7 years ago today whilst the world around us was witnessing the horrific events of 9/11 my dear Nan passed on.

She was a wonderful woman and totally devoted to her children and family. She was widowed at 28, having lost my Grandfather in WW11, she raised 4 children my Mum being the youngest at only 1 year of age.

My Nan was amazing, she was a sweet and fun loving lady. She provided for her children, making sure they never went without food and love. What a difference in my Nan's generation, they were unselfish and looked out for their neighbor. A close knit community of people who were united through war and hardship.

They lived on the outskirts of London, my Mum remembers the bomb shelter in the back garden. When the bombers flew over dumping bombs over Epsom Downs.

She was one tough lady and I will never forget 9/11 not just for the terror attacks and the tremendous loss of life through heroic acts of the first responders, but also as the terribly sad day my wonderful Nan left us.

I was trying to book a flight to return to England for my Nan's funeral, because of all flights being grounded for the next week in the USA I was unable to attend.

Every year I remember those who were tragically lost and the families that are still greiving, and my dear sweet Nan.

The photo below is of my Nan and my Grandfather on their Wedding day, he was in the British Navy.

We love you Nan.

I am starting to hear more and more about foreign investors buying up real estate in the good ole USA. Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal and CNN Money are extolling the virtues of marketing to foreign investors. Just yesterday on my local news, (Atlanta), they talked about the great incentives for the foreign buyer. Low cost of housing, strong foreign exchange rates and amazing deals to be had. Purchasing property in the USA makes for a sound investment.

Now property in the UK has started to nosedive, it is in my humble opinion that

the US market will turn around a lot faster than the overseas markets. Property in the UK is stunningly expensive and unlikely to rebound any time soon.

We have some gorgeous properties for sale and to think what that would cost in the south of England where it would be at least 5 times as much as here.

If you are interested in reading a couple of articles on the subject here are the links posted on my facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1216201427&hiq=alison%2Cscott&refurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fs.php%3Fq%3Dalison%2Bscott%26init%3Dq

Also here is the link to the article from the Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121200120766526797.html

We are going to start syndicating our listings overseas and see what the tide rolls in!!

I read an article recently about a couple of different approaches to getting listings sold.  The first I thought was pretty innovative and am interested to know if you or anyone you know have tried any of these or other ideas.

Instead of the the traditional way of waiting for a buyer to present an offer, you have the seller initiate an offer to the buyer, I guess to get the ball rolling, I would think this approach could work if the buyers really like the house and are on the fence or maybe just need a little nudge.

The other is to offer financing incentives where the seller offers up front to buy down the loan say a percentage point thus saving the buyer a lot of money over the life of the loan. This one may not be that new but is still a good idea and I think worth a try.

Please share any ideas and thoughts on the subject, it will be much appreciated by all our sellers.

This week was the 27th anniversary of the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, it made me reflect on one of the best days of my life and one of the worst.

On July 28th 1981 I moved into my first flat in Holland Park in London, it was the eve of the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles. Diana was to be the first English woman to marry an heir to England's throne in some 300+ years.

I was only 21 and in total awe of Diana, she was sweet and we loved her. My cousin, who was my roommate, a visiting friend from Canada and I decided than rather spend the first night in our new flat, to go and join the masses and sleep in St. James Park outside of Buckingham Palace. We did not want to miss a thing and also we wanted to join in all the fun.

The atmostphere was incredible, I have never experienced anything like it. Over 600,000 loyal, happy people joined together to witness a historical event. Now us Brits can get quite emotional about this kind of thing, and the good spirits and love of thy fellow man was incredible that day.

We spread our blanket on the ground and tried amidst all the excitement to get a little sleep. Until that is, a kindly Copper gently asked us if we could move along cos, her Majesty, as he put it, does not want to wake up and see a load of Yobs laying around all over the lawn!!  Just kidding I think.

Around daybreak we started to stir and jockey for the best viewpoint amongst the crowd. We lugged a bloody great park bench near the railing opposite Clarence House, where Diana was spending the night. We were rewarded with being one of the first to see her emerge in her glass coach accompanied by her Father, Lord Spencer. What a tremendous thing this was to see.  Then the rest of the wedding party proceeded by on their route to St. Paul's Cathedral. We listened avidly to the loud speaker system they had piping the Royal couple saying their vows in front of the world, and the crowds just kept on cheering.

We were standing amongst thousands of people when the royal couple came out on the balcony for that famous "Royal Kiss" and the crowd went beserk. To this day I have never experienced anything so amazing as thousands of people together full of good will and cheer, obviously the London pubs contributed a little but it is a memory I will cherish.

Unfortunately the fairy tail was shattered and in contrast on one of the worst days of my life, was waking from a deep sleep to the sound of a friend sobbing and telling me of Diana's death.

Sometimes it takes a momentous celebration or a terribly sad event to bring strangers together.

For the past several years I have consistantly done bpo's for Freddie Mac and other REO companies. On average about 12-15 a week for Freddie Mac. It paid for the groceries and has been the only steady stream of income in this slow market.

