Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty Leland office meeting at Magnolia Greens sales center in Leland NC

Our office in Leland is having a very good year and we've outgrown our space for meetings. Therefore we have them elsewhere. This month we had the meeting in the Magnolia Greens sales center.

The second thing I noticed on entering the building were the amazingly healthy muffins our excellent Broker in Charge Denise Kinney provided. (Thanks, Denise)

My first notice was the sales center's marketing director Meredith Jackson (left) and broker Eden Gilliam. In this photo Meredith and Eden are flanking the ever-smiling Peter David.

Meredith, guests Oscar Williamson and Jim Costello from Coldwell Banker Sun Coast Commercial real estate, and Denise Kinney.

Denise introducing Oscar and Jim, who told us about the local commercial market and some great opportunities.

We had a good time, as always, at the meeting.

Even more of us having fun.

Can you tell I enjoy working with these folks? I sure do. They're hard-working, professional, and a lot of fun.

(Thanks again for the muffins and coffee, Denise)

REALTOR event at The Tropics in Waterford of the Carolinas

This Wednesday Pointe South Realty and Waterford of the Carolinas hosted a REALTOR luncheon in the Tropics section of Waterford of the Carolinas to present some new floorplans.



The luncheon was held in The Banyan model in the Tropics section of the community.
One of several cool features of the The Banyan model home is this (optional) caged pool that overlooks one of Waterford's many canals. In the shot below on-site agent Jason James and famed Sea Coast agent Peter David discuss the community. It was a bright day and the camera auto-exposure favored the outside, (sorry for the silhouette effect of Jason and Peter).

The photo below, with Marketing Director Kace Koble at the far end of the pool, is much more pleasing.

Broker Relations Manager Angela Batchelor speaking about the new floorplans and a special event (and great deals) this weekend.



When you're looking for new homes in the Leland area, be sure to include Waterford of the Carolinas. And if you'd like, I'd be honored to show you around and represent you as a buyer at this or any of the other fine new home communities in North Brunswick County. Just call my cell anytime (910) 297-8753 or e-mail bruce@lelandnewhomes.com .

Craig Stevens introduces new 3,000 sq ft homes for $229,900

At a time when the importance of value for the home buying dollar is greater than ever, Stevens Fine Homes is raising the bar. In both the South Brook and Ridgewood Park sections of Mallory Creek in Leland, Stevens is ready to build 3,000 square foot homes starting at $229,900 and $2,000 square foot homes at $189,900.

The kick off event for REALTORs today was at Stephens Fine Homes' Cove Landing model in Mallory Creek.


Craig and on-site sales agent Wendy Melville are in the photo below. Charlotte Palmer, another on-site agent was with another group.


The two houses below are approximately 2,000 square foot models, each priced at $189,900.



I was personally pleased that our friend the incomparable chef Lori Eaton catered the luncheon.


If you'd like a personal tour of South Brook, Ridgewood, or any other Stevens Fine Homes neighborhood, I'd be honored to show them to you and represent you as a buyer's agent. Call anytime at (910) 297-8753 or e-mail brucerbrown@yahoo.com.

Concert in the Park at Brunswick Forest

We had a great turnout at the first Concert on the Park in Brunswick Forest. Featuring Wilmington, NC area Beatles and 60s cover band The Backbeats, this is the first of three scheduled concerts. The concerts are being held at Annsdale Park, located in the center of the currently built out residential neighborhoods of Brunswick Forest.

The band played under a tent,

while the crowd, estimated at over 800, spread out over Annsdale Park's 12 acres



Under a beautiful North Carolina evening sky, the band played on.

Video captures of The Backbeats at Annsdale Park

"You Can't Do That" The Beatles

"You Really Got Me" Kinks

Hotel Status Update - It's Almost Open!!

We're counting the days now till the Comfort Suites at Magnolia Greens (aka, "the big new hotel next to our office") opens. It could literally be this weekend - we're told the only thing holding back the C.O. is striped lines painted in the parking lot.


