Putnam County schools are gearing up for teachers and students to return to school later this month. The superintendent answered some common questions just this morning. A link to where you can find that Q&A is here:  Putnam County Superintendent answering questions. I believe that the staff and board by offering an at home digital learning program that approximately 800 students have decided upon will give the teachers the space they need in their classrooms to spread the rest of the students out for safety.  The school system has strict guidelines in place for both students and teachers NOT attending in person school with a fever for symptoms of ANY illness. They will utilizing additional spaces in the schools to keep cafeteria spaces from being crowded with no self serve foods.  Scho... 08/03/2020

I've been "real estating" for 29 years now.  Every time that annivesary comes and goes it takes me a while to adjust to that new number.... it's sort of like birthdays these days.  Hard to believe I'm THAT old and have been in real estate for more than half my life now.  just wow.Speaking of wow, the point of this post, in my 29 years of real estate I've never seen a sellers market quite this strong. In my view there are a few reasons for the robust seller's market we're having at Lake Sinclair.  COVID19- I'm sure you are saying "WHAT!?", but the fact is we had sellers who are in high risk age, or high risk because of health conditions both take their homes off the market or are waiting until they deem it a safer time to let people in to view their homes. Beyond that if people are "work... 07/20/2020

You are invited to come and indulge in bites of signature dishes while celebrating the culinary expertise of the community at the 2017 Taste of Eatonton. Enjoy old favorites and discover new dining joys at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 2 at the Plaza Arts Center in Eatonton Georgia.The Taste of Eatonton features booths for more than 20 different restaurants from Eatonton-Putnam County, Milledgeville, Greensboro, Madison and Monticello. The very best of the best gather to impress attendees with their skills, create delectable dishes and showcase the community’s most adored treats.The Eatonton-Putnam Chamber of Commerce’s largest fundraiser of the year also features a silent auction filled with fabulous deals and the famous bottomless wine glass will be back again for $15 per person. This yea... 09/23/2017

Searching for a small home or cabin on a Lake Robert Vegas Bob Swetz is once again searching for a small home or cabin on a Lake somewhere in the United States for future retirement.Being born and raised in a state with over 10,000 Lakes, there's a reason that Robert Swetz enjoys being around Lakes and why he is once again searching.For any readers that come across this post that may know of any Lake home or cabin that might suit Vegas Bob, please email him at: ActiveRain.Swetz@gmail.com Please note: Vegas Bob (is not) interested in homes or cabins on a Lake that are priced at 3-4-5 hundred thousand.The max Vegas Bob would be willing to pay for a small home or cabin on a Lake would be 200KAnd it has to be in a area that has warmer winter climates.  12/06/2016

On Halloween Day any time after noon until 7 p.m. you can bring your children by our office for Trick or Treating.  We very much enjoy this community event.  There will be punch and cookies and treats for the children.  And we always have something for children who might have special dietary needs that has not been mixed in with the rest of the candy (nut allergies) We'll also be having one of my Donald's great pumpkin carvings ready for the "give-away" for October from our Facebook page Lane Realty on Lake Sinclair. There is still time to get in the drawing.  You have to do three things... like our page, like our post and share our post. You can see some his famous handwork with a knife on the contest post. Tomorrow the cookie baking will start. And if you check our page, we have a con... 10/29/2016

Well after 38 years the 1001 feet tall smoke stack is no longer.  I admit I felt a little nostalgic when it came down.  I have watched this a few times and I didn't say a word.  I just realized I didn't say a word.  You can hear Donald say WOW, you can hear dozens of people taking photos. You can hear one poor fella say "do it again, I didn't get that" who wasn't ready at 8:02 when she came tumbling down.   It is gone.   10/15/2016

Today I got a call from the executor of the estate on one of my listings. They dropped by the price by nearly $25,000. They are ready to close out the estate and move on. It's a rare find on Lake Sinclair with more than 5 acres and over 600 feet of shoreline. Double boathouse, cookout pavilion and storage barn on the property also.The view is fairly wooded because the former owner liked being nestled in the woods, but the trees along the shoreline could be cleared to open the view a lot. Home needs some TLC, but is solid. And for the price it's listed the 5 acres is worth the asking price. Check out this great home now listed at just $225,000. 09/20/2016