About 2 weeks ago the assignments from Freddie Mac have totally dried up. Is anyone else out there experiencing the same drop off in orders from Freddie Mac and other BPO companies?

My only assumption is that due to the mortgage crisis and the extension on the time frame for foreclosures that this is causing the slow-down in BPO work.

I have contacted Freddie Mac but am unable to get any kind of response from them as most of the contacts are temporary workers and I get the feeling most don't have a clue as to what is going on.

So I am sure that there are many other agents out there on AR that do the same kind of work and am interested in your comments and thoughts on the future of BPO orders. Is this just a temporary slow down?

Three Bridges, Suwanee Georgia

From the Low $300's

I toured the new neighborhood in Suwanee "Three Bridges". This Swim-Tennis gated neighborhood is located on Lawrenceville Suwanee Road very close to Peachtree Industrial Blvd in Suwanee.

This is a very pretty neighborhood with a nostalgic element in the designs of the homes. There is easy access for Atlanta commuters as it is only a few miles from I85. The Mall of Georgia is about 6 miles away and if you are into Lake activities you are but a few minutes from Lake Lanier parks and boat ramps.

The homes offer custom design with an old town feel. Attractive front elevations and lots of brick and stone work on the exterior, very pretty landscaped courtyards on the rear and the use of smaller side windows gives you a feeling of privacy.

The kitchens feature granite counter tops and tiled back splash, hardwood floors and stainless appliances. Each of the homes I toured seemed to have some unique feature and creative additions to the home to make it special, such as built in book shelves, double sided fireplaces and unique landscaping.

Most homes are 2 story with a 2 car rear entry garage. Some with master suites on the main floor and some with 3 levels. There is a variety of floor-plans to choose from.

Prices range from $319,000 - $439,000.

The neighborhood offers an attractive amenities package with tree lined sidewalks, Large junior olympic pool and 2 lit tennis courts. The annual association fees are a little higher than some at $1860, but this includes your lawn care.

For more information and additional photographs on this neighborhood or any others in the Suwanee area please contact the E-Power Team at 770-337-4819

http://www.E-PowerTeam.com

This week I have been watching the 2008 British Open at Royal Birkdale, Lancashire. The crowds and players are huddled under umbrellas and wearing sweaters and rainwear and It's July!! Winds are gusting up to 40 miles per hour and here I sit in Atlanta where the average temperature is 90 degrees.

Kids are playing in the fountain outside the Mall of Georgia where it is 90+ this week.

Meanwhile on the beach in the UK

Now I grew up in England and never do I remember a summer like this, England in the summertime was beautiful, the sounds of willow striking the ball (Cricket) and lazy summer afternoons in the glorious sunshine...What is happening? My cousin who lives in southern Ireland lamented this week of how they have had no summer at all and my Father who lives in England tells me the same thing. Well I have one idea....how about buying up some of the excess property for sale over here in the good ole Hot USA?

Whilst values in Europe plummet, does it not make sense for foreign investors to buy property in the USA? Not only do we have incredible deals going but we have a great climate in the south. You can buy a "Flat" in Atlanta for under 50,000 pounds, or if Florida is more appealing to you there are no end of properties available for great prices. You can even get in a full round of golf without catching your death of cold!!

I am getting ready to start advertising my properties on a new European syndication site, Vista Tour is launching a new product which will heavily advertise our properties overseas, in multiple languages and exposure on the top European search engines. If you have a POINT2 site it will automatically import the data from your listings and put it into the Vista Tour portal.

Networking with overseas agents is also a great way to reach potential foreign buyers. The Internet has opened up the world to us real estate people and no longer are we just relying on domestic buyers.

If you want to check on the latest scores and leader board for the British Open here is the link

http://www.opengolf.com/ChampionshipGolf/TheOpenChampionship.aspx

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog about how frustrated and sick I am with the scam artists that bombard our email accounts and other sites with their attempts to extort money from us. About 16 years ago my family were victims of a massive scam involving Nigeria, it was an amazing story and long before the internet was the main form of communication, so there was no way to "Google" it. It did eventually hit the front page of the UK papers but I asked my Mother to write an account of what happened in her own words about her incredible experience so without further ado......My Mum, Mrs. Jacqueline Rata.

Nigerian Experience. Heathrow to Lagos and back (twice) Part 1.

It all started with a word from a friend in passing.....He'd had a chat with someone called Bubba from Nigeria!! The investment of a few thousand dollars and we could have a tanker full of oil when the government changed hands, what an opportunity this was, how could we pass it up?!!

.....After a lot of discussion and chats with friends and family, we decided to test the waters by flying to Lagos from Heathrow. .......We had a terrible flight on Nigerian Airways, but were consoled by the thought of going to visit  Africa for the first time.

On our arrival, we were greeted by numerous military personnel with placards bearing our names, all very impressive. Then we were escorted to a plush hotel in a limousine and were treated like royalty for the next two weeks, wined and dined daily, showered with gifts and generally made a fuss of.

