Charlie Ragonesi Big Canoe Realestate's Blog

It Must be Spring 1 (photos)

All Mountain Realty — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:52:22 -0700

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.

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

ActiveRainers work together on The Mountain Real Estate Report

All Mountain Realty — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:22:28 -0700

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.

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Bear On the Square

All Mountain Realty — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:32:36 -0700

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

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

It's Back !!

All Mountain Realty — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:38:55 -0700

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

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Big Canoe Spring sights

All Mountain Realty — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 10:48:16 -0700

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

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Old Fashioned Barber Shop wins award

All Mountain Realty — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:25:46 -0700

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

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Don't delay

All Mountain Realty — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:26:50 -0700

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 ....

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Big Canoe update are you leaving ?

All Mountain Realty — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:00:56 -0700

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

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Pickens County Georgia is a great place to invest

All Mountain Realty — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:53:21 -0700

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

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

The irony of the housing market bubble

All Mountain Realty — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:46:39 -0800

Elaine Stewart wrote a very interesting post on home affordability. I am placing a link to it in this blog

http://activerain.com/blogsview/3019146/home-affordability-now-reaches-an-all-time-high

What strikes me with this is the following; In the late 90's and into the 2000's there was a great push to get everybody into a home. This is the American Dream after all. Yes there were people who should not have been able to buy, in my opinion. But of course they were lent too. You can say it was due to government programs. I believe the fact of the matter is that there was so much money coming into this country that it had to go somewhere in order to make money. Housing ended up as being it . But I am digressing a bit.

Now after reading Elaines post what we have is a situation where housing and interest rates are at such a low point that the American Dream has never been more affordable !!! This affordability has come on the backs of hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and short sales. So the tragedy of the crash has created a market where the dream is more obtainable now than ever before. That to me is the irony of the housing crisis and bubble bursting.

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Why Pictures are important in a listing

All Mountain Realty — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:36:13 -0700

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

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

How's the Market ? A better question is, how are attitudes ?

All Mountain Realty — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:40:29 -0800

We all know that markets are local. So one market may be hot while another is not. But I suspect that attitudes of buyers and sellers may be a more universal thing. So I am asking the question and would like your answers on How are attitudes ? Lets first focus on buyers. Here are some thoughts. Is your market hot because of great prices or availability of jobs ?

In my market the attitude of buyers is mixed. Investors are moving in and are very definitely bullish on our market. There are first time buyers trying to get into what they think is a great market. So the attitude of buyers in my market is there are deals out there. How can I get in on them. Other buyers want a simpler country way of life and feel the mountains can satisfy that requirement. Job wise folks seem to be more settled that before and willing to take a chance. They like the low rates as well as the programs out there. Is this a trend in your market ? Is it a national trend ? If it is a trend how can we capitalize on it

Now on to sellers. Sellers in my market are almost always selling because they have to. They are being relocated. They lost a job. They are selling an inheritance after a death. We do not see folks selling and moving up as may be the case in other markets. This is our trend in the North Georgia Mountains. What is yours?

So if your market is hot or not it is more important I think to understand the underlying attitudes. Look forward to your feedback

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Lake Petit Homes for Sale

All Mountain Realty — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:33:14 -0800

We have 2 great homes for sale on Lake Petit in beautiful Big Canoe. What makes these homes so special is that they are both some of the best priced lake front homes in Big Canoe

The first home is 1148 Thrush Turn;

This is a 3 bed room 3 bath home sitting right on a secluded cove of Lake Petit. There are some large windows in this home that look out to the lake and the mountains

But if a lake view is not enough;

You can sit out on your deck and enjoy the Mountain views as well. This home is priced at $385,000. Lots on Lake Petit, if you can find them sell at 300,000. This rare lake property is FMLS 4330525

The second Grest home we have on Lake Petit is 1049 Thrasher Way This lovely home is 3 bedrooms 2 and 1/2 baths.Want to sit on your property and enjoy the view?

You can follow the path on the property and sit by the water and enjoy this fabulous view.

How Lovely is this home !!!! It is a great mountain cottage yet it has tons of space inside. It has been very well kept.

This is the view from your dining room. What a great place to enjoy a meal. This home is offered at 429,000. Making it and the home on Thrush Turn two of the best priced lake homes in Big Canoe , or on a major lake in the North Georgia Mountains . Fmls number is 430992

Want to know why folks love living on Lake Petit. 1 It is 95 acres of beauty. 2 the only boats allowed are electric motor or hand paddled. So you always have quiet. and 3 you can just sit back and enjoy the sunset

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

We are not in the mountains any more !!!

All Mountain Realty — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:13:11 -0800

For a couple of days this weekend we were in the Florida Panhandle. We were visiting son Joe who is in the Navy. He is soon to be shipped out west so we thought it would be a good time to visit. I love the North Georgia mountains and their beauty. However there is something to be said for the gulf as well. The picture below was taken at Fort Barracas. It over looks the gulf. The sail boat in the distance made good speed as it was a windy day. All in all there is a lot of natural beauty in our country.

We enjoyed the trip and the change of scenery

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098

Jasper Georgia Statistics

All Mountain Realty — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:55:31 -0800

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.

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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog

On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098