Lake Martin Voice » Lake Martin

Register For Russell Forest Run

johncoley — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:34:37 +0000

Lake Martin area runners take note – The third annual installment of the Russell Forest Run is scheduled for Saturday, February 25, 2012.

If you have run races before through Active.com – you will be saved a step in registering. If not, that is OK too, an account is free.

The race fee is $40 for the 10k and $20 for the 5k.

I plan to run again this year, it’s my third year in a row. It is the only 10k I have ever run in, so I don’t have much in the way of comparison. I think it’s hilly, but my Birmingham friends tell me it is not so bad. Whatever.

At any rate, it gives me great motivation to stay active while I train for it. Even though it’s not very hilly where I live, and I run only on roads or the treadmill, that seems to prepare me pretty well.

The race is run over the trails in Russell Forest. Honestly, “trails” – is not quite accurate, they are really dirt roads. True, there are sections that are gravelly, but for the most part it is hard packed red clay. The roads meander through the woods by Lake Martin, and are just beautiful. Many moons ago, when Russell Lands still leased that area for hunting, my dad used to take me quail hunting all through there.

I think one of the best parts of the race is the after party. Russell Lands the power of Russell Crossroads and has the Chef from Springhouse there serving tasties (I think they did a squash bisque last year) and the folks at Catherine’s Market are supposed to have cold beer and drinks.

Plug For Runkeeper

To anyone that is training for the Russell Forest Run, or if you like to run or walk in general, take note of the Runkeeper app.

A friend of mine told me about this app for my iPhone. I love it for many reasons.

First, it’s free. Secondly, it keeps up with all of your workouts and syncs them to the runkeeper.com site. You can set your own running routes, and it calculates distance for you. When you start your run, you let it know what route you plan to run, and it tracks the GPS on your phone and updates you with distance, time, and pace announcements through your earphones. You can even select what playlist you want to play while you run, and whether or not you shuffle.

When you are done, you let it know, and it uploads your results to your private runkeeper.com account.

My only complaint is that it is not compatible with my heart rate monitor. I have one of those older chest strap monitors that transmits your heart rate. It works great on the treadmill but my iPhone 4 won’t put it through to runkeeper. Maybe it’s an iPhone thing, I don’t know. It would be really cool to be updated on my heart rate because that’s how I train anyway, not by timed pace per mile.

Enough about me.

I hope to see YOU at the Russell Forest Run. It’s a fun event that shows you that there’s plenty of things to do around Lake Martin in the winter.

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I Can’t Wait For Spring

johncoley — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:57:33 +0000

It’s the little things that remind me how much I miss it, like the other day when I opened my drawer to grab my wallet and I saw my boat keys. At the end of last summer we bought a (new to us) Sea Ray Sundeck. We didn’t get much time to really shake it down properly, although the warm autumn had us riding well into October.

My wife’s father is an extreme car cleaner. Waxes. Buffs. Uses a toothbrush (though not to wax and buff). While she isn’t quite that ~~bad~~ thorough she has told me more than once that she can’t wait to get it out and put the scrubby dubby on the new boat. I guess that will be nice…. but me, I am looking forward to that moment when you cruise out of the no wake zone, point it to the big water, and open up the throttle.

I can’t wait for spring.

What about you?

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Lake Martin Foreclosure And Condo Sales In 2011

johncoley — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:39:12 +0000

Here I continue my series of posts of the waterfront property sales results of 2011 on Lake Martin, Alabama. Earlier I have looked at residential sales in general, and yesterday I covered waterfront lot sales.

Today I would like to cover the effect of foreclosures and condominiums had on Lake Martin property sales in 2011.

Lake Martin Foreclosure Sales In 2011

The economists that advise shows like The View are a constant source to reassure us that the real estate market is terrible everywhere. They would have us believe that everyone in the nation is either in foreclosure, about to be foreclosed, or at the very least in a short sale. I find that hard to believe, though. I am sure that Whoopi and the gang consult with experts before they make broad, potentially very misleading comments about the economy.

However, here at Lake Martin we are well past the bottom of our market. I have blogged about this in the past. We have not seen a heavy percentage of our sales being foreclosures as in other markets. But I thought I would put a number to it, and see if my generalizations are correct.

Low Percentage: 7% Were Foreclosures

I combed through all of the residential waterfront sale for the last three years. I had to look at the “Owner” field in our MLS and just sort of guess whether they were foreclosures or not. This makes you inherently dependent on the listing agent to have entered correct info, but the same can be said for any aspect of the MLS. I think it’s materially correct.