When a person calls our office and says "we're in the driveway can you come show us this house?" The answer is NOT ALWAYS yes.  Sometimes I do go and meet clients I have never met before at a home, but when I do it's when another agent in my office can go with me.I realize that it's NOT always convenient for you to come to our office (which is located near the Lake in Putnam County and I apologize for the inconvenience of that, but I do hope that once I explain why you will understand the need for us to be cautious.Click on a few links:Recently in CharlotteAgent raped in 2010News story about 6 cases in 2011In other places around the world 2014Beverly Carter, the face for us NOT meeting youDanger stories on the jobEven if you only read one of those, perhaps you have a better understandin... 09/10/2016

Did you buy a home this year? Do you live in it?  Have you filed your homestead?  It used to be that you had to file between January 2nd and April 1st, but now you can file as soon as your deed is recorded, of course if you didn't live in the house on January 1st the exemptions will not take affect until the following year.Then there is the flip side to that coin... if you purchased a home that was owner occupied with homestead and you are using it as a weekend/ vacation home then the tax bill will reflect the former owners homestead the first year you are billed, but then the taxes will go up when the exemption is removed for your ownership.You can also loose your exemption if you change the deed in any way.  If you get married and quit claim to a new spouse or get divorced and a spous... 08/11/2016

I have been dreadfully behind on my market reports. I was so far behind in fact that I got an email this week asking "are you still doing market reports?" So I got busy and hope to catch up by the end of the week, if not next week for sure.Starting with the good news first for 2015 volume was up tremendously. While at the height of the selling "season" last summer we dipped below a year's inventory it was back up to 19 months of inventory at the end of the year.  The best news for 2015 as whole was that 145% of 2014's total homes sold on Lake Sinclair.  The number sold was up from 170 in 2014 to 247* in 2015. December year over year was way down. Perhaps the rainy weather kept people out of the market and maybe it's even the election.  In my experience presidential election cycles are s... 03/09/2016

Unless you've been under a rock you've been hearing about the Zika Virus and the harm it can do to unborn babies and that cases are not in the United States. It's been on the news in an election cycle, which means it's really big news. Now I'm NOT being an alarmist. But living on/near water can certainly mean more mosquitoes. Just a small amount of standing water can breed thousands of mosquitoes. If I am outside and there is a mosquito in a mile radius of me, it generally finds me and bites me.So what to do?  Well first you want to make sure not to have standing water. Even in the bottoms of potted plants. If you water every day and never let it go dry it's an excellent place for mosquitoes to breed. You will want to make sure if you pull your boat out of the lake you don't leave stand... 02/01/2016

I am happy to report that I have a new listing that will be available to be seen very soon.  I hope to get photos soon (please let the sun come out tomorrow) and get it into the MLS.  Meanwhile I did snap one photo of view from my cell phone the day the owners showed me around their home. Check back often and I'll have the full listing details. It will require an appointment. 01/28/2016

It feels like our summer season lasted a bit longer than usual this year. We had a wonderful month of closings right through October. With that said I'll get to the best news first.   We had 32 residential closings on Lake Sinclair in October.  Sales prices ranged from $75,000 to $545,000 with an average of $117/ sq. ft.  At the current rate of absorption we only have an 8 month supply. We have not been that close to a stable market in 6 years. Hopefully it will continue to move in that direction.   In the price department we're moving in the right direction.  It's a very slow pace, but at least prices are going up.  Of course if you are a buyer what this means is that you will want to buy soon, before prices and/or interest rates move too much. The average sales price for a Lake Sincla... 11/17/2015

