Abbington - in Harrisburg off Rocky River Rd near the intersection of Harrisburg Road. Multiple builders of semi-custom to customs homes.
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Prices start in the high 400’s and go up to about 1 million. Lots are nice size and many basement lots are available. Pool community. 2 phases. The one closer to the road is the cheaper area. Most homes are all brick but there are some in the front section that have siding on 3 sides. Many with 3 car garages. There is a berm along Rocky River Rd that is heavily landscaped and maintained. Very convenient to shopping and highway 49 and I 485.

Neighborhood is probably about 3/4 complete. I thought they were finishing up and they opened another section in the Woods at Abbington which is the interior portion that is the higher priced homes. Neighborhood has sidewalks, and traffic circles. There is a separate construction entrance for now that is accessed off Hickory Ridge Rd. Yards are well maintained throughout. Lots of restrictions for fencing, exterior buildings etc. but nothing out of the ordinary.

Abbington is located in Cabarrus county near the Lowes Motor Speedway and Concord Mills shopping center. It is only about a 30 drive to the center city of Charlotte and only 10 minutes or so to the new Kannapolis Research Park that has just opened and developed by Billionaire David Murdock.

Leesa about Charlotte NC Real Estate and Charlotte Real Estate subdivisions and Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate.

My wife and I live in the northern part of Charlotte, NC - only around seven miles south of Huntersville and around ten miles south of Lake Norman.

Today was my wonderful wife’s birthday so we made a day of it. But, for dinner we went to a great restaurant we have heard a lot about and wanted to try for a really long time = Mickey & Mooch. It is near Birkdale (a great little place we go a lot and I have written about on here earlier) off of exit 25 on I-77. Only about eight miles north of our home. Mickey & Mooch is in a great spot with a large pond and green fountain for a view with a beautiful little walk way around the pond.

We ate in the club room which was a much smaller and intimate room… much quieter than the rest of the restaurant. It is definitely fine dining, a very fancy place in my opinion. Elegant lighting, nice booths, and friendly people. I spoke with the manager when I called to make the reservation and asked him if there was any kind of formal dress code he said: “People eat here all the time in tuxedos all the way to shorts and t-shirts. As long as your money is green then you can wear whatever you want.” I laughed out loud.

My wife had the center cut filet with the oscar topping (bearnaise sauce and lump crab meat) and a side of linguine alfredo. We both started with some excellent crab cakes and I had the lobster tails. I had three regular lobster tails and the other three were cooked “tempura” which I learned tonight basically means fried with some sweet chili dipping sauce. I had some Charleston style grits as a side along with a baked potato. It was all EXCELLENT.

I would recommend anyone to eat at Mickey & Mooch! If you live anywhere north of downtown Charlotte or in Huntersville, Lake Norman, or Cornelius, NC you are not far from the original Mickey & Mooch. If you live in the south or east part of Charlotte you will be happy to know there is a “Mickey & Mooch - the other Joint” in the Arboretum! Try it out this weekend.

[You can read part one in yesterday's post. It is full of predictions, talk about the stadium in downtown Charlotte, and the lowdown on the Bobcats' guards.]

Like I wrote in yesterday’s post, the Bobcats are stacked this year. They’re such a deep team. They will be 10 deep this year without giving up much quality. Check out these forwards:

Jared Dudley = He was a rookie last season out of Boston College. I watched him own a couple big teams a few times (like Carolina and Duke). He is still growing and improving but this could easily be a breakout season for him.
Gerald Wallace = No doubt Gerald Wallace is the best player on the Bobcats! He is our best scorer, best defensive player, and best athlete! He will lead us in scoring and steals. He can get to the basket any time he wants with his explosive step. He’s not the greatest outside shooter in the world, but doesn’t need it when he’s dunking on people.
Adam Morrison = The man who is famous for the stache and used to be famous for the crazy long hair -> He just shaved his head this week! His teammates did not even recognize him. He was our rookie #3 draft pick last year, but didn’t get to play all year because of knee surgery. We expect big things out of him! He is an amazing outside shooter who used to light it up at Gonzaga. He is the type of player who can score 30 or 40 on any given night.
Sean May = Last but not least… He led Carolina to be the NCAA Champions in 2005 and then was the Bobcats draft pick in ‘06. he has had some injury trouble in his first two years in the NBA, but should become a Charles Barkley type player for Charlotte.

