February 28, 2013

The pristine Craftsman home at 204 S. Shaver Street is showing now on OldHouses.com!

Click HERE for more information
This authentic 1928 Arts & Crafts bungalow, originally a duplex and now a single-family dwelling, has LOADS of space, authentic Craftsman features such as plenty of built-ins, wood and tile floors, shady front porches, and many more distinctive features. The gardens alone will blow you away...designed with beauty and simplicity in mind for low maintenance and 'green living' low irrigation needs.  

This immaculate home can be yours for just $129,900.

Check out this wonderful historic home for sale and some of the other beautiful historic homes Salisbury NC Realtor Greg Rapp has listed on OldHouses.com by clicking any one or all of the addresses here:

204 S. Shaver Street ~ Authentic Craftsman Home ~ $129.9K







The Bernhardt House ~ 305 E. Innes Street



There are many more antique homes available in this area of North Carolina. Contact Greg Rapp at 704.213.6846 or via email at gregrapp@wallacerealty.com to learn more the benefits and advantages of living in an historic home in Salisbury, NC


February 27, 2013

WANTED! Vision ~ Ambition ~ & Elbow Grease!!!

(Editor's Note 10/22/2014: This property is now listed at just $44,000!!!) 

FOR SALE > What once was a fine shop/warehouse with spacious parking to the front of the property, with a house and small horse barn nestled into the two acres behind it, is now in need of a buyer with vision . . . and a bit of ambition and elbow grease.  This 2.45-acre property at 1401 N. Long Street, along one of the busy Salisbury, North Carolina commercial corridors, is a two-parcel piece with a combined tax value of $177,259 ~ yet the asking price for this expanse of land and buildings is only $69,000.  The approximately 3100 sq. ft. brick/cinder-block shop/warehouse needs work including some roof and interior repair.


The home to the rear of the property was clearly once a beautiful dwelling but neglect and time have taken their toll.  The approximately 2500 sq. ft. house is in very rough condition, with floors falling through and leaking roof.  Yet, once back in the property where the home sits, one would never know that this property is located along well-traveled Long Street in Salisbury.  The property has a distinctly rural feel ~ the home removed from the bustle of the commercial world.  There is a small horse barn and pond on the property.  A buyer will have PLENTY of work to do to restore this home to livable condition, but the property is priced right at just $69,000 with this in mind.


1401 N. Long Street, Salisbury NC ~ $69,000
1401 N. Long Street is currently zoned UR8 (Urban Residential ) but its location along one of Salisbury's commercial corridors make it the perfect locale for a small business upstart.  Because of the condition of the buildings, no bank financing would be available ~ however there may be an opportunity for seller financing.  The property is being sold ‘AS-IS’ due to its condition.  Nevertheless . . . unquestionably . . .1401 N. Long Street could be a great place again for the right buyer!



Call Salisbury NC real estate agent Greg Rapp, at 704.213.6846, to check see if you are the right buyer for this potentially awesome property with awesome potential!

 

February 21, 2013

SOLD!!! 390 Lake Shore Drive ~ Salisbury NC ~ High Rock Lake!!!

SOLD!!!  390 Lake Shore Drive along High Rock Lake in Salisbury NC!


390 Lake Shore Dr ~ !!SOLD!!
Greg Rapp just closed the deal on this unique waterfront property at 390 Lake Shore Drive in Salisbury North Carolina. The home on High Rock Lake had been totally remodeled with newly insulated walls and a stick-built addition. This lakefront home features beautiful hardwood & tile floors, a luxury kitchen with tile counters, island bar, 2 sinks, and stainless steel appliances. The large living room is outfitted with a stone fireplace, and the bath features marble tub & separate shower. But the best thing about this home, despite its updated HVAC, fenced yard, and 2-year-old metal roof is its spectacular view of the lake!  The home has its own dock & pier, with an awesome deck for relaxing or entertaining!  

!!SOLD!!
!!SOLD!!
!!SOLD!!


Alas ~~! It's too late for YOU to own this Lake Shore Drive property!  

