Today while driving to get some supplies I saw on Highway 53 in Dawsonville a number of flags lining the highway. Supporting each flag was a cross , a persons name , and the war they died in. Among the celebrations the cost f this day should be remembered . So when I got back into my community I took this picture.          Long may she waive. Our flag symbolizing our freedom and the joy of this holiday. Below is the MIA/POW flag which makes us mindful of the sacrifices many have made. Have a great holiday weekend. Its is great to be an American. 05/23/2009

Many of us in Rural areas do USDA loans. USDA is 100 percent financing and often works out to be less costly than FHA with 3 % down!!! One of the benefits to this type of loan is you can finance up to 102 percent of the appraised value of the home. This extra money is typically used for closing costs. However if you have a buyer that is getting a great deal on a fixer upper beware ! You do have to escrow money etc like you do for FHA repair loan. But there is a BIG difference. If the USDA Appraiser feels that a repair is a hazard then the repair must be done BEFORE closing. This can create problems when dealing with sellers or foreclosures. In the case of a foreclosure the bank is not going to spend anything. If a non foreclosure is involved the Seller may not have the money. This leads... 05/21/2009

Olympic gymnast Shaun Johnson won the Dancing with the Stars trophy last night. So what ? Here is what  Shaun is 17 and the youngest competitor to win. She is not a long legged model. She is a strong gymnast. So for her this did not come easy. She did not have a dancers build for sure. Nor was she very comfortable with her male partner at first. But what she did was show that a young lady who does not have a dancers body or training could overcome obstacles with hard work. She also showed that all the touching etc that was going on in the dancing was something that was part of the job and was something she would have to deal with to win. In a very quiet understated way she showed courage and a work ethic that made her the winner. That's What. And that is the lesson Along the way she mis... 05/20/2009

Most of us understand in some degree or another the value of a reverse mortgage. Let me describe a real situation that is maybe not so apparent. An older buyer calls me and wants to relocate here. They are selling their home and are going to get about 175,000 for it. They own the home clear as they have been in it for 30 years. Factoring in moving expenses and new furniture they tell me they do not want to spend more than 150,000 for a home. They want to pay all cash so they live mortgage free. Now they have requirements, and homes that are perfect for them are around 185000-200,000. So I say let's do a REVERSE MORTGAGE. Put 50 % down  ( 92,500-100,000) and you will be living free of a mortgage and have a lot more left over !!!! Now they have to go to class and learn all about this but ... 05/19/2009

Over the next couple of weeks armed with my camera I will be doing photos of the area. I have concentrated on Big Canoe and now will branch out. But let me set the table a bit in this post. Georgia in the last census was 9 million strong. Now think about other states 9 million just about covers a metropolitan area !!! We are about the size of New York State. The greater Atlanta area has 4 million of the 9. So what this means is there are some great open spaces in this state. In the mountains where i work you can be 3,000 feet plus up if you wish. The weather is great and especially mild in the winter when you compare us to other mountain States further north. Consider the North Georgia Mountains when you are looking for a place to be where the live style is good and the scenery green an... 05/18/2009

In this market many of the old ways used to sell a home or for that matter to entice a person to buy are not working. In a way the "short sale" is our innovation aimed at keeping people out of foreclosure. The government local and national has cash incentives. There are some other things we are using. You may find some of these ideas helpful and maybe share some of your own. 1 SWAP. Got a seller who is looking to move?  Consider making an alliance with a Realtor in the area your seller is looking to move to. A home swap is a great possible solution. You may not swap even but you may make 2 people happy and help yourself as being part of 2 instead of one transactions. 2 Got a builder looking to move spec homes? The swap concept works well here too. You may also want to work with the buil... 05/15/2009

As promised I have been keeping an eye on a couple of stands of Mountain Laurel. These evergreen plants are beautiful. They are long lived. The branches even form great shapes. They are poisonous to Deer so they do not get chomped down to the ground. Most of all they grow wild and just present you with a breath taking display. The display can last even 2 weeks. And as Fran the man told me they are the native shrub for Pennsylvania. So enjoy Natures garden.These Mountain Laurel are growing wild near a fence at the border of a yard. Why even bother planting a Garden you might ask, when mother nature does it for you!!Here's another stand of Laurel. People who visit wonder what it is . They stop look and take pictures. We in the mountains often take this beauty for granted! 05/13/2009

