Karen Chevrotee Ribbon-Cutting November 23, 2009

The group gathered early for today's North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting at the NBCC offices for Karen Chevrotee's Wilmington Realty South.

In the photo below are Pastor Jay Merritt, photographer Bob Baer, Reator Brenda Bozeman, NBCC Executive Director Terry Grillo (back to camera), and Connie Reeves of Azalea Plaza.

While the others were chatting in the lobby Karen was in the reception room cutting the coffee cake.

Now you know why we call him "Digital Bob". Check out Bob Baer with his iphone.

NBM and SBM magazines' publisher Justin Williams literally rolled in with Ava Grace. That's SendOutCards Marge Brown and PrePaid Legal's Monica Clark in the background.

Brenda moved in so she and Ava Grace could have a close look at each other.


NBCC board member Dana Fisher of Bradford Mortgage came in dressed for a winter fashion show.

NBCC board member Connie Reeves, who's prepping for her annual role as Mrs. Claus.

The group gathered outside for the ribbon-cutting.

It may look like Bob was standing on my car windshield, but he wasn't, he's actually on a small stepladder, but I liked this shot anyway. Maybe I should call him "Hood Ornament Bob".

A tighter, more formal shot just before the cut.

And here's the dramatic moment!

Welcome, Karen, we're glad to you as part of the growing, active North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce.

Bruce's Daily Wilmington Area Update 01-15-09

Welcome, This is my first post in a new format, a daily update that combines elements I've created, posted, or found. This format is a work in progress, comments apprciated. - Bruce

Weather: Good morning Wilmington&Leland&Hampstead. Brrr Chilly today, esp in AM, but not quite as chilly as yesterday AM. Sunny today, high in upper 40s.

Quote of the day: "Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." - Cherokee

Arts and Cultural Events Calendar: Creative Wilmington - Daily Events

Had a great day yesterday:
- had a super BNI networking meeting,
- saw houses with great real estate buyer clients from D.C. who are moving to Leland, NC to telecommute,
- had a first house listing meeting with some good friends: very nice folks, super house and yard in Magnolia Greens
- powerful Mastermind call in the evening,
- finally Marge and I then caught a bit of American Idol tryouts - Twittering and Facebooking with a few friends about contestants and judges.
- Oh, and I had some more of Marge's over the top awesome squash soup! (e-mail me for the recipe)

Today I'm looking forward to:
- catching up on research and essential paperwork for clients,
- a Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty Leland office meeting at The Willows,
- meeting with good buddy Angela Batchelor to talk about the Pointe South communities Compass Pointe and Waterford of the Carolinas.
- And then a quiet working evening at home . . . maybe.

Oh yeah, and here's yesterday's photo from Daily Mugshot:

If you want the real news from our area, sign up for a free online subscription to the StarNewsOnline edition.

North Brunswick County Spotlight! Literally and Figuratively.

January is North Brunswick County month for WWAY-TV3's Cape Fear Pride promotion. Each Friday in the month WWAY-TV3 will broadcast live from a different location in our area. In conjunction with the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce, these events will also be Business After Hours occasions for NBCC - what that means for you (and us) is food and a (possibly) drink and a chance to meet and mingle with other business professionals.

So last Friday was the first BAH in this month's format, held at the All Souls Episcopal Church in Northwest. A good representative group from the NBCC was in attendance at the church during the filming. We didn't have a lot of time for talking in the beginning, or at least not constantly, since the WWAY-TV3 production crew and talent (the on-air folks) were busy doing their thing. We also didn't talk much when the Northwest Community Choir sang. These folks are from four different churches in Northwest. They've been getting together for years whenever the call goes out for the Community Choir. And lemme tell ya, they are good! The WWAY-TV3 folks mixed in a bit with them and that was fun, but the choir wasn't phased and kept on doing their thing.

When we first arrived the TV crew was still setting up.

Soon the on-air personalities took over for their live spots. Including news (below)

and the weather lady (in the red sweater below)


After 6:30, when the broadcasting was over, we put on our coats and went next door for food and fellowship.

A good time was had by all. Thanks Northwest, thanks, WWAY-TV3, and thanks to the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce.