Greg Rapp, one of Salisbury's premier real estate agents, worked this deal to a close, to the satisfaction of both buyer and seller!  

But HEY!!!  It's NOT too late for you to latch onto lakefront property ~ and at a price you won't often find for a waterfront home!


1024 Panther Point Road

1024 PANTHER POINT ROAD Salisbury, NC is a one story, 3-bedroom, home along High Rock Lake in Rowan County.  This 1100 square foot home is built in traditional ‘60’s mid-century style with a its galley kitchen with 16-foot bar opening into the large 24 x 15 living room with brick fireplace! A large 25x20 screened-in porch is perfect for taking in lake breezes.  Another large open rec-room with double glass sliding doors overlooking the lake leads out to a 24x15 covered porch and a huge 30x15 patio.  

The best news? This High Rock Lake waterfront home is for sale at under $200K!  You can just imagine yourself living in your own waterfront property at this price . . . this summer!!!!

Waterfront home for UNDER $200K!!
This solid brick 1960's home sits along 100 feet of good deep water on High Rock Lake.  This home also has its own pier and dock.  The property is filled with picturesque, mature trees ~ absolutely breathtaking in fall foliage season. This home is filled with cosmetic make~over possibilities . . . or is move-in ready to be enjoyed this summer! 

Contact Salisbury Realtor Greg Rapp at 704.213.6846 to snatch up this opportunity to be a lakefront property owner!  

This waterfront home on High Rock Lake will slip away before you know it! Don't let it!!!



February 20, 2013

Circa 1928 Craftsman Bungalow ~ $129,900 ~ Pristine!!!

The Craftsman Movement

The Craftsman Movement (also known as the American Arts & Crafts Movement) emerged in the early 20th century in the U.S. as an outgrowth of the English Arts and Crafts Movement. Its hallmark is a philosophy of honest, simple design expressed in hand-made creations by skilled craftsmen. Long roof-lines, with exposed rafters are the home styles marker, along with tapered piers that support the long front porch so common with Craftsman home designs. Although many of these front porch designs feature hallmark wood construction, many have also been crafted with stone and brick accents and a low profile of natural materials giving the home style an organic feel. Inside Craftsman floor plans have few walkways and the family rooms and kitchen flow from one to the other with a high level of detail focused on functionality along with built-in cabinetry.


If you are the owner of an historic Craftsman home, you appreciate that elements of its original character cannot be duplicated in a newly built house. There is a sense of continuity, a respect for the past, and an admiration of old-world craftsmanship that comes from owning an historic home. On the other hand, an historical home’s scale is often smaller than the modern norm, especially in areas that families use most, such as the kitchen and bathrooms. This is NOT the case in this pristine circa 1928 Craftsman home at 204 S Shaver Street in Salisbury North Carolina. This over 2000 square foot home, (not including over 200 square feet of finished unheated attic space) with 4 bedrooms and two full baths, offers space galore for any family or professional who works from home.

This is the most authentic (4) bedroom/(2) bath 1928 craftsman bungalow we have seen in some time, and is beautifully maintenance free, newly painted, and in gleaming condition!

Originally built in 1928 as a brick duplex in the Arts and Crafts style in the historic Brooklyn South Square District of Salisbury NC, this solid home is now converted to single family dwelling ~  yet its keeps its distinct separate living areas and historic character. The current owner, a professional visual artist, renovated the home to a single dwelling with artist studios on one side, and living quarters on the other, while maintaining the original smooth flow and character of the Arts & Crafts home design. The remodel created private living spaces in one half, enabling the artist to leave her work in the studio part of the duplex and return with ease to the more private living, entertaining, and sleeping quarters in the home. There is a choice, in other words. Not living in the middle of one’s work seems a key way to manage the stress of today.

