeAdvantagePartners.com

KW Cares story

Dawn Judge, Broker REALTOR®      704-929-2261    email: dawnjudge@kw.com

REMEMBER, IF THEY WANT YOU TO PAY FOR HELP, IT IS A SCAM!!!

Dawn Judge, Broker/REALTOR®       704-929-2261      email: dawnjudge@kw.com       Please do not hesitate to contact me with your real estate questions…I am thankful for the opportunity to help!

Dawn Judge is a real estate broker with the Home Advantage Partners team of Keller Williams Realty – Mooresville

We made this woman and her family feel good, for sure. But, best of all, we made us feel good! The best way to lift yourself up, is to lift up someone else! I was never more proud to be affiliated with a company. Apparently, Keller Williams does this kind of thing on a regular basis through their program called KWCares. I wish I had started my real estate career with Keller Williams, Mooresville!

Dawn Judge, Broker/REALTOR®     704-929-2261     dawnjudge@kw.com                                           Meet me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, HomeAdvantagePartners and WordPress

Dawn Judge, Broker/REALTOR®

704-929-2261 EMAIL: dawnjudge@kw.com

Meet me on Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, Twitter and HomeAdvantagePartners.com

Dawn Judge, Broker/REALTOR® 704-929-2261

email dawnjudge@kw.com

Bar / Entertainment / Kitchenette

212 Winter Flake Drive is a beautiful full brick home in a very nice, quiet neighborhood, in a great location within Troutman city limits and near Lake Norman in Barium Seasons Village…BUT THE INSIDE IS WHAT MAKES THIS HOME SPECIAL! There is a major delight in this home, but allow me to tell you everything! This home has four bedrooms, a bonus room, a loft space, and four full bathrooms. It has been professionally measured at 4406 SF! This home has amazing lighting throughout, featuring recessed can lights in most rooms. The windows on the front (east) side of the home have been professionally tinted. There’s a two-story foyer with wood floors. The formal dining room features a custom Venetian plaster wall finish, wood floors, wainscoting, chair rail, crown molding, half columns, arched doorway, ceiling medallion and a sophisticated light fixture. The kitchen features custom cabinetry with under cabinet & uplighting, Rev-a-Shelf & Closet Maid cabinet pullouts for functional storage, Granite countertops, ceramic tile floors, double oven convection range, upgraded dishwasher, upgraded microwave,  french door refrigerator with crank adjustable shelves (great for Turkey Day!). There’s a walk-in pantry with adjustable shelving. The large casual dining area opens onto the 20×10 deck. The sunken livingroom features a cool, remote controlled ceiling fan with spotlights and uplights, a gas logs fireplace with marble surround and custom mantle, custom window treatments, and a TV niche with swivel TV mount and TV. The Library or office features wall-to-wall carpeting, custom wall finish, dual ceiling fan light fixture, custom window cornice, french doors, custom fitted office wall unit with a workstation, file drawers & bookshelves. There is a guest suite on the main level, both bedroom and bathroom have custom wall finishes. All upstairs bedrooms have vaulted ceilings. Adjoining the two bedrooms at one end of the home is a Jack ‘N Jill bathroom. There’s a large loft space, laundry room and drop down attic stairs. The master suite features a large sitting room with vaulted ceiling and half columns, large bedroom with trey ceiling, a large master bath with a linen closet, a jetted tub, a separate shower, dual sink beauty vanity with cabinet pull-out shelving, a separate water closet with a beautiful wooden medicine cabinet, extra high toilet with self-lowering seat. Don’t let me forget…there are two walk-in closets with adjustable shelving in the master suite! OK…I’ve made you wait long enough! The fully finished basement features BAR, BILLIARD ROOM, MOVIE THEATRE, STEAM SHOWER, WINE CELLAR, BONUS ROOM and AMAZING LIGHTING!!! YOU MUST EXPERIENCE IN PERSON! The mini glass tiled bar features granite countertops and bartop, stainless steel sink, a kegerator (beer keg on tap), under counter fridge, dishwasher, microwave niche, TV mount with TV, mini glass tiled backsplash, mirror, bar neon lights, disco ball, stemware rack, under bar lighting, two ceiling speakers and patio access.

BILLIARDS ROOM

The billiard room features an 8″ Olhausen solid slate Pool Table, a 7″ Sportscraft Air Hockey table, TV mount with TV, sconce lights, recessed lights, billiard table light, cue stick wall organizer and speakers. The movie theatre (I would only leave this room for necessities such as a bag of popcorn from the bar!) features 7.1 surround system (prewired in anticipation of 9.1 surround, yet to be available!), a top-of-the-line 120″ Black Diamond screen, HD Projector, dimmable sconce lights, custom theatre draperies and valance, stadium seating, comfy reclining theatre chairs with LED lit cup holders, raised stage for little performers, double drywall & new technology insulation for soundproofing the walls and ceiling, steel door for soundproofing, safety rope lighting on the floor, a “star” themed ceiling light projector, BlueRay player and all components are inside a utility closet.

MOVIE THEATRE W/ STADIUM SEATING

The wine cellar features 3 sink basins, 300 bottle wine rack, tile floors, wine-making and tasting stations, extra insulation for temperature control. The full bathroom here features a luxurious steam shower with light therapy and Scottish jets, stereo ceiling speaker with volume control, Faux Onyx sink and self-lowering toilet lid.

Steam Shower

The bonus room is currently used as the children’s play room and is wired for home office use. The outdoor living space features 1200 sf of patio space (partially covered from rain to accomodate your cushioned patio living furniture!), a 1000 gallon Koi pond with waterfall, 200 sf deck off the kitchen, Large natural rock wall (stones came from the neighborhood), retaining wall, low voltage landscaping lights, prewired for outdoor post lights, 11 bronze tiki torches, natural creek at back of property, large back lawn, large yard, Massarelli fountain by covered front porch, stepping stones leading from driveway to the backyard, 1.16 acres, large shed, concrete driveway, oversized 2 car garage with auto opener and ceiling storage.

212 Winter Flake Dr

Yes, I can tell you everything, but this home must be EXPERIENCED!!! Call me today for an appointment!

MLS#966643

Dawn Judge, 704-929-2261

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock ..  Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls.  Each contained a similar treasure.  He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.  

Then it struck him.  He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves.  Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!  

It’s like that with people.  We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel.  It doesn’t look like much from the outside.  It isn’t always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.  

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy..  But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.  

There is a treasure in each and every one of us.  If we take the time to get to know that person, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
 
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.  
 
I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with you..  Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.
APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE
THING YOU HAVE, ESPECIALLY YOUR FRIENDS!
LIFE IS TOO SHORT AND FRIENDS ARE TOO FEW!
Pass this on to another Clay Ball!!!