http://irenakohler.com/blog/archive_201507/sort_entrydatetime-desc/ Work up an appetite this weekend visiting some of our open houses then find a food truck! The food truck scene in Wilmington has grown exponentially in the past few years. Our family loves to do a good food truck hunt! The best way to love where you live is to explore it. Here are a few of our favorite conquests! Catch - Sliders, street tacos, and more filled with locally caught yumminess. There is a reason that the movie studios loves Catch so much. It is divine. This is by far one of the best road restaurants out there!! http://www.catchthefoodtruck.com/home#menuImage via WECTPoor Piggy’s BBQ - Specializing in North Carolina BBQ, and you know how seriously we take our BBQ here! Just like strolling into your favorite sit down BBQ joint, Poor Piggy’s serves up the sandwich or plate options (with hushpuppies!!!). http://www.poorpiggys.com/#! Image Vis Poor Piggy’s Facebook PageA&M’s Red Food Truck - If you are out exploring and hit a hankering for brunch food, I would highly suggest that you hunt down this truck! Chicken and Waffle sliders....need I say more? Fresh fruit, crepes, breakfast casseroles?!!?! What?! I know. https://www.facebook.com/AandmsrftImage via A&Ms Red Food Truck Facebook PageFunky Fresh Food Truck - Funky and Fresh! The name says it all. This truck serves up FRESH! The menu may include corn fritters, snapper, mac-and-cheese bites! You are free to go on your search now! https://www.facebook.com/funkyfreshfoodtruckSoulful Twist - Need some comfort food? This is the truck that you need to find. Cozy on up with fried okra, cornbread fritters, and so much more made from the heart. Dare I say that it competes with my Mama’s food! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Soulful-Twist/1397800603835622?fref=tsAnyone crazy enough (and I mean this in the best possible way) to operate a food truck may find it cumbersome to commit to just one menu. I can guarantee you though, that you should trust their menu decisions! Go. Explore your city. Support your neighbors, and fill your belly in the process!!I know that with so many great chefs taking to the road I have missed quite a few. Who should we hunt next? Tell me what your favorite food truck is! https://www.facebook.com/seacoastrealty**After writing this post, I stumbled across this story in the Huffington Post. I love a good read on people doing extraordinary things. Have a look! http://huff.to/1JAQMOl http://irenakohler.com/blog/1306/tracking-down-the-food-trucks!!!/ Fri, 24 Jul 2015 12:00:00 -0500  One of the greatest things about living in Coastal NC is the abundance of unique weekend events. Whether you have visitors from out of town and want to show them a good time, or you are looking to explore your hometown you have lots of options for this weekend. Here are 10 of the activities going on this weekend that are worth a look! Explore! #lovewhereyoulive1. Nurishment Class: Homemade CondimentsLearn to make all of the condiments that you need for a summer cook-out. When you are done, grab a bite and shop for your party supplies!http://bit.ly/1I6sqztTidal Creek2. Beach Reads Book Sale at the Northeast Regional LibraryPick-up some good beach reads for the second half of summer! Books are only $0.50!!http://bit.ly/1JkDBkmNHC Public Library, Northeast 3. Carolina Beach and Riverwalk Farmers MarketsSpend the morning strolling around in the beautiful sunshine! Show your home some summer lovin’ by bringing home fresh flowers!http://bit.ly/1oOntA2http://bit.ly/1f83vQACarolina Beach / Downtown Wilmington4. Historical Southport Bike TourGet outside, get active, and gain some knowledge about historical Southport. Southport offers up tons of unique shopping and dining experiences when you are done! See why they are America’s Happiest Seaside Town!http://bit.ly/1CJHAdjSouthport5. Cornhole Tournament Benefiting Brandon BaileyDo you have what it takes to sink the bean bagjQuery15206205183092970401_1437072070443? Then you might want to head out to Sneads Ferry to show-off your skills, win a prize, and support Brandon’s fight against Lymphoma. Triple win!http://bit.ly/1fMJ8cDSneads Ferry 6. Pro-Am Surf FestWatch some of the greatest surfers in the world compete at one of the largest surfing competitions on the East Coast! Sun, salt, and surfing sounds like the perfect beach weekend!http://bit.ly/1K9tNN6Wrightsville Beach7. Yoga Fest 2015 : Summer of Hope FundraiserGet your mind and body relaxed and ready to face the work week! The best part? Proceeds will benefit Homes of Hope Orphanages in India! Feel good, do good, be good!http://bit.ly/1CG8x1LWilmington Yoga Center8. Family Park Days “ Bubble Bash”Who doesn’t love blowing bubbles in the warm sunshinejQuery1520807116371113807_1437072282760 Meet your neighbors while chasing bubbles. Paint with bubbles and make your own bubble wand! And, did I mention it is freejQuery152021012896252796054_1437073018743?http://bit.ly/1I69AdsPhillips Park (Jacksonville)9. US