Jasper, GA

Zondervan farms is a new addition to our North Georgia Landscape. North Georgia has a very active and large horse loving community. Whether you are attending steeple chase in Alpharetta or riding our trail North Georgians love their horses. Zondervan farms specializes in Dutch Warm Bloods

Thatcher is a Champion Warm Blood. Here he is being handled by co-owner of the farm Jody Cunningham. This is a family owned business. The folks here take care of their animals and work to provide only the best to their clients

Check out this great little guy. The folks at Zondervan breed their animals with quality in mind. The name Zondervan comes from the Dutch for a group of Christian Business people who established their business in the U.S . many years ago. Speaking of quality

Jody and husband Jim have been working with home grown champions for many years and are highly regarded in the Dutch Warm Blood Community. Don't have time to go to Holland? How about a trip to Rome? Rome Georgia that is. If you are looking for Champion warm blood that can trace their blood lines back to Holland look no further. Think you know the North Georgia Mountains? Think again

There was not going to be a working with boomers 2 except for a headline I saw in business week. The headline read Boomers Nest Egg Shrinking.

So the question is should you dump working with boomers? The anser is no. My blog gives some great strategies for working with boomers. But if the nest egg shrinking is the case now more then ever there are some things you should focus on.

1 Down sizing means smaller areas to heat and cool. This is something we fail to stress. In the general scheme of things boomers say they want to downsize so they have less to take care of. In Boomer code this can often mean things will cost less

2 Look seriously at a reverse mortgage. A boomer moving to your area selling a 200,000 home may want to buy a 200,000 home to avoid a mortgage. Work with them and have them pay 150 for that home have 50K in reserve and if the math works right get a small check every month

Look for the value and the overall cost of living in your area along and you will be providing a great service and successful in working with this demographic

WYYZ radio in Jasper is the epitome of a local business. They broadcast Gospel as well as talk radio. They have won numerous awards and in fact this year alone they one 4 merit awards from the Georgia Association of Broadcasting.

We present the " Mountain Real Estate Report" on Wyyz weekly. But that is only part of the story. The folks on WYYZ have been featured by the New York Times. I was honored when they asked me to help interview U.S. Senator Isakson about his housing bill. Wyyz also cover events in the mountains. You can get local events like garage sales and things like that on for free.

They have been active in many community services. They have also structured programs and helped us non radio people become pros in our business. This is the way small town America is. Yes they need to make money to continue broadcasting. But they always have an idea and focus on community. This is what makes them a great station.

This piano is sometimes set up with Mics and gospel shows are broadcast live. An image of a George Clooney movie comes to mind

Matt Youngblood one of Wyyz's local hosts can trace his family in Georgia back to the early 1800's. Matt is active in bringing the community news about many local and national issues. He also is getting a fledgling show for musicians off the ground.

This sign proudly displays the fact that Wyyz was Georgia's Radio station of the year for small town Georgia in the recent past. They are striving to once again win that award in 2009.

I hope you find this piece of small town, non syndicated American broadcasting interesting. Wyyz is a cut above many and can be heard on line at Wyyzradio.net You can hear the mountain real estate report every Thursday around noon on line as well

I am I guess now an "Old Guy". I am not sure when this happened. I suspect it did not happen all at once. I am sure many of you reading this blog can empathize with me.

I know I am an old guy because I am 6 foot 4. This is important because when I was a young guy in stores people would say ,"Hey Sonny can you reach this for me." I was a top shelf guy. That changed to Mister and now it is Sir. It is a joke in my house. Whenever my wife wants something that is up high she knows she can get me to reach it for her by saying, "Hey sonny can you reach this?" ( The male ego has no boundaries)

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT I AM SAD ABOUT

I guess old folks ramble. Ha I am sad that the knowledge I have gained over the years falls on deaf ears. I know buying a home when you are starting out is probably one of the best financial decisions, if done conservatively, you can make. I know interest rates are great. I know prices are great. I know here in the mountains we even have 100 percent financing options. I know a FIXED rate mortgage is a great hedge against inflation that comes with rent increase.

I know all that and more. Whats more I blog about it. I advertise it. Our radio show extols the virtues of home ownership. And yet there will be young folks out there that miss this great opportunity. I am not naive enough to believe everyone should qualify or should own a home. Not everybody will listen. They will think, he is just after the commission. That is sad.

I guess the good news is I am passionate about my career in Real Estate and really get charged up when I help a first time buyer. I do not make a lot of money but I do get a lot of smiles.

So my fellw Realtors out there pushing and some times frustrated, I get it. It happens to me too. Help all you can. When you look at it after the tax credits disappear , and rates go up along with prices be able to say I helped everybody who would listen. Be proud you are a Realtor.

Today the mountain that I live on is covered in mist and periodically it rains. A picture of this would just be all white and not really convey the beauty of the mountains in any weather. So let me quote Carl Sandberg

The fog

"The fog comes n on little cat feet

Sits silently on its haunches

and moves on."

How beautiful and how simple a way to describe the total silent envelope the fog raps around you.

Have a foggy external day with a clear inner sense of what you are doing!