UPTOWNGIRL

all great pics of the VUE ! Why don't they have an OxBlue webcam again ?? Please, local photogs, keep posting the pictures you take for those of us who live outside of the state!

Looks like the Charlotte Business Journal this week reported-- in the Mechanics Liens section: Mechanics' Lien by Shiel-Sexton for $471,424.00 against Ghazi just filed. Mechanics Lien by Southern Mechanical (HVAC for EpiCenter) - three more liens as well, for over $240,000.00 (listed against his Pacific Ave, LLC)

Don't you think perhaps some of the "tough guidelines" should remain in place? Of dozens, scores of people I know own uptown condos in Charlotte, so so very many have openly sat around and chatted about their "piggyback loans." I was sitting around at a complex BBQ/pool party, and it was as though every single neighbor of mine had done that to obtain financing. Two or three fellas were bragging about how they "knew this great accountant who does mortgages on the side" and got them 103%, even 105% financing -- so that they didn't even need to come to the table with money for closing costs -- or in the case of one guy: 0 down, 0 at closing, and the realtors finagled the sale price so he could get a few extra thousand dollars from the mortgage to buy furniture!! My one very close friend who actually put 10% down on his place, had a HELOC... it was one of those things he got an offer from Suntrust in the mail for their "Access 3" option equity line. During those "exuberant" days, he kept getting letters stating that they raised his equity line of credit. Between what he had put down, plus the rampantly price appreciation, I remember him bragging to me that they had bumped his equity line up to something like $60,000. Boom - all of a sudden he gets laid off from his job - and the next week, his 12-year old car died. Thousands to fix. What does he do? He uses one of those "equity line checks" and buys a $40k car with it! Now of course, he couldn't come close to selling his condo and paying off both loans, but he's still unemployed, works odd jobs, bartends once in a while too... That is the kind of irrational exuberance I am talking about -- and I feel sorry for those people who have 8, 10, even 12% interest rates on the second mortgage and thus haven't even begun to chip away at their principal yet! Those are the sort of systemic problems that caused us to get into this mess in the first place. Think: Casey Serin, the 20-something kid in Cali who ran the blog IamFacingForeclosure.com -- the site is no longer his (he sold the domain name to pay some legal fees) but there is an entire Wiki site dedicated to him: The CaseyPedia Wiki Sadly, I know a handful of people in Charlotte who have done exactly what he has: early twenties, use the equity from house 1 to invest in house 2, use the combined equity to buy house #3 (and then take more money out to refurb house #3 which is a heavily damaged foreclosure they are going to try and flip), and on and on. One girl friend (not MY girlfriend) got so caught up doing that, she now LIVES in the half-fixed up/not quite in such an "up and coming neighborhood after all" house because she couldn't flip it. Sad thing is: she ISN'T 22 years old; she's nearly 40, has an MBA and another Master's degree, works for Microsoft off Arrowood... but has at least one part time job to help pay these mortgages on the other properties -- good for her, a lot of people (like what is happening now in California) would simply walk away from all of them, take the hit and move in with mommy and daddy until their credit score recovered, 3-7 years later. I fully recognize and appreciate the "American Dream of Homeownership" I really do (and I own my home). But too sadly it was greed and a LOT of young, financially unsophisticated (and older, financially unsophisticated people) who fueled this price appreciation. What happened to the good old days of saving up and putting 20% down???

Very excited myself about the G&C Club. I am good friends with some of the managers, and it's a good concept. Seaboard Street extension can't open too soon! Interestingly, the original Garden & Gun Club is here in Charleston, and we have a new magazine that P&C puts out called "Garden and Gun." Definitely for the very elite! Garden & Gun Magazine - an award winner! Click this link for their website.

uptownliving, alas, if this were only the case. I, too, thought this would substantially reduce the train noise but it will not. The ADM plant with their silos operate what is known as a private grade crossing. This private series of tracks cuts directly down the middle of their plant property -- meaning that there is still a grade level set of tracks that will necessitate blowing their horns. In addition, there is a whistle post located just around 12th Street that won't be removed, either. When an engineer sees a whistle post, he/she must blow the horn in a specified sequence, (Long, Longer, Shortest, Longest), depending upon the markings on it. When freight trains come around the corner (beneath the 277 overpass) heading southbound it is a blind curve, and due to the homeless transients that congregate around there it will always be a problem. 2008 YTD, there have been I believe one if not two homeless persons who have been killed at that location already. I have been basically told by the NCDOT that the only way we will see this problem go away is a) the ADM plant closes down; and then B) the City of Charlotte applies to have a federally mandated "quite zone" established, which often costs tens of millions of dollars to implement all of the signals, crossings and life safety features to be added. The city of Cary did this some years ago. The following link is a pretty good read about what Cary had to do: http://www.townofcary.org/pd/pl08-001exh-a.htm City of Cary I too wish this would come to fruition, but there are a lot of factors at play here (including, but not limited to, future improvements and the addition of the north line commuter train... that will literally pass right through there as well).

Pile driving is done. I awoke to it at my place a block away each morning for days ... I also witnessed it... they were just over there the other day placing in the wooden beams to fill between the H-beams that they drove. I don't know - I walk by 1-2 times every day, and I am seeing activity there daily. I know it appears slow going right now, but they seem to be moving along.

As I am sitting in my condo right now with the balcony doors open, I am listening with glee to the loud ping-pinging as we speak !! Today when I was walking home to lunch, the site is on my way home and I stopped and talked to the foreman for a good ten minutes at the site ... the gate was open so I just walked in to take a look! He told me that these will go in quickly (as they are just to support the earth below-grade while they dig down) and not anywhere near as deep as, say, at the Avenue. It's so cool though!

I don't know if this applies, however, this was the whole issue with the number of billboards Adams Outdoor, Gannett, etc., could convert to digital in the Charlotte metro area. I do not see why this wouldn't apply -- there are only so many "permits" for electronic ones, and if a company chooses to start a brand-new electronic one, they have to sacrifice a traditional one elsewhere. I know City Council was taking up this issue; it was deferred but I have not heard anything more on this... Here's the link to the council minutes: Charmeck.org City Council Minutes PDF