http://irenakohler.com/blog/archive_201604/sort_entrydatetime-desc/ Beautiful Wilmington, NC, was originally settled on the Cape Fear River – but it’s mere minutes away from the Atlantic Ocean and three impressive area beaches. The city itself features one of the largest historic districts in the country, a thriving downtown and cultural/art district and an increasing population due to the excellent weather, local ambience and very affordable cost of living.Whether looking for a laid-back, yet cultural- and activity-rich place to retire or raise a growing family, the greater Wilmington area offers a wide range of home rentals that will fit any lifestyle and any wallet. With an area population of approximately 116,000 and growing, Wilmington nevertheless offers excellent housing options at reasonable rates. In order to provide you with the best information about how affordable Wilmington is, we looked at housing costs in several other comparable cities along the East Coast. Downtown WilmingtonWilmington's Downtown offers amenities that makes urban living a far more pleasant experience than other cities with similar economic demographics. An easy stroll in any direction brings residents to hundreds of shops, restaurants, salons and pubs that make Downtown a vibrant commercial center.  Nearby arts and cultural facilities, such as the Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts, the Cape Fear Museum, public parks, gardens and countless other privately-owned art galleries and museums provide great access to a range of entertainment options. Wilmington also hosts dozens of diverse community festivals and events throughout the year, so local residents enjoy a nearly constant opportunity to participate in any or all of these activities.Housing within the Downtown area is varied and eclectic – from newer townhouse and apartment communities featuring all the amenities to beautifully updated loft-style singles in the bustling business district’s historic buildings. Rents within the city are naturally dependent on the location and size of each unit, but a single-bedroom apartment right in the center of this lively town start at under $1,000 per month, while the same type and size apartment in downtown Alexandria, Va., starts at more than $1,800 a month. In downtown Washington, D.C., a studio goes for about $2,000.Family Homes A growing number of young professionals are moving their growing families to the Wilmington area, attracted by the excellent area schools, outdoor activities and affordable lifestyles the area offers. If the downtown area is too busy for your tastes, and you’d rather take in a little Southern charm and nature, Wilmington offers a wide range of lovely, family-friendly rental properties, complete with room for gardening and entertaining.The historic district – minutes from Downtown – offers a variety of two-, three- and four-bedroom homes ranging in price from a very manageable $1,400 for an updated 3-bedroom/2 -bath home to $1,700 for a 4-bedroom/4-bath home. With more than 200 city blocks included in its historic district, Wilmington has amazing examples of architecture in which to immerse yourself, especially the stunning Bellamy Mansion, a gorgeous example of Classic Revival architecture.Well within the historic district of Savannah, Ga., a 1-bedroom/1-bath cottage costs at least $1,600 a month, while in the famed Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Md., a 2-bedroom attached row home will cost you at least $1,700 per month.Homes Near the OceanWrightsville, Carolina and Kure Beaches each feature pristine stretches of sand and some of the most beautiful shorelines in southeastern North Carolina. Wrightsville Beach is within minutes of Wilmington, offering local residents a world of seaside fun and activities. In addition to easy access to off-shore fishing for black sea bass, grouper and snappers, locals have the advantage of catching flounder, speckled trout or Spanish mackerel right from the pier. Several of the area beaches (and outdoor restaurants) are pet-friendly and welcome visits from leashed family dogs. Living this close to the water also means one thing during holidays – colorful themed flotillas. It’s all about the boats, particularly in Wilmington.A great variety of wooden, stone and traditional home rentals can be found closer to the ocean, within a couple of minutes of walking, biking or driving. Rents commonly start at approximately $1,400 a month for a 3-bedroom/2-bath home (depending on distance from the beach) and $1,700 for a 4-bedroom/3-bath home. Much of the area features pine groves, willows and other native trees, offering plenty of shade during the warm summer months.Alternately, a 2-bedroom/2-bath home near the beach in St. Augustine, Fla., will cost about the same amount as a far larger property near Wrightsville Beach, at $1,695 a month. A 3-bedroom/2-bath home further inland in the same general