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Are you looking to rent a home in Carolina Preserve? We will have one home available for rent (price not yet determined) on August 11, 2008.

For more information on the rental home, please click to visit the dedicated website - Carolina-Preserve.com.

Carolina Preserve in Amberly, Cary NC is about to open Bradford Hall.

The final touches to prepare for the December 2007 opening are almost complete.

Pools and spas are being filled, the aerobic center is looking nice, and all the current residents are eager to take advantage of this amazing facility.

Here is a shot of the indoor pool at Bradford Hall:

The aerobic studio will provide a place for lots of classes, dancing and other activities:

Finally, Yates Store Road now extends all the Way to O’Kelly Chapel Road, which means you can get to the Streets at Southpoint Mall even quicker!

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To hear about current specials or to receive updates about Carolina Preserve, please click the link to send me an email.

There are a few key factors for a great home buying experience. One of them is to make sure you have an experienced, professional loan officer. Do you think it is important to have someone who is highly reputable, responsible and knowledgeable guiding you through one of the largest financial transactions in your life?

Here are 4 simple questions to ask your lender when you are shopping around.

1 - What are mortgage interest rates based on?

2 - What is the next Economic Report or event that could cause mortgage interest rates to change?

3 - When Bernanke and the Fed “change rates”, what does this mean?… and what impact does this have on mortgage interest rates?

4 - Do you have access to live, real-time mortgage bond quotes?

Be Smart! Ask Questions! Get answers! Your lender MUST be able to answer all of these questions correctly. If not, run - don’t walk - to a lender that does!

Email me for a cheat-sheet to grill your potential lenders!

While doing our regular rounds - touring around Cary - we decided to cruise up to see how everyone in Amberly is doing. If you blink, you’ll notice that beautiful new homes, fantastic club houses and lush landscaping going up in Cary’s largest PUD.

The Peninsula offers custom, high end homes ($400,000 to $1MM+), basement option, up to 4 car garages and other luxury home options. The neighborhood itself is tucked away on the southern end of Amberly - for directions to The Peninsula click here.

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These luxurious homes will feature lots of room for families in a very tranquil, park-like setting.

Enjoy more photos from Amberly - click here for a slideshow of Amberly real estate.

For more information about The Peninsula homes in Amberly, feel free to call our hotline - 888.969.8989 or send us an email, or register for our Cary real estate search tool.

There are many other home options in Amberly. Visit our Communities page to check them out.

The WCPSS has released it’s 2007 ABCs report for all Wake schools. The report shows eleven Wake County schools have achieved “School of Excellence” status, and 58 have reached “School of Distinction” status. The ABC program measures student achievement over the past six years, using a weighted formula.

Davis Drive Elementary School had the highest score this year, of 96.3

Salem Middle School had the highest score for a middle school, of 96.1

Green Hope High School had the highest score for a high school, of 90.5

Del Webb has opened the eagerly awaited third phase of the immensely popular Carolina Preserve in Cary, NC.

contact us for more information about Carolina Preserve

This weekend the NC Museum of Art hosts a unique puppet show by Paperhand Puppet Intervention. The show uses huge puppets made of cardboard and household miscellany, shadows, stilts, and dance to create a whimsical mystical presentation to children (and adults) of all ages.

When: Sept. 7th and 8th
-Pre-show event (different each night) 6:20pm
-Pre-show music: 6:30pm
-Show begins at 7:00pm
Where: NC Museum of Art (Click for directions)
Cost: Adults $10, Ages 4-12: $7, 3 and under: Free

Calling all Tift Merritt fans - the Grammy-nominated singer will be providing a FREE show this Sunday September 2 at Koka Booth. She will be performing with the North Carolina Symphony for Pops in the Park.

Bring your picnic, lawn chairs and blankets. For more info, you can visit Tift’s Ofiicial Fan site (she’s a Raleigh native and UNC-Chapel Hill grad), or the Koka Booth Amphitheater site.

Anyone in Lochmere can easily ride/walk over to the park via the Swift Creek trail past Ritter Park to avoid the long lines.

If we go, we will be the ones pedaling the 2 kids in the double-seat GoBug.

Would love to hear what the fans think after the show! Hit the comment button below at the bottom of the page to register (and get a chance for a free dinner) to leave your thoughts.

Map below.

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We were looking for a good bakery in Cary. We had tried a few “bagel” places, and supermarket bakeries, but they just weren’t of the level we were used to. Then I was told about a bakery in the Preston area of Cary, so we had to try it out. The bakery is La Farm on Cary Parkway, just north of High House Rd. From the moment you open the door, your senses are overwhelmed. The smells of the baking bread, and treats are so wonderful. There are samples of delicious morsels strewn about the tables.

I was fortunate enough to be able to wrangle an online interview with Missy from La Farm this week. When asked what were the three most significant differences between La Farm, and other local bakeries, she responded.