As you can see, the Bobcats are a YOUNG team and the future is bright for them with an expert molding Coach like Larry Brown at the helm. Here in Charlotte, North Carolina we can’t wait to see what the Bobcats do this year! They will have a lot of success.

The Charlotte Bobcats built a new stadium in downtown Charlotte a few years ago and it is now called Time Warner Cable Arena. The Bobcats kick off their season this Thursday (October 30th) at Cleveland against King James and his crew. The home season opener is Saturday night, November 1st. There are some great tickets for sale right now for only $10 per seat!!! If you live in Charlotte, NC this is a great option for a fun Saturday night! My friend Zack works in the season tickets office and will definitely give you a great deal if you want some season tickets at a good price.

I am predicting it will be a GREAT year for the Bobcats! Seriously THIS is our year. We were an expansion team just a few years ago, but have been plagued by injuries. This year we have put a team together that WILL make the playoffs! That will be great for Charlotte, NC - to have an NBA team in the playoffs again. (+ you know from my previous posts that the Panthers are definitely having an awesome year & will probably go to the Super Bowl again!)

Everyone in Charlotte, NC is really excited about the Bobcats’ new head coach = Larry Brown! One of the best and also a Carolina guy. If we don’t make the playoffs with him at the helm and the stellar roster we have I will be shocked!

Check out our guards alone…
Raymond Felton - point guard that led Carolina to the NCAA Championship in 1995 and a great scorer for the Bobcats in his first two seasons. One of the best young point guards in the game.
D.J. Augustin - Our top draft pick this year, #9 overall. Probably the BEST point guard in college basketball last year. He led the Texas Longhorns for the past two years and I believe will give Felton a run for his money.
Jason Richardson - one of the most exciting players in the NBA. He’s been in the slam dunk contest several times and is an explosive scorer from the wing. He may be our leading scorer this year.
Matt Carroll - a great shooter off the bench for us. He has been our leading scorer many many times over the past few years. He actually reminds me of Dell Curry who used to play here in Charlotte for the Hornets!

*That’s not the end of it either. The Bobcats go 10 deep this season… at least! Check back later this week to see the fearsome forwards and big men who will don the orange and white this season! (and maybe some pictures of Adam Morrison’s new haircut!!!)

Just a couple weeks ago my Uncle Lynn and his wife Brenda celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and they arrived in the same style car he had when they were first married.

We had to celebration at BM Millers old store in Hiddenite, NC near where I was born in Statesville,NC. This store was one of those places where you could buy everything you wanted. From Feed for the chickens to wicks for your lamps and everything in between, Back Millers was the place to visit.

Hiddenite is located 65 miles north of Charlotte straight up Hwy 16 and then just a couple miles back down Hwy 64-70 when you arrive in Taylorsville.

Hiddenite is where a green emerald was first discovered and named after the city. Thus the Hiddenite emerald. Now there have been some others discovered around the world and near where my Uncle Lynn lives they have found the largest Hiddenite emerald ever found, named the Carolina Queen. It’s been valued in excess of $1,000,000 dollars.

Every weekend you will find rock hounds at the Hiddenite mine looking for their piece of the shiny green stone.

My other uncle Maurice (Junior) was a real rock hound and he has all kinds of rocks he found near the location of the Hiddenite Emerald find, but he never found any emeralds, just lots of other quartz stones and arrow heads.

I’ve included a picture of the Carolina Queen and you might want to take a short trip north of Charlotte some weekend to do a little rock prospecting? Let me know, I’ll tell you how and where to look around. I might even go with you…. see ya

On days that the Carolina Panthers have a home game the entire city of Charlotte, NC changes. Of course Bank of America Stadium is packed with all the Panthers fans for the game.

But also everywhere you go there are Panthers fans decked out in their Panthers gear. Every restaurant you go in before or after the game is packed with people in Panthers gear. Even late into the night downtown Charlotte is still filled with Panthers fans who are still hanging out downtown after the game! They are all at restaurants or celebrating on the streets, etc…

All day long on game day on I-77 or I-85 in both directions you will see cars driving in both directions with Carolina Panthers flags on the antennas and back windows. The whole city turns into a Panthers fan zone. This can only do great things for the real estate market in Charlotte, NC.

