Up In Cumming Magazine
Shoal Creek Campgrounds #7 is part of the Lake Lanier Islands Resort complex. This gorgeous campground offers a playground for children and allows pets. A hiking trail wanders throughout the property and a shady camping area is set up …  read more…

OpEdNews – The Photos CNN Didn't Publish On Drought In Georgia And …
When you take into consideration that Lake Lanier used to have 692 miles of shoreline, even my few photos do not reveal the broader picture until you understand that I only ventured a few miles from home to take these pictures… and what …  read more…

The 'water war' isn't really about water at all | Jay Bookman
12:15 pm. Georgia wants water? Good! Invade Tennessee and take back Chatanooga and the Tennessee River. That was supposed to be the Georgia/Tennessee boundry anyway. Then build a dam around Ellijay (I have property there), ….. Why should it be Florida or Alabama’s water when Lake Lanier is in Georgia? How does another state have the right to something that isn’t in their state? Alabama has Lake Martin near Auburn/Opelika. They have Logan-Martin near Birmingham. …  read more…

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Atlanta Flat Fee MLS = Extreme Exposure for FSBOS
There are 4 million homes for sale in the United States according to Realtor.com; over 100,000 in the Atlanta area and nearly 10,000 in the Lake Lanier area. In today’s economy and the decline in the…  read more…

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On the Fairway, New Lessons in Saving Water (International Herald Tribune)
State governments are turning to golf courses, long seen as water guzzlers, for tips on conservation.  read more…

Vital Zip Codes (The State)
ZIP CODE 29016 PROPERTY TRANSFERS 8 W. Canterbury Court, Blythewood, from Martin Lenk to Keith and Lindsay Shearer, $225,000 414 Holly Berry Circle, Blythewood, from Houman and Parastoo Kashanipour to Jason and Kathy Reader, $410,000  read more…

Great Wolf extends debt agreements (Dayton Business Journal)
Indoor water park resort operator Great Wolf Resorts Inc. said it has reached agreements with lenders that extend the maturity dates on the mortgage loans for its Great Wolf Lodge properties in Mason and Texas to July 1, 2011. (WOLF)  read more…

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Resolved Question: Lake Lanier ??
My family and I are looking to move to Lake Lanier. It will be my Husband, Myself, and My Parents. We are looking to spend around $400,000-$500,000 on a piece of property for Lake Front. Do you know of any nice locations on the Lake where we would spend around this? We would like to live in a smaller town close to a big town. We would like a deed restricted community.

Thanks

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The global recession has caused much of a slump in the real estate industry in most parts of the world. However, that does not mean the housing and construction industry will never pick up. Just like any other industry, the real estate market may soon pick up as the economy slowly recovers. Even as times are still bad now, there is still some money to be made from the real estate market.

We are not talking about investing huge amounts of cash into any certain project but instead, going into the rental business. In these times, cash rich investors will find that there are ample cheap investment opportunities now especially when many house owners have to put up their properties for sale when they are unable to make the mortgage payments. These properties will often be up for sale at much lower than the market value when times are good.

It is a good time to add some lower than market value properties to your portfolio so that you can rent it out to those who are looking for a place to rent. In this bad economic situation, many homeowners may have sold their properties and in need of a place to rent. If you have a property in a good area, then it should be quite easy for your to get tenants and monthly income from their rental.

Of course, before immersing yourself into the real estate industry, you will still need to do the necessary homework to find out which areas are great for investing in and avoid places where rented homes are not high in demand. Renting out of your property is a lucrative way to earn some income or at best, pay for your investment.

One of the ways to look for reasonably priced property that is cheap and below market price is to check out the list of properties being put up for auction at auction houses. Now, don’t rush into bidding for just any property. You will need to check the property background first and make sure it is suitable for investment. You will want to look for properties in good, high demand areas and also those that are in good conditions. You don’t want to invest in a property that may drain you of your finances for repairs.

Now, if you don’t relish the idea of renting out the property, you can also hold on to it for now. And if you have extra funds, give it a nice makeover and when the time is right, you can put it up for sale at a higher price than when you bought it. The real estate industry may be plunging or stagnant now but it’s not going to stay that way forever. Just remember, whatever that goes down is bound to come up one day.