Yesterday we had a tour of much of the inside by General Manager/Partner Barry Eagle and we're all excited that this new upscale facility is opening in Leland, especially since it's opening right next door!

In the photo below some of our agents tour the lobby, where they're still putting things in place. The lobby will include a business center, breakfast service area with inside and courtyard seating, a small necessities store (they call it a "pantry") and of course the registration/check in desk.

In addition to the indoor pool (oops, need to go back to get a photo), there's an adjacent fitness center with cardio machines and weights - the fitness center has a view of the pool, I guess for inspiration.

All rooms in the Magnolia Greens Comfort Suites are suites. In the photo below Barry Eagle (you won't see him in jeans after the hotel opens) shows one of the two two-bedroom suites in the 106-room hotel to our Broker in Charge Denise Kinney.

Here's a shot of the southwestern side of the hotel, with the outdoor breakfast area just beyond that palm tree.

For more information or reservations, go to http://www.comfortsuitesmagnoliagreens.com/. If you're in the area, the North Brunwick Chamber of Commerce will be having a ribbon-cutting at the hotel at 11:30AM, so stop by.

Oh yeah, and after you check out the hotel, you and I can walk across the parking lot to my real estate office and you can buy a couple houses. Or, if you already own a house, you could move into the hotel permanently and I'll sell your house for you!

This just in Friday - added a video of General Manager Barry Eagle:

Luau in the Land of Abundance - Noontime at Signature's Sea Brooke in Leland, NC

Well, it was a hot day today in Southeastern North Carolina - perfect for a Signature Homes' Luau in LA at their environmentally-designed SeaBrooke development in Leland.

Getting ready for the event.

This SeaBrooke model was a Parade of Homes Bronze Award Winner.

The party Luau theme was promoted with vigor and hilarity by Christy and Greg Beck.

Music for the event was provided by the Pantastic Steel Band.

Catering by Charles Davis himself of Saw Mill Catering. Good, good stuff - my fav was the Caribbean style chicken.

As you can see from the following four photos, area REALTORs showed up in force.

On-site agent Laura Heal hosted the event, along with developer/builders Robin and Deans Hackney.

Obviously some of the agents attending the event came in the spirit of the event. This happy dancer is Mike Walton of Network Real Estate.

Area photographer Wendy Hunt of NBM Magazine was on hand to record the festivities.

Those who dared posed behind this cutout.

Adults had a lot of fun at the Luau in LA. Kids who live in SeaBrooke will have fun on this cool playscape.

Social Media Test for Selling two Great New Listings in Brunswick Forest - Come to Open Houses to Win Golf, Beer, Food or Concert Tix!

I'm generally an energetic guy but today I'm practically tripping over myself as I work on this blog post.

I have two fantastic new listings in the esteemed Jefferson Landing section of Brunswick Forest and I'm pulling out all the stops to get as many people to see these great houses as we can during the month of June. Because these two existing homes are such super deals, I am confident they will go under contract during the first few weeks but I want everyone who's interested to have a chance to check them out.

Here's the quick version: come to open houses every Saturday and Sunday during June from 1-4PM. Tour both homes, fill out comment sheets, and you'll be entered for drawings for a prize of your choice for each home for each weekend day. Yes, if you come every weekend day during June, you could theoretically win 16 times.

The drawing prize choices are:

1. A round of golf with cart use at Magnolia Greens Golf Plantation (value $30-$45)
2. A gift certificate to Front Street Brewery (value $35)
3. A gift certificate to Antonios Pizza and Pasta Restaurant (value $35)
4. Tickets to The Buckinghams concert June 20th - either 1 VIP Ticket (value $45) or 2 general admission tickets ($50 value)


So here's some general information. Both homes were built in 2007 and each one has plenty of inside and outside living spaces. They're both brick homes with open floor plans, great kitchens with granite counter tops, etc., three bedrooms, two and a half or three full baths, home offices, two car garages, and water view.

