It often seems that I do not have my priorities in order. I work many long hours and sneak in a few hours of “relaxation” in here and there, but even during those supposedly rest times, work is swirling around in my head.

The world is a big and beautiful place, and I have seen very little of it, as I prefer to remain in close proximity to home. It always seems that the simple everydsay tasks preoccupy my time!

And there are a lot of things that I have “put off until next year” for over twenty years now, and I really need to reevaluate my thinking. I am in the autumn of my years and the leaves are beginning to drop!

So I have decided to take some action and modify the game plan. From now on, I’m going to live life to the fullest!

Starting next year, of course!

It appears the Coweta County real estate market is showing some signs of recovery.  The number of foreclosures advertised in the Newnan Times-Herald for November 2009 is 185, down from 207 in October and a record 265 in September.¹

In addition, requests for on-site environmental health evaluations is up nearly 20% from a year ago, indicating that there is a modest increase in building activity, These factors, combined with new federal tax credits for home purchaser, could help to stabilize the local economy.

And while these improvements may only be baby steps in the right direction, they still tend to reduce the slippery slope to something a little more manageable!

Coweta enjoys low property prices, and combined with low interest rates and new tax credits, there has never been a better time to purchase a home in the county. If you are considering a move to the Atlanta area, be sure to include Coweta County and Newnan on your list of possible places to relocate.

¹ Source for all statistics: The Newnan Times-Herald

It used to be that if a caller to the real estate company indicated that they wished to purchase a three bedroom, two bath home and keep the monthly payment below five hundred dollars we used to ask this question:

“What kind of tires do you want on that mobile home you just described to me?”

And that was back in the mid 1980s! Now, in the year 2009 as incredible as it seems, the combination of low real estate prices combined with excellent mortgage interest rates have many homebuyers purchasing property with mortgage payments at or below $500 per month.

Even more remarkable is that these purchasers are buying homes at or below ONE YEAR’s equivalent of their annual income. We have even sold a few houses to individuals who paid more for the most recent vehicle they purchased.

The bottom line is this: real property has never been more affordable. Anyone that is currently renting that is in a position to purchase should take advantage of this window of opportunity.

Because it will not remain open forever!

As 2009 rapidly draws to a close, it’s time to start planning for the new year. And with all of the dramatic changes in the economy and the real estate market, it is more important than ever to make adjustments to our strategies.

For a lot of us, the last few years have involved a lot of “changing on the fly” and many of our business practices have been reactive and not proactive.

But the market has settled down somewhat, and while it is not the robust market that we would like, at least we have a pretty good idea of what lies ahead and can plan appropriately.

So with less than two months to go in this year, it’s time to get started on those business plans for next year.

And let’s take control our own destinies!

The Newnan - Coweta Board of Realtors Oktoberfest event is held every year for the purpose of raising money for local scholarships and the Red Cross. The event consists of both a silent auction and a live auction of goods and services donated by local Realtors and merchants.

This year's event will be held at the old freight depot in downtown Newnan from 6-9 P.M. on Tuesday November 3. Tickets are $20 and there will be a cash bar available. Price includes catered heavy hors d'oeuvres, appetizers and desserts.

ERA United Realty Newnan has presented a "Taste of Newnan" gift basket for the auction with over $275 dollars in local restaurant gift certificates, sample delicacies, t-shirts and cookbooks donated by local business and ERA United Realty agents and staff!

The old Train Depot is located on East Broad Street at the railroad crossing. Ample free parking is available. Please plan on attending this worthwhile event! Feel free to call with any questions. 770-827-6225

The ERA gift basket includes:

2 Bags of Coffee from Espresso Lane, $20 Gift Certificate from Fabiano's
$20 Gift Certificate from The Half Shell, $10 Gift Certificate for 10 East Washington
$40 Gift Certificate for La Fiesta, $10 Gift Card for Quiznos
$30 Gift Certificate from Golden's on the Square, Bottle of Merlot from Uncork'd
Toffee from Let Them Eat Toffee, T-Shirt from Redneck Gourmet
T-Shirt from Sprayberry's, Bottle of Local Honey BBQ Sauce from Sprayberry's
NCBOR Cookbook, Taste of Georgia, Cookbook Bag of Gourmet Popcorn

My formerly trusty camera has been acting up lately. There are some issues with the Nikon bayonet mount that is affecting the auto-focus and the exposure of the image.

Now I am the first to admit that I am pretty rough on my cameras, but I had hoped to get more than three years from my Nikon D80. I have been eyeing a new camera for some time, but I want to buy it because I WANT to and not because I HAVE to!

The same thing happened with my computer. There were enough warning signs, an error message here, a power supply issue there. All were minor things that I ignored until all of a sudden … poof … and the machine was gone.

I am still using a computer that I borrowed from a friend who oddly enough keeps giving me coupons for a new one! I wonder why she keeps doing that?

