Many hardworking North Carolina families don’t earn enough to afford an average-priced home in their community.  Real estate professionals with Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty recently earned the North Carolina Workforce Housing Specialist certification and learned about programs that can help teachers, firefighters, nurses, and other service workers in our community achieve the dream of home ownership. 

Brett Adams, Cathi Anderson, Carolyn Dunwell, Paul Dunwell, Tom Gale, and Amy Whetsel from Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty’s Wilmington office earned the certification.  Homes4NC, a housing foundation created by the North Carolina Association of REALTORS®, offers the certification to REALTORS® who take extra steps to learn about the federal, state and local housing programs specifically designed to help buyers that earn less than the area median income.  They also work within the community to increase housing affordability for all citizens.   

“My wife is a teacher, so I hear from her colleagues all the time about how hard it is to find affordable housing,” said Tom Gale.  “With the training we received, I know about more lending programs that can help them.”

According to Homes4NC, wages in North Carolina are not expected to keep pace with the cost of housing.  Half of the state’s future jobs are expected to pay 60% of the state’s current average earnings.

To earn the certification, REALTORS® must complete sixteen hours of educational courses that focus on national, state, and local affordable housing resources. For more information about the North Carolina Workforce Housing Specialist certification, visit www.Homes4NC.org.

Saturday, North Carolina’s first bicycle boulevard will open in Wilmington. 

The Ann Street Bicycle Boulevard is part of the River to the Sea Bikeway, an 11-mile bicycle route that follows the Historic Beach Car Line, which carried vacationers from downtown Wilmington to Wrightsville Beach by trolley. 

Officials hope the project will reduce traffic and pollution by providing appealing alternative to gas-burning vehicles. 

Grand opening festivities will take place Saturday, 10am-1pm on Ann Street, between 9th and 10th Streets and will include giveaways, music, games, and activities.

For more information, please visit www.rivertoseabikeway.com.

Coldwell Banker On Location, Coldwell Banker’s YouTube channel focused on listing, community and agent profile videos, continues to redefine the use of video in real estate. Just 11 months after launching in May 2009, Coldwell Banker On Location has drawn 1 million channel views.

Since Coldwell Banker Real Estate launched their brand channel on YouTube to debut Coldwell Banker On Location, the site has more videos on its YouTube site than any other real estate brand.

“We believe that video plays a major role in the home buying and selling process,” said Michael Fischer, senior vice president, Marketing, for Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “There is no other medium that can showcase the personality of a home and agent more effectively than video. And our agents, from all corners of the world, have responded by posting more than 11,000 videos to date. Clearly, Coldwell Banker On Location has set a high bar for video use in our industry, but more importantly home sellers are starting to expect video as a part of the marketing portfolio of a home.”

Recognizing the power of video, Coldwell Banker Real Estate recently unveiled a new commercial featuring Coldwell Banker On Location.

“Consumers searching for homes have so much information available to them,” said Fischer. “But data and photos can only do so much. We have clearly come a long way from when a picture was worth a thousand words and the only visual a potential homeowner could utilize. Video is now a mainstay in real estate and consumers are proving this to be true.”

Click on the video titles listed below to see some of the Coldwell Banker On Location videos produced by Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty:

• Buying Foreclosures and Bank-Owned Properties
• Carolina Beach, NC - Tips from the Locals
• Ginger Harper on Southport, NC
• Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty Moves Jacksonville, NC
• Michelle Gurrera on Wilmington, NC
• Pat Maloney Says “Test Drive” Your New Home
• Sharon Zak on Boiling Spring Lakes, NC
• Ken Keegan on St. James, NC
• Sean Skutnik Explains Why You’ll Love Leland, NC

Hometown hero Kim Munley will return home to Wilmington to serve as grand marshal of Saturday’s Azalea Festival parade.

Munley garnered national attention after she was wounded while trying to stop the deadly shooting at a Fort Hood, Texas Army base in November.  Since then she has appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and was a guest of the first lady Michelle Obama for the 2010 State of the Union address.

Munley was born in Wilmington and grew up in Carolina Beach.  After graduating from Wilmington’s John T. Hoggard High School in 1993, she studied law enforcement at Cape Fear Community College.  Before she became a police officer in Ft. Hood, Texas, Munley worked as a law enforcement officer in Wrightsville Beach, at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and for New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

Munley says she is doing some soul searching while she recovers from gun shot wounds to her wrist and both legs. She told the Wilmington Star News that she might even return to the Wilmington area. “It’s my roots. Eventually I think we might be coming back,” Munley said. “There’s something pulling me that way.”

Readers of Wilmington’s Encore magazine have voted Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty as Wilmington’s Best Real Estate Company in their “Best of Wilmington 2010″!

Thanks go out to everyone that voted for for us.  Though this isn’t our first “Best of Wilmington” award, we’re still thrilled by this honor.  Our more than 300 agents and staff take great pride in the fact that every year for the last decade, we’ve sold more homes in southeastern North Carolina than any other real estate company.

