1. Acceptance of these terms
By accessing, browsing, submitting information through, or otherwise using this website (the “Site”), you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use, together with the Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimers, Fair Housing & Real Estate Notices, Accessibility Statement, and Copyright / DMCA Policy, each of which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree, your only remedy is to discontinue use of the Site immediately.
The Site is intended for users who are at least eighteen (18) years of age and legally capable of forming a binding contract. It is not directed to children.
2. Nature and purpose of the Site — independence
The Site is an independent editorial, informational, and journalistic resource about the Highgate community in Waxhaw and Weddington, North Carolina, and about the surrounding Union County area. The Site is not the official website of the Highgate Homeowners Association or of any association, board, architectural review committee, management company, developer, declarant, builder, club, school, school district, municipal body, or governmental agency. References to any such entity are for identification, reporting, and commentary only.
The Site is not a multiple listing service, is not an MLS data feed, and does not purport to display a complete or current inventory of properties. Editorial recommendations of independent local professionals are provided as a convenience and do not constitute an endorsement, guarantee, or warranty of any provider’s services, licensure status, pricing, workmanship, or results.
3. No professional advice; no agency or fiduciary relationship
All content is provided for general informational purposes only and is not, and must not be relied upon as, legal, tax, accounting, investment, appraisal, valuation, mortgage, insurance, engineering, architectural, construction, land-use, zoning, environmental, inspection, or real estate brokerage advice. Use of the Site — including submitting the contact form — does not create an agency, brokerage, fiduciary, attorney-client, employment, partnership, joint venture, or confidential relationship of any kind. You should obtain independent advice from appropriately licensed professionals before making any decision involving real property, financing, construction, or residency.
4. No offer or solicitation
Nothing on the Site constitutes an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any real property, security, or interest in real property, nor an offer of brokerage representation. Descriptions of homes, homesites, features, dimensions, finishes, price ranges, taxes, assessments, school assignments, and community characteristics are illustrative, may be approximate or out of date, and are subject to change without notice. Renderings, floor plans, photographs, and illustrations may depict features, options, upgrades, landscaping, or views that are not included, not available, or not representative of any particular property. Square footages and lot sizes are approximate.
5. Accuracy, good-faith effort, and limitations of information
We make reasonable, good-faith efforts to gather information from sources we believe to be reliable and to present it as accurately and as completely as reasonably possible. Nevertheless, the Site is produced without access to, or verification by, any homeowners association, governing body, or proprietary data feed, and information about communities, covenants, assessments, amenities, school assignments, taxes, market statistics, and local regulations changes frequently.
Accordingly, all content is provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE,” without any representation or warranty of accuracy, completeness, reliability, timeliness, or fitness for a particular purpose. Errors, omissions, typographical mistakes, outdated figures, and inadvertent misstatements may occur. You are solely responsible for independently verifying any information before relying on it, including by consulting the applicable homeowners association, recorded covenants and plats, the Union County tax and register of deeds offices, Union County Public Schools, the Town of Waxhaw or Town of Weddington, a licensed North Carolina real estate broker, a licensed attorney, a licensed inspector, and any other appropriate authority.
Correction policy. We welcome corrections. If you identify any information you believe to be inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated, please notify us through the contact form with the page address and the specific statement at issue. We will review the submission in good faith and will correct, update, or remove content where warranted. This correction process is your exclusive remedy with respect to alleged inaccuracies in Site content.
6. Limited license and intellectual property
Except as otherwise noted, all content on the Site — including text, editorial copy, compilations, photographs, illustrations, graphics, logos, page layout, design elements, data selection and arrangement, and software — is owned by or licensed to the Site operator and is protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, trade dress, and other intellectual property laws.
You are granted a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to access and view the Site for your own personal, non-commercial informational use. All other rights are expressly reserved. Without our prior written permission, you may not:
- reproduce, republish, distribute, sell, license, or publicly display any portion of the Site;
- create derivative works from, frame, mirror, or in-line link Site content;
- use any scraper, crawler, bot, spider, or automated means to extract, index, or harvest content or data except by well-behaved search-engine crawlers that honor our robots directives;
- use Site content to train, fine-tune, or ground any machine-learning or generative artificial-intelligence model or dataset, except as expressly permitted in our published machine-readable policies;
- remove, obscure, or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notice;
- use any Site content for competitive, commercial, marketing, or lead-generation purposes.
All third-party names, community names, brand names, trademarks, and service marks are the property of their respective owners. Their use on the Site is for identification and commentary purposes only and does not imply affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement in either direction.
7. Acceptable use
You agree not to use the Site to:
- violate any applicable federal, state, or local law or regulation;
- infringe or misappropriate any third party’s intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or contractual rights;
- submit false, misleading, defamatory, harassing, discriminatory, obscene, or unlawful content;
- impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation;
- transmit malware, engage in denial-of-service activity, probe or test the vulnerability of the Site, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to any system;
- interfere with the proper functioning, security, or availability of the Site;
- collect or harvest personal information about other users;
- send unsolicited commercial communications through any Site feature.