All the right things have been done to make this as close to zero maintenance as possible. The home features hardwood & tile floors throughout that are in immaculate condition.  Since the fireplace and hearth were so important to the center of the Craftsman home and family, it received special attention. Often made of brick, tile, or rustic river stone, the fireplace with simply constructed mantelpiece might often be framed by symmetric bookshelves or even built-in benches.  The fireplaces at 204 S Shaver Street are in keeping with the Craftsman philosophy, and gas logs heat the 24’ x 12’ great room fireplace. You will find built-in shelving and cabinetry, also a Craftsman trait, throughout this historic home. This bungalow features new wood replacement windows, in keeping with the historic character of the home, but providing energy efficiency.  The conditioned crawl space provides better performance than vented crawl spaces in terms of safety and health (pest control), comfort (warm floors, uniform temperatures), durability (moisture) and energy consumption (vented crawl spaces experience serious moisture and mold problems that can cost homeowners significant resources to repair)

This Craftsman bungalow has been outfitted with a gas tankless water heater, which uses high-powered burners to quickly heat water as it runs through a heat exchanger, and is 22 percent more energy efficient on average than the gas-fired storage-tank water heaters.  This historic home is outfitted with a security system.


In true Arts & Crafts style, the home has a connection with the landscape. With the amazing flow of the home, the kitchen leads to the breakfast area, which in turn leads to a large deck at the rear of the home, overlooking an artistically designed, maintenance free garden and landscape. Outside, the xeriscape gardens are meticulously landscaped, again with low maintenance and energy efficiency in mind. Xeriscape landscapes and xerogardening are defined as “quality landscaping that conserves water and protects the environment”, referring to landscaping and gardening in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental water from irrigation. There is virtually no lawn to mow at 204 S Shaver Street.  The artist designed the gardens, nominated for the City of Salisbury’s Landscape of the Month Award in  2012, with low-water consumption perennial plantings, river rock, and stone mulch, creating an oasis of beautiful  and smoothly transitioning gardens along the front of the home, up the wrap~around driveway, and along the back perimeter of the property and 2-car garage ~ flowing down the south side of the house resplendent with smooth river rock, canna lilies, and other perennials.

This historic 1928 Craftsman Bungalow at 204 S. Shaver Street could easily be converted back to duplex. It features (2) separate HVAC units for each half of the home.  There are two separate front porches and front entries, each with its hand-crafted front door, true to the Arts & Crafts style. The design flow includes (4) bedrooms, two on each half of the home.   Currently, the Master Bedroom in the north suite of the home uses that 2nd bedroom as a walk-in closet system.  The current owner utilized the 2nd kitchen area and living room as studio space.
 
A large finished attic, with its notable eyebrow window, is located in the wood-paneled,  ½ story upstairs that is unheated and not included in the overall square footage.  This enormous, tiled-floor, space is outfitted with more built-in storage and (2) closets. This large 26' x 9' space can be used as a fifth bedroom.

Craftsman Architecture Historical Background
The Arts & Crafts Movement, (dating from the 1880's in England), fomented artistic revolutions across Europe and America: Art Nouveau in France; The Secession in Vienna; Style Moderne in Russia; Gaudi in Spain; Jugenstil in Germany; Mission –style furniture; and Craftsman Architecture of Gustav Stickley in New York. The American form followed the blocky stylization of the English more than the sensual style of the continental Art Nouveau.

Craftsman Style


When you walk into a Craftsman Bungalow,  you’ll find the openness of the rooms, the sense of space, and the rustic or bold-square styling are characteristic of these beautiful free-flowing homes ~ completely different from that of the Victorian houses of the late 1800’s-early 1910's. The Victorian excesses included highly stylistic ornamentation and gingerbread trim, blending an ornate mish-mash of patterns and style. The primary inspiration for the Craftsman style was to look to nature, local materials, local or native building traditions, and to design and construct after the manner of honest craft traditions using iron and copper blacksmithing, pottery, coarse weaving, and rough-hewn materials.

The Craftsman Bungalow style layout emphasizes the horizontal, rather than multiple stories, with focus on family living ~ with the fireplace or the hearth becoming the family center to a degree that was almost mythical.


