Casual Classics Concert Series - Bonus Concert

The Casual Classics Concert Series Presents!

 Pride of Pickens Showcase

Featuring

 Justin Davis, Piano

 Elizabeth Gibson, Organ   

Sam Mullinax, Voice

June 1, 2009 @  7:00 p.m.

New Lebanon Presbyterian Church 

Bent Tree Drive

 Free admission

 

 

 

Elizabeth Gibson

Eliazabeth is a Sacred Music Major with a concentration in organ at Reinhardt College and is the Tate United Methodist Church Music Director. She is a Reinhardt Presidential Scholar and an academic Scholar for having over a 3.9 GPA. Elizabeth is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the music honor society, and Alpha Chi, the general honor society, received an honors program certificate, and is listed in Who’s Who Among American College Students for 2009. She has served as President and Vice-President of the Reinhardt College Chapter of the Music Teachers National Association and she is an active member of campus ministry and serves as the chapel accompanist. Elizabeth has had two gospel songs published by the Gospel Heritage Music Company.

Elizabeth’s program will include pieces by Handel, Bach, Pachelbel, and Gordon Young 

Justin Davis

Justin is a 2009 graduate of Shorter College in Rome, Georgia with a Bachelor’s of Music in Piano Pedagogy. At Shorter Justin was heavily involved in many musical and non musical activities. He was a charter member of the Delta Sigma Fraternity, Theta Psi chapter and held many leadership positions in other organization: President of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Zeta Epsilon chapter, Shorter Chorus, Northwest Georgia WINDS, Resident Assistant, and a charter member of the Shorter College Band. Justin was the recipient 2009 of the Olin G. Parker Leadership Award for outstanding leadership in Phi Mu Alpha. He has served as pianist and
music leader at many churches in the Rome and Pickens County areas. His piano teacher include Thelma Cagle, Mary Ann Roach, Jan Moody, Patricia Adams, and Prof. Mary Ann Knight. Justin just completed four years of study with Peabody Conservatory graduate Dr. David Oliver.

Justin’s program will include pieces by Mozart, Chopin, and Bartok.

 Samuel Mullinax

Samuel is 22 years old and is from Ball Ground. He is a graduate of Cherokee High School where he participated in the various band ensembles. He is currently attending Reinhardt College perusing a double major in Vocal Performance and Music Education. After graduating from Reinhardt Sam plans on pursuing his Masters degree in Vocal Performance. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family and friends and playing golf.

Sam will be accompanied by Ellen Whitten and his program will include songs by Strauss, Mozart, Vaughan Williams, Gluck, Finzi and Rorem.

 

 The Casual Classics Concerts are sponsored by Jasper Muse, Inc, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supporting the performing arts.

 

This concert was organized by Suzanne Shull, the President and founder of Jasper Muse Inc., and it should be an absolute delight.  Come out and support our local talent!

See you ’round the mountains,

Don

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See you ’round the mountains,

Don

Little Hendricks Mountain & Lake Tamarack in Bent Tree

“Climb Every Mountain” might well be the theme song for sales in Bent Tree this year.  Sales in Bent Tree hadbeen consistently growing in volume of units and dollars for several years, but this year they certainly proved that no trend continues forever.   I have heard some residents - even some Real Estate agents - say that “Nothing” is selling; but that is certainly an exaggeration.   We just had to work a lot harder and climb a lot higher to make it work. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I had to say “almost” every listing, because it is possible that a seller might not agree to us providing one or there might be some other extenuating circumstance that makes it impractical or impossible - maybe a foreclosure with no records and a lot of damage.  We don’t do REO or Bank Owned listings right now so that hasn’t been an issue, but I guess it could be. 

We offer a Home Warranty, at our expense, to all our clients during the listing process and when it is explained to them, they uniformly agree that it is a benefit they want and appreciate.   Obviously the consumer can choose any warranty company they want, but since we are paying for the warranty we have researched the market and identified a preferred vendor.  In “our” market we have determined that Home Warranty of America (HWA) provides the best service and the most bang for our buck, so that is who we prefer to use.  HWA gives REALTORS a professional discount (not a volume based one) and before anyone fires off a letter to the GREC or some other regulatory agency,  we never receive or see even that professional discount - we use that discount to reduce the price of the Home Warranty or add additional services to the warranty.  Last month I was representing a buyer and the seller was to provide a warranty.  We offered (through the sellers’ agent) to let the sellers use our provider and discount.  My clients got a Warranty I know I can trust and the sellers got a discount - 4 happy campers there.

So why do use Home Warranties?  From a marketing perspective, the sellers are happy to see us spending our commission to do something concrete for them and the buyers have a sense of security knowing that many major systems and a lot of minor ones are covered by some sort of warranty.   It also really makes for a nice clean break between buyer and seller and the seller’s agent.  If the morning after closing the back burner on the stove goes out, the seller doesn’t get an angry call nor does the seller’s agent.  Instead the client uses their home warranty, calls a repairman, pays a small deductible and everyone moves on.  The programs we use also covers the sellers during the listing (as long as they are living in the home) so it is possible that the seller could have repairs done under the warranty.  After closing, the buyer has a 13 month comfort cushion where they know that they have some degree of protection from the uncertainties that accompany purchasing a resale home.

