About Baxter County, AR

Mountain Home Arkansas 12 Year Olds World Series Bound! We are so proud of the 12 year old Bombers baseball team! The name Bombers is taken from the Mountain Home public schools mascot...dating back to the second world war.

The 12 year Old Bombers are coached by Ron Czanstkowski and have advanced to the Cal Ripken World Series to be held in Aberdeen Md. which starts August 14.

This is a great time of excitement for these young ballplayers, their parents, family and friends. I hope they will soak it up for all it is worth.

My son and I were talking the other day about this very possibility. We traveled to Roswell Ga. when he was 12 for the World Series. No we did not win the series, but it was a wonderful experience!

The Mountain Home Youth Baseball program is very successful. The 10 year old team was eliminated one step shy of the world series this year. We are proud of all the ball players and wish them great success!

My congratulations go out to all the players, and their families. Keep up the work, and don't forget to enjoy it. Baseball is a game to be played and enjoyed!

MLS Caravan, alive and well? I started this beautiful day with a blog post entitled Office tour, still? and I have gotten over a dozen comments which I appreciate very much.

This obviously is not a scientific poll...but, I am interested in how it is done in other areas. I have sellers that are crushed....even after I explain prior to MLS tour to not expect much...The last tour I went on was 14 agents and that was a big tour. In contrast, my office toured new listings this morning with 27 agents and that is fairly normal for us. You can see the discrepancy. Just for housekeeping's sake..My office tours weekly. The MLS tour is also weekly.

I have been in the business here in Mountain Home for over 24 years. I have seen a few trends come and go. It seems to me that the traditional MLS caravan may be on the way out here. I know that in some areas, the Brokers Open House is the way it is done. That is unusual here.

The local Board here is approximately 350 agents serving approximately 55,000 people in a 2 county area. The MLS tour here does not go as far as the second county but the agents that work that area do list properties there. It seems that in this Internet, virtual/visual tour, You Tube era...that physically touring properties may fade away.

I will also throw in that if I have time...I will preview properties for my buyers prior to showing. There are times however that the first time I see the property is when I am showing it.

Thank You in advance for your input!

Never a bad day to ride! After all the work to help with the benefit for the food basket's back pack program, the fun part was the 80 mile ride. My wife was tied up with some other stuff so she did not ride along this time. Approx 100 bikes made our way through Mountain Home with a police escort...ya can't just go out the highway....ya gotta have some attention! We rode south out of town to the charming town of Calico Rock (a future post) turned back east to the wide spot in the highway known as Pineville, then further east to the small town of Viola.

We picked up U.S. Highway 62/412 at Viola and made our way back to Henderson Arkansas where we crossed over beautiful Lake Norfork. The sound of 25 or so V-twin motorcycles rumbling across the bridge sounded awesome. I knew we would not be able to keep the bikes together for the entire 80 mile route without full police escort, but it was still a lot of fun.

I would not choose 103 heat index given a choice, but it all worked out. The shade and cold water felt good when we got back for lunch. Any day that i can throw a leg over a bike for a ride I am game!

Make a Difference, It feels so Good! I have posted recently about the We Can Make a Difference BenefitRide. I want to publicly thank Candy Barnes of Century 21 LeMac Realty East. This was her idea...to do this benefit. She did the research, she lined up the people, I feel really good that I said yes when she asked me if I would be interested in being part of it.

As a real estate agent that works for a very community minded broker, this certainly is not my first foray into being involved. I have been a Boy Scout leader for years....which is a very hands on teaching, camping, hiking experience. I always felt like I got more out of it than it cost me in time or effort!

Century 21 LeMac Realty is very pro-community and we are involved in many aspects of giving back with over 40 agents being encouraged to give back and be part of their community.

Candy had a great idea to involve the motorcycling community (Bikers) to help raise money for a project that helps kids. I love riding...the feeling of freedom, I can clear my mind, feel the wind, feel in touch with the orld. I digress...Bikers, You the type,...those gruff, tattooed, long haired, bald, tough guys...They tend to be the quickest to join to together to help those that we see as the helpless. We don't need much of an excuse to gather together, and it is even better when we can help kids!

Realtors, I will use that name today because I am most familiar with this group....and yes, I know that not all agents are Realtors...and they are great people too! Realtors as a group here in Mounain Home are very active in their communities and I love that. Affiliate members deserve great credit as well for their participation.

Find a cause you believe in. Find someone or some thing that needs your help. Give it (them) your best. Carve out a piece of time (for many of us, more valuable than writing a check) and give your heart to it. Go ahead, Make a Difference, It feels so Good!

We had 130 motorcycles register for the ride Saturday. The heat index was approx 103. The smiles were contagious! First Security Bank was there with their grill and actually fired it up and grilled hot dogs for all involved! They also provided cold water for all! D.J. Peace Productions was there playing Music and Master of Ceremonies...He did a Geat Job! ABATE dist 16 (Arkansas Bikers Aimed Towards Education) provided help and guidance. There were several door prizes raffled off...We even did a 50/50 pot where the winner, gets half the money and the other half goes to the charity....As expected....The winner (I apologize, I did not get their names) Donated the money back....almost $200! We raised over $2000 for a very worthy cause and they,, the food bank folks, stood on the side of the highway with water for riders and big Thank You signs...It is obviously a labor of love on their part! Go ahead...Make a Difference, It feels so Good!

What's it like there? Small town America. I get that question a lot. The Mountain Home, Arkansas area has grown up over the years because people that vacationed here decided that they liked what they found when they visited.

Over the last 7 to 10 years we have seen a greater number of folks that had never been here, but had seen the Mountain Home area ranked in one or more of the retirement magazines and more recently ranked in 3 prominent outdoors magazines as being a top place to live and enjoy the outdoors.

The writers at "Where To Retire", "Field and Stream", "Outdoor Life", and "Sports Afield" have all ranked the Mountain Home, Twin Lakes area very highly! We find that flattering of course, and it does provide a bump of enquiries from people looking for a great pace to live.

I always encourage folks to visit the area....no I am not in the motel business. I am in the business of helping folks make their dreams come true! When a newcomer visits the area they are usually a bit surprised to see how genuinely friendly the people are. This is still a vacation destination with 2 large beautiful, nearly pristine lakes and rivers. Many times I think folks equate tourist destination with maybe less than great for a place to live....Not True here!

I smile when my customers start telling me that they took my advice and walked through the grocery stores....walked through the farmers' market on Wednesday or Saturday morning. People will stop and talk. They will answer questions and more often than not...ask you where you are from. There are organizations here for most of the mid west states...people enjoy each others company, even if it is just to get acquainted.

The administration at the Regional Medical Center will be happy to give you a tour of their facilities. The same is true at the local schools.

You will find a patriotic group of folks here! Very active vetereans' organizations. A close knit community that reaches out to help each other at every opportunity, yet easy and free to welcome newcomers. After all, most of us know what it is like to be the new folks in town. Don't be surprised at a knock on your door from a neighbor with pie or a plate of brownies. We still have parades for the county fair...high school homecoming, Independence day, and even Christmas!

To schedule time to learn more about this wonderful community give me a call or drop me an email. You owe it to yourself to check out this beautiful part of the country!

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