I found that, sure enough, the Lake Martin waterfront real estate market had a relatively low percentage of sales that were foreclosures, REOs, or bank owned, however you want to phrase it. Fifteen were sold in 2011, equaling 7% of the market. Fourteen, or once again 7%, sold in 2010. Another fourteen or 7% sold in 2009. Comparatively, that is a very low percent of sales.

Just to put it into perspective, according to this article in the AJC on November 29, 2011, about 30% of home sales in Atlanta are foreclosures. That is more than four times the rate on Lake Martin. Ouch.

Lake Martin Condo Sales In 2011

It’s pretty natural to talk about Lake Martin condo sales for 2011 after the foreclosure section. This is because most of the condo sales in the last three years on Lake Martin were sort of foreclosures.

By sort of foreclosures, I am referring to two condo complexes: Crowne Pointe and Stoneview Summit. Both of these developments were taken back by banks, and then finished out by the banks and then sold. So they were not foreclosures in the traditional sense, but neither were they straight up civilian seller situations.
total 2011: 37 – 2010: 33, 2009: 59

Stoneview Summit sold 17 condos in 2010 and 17 in 2011. This was good for 46% of all waterfront condo sales in 2011 and 52%.in 2010. Crowne Pointe sold 43 condos in 2009, which accounted for 73% of all sales.

This high percentage of sort of foreclosures produced the highest pricing pressure for any other market segment. I think that Lake Martin condo prices dropped lower than homes and lots.

Looking Ahead

I don’t think the condo market’s prices will get any better for 2012. At this writing, there are 79 waterfront condos for sale right now on Lake Martin, and 20 of them are in Stoneview Summit.

The good news is that there are no condo developments being built in the forseeable future, so perhaps that will give them a couple o more years to sell off current inventory.

What About Your Property?

I have been blabbing a lot about the market in general. Do you wonder how all this applies to your home or lot? Or maybe you are searching for your own spot on Lake Martin and would like me to tailor these market reports to help you.

If so, please email me with this contact form or at info@lakemartinvoice.com or call me at 334 221 5862. I would be honored to try and help.

All Lake Martin Market Reports

(*)Disclaimers: All of the above info was taken from the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Accuracy is not guaranteed but deemed reliable. The above does not include sales by FSBOs or developers that sell privately and not through the MLS. But, I do think that the above represents a very large majority of all waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.

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Lake Martin Waterfront Lot Sales 2011

johncoley — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:19:08 +0000

Waterfront lots sold well at Lake Martin in 2011. We the members of the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors MLS* reported 39 waterfront lots were sold, which was 44% better than 2010 and more than double the total sold in 2008.

If you missed my Lake Martin Year End Review 2011 post where I covered the basics of homes and condos sold last year, please click here. Back to lots …….

Last year when I covered Lake Martin’s waterfront lot sales for 2010 in this post, I called 2010 the comeback year for lot sales. Any time you have a 42% increase (19 to 27), that’s a comeback. 2011 posted another huge gain – 44% – over last year. I guess that is a Secretariat-eque, shut the competition down, stretch run.

Lake Martin Waterfront Lot Prices

The next thing I wondered about Lake Martin’s lot sales was the price distribution. What are lot prices like? The careful reader knows that I confess an almost prideful love of the lovely bell curve that the line chart of homes sales prices makes. Does the phenomenon repeat itself with lot sales?

Sadly, no. I tried for like 2 hours to make an informative yet pretty and easily readable chart to display Lake Martin lot sale price distribution. I could not make it work. My chart skills with Apple’s Numbers program are lacking and I just don’t think such a small sample works. I guess maybe I have to break the sales bands down to a very small increment, say $20,000. But that felt like I was imposing a result on the chart, instead of just following where the numbers led me, so in the end I decided to merely post the chart with the source data. It is pretty easy to read, anyway.

I also think that when you have a small sample pool as we do with waterfront lots, it makes better sense to drill down to examples rather than looking at macroeconomic trends.

Lake Martin Lot Sales Trends

When I look at the sales results since 2008, I think that I see the greatest change in the price range of $150k – $199k, and then also in the $350k – $449k range. Those price bands jump out at me as the ones with the most relative increase in sales.

The $150k – $199k range didn’t really surprise me. That is the meat of the market and one would expect good sales there in any good year. The spurt of 9 sales in the $350k – $449k range is interesting and worth a closer look.

