Tammy Lankford- lake sinclair

I am not telling any person in Georgia that you should vote for this candidate for Governor, but I am asking that you at least check him out before you cast your vote next year in the primary. I'm personally supporting Ray. I feel strongly that his views on policy reflect many of my own views. I am thrilled with some of the legislation that he has already authored in part that will be introduced as early as January in the state legislation.

Ray McBerry is a strong beliver in state's rights. I'm excited about his campaign tours and look forward to getting to meet him when he visits near by. But the most exciting thing about Ray McBerry to me is that he isn't a politician at all. He's a small business owner, so I know that he sees the struggles of these economic times and faces the same problems I face as a small business owner.

So just do me the favor of getting to know a little more about Ray McBerry before you cast your vote in 2010. And read the legislation that Ray helped author that will be introduced in the state house in January.

Politics, while not something I discuss with clients every day, are important to the housing market. And I think it's a good thing to research all the candidates you consider before casting your vote. I have been reading about candidates running for Georgia's next Governor for weeks and the conclusion I reached was that Ray McBerry is more like the rest of us regular Georgians and our rights and he got bonus points for not making a career out of politics.

If you ever read my blog before you might know that I adore my nearly perfect husband. Last Thursday after a particularly stressful day at the office that ended with an agent finding one of her listing left unsecured by another agent being the 5:01 issue... my sweet husband showed up at the office to go take down one of my signs and take me to our weekly "date night".

There's a new place in downtown Milledgeville, which is actually filled with a wonderful array of dining, called the Asian Bar and Grill. For those of you familiar with downtown Milledgeville it's three doors left of "The Brick". If you haven't been downtown in a long time, it's below my old college hangout "The Opera House".

We were greeted and seated promptly and it's decor is really nice. They have a huge fish tank filled with koi and they were fun to watch. The offer a full bar and Asian dining choices around the globe. You can choose from Thai, Chinese, Korean and Japanese among others. My husband went with Curry Chicken and I choose Shakey Beef from the Korean menu choices. It was a beautiful plate and the beef just melted in my mouth.

Sometimes when we eat in downtown Milledgeville and the weather is nice we walk around and window shop. Thursday was no exception. There are some really nice antique places downtown and it's always fun to "people watch" with the college kids in town milling around. (Don't college kids keep getting younger and younger?)

The Asian Bar and Grill which did come through with a fabulous dinner and excellent atmosphere in which to enjoy it did leave us hanging when it came to dessert. My Donald doesn't feel the dining out experience is quite complete without dessert, so our walk ended up at Blackbird Coffee Shop. Blackbird coffee shop is also a wonderful little place and it was really hard to choose which dessert I wanted with my coffee because they ALL looked so good. We ended ordering 4 "bites" which are just what the name implies.... bites. We choose a chocolate tart bite, a coconut macaroon bite, a cream puff bite and an eclair bite. We took them all nicely boxed up home with our coffee and had dessert at home.

So if you are looking for a really nice date night place, downtown Milledgeville has a lot to offer and I highly recommend the Asian Bar and Grill and dessert and coffee from Blackbird.

And if you are having stress of your own from buying or selling property, just call me, I'd be more than happy to handle the stress for you and help you with your sale or purchase.

Last night I went out to dinner with my husband and then we stopped by the Verizon store because it was time for me to get a new phone. I love their coverage, so I choose to stay with Verizon, but I have to admit I'm never usually satisfied with the service in the local store and last night was again, no exception.

First of all, there were 5 employees in the store and 3 customers, yet I still had to wait. I truly do not like to wait. I'm known for asking for the first appointment of the day for doctor visits, dental visits and haircuts, but I just don't like to waste my time waiting. When I have an appointment to show property to a doctor, dentist, or hairdresser I don't make them sit in my office and wait to start seeing property. But I stood and waiting, because even though you have to wait, they have NO CHAIRS for you to sit and wait.

I already wasn't in the best of moods because our dining experience had been one where the manager had called us a "training table" and my husbands meal was comped. The food was okay, although my husband's not cooked to order dinner was much better than the manager who got all up in my personal space to apologize. I don't like people in my personal space too much either.

So after about half an hour of waiting, while in a bad mood, it was FINALLY my turn for service. I explained my phone needs to the clerk and also told her of the brand name I prefer because I've had good service and own stock in a particular company. That seemed to aggravate her somewhat. But finally I settled on my new phone and she looked at my ID and went to work. I requested she transfer my contacts and she said okay. Finally after more waiting she handed me both my old and my new phone and we were on our way.

