If you are looking for a restaurant that perfectly captures the taste and feel of South Louisiana, you have to check out Gator Cove! Gator Cove is 100% Louisiana, combining delicious Cajun food with an exciting atmosphere filled with gators, deer and peacocks. Gator Cove gives its patrons a taste of what Cajun country really is.

The building in which Gator Cove resides was initially built in the early 80s as a garage.  Aubrey and Bonnie Henderson built the garage to house their Bluebird bus; however, the screeching of metal upon metal as Mr. Henderson tried to park the bus proved that the garage wasn’t tall enough for the bus.

The Hendersons had to find a new purpose for their garage.  Since they already owned a barbecue lodge, they decided to expand their business.  In 1982, Gator Cove was opened up in the Henderson’s garage.  Since then, both the building and the menu have grown to accommodate larger and larger crowds hungry for some Cajun cookin’.

As a homestyle restaurant, Gator Cove caters to all things Louisiana, specializing in barbecue, fresh seafood, crawfish, succulent steaks, po’ boys, and more! The menu has something to please the entire family, including plate lunches, children’s dishes, and an assortment of delicious desserts. A full catering menu and party rooms are also available for those hosting parties or other special events.

Gator Cove, like all local seafood restaurants, is booming with business this crawfish season, but mud bugs aren’t the only thing bringing in customers.  It’s the entire Cajun menu, the fun and welcoming atmosphere, and the friendly service that Gator Cove has to offer.  Stop by for lunch or dinner and see what Gator Cove has in store for you!

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Originally posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

The Acadian Home Builders Association (AHBA) is proud to announce the 2016 installation of their annual Home and Lifestyle Show!  On Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6, over a hundred local exhibitors will showcase new and exciting home products and services.  The Home and Lifestyle Show is your chance to see the latest and greatest in building materials, floor treatments, appliances, new trends in decorating and much more!

Attendees of the show will also have access to exclusive tips and tricks given by local businesses: watch cooking demonstrations from E’s Kitchen, get a free health screening and consultation provided by local physicians and companies at the Healthy Living Pavilion, and attend educational seminars given by Doug Ashy Building Materials & Dunn’s Furniture & Interiors.

If your children will be tagging along, be sure to bring them on Saturday, March 5 from 1 PM to 5 PM for Family Day, featuring the Games 2 Geaux ultimate video game experience!

The whole event will be kicked off by the third annual Courir Charité 5K at 8:30 AM on Saturday, March 5.  The run will lead participants through the lovely Saint Streets area of Lafayette before bringing them back to the Cajundome Convention Center for the opening of the show.  Proceeds from Courir Charité 5K will benefit local charities such as Faith House, Lafayette Habitat for Humanity, and St. Michael’s Center for Veterans.  Click here to register!

You can’t miss out on everything the Home and Lifestyle Show has to offer!  Buy your tickets at the Cajundome Box Office now! 

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Originally posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

 

Remember landscape mode?

Back when it launched, Apple made a big deal out of the fact you could turn your iPhone sideways and get a different view of an app. These days, many of us keep rotation lock on and don’t switch to landscape mode unless we’re watching videos. If that sounds like you, you’re missing out on some useful features.

In most cases, when you flip your phone into landscape mode, you get the same view you see in portrait mode, just sideways. But every once in a while, something great happens and you’ll get a whole new interface, packed with useful features and options you don’t see in portrait mode. Some of these tips are old news, and they’re a little dependent on which phone you have, but some of these even a seasoned iPhone user may have missed.

Calculator Turns Into a Full Scientific Calculator

This is an oldie that’s easy to forget if you don’t use the calculator every day. Open up calculator and you’ll see, well, a boring old normal calculator. Flip it horizontally and you get a full-blown scientific calculator. This means you get access to features like squares and square roots, a memory slot, cubes and cube roots, and good old sine, cosine, and tangent. It might not suffice for that advanced level college math class, but it’s useful enough for the rest of us.

Safari Gives You an Easy-to-Glance Through Tab View and Lets You Search Open Tabs

When you open the new tab menu in Safari when you’re in landscape mode, you not only get a new view with a grid of tabs instead of a stack of them, you’ll also get a search box. The grid view for tabs makes it way easier to find a tab at a glance, but if you have a ton to search through, the search tool looks through all headlines of all your current open tabs.

Calendar Gets a Detail-Rich Week View

If you flip the default Calendar app sideways, you’ll get an easy-on-the-eyes week view that makes it easier to see upcoming appointments for the next week as well as your schedule. Sure, you can tap a button on the screen to switch to week or month view, but this is even easier and makes better use of the screen real estate.

