30 year mortgage rate 6.33%

With no down payment, you must carry PMI insurance which will add approximately
$80 to mortgage payment, and at 6.33%, 30 year mortgage, payments of approximately $775 a month, real estate taxes approximately $135 a month, and homeowners insurance about $40.00 a month for monthly payments of $1030.00 considering your credit is good and the best place I've found rates is at the Charlotte Metro Credit Union on Central Avenue, near CPCC. It cost $25 to join and is open to all Mecklenburg County residents. If you want to gamble that rates will not go up much in three years you can do a 3 year ARM and two months ago that rate was 4.5% with total payments of $680 with 20% down or $25000. It is stated that banks aren't approving loans without at least 5-10% downpayment.

The last time I re-financed the mortgage I went to Charlotte Metro Credit Union because they had good rates and I was tired of dealing with brokers never knowing who the loan would eventually be sold off to or serviced by. Anyone can belong, just a resident of Mecklenburg County, just by opening a $25 account. Call I am available most anytime for a showing. 704-567-0949.

The backyard.

There is a stream that divides the property, run-off from the city’s storm sewer. The silt deposits after a hard rain or hurricane makes it feel like you are on a beach, but there is no swimming. A few years ago Duke came in and buried the electrical line that comes in at the back of the property. The power line was above water and I got tired of seeing it or to have some child come along and get electrocuted playing around with it. I cleared the back half of the property of brush and tress and planted some one gallon crapemyrtle’s. I believe that is what the wildlife enjoys, because it’s not all overgrown. In the spring it’s great to see the cardinals and blue jays flying around and the dogwood and redbud in bloom. I actually found dogwood seedlings growing and transplanted them and today you’d never know they were only a foot tall when I spotted them. I also raised some wisteria from seeds and planted them at the base of a dogwood but it takes about 8 years before they bloom. I also planted a Southern magnolia that is getting fairly large with its big fragant white blooms.

The parking area.

A friend saw my blog and the picture with the garbage cans and she said “remove it,” but I put it in to show that there is room for 3 cars in the driveway and to also show how the vegetable garden is setup, to the right. Raised beds. The walkway to the backyard was just a graveled slope, left over from the driveway expansion, when I bought the house so I decided I wanted something better. It took many weekends to build the raised beds and set the steps so now going to the back isn’t so ugly. Just wide enough to get the lawnmower down to cut the grass in back. I’ve since added gutters and a down spout to the garage. I used the extra pavement for firewood, but gave it away, when I assumed someone was sincere in purchasing the house, to my neighbors across the street. I have a lot I am clearing north of Raleigh and enough firewood to last me a lifetime.

Warmth for the cold months

When I bought the house the first thing that I thought would go was the fireplace insert, which is cast iron, and the ugliest thing I saw, but relented and was certainly glad I did, when the ice storms hit Charlotte. Since the house is all electric the wood stove insert was the only thing that kept the house warm and I even cooked on it, nothing fancy, but hot food none the less. The parquet flooring in the photo is also in the dining room, second floor hallway, and the master bedroom. Electricity averages $83.00 a month and sewer & water averages $25.00 a month. I have DirecTV, Road Runner in an upstairs bedroom and the security system is with Landtronics and is $20.00 a month.

Second floor

The laundry room is on the second floor, which I like because no hauling laundry baskets up and down the stairs. The biggest challenge was with the master bathroom and closet. The bathroom was divided by a wall and door, separating the toilet and tub from the wash sink, and there was no ventilation for the tub/shower, so I removed the door and wall and where the light fixture was I installed a fan to circulate the moisture when I took a shower. I removed the old sink cabinet and installed a pedestal and new toilet and put down a beige ceramic tile floor after removing the linoleum flooring. The clothes closet was a stumbling block since the previous owners draped a curtain over the “doorway.” The smallest bi-fold door wouldn’t fit so I had to cut the railings down and that’s when I cut off the end of my thumb with a table saw. Ouch! Plus I had to sheetrock the top of the wall. I finally found a cabinet maker who manufactured hotel cabinets to cut the railings down to fit the opening and the bi-fold has worked ever since. I also took the door off that separates the bedroom from the bathroom and installed a bi-fold. It was tougher painting all tho lovers, but.

Sprucing up the outside.

I purchased the house on an assumable mortgage, because I started a new business and did not have a credit history. The exterior of the house was stained brown with blue trim and it had cheap glass in the windows, so I installed insulated tilt windows and primed the house, before I painted it. Do not use Kilz, it is useless as a primer on stain, besides it is hard to clean up. The house sits down off of Santa Cruz Trail, so I used treated 4X4 timbers to make individual beds for perennials because I did not want the rain water to come gushing down the hill, during a hurricane. I changed the landscaping around the house spending many a weekend hauling soil. A garden area is off the garage with enough parking for three vehicles or to stack firewood for the winter. Most of the plant material around the property I raised either from seedlings or root division. I replaced the roof 5 years ago with 20 year aspahlt shingles and the same year the air compressor was also replaced.

Watching the wildlife in the city.

I enjoy sitting at the kitchen table and looking out at the backyard. For ten years there had been a hawk sit on a branch on the dogwood tree looking around during the winter. This summer a barn owl alighted on the same branch, picture. A few summers ago a Heron would come in the summer and try to catch food in the stream and I remember one night, I went out the compost pile and didn’t know the Heron was there and I am not certain who was frightened the most, but because Heron’s wings are large it took it a while to get out. Had raccoons some years ago trying to get into my compost pile so I stopped dumping corn husks and that seemed to make them vanish. For living in the city, there have been instances of wildlife finding their way onto my property. The bi-fold door seen in the foyer is the half bath. I also put bi-fold doors on the clothes closet and pantry, because opening doors seemed to imped traffic flow. The original kitchen stove was a drop-in so I cut away the counter top and put sheet rock on the ends of the cabinets and tiled the floor under the stove. The Formica counter was getting old so I put beige ceran tile on the counters with a tile back splash.