The Smell Of The Kill
The Smell Of The Kill
When: October 8th and 10th, 2010
Where: Blue Ridge Community Theater
Take three delicious, malicious wives, add three miserable, unloving husbands and chill. That’s the recipe for this tantalizing comedy. The play revolves around three women who have tolerated each other during one-a-month dinners for years. While their unseen spouses play golf in the dining room, the women exchange confidences, for the first time revealing that all three marriages are on the brink of disaster and all three women are facing he challenges of their life. When the men accidentally lock themselves in a basement meat locker, the women are faced with life-or-death decision – should they leave the men out in the cold – permanently – or let them thaw? One by one the women make heir choices with more that a little help from one another.
For More Information, Please Click Here, or Call 706-632-9223.
Cherry Log Fall Festival
Cherry Log Fall Festival
When: Saturday October 9th – Sunday October 10th, 2010
Where: Community of Cherry Log
Just 5 miles east on 515 from Blue Ridge follow signs
First 2 weekends each October, the community of Cherry Log celebrates the harvest with the Cherry Log Festival. Serving delicious homemade breakfast and lunch, offering arts and crafts, homemade cakes, pies and canned goods, bluegrass, gospel and country music at the Cherry Log Community Clubhouse, 341 Cherry Log Street. Great food and entertainment. Fun for the whole family! Plenty of free parking is available.
For More Information lease Call – 706-276-3217
Existing Home Sales Rebound Gives Hope For Autumn
Sales of existing homes in recovered in August, perhaps the result of a post-tax credit normalization.
As compared to July, Existing Home Sales rose 8 percent in August, buoyed by falling interest rates and slow-to-rise home prices. There’s lot of “good deals” out there and home buyers in Blairsville and Blue Ridge are taking advantage.
The housing gains are relative, however. August’s total units sold barely crossed 4 million and still trails the average figures of the last few years by close to 1 million units.
Despite that, the August Existing Home Sales report can be considered a strong one. This is for several reasons:
- Sales volume increased in August without tax credit or government intervention
- Sales growth is not limited by geography. All 4 regions — Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and West — showed improvement last month.
- Repeat buyers are driving the market, representing 48 percent of sales, up from forty-three percent in July.
And, perhaps most important to the housing market market, the number of available home resales dropped by almost one full month last month. At the current sales pace, the national inventory would be depleted in 11.6 months.
For home buyers, the data presents an interesting opportunity. With average mortgage rates rising from their best levels ever and home affordability cresting in places like The North Georgia Mountains , this autumn may represent the turn-around point for the housing market nationwide.
If you’re planning to move in early-2011, consider moving up your time frame.
Home Defaults Dropped For The 7th Month In A Row In August
According to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosure filings climbed 4 percent in August from the month prior. A foreclosure filing is defined as default notice, scheduled auction, or bank repossession.
Despite the number of filings surpassing 300,000 for the 18th straight month, RealtyTrac’s report shows some bright spots for housing.
- The number of default notices served per month fell for the 7th time this year
- Foreclosure activity in Nevada, the nation’s leading foreclosure state, is down 25% from last August
- Foreclosure activity has not materially increased since early-2009, pointing to a stabilization
In addition, each of the 10 leading metro areas for foreclosures posted year-over-year declines for the second month in a row.
But, perhaps, most important, is that mortgage lenders and servicers appear to be managing their REO more effectively, making properties available for sale at a measured pace as opposed to flooding markets with new homes. As noted by RealtyTrac, the probable reason is “to prevent further erosion of home prices”.
For home sellers, it’s a welcome development.
Foreclosures have had a hand in falling home values in North Georgia and across the country. And, although it’s self-serving for banks to meter the release of homes under ownership, everyday homeowners benefit, too. Fewer homes on the market helps to provide a floor for Blairsville Georgia housing values.
If you have an interest in buying foreclosed homes, be sure to talk with a real estate agent first. The process of buying a home from a bank is different from buying from “a person”. Having the help of a professional should work to your benefit.
Is The Case-Shiller Index More Accurate Than The Home Price Index?
The private-sector Case-Shiller Index reported home values up 5 percent nationwide in June. The government’s own Home Price Index, however, reached a different conclusion.
According to the Federal Home Finance Agency, month-to-month home values fell 0.3 percent in June, and values are down by 1.7 percent from June 2009.
So, as a home buyer and/or homeowner in Blue Ridge or Blairsville, by which valuation model should you make your bets? Perhaps neither.
This is because both the Case-Shiller Index and the Home Price have inherent methodology flaws, the most glaring of which is their respective sample sets.
The Case-Shiller sample set, for example, comes from just 20 cities across the country — and they’re not even the 20 most populated cities. Together, the Case-Shiller cities represent just 9 percent of the overall U.S. population.
That’s hardly representative of the housing stock overall.
By comparison, the Home Price Index tracks home sales everywhere — every city in every state — but it specifically excludes certain properties. The Home Price Index does not track sales of homes for which the financing comes from agencies other than Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. This means that as FHA loans grow in popularity, the pool of Home Price Index-eligible homes is reducing.
The HPI ignores homes backed by “jumbo” loans, too.
Therefore, the “right” model for home values cannot come from national data at all — it can only come locally. Neither Case-Shiller nor the government has the tools to get as granular as an area such as The North Georgia Mountains. A real estate agent in the area does, however.
The best way to get a pulse for what’s happening in markets right now is to Contact Me, or visit my Georgia Mountain Market Reports.