Well it's a variety actually. There is so so news, good news and bad news.  Let's start with the bad news.For the third straight month price has fallen again as an average. The September average for a waterfront home sale was $218,689. The good news is that some smaller homes sold because the average price per square foot was up to $161. from $130 the previous month. So while prices remain pretty flat, we are making a little headway in other areas that will eventually lead to some price increases which I expect to see next spring.The days on market is slightly down from the previous month, but still high at an average of 209. The low days on the market were 33 for September, while the high was 1204. I think that inventory will have to get back to a 6 month status to see these numbers dr... 10/18/2015

The weather forecast is changing. Freezing temeratures are just around the corner.  The lows at Lake Sinclair are currently just dipping into the 50s, but it's that reminder that winter is just around and the corner and there are things you need to get done to keep your property taken care of at Lake Sinclair.  If it's a vacation/weekend home it's time to get those things done.  And out in the rural area where I live many homes still have wells.  And your well house needs several things:InsulationWrapped pipes that exposedA light bulb or spotlightIt's time to think about switching from the A/C to heat.  Usually in a vacant home I just set it on about 58, that is enough to keep things from freezing. And if you haven't had a chimney sweep, you should have that done before burning a fire. ... 10/05/2015

Lake Sinclair, Georgia's best kept secret, with the exception of planned draw downs (one of which is scheduled for this October) by Georgia Power that occur every few years for shoreline maintenance and dam re-certificiation stays at or near full pool.  Many of Georgia's lakes are more than 10 feet below level.  That means many of Georgia's lakes have docks that are out of the water.Of course you don't have to just take my word for it, there is an offical site that posts the levels daily.  The National weather service service maintains this information on their site and it is generally posted for each lake in Georgia by 10 a.m. The last draw down was October of 2011 and one is not currently announced, but they generally come in the middle of winter and last for about 30 days.  When you ... 08/03/2015

For the first time in more than 5 and half years of compiling data for market reports when I ran the numbers for the end of June we had less than a years worth of inventory at the current rate of absorption.  I am delighted for sellers to report there is only 10 months worth of inventory. That's awful close to a stable market where we will start to see some price appreciation again.   Hear that buyers?  Been sitting on fence wondering how long we were going to rock along ever so close to the bottom we hit back in 2013, well looks like it was until May of 2015.Of course I believe we will have our typical seasonal setbacks come winter, but I see the market moving in a price upward direction from here. I just ran the numbers and there's about a 2% bump in price from June's average to the f... 07/11/2015

Recently,  and it wasn't the first time, a potential seller walked into my office with a single piece of paper from the developer they got in the mail back in 1980 when they purchased property at Lake Sinclair.  It identified the property only as Tract XX, Lot XX, no county, no street, no subdivision.  After a few minutes of questions they did know what county they paid their annual taxes to, so it was narrowed down a bit.Then I got on my trusty computer and went to QPublic From there you can navigate to the counties and search by name and find more information about property.  Unfortunately their property was not identified by street on the tax digest, because as it turns out much of the property in that area is still undeveloped and no one has the street as their mailing address and t... 07/08/2015

Many agents won't even talk to you unless you walk in the door to meet them with a pre-approval in hand. But at Lane Realty, because of the multitude of different properties we show and list, we know that might not be the best thing for you.Will you be considering: Georgia Power lease lots Georgia Power strip leases Manufactured homes Modular homes Singlewide Lease lot with manufactured Not all lenders will do all of these properties. So while we don't mind pre-approved buyers you just might be pre-approved with someone who isn't the right lender for you. At this very moment we have a client sitting with one of our lenders in an office to get them pre-approved for THE house they are writing an offer on in the next hour. It's a lender who handles the type of property the buyers are writi... 07/07/2015

Well with firewords being legal in Georgia now my best guess is ANYWHERE!  BUT if you are looking for the only organized gathering for fireworks... Oconee Springs Park! If you attend by car be prepared to park outside the gate and walk.  Bring your own chairs or blanket.  By boat let me show you on the map where Oconee Springs is located on Lake Sinclair. The show should begin around 9:30 p.m.  This is the Facebook post on their page about the fireworks!  I hope you enjoy!  You will need to zoom out on the map to see the location if you need the location.  Any GPS should be able to give you directions to Oconee Springs Park. 07/04/2015