1. “We are an authentic European bakery lead by one of the greatest bakers in our county.” The master baker Lionel Vatinet hails from prestigious “Les Campagnons du Devoir” Guild in France.

2. Lionel and La Farm have a passion for the highest quality bread and bakery items incorporating local ingredients and flavors.

3. Missy suggested that we try the “new” cornbread soufflé made with historic Yates Mill corn meal!!! Sounds intriguing.

Missy was excited to explain that La Farm was being featured on Rachael Ray’s talk show this year and in the upcoming December issues of Food and Wine and Oprah Magazine – so please watch for your local Cary business!!

The Sourdough bread is not just the bland, white bread you find in supermarkets, but the real deal. It is a three day process steeped in tradition for Master Baker Lionel Vatinet to bake his sourdough bread. It is a stunning mixture of just the right tang, and smoothness coupled with a thick, crispy crust and dense bread. We also tried the La Farm Bread, which transported us to a streetside bistro in Paris, where we were enjoying a plate of bread and cheeses, while sipping a deep Bordeaux and ruminating about the days events.

Just as dramatic as the breads, were the treats. I had a blueberry and raspberry tart that was to die for. It had a creamy smooth filling that mixed with the berries had a wonderful contrast of flavours, and the shell was again a dense pastry that complimented, yet contrasted the sweetness of the filling, with a rich buttery overtone. Est Magnifique.

Everything we tried was so wonderful, I can’t see us ever going back to grocery store bakeries again. If you are looking for other recommendations in the Cary area, please feel free to contact us.

The Amberly Residents center hosted an open house today. We were able to tour the facility to get a preview of what residents can expect. It was absolutely gorgeous, and follows suit to the Amberly community philosophy. I was really impressed with the outdoor amenities, as well as all of the indoor activity facilities. As you can see from the photos, there are two large pools. One is your standard Jr. Olympic lap pool with several lanes and large adult wading section off to the side. The second pool is a kid’s (and some adults too) dream. It has huge slides, a play structure, and an island in the middle to jump in from. There is a also a good sized outdoor play structure with swings, and a small soccer field (football pitch for you enthusiasts). Moving inside, there is the standard fitness area, with customary aerobic equipment and weights, but Amberly has stepped it up a notch. They have also included a full gymnasium, with several basketball courts, including the painted lines on a hardwood court. For the not so athletic type, or those who just want to chill out, the have several nice features for different age levels, from a nicely appointed lounge with flat panel TV and a warming kitchen to a Teen’s lounge that features movies and a pool table. They also have a separate room for younger children, with supervised activities (translated childcare) while the parents enjoy the club’s other amenities. To wrap it up, I am very impressed with the thought (and expense) that Amberly has put into their Resident’s Center. It is truly an asset to existing residents, and a great selling point for prospective residents. Click here for more Amberly photos. If you are interested in moving to any of the Amberly communities, please contact us. We would love to to work for you.

Baby Boomers have done it again. Where are they doing it? The newest resort-style Active Adult community in North Carolina is Cary’s Carolina Preserve by Del Webb. These communities are geared toward living it up.

The boomer generation has infused their energy and spirit into the “retirement community”. No longer is it that you can retire and simply fade into the wall paper. Boomers are retiring 55 years young, healthy and active. They need a residential community that keeps up with their active lifestyle.

Carolina Preserve is a somewhat utopian development. It’s an age restriced active adult community, with plenty of outdoor focused activities as well as a huge indoor recreation club. Carolina Preserve is nestled in the larger Amberly Development (PUD). This creates the possibility of a unique living arrangement: having the kids and grandkids nearby, but not necessarily right next door, or even in the next room. This allows the family to be close, yet independent.

Rama wrote up a nice description on the prior blog. For a detailed view, go take a look at his post covering Carolina Preserve from earlier this year.

The Town of Cary will soon start construction on a new town park that will open in the Fall of 2007. We recently moved to Cary from Hilton Head Island, SC. We are so thrilled that you can actually enjoy the outdoor amenities here. At the coast we could never sit outside and enjoy the beautiful surroundings, because you would be eaten alive by the noseeums.

The Town has recently announced it has approved a new park at Walnut Street and Lawrence Road, in the heart of Cary. Designed by Raleigh-based OBS Landscape Architects, the park will include nature trails, two playgrounds, one for toddlers, and the other for kids ages 5-12, picnic shelters, restroom facilities, a boardwalk over a small stream. An 800-foot brick promenade, designed by Arizona-based public artist Barbara Grygudis.

From looking at the conceptual drawings, this park looks like an ideal place to kick back and get away from the stresses of real life. With lots of walking trails and open space, I can’t wait to take my kids to ride bikes and fly kites. The lost art of spending quality time with the family.