The Craftsman home is typically one to one-and-a-half stories, with a long sloping roof-line and a wide, sheltering overhang that makes the house appear to nestle into the earth. The porch is often wide enough to feel like an outside room. The woodwork was often heavy and dark, but is usually square or simple rather than ornately built-up in layers or with gingerbread and spindles as in Victorian times. Some versions of the Craftsman Bungalow have beamed ceilings, wainscoting, many built-ins, hand wrought iron or dark-patina brass hardware, and cozy warm-hued lanterns hanging from ceiling woodwork or as sconces along porch or hallway walls.


Master architects of the Arts & Crafts period include Gustav Stickley, who was the premier design maven of the period, Frank Lloyd Wright, who deserves his own category, and Bernard Maybeck and Greene & Greene, who built many Craftsman houses in California. These architects designed the interior furniture as well as the house in order to create a unified design. The mission furniture of Gustav Stickley, while flat and angular by itself, completes the design of a Craftsman Bungalow at a human scale. 

World War I brought to an end the positivism and the philosophical themes of the Arts & Crafts era, although houses continued to be built in that style, with improved building techniques so that Craftsman style bungalows from the later period are well built and have better foundations and basements.

The Remodeled Historic Home


Any remodel in a historical home should appear natural and historically accurate. The successful whole home remodel of a historic home honors its essential character, while adding new spirit and modern convenience. The reconfiguring of the Craftsman Bungalow at 204 S. Shaver Street from its original duplex construction to a single family dwelling was performed with respect to the house and its history ― historically accurate, and tying to the home's essential character.  The open-flow design and smooth room transitions of this historic home work for today’s life styles with respect for the authenticity of yester~years. 

Call Greg Rapp, Salisbury Realtor & Historic Home Expert


Greg Rapp, one of Salisbury North Carolina’s historic home professionals, has a passion and respect for old houses.  Greg says, "Homes, cars, antiques...anything with age possesses a sense of security. An older house feels like a safe place to call home. And the quality construction and character cannot be matched in newer homes."  To see the authentic 1928 Craftsman bungalow at 204 S. Shaver Street for yourself…and the possibilities it presents for living, working, or an extra income (if restored to its original duplex character), call Greg at 704.213.6846.  The ease of maintenance combined with its beauty and character create a a unique and affordable ($129,900) opportunity to make this immaculate, pristine, and special Arts & Crafts home your own.



Circa 1928 Craftsman Bungalow ~ 204 S. Shaver Street ~ $129,900

February 11, 2013

Gardening in Salisbury/Rowan County, North Carolina

Gardening is the most popular hobby, a pursuit that takes so much of you and yet gives so much back. Gardening is an avocation, a passion, a calling. It's getting out of the car after a long day, and finding you can't wait to drag the watering hose, tend tomatoes, and transplant perennials. In the hierarchy of all things important, gardening is very near the top. Gardening teaches the joy of nurturing, the delight of caring for seedlings and plants that depend on you for light, water, and life. Gardening lets you pass along the awe to the youngsters in your life. Together you plant radish and carrot seeds and you get as excited as they do when the seedlings poke out of the ground — not to mention that kids who grow radishes and carrots are more likely to eat them!

The gardening season is around the corner in the Piedmont of North Carolina!  Salisbury/Rowan County is fortunate to have a plethora of locally owned garden and nursery centers to help you fill your garden and landscape needs!  You'll have fun perusing these local garden businesses as you fill your landscape here in Rowan County!

♣ The Garden Greenhouses  (704-636-7208)  4070 Woodleaf Road
The Garden,  located in Salisbury, NC is the Region's largest garden center.   John Sherrill and family have owned & operated The Garden since 1978.  The Garden is committed to the tradition of being the premier provider of quality plants,  trees & shrubs in Rowan County, NC, and extended areas. At  The Garden Greenhouse, they strive to have new, and exciting products that you will not find anywhere else, while maintaining quality, supply and attractive prices.