Coast Guard One-Day Safety CourseLiving near the water necessitates that you know how to be safe on or when operating a boat. This one day course is designed to get you boating ready. One day inside, is worth a whole summer of safety!http://www.southport-oakisland.com/index.php/event/3270/uscoastguardonedaysafetycourseOak Island / Southport10. Summer Pop-up Starry Nights (other themes throughout the month)Spend time with your family cooling off at the Cape Fear museum participating in various interactive experiences! This is the perfect way to learn about the people, places, and things that create our unique region. This week learn about the constellations in the summer sky!http://bit.ly/1gDYUXf Cape Fear Museum / Wilmington***Bonus Activity! Coast in and Win!!***Visit some the beautiful homes listed by Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage and enter to win $500! Winning could fund a lot of weekend adventures! For a list of our open houses visithttp://bit.ly/JVRxuj http://irenakohler.com/blog/1307/10-awesome-things-to-do-this-weekend!-get-out-and-explore!!!/ Thu, 16 Jul 2015 12:00:00 -0500  I was not as smiley as this woman on the side of our UHaulAfter packing every square inch of our home, minus the living room curtains (you can read more about this in last week’s blog) we were ready to scrub. My family and I had loved our home and we wanted the new buyers to walk in and love it too. Luckily, I had the help of my super awesome parents. Everyday for the last week in my home, my mother and I would drop my kids off at a drop-in daycare. We would clean the inside of the house while my father worked on the outside. We had so much stuff crammed into every available space that no less than 10 trips were made to local charities to make donations.The week was looooong. I had prepared myself to cry from sun up to sun down. I had previously imagined that each piece of artwork coming off the wall, and each memory inducing wall scrape touched up, and each totally empty room would result in an ocean of tears. This was not the case!  The massive amount of work that it took to get the house completely empty and clean made me ready to get out.Little things like this set the tears flowing!The tear-free me lasted until the morning of closing. I woke up early and attempted to make a video of each room so that our kids would be able to remember what the house was like when they were small. This was when the floodgates opened. I could remember memories so clearly in that empty house. I remembered every holiday photo, every scraped knee, and every birthday party. I knew that the new owners would be walking into the house, their house, in just a few short hours. With a couple of deep breaths and spoken thank-yous to the house, I slipped a bottle of champagne into the fridge, and walked out for the last time.Oftentimes (almost everytime) buyers have the chance to do one final walk-through of the home. This usually takes place on the morning of the closing. I was informed by my realtor that I could be there for the walk-through or not. I chose not to attend. I knew that I would be sad seeing someone critique or make plans of changing what had been mine for so many years. I also wanted the new buyers to be relaxed and excited. I wanted them to “bond” with their new home.Driving out of our neighborhood was rough, but somewhere between the neighborhood and the lawyer’s office I had made peace with moving out. We did not see the buyers at the closing table. It is my understanding that in some cases the buyers and sellers are at the same table and literally hand over the keys after signing all of the legal paperwork. My appointment to sign was an hour before the buyers’ appointment. The actual closing was pretty anti-climatic. My agent sat beside me and a lawyer sat in front of me. It was so nice to have the experienced eyes of my agent reviewing everything that the lawyer slid across the table. It was important too, because we found a $200 mistake! Papers were re-done, resigned, and before I knew it my house was no longer mine. The “buyers” were no longer the buyers, but were the “owners.” New beginnings, here we come!Every hardship and minute of work seemed to vanish. The memories stayed. And, in the second that I signed my name on the last of what felt like 1000 pages, my family and I became homeless! The relief of selling our home has morphed into panic again as we search for a new house to make a home. We are in a constant state of looking, number-crunching, racing to open houses! Stay tuned for the upcoming series “What to Expect When Buying a Home”.Did you feel relief, sadness, pure joy when officially selling your home? Do you have advice for me on buying? Please do-tell! https://www.facebook.com/seacoastrealtyIf you are looking for guidance in the home buying/selling process: http://www.seacoastrealty.com/ http://irenakohler.com/blog/1308/what-to-expect-when-selling-your-home:-part-six-the-closing/ Mon, 13 Jul 2015 