Earlier this fall I got this notice from HWA.  

Real Client Savings on a Home Warranty

I also got a very nice letter from Dino and Sheryl thanking me for ensuring that they had coverage.   This is not my only client that has had a claim paid this year.  We are convinced that this is a good program and a good idea.

Certainly one can’t build an entire marketing plan or justify a full service commission on just Home Warranties; however, they are a great tool and when used properly and fully integrated into both marketing and ongoing service to clients it is a sparkly little facet that more than carries its own weight.

Next month I’ll discuss tying the Home Warranty to a pre-listing Home Inspection.  Now we’re talking about a force multiplier and not just an additive effect.

Have a GREAT, SAFE and THANKFUL Thanksgiving Holiday. 

We’ll see you ’round the mountains,

Don

I wrote a blog earlier this week on Life In North Georgia on how our community honors our veterans.  It is really pleasing to see the community where I live continuing to walk the walk and giving that support a tangible face for our military personnel on Active Duty. 

There are approximately 1.5 million military personnel on Active Duty and 800,000 more in the Reserve Components serving all across the United States and at 820 installations in 39 countries.   Over 200,000 will be somewhere outside the US and tens of thousands of the US based personnel will spend Christmas away from family and friends.  Many will be travelling through the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International, and the USO will be providing Christmas dinner for all service personnel who are passing through the airport that day. 

If you would like to support the Bent Tree effort please drop off your donation at the Administration Building or 19th Hole beginning November 17, 2008.  If you are writing a check please make it payable to Virginia Roberts and put “For USO Christmas Dinner” in the remarks block.  (Virginia is the overall project coordinator.)  Regina and I will be dropping off a check and I hope you will too.  Special Thanks to Judy Siling, Bent Tree resident & true patriot, who spearheads this project for the Bent Tree Community.

See you ’round the mountains.

Through the end of October 2008 there have been 21 Homes Sold in Bent Tree and one new sale is pending.

New Listing at 904 Fairway Drive in Bent Tree

This is an increase of 5 homes sold since the last report.  I am pleased to report that I participated in two of them.   I represented the Pattersons who left their lovely lakefront cabin on Blue Surf to join family on the West Coast and the Baragars who purchased a house on Southview Trail and have already begun making it their own home.  Three of my clients this year have purchased homes in Bent Tree and are creating dramatic new changes to make their new houses their personal homes.  In the next few weeks there will be a series of articles about all 3 of them.  I hope you will check in to see what progress they are making.

In 2007 there had been 32 sales in Bent Tree through October.  So sales are down about one third, but there are certainly still sales going on.  Because the market is slow there are some lovely homes on the market at very attractive prices.  If your stock portfolio has underperformed this year, it might be a good time to make an investment in a 2nd home or investment property.  If you are looking for a new permanent residence, some of the permanent residences available are just unbelievable values and interest rates are still very attractive.  Just in case you are wondering - local banks have money and they are closing loans.  All 3 of my closings this month were funded on time and closed without a hitch. 

Here are the details on Bent Tree:

• Current Listings:  70    This is down 15 from the last report.  The 70 listings represent 6% of the homes in Bent Tree and is well below a “normal” average of around 10%.  This is due partially to the current slow market as some home owners have elected to take their properties off the market for a while and wait for things to settle down (or up!).  There is also a normal drop over Thanksgiving and Christmas as home owners want to be able to ”use” their homes over the holidays without being always “on call.” 
• Price Range:  $141,900 to $799,900. 
• Pending Sales:  1 Home is currently in a Due Diligence Period.
• Sales in 2008:  21 Homes have sold since January 1, 2008. ( 5 homes sold since the last report and 1 more has moved to pending.
• Price Range of Annual Sales:  $125,000 to $452,000.
• New Listings in the last 2 weeks:  2

For a short report on Pickens County Home Sales please visit my other BLOG:  Life In North Georgia

Have a great week and I’ll see you ’round the mountains,

Don

Don Martin Your Bent Tree Real Estate Advisor

This blog will concentrate on the Bent Tree Community and Real Estate Activity in Bent Tree.   There wil certainly be times when the articles relate to real estate in general; for instance next week I have an article planned on the importance of the Home Warranty in the real estate transaction and why we use one in almost every transaction.   In the near future, I have some articles planned on investing in real estate that I think you are going to find very interesting - particularly in a time where dirt is looking like a pretty solid investment.

This blog is linked directly to my new Bent Tree website (http://bent-treerealestate.com) where you will be able to search not only all my personal listings in Bent Tree, but also all of the homes currently for sale in Bent Tree by all real estate agents.  This is important because, and this may be a surprise to some folks, in most of the home closings today, the buyer is represented by someone other than the listing agent.  I show all of the homes available in Bent Tree - regardless of what agent or firm provides the listing. 

If you have a question or comment about life in Bent Tree, feel free to post that and I will do my best to respond to it.  If you have an article or discussion you would like to see on the site please feel free to offer that up and we’ll see where it goes.

You will also see a link to my other blog http://LifeInNorthGeorgia.com which covers community events, business activity, cultural events and real estate news as well as stories about, you know, Life In North Georgia.

Well that is enough of a note for the foundation.  Let’s just build on that.

See you ’round the mountains,

Don