Local Charities Need Last Minute Help

• Papa's Pantry & Family Ministries needs donations of gift cards and gas cards. You can call them at 770-591-4730 for more information.


• Woodstock Jaycees need a variety of donations. Call 770-926-8336.


• MUST Cherokee needs packages of new socks, underwear, peanut butter, jelly & canned pasta. You can call them at 770-479-5397.


• Cherokee Child Avocacy Council needs gift cards. Call 770-345-8100.

Retirement with Real Estate

CNNMoney.com had an interesting article on Monday about buying real estate inside of your IRA. It made me think of all the reasons why baby-boomers need to consider (if they haven't already) why they should own real estate as they enter into retirement. Here are a few that I can think of:

1. Buying real estate now, at rock bottom prices, you will have the opportunity to see your money grow as your equity grows. The huge amount of people facing foreclosure will keep them out of the house-buying market for about 7 years. That will be 7 years of a booming rental market where you should have few problems finding qualified tenants to make your mortgage payments for you.

2. You can always sell it if you need cash. When you buy real estate low enough, you have the comfort of knowing that you can always sell it quickly if you need to.

3. Tax deductions! There are a lot of ways to deduct taxes from investment properties. Did you know that you can write off DEPRECIATION from a rental property that produces an income?

4. Snag that smaller place just incase. You may be living in that big house and the kids are leaving for college. You want to downsize but now just isn't the time for you to move out. Take advantage of todays low prices and lock in that dream cottage! Go ahead and buy it, enjoy the tax breaks and the positive cash flow from a renter while you wait. When the time is right and you're ready to move, you already have plenty of equity in the house. You can either enjoy that in the form of a home equity loan, keep it where it is or even use it to refinance so that your monthly payments are much, much lower.

If you would like to discuss real estate investment strategies, whether you are just getting started or about to retire, give me a call today. As an investor myself, I can help you find the deals! 770-862-8002

Michael Bradford
Southern Prime Realty

Clutter Cutter

Tis the season to gather clutter fa la la la la lalalala!

Christmas time is upon us and that means giving and receiving gifts. The problem is, given the theory of space and time (given enough time you will fill every space), we can quickly become overwhelmed with “stuff”. What can we do? Do we pack our closets so tight that opening the door is only done at the risk of bodily harm? Or pack hundreds of dollars of stuff in our garages while our automobiles, which are worth thousands of dollars, sit in the rain?

Several companies offer solutions to the symptoms of the problem such as PODS or self storage units but those are temporary in nature. We have companies that specialize in helping keep our closets and garages organized by selling us more “stuff” to help us store more “stuff”. What are some ways we can get at the root of the problem?

I will give you three techniques that we have used in our home to help manage the “piles of trials with smiles”.

#1. When something new comes in, something old goes out. When we get new clothes, it is time to re-evaluate our existing clothes to see which ones we can give to charity. I have a hard time parting with my favorite t-shirts and shorts, but to maintain the same level of inventory, something must go. Same with books, toys, household gadgets and furniture.

#2. My wife has adapted this sentiment and I have come to accept it too. “I have to absolutely love it or use it regularly to keep it”. What is regularly? If you don’t use or unpack something at least once a year, you don’t need it and won’t miss it when it is gone. What is love it? You will have to decide on that for yourself.

#3 If you can’t find a good place to keep something or it regularly gets in your way, you may have too much stuff. When our children were small, we had a system for keeping the house picked up. They had the freedom to play with any toys or books they wanted as long as it was put away by the end of the day.

What would happen is I would call home when I was on the way and Nick and Lindsey were given a 30 minute warning. They would put everything away that they could and when I got home, my job was to go around the house and collect anything that was out of place. These confiscated items were place in a garage sale/charity box and available for redeeming the next day. If I came home and everything was as it should be, they could go to the box and re-claim one item. It would become clear what they really cared about and what they could live without. Once a year we would have a garage sale and they got to keep the money from the items that they sold.

As I wrote about in this blog before, clutter is your enemy when you are trying to sell your home.

REALTOR.com® has a

great article about PODS and how they are becoming more and more popular even to the point that cities are trying to legislate how long you can keep them in your driveway. As for using them to de-clutter your home before selling it, they are great as long as you don’t leave them in your driveway to remind potential buyers that your house lacks storage space.

As always, if you are thinking about or getting ready to sell your home, I would consider it a privilege to help you determine how to make your house look it’s best to buyers. I will even prepare a customized report called “Ready To Sell” (click here for more info) that can help you get your home ready.

Michael Bradford, 770-862-8002
Cherokee County Georgia Real Estate Specialist