8. Submissions through the contact form
The contact form is the only communication channel offered by the Site. Submissions are transmitted to a designated recipient inbox. Do not submit sensitive personal information, government identifiers, financial account numbers, health information, credentials, or information you consider confidential. Internet transmission is never perfectly secure, and no confidentiality is promised or created by any submission. We do not guarantee that any submission will be received, read, or answered, or that any response will occur within any particular time.
By submitting information, you represent that it is accurate, that you have the right to provide it, and you grant us a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use, store, reproduce, and disclose the submission as necessary to respond to your inquiry, to operate and improve the Site, and to comply with law. Feedback and suggestions may be used without restriction or compensation. You further consent to being contacted by electronic mail in response to your inquiry.
9. Third-party links and independent professionals
The Site links to third-party websites, including websites of independent local real estate, construction, design, and technology professionals. Those sites are not under our control. We do not endorse, monitor, verify, or assume responsibility for any third-party content, product, service, license, pricing, workmanship, privacy practice, or business conduct. Any transaction, engagement, or relationship you enter into with a third party is solely between you and that third party, and we are not a party to it and bear no liability arising from it. You should independently verify licensure, insurance, references, and terms before engaging any professional.
10. Disclaimer of warranties
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SITE AND ALL CONTENT, FEATURES, AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS,” “AS AVAILABLE,” AND “WITH ALL FAULTS,” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, QUIET ENJOYMENT, ACCURACY, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, TIMELY, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY DEFECT WILL BE CORRECTED. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, CREATES ANY WARRANTY. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO SOME EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
11. Limitation of liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE SITE OPERATOR OR ITS OWNERS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS, LICENSORS, OR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR ENHANCED DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, PROPERTY VALUE, OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SITE OR ANY CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, STATUTE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE WERE ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DECISION MADE OR ACTION TAKEN IN RELIANCE ON SITE CONTENT, INCLUDING ANY PURCHASE, SALE, LEASE, FINANCING, CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION, RELOCATION, SCHOOL-ENROLLMENT, OR INVESTMENT DECISION. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SITE SHALL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US$100.00). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY, SO SOME LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
12. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Site operator and its owners, officers, directors, members, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, proceedings, losses, liabilities, damages, judgments, settlements, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to (a) your use of the Site; (b) your breach of these Terms or any incorporated policy; (c) your violation of any law or of any third party’s rights; or (d) any content or information you submit.
13. Release
To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release the Site operator and its affiliates from all claims, demands, and damages of every kind, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with disputes between you and any third party encountered through the Site, including any independent professional, homeowners association, seller, buyer, builder, or lender.
14. Dispute resolution; binding arbitration; class-action waiver
Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to the Site or these Terms shall first be addressed through good-faith informal resolution: you agree to notify us through the contact form and to allow sixty (60) days for resolution before commencing any formal proceeding.
If the dispute is not resolved informally, it shall be resolved exclusively by final and binding individual arbitration administered in Union County or Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, under the rules of the American Arbitration Association then in effect, before a single arbitrator, with the Federal Arbitration Act governing arbitrability. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court instead, and either party may seek injunctive relief in court to protect intellectual property rights.
YOU AND WE EACH WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND ANY RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. THE ARBITRATOR MAY AWARD RELIEF ONLY IN FAVOR OF THE INDIVIDUAL PARTY SEEKING RELIEF AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT NECESSARY TO PROVIDE THAT PARTY’S INDIVIDUAL CLAIM. If this class-action waiver is held unenforceable as to any claim, that claim shall proceed in court and all other claims shall remain in arbitration.
15. Time limitation on claims
To the extent permitted by law, any claim arising out of or relating to the Site or these Terms must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim accrues; otherwise it is permanently barred.
16. Governing law and venue
These Terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Subject to the arbitration provision above, you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Union County, North Carolina.
17. Modification, availability, and termination
We may modify these Terms at any time by posting a revised version with an updated effective date. Changes take effect upon posting, and your continued use constitutes acceptance. We may modify, suspend, restrict, or discontinue any part of the Site at any time without notice or liability, and may terminate or restrict your access for any reason, including any suspected breach of these Terms.
18. General provisions
If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them freely. These Terms, together with the incorporated policies, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Site and supersede all prior understandings. The disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnity, release, arbitration, and governing-law provisions survive termination. Headings are for convenience only. Nothing in these Terms creates any third-party beneficiary rights except in favor of our affiliates and licensors.
19. Contact
All notices, questions, correction requests, and legal communications must be submitted through the contact form. These Terms are effective as of August 1, 2026.