It turns out, as I expected, that all nine of them are in deed restricted neighborhoods with covenants. That is not too surprising in that most people that buy a high end lot on Lake Martin would like the protection of neighborhood covenants. True, there is a fair contingent of lot buyers who chafe at the yoke of Architectural Review Committees, but apparently at this price range most prefer it.

Also, of the nine waterfront lots sold in this range, seven were in neighborhoods developed by Russell Lands. Does this mean lot buyers seek out their lots? I can’t tell for sure, but I doubt it. I think it is simply a function of numbers. Most Lake Martin lots above $200,000 are in Russell Lands neighborhoods, so odds are that they will show up in the sales results. For this particular range of $350k – $449k, four were in The Ridge, two were in Willow Point, and one was in River Oaks to round out the seven. The two that were not in Russell Lands developments consisted of one in Marina Marin and the other in a small neighborhood called The Overlook on Lake Martin. It is off of Old Tree Road near Martin Dam.

Effect Of Neighborhoods On All Lot Sales

Next I began to wonder about all of the waterfront lot sales on Lake Martin. How many of them are in deed restricted neighborhoods? How many lot sales were the quintessential quaint country lot, free of covenants, where every man is his own master?

The answer is –> not many. Of the 39 waterfront lots sold on Lake Martin in 2011, only 9 of them appear to be free of covenants and are outside of neighborhoods. Now, I must alert you to a huge warning – I am only guessing at their restrictions here. Of those 9, maybe some do have restrictions and I just can’t tell from the MLS or from prior knowledge. But of the 30 that I counted as having covenants, those I am positively sure that they are in neighborhoods.

Interestingly, the highest price lot sale that was outside of a neighborhood was $300,000. There were two in the $150k – $200k range, but the rest were under $150k.

A last thought - being inside a neighborhood doesn’t guarantee a high sale price. The lowest priced lot sold in 2011 was in River Oaks, a Russell Lands development, and sold for $45,000. Before you ask – yes, it was in the back of a slough and had minimal waterfront and minimal water depth. I referenced it when a builder called me yesterday. He wanted to spend $50,000 for a lot, but it had to have year round water, a good view, and over 100 feet of shoreline on a private lot. Sorry, I said. Not going to happen.

Effect of Foreclosures on Lake Martin Lot Sales

How many of the lots sold on Lake Martin in the last two years were bank owned, REO, or foreclosures? Was this responsible for the sales increases?

I think the answer is not so much. Sixty six waterfront lots were sold from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2011. I searched the owner name on all of these and eleven appeared to be foreclosures. The reason I had to make guesses on owner names is that in our MLS, we didn’t have a field marked “Foreclosure” until 2011. Going forward we will be able to search by that field. But since this included 2010, I had to guess at the owner name and trust that the listing agents had them right.

Eleven foreclosed lots out of 66 gives us about 17%. While that is higher (I think) than the percentage of foreclosed waterfront homes that were sold, it’s not that much higher. My gut tells me that only about 10% of homes sold in 2011 were foreclosures. If we reduced the foreclosed lots down to 10%, it would only be a 5 lot reduction, moving the sales totals to 34 for 2011. Still an excellent year.

Verdict: foreclosures affected lot sales only a little. I was surprised on this, I thought it would be more.

Do You Have Any Questions?

As I continue to break the numbers down for waterfront real estate sales on Lake Martin, please feel free to email with this form or at info@lakemartinvoice.com with questions. I get my best ideas from my readers and clients so please feel free.

I think next I will look at residential sales again, and study the effects of foreclosures and condo sales.

All Lake Martin Market Reports

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Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2011 – Year In Review

johncoley — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:59:15 +0000

Lake Martin waterfront home sales finished 2011 in style, selling 207 waterfront residences on the entire lake.

This total gives Lake Martin the highest home sales since 235 were sold in 2006. That’s not bad once you think about it. We posted the highest sales in five years. The statistics I quote are taken from Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors’ MLS*, and represent all real estate agents, all brokerages, over the entire lake.

The significance of this strong year of home sales cannot be understated for Lake Martin. I have said it many times here on this blog, but it bears repeating: the Lake Martin waterfront real estate market is at least three and a half years past its bottom. Since July of 2008, everything has been uphill with regards to numbers of homes sold.

Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales By Month

If you would like the source data for the chart above, here below are all waterfront home, condo, and town home sales on Lake Martin, broken down by month:

Below please find a line chart showing the same data for Lake Martin homes sold, I just removed 2005 through 2007 since I was getting too many lines on my chart and it was becoming hard for me to read. I feel that 2008 is an appropriate year with which to start this chart since it was the bottom.