Technorati Tags: finance, housing, investment, money, property, Real Estate, real estate leads

Anyone who is trying to sell a house for the first time should be using a real estate agent, especially in today economic environment. The most common reason people try to sell homes on their own is to avoid the commission but is that really worth it? Using an agent will benefit you in many ways and now that it is so difficult to sell any house, you probably need all the expertise an agent can bring with them.

Selling a house is tremendously more complicated than selling most other things and because of the dollars involved, you really dont want anything to go wrong. With a real estate agent in charge of the sale and a solid company behind the agent, you can be confident that the sale will go through with the fewest number of hassles. This, for most people, is reason enough to use a real estate agent and pay that commission even though it might seem a bit high.

If you are trying to learn how to sell a house for the first time it can be kind of scary. There is legal paper work that you have to know how to get and how to fill out as well as a lot of other things that will make it difficult. Selling a house yourself will save you money as you won’t have to pay a real estate agent but you must ask yourself if it is really worth it. Perhaps it is better to take the safe route and use an agent your first time. If you do this, you can learn everything you can from a professional and then the next time you sell a house you will be better equipped to do it yourself.

The economy is in such a rut that anybody who is trying to figure out how to sell a house by himself or herself is in a bad position. This is the time that a real estate agent can come in handy because they can get more people in to view the house than you can by yourself. If you go it alone, you might be missing out on all the things a real estate agent can do to get your house sold in a time when few people are buying. They are professionals and now is the time to use them.

We have a buyers market right now and it will probably stay that way for some time to come. Even if you do everything right and do all you can to spread the word and show your house, it still might not be enough unless the price is right. Buyers are very aware that they are in the drivers seat right now that you might have to lower the price of your house lower than you really want to. If you dont price your house low enough, there might be nothing you can do to get it sold. In the end, whether you use a real estate agent or not, it might be the price that is the determining factor in whether you are successful in selling your home.

Technorati Tags: diy, family, home improvement, homes, Houses, interior design, landscaping, Real Estate

The tropical warm climate, friendly people who have the happiest quotient in the world, and pristine white beaches makes Merida a most sought after in Real Estate and the numbers are only growing.

Merida has approximately 1 million people and is a showcase where the cosmopolitan and the colonial city reside in harmony. It is the capital city of Yucatan in Mexico and is in the northwest area of the state. The Merida real estate market is currently experiencing a boom unlike the past years. With its tropical climate and sandy beaches, many investors now want to purchase some real estate in Merida. The Merida real estate market is not very expensive and one can buy a decent home to spend their vacations in or as an investment for retirement very easily.

Many feel that buying real estate in Merida at these particular times is the right time to invest in property. Also it is the right place to have a retirement home, as the cost of living in Merida is much less in comparison to the United States. Making it a retirement paradise. Merida real estate value is only growing rapidly and will soar in no time after the construction of some reputed real estate developments take place. People belonging to the middle class can easily afford to buy homes with swimming pools, personal service and gardens since the cost of living is not so high.

Merida real estate will help you choose on a house, before you sign on the dotted line to finalise on a house for yourself. The Merida Real Estate agents will help you decide which zone in Merida will suit your budget, as of now the North zone is in high demand and is seeing a lot of development. You can choose from a variety of options in real estate like, haciendas, houses, apartments, businesses, commercial places, ranches etc. Merida also has beaches in close proximity like progreso which is just 30 minutes away.

In Merida you will find a huge gamut of bungalows adorning the beachfronts and also on sale are colonial homes, palatial haciendas and mansions with a lot of history in it. Although a few of these exquisite homes have been neglected over the years, they have strong foundations and can be restored to its original glory with the choicest of interiors very quickly and within moderate expense. Merida Real Estate agents have contacts with several contractors and interior designers who can help you restore these beautiful houses to its former glory and the Merida Real Estate agents promise you that they will fit within your budget.

Tiles that are locally made like Pasta are very modern in design and are much more beautiful than any other floor furnishings. These local materials can be used to renovate or build your house with less expense, and it will still add on to the beauty of your home. Buyers who are looking for land can also find a list of available plots that are easily affordable to build their desired homes on, either now or at a later date. With the Merida real estate prices that are only going to soar, investing in Merida now is the best bet.

Technorati Tags: chelem, investments, merida, Merida Real Estate, mexico, progreso, Properties, Real Estate, yucatan, Yucatan Mexico, Yucatan Real Estate

In today’s world the real estate professionals are facing a lot of competition and to deal with it most of them are designing a blog or website with WordPress, known as the Wordpress blog since it helps to develop online real estate business. WordPress is a modern article publishing platform or Content Management system (CMS) which focuses on usability, web standards, and aesthetics.

