Journey to Dream Homes

Dream creation is what we do at SilverCrest Homes. We worked very hard this month to present a proposal to The Town of Cary on refurbishing the Historical Jones House in Downtown, Cary. As a team, we dreamed about transforming this old historical house into an anchor at the corner of South Academy and Dry Streets to provide cross access to adjacent
properties and serve as a place to relax and enjoy the hub of the arts district. We believe that old can meet with new and exist cohesively and effectively.

The Jones House is a fine example of Victorian architecture from circa 1890, and a structure which the Town of Cary purchased recently with the idea of connecting the creative district of the downtown area; the major theme is to turn South Academy Street into a much friendlier pedestrian artery from the business core to the hub of the arts district.

In addition to the structural and exterior repairs of the property, we propose to create a variety of exterior spaces around the Jones House to provide maximum diversity of configurations, thereby meeting the needs of many entities for a number of private and public functions. We believe the thoughtful design of this site serves to trigger excitement and a marker for future growth and development in this district. The intensity of the hardscape and landscape design around the house provides venues for public art, meditation and relaxation, performances and commerce.

The Town would like to secure a tenant for this property, but also allow the property to create a synergetic relationship with the other properties along the corridor maintaining the history of the site and utilizing it fully for the future.

We believe the Jones House provides an important piece of history to the Town, as well as being a vital economic component of the future redevelopment of the arts district.  We look forward to having the opportunity of working with the Town leaders and officials to create a place where the residents can congregate and enjoy for decades to come.

As for you, if you would like to engage in dream creation as well, let SilverCrest Homes create your dream home that’s in your mind, give us a call and let’s embark into a lovely experience together; we make it happen!

 This blog was presented to you by SilverCrest Homes by Nur building
homes in Raleigh and Cary area since 2004

This month, we would like to talk to you about a new project that we are working on. It is the refurbishing of the Historic Jones House for the structural and exterior repairs as well as the up fitting of the interiors.

The Town of Cary has requested proposals from interested parties to lease the Historic Jones House for commercial use that would utilize the historic character of the building and complement the revitalization of downtown Cary.

The House is located at 324 S. Academy Street at the intersection of Dry and Academy Streets directly across from the new Cary Arts Center. The town plans to lease the space to the “right party who will add something to this corner”. The right party could be a restaurant, art museum, art gallery, coffee house, library, office space, the right retail or a combination of these.

The house has a charming, and surprisingly well maintained interior, despite the conditions currently seen from the exterior of the house. It has a beautiful central hallway with soaring 12 foot ceilings and lots of the original molding and wood trim surrounding old fireplaces and doorways. There is also an area at the rear of the house where a handicap accessible bathroom and small kitchen were added more recently. The heated square footage of the house is 2026 square feet and it was built in 1896. There are currently 5 main rooms on the first floor and a small kitchen area at the back. There is a low ceiling upstairs space that can be used for office and storage. The lot is large, nearly half an acre, with driveway access on both Academy and Dry streets, no area is paved for parking, but the lot is graded and level.

SilverCrest Homes is working very closely with the tenants and highly competent designers to transform the House into an amazing corner as part of the downtown revitalization project. We are very excited about this project to showcase the vision with the variety of opportunities and potential that downtown Cary offers.

SilverCrest Homes also has three available lots in the Cary’s most prestigious neighborhood: Renaissance at Regency Manors. We would love to work with you to create your dream home, please give us a call and let’s embark into a lovely experience together; we make it happen!

This blog was presented to you by SilverCrest Homes by Nur building
homes in Raleigh and Cary area since 2004

I was at the International Builder Show (IBS) last week in Orlando, Florida to see what’s new in the housing market. One of the highlights of the Show was Chairman Bernanke’s address to home builders. Obviously, there was an incredible interest to hear what he was going to say.

The conference room allocated for this event was the Valencia Room up on the fourth floor of the Orlando’s Convention Center. NAHB was having its Board meeting in that room in the morning. The line was already wrapped around the hallway twice when I got there at around 11:45 am. The lady standing behind me was terrified that we wouldn’t be able to get in by the number of people in front of us. We started chatting casually as we were standing in the line. She and her husband have a home construction business near Chicago she said. They build in the $250-$350K range. She said in good times they used to build and sell 90 homes per year but last year they only built and sold 20 homes. They had to cut down their expenses in every aspect of their business. They had many in-house capabilities before and now she said they subcontract pretty much everything.  She added though that since this past Christmas orders have started picking up.

They opened the doors and we got in despite our worries. I found a real good seat to listen to Chairman Bernanke.