area costs at least $1,750 per month.Making Wilmington Your HomeWhether you’re a college student or educator, an artist, professional, retiree or a family looking for the perfect place to settle down and enjoy all the amenities of a thriving metropolitan area minus the urgency, crowding and stress, Wilmington has the perfect home in the perfect neighborhood for you.The people who already call Wilmington their home are warm and inviting, and the area itself offers all the Southern charm, history and active social opportunities anyone could want.  http://irenakohler.com/blog/1916/wilmington-north-carolina-the-best-value-on-the-coast/ Fri, 22 Apr 2016 12:00:00 -0500 Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage is pleased to announce our top producing agents & teams for March.Wilmington OfficeTop Listing Agent                            Jennifer FarmerTop Selling Agent                            Shirley LoganTop Listing Team                             Fortunato TeamTop Selling Team                             Gruner Residential  Carolina Beach OfficeTop Listing Agent                            Cori McQueenTop Selling Agent                            Alison KellerTop Listing Team                             The Moran Team  Brunswick OfficesTop Listing & Selling Agent                Nolan FormalarieTop Listing Team                             The Lynda Haraway GroupTop Selling Team                             Rosado & Associates  Jacksonville OfficeTop Listing Agent                            Jenna MortonTop Selling Agent                            Kim PerkinsTop Listing Team                             Terri Alphin Smith & Co.Top Selling Team                             Castro Real Estate Group  Leland OfficeTop Listing Agent                             Linda KillianTop Selling Agent                            Jeff DominTop Listing & Selling Team               Shawn Horton – Trusst Marketing Group  Onlsow/Pender OfficeTop Listing Agent                            Christina AsburyTop Selling Agent                            Nora RuehleTop Listing Team                             Collins Real Estate GroupTop Selling Team                             Christina Pitz & Associates  South Brunswick OfficesTop Listing Agent                            Duane LewisTop Selling Agent                            Frances WarnerTop Listing Team                             McNeely Real Estate GroupTop Selling Team                             Enzor & Associates  Top New Home Sales Associate CeCee Poe  Overall Top ProducersShawn Horton – Trusst Marketing GroupRosado & Associates Christina Pitz & AssociatesCastro Real Estate Group Gruner Residential  Terri Alphin Smith & Co.Hank Troscianiec & AssociatesShirley LoganThe Lynda Haraway GroupEmily Willetts Team   http://irenakohler.com/blog/1912/congratulations-top-agents-&-teams-march-2016/ Wed, 13 Apr 2016 12:00:00 -0500 According to the National Association of Realtors 2015 trends report, 43% of home buyers used the Internet as their FIRST step in their home search and 88% of people used the Internet as an information source at some point in their search. 83% of these people found “photos” to be “very useful” in choosing a home. This puts enormous weight on online listings, and most importantly, listing photos. Many realtors choose to put the important job of taking listing photos in the expert hands of a professional photographer, but this isn’t an absolute necessity. With a little information, a few tricks of the trade, anyone can take awesome home photos, even with your smart phone!Angles First things first, if you’re using your camera phone, Turn It Sideways! No vertical photos allowed, they just don’t look right in listings! We generally have the inclination to shoot pictures at head height, because it feels most normal to bring the camera to our face, look through it and take a picture. However, when shooting interiors, professionals generally shoot from somewhere between the chest and naval—around the height of the light-switches on the wall. This perspective will leave less ceiling in your photos and give a more aesthetically-pleasing perspective of the room and the furniture in it. From where you shoot makes a huge difference in the story your picture shows. When you shoot a room standing in the middle, you’re only telling part of the story, and leaving it up to your viewer to put the pieces together. On the other hand, if you cram yourself in a corner, or stand outside the doorway, you can capture much more of the room and give a prospective buyer a better perspective.Some photographers suggest using a wide-angle lens to take in more room per photo, but go too wide and the image gets distorted and looks surreal. This technique can also make small rooms look much bigger than they are. Either way the buyer gets the impression that you’re trying to fool them, and that’s not how you want to start that relationship. Avoid