Wordpress can be used free of cost and can be applied primarily when you want to use your blog software. This can save you on a substantial amount of money unlike many other expensive tools of social marketing. Thus the Wordpress blog can be called an effective instrument real estate social marketing.

The real estate themes on WordPress are customizable and user-friendly. The WordPress blog is thus an ideal solution for you if you are a web developer or a real estate agent. You can utilize it as a management system for content. However, before you actually purchase it, you must read the page on FAQ very carefully. Every purchaser of any theme receives a lifetime access and privilege to numerous updates for that particular theme absolutely free.

The WordPress blog can be really helpful for busy developers who need effective techniques to achieve results real fast. The themes available on WordPress offer them a solution to manage their real estate content easily. And if the popular Multiple-Use Package can be bought, it can save a lot of endeavor and time too.

WordPress had originally started operating as early as 2003, with a minimal code for enhancing the typography of daily writing with very limited users. In recent times it has preceded its competitors and has become one of the largest tools of self-hosted blogging globally. Nowadays it is widely used on countless websites and by innumerable people on a daily basis. This has made the use of the WordPress blog even more popular.

Being used as a commercial platform by most users, Wordpress is actually a project with an open source. This also signifies that there are different people all over the world working on it and using the Wordpress blog. Always remember the more popular a website, the greater exposure you can expect to receive. You too can use it to develop and improve your real estate social marketing.

The site Wordpress.org allows you to download and install a special script known as WordPress. It is fully customizable and you can use it for anything you want to. There is a free service available at wordpress.com too through which you can begin with the WordPress blog instantly. But for all this, you need a web host who can meet the minimal necessities and devote some time too.

Wordpress is user-friendly and has made creating and posting articles on blogs easy, simple and convenient. This has led to the increasing usage of the wordpress blog. As a real estate professional if you too want to make your online business successful and attract investors and potential customers, do opt for Wordpress blog. You can be assured that it will help to give your real estate business a much needed boost!

Technorati Tags: bank foreclosure, bank owned, foreclosure investing, how to buy foreclosures, how to find foreclosures, Real Estate, real estate investing, real estate marketing, short sale investing

Capitol Hill Lawmakers has recently passed a bill to assist families with avoiding Houston foreclosures. The bill will allow homeowners to refinance their current loans and re-mortgage the loans to other loans that are backed by the government. Some of the homeowners in Houston are currently taking the steps to prevent their property from becoming another of Houstons long list of foreclosed property.

It is a sensible step for homeowners, since the economy is uncertain. With the economy, the way it is and the interest rates, fallen people are looking every day for Houston foreclosures. Some people however are renting some of their living space to others to save their home. Despite of the efforts the economy is suffering and the debt market rates are increasing, which is making it difficult for homeowners to repay their mortgage.

Our economy is suffering dramatically because of the greed that is surfacing. Bills are increasing, which is making it difficult for people to stay erect. Thus, people in Houston have to rent some of their living space just to make ends meet.

Nationally, people are renting some of their living quarters as well just to make ends meet and to avoid going on the foreclosure list. Some homeowners however do not have the option to rent space. Some of the newer areas will not allow homeowners to rent to others, since the deed they had signed prohibited this option. What do these people do to avoid foreclosure?

Many of them lose their homes because their options are limited, which is why we see a long list of foreclosed property in Houston. Houston is located at the southeastern parts of Texas and it is the seat of Harris County. It is located at the head of the Houston Ship Channel, which links the city to the Gulf of Mexico. The inland seaports are where the chief financial, manufacturing centers and distribution is seated for the United States. Texas was one of the largest cities in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States. People believe that everything is big in Texas so they migrate there to enjoy the new style of living. With cowboys and girls, they join. If you are looking Houston foreclosures now is the time to get started. Buying homes for 20 to 40 percent at discounted prices is no big thing in Houston Texas.

Technorati Tags: finance, foreclosure listings, Foreclosures, home listings, Investing, investment, Real Estate

Outdoor candle lanterns are very popular with homeowners and landscape designers. Because they are relatively cheap and they are easy to install, it is not hard to see why. You may want to go out and buy some right now, but you may have some questions about where to find them, what they are made of and maybe even where you might want to put them.

