Five Tips to Winterize Your Home

Five Tips to Winterize Your Home in the Carolinas

It is that time of year again!

With freezing temperatures upon us in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is once again time to prepare your home for the winter season.

Here are five tips to help you with the winterization process.

1.  Clean out your gutters. Most leaves have already fallen by now and there’s a good chance they are clogging up your gutters!  Not only do clogged gutters affect drainage, but they are also very heavy and can cause unwanted damage to your home. Water that freezes in the gutters against your house can also create ice dams and cause water to drip into your house.

2.  Close the vents. I’m talking about the vents on the outside of your home, particularly if your home has a crawl space! Shutting the dampers on the outside of your home helps prevent the pipes under your home from freezing.

3.  Check for leaks around your windows and doors. Check out this factoid from the Allen Tate Company Blog: “According to EarthWorks Group, the average American home has leaks that amount to a nine-square-foot hole in the wall...that’s a lot of cold air coming into your home during those winter months!

4.  Disconnect hoses and insulate your spigots. Outdoor faucets are exposed to freezing temperatures during the winter, and they are a direct conduit to the pipes beneath your home. Freezing and thawing water expands and contracts, putting tremendous pressure on your pipes that could cause them to burst, resulting in costly water damage and repairs. By disconnecting hoses and insulating outdoor spigots with a foam sleeve, you’re reducing your risk of burst pipes.

5.  Set your heat to at least 55 degrees. This is, of course, if you are taking a holiday trip out of town. You may also want to turn on your faucets just enough to produce a very slow drip as another safeguard to prevent frozen pipes...and water damage!

About the Author:
Jimmy Grappone is a Realtor® living in the Charlotte area for nearly a decade. His hobbies include fishing, playing golf, watching football, and helping his clients find their way home. Jimmy is a licensed Realtor® with Allen Tate Company in North Carolina and South Carolina. He is passionate about helping his clients find shelter and having a good time along the way!

Contact the Author:
Social Media: @jimmygrappone
Online: www.jimmygrappone.com & www.itsjimmyon.blogspot.com
Email:  Jimmy.Grappone@AllenTate.com
Phone:  980-298-9385

Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This blog post isn't exactly an article.  It is certainly not a Top 10 list or tips on winterizing your home (though that's on the agenda).

This post is simply to state what I'm grateful for and to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

I am grateful for my wife, Lauren, and my dog Jack, and the home we share.

I am grateful for my parents who live close by and for my in-laws who are essentially my other parents and friends.

I am thankful for my sometimes crazy, but always caring sister, Kristin, up in Virginia and hopeful we'll someday live nearby again.

I am thankful for my extended family in Virginia and here in the Carolinas.

I am grateful for my friends, some who I see and talk to on a regular basis, as well as those who I can go ages apart from and fall back into step with like a day hasn't passed between us.

I am grateful for my colleagues and for having a career that I love and that excites me and teaches me something new every day, and for the successes I've experienced and those that are yet to come.

I am thankful to no longer work in retail sales -- no offense, T-Mobile -- and to be on the golf course with my dad on Black Friday instead of working.

I am grateful for the all-blue Color Rush Panthers unis.

I am thankful for the undefeated Carolina Panthers, who are 10-0 this season heading into today's Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys.

I am grateful for the great weather -- 60 degrees and sunny in Charlotte -- and great food and fellowship that will be shared with family today.

I am thankful to live in the small American town of Waxhaw, North Carolina and to feel safe on a day-to-day basis despite the chaos taking place in this crazy world.

I am grateful to be alive and to live, laugh, and love, because that is what life is all about.

And I am thankful for you all -- my readers, my supporters, my friends and family, my clients, my neighbors...

And I am grateful for God and / or whatever reason we get to experience this meaningful life!

Thank you all!

About the Author:
Jimmy Grappone is a Realtor® living in the Charlotte area for nearly a decade. His hobbies include fishing, playing golf, watching football, and helping his clients find their way home. Jimmy is a licensed Realtor® with Allen Tate Company in North Carolina and South Carolina. He is passionate about helping his clients find shelter and having a good time along the way!

Contact the Author:
Social Media: @jimmygrappone
Online: www.jimmygrappone.com & www.itsjimmyon.blogspot.com
Email:  Jimmy.Grappone@AllenTate.com
Phone:  980-298-9385

An Open Letter to Anyone Who Asks Why I Am a Realtor®

My name is Jimmy Grappone and I am a Realtor®. 

I work in the Allen Tate Realtors® Charlotte-Ballantyne office and I serve both North and South Carolina from Indian Trail to Indian Land, and from south Charlotte to Fort Mill, Weddington and Waxhaw.

I joined Allen Tate Realtors® in September 2013, not long after getting married and earning my North Carolina real estate license.

I was previously licensed in Virginia about 10 years earlier and I was looking for an opportunity to not only support my new family, but to help my new family to thrive, to pursue a career I am passionate about, and to make a positive impact on as many other families and individual lives as possible.  

I had a good feeling that working as a Realtor® was what I was looking for, and I could not have made a wiser decision.

A Lasting Impression

My 7th-grade English teacher, Ms. Wanda Erickson, told my mother two things that have remained with me.  First, was that I was an outstanding writer and communicator.  Way back then I loved to write and I was already well versed in the gift of gab.  Secondly, she said that I would make a difference in the world.

I’ve sought to make Ms. Erickson a prophet ever since and that is precisely why I do what I do.

