Dedra Lipscomb Daphne and Fairhope, AL Real Estate

Thursday afternoon as I was leaving my office, I realized that I had forgotten something, so went back in to retrieve it. Several agents were in a circle having an animated discussion, and as I walked up one of the agents said, "TMZ is reporting that Michael Jackson has died." It stopped me in my tracks and I forgot what I came back in for - briefly. She continued, "Neither Fox or CNN are confirming it - they are saying that he has been taken to the hospital in a coma, possibly a heart attack."

All the memories of Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five sort of rushed back at me. We are very nearly the same age, and the Ed Sullivan Show was a huge part of my parents' lives, and mine. Michael Jackson was a darling child, and their dancing and their music rated right up there with The Beatles, The Partridge Family and the Osmonds in my heart (What? Yeah, I was a bubble gum pop kind of girl.) I grew up loving the Jackson Five, and danced so many nights away as a teenager to Michael Jackson tunes. My very first "slow dance" was to I'll Be There," on my twelfth birthday.

Over the years as he grew and fell, so did I. From afar, I saw the transformation of Michael to someone hardly recognizable as the Michael Jackson I once adored. I watched with horror as he changed and became this mega monstrous superstar with no boundaries, no brakes, and no real roots.

My adoration faded with time, but he was always there in the news and the tabloids. Sad. With "Man in the Mirror," I think we got a rare glimpse into the spirit of Michael. Now he's gone and I find myself humming and singing my old favorites, and occasionally breaking out into a dance to the "Billie Jean" in my head. I guess this is what they mean when they say, "...but his music will live on forever."

Rest In Peace Michael Jackson.

If you know me, you know there isn't a strange road that I won't turn onto and drive down, if I haven't been there before. That's why I claim to know this count like the back of my hand. In my many, many - okay, 32 years - of driving this county (and most of Mobile County, too), I just know where things are.

So, if someone I run into can point me in the direction of a road I've never been on, I'm going! Especially, if there is the possibility of seeing something that needs to be explored, researched and verified.

Last week, on Thursday, this very thing happened. Christi and I were on a listing appointment, and we were told of a 4-wheeler trail, an old dirt road that led to an abandoned schoolhouse and and old lodge. What? Where? I've never heard of any thing remotely like this. So off we go. And here is what we found:

In the lower left of the window, to the left of the door, appears to be an old chalkboard. Since we are paralyzed by the thought of snakes, further exploration must wait till Winter, when even if there are snakes, they are then slower than we are.

Then at a curve in the dirt road ahead, this building, which the locals call The Old Lodge. It is built, I can see, from Clay City tiles, an old Fairhope Brick making company, located on Fish River. There is a potter who lives there now, but you can find these old Fairhope bricks, or clay city tiles, here and there around town in very old structures.

Want an adventure? Go to the country and explore the backroads!

As some of you know, I am introducing the feral cat colony we care for at our office and have been trying to get a picture of the kitten that I saw last week. Now I know that there are two kittens, where they live and Christi and I have rigged up a dumb-waiter for kittens to lower food and water to them. The ground below is a good ten or fifteen feet, so we had to be able to lower and retrieve the dishes. Next up, plans to trap and get them to a loving veterinarian. Neither Pinkie, Christi nor I have ever trapped anything, anywhere, so we are out of our element, but determined. We'll keep you all posted. For now, the kittens, with apologies for the bright eyes, because I couldn't get them out of the pictures:

They live in this drainage tunnel.

Sleeping

Fairhope, Alabama is one of two cities in the United States that operates as a Single Tax colony. What is the single tax colony and what does it mean to me if I choose to purchase property in Fairhope, Alabama? This question is asked frequently by those who are interested in purchasing property in Fairhope, which may be owned by The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation (FSTC).

Fairhope has an interesting history dating back to an evening in November, 1894 when a group of men, led by E.B. Gaston, left Des Moines, Iowa seeking to establish a ideal community based on the ideas of Henry George, and infused with some of their own Populist beliefs. One of the members is quoted as having said,

that the "idea had a fair hope of succeeding." The group's charter was "to establish and conduct a

model community or colony, free from all forms of private monopoly, and secure to its members

therein, equality of opportunity, the full reward of individual efforts, and the benefits of co-operation

in matters of general concern."

You can read a brief history here and here. But the question is, how does this affect my real estate transaction?

First, you will not own the land upon which your improvements (structures) stand. The land is owned by the FSTC. You will receive a 99 year lease on the land.

Second, you will not receive a Deed for your property. Instead, along with the 99 year lease, you receive a Bill of Sale. After all, you did not buy the land, you bought the improvements on the land, and those improvements are personal property. Hence, the Bill of Sale.

Third, as a Lessee, you become a member of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, and you may attend meetings, become involved in the Board, if you choose, or not. But essentially, it is the legality that is different and the taxation is included in the rent you pay to the Single Tax Corporation. This is explained on the website for the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation.

As the rents are collected, the corporation chooses what to do with those monies, some of which go into the demonstration fund. This fund is used for improvements for everyone to enjoy including 63 acres of public land on the bayfront, where the parks are maintained and enjoyed by the public, 24 acres for Founders Park, which includes athletic fields, and a 43 acre city nature park, and many other projects that lend to the beauty and comfort that we know as home.

For more information, please visit the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation website.

My heart breaks when people toss their animals away or they are abandoned for some reason or other. Our office is located on a major busy north south corridor in Daphne, Alabama, so it is a bit odd, and mercifully cool, that behind our office is a patch of woods that shades the porch surrounding our building. The back porch is one of my favorite places at the office. Behind that is an apartment complex. I figure these animals that we have adopted and care for, mostly feral now, came from there. But who knows. We feed them and make certain that they have fresh water twice a day. And we watch for them and keep count.

I am documenting them as I can locate them sitting still for a moment. Not easy. But this one, McGillicutty, is the spitting image of a cat I lost two years ago at the grand old age of nineteen. First time I saw him, I stopped dead in my tracks at the resemblance. Thought I was seeing a ghost. He's the one that will most likely be human friendly once more. He no longer runs away, unless you approach and reach within a foot of him. And he's the one waiting every morning at the door like we're a drive through.

This is the other one I was able to capture in an image from a far away distance. He's sleeping, he's a tom cat, and he's a daddy. I've seen the one kitten this year, but no decent picture yet. This one I call Big Daddy.

We have contact information for a feral cat helping hands kind of group, so soon we will be working on safe capture, so that they can be given their health care once overs. I hope they don't hate us for it, and that they won't hold a grudge, but there are raccoons in those woods and they need their vaccines. Sigh.