Talking Rock, GA

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 Mountain Realty a call. We would love to work with you.

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stretching the truth a bit when it comes to comments about a listing being updated and saying a home is upgraded or outdated.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 home is simple. So older traditional as long as it is working can stand on its own and does not in mu opinion need upgrading.

Interestingly enough the 2 rooms we are looking to upgrade are the bathrooms on the main level. The reason is they have been upgraded and our dated!!! If they had the original pedestal sinks and tile we probably would have worked to restore.

So I guess if you have old and classic make it shiny and functional and do not worry about the upgrade upgrade mantra.

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 good. And with land prices where they are you would thing folks are jumping. However you can buy an existing home of this size for the same money. And since my building example did not include the land price it is less expensive to buy existing.

The other factor is buying a foreclosure or a distressed property. You can buy a property for under 100k that needs work and rehab it for less than a new property. In the end you have in effect an updated property.

3 Loans are harder to get for construction. On the other hand you can get a package of loans for rehabs (FHA 201) or USDA at 100 percent financing.

So in the end land sales here are sluggish. They will lag behind the housing recovery. If you are buying for investment.be prepared to hold for a while. On the other hand if you are looking for your "Green Acres" Now is a great time to buy.