Buyers often use Realtors for the home, but do not ask them about a loan. Now Realtors are not loan experts for the most part. But a good Realtor will know about products available. Case in point was a blog I posted about a buyer losing 22,000 on a deal due to bad decisions. I often recommend Mortgage brokers as they shop loans. However if you are using Georgia DCA you cannot use a Mortgage broker unless in rare cases that company is going to hold the paper. So a mortgage broker may offer you a number of options but not have that one in his bag. That is 14K you could be giving away! Lets say you have a property, or a banker you like, and are living in a Metropolitan area. You decide to go "Green Acres". You find a local Realtor and you get a loan from your local bank where you live. You... 05/10/2009

One of the things that I enjoy in the spring in the mountains is hiking through the woods. Some times on cut trails, sometimes along stream banks, some time just through open fields. Spring is a great time to hike. The weather really hasn't heated up yet and there are mountain surprises. Walking around a bend to discover rhododendrons in bloom is ia great surprise. Yes you grow them in your garden. You feed them, spray them, prune them, mulch them, water them, and love them. Then you see them in the wild . Mother nature is smiling at you in a condescending way saying see what I can do. They are a wonderful mountain surprise and part of our natural heritage. Enjoy the green and flowers. 05/06/2009

The scenes below are very different. They do show the difference i the mountain views and settings that are possible. The first scene of lovely fields and green is on Yukon Road near the town of Ellijay. Ellijay is a great mountain destination and famous for its' apple festival. The land is green and even though it is in the mountains there are pretty green valleys where folks farm and grow stuff.  Next picture is of Grandview Lake. In the back ground you can see Sharp top mountain. You see small boat houses along the shore line. What these very different photos have in common is they illustrate a different style of living. They show things how they were in quieter less hectic times. The North Georgia Mountains are a great place to live , raise a family or have a second home. Take from ... 05/02/2009

A friend of mine from Florida called me and said , "Hey I have a friend who is buying in Georgia. " I said. " good send him to me and I will help him. " My friend called me back and said , " Oh, sorry he is working with another agent." "No problem" I said." thanks for thinking about me." About a month later I was talking to the same friend and asked him about the guy who was buying. Oh, the story was he really had a tough time. "Was he a first time buyer?" I asked. "Yes" was the answer. "So he got the 8k" ? Yes he got that. "What did he buy?" " He bought a foreclosure out in the country." "Oh did he go USDA for his loan?" "No he didn't know about it he put money down and went FHA." Did he go to the class and get 14k in Georgia money to rehab the property or use the money as a down payme... 04/26/2009

Your walking along in the woods. Maybe you see a stream. You are looking at the birds and the trees. In the summer the woods can be dark and cool. Fun to walk in and then you see it. Take a closer look (below). The mushroom is this small intricate thing that springs out of the ground. It is life. It has it's own birth, death, and reproduction. So we post great landscapes and all kind of pictures. I know I do. But along the way we need to see the beauty in the small and understated. It helps us appreciate who we are and puts our work in perspective. 04/22/2009

Gardening in the Mountains can be a real chore. We have a hill full of a few different types of Daffodils. The problem is they need to be split and moved to keep flowering. This leads to gardening in the Mountains. Mountains are after all rock covered with dirt. You do not have to dig far down to hit rock. But also what holds the dirt on the side of a mountain? Trees! So yes if you miss the rock you usually hit some roots. Here you Garden with a pick ax. Ever see that guy on Victory Garden? He takes his light fork and takes out vegetables and plants with out breaking a sweat. I want to hit him with that fork but could not dig a hole deep enough here to bury him !!! So why daffodils you say? The Deer, natures natural vacuum cleaners, do not eat them. So if you are gardening in the mounta... 04/20/2009