Candle lanterns can be found at pretty much any local hardware or home improvement store. The problem with looking for them there is that these stores can only buy and display so much inventory at one time. With this in mind your best chance to snag the right candle lanterns for your backyard are via the internet.

The main part of the candle lantern is the lantern holder itself. The lantern holder supports the candle. These lanterns holders are usually made of metal so it renders the lantern fireproof. The exceptions to this rule are those lanterns made from non-metal material such as paper, wood and nylon.

Candle lanterns come in all different designs. These designs range from a rustic, old west type of lantern to one that resembles a lantern that may be used in Asia or the Middle East.

The rustic lantern is a fantastic way to mimic one of the travelers in the Old West who went across the continent in covered wagons. These types of metal lanterns can be hung as well as placed on a flat surface.

One asian style lantern, the Pagoda lantern, can help you plan an asian inspired theme party. Pagoda lanterns have an intricate asian design on the cutout panels that allow light to shine through them.

If you are looking to build out a middle eastern inspired backyard landscape, one type of lantern you might want to purchase is a Moroccan lantern. These are lanterns with metal bottoms and tops that are made of thick, colored glass that comprises the sides.

These are some of the choices you will have when you go to buy candle lanterns. They can always spruce up any party and any backyard. The choice of which style or design is up to you.

Technorati Tags: Candle chandelier, candle lanterns, candles, landscape lighting, outdoor candle chandelier, Outdoor candle lanterns, outdoor lights, patio string lights, Real Estate, string lights, votive candle holders

More and more homeowners are deciding to rent their home instead of sell because of the current housing market. This trend is making it increasingly necessary to work with qualified and skillful property management services. In todays environment, homeowners are no longer just interested in a company that performs great upkeep, collection and vendor management, but rather are relying on their property manager to quickly find reputable and responsible tenants. Particularly with higher priced homes, this can be a real challenge.

I believe homeowners are more concerned with reputable and stable tenants because they are now often looking to rent their homes long term or with a lease to purchase option rather than short term or vacation rentals. The financial and emotional risk to a homeowner is greater when market conditions force them to rent instead of sell their home.

Homeowners or prospective tenants should consider the following factors when selecting their property management company:

1. Certifications. There are a lot of property managers in Colorado choose not to obtain a license, as it is not necessary unless the company is a certain size. Licensing ensures that the property management company has agreed to follow the regulations of the Commission and a tenant or property owner can hold them accountable. Without these assurances, the consumer is subject to fraud or identity theft and has few remedies to rectify the situation should it occur.

2. Tenant Review. A critical component in the process is to pre-screen all potential tenants by conducting a thorough credit, rental, and criminal background check. While this extra step can take some time, it is worthwhile in the long run and substantially lowers the risk for the landlord.

3. Real Estate Experience. Experience matters in this housing market. Property management companies with real estate experience, in building, selling, and managing understand the needs of buyers and sellers and can efficiently navigate the landscape.

4. Cooperative Relationships in Community. Its important that the company has established positive relationships within the real estate community. Many for-sale properties are turning into rentals and a solid network of brokers means a bigger inventory of homes as well as real time insight into various neighborhoods and the market as a whole.

Our Denver Based property management company, Denver Rent a Home has focused on streamlining the tenant placement process and taking the hassle out of the hands of the homeowners. We have recently launched an online tenant pre-approval service, where prospective tenants can fill out simple forms to get pre-qualified for any of the available listings. We also run all applicants though a thorough confidential background check and spend a lot of time up-front getting to know our clients and their properties.

Regardless of whether you are an owner or a prospective tenant, be sure to choose your property management company well. Be extra cautious of managers who cannot show you the proper licensing for your state, arent able to show you examples of their experience or cannot explain to you their process for managing your home effectively. This may seem elementary, but licensing requirements can be confusing, and people often take short cuts because they are unaware of the risks this type of transaction can pose without proper representation by a quality manager. It would also be wise to ask to speak to existing customers of your prospective manager in order to hear firsthand how their experience went.

In short, A quality property manager, will want to fully understand their customers and the homes they are representing. They appreciate the fact that their customers are trusting them to place the right tenants in their home, and take the responsibility very seriously.

