June 1, 2010

As always it seems.....I am delinquent with my Rambling Page.  Better late than never!  The last writing was in January so here we go.

On the real estate front things have been very steady.  We have much to be thankful for.  We have seen a steady interest in small land tracts.  So far this year we have sold a 10, 20, 15, 25, 52, and 164  acre tracts. I am probably missing a couple of sales.   We have also advised on other sales the we were not brokering.  I think many people realize this is one of the best times to be buying land as we have not seen land prices down to these per acre levels in years.  We have also had many offers that were not accepted that serve as an indicator as to how the market and consumer confidence can be gauged.  There was one sale in Thomas County earlier this year that I did not broker but was very familiar with.  This tract was very clean, mid-size tract between 100 and 200 acres.  It had the white fence, the powerful water feature (14 acre lake), planted pines and hardwood and several open areas for a small dove field and some mature plantings.  I don't think the hunting on this tract was all that great due to the surrounding  fragmentation of property  and way the property cornered into two paved roads but it was just a good looking tract.  It could be said that this tract was a Class AAA Tract.  The property sold for around $3980 per acre.  This tract was a true indicator of what a "nice" tract should sell for.  More sellers should pay attention to this tract and use it as a benchmark to judge their on property by in a time where it is hard to find good, current, sold, comps.  There is good steady activity out there and that is something we should all be thanking God for and grabbing hold of with both hands.

I know you hear a lot of talk about Bank Owned properties but there is some really good value there and it is something to pay attention to.  Our Residential Rentals are still steady and there seems to be a continued upswing in our commercial rentals.  We still have way to many empty commercial units but we are getting calls from folks looking.  We did manage to lease one of our larger commercial building that had been sitting empty for the past 6+ months.  These tenants also have an option to purchase this property.

As we move into Summer, folks tend to shy away from looking at the tracts that are hard to view.  Snakes, heat, and bugs are some of the deterrents we have to work with when trying to get folks to look at property.  I have found over the years that putting in a firebreak at the beginning of summers will give you a good trail that most folks will not mind walking on to view property.  People have to be able to get on and see the property!  Going this route is a much cheaper and less intrusive than trying to put in a full blown road.  Furthermore the firebreak can be used during a prescribed fire next year and it can also be planted in early fall as a feed plot for wildlife.  The firebreak also creates "edge" in a forest which benefits all types of wildlife, large and small.

We did some controlled burns on several properties this year with pretty good results.  We did have one fire get out on a neighbors property.....which truth be told, it probably did more good for the neighbor than harm.  Another reason why you should put firebreaks around your property.....just in case a neighbor's fire should jump the line.  Thank you Todd Milam of the Georgia Forestry Service for bringing the dozier out putting the fire out.  Those fires do crazy things sometimes.  Always good to have the GA Forestry Folks on speed dial....when you are burning!  From memory....229-225-4003!

I went to a book signing at the Thomasville/Thomas County Historical Society for a book written by local forester/woodsmen, Leon Neel with Paul S. Sutter and Albert G. Way.  The book title is The Art of Managing Longleaf.   This book was a very good read.  I really like the books that talk about the woods and pass on information and stories of the old ways. When I worked on Millpond Plantation back in 1987 Mr. Neel would drop in from time to time to oversee matters of timber.  I remember how all the older workers on the Plantation would say his name with some kind of reverence when I asked who he was.   From that time on he always had my respect.  Good book....good stories.....good information.

I enjoy being in the woods this time of year.  We have already witnessed a powerful crop of dewberries, mayhaws, and mulberries.  We found a powerful patch of  dewberries on Lower Boston Rd. that my kids and I descended on and wound up picking close to a gallon of dewberries.  Based on last years experience we kept the berries we had picked away from Emmaline as she wound up eating half of our harvest last year before we made it back to the house!  My mom took the berries and made us a pie which we had with Vanilla Ice Cream.  You have got to love summer.   We are now waiting on Blackberries which should be ready in a week or two.

The girls and Colin had a pretty good year as school this year.  Jerger is a great school here in Thomasville. We have the kids signed up for a couple of vacation bible schools as well as several camps this year.  Charlotte and Kayce are going on a Georgia Tour trip and we have a couple of other family events planned.  Swimming and fishing seem to be the order of the day for the kids.......as is should be in my opinion.   The girls have a dance recital later this week and are very excited about this.  We are very proud of all of them.  They are growing so fast and by the way they keep me in check, I can tell they are taking in much of our Bible time before they go to bed.

On fishing.........we all have been doing a good bit of fishing with Colin doing a whole lot of practice in the yard.  We have some friends who live down the road from us who let us fish in their pond which is just right for the kids.  Charlotte and Colin caught their first WarMouth the other day.  We are going to try and do a better job of getting them on the salt water this year.  A group of us took boats to the everglades earlier this year in April.  Powerful!!!!!!!  There was a bad fish kill down there with the cold weather and all, but we did manage to catch some snook and snapper.  We did not see any tarpon!  I had a powerful time just taking my own boat and poling around the creeks, rivers and bays!  That place is another world!!!!!  We saw plenty of Manatees...up close and personal.  This past weekend we set out a trot line on a pond we have and caught several very nice cat fish......or "Monster Fish" as Colin would say.  Tarpon season has arrived so hopefully I will make it down to Lanark soon.  Dad and I had one of our best flats trips ever the other day.  We limited on Trout and Reds and just had a powerful father son time.  I am blessed.

We just need to keep praying about that oil mess in the Gulf.  I certainly do not have all the answers but when something like this happens......it just wakes me up to just how much control, we do not have over things!  It also make me think of how much more grateful I need to be for the things that I take for granted or don't even acknowledge.  There is a Bible Verse that states, ".....all things work together for good, for those who love the Lord."  With my limited vision I have a hard time seeing that from an Oil Spill, but I also know God is faithful......and we press on.  We all need to keep those folks in our prayers.

My good friend Russ Bechham asked me to give my testimony at a Boston Men's Breakfast meeting the other morning.  This was a blessing for me.  I was able to talk about what was on my heart.  My failures and my victories.  I guess putting some of my thoughts into words helped me because it seemed the rest of the week whether is was from the Radio, Sunday School or Friends, I felt I was really hearing things that I really needed to hear.  I guess it was kind of like after I had talked about things in my life in an open way,  my own ears were opened.  That is good.  I have so much to be thankful for.

There are many good things going on around us........so hang on to that........ and pray for the other not so good things going on!

Dan