under all is the land

It is always exciting to me and fun to explore and evaluate new aresa. We recently were approved for a right of way appraisal project in south Georgia and found that those folks are outstandingly nice and helpful. Our first step is always understanding the market, intitially as evidenced by area overview and land sales. Most things are tied to that underlying land and in today's world of technology (as I write this on my iPad on the way to another bid meeting), we STILL do the same things, only faster. First to the Tax Assessor's office online, great source of subject and comparable property data through qPublic.net. Then, in person to the Assessor's office to look at the 'real' property record cards - which are now, too, online in WinGap - even in their office. The office staff and appraisers were VERY helpful and knowledgeable - they will certainly get a prize from us at the end of the project. These experts can describe and discuss the data in real terms of who is buying and why, who is selling and why, and what trends are showing in the data. We wish them all expedience with the annual digest - which they are working on now. More later about the Clerk of Superior Court - repository of actual deeds (and yes they are available online too).

Memories, like the corner of my mind

In the past weeks, I have been working on compiling my education and experience in real estate since 1987. An amazing set of opportunities have always presented themselves, and for that I am extremely blessed.

Crazy as it sounds, eating an elephant one bite at a time has resulted in almost 1,400 classroom hours I can document (more than a few missing certificates) and better than 40,000 hours of work in my field.

Still, every day, I learn something, and many days, I learn quite a lot. Ever grateful I am and continue to be for all the wonderful, knowledgeable, patient and considerate people with whom I have been blessed to work. If you think you are on this list - a very long list - you are right.

Thank you!!

tools are cool

Reinvestigation and renewal is most always good.  I have been much more focused on real estate brokerage over the past nine years and had drifted away from using the Institute and the IR/WA tools and resources.

The good news . . . while I was away, they were BUSY!

Remember the world before GIS, iPhones, and iPads?  Applications were what we filled out for lenders from whom we wanted assignments.  We looked through Deed Books page by page for data.  All that has changed.  Did you know that the Appraisal Institute even has a podcast - with some great topics and speakers?

The IR/WA is leveraging social media to connect with all right of way professional disciplines - a changing industry for certain.  If you worked for Georgia DOT back then, you will remember the brief push for metric plans and calculating awards in hectares.

Like slipping into a pair of the most current version of your favorite old Cole Hahn driving mocs, it is exciting and comfortably familiar at the same time.