Mike's Greater Athens Area Blog and Then Some

FAIR ISAAC is changing the playing field again, implementing it's latest version of credit scoring FICO 2008. And it doesn't appear that the change will be leveling it. The three major credit reporting agencies will be rolling out the new scoring system this year, with Transunion deploying it in ...

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when... 1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.. 2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.. 3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3. 4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you. 5. Your reason for...

The new GE Active Keys are convenient and small and you don't have to use a cradle and connect to your computer to synch, they update via radio. However, the radio's aren't very efficient and will drag down the charge on the Active Key in a couple of days. There are several solutions: 1) carry th...

I was on my way to show a home yesterday in a very nice neighborhood of homes in the high $200's to the low $300's. I do admit, it was my first time in the neighborhood, and, on first entry was very pleased with it, as were the clients. About 100 yards into the neighborhood, 2 large dogs came out...

Not the least of what I am thankful for this week, and every week are my two kids. They are all grown up and out on their own. Seana (pronounced Shawna) is the older of the two and single, but engaged to be married in the summer. Aaron is married and the father of my grandson, Daniel, who is feat...

 The previous 12 month volume of home sales in Madison County, GA was down 32% for the year with annual sales falling from 244 on Jan. 1, 2008 to 166 on Jan. 1, 2009. However, the average Days on Market has remainded virtually unchanged, down 1 day in 12 months, but, showing a steady decrease sin...

A little boy and his grandfather went to the mall for the afternoon. After a bit of time of walking around they became separated and the boy became worried. He approached a mall security person and said, "I've lost my grandpa!" The security cop asked, "What's he like?" The little boy hesitated an...

Jackson County, GA 12 month home sales rose in December 2008 by just over 2%, however, that is still 28.4% down from the Dec 2007 12 month home sales volume. Jackson County, while one of the fastest growing counties, not only in the state of Georgia, but, in the whole country has not been immune ...

 The previous 12 month average sales price of a home in Watkinsville, GA, finished 2008 virtually unchanged from 2007. However, the median price did fall over 3.6% during that period. The bright note is that both average and median sales prices went up from the end of November to the end of Decem...

 Oconee County Ga previous 12 month home sales figures for Dec. 2008 were virtually flat but overall down 22.6% from the Dec. 2008 previous 12 month volume. Average sales price, up almost 1% from November was down about 9.5% from the previous year. Likewise, the median sales price was up from Nov...