Mr. Bernanke walked in just as planned right around 12:30 pm. He had a prepared statement to summarize what’s going on in the housing market. He started his remarks by emphasizing how important the state of the housing market is in a recovery. Here are some highlights from his talk. Supply of single family owned homes exceed the effective demand. Home building remains depressed because of the imbalances between supply and demand. Unemployment is getting better but still very high; home construction is down; foreclosed homes crowd out the need for new construction; rental markets strengthened and rents are increasing; availability of mortgage loans are tight; there is a definite need to restore the imbalances in the market. Foreclosures of homes and lack of care affects the neighborhoods and communities, reduce tax collections, and put downward pressure on home prices. Declines in home prices reduced household equity by 50%. Consumers spend $3-5 less on every $100 lost on their housing value. The mobility of consumers is harder since they cannot sell their homes to relocate to other areas to look for new and better jobs. Banks have tightened their lending even to their creditworthy clients. No funds in the private markets for houses. First time home buyers are impacted significantly by tight mortgages. Fed’s policy of reduced rates has not proven to be effective because of tight mortgage lending by banks. Renting seems to be a better and less expensive option for consumers. Vacant foreclosed properties are being turned into rental properties. The bottom line to all of this is there is not a single solution option to bring the housing market back to its feet.

As one potential solution, we at SilverCrest Homes offer to build your dream home precisely built for you. SilverCrest Homes has three lots available in the Cary’s most prestigious neighborhood – Renaissance at Regency Manors. Create your dream home in your mind, give us a call and let’s embark into a lovely experience together; we make it happen!

This blog was presented to you by SilverCrest Homes by Nur building
homes in Raleigh and Cary area since 2004

We have a promising year ahead of us in 2012; long-term mortgage rates are at the lowest level at around 3 to 4%, prices are at the lowest possible points, banks have lots of reserves to help customers get loans and the housing market is picking up.

Unemployment rate is improving. North Carolina’s unemployment rate fell to 9.9 % in December 2011 from 10% in November. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to the National Association
of Home Builders.

The US Department of Commerce reported that sales increased 8% in 2011 compared to 2010. It is a great time to buy a home! In fact, it is the best time to buy a home with incredibly low interest rates and favorable buyer conditions. U.S. gross domestic product expanded at a rate of 2.8 percent during the last quarter of 2011.

SilverCrest Homes has three lots available in the Cary’s most prestigious neighborhood – Renaissance at Regency Manors to build luxury dream homes designed precisely for you. Start creating your dream home in your mind, give us a call and let’s have a lovely experience together – we’ll make it happen!

 This blog was presented to you by SilverCrest Homes by Nur building
homes in Raleigh and Cary area since 2004

Year 2011 comes to an end; it is amazing how quickly it went by with lots of good and bad memories to value for a lifetime. Around this time we all tend to reflect back and see how much we accomplished last year so we can set the course for next year along with our resolutions for the New Year.

We, at SilverCrest Homes, started 2011 with better expectations for the economic recovery, consumer confidence and markets opening up for more products. So, we put together a beautiful house plan (floor plan and rendering) for one of our existing lots for our prospective clients to build their dream homes.

In February, I attended Executive Management Program specifically designed for those in the construction area. This was a powerful learning experience to gain the skills to propel my business to new heights. The program incorporated lectures in strategy, marketing, finance, operations and legal issues. It was offered by NC institute of Minority Economic Development and UNC School of Business.

This year also brought many personal changes in my life; my younger son graduated from college in May and my older son had a baby girl in June making me, shall I say, a young grandma!

In July and August, I had the privilege to attend Women’s Executive Education Leadership Series in conjunction with NC Institute of Minority Economic Development, Center for Creative Leadership and Wake Forest University’s School of Business. The program focused on the development of leadership skills for women executives. It provided opportunities for
networking among women owned small businesses to build collaborative and aggressive business relationships.

Going forward, our goal at SilverCrest Homes is to build on our successes. We have three available lots in the Renaissance at Regency Manors neighborhood in Cary to build dream homes for our prospective clients. We have plans for our customers to either build as is or we can work together with them in designing their own house plans. Our goal is to help them
and to work with them harmoniously to create a unique and special dream home
for them to enjoy and cherish. We are in the dream management business. We are
the agents working alongside with you to build that dream.

SilverCrest Homes is looking forward to building custom homes precisely designed for you! Start creating your dream home in your mind, give us a call and let’s have a lovely experience together – we’ll make it happen!

