Charlie Ragonesi Big Canoe Realestate's Blog: All Mountain Realty

It must be Spring in Big Canoe as well as in our North Georgia Mountains. The leaves are out on the trees and there are great signs of life every where.

The above and below photo are of Mountain Laurel.

Mountain Laurel is really pretty. This year it bloomed a bit early. The flowers are delicate and long lasting. The beauty of this woody plant is that is grows here wild. The leaves are evergreen so you have green year round!. It requires no care or feeding. You just sit back and enjoy the beauty. Yesterday I sat on our front porch and enjoyed our woods and this pretty gift from nature. The North Georgia Mountains whether you are in Big Canoe or not are where we at All Mountain Realty work. Looking at the photos you can see why.

The Mountain Real Estate Report is heard every Thursday on wyyzradio.com streamed on Line. This week we got together with Mortgage specialist Kathy Sheehan, a member here on ActiveRain, to produce a show dedicated to buying. The show is good information for first time buyers confused and wondering about financing a home today. You can listen to the show live tomorrow, ( Thurs. May 3) at 10:30 am EST by going to www.wyyzradio.com. Click the button that says the Croc, far right top for the streaming. Or you can hear it on our web site www.allmountainrealty.com at 10:30 under this weeks show on our radio page.

Working with other members of ActiveRain to bring important information to buyers is great. Thanks Kathy for being on the show and providing such timely information.

The Bear on the Square Festival in Dahlonga Georgia is a great kick off to the Spring / Summer season in our North Georgia Mountains. The festival is a free event featuring musicians roam all over our Mountains

Here is just one of the many groups that camped out including a clogging platform for those who were so inclined. Below you can see just one of the streets filled with folks and musicians playing

The whole square was full for the whole weekend. The Gold Museum is in the photo below. It sits ion the center of the square. Dahlonega was the site of the first gold rush in the country in the 1820's. People still pan today .

So after all that walking around and listening to music, What does one eat to capture the Mountain Spirit?

While I cannot bring you the flavor of the food in this post,  I can bring you some of the sounds. So enjoy the music and you will get a good feel for this great festival. The North Georgia Mountains are a wonderful place to live and play. Let the folks at All Mountain Realty be your guides

The Mountain Real Estate Report is back . We are streaming live every Thursday on WYYZ Radio. The new show is totally on line and is gathering listeners around the world. You can listen to the show by clicking the link at the bottom of this blog. It will send you to this weeks show. I do the show with Linda Carrig and we have a good time as well as provide information to buyers sellers and investors in our beautiful North Georgia Mountains.

The only downside to the show is that it is radio. So when we talk about where we are it doesn't always show through. But the first show was done with the following in the back ground.

Yes that is what it looked like the day we recorded the show. We are looking toward the start of the Appalachian trail in Amicolola. This is off Linda's back deck. Interested in the North Georgia Mountains? We are beautiful and affordable. This on April 2 by the way. So we are already into a mountain spring. Enjoy

It is Spring in Our North Georgia Mountains. Driving through Big Canoe is always a great experience in the Spring. You never know what is going to happen when you round a bend.

These gentlemen were leisurely crossing the road. Now the interesting thing about them was they would all stop at the same time stick out their necks and gobble. They were in perfect sync. I had never seen that before. So I stopped and watched as they went away

They walked across the road and up a hill and out of sight. But then I looked back to the left and ....

This gent was in full display. As a child of the 60's I thought "This must be the jive Turkey". Sorry could not resist . Have a great holiday weekend all

The old Fashioned Barber shop in Jasper Georgia has won a "Keep Pickens Beautiful and Green" award.

The shop features the large chairs as well as coffee and donuts for those who are waiting to get a Hair cut. Since opening in the last year and 1/2 the shop has gone from 2 to 3 to 4 hair cutting pro's

The ladies who work in the shop, from left to right are Misty, Mary (the owner) Crystal, and Heather. The good news about this group is that every one of them gives a great haircut. Even with 4 Barbers you may have to wait. This is because the atmosphere is one of unrushed quality. Rumor has it the shop may be adding a 5th Barber soon.

Speaking of Keeping Pickens Beautiful......

This is the "after" Picture. The before picture would have made Lon Chaney proud. 

The Old Fashioned Barber shop number is 706 253 6302

There are things that we all delay on. They are different for all of us for sure. For me with my 2 year old PC with all kinds of tech support it is creating a back up. No I did not blow up. But my partner that does our books did have a blow up. And so today I sent him a bunch of files. Right after that I signed up for a back up service.

Since I am now on a back up , well soon any way, I would recommend one of the off site companies. Why, Because if you get a virus or  have PC problem you can transmit it to your back up system and go no where when trying to restore. Any way the back up company thinks it will take a day maybe 2 to back me up and not impact my work while I am doing it. It will cost me about 144 a year. But the peace of mind will be priceless.

So if one of your delay issues is backing up your pc maybe this post will move you to action. Just think about what would happen if ....

Big Canoe is a beautiful place to live. I post about it and our mountains all the time. But there may come a time when you leave Big Canoe. Reasons for leaving vary

1 The roads have become too tough to drive as you age.

2 You want to be closer to family

3 You need to be closer to medical facilities

4 You have a new job and it involves commuting a lot

If any of these reasons take you to the greater Atlanta area All Mountain Realty can help you. We have an office and a sister company in Atlanta. You can see Dan Johnson on our web site. He is our Atlanta guru. Dan has lived in Atlanta and is a native Georgian for many years. So if you are leaving our beautiful mountains All Mountain Realty  can assist you in selling your home here and helping you find your new home closer to town

Pickens County Georgia is the "first" mountain county In the Appalachians. The income of those living here and moving here is going up. While the income of those leaving is lower. Also our population is growing.  (See Below) So if you are looking for a place to invest or live, that is beautiful and affordable in the North Georgia Mountains consider Picekns county and consider All Mountain Realty your Pickens county pro's.

Pickens County (Jasper), Ga.
 
Population (2010): 29,431
Population (2005): 27,277
Inbound income per cap. (2010): $23,500
Outbound income per cap. (2010): $16,100
Non-migrant income per cap. (2010): $23,000

NAR and major sites all do studies of how long people look at a listing. The time is in seconds but if you have pictures , and I mean good pictures of your listing and a lot of them folks will linger longer.

Today I had rather an interesting experience. I was showing a home in Big Canoe to some folks. This was their first time in Big Canoe. As we were in the house the wife said, " I have been in this home before ! I recognize this art work" Now I am thinking, they said they had never been in Big Canoe before what gives? The husband said you have been in this home virtually.

The wife had seen it on line and the quality of the pictures were good enough for her to recognize the interior. This created a feeling of familiarity and ease. It made the showing go very well

We at All Mountain Realty do at least 25 pictures( the max for our MLS) as well as use virtual tours and a professional photographer. Why? Because we want folks to know our properties and see them. Pictures may be low tech but they are critical to your listings.

The picture above is of the pink marble Tate house. Looking at this picture wouldn't you want to know more? It is NOT for sale but it is beautiful