Yesterday I noticed a nail in my tire. Great, that’s all I need. But for whatever reason, I can’t seem to learn from experience. As long as the tire is holding air, I’ll probably ignore the problem. Of course, inevitably I will have a flat tire and wonder why I didn’t take care of the nail sooner.

Putting things off that you know you should address now almost always leads to more trouble down the road. I don’t know why, but I keep trying to get just “one more day” or “one more week” from items that are not designed to last forever.

Some would call me cheap. Others would call me lazy. I call it just me being me!

Amidst the flurry of activity surrounding a rainy Halloween and the autumnal changing of the clocks back to standard time, another milestone slipped in almost unnoticed:

It’s already November!

And besides the stack of monthly bills to pay, we are winding down toward Thanksgiving. And Christmas is less than two months away!

2009 has been tempestuous and trying, but it’s zooming on by like nobody’s business. And here’s something even more shocking:

We are nearing the TENTH anniversary of the Y2K celebration. Wow, has it really been ten years? It is almost unfathomable.

Wow, I never thought that I would make it this far. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do for the next ten years!

Let me state this right up front. I am not a fan of Halloween. I never have been, not even as a child.

The concept of extorting candy in lieu of some horrible consequence seems incongruent with most of my upbringing, but it was presented to us as appropriate for one night a year so I accepted it on those terms.

However, the holiday has been transformed from a single night of revelry into an entire month of celebration. My neighbors have numerous decorations including "Halloween Lights" which have been alit all month. It's a far cry from the simple Jack-o-lanterns of the past.

And speaking of pumpkins, it is no longer satisfactory to cut simple diamond-shaped mouths, noses and eyes. Pumpkin carving is now an art form requiring a steady hand and hours of patience, of which I possess neither.

I am not a ghoul, but I guess that I just don't get it. But my message to everyone else is: have funand above all be safe.

And please keep an eye out for the kids. It's their night!

Some years ago I applied the term "durability" as a desirable attribute of a well-crafted blog post. I didn't really understand at that time the significance of the long-term usefulness of a daily post.

Unlike articles written in the print media, a blog post is easily searchable and can be referenced for years. It can successfully be indexed by search engines for as long as the page is accessible to crawling spiders and bots.

But durability does not only depend on how the information is indexed. It also depends to a very large extent on how the material is presented to our database of customers and prospects.

A long standing tenet of prospecting is that one of the best ways to keep your name in front of your database is to offer an "item of value" with each "touch." This item of value can be anything from flower seeds to a timely newsletter. It also presents the opportunity for a follow-up visit or call to ascertain whether the item of value was well-received.

Some years ago, I did a monthly mail-out to all of my top prospects and clients. This was time consuming and very costly, as each month a new item of value was sent directly to each "A and B" member of the database. Exactly one week after the mail-out, the follow-up calls were routinely done. It was a slow and tedious process.

All of that has changed since I began blogging two years ago. Now, the information in my blog IS an item of value that I offer to all of my clients and prospects in many different forms.

And since I have people in my database with varied interests, I transform my blog into different forms to maintain a better connection with different clients and prospects. The way I do that is by first syndicating my blog to a variety of websites that may have a unique appeal to one segment of my clientele.

An example of how I do that is my blog on SmokyPhotos.com. It's a controlled collection of my ActiveRain blog posts specifically about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

So if I happen to write hyper-local post about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I send a quick email to all of my database members that have an interest in the topic. It's non-intrusive, and very low-key.

Many email back to say tell me how much they enjoyed the article and photos and to keep letting them know when more are posted. It's not very long before they are looking forward to getting an email from me.

I also have a news site, Coweta Fayette Info that includes all national and world news, and includes a local blog feed as well. Whenever I write a post that would interest one of my news-loving contacts, I let them know that the article has be posted. It's not only efficient, but it adds credibility to what I do.

Additionally, I post links to all of my public posts on both Twitter and Facebook. Many of my prospects and clients follow me and it's an easy way to remind them to click the link and have a look.

The key is applying the right presentation based on a client's interest. It's offer a genuine "item of value" that they can use and reuse over and over again.

And it gives me "face" time unlike any marketing technique that I have ever used in the past! My blog is a permanent resource, full of both useful information and pleasant diversions. But because it's mine, I can mete it out any way that I wish!

And that works for me!

I got up a little earlier than usual this morning. Although I’m usually an early riser, today I had a mission of special significance.

Before me lay the onions, garlic and peppers that I would need to get sweating and three pounds of sirloin to brown, and had to get everything simmering for a chili luncheon at the office today.

Good food is a great way to bring people together, and good homemade food can’t be beat! It’s a tasty and inexpensive way to come together as a team and build relationships inside the firm.

So I didn’t mind getting up an hour earlier today. I know that everyone will enjoy the results of my labor.

Now the question is: “should I or shouldn’t I add more chilies?”