12:00:00 -0500  Pay close attention to these curtains, and read on. In my last blog post, I talked about the highs, and lows, and long nights of negotiating and accepting an offer. It is an exciting time, but don’t pop that cork (like we did) just yet. Little did my husband and I know, there would be many more hurdles to jump before the whole home selling process was over.The offer that we accepted put us walking away with a couple thousand dollars. We knew that we would not walk away with lots of money, as we bought our home in the height of the housing market, and although recovering, it was not quite back to the way it had been. We were selling due to a job move, so we were okay with walking away with nothing. The reason that we negotiated our bottom-line at a couple thousand dollars above our break-even point, was so that after the buyers had their inspection and submitted their repair request we would have the money to fix anything necessary. We will talk about that list a little later!In the Offer to Purchase that we signed, the buyers put down “earnest money.” This is money that shows that they are committed, and if the transaction goes through will go toward their down payment. This gave us peace of mind and let us know that if the deal fell through by some fault of the buyer we would be compensated for the time that the house was off the market. The Offer also had a due diligence period of three weeks. This time lets the buyer schedule all necessary inspections, appraisals, etc. Some of these inspections were just things that the buyer wanted to check out, and some were necessary for the bank to approve their loan. This three weeks ended up being almost as hectic as the house showing period. Because we wanted the house to make good impressions we continued to clean, tweak, and improve it. Not only were we doing the aforementioned things, but we were also packing. We were moving whether this deal went through or not, so packing could not wait. There was SO MUCH STUFF!Renting a POD was one of the best decisions we made. It gave a us a place to put ALL THAT STUFF without making too much of a mess inside the house.With each inspection (home inspection, pest inspection, roof inspection, inspection of the heating and air unit) came new worries that the buyer might not like what they were hearing. Our stress levels went each time an inspector scheduled a visit. I am sure that the buyer was feeling this same stress and probably second guessing their offer the whole way through.The day that due diligence was to end the buyer’s agent asked for a due diligence extension... We were floored. Our agent was in constant contact with the buyer’s agent. We were assured that the buyer was no trying to back out, but could not get the all of the inspections that they needed in time. They wanted to extend 3 days. We very reluctantly agreed. One last inspection and the due diligence was ending (at 5pm). We were counting hours.At 4pm we received the Repairs Request. This is where the deal almost fell apart. Are you stressed out yet? We were!Having bought and sold houses before, my husband and I both totally expected that there would be a list of things both “biggish” and small that the buyer would ask us to fix. I was expecting things like repair of a crack in the moulding, fixing the light fixture in the bedroom, replacing the back door, etc. What we got went way beyond our wildest dreams!The repairs report came, and the buyer asked for a new roof, new heat/air unit, gas logs in the fireplace to be serviced, and the list went on and on. In case you missed it, yes I did say a new roof! The estimation for a new roof was $8,000. The estimate for a new heat/air unit was also $8,000. I freaked out! The were asking for well over $20,000 in repairs.It was time for my agent’s ninja negotiating skills to be exercised. After much sweating and number crunching my husband and I knew that the couple of thousand dollars that we were going to walk away with was all that we could offer. We had our agent call the buyer’s agent and offer $2000 toward closing, we would service the gas logs, and we would service the heat/air unit. There was nothing else that we could offer. We waited, and tried to figure out what we would do with the house when the deal fell through.We had a response from the buyer within an hour. They would take our offer if we would throw in the living room curtains. It all came down to curtains.The deal was on, we were back to packing, and it finally felt like we were in the home stretch. Have you gotten close to a deal and then it fell through? Or, did you sell a home and have a buyer ask for something totally unexpected? Tell me about it on our Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/seacoastrealtyDo you need a ninja negotiator? Find an agent on our websitehttp://www.seacoastrealty.com/ http://irenakohler.com/blog/1309/what-to-expect-when-selling-your-house:-part-5-life-after-the-offer/ Fri, 03 Jul 2015 12:00:00 -0500