Why I Think You Should Buy a New Home in Leland, NC

I'll admit right off that I'm passionately biased in favor of living in Leland, North Carolina. North Carolina, specifically the southeastern coastal area, is an increasingly popular U.S. destination address across diverse population segments for obvious reasons:

• year-round temperate climate
• outdoor sports and lifestyle
• 100s of miles of accessible beaches with warm water (especially compared to New England and California)
• incredibly rich marine life
• many historic sites and preserved residential historic districts
• strong higher education opportunities - university, colleges, and community colleges
• cultural depth and diversity
• a long tradition of support for music, theater, and the arts
• culinary delights in 1,100+ restaurants and delicious regional dishes
• a variety of shopping destinations
• many regional museums, parks, exhibits, and other attractions
• a growing job market with emphasis on technology-based industries
• an extensive hospital and health care system
• active environmental, ecological, historic, and preservation interests
• a responsible, foreward-thinking, "can-do" attitude toward future development
• strong citizen participation in local and regional government
• a multitude of local and regional festivals and celebrations
• a tradition of support and encouragement for entrepreneurs and small business owners
• courteous, friendly people

The greater Wilmington area has all the above and more. Residential and commercial development are proceeding regardless of the tempo and development cycles in other part of the United States. It's clear that people want to move here and are moving here in ever-greater numbers.

While our whole region is growing and developing, the northern section of Brunswick County centered around Leland, just across the Cape Fear River from Wilmington, is the fastest-growing and in many ways the most attractive area of southeastern North Carolina.

Why are so many people moving to Leland and adjacent towns in northern Brunswick County? The reasons are many, varied, and clear:

• Great new home selections in many fine new developments as well as super buys on existing homes
• New homes available in a wide range of prices, from the low $100s to over $600,000.
• Leland has a fast-growing commercial and retail corridor with shopping, dining, and entertainment facilities increasing monthly. Four new hotels are currently under construction.
• Close proximity to downtown Wilmington's historic riverfront, restaurants, shopping, theater, and clubs.
• Easy access to major highways
• An enthusiastic populace that welcomes others who want to participate in the excitement of growing a new community - it's a chance to be a pioneer (but with municipal water and sewer already installed, plus quick access to hospitals, shopping, beaches, and golf)
• Because until fairly land in Leland was much less expensive than on the eastern side of the Cape Fear River - your real estate dollar goes much further in Leland.

If you're interested in other areas in and around Wilmington I'm very happy to help you and point you in the right directions. In the five+ years my wife have been here I've developed close relationships with other professional REALTORs from Southport to Jacksonville and as far west as Burgaw - I've worked successfully with those folks to help people find their dream homes for primary residences or second homes in the Cape Fear area.

I have primary contact relationships with REALTORs in Southport, Bolivia, Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, Wrightsville Beach, Hampstead, Holly Ridge, Surf City, Topsail Island, Jacksonville, Rocky Point, and Burgaw. I'd be delighted to introduce you to my colleagues and help you get started with them.

If you're interested in Leland and the immediately surrounding towns in northern Brunswick County, however, I'd be delighted and honored to work with you to find the very best property to meet your needs.

I realize not everyone looks for a home in the same way. Different people use different processes for making this very important decision. However you prefer to work, I'm ready and able to provide:

• Executive summary-level information so you can make your decision independently based on your parameters
• Hot points and market trend info so you can make the best investment in a home and also have the most fun
• Support and guided touring of local communities and homes, introducing you to people who live in all areas so you can see who your new friends and neighbors will be
• Extensive economic and regional background data for your careful and thorough analysis.

I'm ready, willing, and certainly able to help you find the best house to call your new home.

Visiting Compass Pointe in Leland, NC - Ready to Sell!

Wow, the opening screen on the video below is pretty scary looking - to me anyway. We can't quite figure why it happened. Don't worry, though, as soon as you click the "play" icon the odd-looking Bruce with the half-closed eyes goes away.

Today I got to tour Compass Pointe in Leland, NC. Compass Pointe is one of Leland's newest developments and is being built and marketed by the same developers produced Waterford of the Carolinas, Wedgewood, and Palmetto Creek. I toured the property with Angela Batchelor, the marketing liaison and Todd Garrett, one of the lead on-site sales folks.

Compass Pointe is located just off Routes 74-76 west of Leland, just past the Leland campus of Brunswick Community College. To put it in a regional perspective, Compass Pointe's main entrance, also called the East Entrance, is 9.2 miles from the 3rd Avenue light in Wilmington, just after you get off the Cape Fear River Bridge.

No one lives in Compass Pointe yet, so you still have a chance to be the first official resident. Lots have been sold and several homes are under contract, with most expecting to move in in 1-3 years. A lot of work has been accomplished on the infrastructure of the community and in the first phases streets, landscaping, and street lights are in - awaiting only blacktop to be finished, as can be seen in the photo below.

The model home, built by Logan Builders, is nearing completion, with actual occupancy by the on-site sales staff expected in March or April.

There will be a wide range of amenities in Compass Pointe, including multiple pools, tennis courts, pavillions, and fitness centers. One interesting feature will be the Beach - why move to coastal North Carolina if you can't have your own beach, right? The shot below shows work in progress on the beach adjacent to one of the communities larger ponds.

In many places you can see homesites that are ready to build on, but in others it's clear that a lot of heavy lifting is still going on. The two photos below, taken in the area where first phase patio homes and townhomes will be built, show the busy work taking place.