♣ Rufty’s Garden Shop   (704-636-4742) 1335 W Innes St


Rufty's Garden Shop offers unique, high-end garden products, plants, and supplies. Rufty’s has a wonderful selection of  fountains, statues, pottery, benches, birdbaths, birdhouses, bird feeders, trees, shrubbery, flowers, seeds, unique gifts, holiday supplies, and so much MORE! A Horticulturist/Landscape Designer is on board to assist you to make your surroundings beautiful.

♣ Godley’s Garden Center & Nursery (704-638-0082) 2281 Statesville Blvd
http://godleysgardencenter.com/


Godley's Garden Center & Nursery in Salisbury, NC has served Rowan County for over 20 years with a wide variety of garden greenery, services, and products that add beauty and value to any property. Godley’s offers plants and garden supplies, daily delivery services, hardscaping and water features and other home and gardening accents in our gift shop. Godley’s know-how can help you overcome any garden, landscape or design challenge.

♣ Clines Landscaping (704-636-3240) 2205 Old Concord Road



Clines Landscaping is a full service landscape company that also offers bulk landscape materials such as mulch, stone, sand, and dirt. Clines offers hardscaping material, water features, landscapes design, and paver patios.


♣ Carolina Lily (704-639-0033) 1375 Kern Carlton Road


While not a garden center in the true sense, Carolina Lily is a source of inspiration for gardeners.  The circa 1890 farmplace is surrounded by acres of woodland and cultivated gardens against a backdrop of century old boxwoods and magnolias. Carolina Lily’s cottage shops have charming accessories for home and garden as well as carefully selected gift items.  Carolina Lily hosts many special events, such as Picnic-in-a-Pot or Tea-Party-in-a-Hat, Arts and Crafts shows, Vintage Fashion Shows, Mother’s Day Teas,  and Fairy Frolics for children. Carolina Lily is a perfect spot for unique bridal luncheons, a book or garden club meeting, or lunch with a friend.

Shamrock & Thistle Landscape Design (704-577-9965)

A woman-owned and operated landscape design company that will help you take your vision of your garden spaces and transform them into realities. Sue McHugh of Shamrock & Thistle has designed every form of garden from woodland escapes, to herb and cottage gardens, to formal parterres in the Salisbury area. Customers will tell you that Ms. McHugh listens to clients like no other, incorporating client’s visions into a personal experience. Shamrock and Thistle takes you every step of the way towards realizing your landscaping and outdoor room goals.

Salisbury Realtor Greg Rapp has several beautiful properties listed right now that fit the gardener’s dream!  309 E Bank Street, the circa 1895 Julian Phillips House, is a gardener’s paradise.  Already planted with a profusion of Knock-Out roses, azaleas, and fall blooming chrysanthemums, this charming Victorian home offers even more opportunities for garden charm.  The small brick patio off the side porch with its long stemmed roses is just waiting for the gardener’s touch. 


The spectacular antique and historic home at 304 W. Horah Street, the circa 1852 Thomas T. Maxwell house, features raised bed herb gardens off its side sunroom, and its covered patio is crying for container garden creativity.  Its rolling lawn is the perfect canvas for perennial gardens, hosta beds, and perhaps an antique fern garden.   

The cute little circa 1930’s brick bungalow at 1403 S. Fulton Street has an very large fenced –in back yard with garden potential galore!  The concrete block wall of a neighboring building would make for a very interesting and creative wall garden space ~ creating a courtyard experience in this wonderful space. 

In a world where conflict and strife seem to surround us, gardeners create a space where peace and beauty reign. In a time of rampant selfishness, gardeners set the example of selflessness. For it's impossible to garden only for yourself. All the birds, butterflies, and passersby in your neighborhood soak up the colors and textures you design into your personal nature-scaping. And mostly, gardeners are good stewards of each small patch of earth, knowing they are helping to heal the planet, one garden at a time.

To picture yourself in one of these or another one of Salisbury’s home gardens, call Greg Rapp at 704.213.6846.  Any number of possibilities reign here, with plenty of garden centers and support teams at your service!