Spring is coming to the Mountains. One of the Mountain Beauties are the Native Azaleas. Here is a picture of a rarer golden one that is in Bloom. They also have a great scent. This is one of the natural mountain treasures. Get your hiking boots on and come visit us in beautiful, affordable Big Canoe. And when you do call the Experts at All Mountain Realty to help you find that great mountain home or land. 04/15/2009

Use the Lion as your example for how you should be in your business. The Lion uses all his strength even when the prey is a rabbit. So in your business you should be a Lion too. Small closings, a general inquiry, something that seems more of a distraction than actual business can pay unexpected dividends. It only happens if you are a Lion. Face it a Lion is respected ,held in awe, and feared . You should be respected, and held in awe by your clients. You should be feared for your tenacity by your competition. So study the Lion. BUT if you are going to use a photo from your home to illustrate your point. ,a kitten might be a safer subject. Have a great week. 04/13/2009

  Georgia has been hit really hard in recent years with a drought. But this winter and spring as well as toward the end of last summer lake levels have been rising. Lake Lanier for example was down 20 feet last August. Now they are open for fishing tournaments. So if you are planning a holiday in te mountains or near one of our great mountain lakes. Things look good. In fact it is raining right now here. Enjoy hiking and baoting in our Nroth Georhia mountains.  See you on the trails   Reservoir/Lake Station ID Flood Level(feet) Summer Level(feet) 7am PoolElev (ft) 24 Hour Change(feet) 24 Hour Precip(inches) LAKE ALLATOONA CVLG1 860 840 840.71 0.11 0.00 LAKE BLACKSHEAR WWCG1 239 237 236.85 0.01 0.00 BLUE RIDGE LAKE BRLG1 1691 1686 1682.11 -0.22 - LAKE BURTON TIGG1 1867 1865 1865.24 0.01 ... 04/10/2009

The Mortgage crisis and the bail outs have brought out the sharks and predators. There is an up tick big time on Mortgage fraud. In Fact CNN reported drug crooks are shifting to Mortgage fraud as it is more lucrative. People in trouble can be prey. So here are a couple of web sites you should have for folks asking about refinancing or looking for debt relief. www.makinghomeaffordable.gov is a great site that guides you step by step through mortgage and debt relief. In Georgia  www.dca.state.ga.us/housing/homeownership/index.asp will help you in our state. This link will even direct you to free classes some of them on the web to help. So these 2 tools are legitimate and should be in your bag of information to help existing home owners. 04/10/2009

I was searching for information and came across some interesting statistics about our market. Over the last 8 years housing prices are up. Over the last 2 years they are relatively flat. In terms of numbers of sales this is where we see the greatest swing. As numbers of units sold over the last 2 years are down. What this means , and I believe it is true all over the mountains not just in Jasper is that since mountain property is the second most sought after  behind water front, our values are holding. So if you are looking to buy now is a good time. As we come out of this recession and housing mess I think you will see a big increase in demand and a corresponding increase in price. The strength of the price numbers surprised me. The reduction in units sold did not. We are your mountain... 04/09/2009

 April and can you believe snow! These photos were taken from my back and front porch in Big Canoe. Now the beauty of snow here in the mountains is by tomorrow it will be gone, I think. One photo shows the snowy mist over the mountains and the second photo shows the snow in the trees and Mountain Laurels. . Oh by the way Big Canoe is a gated mountain community. Do these photos change your image of what yo think a gated community is? For a great outdoors and amenity filled experience Big Canoe here in the North Georgia Mountains is great. Homes start around 195 and work their way up . Enjoy .                                         All the plants are moved BACK inside as we get this rare late snow                                                                                            ... 04/07/2009

This weekend in the South we got a big burst of COLD air. All the plants that we moved outside  had to come back in. So the question is when is it really spring !?  If you count Spring as the last frost date then Spring in our area is April 15. If you are in the mountains it could even be a little later. So be advised. Do not let those warm March days fool you. Wait a little longer to plant.Don't worry if you are a little late the plants will catch up ! I am itching to get out and about. Many of us think ths winter was longer than most. Happy Out-doorsing. After all that is what living in the mountains is all about 03/30/2009