It's a sad misconception that Lake Sinclair owners should wait to put their property on the market in spring because that's when people start looking.  Those sellers who wait until everyone who believes that to be true have SO much more competition.  The smart sellers will get their homes on the market now.  Here are my top two reasons why NUMBER 1 Lack of competition on the market.  If there are 10 homes for sale on your street and someone wants to live in your neighborhood they are going to be looking at 9 others possibly.  But if currently there is only 2 other homes on your street for sale... you certainly stand a better chance of someone choosing it. There's not a lot for buyers to choose from out there right now. (supply and demand) NUMBER 2 Buyers aren't waiting for spring.  So f... 01/07/2014

When someone calls our office and says they have property they need or want to sell I explain the process to them.  Then with an appointment I go and view the property/house, take photos, measure, check condition, view neighbors yards and exteriors and take lots of notes.  After I do the physical inspection I come back to the office and sit down with my computer and comb the MLS looking for comparables. Then comes the crunching numbers part.  I make adjustments for those things that are different from the subject property and the comparables.  Then I rate the properties I used as comparables as to how close they were to being a match and reconcile the numbers to come up with a realistic expected sales price and a market price for the subject property. Then comes the phone call or meetin... 01/01/2014

My clients get to keep up to date when searching for listings better than anyone else.  No, I don't just sit and watch my MLS for new listings 24/7, but I do have a search available to my clients that actually does just that for me.  The IDX search checks for new listings in my MLS every 15 minutes.   It does take your email address being entered.  But I appreciate your privacy and your email address won't ever be sold and you'll have a link you can check for new listings anytime of night or day.  You can set the system up to email you new listings as often as daily or choose weekly or monthly.   It functions much like a social media site and gives you the opportunity to "like" and "dislike" listings, photos and even comment on any photo or listing that you might want more information o... 01/01/2014

War Bonds, Stories & Letters from WWII Friday, January 24 8:00 PM War Bonds is a musical journey through a war that redefined the world. This multi-media living history cabaret is interspersed with personal letters from the front and headline news of the period. If you have any family letteres from WWII, please make a copy for The Plaza and your letters may be read on stage. Please have letters to us by January 15th. Tickets are general admission at $10 each. Call The Plaza at 706-923-1655 or Click Here to purchase tickets.   California Dreaming Saturday, February 8 7:30 PM California Dreaming celebrates that brief magical moment in the mid-’60s and early ’70s when American youth migrated to California by the millions and transformed pop culture forever. When well-groomed folk musician... 12/23/2013

It ain't looking great folks, unless you are a buyer.  Buyers must be thrilled at these prices.  Just 4 sales so far this month all priced below $200,000.   The average days on the market are extremely high so far also.  With the low being 106 and the high coming in at 1181 it leaves the average at 566.  Yikes.  Hopefully the month  Hopefully we'll have 4 better sales before the end of the year.  Last December we had 8 closings, so at least at the mid point of the month we are at half that number with 4. 12/19/2013

Well it's not as pretty as October, that's for sure. You can check out my full Market Report for October. But hey we have 5 listings closed and that's definately on target to reach or surpass last November.  Pices are down, but I know know of a couple of pendings that will perhaps close and bring that average up and even the current Day on Market that is way high I expect to come down since I know one closing has very few days on the market.  We had a buyer just waiting for such a property and it was under contract in single digit days.  Look for my full November report sometimes the second week of December. And you can always feel free to stop by the office or give us a call to discuss your property and market conditions.     11/16/2013

Starting with the "just okay" news... we are down to 13 house sales on Lake Sinclair for the month of October.  That's 7 down from September's 20 and 10 down from the 2013 high which occurred back in July.  But Lake Sinclair has always been somewhat "seasonal" to the summer months, so 13 isn't bad.  Of course I would have like to have seen a higher number since we also had 13 in October of 2012.  And with that absorption rate that puts us at 24 months worth of inventory.  Still in buyer's market territory. That is however, still well below the high of three yeas ago at 38 months.  Now on to some better news.... For the second month we are moving in the right direction with days on the month.  Ideal would be 60, stable would be 90 and we're still up at 123.  But that's so far below the ... 11/13/2013