Yesterday we watched the Panthers come from behind several times to beat the Arizona Cardinals! The icing on the cake was a famous Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith hookup for a 69 yard touchdown! Smith had to break two “sure” tackles and then tiptoe down the sideline for several yards en route to his dramatic, game breaking touchdown. Maybe he stepped out of bounds and maybe he didn’t. But, of course the Cardinals challenged the call. The evidence was far from conclusive so the touchdown stood.

The Panthers finished off the game playing “John Fox football”. They played hard nosed defense and shut the Cardinals down and then ran out the clock on the ground with Deangelo Williams (who had another 100 yard rushing game) and Jonathan Stewart.

Of course the city was buzzing last night. I was downtown a little bit and saw the people celebrating, saw them still wearing their Julius Peppers and Steve Smith jerseys, and saw them happy to be living in a great city like Charlotte with a great team like the Panthers!
Becaue our team is in sole possession of 1st PLACE in our division, the NFC South!

You can read an earlier post I wrote about Carowinds and the Charlotte, North Carolina real estate market (October 13).

Every year in the Fall Carowinds transforms into Scarowinds. They used to shut Carowinds down after the summer was over… maybe around the end of September. But when they started doing Scarowinds, they keep it open every weekend through November 1st.

I grew up going to Carowinds and riding all the rides (as I said in that October 13th post), but I had never been to Scarowinds. Basically, right here in the Charlotte, NC real estate market, is one of the largest Haunted House/Trail/Events you will EVER see! People travel all over to go to a haunted hayride or corn maze or Haunted house, but now they can go to one of THE biggest and best right here in our city! Just another example that a great thing about Charlotte is that almost anything you want to do is right here in Charlotte. It is all right here at our fingertips. Charlotte is a great place to live.

We went with two other couples who are friends of ours to Scarowinds last night. Of course we rode Drop Zone (now called Drop Tower) = the greatest RUSH you can get in three seconds! And we rode Top Gun which is now “After Burn”… and we rode in the front row.

But we also did the haunted, “scary” stuff. None of it was all that scary, but my wife screamed several times and attached herself to me. She gets spooked fairly easily. If you go I would suggest going through the “Corn Maze” and the “Slaughter House” where there are guys chasing you with chainsaws and scary people jumping out of the pitch black darkness to scare you!

If you live in Charlotte and want something to do for Halloween I think you would enjoy Scarowinds! It is open until November 1st. And if you do not live in Charlotte, NC then maybe you should think about moving here! I think I know a really good Realtor…

So what makes a city great? What makes it a major city in the upper class of the cities in the nation? What makes it a great place to live? What makes residents PROUD of their city and makes them want to advise others to live there. What makes someone want to live in a certain city?

Well, playing in a major professional sports championship certainly does not hurt. And definitely having a local NFL team that is good enough to play in the super bowl is a major plus for any city. Who wouldn’t want that in the city they live in?

After the Panthers shut down the Philadelphia Eagles (see yesterday’s post) in the NFC Championship game Charlotte was buzzing with energy, excitement, and anticipation for our awesome home team! We would meet the AFC champion and dominant dynasty team = the New England Patriots.

The team from Charlotte took part in a historic Super Bowl in many ways. This was Super Bowl XXXVIII - also known as the “Janet Jackson Super Bowl”… you know the one with Justin Timberlake and the “wardrobe malfunction”? But the game was historic as well…

The Carolina Panthers could not score a point in the first quarter, but neither could the Patriots. I remember watching it back at college in Florida and I remember thinking the game might still be scoreless at halftime! That would have to be a first for the Super Bowl right? But 24 points were scored in the last five minutes of the half. The Patriots had the lead 14-10.

The third quarter went back to the defensive stalemate, but the game heated up again in the fourth quarter. IT WAS THE HIGHEST SCORING FOURTH QUARTER IN SUPER BOWL HISTORY! Jake Delhomme hit Mushin Muhammed for an 85 yard touchdown! That was the longest offensive play in Super Bowl history. This was possibly one of the craziest Super Bowls I had ever watched. I remember sitting on my friends’ couch watching this game and there was such huge intensity in the room! It was a nailbiter to say the least.