Compass Pointe will be a golf course community, with 27 holes in all. The pro shop will have wide porches and viewing areas and will also have a grill and an event room.

Much of the golf course has been laid out so potential property owners can see what their eventual views will be. The initial course opening won't be until 2011 or 2012.

One golf feature that will be unique to the area, is an extensive golf practice area. With multiple target greens, multiple tee boxes, and lots of putting practice areas.

I toured Compass Pointe with fellow agent Ophard Willis and we were both pleased and surprised to see the extent of the existing development. This neighborhood is ready to sell.

Angela and Todd are in the photo above, at the West Entrance of Compass Pointe. That entrance will lead initially to an area of village-style retail and specialty shops that will be accessible to the public but also very convenient for residents of the community.

I have a lot more information about Compass Pointe that I will be posting on my real estate blog, but wanted to share these initial photos and impressions with you now.

Using Blogs to Market Leland NC New Home Developments

This morning Marge and I met with Angie Batchelor of Pointe South Realty at the Port City Java on N. Front Street in Wilmington (there is a reason to mention the address, see below).

Angie is a good friend and our conversation covered many topics, but we primarily focused on issues about and around marketing new home communities, particularly in the Wilmington and Leland, NC region. Pointe South Realty is the marketing and sales group for Waterford of the Carolinas, Compass Pointe, and Palmetto Pointe.

A topic of mutual interest was how to most effectively use blogs with real estate. Good stuff and we're going to explore it much more aggressively in 2009. My personal interest is creating and maintaining an updated database of all new home communities in and around Leland for easy comparison by folks interested in moving to southeastern North Carolina.

The reason I mentioned the particular PCJ we went to is that I got a parking ticket. I was in a legal spot, and the time had NOT run out when I went to my car, but I was parked in the wrong direction. I never knew that was not allowed. So if you, too, are used to Front Street being a one way street (it's now two-way) and think that just because the meters are all placed at the northern end of the parking spaces that you can park facing north even on the left side of the street - that would be a big NO. It cost me $15 to learn that lesson, so I hope you don't have to pay for the same lesson.

My Last Blog Post . . . of 2008

Wow, what a year it has been! I'm filled with gratitude and appreciation for our family, our friends, our co-workers, and for all the new folks Marge and I have met during the year. A lot of great stuff happened this year and I'm looking forward to 2009, perhaps more than any other year in recent memory.

I've not posted for a few days because we made a marathon (16 hour) drive back from New England on Saturday (amid fog, rain, a few minor accidents, and post-Christmas shopping traffic). The stretch from mid New Jersey through Fredericksburg, Virginia was, as usual, super practice for video game players.

After we got back to North Carolina we spent Sunday doing approximately nothing at all and then both Monday and Tuesday I was worked with real estate clients from out of state - appropriately, I guess, one couple from New Jersey and a family from Virginia. It's great to have buyers actively looking for new homes in Leland, where we live and where I work as an active residential Realtor helping people buy and sell homes.

I do have a few more photos to post of our trip to New England for the Christmas holiday. On Friday Marge and I spent a great afternoon visiting my sister Nancy Duetzmann and her husband Karl. Our niece Katie was working so we didn't see her, but we did get to hang out with our nephew Michael, our other nephew Stephen, who, along with his wife Jenna and son Evan introduced us to the newest edition to their family, 7-week old Jacob, and we also met Katie's boyfriend Eric.

That's Jacob in the photo below. As you can see, he wasn't overly caught up in the moment.

Nancy and Karl have two grandchildren now. Jacob's older brother Evan is in Nancy's lap in the photo below. Pastor Karl, who was doing the cooking, also stood still for just a second for this picture.

When we all sat down together (Jacob was chilling in his seat elsewhere), we had a great meal. As you can see in the background, there certainly was snow around. That white stuff you can see through the windows was NOT PhotoShop'd in.

After visiting the Duetzmann's in Ansonia we scooted back up to West Hartford to meet with our oldest friends, Irene and Ray Smith. Well, it's not really that they're old (actually Ray is pretty old), but we've been friends with them for 39 years. In the photo below Ray was leaning against Irene for balance and support after rapid ingestion of waay too much pizza.

Tonight we're going to a New Year's Eve party in Brunswick Forest and I'm looking forward to some serious dancing. Tomorrow, I believe, I'm meeting with another Brunswick Forest resident to interview him and his wife about their car (a 2006 Corvette) and to take some photos. The story will be in Forest View, the new community magazine for Brunswick Forest.

So, all in all, 2008 was another great year for us. I hope it was a good one for you, too. See you next year. Lots of plans and ideas.