Technorati Tags: home relocation, lease option, lease purchase, Real Estate, relocation services, rent to own, rent vs. buy, renting home, renting vs. buying home

Various businesses use the internet to help them in their brand and product promotion. In the real estate sector internet is being used aggressively to do online social marketing. WordPress plugin can be used by a realtor who wishes to promote properties online. A program or a group of a single or more functions that is written in the scripting language of PHP adds a group of services to the weblog of WordPress. WordPress is integrated with the weblog via access points and techniques offered by the Application Plugin Interface of WordPress Plugin.

Wordpress Plugin offers you a lot of benefits. With the feature enabled you can easily modify, customize and improve your blog site. And by using such plugins you don’t even have to change the central programming of Wordpress. With them you can just use the required functions.

If you want to use new and improved functions on Wordpress you can try searching for various sources and archives of the Wordpress plugin. In this way you can get to see if any user has distributed any plugin that can meet your demands.

Great Real Estate was mainly formed to allow users who are real estate professionals to showcase data about their property listings and even administer them in the Wordpress pages. And to regularly see your property listings throughout the site you can enable the listing templates option. Being an author of the site, the special benefit that you are offered allows you to just make an entry to the form instead of formatting the data or content. Thus by using the Wordpress plugin you can upgrade your social marketing.

The custom page widgets and templates on Wordpress permits one to exhibit sold homes, available homes, a random featured home, and also a descriptive page on property listings. Thus, you should always apply Wordpress plugin to publicize and promote your properties in a better way.

The Real Estate WordPress plugin will allow you to showcase your property listings. It will also enable you to manage the content of your listings. Some features that you can include on your site are a tab-based accessibility to downloads, videos, maps, galleries, panoramas and property description. It will also permit you to handle users and visitors with the disabled JavaScript to the maximum.

Combining the WordPress plugin with some other plugins such as the popular NextGen Gallery that will let you display, manage, and upload photos of property listings is very useful. You can send a feed of listings to different websites such as Zillow, Trulia, and Google Base using the Feed Wrangler. For display of panorama photos in an interface of Flash 360 degree you can use the FFP Pano. Virtual tours can be created and this is a good way to promote your real estate business.

Another feature that you can include with your WordPress plugins are starter templates that are customizable for your property listings on the index page as well as for the pages on actual listing. Also you can consider implementing the entry of easy form-based listing data on the screen of the Edit Page itself. You can further integrate your WordPress plugin with WordTube plugin to display videos of content on real estate.

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Wording you need to avoid in the ads for your rental home or risk being fined $50,000 and more.

You need to make sure your ads are not violating the law.

Fair Housing regulations must be followed by all owners. Fair Housing regulations apply to apartments and homes.

You can not post an ad for your home that is discriminatory. Section 804c of the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3604c says, “…it is unlawful to make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published, any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling, that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.”

Whether you run ads on a website, Craigslist, or in printed magazines or classifieds in a newspaper, you must stay away from using discriminatory wording.

Some owners have been fined $12,000 for every discriminatory ad they ran plus damages awarded by the court.

You should never talk about skin color in your ads. Never use phrases that have the words “white”, “black”, or “colored people”. Never talk about race in any of your ads.

Never use religious groups in your advertising. You should never uses phrases like “Christian home” or “Jewish only”.

If your rental home is in a good area of town or a good neighborhood use the wording “desirable neighborhood”. Desirable is open to the interpretation of the reader and is therefore not viewed as discriminatory.

Never restrict access to your home to people with disabilities. Never state in your ad “no wheelchairs” or “handicap people should not apply”. You can, however, describe the CONDUCT of an individual such as saying “no smoking” or “sober only”. You can also include accessibility features like “wheelchair ramp”.

You should never mention children or parents in your ads. Never use wording like “adults only” or “no children”. In December of 2007, a Southern California Housing Rights Center took a landlord to court and won because the landlord did not allow children in his apartment complex. The court fined the landlord over $130,000.

Do not state an explicit preference, limitation or discrimination based on familial status in your ads. Ads may not contain limitations on the number or ages of children, or state a preference for adults, couples or singles. Advertisements describing the properties (two bedroom, cozy, family room), services and facilities (no bicycles allowed) or neighborhoods (quiet streets) are not facially discriminatory and do not violate the Fair Housing Act.

Fair Housing regulations do not just govern your ads. They also govern how you screen tenants, your rental application, and how you treat your tenant the entire time they stay in your rental home.

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