The next day my husband went to a government office with armed military personnel and all the appropriate fanfare, to meet the Nigerian Oil Minister. My husband returned and everything seemed so bizarre. It had to be true!! After all, the military were there and heavily armed. It was a Junta country then, under military rule.

That evening we met some more officials and were taken to dinner...We felt totally pampered. For the remaining time, we were escorted to beauty spots and bought gifts from beach traders.. We were bought some Palm Wine fresh from tapping this huge palm tree..It was fantastic...We fell in love with Africa. The final day arrived and Bubba turned up to escort us to the airport in a limousine. We were ushered through each check point with no fuss and all our gifts ( a nest of tables, wall plaques,statues ,leather goods and a chieftains walking stick) went through straight into the hold of the plane without even being checked in and the flight seemed almost bearable.

We returned to GB with an agreement that it would go ahead......... (at this point I must add we were thinking it went too smoothly to be true!!) I would also like to add, at this stage they still hadn't got a penny out of us, only a few gifts they'd asked for from GB. We discussed it heavily with friends and family, and again everyone agreed there was no way this could be a scam!!

So there was lots to do and things to plan......stay tuned for the 2nd part of my Mother's story

I have been tagged to write a MeMe by Alan Langstone, so here goes...

1. Who's your favorite musical artist?

I can't give a simple answer to that question because I love music, in fact there is very little I don't like. I guess my favorites would be in the Rock category Led Zeppelin, Queen, Dire Straits, Supertramp, UB40, Greenday. I love classical Mozart and Vivaldi, Crooners like Frank Sinatra, Elvis, and Ella Fitzgerald. Mostly I love anything with a good beat and great lyrics.

2. Who is your favorite artist?

Christopher Lewis, photographer, sculpter and graphic designer. He is a very talented individual and I am immensely proud of his work as he is my brother, I have some beautiful carvings he has done of Birds of Prey.

3. Who is your favorite blogger? Anyone with something interesting to say.

4. If you could meet anyone (alive or dead), who would it be and what is the most interesting thing about them? Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, I love their brilliant sense of humor and comedy writing.

5. What did you want to be when you grew up? I'll let you know when I get there. Actually according to my Mum, I wanted to be a, wait for it.....Nun. Now I know all that know me are picking themselves up off the floor, but I thought how cool it would be to be able to fly or to sing in Austrian Alps!!

6. What is the most interesting piece of trivia you know? Now this is a tough one, I don't think of anything I know as being trivial!! Just kidding. Okay I've got one, It was the English that first invented sealing wine bottles, they imported the cork from Spain and Portugal and specifically it was from the "Cork Oak". The First patented "Corkscrew" was as follows. Patent No 2061 granted to Samuel Henshall, Princes Street, Parish of Christchurch, Middlesex, on August 24, 1795 The French did not patent their first corkscrew until 1828. Bet you did not know that!!!

7. If you could live in any point of history, what would it be and why?

During the roaring twenties, I loved the clothes, the music and the cars.

8. What is the most interesting job you have ever held? I was a BlueCoat in the UK. Now I know most Americans have not a clue what a BlueCoat is, no it is not a kind of Redcoat, although we do have those as well, it is a holiday entertainer!! I worked in a holiday camp and entertained the guests, we put on shows, called bingo and ballroom danced with the campers!! Held Knobbley Knees and Talent contests, Donkey Derby's and all sorts of other wild and crazy fun things. We danced the Virginia Reel and hosted Wrestling matches (believe it or not they were fixed). I was only 17 and loved it, but that was a life time ago.

Now, as keeping with what I believe is tradition and in the words of Sonja would say...TAG.......YOU'RE IT! I have selected some else obvious targets to be MeMe!

Jodi Orlando

Chris Lewis

Vicky Jorgensen

A year ago my husband and I bought a house in a rural area just outside of Dahlonega Georgia, now while I love the country, the driving and rapid rising gasoline costs started to really get to us. All of a sudden we were spending as much money on fuel as we were our mortgage. A trip to the grocery store was costly and as for visiting family and friends in Atlanta it was an expensive day trip. We felt we were flushing money down the toilet so something had to give....

The housing market has definitely suffered a great deal in the more rural areas, and I believe it is due in part to the high cost of fuel.

Lets hope that they finally start to drill our own resources and free ourselves from the control of foreign oil supplies. I think if we don't do something soon to send a clear message to our "Friends" overseas, prices will continue to rise and goodness knows what we should expect. It is beyond me that a resource rich country like the United States should be dependent on any foreign source for oil. I also think it is about time to let the powers that be..ie. Washington, what the voters want, so many of our politicians pander to special interest groups and seem to ignore what the people are saying. Heck, the sad thing is we put them there!! Okay I will get off my soap box I have said my bit.

On a positive note we have now rented a home 35 miles closer in to Atlanta, and are putting the country home on the market!! We are back in the hub of things. Only a few minutes from everything we can spend more time working and less money on gas and on the road, who knows we may even be able to afford a country vacation in a few months!!