Not too much, really, but here goes: 
Southport's 2007 election came and went and the "writing on the wall" turned in to an accurate prediction. Southport residents were indeed ready for a change and voted decisively in that direction. All of the incumbents up for re-election were handed their hats. Now we'll see if Southport's new Mayor and Board of Aldermen can buckle up and put some teeth in the UDO and work towards further protecting the historical integrity of Southport and the little bit of working and public waterfront we're clinging to.
I've gotten a little side-tracked lately, as I've been writing about the various goings-on around Southport NC. I guess I've never really written anything for public consumption and certainly have never considered writing a pleasure, at least until now. It must go back to school days and deadlines for book reports, term papers, and essays. I was always a procrastinator, so although I got some satisfaction when I was able to come up with a decent paper at the last minute, it was always a chore. The funny thing is that now I look forward to putting this Southport blog together. There are SO many thin
gs to write about. The technology to add pictures and manipulate text makes process more fun as well. And the kicker is that I've been able to express some of my personal opinions out loud, and nothing bad has come from it, at least that I know of. I come from a long line that has strong views on just about everything. My mom likes to say about herself, "Often wrong, but never undecided!" I'm not as outspoken as she is....not many are. I tend to keep a lot of my ideas and opinions to myself but believe me, they're in there! And I see them starting to come out here, and I'm getting a little braver as I go along. So what started out as a Southport real estate blog seems to be evolving into something I didn't expect.
So what is really going on with the Southport real estate market? When I say Southport, I'm really talking about the Brunswick County real estate market in general. Are we at the bottom? I don't think so but we're getting closer. 
Is this a good time to buy real estate in Brunswick County? Absolutely, if you're buying unique property that can't be readily duplicated. What if the market does go lower? Well it could and it might in the short term. But as a potential buyer, if you're waiting for somebody to blow the horn and say "here you go...here it is... the absolute bottom," you're gonna miss it. Warren Buffet and other successful "value investors" don't get caught with their pants down waiting for an exact bottom. They simply look for strong companies with good numbers that have disproportionately been beaten down in contrast to their relative strength and potential for growth. The exact same thing applies to real estate here in Southport, Brunswick County, North Carolina, and all across the US. There are so many great buys here in Southport right now, it makes my head swim. I know that market recovery will come, however slow it may be. There is a tremendous amount of inventory right now, in both land and housing. Buyer's are watching on the sidelines waiting for a sign. Certainly the woes of the mortgage industry, which stuck a knife in an already weak real estate market, will have to reach a level of stability before we can turn around. I had planned to insert a Brunswick County full Market Report here, and if anyone would like one, just email me, and I'll send you one. I look at them and have a hard time discerning a real trend. Yes, there is real estate selling in and around Southport...a little bit. Brunswick County is still ranked as the 16th fastest growing county in the US. The new road and second bridge to Oak Island is finally underway and will certainly help in getting their market jump-started and back on track. ALL of us who travel the "Beach Road intersection" will benefit when traffic to Oak Island can be split between two roads instead of just one.
On a lighter note, I've been doing a little fishing in the evenings when the tide is right. It is Fall here after all and it just gives me a chance to get out there and enjoy the exquisite afternoon light that blesses us here in Southport this time of year. I have a couple backwater areas I can get to, as we don't have a boat anymore. One is on a creek in a friend's backyard. I've probably been 5 or 6 times with no luck...getting bites so I know there's something out there, but no fish. Finally last week I hooked one with my first cast. It felt like it might just be too big for the light tackle I was using but I loosened my drag and let it run out a few times before finally pulling in my mystery fish. I'm not an expert by any means but I know most of the fish that are caught inshore. There's flounder, whiting, spots, grey trout, speckled trout, puppy drum, croakers, bluefish, pompano, spanish mackerel, and sheepshead. Well the latter is what I thought I had, as it kept surfacing as I was bringing it in. The black stripes looked like a sheepshead but as I looked more closely, the body shape wasn't quite right and it didn't have a forked tail. As I was studying it, it let out the deep tell-tale sound of the common croaker. Then my friend came out and I yelled, "I think I've just caught a world-class croaker!" He said, "that looks like a sheepshead. "But LISTEN," I said, and right on cue it let out a monstrous "CROOOAAKK!" We were both perplexed and I headed home and held it up for my husband and said, "Look at this HUGE croaker!" (they don't get very big) He looked at me like I must be dumb or something. "That's a sheepshead." he said. "But it CROAKS...just listen," I said. "And I 
know it's not I sheepshead cause the body and tail aren't right." Well THAN
K GOODNESS for the internet. It didn't take long searching Google images to make the proper identification. It was a BLACK DRUM. I'd never seen one. Once I figured it out, I should have looked at his little chin whiskers, and his little round fins underneath and seen it was a drum of some kind. Anyway, I'd brought her home, so I had to clean her. I got two nice fillets out of her. Then I put them in a bowl of milk with a little salt and hot sauce added. After letting it sit for about an hour, I took the filets and lightly breaded them with cornmeal and Old Bay Garlic and Herb. Then I just fried them (I know I should have broiled them) in my cast iron pot I use for just such occasions. Then I made a dipping sauce out of mayonnaise, lemon juice, horseradish, course black pepper, and one secret ingredient. Mmmmm....Mmmmm good is what it was! Drum are not everyone's favorite fish to eat but I'll tell you, when nearly any fish is that fresh, it's mighty tasty.
I was out of town earlier this week. It might be worthy of telling about in another blog if I get up enough nerve to talk about it. But now I'm playing catch-up with email, following up on a couple leads, working on one closing, and actually hoping to sell a little real estate in Southport, the Good Lord willing.
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