the fish-eye-lens look, unless you’re selling the Mad Hatter’s house in Wonderland. That said, make sure you take wide shots. Especially when shooting parts of a home where people really value space, like an open floor plan or a kitchen, stand way back and take it all in. Close-up shots feel cramped and close in your spaces.Especially when you’re taking these big interior shots, make sure your horizon lines are straight! Sometimes we’re so busy looking at the thing we’re taking a picture of, we don’t notice that we’re holding the camera at a tilt. Line up the sides of your viewfinder with vertical lines existing in the environment like a doorway or the corner where two walls meet. Also make sure you’re pointing the camera straight-on. A tilt upward or downward will distort your room like a funhouse mirror.Even though people are looking at photos online more and more to choose their homes, “curb appeal” is still definitely a thing. Make sure you get that great shot of the front of the house. Extra points for taking it at a slight angle to show the home’s depth as well. Back way up so you get a nice wide shot.LightGreat interior photos have great light. Lots of natural light is a key selling point for a lot of homebuyers. There are many schools of thought on the subject of lighting for interior photos. Some photographers insist on bright sunshine, others on flatter, cloudy days; some insist that you simply cannot shoot indoors without all kinds of flashes and filters, but the bottom line for those of us who are not professionals with fancy tools, is that you need to show a room that is neither eerie with shadows nor blinding with glare.Leave your camera flash out of the equation. The mounted flash on a basic camera does not throw enough light to fill a room, and you’ll end up with a couple of washed-out objects in the foreground and murky shadows everywhere else. If you insist on using a flash, just make sure it isn’t shown reflecting in mirrors, counter tops, or any other surfaces in the home. A flash in the mirror is a sure sign of an amateur photo.Start by analyzing how much natural light you’re working with. Throw open the curtains, raise the blinds, see where the light falls. The late morning and early afternoon provide nice bright light—the East side will be best-lit in the morning and the West in the afternoon.Next, turn on all the interior lights, take some test shots and see what happens. Do the lights wash out the areas around them, or does it make it feel warmer? Are there shadowy places? Borrow lamps from other rooms to fill dark areas. Place lamps just outside doorways to the room you’re shooting so the entrance feels inviting. When working in darker spaces, a tripod is your friend. If you are using a camera on which you can adjust the exposure time, you can use a longer exposure, letting in more light, and still be in sharp focus if your camera is sitting still and not wobbling in your hands. Focus your shot on something not-too-light and not-too-dark in frame so the auto features of your camera adjust to the light correctly. The best way to exemplify this is on the touch-screen of your smart phone. Point your camera phone in the direction of a window or light source, but take in as much of the room as you can. Touch a part of the screen that is very bright. The image will adjust to that level of light and everything else in the shot will show as super dark. Then, touch a part of the screen showing something dark, like a piece of furniture. See how the image adjusts to the darkness and the whole screen gets lighter, completely washing out the bright places? When you’re shooting homes with your camera phone, always focus on a part of the shot with a mid-level brightness and your camera will help level things out.As far as the exterior, aesthetics will change throughout the day. Bright and sunny photos make a house look stately and crisp, while shots taken after dusk, with all interior and exterior lights on, make a home look like a warm and inviting place to end the day. What to ShootThe idea of staging a home for photography and sale is a topic for another day, but suffice to say the home should look organized but warm, stylish but comfortable. Any clutter should be removed—no refrigerator magnets, no clothes hangers, no car in the driveway or appliances on the counters, no toiletries in the bathroom. Shoot the space, not the stuff. Make note of each home’s particular selling points and get bright, clear shots of beautiful yards, elegant entryways, airy floor plans and enticing architecture. Draw in the right buyer with the things that make each home special.Capture the season during which the home is being listed. Get garden shots in Spring, and changing leaves in Autumn, but leave holidays out of the equation. We all live the seasons in more or less the same way, it’s a consistent human experience. Holidays, however, are very specific and