I'm about to head home and make dinner while my Donald carves the pumpkins for display at our office tomorrow.  I'll be up at at em early to be ready for Halloween.  If you have kids or even if you don't feel free to stop by our office for a visit tomorrow.  We'll have warm cookies, candy, punch and a little gift for everyone. We're even going to be staying open late.  We'll be here all day, feel free to stop by anytime.  But we'll be ready for trick or treaters by noon.  And be here until at least 6 p.m. We look forward to seeing you.  We had a great crowd last year and are hoping to have a better one this year.   10/30/2013

The weather forecast is changing. Freezing temeratures are just around the corner.  The low at Lake Sinclair is going to be in the 30s both Friday and Saturday.  It's going to be a short cold snap and it will be re-bounding to the 40s by Sunday night, but it's that reminder that winter is just around and the corner and there are things you need to get done to keep your property taken care of at Lake Sinclair.  If it's a vacation/weekend home it's time to get those things done.  And out in the rural area where I live many homes still have wells.  And your well house needs several things: Insulation Wrapped pipes that exposed A light bulb or spotlight I have also switched many homes from the A/C to the heat today.  Usually in a vacant home I just set it on about 58, that is enough to keep... 10/24/2013

That's right boys and girls, have your parents bring you by Lane Realty on Halloween and we'll help fill up your treat bag.  We'll have a little something for moms and dads too, so even if you don't have kids you are welcome to stop by our office on Halloween and pick up a little gift. Last year we had tons of fun and lots of kids.  There will be warm cookies and punch, candy and a few other treats for visitors that day.  And you can bet there will also be a couple of great carved pumpkins that our own Donald Baker did.  This was one of three he did last year for us. So Bring your children by our office on Thursday, October 31st in the afternoon for a safe place they can trick or treat.  We welcome you to stop by with a car load of children.  Tell you neighbors and friends.  And you are... 10/21/2013

Last year in all of October 13 home sales were recorded in the local MLS for the month.  In 2013 in the first 17 days of October we have 9 so far.  So I'm hopeful that again we will surpass last year's number like we did last month.  And in further good news the prices are certainly up this month, better than last year and better than last month. About the second week in November, look for the full October 2013 market report.  The full report for September 2013.  And anytime you can Google Lake Sinclair market reports and you're sure to find them.  Including the date will get you the latest report.   10/18/2013

Why would you want to live at Lake Sinclair?  Well the best reason I can think of is the peacefulness!  You can't tell me that you don't feel peaceful if you sit and look at this photograph for a minute and then close your eyes.  Can't you feel the warmth from the setting sun?  Can't you imagine the birds chirping and the occasional fish jumping.  The sound of the wind as it crosses the water and little tiny ripples form. When you sit out on your dock on Lake Sinclair you can certainly expect that a couple of fishermen will come by quietly trolling. And more times than not they will strike up a conversation and you'll know their names, where they are from and how many they have in the live well.  In warmer weather you'll see skiers and folks playing on a personal water crafts on weeken... 10/15/2013

Well let me just get the bad news out of the way first... September over the past 4 years looks like a downward staircase.  The average sale price dropped to below $200,000 again for the first time since June.  It was just a little below $200,000.  It was the third month in 2013 that has happened.  A couple of very low prices foreclosures pulled the average way down.  The good news in price is that the 5th sale of a home listed for over $500,000 closed.  The luxry market on Lake Sinclair is still only luke warm though. (a sneak peak into the future tells me a couple more on the horizon) Number of homes sold in September on Lake Sinclair was up 1 from August (which is unusual) and way exceeded any September in recent history.  With 333 homes on the market on Lake Sinclair that means we ... 10/11/2013

On Wednesday when volunteers will be meeting at Plant Branch to participate in a Lake Sinclair clean up day I, like many of you, will be working.  But I have thought about what I can do to help.  I love Lake Sinclair and I make my living selling homes on and around Lake Sinclair.  So I have decided that I'm going to go to the community boat ramp/dock in my community and clean up there after work prior to next Wednesday. And I invite anyone who reads this and lives or plays on Lake Sinclair to do two things to help.  1. Clean up your own space and 2. Don't throw trash into the lake when you are at your dock or out on the water.  It's really a sad shame that we have to have water way clean up days.  It's a sad shame that people have to go along and pick up trash that people throw out of t... 10/04/2013

