Jacque Applegate Realtor 478-335-4030 Warner Robins, Georgia

Once more our little town of Warner Robins Georgia has made the front page news. Yesterday evening it was decided unanimously that Warner Robins would be the new South East regional headquarters for Little League!

This is impressive news following upon Business Week naming Warner Robins as one of the best places to raise your kids.

Below is an excerpt from the press announcement from the Warner Robins Little League website.

With back-to-back world champions and a strong passion for Little League, I cannot imagine a better place than Georgia for the Southeast Region Headquarters," Gov. Perdue said. "Little League is a great program that I was proud to be a part of during my youth, and we will be honored to host the regional playoffs each year as the Southeast representative to the Little League World Series is determined. Little League is a world-class organization and I am proud to welcome them to Georgia."

the entire article can be found at

http://tinyurl.com/5g5xwl

This is definitley something for us to be proud of since our boys showed such great sportsmanship to the young men from Japan in the final playoffs of 2007. I must say that at the end of that game I had tears in my eyes. I have known many of these young man and have watched them grow during our time here in Georgia and it was a very humbling moment when our boys went and hugged the young boys from Japan. It's what we as parents hope to install in our children and that game showed that many parents and coaches had met the mark.

So once more our small town is brought into the headlines and with this honor we will be forced to improve what many of us feel is already a great sports program. An interesting fact that the above article stated is

Little League Baseball and Softball is the world's largest organized youth sports program, with more than 2.6 million players and 1 million volunteers in every U.S. state and 75 other countries.

I must say that I had no clue that the sport was that huge. That even makes it bigger news when you recognize those facts.

So if you are ever in our area please don't hesitate to pull off I-75 and check out our little news worthy town. You know you will always be welcomed! Have a great day!

Showed up to the office this morning to a buzz in the hallway. Apparently on the front page of the Macon Telegraph was an article stating that Warner Robins was selected as Georgia's "Best Place to Raise Your Kids" by Busines Week

http://tinyurl.com/63rwxf

The article that was published on Monday put Warner Robins first and Marietta and Athens as Runner-ups.

They selected cities on such factors as school performance, number of schools, crime rate, job growth and family income.

Below is a portion of the article from the Telegraph.

Acting Mayor Clifford Holmes said the survey looked at many factors that he considers important.

As a retired educator, he said the school system is second to none and has worked hard at attracting the best teachers. Holmes credits the schools, along with Robins Air Force Base, for creating a city where many can make a decent living.

.

Ed Rodriguez, executive director of the Warner Robins Area Chamber of Commerce, echoed that sentiment. Business Week is a widely respected publication around the world, he said.

"A lot of people are going to hear about it and pay attention to it," he said. "Hopefully, it will attract people to the area."

Rodriguez said such movement could provide a much-needed boon to the real estate industry.

Holmes suggested that while the city is a great place to live and raise a family, more needs to be done. While serving as the city's chief executive, he has seen room for improvement in the areas of parks and theaters, he said, but overall, he is pleased with the city's ranking.

"It really is a credit to the citizens of Warner Robins," Holmes said.

I would just like to state that when John and I moved here 13 years ago, I really had to wonder where he was moving me. But as the years have passed and our children have grown, I have come to believe that there is no better place to raise a child.

So many things make Georgia a wonderful state to live in, things like the HOPE scholarship, Schools of Excellence (yes I know on the national ranking, but please check out Houston County against the total state) http://www.schooldigger.com/go/GA/district/02880/search.aspx. Large Military presence with bases like Moody, and Robins, Fort Stewart and Fort Gordon.

We love Warner Robins and we are so happy that the rest of America can know how wonderful we are.

On any given Friday night in the fall you will find one of the 4 local High Schools playing Football at McConnell Talbert Field and the stadium will be packed, the locals show up for baseball too. Last year our American Little League won the World Championship against Japan and the compassion they showed was awe inspiring. We have generational support for our school sports and I think that makes so much difference.

Neighbors know neighbors and that always keeps kids on edge. You never know who your parents will run into at the bank, or the grocery store and those neighbors may just mention that they saw your child driving down Russell parkway at 1:00 on a Friday afternoon. (Ask my son Jonathan about that one. He was busted skipping school by a friend who was a nurse on her lunch break when he turned in front of her.) In Warner Robins they take the saying "It takes a village to raise a child" seriously.

So to end this post yes now America can know that Warner Robins really is a pretty great place to raise a family. For once I agree with the media!

While reading the news online I read an artice by the Associated Press about Alan Greenspan being questioned about the current state of the economy, and he is quoted as saying that our current crisis is a "Once in a Century Tsunami" Really?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,443737,00.html Greenspan said that he felt that the banks would have had more concern for the shareholders and investors then they did. Is it not surprising that even the banks were swept by this Tsunami? I actually think verses the word Tsunami we should replace it with greed. Because wasn't it actually greed that caused this?

My main issue I have with this whole topic is that here they are questioning Alan Greenspan the Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve why are we not questioning the Leaders of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? Why is it they are not being held accountable for what has happened? When we talk greed, they walked with millions but no one is screaming for justice from them. Yet when Enron happened we sent those men to jail. Is it because Freddie and Fannie were government back enterprises?

Greenspan stated that "there was a flaw in the model.... that defines how the world works." A flaw? I think not I think it is greed. We had banks lowering standard to make shareholders and investors happy because the mortgages were a good money makers. So to make more money they lowered minimum credit scores, they became creative in their lending. We were putting home buyers in homes they could ill afford. We were doing that by interest only loans or No money down loans? Is it any wonder that when they got a rate adjustment on those ARMS and interest only loan home owners got a shock?

Living in a military community I have had the unfortunate opportunity on more then one occasion to go to a listing appt and have to tell the home owner "Even in the beat case senairo you wil have to bring money to the table." It is never a good or comfortable listing appointment and this was all caused because someone put these homeowner into a mortgage that they did not either understand or it was not explained to them in true detail.

As REALTORS we have a responsibility to educated our customers and clients to the best of our ability on all the features of different loan programs. The market says consumer beware but when you have knowledge that will benefit another is it not right to share the knowledge to the betterment of the buyer? Even we as REALTORS got greedy in the market, We stopped doing what we knew was right and we did not always have the best interest of our clients in the forefront of our daily actions. I am not saying all of us but I know of many in our town who only did interest only loans, that was the only program they sold. But I deter from my original point sorry.

So my main question here is?

Where were the head of Freddie and Fannie when s*#@ hit the fan? Where are the men who took so much money from the industry? Why are we not questioning them? Why are we not hearing anything from them? Is there no contrition?

A critical pillar to market competition and free markets did break down," Greenspan said. "I still do not fully understand why it happened." Well let me education you Mr Greenspan. A critical pillar did break down but I am not sure the free market broke down. I think greed was the pillar but I believe free market was the doorway through which the pillar tumbled. By living in a society where we have free enterprise we allow the green eyed monster of greed to take over when we allow it to go unchecked.

So I ask you will there be justice? Or are we afraid to ask the question of those who were key figures in the downfall of this free society? Where are they and why are we asking Alan Greenspan the tough questions but not the heads of Freddie and Fannie??? Inquiring minds wanna know.