This blog was presented to you by SilverCrest Homes by Nur building
homes in Raleigh and Cary area since 2004

I did a lot of cleaning this week. That is cleaning in my Outlook address book. I was updating my iPhone with the latest software updates; what happened is all my outlook addresses got transferred to my iPhone; that’s how I realized that I needed a deep cleaning in my address book. It was amazing how it had piled up with old and new addresses and it came to a point where I could not tell anymore which one is the valid one. Then, there were friends who died but I still had their e-mails addresses. I discovered others who I had not corresponded in years. I am happy to report that it’s all up to date after hours of cleaning up. This was in a sense a cleaning up and a clearing up of certain issues off of my mind.

In fact, my business SilverCrest Homes has some clearing up to do as well. I am grateful to have survived the Great Recession as we are still in business. We have three beautiful lots in the Renaissance at Regency Manors neighborhood to build high end custom homes for our potential customers. But who is our customer? Who wants to build a high end custom home these days?

There is so much uncertainty going on in the markets. You watch the stock market go up and down on a daily basis like a swing set. You watch economies in Euro Zone going through major debt problems. You watch companies trying to increase production with existing work force rather than hiring new employees. Now, granted high end homes serve a group of client base who are price inelastic; but are they really insensitive to changes in prices in this uncertain market?

What do these customers value? What do they want to have in their upscale homes? What should a high end home look like given these uncertainties? How did the needs and wants of these customers change lately?

Well, one thing is for certain — we at SilverCrest Homes can help you design and create your dream home. If you are in the market for a dream home, call us at (919) 524-1064. We have floor plans and elevations ready for you to review and start the process going. The rest will be a rewarding journey.

SilverCrest Homes is looking forward to building custom homes precisely designed for you! Start creating your dream home in your mind, give us a call and let’s have a lovely experience – we’ll make it happen!

As Parade of Homes in Wake Country, NC launches this weekend, we at SilverCrest Homes are proud to let you know that we are more than ever interested in creating your dream home precisely designed for you! We have three lots available for pre-sale custom homes in the Renaissance at Regency Manors neighborhood. Visit our web site to get more information about these lots or give us a call 919 524 1064.

I had the extreme pleasure of walking the Parade Home in Renaissance at Regency Manors in Cary this weekend. It is absolutely a must see! It offers so many wonderful features for its future homeowner. Yes, it needs a loving homeowner! It has all anyone could ask for in a custom home — a serene outdoor entertainment area along with screened porch; a spacious first floor master bedroom; a large kitchen with double islands and top of the line appliances and more.  

The good news is SilverCrest Homes has a lot located right beside this lovely Parade Home and we are ready to enjoy an experience with a pre-sale customer in creating their dream home built precisely for them.

The question is what do potential customers want these days in an upscale luxury home? Would they want to create exactly what they have in their mind or would they prefer to start with something already on paper for them?

SilverCrest has a potential plan for our lots in Renaissance at Regency Manors. A custom home of about 4800 ft2 with first floor master bedroom and three car garage, fenced back yard and lovely outdoor entertaining area. The first floor offers an exquisite inviting two story foyer, a study that can be turned into a formal living room; a stunning dining room connecting to a butler’s pantry with wet bar and mini wine cellar which also opens into the great room or family gathering area. The kitchen and casual dining room provide the home owners the relaxation they need while they enjoy their home. The entry from the garage, kitchen pantry and the laundry room are right beside the kitchen. The second floor offers three bedrooms with private baths, a multi-purpose recreational area and a study alcove with lots of walk-in and linen closets.

SilverCrest Homes is looking forward to building custom homes precisely designed for you! Start creating your dream home in your mind, give us a call and let’s have a lovely experience together in making it happen!

This blog was presented to you by SilverCrest Homes by Nur building homes in Raleigh and Cary area since 2004 

As we say good-bye to 2010, I decided to look back and summarize what happened since my last blog post back in April 2010. This year has been much better to my company SilverCrest Homes than the previous one. I got many offers for the spec home that I have and that has been waiting for a loving home owner. I got an offer on the house in March; we negotiated but could not mutually agree on terms. Then, there came another offer in June, a better one. This time negotiations were tougher and took quite a long time; when I thought we have finally come to a resolution, they walked away. I was hoping I could go on to my vacation with the sale of this house behind me. Yet, it did not happen. I came back from my vacation in August and amazingly there were two offers.  Again, very stiff negotiations; I thought one of these buyers would definitely buy this house, but they both walked away.

That’s when I truly wondered what is it that home buyers want these days? The prices of the houses have come down significantly across the nation. Builders have been given incentives and additional perks to make the sales happen. The buyers are getting drastically better quality housing for the prices they are paying yet the buyers are still cautious and bargaining as hard as they can. There will not be any other time where buyers will be in so much power as they are now. The mortgage rates are as low as they can be, the prices are low and the values the buyers are getting are incredibly good. One thing that’s still crawling though is the ability to get loans and the willingness of the banking system to create new loans. The paperwork and the financial scrutiny have been on its highest level ever.