On the drive home I asked my husband to call my phone.... I wanted to see what the ring setting was and decide if I liked it, but that didn't happen. Instead my husband got a message that my phone was not in service. Oh that's not good. Now we had left the store after closing hours, so it wasn't like I could turn around and head back to the store.

I had gotten my last phone via the mail (and I expect will get ever phone I ever get this way in the future) and remembered that if you dial *228 you can "activate" a new phone. So I tried it and it worked. But still none of my contact numbers are in my new phone. I have to go back to the store and wait again. And that's not making me very happy.

So if you buy a new phone... do two things before you leave... make sure it works and make sure your contacts have been successfully transferred.

And if you want to see property, and don't want to have to wait.... call me, I PROMISE I'll be ready before your appointment time and have properties lined up for you to see. Thankfully living at Lake Sinclair is very relaxing and no matter how stressful your day is, your evenings at home looking out over the beautiful lake will make it all better.

Yesterday I read a post by Liz Moras on this subject and it prompted me to talk to buyers in my area a little.

I got a call Saturday evening at home.

The customer dialed the office number, but at Lane Realty if you dial our office number after business hours, you still get an agent (please don't call after 11, we do need sleep). It's been a long standing practice at Lane Realty to forward the phone to a full time agent for customers who call during evening hours or before the office opens at 9 a.m. We strive to be available when customers/clients need us. And you never know what time someone might call to make an appointment.

Back to my call. The caller had been at Lake Sinclair earlier in the day with a cell phone that had service from a company that didn't offer good service in this area. He was calling to inquire about the price of a home we have listed. It was not a clear connection and his cell dropped the call. The duty agent had tried to reach him back and left voice mail. Later in the evening he was calling to make an appointment to see the home he had inquired about. I explained to him that I would get in touch with my agent that had duty that afternoon and have them contact him. He seemed upset that I would not make an appointment with him. He said, "It doesn't matter who I talk to, I don't care."

Well, I'm about to explain why I think he should care...

When you are looking for a home on Lake Sinclair there are many avenues to do plenty of looking on line. You can find houses and photos that peak your interest and call agent after agent to make appointments, but it's my opinion this isn't the best way to find a house that suits you.

It's my opinion that you should first decide if you like this area and would like to purchase at home here and then take the following step.

FIND AN AGENT TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR SEARCH FOR PROPERTY.

You see, Lake property is a very unique thing and Lake Sinclair has 15,000 acres and 417 miles of unique shoreline. It's about so much more than finding a neighborhood you like and a house you like. You need an agent with good communication skills to help you with the so much more. There are things like:

1. Do you want a boathouse? a double boathouse?
2. How deep do you want the water?
3. Do you want property with a boat launch?
4. How large would you like your dock?
5. Would you like open view on the main lake or a quiet cove with less boat traffic where your children or grandchildren can play in the water?
6. Do you want an area with building restrictions?
7. When boating are you going to have to let the top down to go under a bridge to get to the main lake?
8. Do you want the best fishing places on the lake?
9. Do you want the best skiing places on the lake?
10. Three counties border the lake with three very different millage rates for property taxes, which is in your budget?
11. Information about schools and hospitals in the three different counties vary also, would how long it would take an ambulance to reach your home matter? how about a fire truck?
12. There are 4 types of ownership on Lake Sinclair: Fee Simple, Strip lease, residential lease, and full lease.

You see, it's complex, and once you hire an agent who is familiar with these things and let them know what is important to you, you can be emailed lists of properties that would fill all or the most important of your wish list. We are also as agents familiar with which lenders have products for each type of property you might be considering. For example if you are looking at a lease lot we know which lender to send you to see, or if you are looking at a manufactured home we have loan officers who do those also.

So it really is to your benefit as a purchaser to find an agent and hire them. If you sign a Buyer's Brokerage Agreement that agent is then obligated to work on your behalf to help you find a home.

If you wanted to paint your house and you called Lowe's, Home Depot and Ace Hardware and Sherman Williams to inquire about paint... you are still sitting there with the same color. If you hire a painter and make a contract you will get your house painted. Same principle. If you hire an agent, that agent will work FOR YOU to find your Lake Sinclair home.

At Lane Realty we have a staff of full time agents to help you located and negotiate to find the best house at the best price available. Just give us a call today if you are looking for a home on Lake Sinclair and would like to HIRE an agent to represent you and help you have a Lake Sinclair home soon.

Thank you to my husband and my daddy for helping to keep our nation safe.