Charlie Ragonesi Big Canoe Realestate's Blog: Georgia: Jasper

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 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

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

The statistics for Jasper Georgia and Pickens county in our north Georgia mountains can be seen below.

There are some interesting lines. . Jasper in the mountains is at or above the average for the State of Georgia. Pickens county , where Jasper is, is way above. The difference her is Big Canoe. Big Canoe is an upscale community in Pickens county and accounts for the big difference. Now you can see at the start of the year so far all the lines are close together. This means that if you are buying in North Georgia Big Canoe is a GREAT value. Contact us at All mountain Realty. We are your North Georgia Mountains experts.

Folks looking to buy or sell in Big Canoe often have questions. In this series I will as a Realtor who works in Big Canoe as well as the North Georgia Mountains do my best to provide answers to the most asked questions.

Why are the association fees so high in Big Canoe ?

The Association fees in Big Canoe are approximately 225. 00 per month. The main reasons for these fees are simple:

 ROADS In a gated community in Georgia the community is responsible for the roads. In Big Canoe there are over 100 miles of mountain roads that need to be maintained. Drive any other mountain community and you will soon see why Big Canoe spends on Roads

SECURITY and FIRE PROTECTION In Big Canoe there is 24/7 EMT service as well as security and fire protection. I fact you will save close to 500 a year on your home owners insurance because of the great protective services in Big Canoe. When one considers this reduction against the cost it makes the fees in Big Canoe very reasonable.

Got a Big Canoe or North Georgia Mountain question visit us on line at www.allmountainrealty.com or email me at charlie@allmountainealty.com

Jasper Georgia is a great place to live and work. There are many homes for sale.  However in the case below I think the tree house home of this lovely couple is not for sale.

This photo was taken by wife Sally while moving through the Jasper area. In our North Georgia mountains we have so many wonderful natural sights and sounds. Some times if you just stop for a moment and look around you will be treated to some of our wonderful Natural sights.

If you are looking for homes for sale in Jasper do not despair . Even though this one is taken the folks at All Mountain Realty are your Jasper home experts.

In a Real Estate Transaction there is a buyer, a seller , a buyers agent, a sellers agent, and a Lender. now there does not have to be all these folks but more often than not they are all there. There are also "minor players" like the inspector. They are minor players but can kill a deal.

So all the players march along on the trail to the closing. The agents keep the clients informed and make sure we are all in step with dates and times and things to be done. The clients nervous to the end rely, hopefully, on their agents and generally are in step with the process as they want it to happen.

Then we get to the lender. The lender wants it to happen too but is very often not in step. The lender asks for tons of paper work, and then comes back and asks for more. The lender seems to miss the dates in the contract when the appraisal needs to be done by, as well as the loan commitment given. A "good" lender will actually come to you and say they need an extension.

The lender today is out of step with the transaction in my opinion. Now before you all jump on me I would say that this happen 50 percent of the time. So we do work with good lenders who come through. But here is the point. Until Lenders get back to loaning where they were pre bubble we will never see a housing rebound. When we bought our first house in NYC it took 60 days to close. When we moved to Georgia the lenders laughed that it took so long in New York. Well guess what ? Georgia is now 45-60 days even for loans that are 100 percent no problem.

So what is needed is we all need to get in step. The market was out of step when any one with or without a pulse could get a loan. But now we have moved too far the other way.

2 days a go I posted a blog about our first snow in the mountains of Big Canoe. There were also pictures. Folks often ask about the mountains in winter. Today it is in the 60's and all the snow is gone. In fact the last couple of days have been great in the high 50's or low 60's with plenty of sunshine.

This type of weather is why we love living in the North Georgia Mountains. Yes we get some snow in winter but all the seasons are great. You do not have those long Grey cold snow filled winters. Will we get more snow? Maybe. But you know we have come to enjoy it rather than dread it. The North Georgia mountains are a great place to live, work and raise a family. The folks at All Mountain Realty are here to help you learn to kick back and enjoy one of the great living place in our country

The Marble festival was this past weekend in our North Georgia Mountains. The weather could not have been better. Well maybe it could have been a couple of degrees warmer. It was fun for all . Folks who live here and folks who visit had a geat time.

There were rides for the young at heart and great fun for the kids.

There were tons of exhibits and food vendors. The set up was in Newton Park. So right after the morning parade folks went to see all that there was to see. And of course there were culinary delicacies

Hey it is not a festival or any public event in Georgia without boiled peanuts !!!!! So what did I buy at the festival ?

I bought this great square of unique Georgia pink and white Marble. In keeping with culinary delicacies I now have my marble pasta board. After all you can take the boy out of New York but not New York out of the boy.