My heart almost jumped right out of my chest when the Panthers tied the game with about 1 minute left! Jake Delhomme threw a touchdown pass to tie it as the game was literally ending. But then the usually reliable John Kasay kicked the kickoff out of bounds which gave the Pats the ball on the 40 yard line! They picked up a few 1st downs. They called time out with 4 seconds left in the game and sent Adam Vinatieri out to win the game for them with a field goal. He had won the Super Bowl for the Patriots two years earlier in the final seconds.

I hoped beyond hope with all of Charlotte that somehow they would miss the 41 yard field goal! But… it was right down the middle and the Panthers had lost the first ever Super Bowl they had played in. It was tough for us all to watch the Patriots celebrate, but we knew that the Panthers were prime time. They were helping to put Charlotte on the map. With such a great team and all that history who wouldn’t want to live in this awesome city of Charlotte?

Glencroft subdivision is located in Mint Hill, North Carolina on the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina. Glencroft is divided into three phases. The first phase of homes were built in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Their price ranges are selling in the ranges of $200,000 - $250,000. The second phase of homes were built in the 1990’s. Their price ranges are selling in the ranges of $250,000 – $350,000. The third phase of homes were built in the years of 2002 to the present and are still being built. Their price ranges are from $350,000 - $600,000. Glencroft subdivision is a well established neighborhood with beautiful private wooded lots. Everyone living in Glencroft is surrounded by back yard privacy. The homes are spread apart and are on anywhere from .5 to 1 acre lots. Glencroft is free from any controlling Homeowners Associations and fees. The neighborhood, though free from the HOA, still is kept up beautifully and maintained by all homeowners. Glencroft is also within ½ mile of Charlotte’s 485 loop around Charlotte making it a very convenient place to live. The evenings are quiet and the skies are lightened up by the beautiful stars and moon. We see the beauty of nature out here in the outskirts of Charlotte. We see deer, bunny rabbits, horses and the great country setting of what Charlotte has to offer. And although we feel a sense of living in the country, we still can be in downtown Charlotte within 20 to 30 minutes.

Deb Robertson on Charlotte NC Real Estate and Charlotte Real Estate information.

The Carolina Panthers were the first professional sports team from Charlotte, NC ever to play in a championship game! (A few years later the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup = the championship for the NHL, and the first professional team to win a sports championship in North Carolina).

With the Panthers’ success, Bank of America Stadium (also known as the Panthers’ stadium) became even more of a focal point in downtown Charlotte. It is of course impossible to miss and quite a sight when thousands of people drive by it every day.

There was still a formidable foe standing between the Charlotte based Carolina Panthers and the Super Bowl = Donavan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles had already been to the NFC championship game the previous two seasons… and lost both times. Now they were back for the third year in a row. Donavan McNabb was possibly the scariest quarterback to face in the NFL. He was impossible to tackle and was of course a double threat to run or pass on every play.

I remember that this game took place in Philadelphia on the same day I had to drive back to college for the second semester of my junior year. I HATED to leave Charlotte because the city was buzzing because of their Panthers. There was an awesome unity and an excitement like never before. We knew we were the underdogs but we were optimistic about going to the Super Bowl! I had to drive to Florida and I had actually had oral surgery the day before and technically was not supposed to drive. But my girlfriend (now my wife) and I tried to leave early enough on Sunday to stop in Atlanta to watch the game that evening. We made it in time to see the Panthers put a HURTING on McNabb and the Eagles and win the NFC championship, 14-3! *We celebrated at her uncle’s house!!!
***The Carolina Panthers from our home town were going to the Super Bowl!!! We were so excited.

When we arrived back at college we definitely had bragging rights over every other city represented on campus because our team was in the Super Bowl. But, we were facing the dominant New England Patriots. i will relive that game from the perspective of a native Charlottean in tomorrow’s post.

[For now make sure you catch up on the posts from this entire week as they recount the history of the Panthers as they made a name for themselves not only in Charlotte, NC but the entire NFL community.]