About Pickens County, GA

NAR and major sites all do studies of how long people look at a listing. The time is in seconds but if you have pictures , and I mean good pictures of your listing and a lot of them folks will linger longer.

Today I had rather an interesting experience. I was showing a home in Big Canoe to some folks. This was their first time in Big Canoe. As we were in the house the wife said, " I have been in this home before ! I recognize this art work" Now I am thinking, they said they had never been in Big Canoe before what gives? The husband said you have been in this home virtually.

The wife had seen it on line and the quality of the pictures were good enough for her to recognize the interior. This created a feeling of familiarity and ease. It made the showing go very well

We at All Mountain Realty do at least 25 pictures( the max for our MLS) as well as use virtual tours and a professional photographer. Why? Because we want folks to know our properties and see them. Pictures may be low tech but they are critical to your listings.

The picture above is of the pink marble Tate house. Looking at this picture wouldn't you want to know more? It is NOT for sale but it is beautiful

Coming on the heels of a somewhat positive report for third quarter home sales in Pickens County, GA, the numbers for fourth quarter 2011 are equally promising.

The number of homes sold in Jasper, GA, for the three-month October to December period, climbed again to 99 sales -- beating third quarter volume of 83 sales, and fourth quarter 2010 volume of 78 homes. However, average sale price declined from 2010's $203,552 to $167,531 (while showing a slight improvement against third quarter's $162,169). Median price likewise beat out third quarter 2011, while dropping noticeably from 2010's data, with a median sale price of $127,000 (versus $151,000 in Q4 2010). While it is clear that housing prices in the North Georgia area have continued to suffer year-on-year, it will be interesting to see in first quarter 2012 whether the slight quarter-on-quarter price strengthening shows as a trend, or as just a one time anomaly for the period.

Foreclosures and short sales continued to dominate, with roughly 61% of all houses sold being designated as some form of distress sale. (Average sale price of bank-owned and pre-foreclosure sales ran counter to overall price improvement, showing further weakness year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, averaging only $119,138 for a total of 60 homes). Foreclosures and short sales account for approximately 12% or more of current active listing inventory.

Inventory appears to be holding steady as of this writing at around 390 homes for sale in Pickens County. This is well off highs of years past, where at times there were 600+ homes on market, however, at current sales volume, inventory is still high for what would be considered a "balanced market". And, we are coming out of the low point in the sales cycle. As more sellers enter the market in the spring, inventory is likely to increase as well. What remains to be seen is if there is a corresponding increase in buyer interest. Based on anecdotal evidence and my own present level of buyer contact, there are signs that this may be the case, particularly if reports that lenders might be easing up somewhat on some of the more unreasonable lending criteria and making credit more available to more buyers.

Overall, the data seem to point toward a more (cautiously) optimistic outlook for real estate in coming months, but only time will tell.

Data compiled from sales activity as reported in First Multiple Listing Service.

For those who live in or plan to travel to North Georgia in April, plan to attend Jasper ArtFest in Jasper, Georgia on April 21-22.

This is a juried art show and sale, and also features performing arts, Art of the Auto (antique cars and trucks), childrens art activities, the Kudzu Kreation, mountain craft demonstrations, and the Optimist Club Flapjack Run (5K) for charity, and great food.

There is no admission charge. Go to www.JasperArtFest.org for more information.

For those living or planning to travel to North Georgia, make plans to see Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, GA.

Gibbs Gardens just opened on March 1, and is the culmination of 40 years of planning and hard work. Southern Living voted it the best daffodil garden in the country. Over 300 acres, it takes several hours to tour the various garden venues.

Go to www.gibbsgardens.com for more information.

The statistics for Jasper Georgia and Pickens county in our north Georgia mountains can be seen below.

There are some interesting lines. . Jasper in the mountains is at or above the average for the State of Georgia. Pickens county , where Jasper is, is way above. The difference her is Big Canoe. Big Canoe is an upscale community in Pickens county and accounts for the big difference. Now you can see at the start of the year so far all the lines are close together. This means that if you are buying in North Georgia Big Canoe is a GREAT value. Contact us at All mountain Realty. We are your North Georgia Mountains experts.