It's fitting I chose the company affiliated with the hometown NFL team.

Two things that those who best know me know about me are: A) I love sports and B) I love to talk about and to write about sports.  When sports are the topic of conversation, there’s nobody I won’t talk to.

When it comes to real estate, I am exactly the same way.

I wish for everyone to be able to find their path to happiness, meaningfulness, and success, and I feel truly blessed to have found mine.

I am grateful to everyone who has allowed me an opportunity to work as their Realtor® in my first few years in the real estate business.

I can't wait to continue helping countless more people in the months, years, and even decades to come.  

A Call To Action

However, YOU are the key to my continued success.  

YOU there reading this blog or watching this video.  YOU who I grew up with or played sports with. YOU who I went to school with or lived with. YOU who I have worked with, worshiped with, or stayed out a little too late with.  YOU whom I have already served as your trusted adviser.

YOU are the difference.  

I am not working only to earn your direct business, but also to earn your endorsement.

Your referrals and your reminding friends and family, co-workers and colleagues, your neighbors and your network that you know a great Realtor® who will be their advocate, who will work tirelessly to help them find and purchase their new home, or to market and sell their existing property.

YOU are the reason I am able to continue doing what I do, and I am thankful for the role you play in my continued success.

So, thank you for your continued support and please allow me to help support the endeavors that are most important in your life.

Because the only way to pay it back, is to pay it forward.

Sincerely Yours,

Jimmy Grappone

About the Author:
Jimmy Grappone is a Realtor® living in the Charlotte area for nearly a decade. His hobbies include fishing, playing golf, watching football, and helping his clients find their way home. Jimmy is a licensed Realtor® with Allen Tate Company in North Carolina and South Carolina. He is passionate about helping his clients find shelter and having a good time along the way!

Contact the Author:
Social Media: @jimmygrappone
Online: www.jimmygrappone.com & www.itsjimmyon.blogspot.com
Email:  Jimmy.Grappone@AllenTate.com
Phone:  980-298-9385

Spotlight Shines a Little Brighter on Uptown Charlotte for Monday Night Football Contest

Cam Newton celebrates a touchdown vs the Philadelphia Eagles on October 25, 2015. (Jeremy Brevard/USA Today Sports)

Not since September 2012 has the national media spotlight shined as brightly upon Charlotte, North Carolina as it will tonight.

In September 2012, Charlotte hosted the Democratic National Convention ahead of the U.S. Presidential election.

Tomorrow may be Election Day, but in 2015, the focus is not on politics, but rather on sports as the undefeated Carolina Panthers get set to play their second prime-time game in as many weeks.

Last week, the Carolina Panthers hosted the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football in the second game of a four-game stretch considered by many experts to be their toughest stretch of the season.

The Panthers won that game, 27-16, before a national audience.  

Even though the attention is on Charlotte's professional football team during prime time for the second week in a row, local politicians and businessmen are concerned with more than just the outcome of the game.

For the men and women who run the city, and for all Charlotteans, tonight's broadcast is an opportunity for the City of Charlotte to shine on the national stage.

Folks who live in and know the area will see many familiar sights during the game.  Fortunately, according to the Charlotte Observer's preview of tonight's Uptown festivities, ESPN camera crews took many of their beautiful shots of Uptown Charlotte over the weekend before the heavy rain settled in:

"ESPN, the Panthers and Wells Fargo, which owns the skyscraper, coordinated so crews could take nighttime shots of the building bathed in blue over the weekend, Wells Fargo spokesman Josh Dunn said.

Monday night, an employee will control the lights from a laptop while in a stadium press box, he said.

The building will glow in red, white and blue during the National Anthem. Each time the Panthers score a touchdown, the building will light up blue. And when the game ends, the top of the building will shine a blue “V” for victory – if the team wins, of course. If they lose, the building will just stay lit in blue." -- Jonathan McFadden: 704-358-6045, @JmcfaddenObsGov

Entering the game with a record of 6-0, Carolina is the last remaining undefeated team in the NFC.  Their guests are the Indianapolis Colts, who have had a disappointing start to their own season with a 3-4 record.

Somehow, the Colts' record is good enough for first place in the struggling AFC North.  Carolina has a two-game lead over the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South.

So tune in to the game tonight -- along with the rest of the country -- to watch a showdown between former No. 1 overall draft picks in QBs Andrew Luck and Cam Newton, but also take notice of the Charlotte skyline and listen to what the commentators have to say about the Queen City of the South.

Then put yourself in the shoes of an executive who is considering relocating her company to Charlotte or a college senior who is debating where to move in six or seven months for his first post-collegiate job.

When you think of it that way, tonight's game is about more than just football and gridiron X's and O's.  It's also about Charlotte putting its game plan for success on full display.

Regardless of the final score, tonight will be a Chamber of Commerce night for Charlotte.

My Prediction: Carolina 31, Indianapolis 20

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article42174816.html#storylink=cpy

About the Author:
Jimmy Grappone is a Realtor® living in the Charlotte area for nearly a decade. His hobbies include fishing, playing golf, watching football, and helping his clients find their way home. Jimmy is a licensed Realtor® with Allen Tate Company in North Carolina and South Carolina. He is passionate about helping his clients find shelter and having a good time along the way!

Contact the Author:
Social Media: @jimmygrappone
Online: www.jimmygrappone.com & www.itsjimmyon.blogspot.com
Email:  Jimmy.Grappone@AllenTate.com
Phone:  980-298-9385