Its been a while since I have posted an entry to my blog, so I thought I would start the new year off by introducing my readers to a cool new money saving website that I stumbled upon. Groupon.com is a website that allows retailers to offer consumers a special deal on their product. The “deal” is only given once enough consumers have agreed to participate. For example, one of my favorite bagel shops, Owen’s Bagel & Deli in Southend (very close to Uptown Charlotte) is featured as today’s special “groupon.” They are offering a 53% discount with a $15 coupon for the price of $7. After 20 people bought this coupon, the special became “active.” Now all of those 20 people will get the deal and any others that buy the groupon today. As I am writing this post, 175 people have already bought the coupon. As you can see, this is a win-win for both Owen’s and their customers. The customers get tasty bagels at a discount, and Owen’s gets additional business that they might not have otherwise had.

I’ve been watching the Groupon.com website for a couple of months now and have seen deals on things like:

Manicure/pedicure
Driving 8 laps in a NASCAR Nextel Cup car at Lowe’s Motor Speedway
New Years Eve Party Package at the Westin Uptown
1 Year membership to the Harvey B. Gantt Center

The deals are varied, but usually very good. Subscribe to their website and you will get an email each day with the newest “Groupon!”

For readers of my blog that don’t actually live in Charlotte, don’t worry, Groupon.com has these deals for other cities across the country. Check out their website to see if your city is included.

Are you wondering if that home or condo you are considering buying in Charlotte is really a good deal? Now you can compare it to recent sales in the neighborhood. You can even search within a specific mile radius of the property you are considering purchasing.

If you are a “do-it-yourselfer” and want to do some research before talking to your Realtor, follow these steps:

Search for property here: Charlotte Real Estate Search
Click on the property you are interested in researching
Click on the “Research” link associated with that property
Next click on “Market Check”

This sequence of steps will give you the address, sale price, and sale date of the most recent neighborhood sales. The “Market Check” tool will also map the properties automatically so that you can see where the sold properties are located in relation to the property you are researching.

Charlotte’s newest indoor/outdoor music venue, the N.C. Music Factory has announced some of its upcoming acts. There are some pretty big names coming including:

The Fray
B.B. King
The Offspring
Jason Mraz
Edwin McCain

Find concert dates/venues/acts on the N.C. Music Factory Facebook Event Page.

This week I was able to get a fully functional property search tool set up on my website. I’m still in the process of integrating it into the search buttons on the website, but the search screen itself works flawlessly.

With the search tool, you can save searches to be notified if something new comes on the market in your search parameters. It also has a cool function called “deal sniffer” that tells you what the average price in a certain area is so that you know if the property you are researching is a good deal or not.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the uptown charlotte real estate landscape is really starting to improve with the additions of new buildings on College Street. Starwood Hotels is opening one of their boutique “aloft” hotels on College Street at The Epicentre. The hotel, scheduled to open November 1st, will be unlike any other in Uptown Charlotte.

They recently launched a couple of websites to help keep interested parties updated. To see what aloft is all about, you can visit the pre-opening website, blog, or main website.

With a few remaining condos available from the developer in Trademark, Boulevard Centro built a new website to help spur extra interest. The pictures on the website definitely help highlight the great views and amenities at Trademark. Take a look at the website and contact me if you would like to take a look at any of the available condos offered by both Boulevard Centro or a Trademark condo owner.

Do you own a condo or home in uptown Charlotte and are curious about what it is worth? There is a new website that will give you an up-to-date value of your home or condo by simply answering a few questions. Check it out here: http://www.condovaluesuptown.com