Check out the nice things Encore had to say about us:

BEST REAL ESTATE AGENCY

The local and national housing markets may have taken a hit due to the recession as of late, but Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty is soaring high above the rest with their win for Best Real Estate Agency. Serving the cities of Wilmington and Jacksonville; the coastal communities of Carolina Beach, Topsail Beach, Surf City, Wrightsville Beach, Figure Eight Island, North Topsail Beach, Kure Beach, Bald Head Island, Oak Island, Ocean Isle Beach and Holden Beach; and coastal communities, including Porters Neck, Southport, Sneads Ferry, Leland, Scotts Hill, Hampstead, Holly Ridge, Camp Lejeune, New River, Bolivia, Shallotte, Boiling Spring Lakes and St. James, Sea Coast is without a doubt a leader in its industry. In fact, it is the number-one real estate company in southeastern North Carolina, selling more properties than any area firm for the past eight years.

With 300-plus agents and seven convenient locations (two in Wilmington, on Military Cutoff Road and at Porters Neck) Sea Coast is more than equipped to satisfy anything their customers desire. They can handle relocation needs, from start to finish, and even offer a 100-percent Satisfaction Guarantee. In an ever-changing real-estate climate, Sea Coast has remained true to its roots and continues to offer first-class service with a reputation clients have learned they can trust. Their easy-to-navigate Web site, www.seacoastrealty.com, only adds to what Wilmington recognizes as dependable, up-to-date and quality service.

If you are thinking about buying or selling a home in New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, or Onslow County, North Carolina, shouldn’t you have the “Best of Wilmington” working for you?  Visit us online at www.seacoastrealty.com or call us at 1-800-522-9624.

Normally, the winter months are a pretty slow time in the real estate business.  While the weather has been cold outside this year, the real estate market has been getting hotter and hotter. 

In January 2009, homebuyers toured Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty listings 2,757 times!  That’s a whopping 72% increase from the previous month.  The number of showings is expected to grow even more over the next few months.

Our real estate professionals say that there are lots of homebuyers hunting for homes earlier than usual this year, so that they can take advantage of the homebuyer tax credit before the April 30, 2010 deadline.  First-time homebuyers are eligible for an $8,000 tax credit.  Homeowners that have been in their current home for the last 5 years are also eligible for a $6,500 tax credit.  In addition, real estate agents say that there are lots of investors and folks looking for second homes out looking for great properties at a bargain price.

If you are considering selling your home, it’s smart to contact a Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty agent today.  Our real estate professionals in New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, and Onslow counties will expertly market your home, so that it will get the attention it deserves and sell for the most money.

Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty has been southeastern North Carolina’s top home seller for the last 10 years!  Find out more at www.seacoastrealty.com.

What’s so great about Wilmington, North Carolina?  Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty’s Michelle Gurrera decided to call Wilmington home more than twenty years ago. She explains that the Port City has something for everyone and why you’ll love Wilmington too.

At Wrightsville Beach NC although the seasons are changing, there is still plenty to do at the beach.  While the days are cooler, it’s still perfect for making sandcastles, fishing, and beach walking.  The Wrightsville Beach area’s real estate market is still “hot” too.  So if you are looking for a new beach home or for an investment or vacation property, you can get some great deals on property in Wrightsville and Wilmington NC areas.

Wrightsville Beach is a changing growing population that can change and grow like the ebb and tide throughout the year.  Holidays are always a popular around Wrightsville.  You can always find folks shelling, walking, and fishing off Johnny’s pier year round.  But more than the beach and marinas, Wrightsville is great for year round living too.  There’s always NC Coastal beachfront property for sale, and property values have remained strong even through the downturn.  And if the beach front is not for you, there are beautiful communities away from the beach, where properties have southern charm or contemporary modern architecture.  Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty has a great online property search, and you can see those properties with a ColdWell Realtor at your convenience.

Johnny Mercer's Pier

The race began in Wrightsville Beach with a 1,500 meter swim through Banks Channel.  The next portion of the race was a 20 kilometer (12.4 mile) bicycle route that wound through Wilmington and returned to Wrightsville Beach.  Then the race concluded with a five kilometer (3.1 mile) run along Wrightsville Beach’s popular “loop”.

Most of the Sea Coast team was participating in a triathlon for the first time, including agent Melanie Cameron.  “A group from the office has been training for about four months now.  We’ve been swimming the channel at Wrightsville Beach all summer and I’ve been running and biking on my own to get ready,” she said.  Director of Business Development Brian Moxey, a triathlon veteran, says that running a triathlon and a real estate career are not that different. “The reward of finishing a race is very similar to closing a transaction, but it’s also similar because people don’t see all the preparation and hard work that an agent goes through to get there.  There’s a lot of grunt work involved before you ever get to the big day.”

Whether they are swimming, biking, and running to the finish line or helping folks buy and sell homes, these hard-working real estate professionals “never stop moving.”  Learn more about how to make Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty part of your winning team at seacoastrealty.com.

Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty agents and staff participated in the Wilmington YMCA Triathlon, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Proceeds from the race with benefit the YMCA’s youth programs. Sea Coast team members included, from left, front row: Nicole Ferguson, Michelle Gurrera. Back row, Jessica Keenan, Alisha Murray, Mary Ellen Condon, Ryanna Avery, Wendy Shorter-Bridges, Alex Paen, Dana Little, Melanie Cameron, Shawndy Conway, Tina Abraham, Rebecca Moxey, Brian Moxey, Ryan Crecelius. Not pictured, Theresa Brockway and Sean Skutnik. Photo courtesy of Russ May.