About White County, AR

This picture of 916 E Race shows it as it was when Race Street was a quiet little street with residential properties still on it. The builder/draftsman who drew it up had saved pictures and floorplans of some of his creations. His wife was throwing them away and I, being a saver, kept them. I had to do a lot of driving around to find some of them.

The house was added onto and turned into a business by Helen Holder who had a drapery business. Back when folks loved heavy window treatments, she did a fantastic business.

Then it changed hands and became a frame shop. Seems it has changed hands again. Here it is now.

Notice the lovely fence in the front, which is across the street and on land owned by Harding University. Harding bought all the houses in front of this one and took them down.

Georgetown Arkansas in White County is the oldest continuously settled area in Arkansas, according to Wikipedia. It was settled in 1789 and overlooks the White River. As of the census in 2000 there were 126 folks who lived there. There were 55 households and 33 families.

Now, more down to earth into.....when I taught school I had a few West Point kids in class and they rode a bus to school. When we had flood weather, the road to Georgetown became completely covered in water. If the kids got to school they had to come on a boat or get outa town before the road was flooded and stay with relatives across the flood waters.

It's a long drive down there, about 21 miles, but right now there is a cat fish place that people rave about and flock down there to visit. The cat fish are fresh out of the river and can't be topped. I can't speak from experience yet.

But look here. Pictures of a depot in Georgetown and a railroad bridge!! Aren't they fantastic. Seems every little town had a depot, including this one.

I used to drive my kids to a place called Slippery Rock Ford and they'd wade in the water on the slippery rocks. This little bridge was a favorite. It gets underwater at times but evidently it holds up pretty darned good. In fact, the water looks a bit high for wading at the time of this picture.

A friend sent me these pictures of his little Volks at the bridge. He and his wife had gone for a drive and ended up here. They are great pictures showing some of the beauty of our state. The Volks, however, shows a little reluctance to get on that bridge!

Ya'all come!

A few months ago I asked what we should look for if we select an heir apparent. My blog was sorta high-jacked by two friends named Nutsy and Raven but I had some feedback. My requirements were.....

• Honesty......this certainly would be a must.
• Energy......if I get tired, they shouldn't!
• Intelligence......street smarts wouldn't hurt.
• Education.....must know proper communication in writing and in person.
• Computer literate......know their way around for emailing, scanning and actually be better at this than I am!
• Personable.....get along well with people.
• Ambitious.....aims for success but not by stepping on people.

After careful thought, I called up this gentleman who'd done lots of work for me as a contractor or handyman while he was working to become a Nutritionist. He already had a degree in Engineering but was not practicing.

I stunned him by saying, "Mark, I think you should become a real estate agent. I've got lots of foreclosure properties and you've helped me with a lot of them by making repairs for me. You could probably serve in two capacities." He even bought one of the foreclosures, fixed it up and flipped it.

Then I gave him the sales talk.

• I know that you are honest and anyone who works with me or for me has to be honest.
• You have energy that is never-ending and my HA (heir apparent) has to have more energy than I have.
• Intelligence is a requirement and you have a university degree plus that nutritionist award.
• Computer literacy is a requirement and you understand the computer. (Later on I learned he has a son who is an expert!)
• I know you're personable because every time I recommended you for a job, they called you back to do more and more so you have repeat business.
• You're wife has a great job that supplies you with the all-important health insurance needed to survive.

He was absolutely surprised. He'd never thought of real estate as a career. He talked it over with his wife and they decided I'd made good points. He then started with all the training that was required. Within weeks he WAS a real estate agent.

I fought to get him an office right across the hall from mine. He bought his computer equipment, traded vehicles, and started working immediately. It has now been about 4 or 5 months since he began and he works diligently and learns so fast! He promptly masters whatever I put out for him.

He has also closed several transactions already. His eagerness and ambition are apparent. For a while he made my work load harder because of working and training at the same time. But I feel confident that he is competent as my backup if I want to go on vacation.

So, drum-roll please!!

HERE HE IS!! Mark Lercher, new RE/MAX Advantage agent from Searcy Arkansas.

P. S. He does have one bad flaw. He does not read my blogs so he may not even know he's here.

It gets to be shocking. Drive by and notice the building is either gone or half way down. That's the way it was with me on Main Street. The old International Shoe Factory building is a goner. I did another double-take because it was already half gone. I snapped pictures. The International Shoe Factory was one of the first factories in Searcy Arkansas.

After World War II Searcy leaders got the Searcians to agree to raise $100,000 to erect a building to house the factory. The International Shoe Company would least the building for five years with a 30 year renewal option. Approximately 450 people were to be employed in the factory. Dr. Raymond Muncy's history of Searcy Arkansas, written in 1976 gives the background of the factory, which I'll let you read at your will. I got this bit of information from the book.

Being a real estate agent makes you question things and the second picture above may illustrate something that we agents hear all the time. I call a brick house a brick house. An appraiser will call it "brick veneer." I think the wall above illustrates what a real brick house might have walls like. It is a solid wall of brick with several layers. Our brick veneer houses have a single thin layer of brick. Interesting?