Both homes are priced significantly below new construction. And yes, you can still have one of these homes built new, but it will cost more, take 4-6 months, and you won't necessarily know what the rest of the neighborhood will look like. And if you were to build either of these homes on a lake or pond? - Whoa! The price would be way higher!

I won't go into all the details of each house in this post, but here is the link to my Cape Fear area listings page blog where you can see all my listings. Each house also has its own blog - the links for which are below.

Jefferson Landing Brunswick Forest - 2178 Talmadge Drive, Leland, NC 28451. 3 bedrooms, 3 full baths, FROG, office, screened porch, lake front, 2,436 heated and cooled square feet. MLS# 433951. $364,500. Blog: http://www.2178TalmadgeDrive.blogspot.com

Jefferson Landing Brunswick Forest - 1202 Lillibridge Drive, Leland, NC 28451. 3 bedrooms, 2 full and one half bath, office, caged lanai, fenced back yard, 2306 heated and cooled square feet. MLS# 433958. $384,500. Blog: http://www.1202LillibridgeDrive.blogspot.com

OK, so these are two awesome houses. But how is this a social media experiment? Well, here's the 411 on that. We are going to track how people who come to our 16 open houses in June heard about them. We will

- advertise the open houses in the Star News on the weekend days of the open houses,

- we'll also have the open houses on all the major and even some of the minor real estate web sites, and

- I'm also going to list/promote the houses on my blogs (like here), on the 5 area social media sites, and on the hottest social media applications - including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and MySpace.

So we'll have all kinds of coverage and promotion.

It will be very interesting to see which form or forms of advertising/promotion bring the most people.

But you don't need to be concerned about that (unless you're interested and if so let me know and at the end of the month I'll send you the stats). I'd love it if you focus on the houses (the owners would, too), but even if you just want chances to win a round of golf, dinner at Wilmington's premier micro brewery, dinner at Leland's focal local Italian restaurant, or concert tickets to an awesome group, The Buckinghams on June 20th, come check out the houses, every Saturday and Sunday during June from 1-4PM.

Grayson Park REALTOR luncheon in Leland, NC

This week I took at trip to Grayson Park in Leland, North Carolina to a REALTOR luncheon. Grayson Park is a community of several neighborhoods, all built by Stevens Fine Homes of Wilmington.

The building below is the gorgeous community clubhouse, behind which is a super pool and tennis courts.


The photo below is me trying to be artistic with flowers, nice wooden doors, and white rocking chairs. This shot also was taken in front of the clubhouse.

On-site agents for Grayson Park at Stan Powell and Cynthia Rehberg. In the video clip below Cynthia says hello.



We were very pleased to discover that Personal Chef and old friend Lori Eaton of Eaton at Home was catering the event. Good stuff. Lori is a much celebrated local chef and caterer and has also written extensively about cooking.

I even talked Lori into saying a few words for the camera:

I'd be honored to show you around Grayson Park, other Stevens Fine Homes neighborhoods in the area, or even other new home communities in the greater Leland area. Call me anytime at (910) 297-8753 or e-mail brucebrown@seacoastrealty.com .

Brunswick Forest Floridian Homes by Premier Builders in Leland, NC

Yesterday Marge and I attended a brokers' event at the Floridian home models in Brunswick Forest in Leland, North Carolina.

These one-story homes have been extremely successful for Premier Builders and the most popular Captiva model was the one in which the event was hosted (Yes, Alfred, you can read that as food, drink, and music.).








Here's the Brunswick Forest Sales Director Jerry Helms:


I would be honored to give you a tour of Brunswick Forest and even more excited to represent you as a Buyer's Agent, showing you all the neighborhoods within Brunswick Forest or other fine neighborhoods in Leland, North Carolina. Just call my cell phone (910) 297-8753 or e-mail me at brucebrown@seacoastrealty.com any time.