10 Tips for Yard Sale Safety

If you're planning a yard sale this spring, review and keep these safety tips in mind to better protect your home—and yourself!

1. Never conduct the yard sale alone.
2. Don't conduct the sale inside your garage or leave the garage door open.
3. Lock all the doors and windows to your home and garage.
4. Keep your money in a fanny pack versus a cash box.
5. Empty your money from time to time in your house.
6. Don't let people in your house for any reason (even to use the bathroom).
7. Be firm with people and it's your prerogative to say no.
8. Know what you have for sale, for how much, and where.
9. Calculate all sales totals and change yourself.
10. Watch out for scammers and listen to your intuition.

Local Triangle Real Estate Terms and Abbreviations

Those who aren't familiar with Raleigh and the Triangle area may encounter some unfamiliar terms and abbreviations in the local real estate listings. Here is a handy guide that Golden Realty & Management has compiled to help!

Briar Creek - A commercial and residential area of development in northwest Raleigh.
Capital - Capital Boulevard in Raleigh.
CAT - The Capital Area Transit bus service serving Raleigh.
CH - Chapel Hill.
Crabtree - Generally refers to the area around Crabtree Mall in Raleigh.
DPAC - Durham Performing Arts Center.
DTR - Downtown Raleigh.
Duke - In a home listing, this probably refers to either Duke University or Duke University Hospital.
Five Points - A suburb of downtown Raleigh.
FV (or F-V) - The town of Fuquay-Varina.
Glenwood - Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh.
HS - Depending on the context, this could mean "high school" or it could refer to the town of Holly Springs.
H-T (or HT) - May refer to Harris-Teeter, a popular area grocery store chain.
ITB - Inside the Beltline. Refers to the part of Raleigh located within the circular boundary of I-440 (aka, the Beltline).
JoCo - Johnston County.
Mordecai - A historic suburb of downtown Raleigh.
NCSU - North Carolina State University.
Oakwood - A historic suburb of downtown Raleigh.
OC - Orange County.
PNC - The PNC Arena, Raleigh's largest indoor sports and entertainment venue.
RBC - RBC Center is the former name of what is now the PNC Arena.
RDU - Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
R-LINE - A free bus service in downtown Raleigh.
RTP - Research Triangle Park.
TWC - Time-Warner Cable.
UNC - Refers to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Wade - Wade Avenue in Raleigh.
WCPSS - Wake County Public School System.
WF - The town of Wake Forest (depending on the context).

If you know of any others, please share in the comments!

Our Holiday Newsletter - Hot Off the Presses!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We love this time of year: the cooler weather, being able to gather with friends and family, all the good food, and so many holiday events around town!

We have just published our December newsletter. It features a gorgeous estate home for sale (at an amazing price, we might add), several newly available rental homes, the latest local real estate data, and a few things to help get you and your family in the spirit of the season!

This month we also have a new section where our team of expert real estate agents answer questions from the general public. Take advantage of the free advice! Send your questions to newsletter@goldenrealtync.com for a chance to be published in an upcoming edition.

If you enjoy our newsletter, please share it with your friends. Click here to subscribe and get the January edition delivered directly to you when it is published!