As one of those two buyers decided to come back, and I finally sold the house, we still had to wait six weeks for the financial institution to complete the transaction even though we knew the buyer was financially qualified to begin with.

The great news is the house is SOLD! The home owners love it and they are adding an incredibly beautiful outdoor kitchen, pool and hot tub area to enjoy the house even more.

As for us at SilverCrest Homes, we are looking forward to building custom homes precisely designed for you! Start creating your dream house in your mind, give us a call and let’s have a lovely experience together in making it happen!

Happy New Year!

The first question people usually ask me is how in the world I got into construction. It is not my background, it is not a family business and moreover I am a woman in an industry dominated by men. 

I think you could say I very unexpectedly found my true calling. About ten years ago, when we were building our own dream home, I fell in love with every aspect of the process. It was the most enjoyable, fascinating and interesting thing I ever did. In fact, I took over parts of the process that are normally handled by the builder team. Let me tell you a little more about how we created our dream home which led me into the construction world.

 In the beginning, we had no idea about what type of a house we wanted for ourselves. I did not have the full image of the house in my mind yet, but I had bits and pieces of it. I knew I wanted tall ceilings, open floor plan, lots of bedrooms for our never ending guests, bathrooms in every bedroom so everyone can have their private quarters, a huge kitchen and a large family room with lots of built-in bookshelves for our books, journals, magazines, articles, paperwork, picture frames and a desk right in the family room so we can work, watch TV and spend time together as a family. I wanted a formal living room so that if someone dropped by unexpectedly, that would be the presentable room to visit with them. My husband wanted an amazing foyer where people will have an incredible wow factor as they come in to our house; we wanted a library for our books, pictures, albums, and collectibles. Well, of course the kids were younger back then and we needed a multi-purpose room for children to have sleep over’s and play games with their friends. As we put these pieces together, our dream turned into a reality, our house was built, we moved in and turned it into a lovely home with lots of memories. I wish walls in any home could talk one day to tell all those stories they witness, good and bad. Every family has so many lovely stories and only those walls are the true witnesses of those.

After this wonderful experience of building our custom home, I found myself in the construction industry, a year later we started SilverCrest Homes and we have been building exquisite, one of a kind million dollar custom homes ever since. I truly enjoy the process; if we are building a spec home, it is like creating a new dream home for a family who will love and cherish that house. If it is a pre-sale custom home with a client then it is an experience to ride together with them as we create their dream. It is the feeling of specialness and importance; it is the feeling of precious contribution, it is the feeling of being significant to other people and the feeling that we made a difference.

This blog was presented to you by SilverCrest Homes by Nur building homes in Raleigh and Cary area since 2004 

For some reason during the last few months, I had several water leakage problems at my personal home and my office that made me wonder, what does this all mean?  Thinking positively from a perspective of water providing calming and soothing effects, I ask: Is it perhaps telling me how smooth of a year I will have in 2010 building many homes for my clients where they live happily with their loved ones?

Water provides the tranquility in life. In essence, water carries the life energy throughout the world. We harness this life energy to enrich our environment and to create balance as well as harmony within our lives.  

As we travel on this journey to dream homes, let us include the life of energy, the harmony and the balance into our environment. As you are dreaming of that home, one other aspect to remember is the location. I know you have a picture in your mind; you see your house, not floating in midair, but on some specific site. It may sit on top of a hill, it may be near the ocean, it may be in the woods or it may be in a private quality neighborhood in your favorite town.

We have to place your dream on an actual lot that suits your needs and resembles your dreams. You may want a nice garden. You may want a quiet neighborhood with tall trees, or just small ferns. You may want the privacy of a secluded cul-de-sac lot or a lake view might be a high priority for you.

Here are a couple of lots that we have at SilverCrest Homes that might help you visualize that dream. The first lot has a lake view, it will bring the life energy to your house as you wake up to the still body of water.

 The second lot will allow you to have the option of building a house with a full  day light basement if you would like.

As you look over these lots, I want you to ask yourself “how does this make me feel?” Can you see yourself spending the best years of your life here? If yes, give us a call at SilverCrest Homes and we can turn that dream into a reality! These lots are located in the Renaissance at Regency neighborhood.

Renaissance at Regency is located in Cary, off Ederlee Drive and Regency Parkway in the lush Regency Park area – minutes from an array of shopping, medical facilities and recreational activities, including Koka Booth Amphitheatre on Symphony Lake and the new state-of-the-art Lifetime Fitness Health Club.

This blog was presented to you by SilverCrest Homes building homes in Raleigh and Cary area since 2004