We recently had buyers looking at properties.  They stated from the beginning they were looking for a small tract of land with little maintenance since it would not be their primary residence.  We had LOTS of homes on our list to show them that fit that category.  Their "friends" however, do live here full time on Lake Sinclair had a different agenda and kept pushing and asking about homes in their neighborhood.  We added some of those to the list. The buyers liked a few things, the friends liked different things.  Eventually the buyers pushed the friends out of the loop and came to our office without their friends.  There were two on our original list that they wanted to re-visit and potentially make offers to purchase.  But sadly they were both pending.  While the friends had been say... 09/29/2013

Well this is just a quick snapshot of what's what in the Lake Sinclair market for September.  We're on target to have a pretty good number of closing again.  More than half of the number last month and already what we had last year for the month of September.  The days on the market are down.  See that low days on the market of 9.  Yup, my office listed AND sold that one.  We've had three listings go pending this week.  We're totally excited about the number of calls we're having as we're approaching fall.  Stay tuned to my posts for a full September market report on homes on Lake Sinclair sometime around October 10th. And if you are in the market or if you are thinking of selling your home at Lake Sinclair, give us a call. 09/18/2013

The not so good news first... sales were down over last month, but the 19 closings in August on lake Sinclair did equal the number we had in August of last year and it's still a pretty decent rate.  Right now that puts us at an 18 month supply, well down from a few months ago when we had a 36 month supply.  And in further good news in looking at total sales from January to August of this year and the past three years it look like this January to August 2010 66 sold January to August 2011 71 sold January to August 2012 110 sold January to August 2013 117 sold So we're seeing an increase, slow increase, but still an increase that I hope we can maintain through the end of the year. Based on the fact there are currently 29 Lake Sinclair properties pending I have high hopes the numbers will... 09/14/2013

There's a change for the 2013 Taste of Eatonton... location.  It's going to be held at the Village at Harmony Crossing.  It will alternate years between the Plaza Arts Center and Harmony Crossing now. Donald and I went last year and it rained.  The food was still good though, even with most people trying to stay inside or under a tent at all times.  Tickets go on sale Tuesday. They will be available at both the Farmer's and Merchants Bank and The People's Bank at all locations. It's a fun event and if you haven't been in the past 13 years you really should try to make it this year. Don't forget there is always a ton of stuff to bid on at the silent auction as well.  There were some really cool things I missed out last year.  Perhaps I'll bid latter in the game on the things I want this ... 09/01/2013

Yesterday when I posted a sneak peek of listing I had a comment about what the front of the house faced.  Well in 9 out 10 cases (maybe more) the "front" of the house is NOT what you see when you drive up the driveway.  And when MLS's "insist" on the view from the street sometimes it's just NOT what you want the main photo to see.  Our local MLS however understands the nature of the beast and doesn't require the street view to be the main photo. This is the street view of our newest listing.  And while it's not awful to pull up to down the driveway it's still not the "best side" to attract buyers. This on the other hand... is what you see if you boat by the house from the lake.  And it's the porch where you sit out and enjoy the view of the lake and watch the otters swim and the fish ju... 08/29/2013

The numbers still are not where I want them to be, but certainly well above where they were in 2010 and 2011.  I keep hoping that we will hit 20 which we haven't seen in 4 years. We got really close a few times, but the last time we saw that number or above was in 2008.  We have 27 pending right now, so I keep being hopeful we will hit that number and clear the market some.  Right now 149 just in Putnam County alone are on the market. There are a total of 365 homes on the market on Lake Sinclair currently.  That's a two year supply at the current rate of sales. The average sales price dropped back below $200,000 to $175,021.  Because I looked at the data and one of them was on "Golden Pond" and not accessible by boat to the main lake the average price doesn't bother me so much.  If you... 07/08/2013