personal and they bring up all kinds of emotions and aversions that distract from the home itself and might leave the buyer with a bad feeling. Speaking of fall, if the yard is a mess of leaves, take a rake to it! Don’t let a messy yard distract from a beautiful home. Hire a landscaper if necessary or at least take a little time to tidy up outside.If the house is in an attractive neighborhood, or on a cute block, take pictures up and down the street. Help people imagine living there before they ever set foot on the property. Most of all, shoot EVERYTHING. We’re all pretty much using digital nowadays, right? Nobody is charging you per-photo so take a million pictures. Take several photos of each thing you want to shoot from different angles, different heights, in different light, standing on your head, whatever you want, just get lots and lots of pictures. Often you don’t know what you’ve really got until you get home and pull the pictures up on your computer, so keep that shutter snapping away—you cannot take too many pictures! http://irenakohler.com/blog/1909/take-great-listing-photos/ Fri, 08 Apr 2016 12:00:00 -0500 Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage honored its top teams and individuals at its annual Awards Breakfast on Tuesday, February 23 at the Holiday Inn Resort in Wrightsville Beach, NC. Terri Alphin Smith & Co. of the Jacksonville office was named Team of the Year and Hank Troscianiec & Associates of the Southport Office was Runner-Up Team of the Year. Frances Warner of the South Brunswick office was named Agent of the Year and Nolan Formalarie of the Southport office was named Runner-Up Agent of the Year. (See additional award winners below).Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage is the largest and best-selling real estate company in New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender and Onslow counties, with more than $1.2 billion in closed sales volume and over 5,800 closed sales transactions in 2015. Sea Coast Advantage was founded in Wilmington, NC in 1988 and joined Coldwell Banker in 1993. Sea Coast Advantage is staffed by more than 425 real estate agents in 11 offices in Wilmington, Leland, Jacksonville, Carolina Beach, Topsail Island, Hampstead, Southport, Sneads Ferry, South Brunswick, Oak Island and Holden Beach. Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage also has an ownership interest in 18 Coldwell Banker Advantage offices in Raleigh, Fayetteville and Southern Pines with an additional 375 agents serving those markets. With the addition of these offices, closed sales volume for Sea Coast Advantage in 2015 totaled $2.5 billion with more than 12,000 closed sales transactions.In 2015, Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage was the #1 Coldwell Banker company in NC and #4 Coldwell Banker company in the nation. For additional information, go to www.seacoastrealty.com (http://www.seacoastrealty.com/) .Terri Alphin Smith & Co.Team of the YearListing Team of the YearInternational President’s PremierFrances WarnerAgent of the YearInternational President’s PremierHank Troscianiec & AssociatesRunner-Up Team of the YearRunner-Up Listing Team of the YearInternational President’s PremierNolan FormalarieRunner-Up Agent of the YearListing Agent of the YearRunner-Up Sales Agent of the YearInternational President’s PremierThe Cameron TeamSales Team of the YearInternational President’s CircleEric SabourinSales Agent of the YearInternational President’s EliteChristina Pitz & AssociatesRunner-Up Sales Team of the YearInternational President’s CircleJenna MortonRunner-Up Listing Agent of the YearInternational President’s EliteJennie Stevens TeamNew Homes Sales Team of the YearInternational President’s PremierShawn Horton - Trusst Marketing GroupRunner-Up New Homes Sales Team of the YearInternational President’s EliteLisa HadgraftNew Homes Sales Agent of the YearBrian LewisRunner-Up New Homes Sales Agent of the YearSharon StoutRookie of the YearJason LloydRunner-Up Rookie of the YearOVER $10 MILLION PRODUCERSJennie Stevens TeamTerri Alphin Smith & Co.Shawn Horton-Trusst Marketing GroupHank Troscianiec & AssociatesGruner ResidentialRosado and AssociatesTeam GaleChristina Block & AssociatesJessica Edwards & Associates-The Carolinas FinestCastro Real Estate GroupThe Cameron TeamFrances WarnerChristina Pitz TeamKaren Schwartz TeamNolan FormalarieBarbara Pugh TeamShane Register TeamBrett Knowles TeamThe Kozel TeamSaffo TeamEnzor & AssociatesEmily Willetts Team40 SailsChris Baynes & AssociatesThe Haraway GroupMeredith JacksonKay Baker AssociatesEric SabourinSherwood Strickland GroupTeam Triple AdvantageLori Smith's Hometown TeamMcNeely Real Estate GroupMichelle Gurrera & AssociatesBarbara AndrewsFortunato TeamPenny OlsonJennifer FarmerJenna MortonThe Krueger Team### http://irenakohler.com/blog/1904/coldwell-banker-sea-coast-advantage-honors-top-producers-2015/ Mon, 04 Apr 2016 12:00:00 -0500