Sea Brooke by Signature Homes of Wilmington

Yesterday the Leland office of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty had their monthly community meeting at a brand new neighborhood off Old Lanvale Road in Leland. Sea Brooke is a Signature Homes community (meaning its being developed AND built by Signature Homes of Wilmington). A guiding feature of Signature Homes is that they build all-green homes.

It's expected that this neighborhood will be several years in development and will include approximately 500 homes total, including townhomes, patio homes, village homes (like the model below), and custom homes.

A good number of the Leland office staff and agents were at the Sea Brooke meeting, where we had a fine lunch and a short meeting before focusing on the Sea Brooke community and two existing model homes.

As you can see in the photo below, the village home model is nicely decorated and appointed.

One of my personal favorite features for this model was a multi-area loft on the second floor. The photo below doesn' t do it justice, but this loft, located between three bedrooms and a full bath (the master bedrooom and bath are on the first floor), is a great place for kids and family to play, do homework, and hang out.

Robin Hackney and her husband Deans own Signature Homes. Other current neighborhoods include FieldStone near Jacksonville and Stones Edge and Henderson Parke in Wilmington.

In the photo below on-site agent Laura Heal, Robin Hackney, and on-site agent Jamie Kline discuss Sea Brooke's plans with our Leland office.

A short walk from the village home area, the first patio homes at Sea Brooke are now up.

To see the featured models, for more information about Sea Brooke or other Leland neighborhooods, please call me at (910) 297-8753 or e-mail me at brucebrown@seacoastrealty.com. I'd be honored to assist you.

Tree Trimming Party

Lest anyone get the impression that all I do is go to parties and eat, please let me assure you that we have other, serious pursuits. Selling real estate is my profession, one which I thoroughly enjoy. I also manage a very successful office of similarly dedicated real estate professionals, the Leland office of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty.

Oh yeah, and WE ALL like to party.

So, with that out of the way. Here's what we did today. Even though we had our Christmas party Saturday night, we still needed to trim our office tree. So today was the day. To start it all off, our official first ornament installer was none other than the esteeemed Peter David.


As soon as Peter hung that first bulb we all participated. Most of us were fairly proficient and the job was proceeding very well. Others needed a bit of guidance. Howard Bailey, for example, in the photo below, kept asking people what he should do with his, um, ornaments.

Sea Coast Leads Manager Denise Kinney, who with Office Manager Kari Essig organized the tree trimming unveiled the inevitable food. Howard looked on, still trying to figure out what was going on.

Kari Essig, pictured below, told us to stop already with the extra ornaments - the tree was officially trimmed!

Dessert cook extraordinaire Jean Costello tried to explain to Craig Spafford the essence of recipe creation. Craig was just trying to figure out if he need a fork or if he could eat the cake with his fingers.

We had so much sugary, great food we ran around inviting office neighbors to come partake and many did, including insurance people, a massage therapist, a water saleswoman, and a sports trainer.

We still had extra desserts, however, so I took a couple of plates to the Magnolia Greens new homes sales office, where front desk reindeer Jenny Defeo (who is also newly married, by the way), was very happy to receive them.

Yep, another great day at Sea Coast Realty's Leland office.

Hotel Status Update Report

Just took this photo this morning of the Comfort Suites Hotel coming out of the ground next to our Leland real estate office. Scheduled to open in May 2009, the three-story, 106-room upscale, all-suites hotel will be the first to open of four hotels coming up in the immediate area. No economic slowdown here, thank you.

Holiday Oyster Roast at Brunswick Forest

Anytime two big white tents are set up in front of the Brunswick Forest Welcome Center you can pretty much count on a party going on. In this case on Sunday, December 7th, it was a Holiday Oyster Roast - that's the way we do it in North Carolina because, after all, December is an "r" month so it's oyster-eatin' time!

More than 500 residents and guests RSVP'd for the event and it sure seemed like most of them showed up, even though the weather was uncharacteristically chilly. So we put on our woolies and our fleece and lined up to eat!

The Welcome Center Sales staff was on hand to serve food and generally make everyone feel, well, welcome!

Inside the two tents, with condiments, napkins, and shell buckets on hand, guests used complimentary oyster shuckers to open the tasty mollusks as well as gift hand towels to towel our hands. Below Carl Antos shows how it's done.

A disc jockey was on hand for lively continuous music but the non-food highlight of the celebration was a surprise visit by Santa and Mrs. Claus who came to welcome the children and their families.

The celebration was a good time for all and much appreciated. Brunswick Forest Welcome Center - you keep on throwing parties and we'll keep on coming. Thanks!

Oh, yes, and if you're reading this and wondering what it might be like to live in Brunswick Forest, please do give me a call at 910-297-8753 or e-mail me at brucerbrown@yahoo.com - I'd be honored to be your buyer's agent and help you learn all about this fine community.