C.A.R.E (Council for Ageless Residential Environments) doing a fundraiser to support the Sassafras accessible playground in Raleigh

 The newly formed CARE (Council for Ageless Residential Environments)  of the Raleigh/Wake County Homebuilders Association is planning a fundraiser on March 15th at NeuWave Systems from 5:00 – 8:00pm.  A $25 ticket gets you BBQ, beer tastings from local breweries and participation in an auction being held that evening.  Part of the proceeds will go to  Sassafras,  a planned accessible playground in Raleigh. Please watch the video to learn more.


Sassafras: accessible playground


 Please call me 919 931-1939 or text or email me Karen@AccessHomesNC.com for more information or to buy tickets.

Accessible Home & a Love Story

Dual roll under sinks

    Every fall, Wake county has the Parade of Homes where the builders put out there very best examples of their work for the public to come out and see. The homes are judged by the Home Builders Association and win prizes. The majority of these homes are for sale (95%). This fall there was a very unique & beautiful home that was featured on the Parade. This home was not for sale, in fact it was built specifically for a couple with unique needs. This home was not your average home in that it was valued at 2.5 million dollars. It also was not just an average home because it had an amazing story behind it.




Through my coworkers at Go Realty, I was  lucky enough to meet the owners and learn the heart warming  story behind the home. Because of my specializing in accessible homes they knew I would want to meet them. The home was built for Shane and Jennifer who both have Cerebral Palsy from birth. Shane uses cruches to help him walk and Jennifer does not need canes but still has her struggles. The home was build & designed with many Universal Design elements in mind. There is an elevator from the 1st to the 2nd floor. The doorways are at least 36 inches wide. The halls are extra wide. In the master bath room there are roll under sinks and a roll in shower.

                         

               Built in bench & hand held shower head

Zero threshold roll in shower

 There are several zero step entries into the home. There is a ramp outside from the screened in porch out to the pool. All the rugs are recessed into the hardwood floor to prevent trip hazards. In all my years of specializing in accessible homes, I had never seen this! The hardware throughout the house is the easy grab and lever type. The tub in the master is an air tub rather than a whirl pool Jacuzzi type because it is healthier to circulate air rather than old water that remains in the tubing inside the tube. Not much was over looked.

                                       

Inlaid or recessed rug into hardwoods

   So back to the heart warming story behind the house. It was actually Shane's  dad who built the house for them. Shane and Jennifer have only been married one year. They met in church.  Having both grown up with CP, they had alot in common, they connected and fell in love.

   It is true that not many newly weds get such an amazing gift of a 2.5 million dollar home built specifically for their needs. Shane is an only child and his dad who was a high school drop out and had a sever stuttering problem built a printing empire and sold the company for an amazing profit. He wanted to give something of meaning to his son & daughter in law. What better than a custom home? Home is where the heart is!


There is one more twist to this love story. Jennifer had been a special ed teacher in Wake county for many years. She also has always loved dance and grew up taking lessons  and performing despite her  disability and how it impacted her mobility or maybe because of it. She now would like to teach special needs children to dance and there is a studio in her new home where she can do just that!

Honored by an article in my local paper

I am honored and tickled pink that there was an article written in my local paper about my niche in real estate and what I do. The title is "No barriers to a dream home".  My mission is be of serve to the WHOLE disability and "aging in place" community. Hopefully the article will bring more business my way but as quoted in the article, "It's very rewarding; it's not about the money. It's more about helping people find the right home that's going to work for them."

This is a link to the article.

Cary News article

 I do, what I do because it comes from my heart. I have always been around people of "different abilities". My sister was born deaf and due to the effects of Rubella she was more fragile than most kids plus she could not speak their language. When she died in 1983. After this, I threw myself into work in the Deaf community. I learned to respect their culture and love ASL, their language. It is sad to admit, but my signing skills improved  after she died. It was because of the immersion. I was the best signer in my family but when I went to her school ( Austine School for the Deaf), I have vivid memories of saying to her friends "Say it again, slowly". Immersing yourself in a culture teaches you quickly. I owe a lot of who I am today to my sister Susan and my experiences growing up with her.

Susan, in some way, prepared me to be Joshua's mom (my youngest son). Joshua has autism. He is high functioning and fully included in school, but he will always struggle with his autism, social things and emotions. There have been times in his life when he exhibited classic autism: not talking till the age of 4 1/2, flapping his hands, biting himself, talking to himself with rote scripts, ect. Because of inclusion, he has done very well. He has incredible gifts to share. He is very gregarious for someone with autism and the kids in school genuinely like him. He is not afraid to stand up in front of a crowd and do his thing. You should have seen him at his poetry slam at school last year. He ROCKED the house.

Yes I am a proud mom.

Albert Einstein once said, "Everyone is a genius. If you judge a fish on it's ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing it is stupid." I love this quote.

I do what I love: helping people and being of service in my community. It just happens to be focused in real estate.  It seems to have served me well....ten fold.

Moving to Cary or to Wake county with a child with a developmental disability?

 Are you planning on moving to Cary, NC and you have a child with developmental disabilities? I am the Realtor for you! My youngest son has autism and we have been in the Wake county school system since preschool. I can tell you all the good, bad & ugly. Luckily there has been very little ugly and we have been very happy with the Wake county schools that Josh has attended. He is in middle school now and doing very well!  I think I was more nervous about the transition than he was.

  I can only give you specifics about the school we have attended & I can lead you to resources about other schools. Believe me when I tell you talking to "other parents" will be your best resources. A wise early interventionist told me that and she was right.

  Another great tip is ALWAYS do a "positive student profile" for each IEP and ask to read it in the beginning of the meeting. This sets the meeting in the right tone and let the team know that you know your child well and have their best interests at heart. If you need a copy of a "positive student profile" email me and I'll send you one. Also bring food to the meeting (cookies or something) as food always brings people together. The IEP  can be nerve wracking process so being prepared and doing things that help, start if off on the right foot.

  So as I am showing you around Cary and the surrounding area you can pick my brain for resources and gems of knowledge. I will do the best to share from my experience and hook you up with other resources. Moving to a new area is hard enough. Having someone who understands special needs and the system can be worth a million. I hope I can help with your transition here.