If you are buying a home in the North Georgia Mountains what you do not know can cost you money. Here are some examples.   1 If you are getting a loan does your lender know about USDA. The USDA loan is usually a more cost effective solution when compared to VA or FHA. If you are moving from a different area and like your lender they may not be in a USDA area.   2 Look at your road . Are there fire hydrants on the road ? Chances are you are on a city or county water supply. Then ask who services the area for fire. The answer and the fact that you are on public water could save you as much as 1,000 a year on your home owners insurance. 3. If you are moving to the country to escape city life and have a home business, DO NOT assume you will get the high speed internet you were used to. If y... 07/22/2013

Often times we work with Sellers who are, very rightly so, house proud. Being house proud is important. But you must look at values. So for example if you need new kitchen counter tops and your home is in the 200k and under price range then you are not going to get your money out of replacing the old ones with granite. Use a great new ( less expensive) laminate instead. The point is talk to you Realtor about your market and sprucing up. This is more true today than ever due to the new way we do appraisals. If you are a Realtor approach your sellers as follows: "What you are doing is great. It is beautiful. I wish you were working on my house. But understand, if you are doing this for pride then go ahead. If you are doing it to increase the value of your home then look at less expensive ... 02/16/2010

The Mountain Real Estate Report is heard every Thursday on WYYZ in Jasper. This weeks show goes into walking away from a home. We examine and have strong opinions about walking away if your ONLY reason is you are up side down on your mortgage. We hope you enjoy. We also talk about some great listings near the end of the show. 02/03/2010

This week in the mountains we talk about the holiday time of the year. The mountians in Georgia are a great place for family and friends. It really is like living in a Christmas Card. We hope you enjoy our show broadcast every Thursday on WYYZ Radio here in North Georgia. Show will start at 2pm est 12/24/2009

The Mountain real estate report is heard every Thursday on WYYZ Radio in our North Georgia Mountains. It is broadcast over the web and stored on our web site www.allmountainrealty.com. In addition we post it here. This week I was solo and covered many aspects of purchasing as well as selling a home. Hope you enjoy. 12/17/2009

Fall has really roared in in our North Georgia Mountains. If you are thinking about a trip up this weekend to leaf peep bring some warm clothes. We expect temperature to start the day in the low 40's and not get much out of the low 60's. If you are coming to leaf peep I think you are about a week away from full foliage. With the strange wet weather we have had it may be a wacky season. But I think in another week you will be fine. The Ellijay Apple Festival is in it's last weekend. This is a must see. Also the Talking Rock Heritage festival will be going on this weekend. The fall in the mountains is a great time for festivals. I have posted about the Marble festival and Oktoberfest . Come up and enjoy but dress warmly . I fouy fall in love with our mountains give the folks here at All M... 10/16/2009

Jim Crawford wrote a blog about agents stretching the truth a bit when it comes to comments about a listing being updated and saying a home is upgraded or outdated. It is an interesting post and a good read. It dovetailed with a conversation I had this morning. What got me to writing this post was that this morning at breakfast AFTER the visitor, (See my earlier blog The Visitor), we were watching HG TV . My wife asked me is it necessary to do all these upgrades in a home? We as Realtors take for granted the mantra of new shiny granite etc etc. But the conclusion we came to is you are buying a home you may not need upgrades. Many people like our home because they say it is cozy and feels comfortable. That is because it is older. The construction has beams and the floor is oak and the ho... 05/24/2009

Land sales are a large part of our business in the mountains. By all accounts land sales are really really slow. Some communities have a 2 year inventory at the current rate of absorption. There are 3 things that effect land sales here. 1 Investors. In the not so long ago days of easy money investors could buy land to hold for investment with less than good credit for very little down. Those days are over. So the easy money that fueled speculation has dried up slowing the land markets price increases incredibly 2 But the Question of building has effected us as well. In today's market you can build home all things being equal for about 105 thousand dollars. This is a 1 /2 with about 1500 square feet. Now we are talking laminate counter tops and we are not using Viking stoves. This is goo... 03/18/2009