The Keyboard Adds a Few (Extremely Useful) Keys

When you’re in landscape view you’ll get a slightly different keyboard. This actually has two incredibly helpful additions. On the left side of the keyboard you’ll get a button with an arrow and a half-circle that deletes everything in a text box in one fell swoop. On the right side, you’ll see arrow keys that make it way easier to navigate to a specific letter in a word without tapping the screen and dragging your finger around to make sure the cursor is in just the right spot.

In addition to these, special landscape views for Mail, Messages, Facebook Messenger, Tweetbot, Weather, and Clock apps are available on the iPhone 6 Plus and iPad. Of course, a bunch of other apps have special landscape views on bigger devices. It’s very likely that more apps that you use regularly have views like this than ones that don’t, so if you haven’t flipped your phone on its side in a while, give it a shot. A fancy new landscape view might surprise you.

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Originally posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

You know that expression about loose lips sinking ships? It holds true for selling your home as well. Sure, there are some things you have to disclose to buyers—such as if your home has lead paint or is located in a flood zone. But there’s plenty more you might volunteer when you would be truly better off keeping your mouth strategically shut.

To help hone your “less is more” attitude when it comes to talking with prospective buyers, here are a few doozies that agents recommend never, ever saying.

“Our house is in perfect condition”

Your home is your castle, and in your eyes it may seem perfect—but don’t make claims that aren’t true. The home inspection may reveal otherwise, and, as a seller, you don’t want to wind up putting your foot in your mouth. Bottom line: There simply is no such thing as ‘perfect condition.’ Every house, whether it is brand new or a resale, has something that needs to be fixed, adjusted, replaced, or improved upon.

“It’s been on the market for X…”

Never, ever discuss how long the home has been on the market with prospective buyers. This info is often listed and available on the home’s information sheet, but bringing it up—especially if the home has been available for eons—can send sellers the wrong message. No one wants to buy a white elephant—and, if they do, it’s probably because they think they’ll be getting it dirt-cheap.

“We’ve never had a problem with…”

If you’re hoping to move quickly, you may be tempted to tell a few little white lies. So you never had a problem with weird neighbors, eh? Or flooded basements? Or vengeance-seeking poltergeists? Realtors agree that your mistruths—however insignificant they might seem—could come back to you with teeth. You’re setting yourself up for potential liability. You may not even be aware of the problem at first, but it could translate into an embarrassing moment upon inspection. So come clean with what you know and admit what you don’t.

“We always wanted to fix/renovate that, but…”

Tempted to mention, “We always thought about knocking this wall down and opening the space for more light?” How about “We planned on renovating this bathroom but ran out of cash”? Mum’s the word when it comes to fixes you intended to address. Nobody cares about good intentions. When sellers point out things they might change, this only alerts the buyer of more upcoming costs for them. Who knows? Your buyers may not even want to knock down that wall or redo the bathroom. So why plant those ideas, along with those dollar signs?

“We spent a ton of money on X, Y, and Z”

Just because you love the Brazilian koa wood flooring you installed throughout the first floor, that doesn’t mean prospective buyers will be willing to shell out for it. The buyer doesn’t care whether you spent $10,000 or $100,000 on your kitchen. They are only going to offer what they feel the home is worth in relation to area comparable sales. So, save your breath, or else you’ll risk sounding like you’re trying too hard to justify your price. Desperation isn’t cool.

“I’m not taking less than X amount for my home”

When it comes time to sell, it makes sense that you want top dollar. We get it! But at the same time, it’s important to be realistic and open to offers within a reasonable range. If you send a message that you are inflexible or not open to negotiating, it may not invite buyers to even try to work out acceptable price and terms as they will feel defeated from the start. Word may spread that you have this sentiment as a seller, and people may start to avoid the house.

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Originally posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

Happy Birthday, George! Today we observe the birth of one of the most influential figures in early American history. George Washington led the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War as Commander-in-Chief and, upon America winning the war and becoming a free nation, became the country’s very first president.  

Okay, enough of the history lesson. We all know who Washington was! And surely we can all imagine the great strength he possessed, the courage required to lead his people to freedom, and the wisdom he gained through these experiences.  

In honor of President Washington, take a moment to read some of his most famous quotes and think about how they apply to you.  Use them to make wise decisions and become the best person you can be!

“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”

“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”

“Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”

“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”

“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”

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Originally posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News