I think it is also notable that 2011 is the year that the market once again broke the 200 homes sold barrier. This is the first time we have broken 200 since 2006. Back then, Lake Martin was still firmly in the sales boom, although numbers of waterfront homes sold were dropping, prices were still rising. We didn’t quite realize that it was turning down. Those trying to sell their Lake Martin homes should have gotten out then if they wanted to perfectly time the market.

This year, I think that Lake Martin is in just as pivotal a year. Sales increased by about 6%, but I think that prices still have not risen at all. I think that may change in 2012.

Lake Martin Waterfront Home Pricing Trends

I only look at prices of homes sold once a year on Lake Martin. This is because we have such a small number of homes sold, relative to large metro markets. It doesn’t make sense to look at it monthly because two or three abnormal homes can skew it too much. You sometimes see a 100% increase or decrease from month to month. Too volatile. Similarly, I do not track Lake Martin home prices by calendar quarter because we are a seasonal, second home or vacation home market. Check out the monthly sales chart above and you can see that the bulk of home sales happen in warm months.

I attempt to solve our small market problem by breaking the homes sold into categories, in increments of $100,000 to start with, and then observing what percentage of the total sales that each $100k band represents.

Without further ado:

I think the above chart shows very clearly, and confirms my gut’s suspicion, that waterfront home, town home, and condo prices did not decrease on Lake Martin in 2011. They held steady with 2010 and 2009. While some sellers may interpret this as bad news (no sales increase) I think they should count their blessings.

At least there was no dip or decrease in prices. I would be shocked if there were. After all, Lake Martin is in a rising sales environment and has been for years.

So What?

So what does this chart mean? I think it means that once again, as in 2009 and 2010, the largest percentage of homes sold on Lake Martin were in the $200,000 – $299,999 range. Right at 25% of the waterfront home sold in 2009, 2010, and 2011 sold in that range.

If we had seen the entire bell curve shift forward towards the blue line of 2008, we could say (in my opinion) that we have evidence of price increases. But it didn’t.

I am tempted to say a price increase shift is starting in the way the $300k – $399k and $400k and $499k bands are bulging out a bit, straining in the chute, if you will. 2011 had a lot more sales in the 400s than did 2010, but the prior year beat 2011 in the 300s. I will call it a draw.

Why do I think there is a chance that we might see price increases in 2012? Because the home sales results keep chipping away at inventory. At the end of December, there were about 359 waterfront homes and condos for sale, after 207 sales in 12 months or a ratio of 1.73. Sure, December is the lowest listing period. But in December 2010 that number was 394 / 195 = 2.02.

Sellers - please hear me out. It is NOT time to raise prices like it was 2006. I am just saying that I can see the easing of downward pressure if sales continue.

Please stay tuned, I plan to write a lot more about 2011 Waterfront real estate sales on Lake Martin.

All Lake Martin Market Reports

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They’re On A Mission From God

johncoley — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:28:01 +0000

If you plan to be at Lake Martin on Valentine’s Day, and are wondering what to do, you may want to check out the Blues Brothers Revue in Alexander City.

That’s right, Jake and Elwood have gotten the band back together, and they are performing at the Benjamin Russell High School Auditorium in Alex City on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012, at 7:30 PM.

They are playing complete with the intercontinental Rhythm and Blues Band, with a “piping hot” horn section, with gospel singers, and dancers. In fact, their sax player Murph Dunne got in a huge fight with his wife. He lost her and a job to be here, so the least you can do is show up.

I will grant you, there will be a few elements missing from the normal show. While they do feature gospel singers, I am pretty sure that James Brown will not be doing back flips on a trampoline. But on a positive note, there will be no crazed women firing M-16s at the boys. Here’s a link to their latest promo video.

Seriously, this is for a really good cause – The Alex City Arts, and was funded in part by a grant from the Alabama State Council of the Arts.

Doors open at 7pm. Tickets: $15.00 for adults, children 12 and under $5. Tickets will be available February 1st at the Russell Hospital Gift Shop; The Chamber of Commerce; and ‘Main Street’, Alexander City, or at the door. For more information call; Ron Morgan, President, Alex City Arts at 256.234.9806 or e-mail Topdog@Lakedog.net

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Aliant Bank Auctioning Water’s Edge Development On Lake Martin

johncoley — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:14:24 +0000

Aliant Bank is auctioning the Water’s Edge neighborhood.

Water’s Edge, formerly known as Eagle Point, was a proposed waterfront development on the Big Kowaliga section of Lake Martin. It was (by my unscientific estimation) one of the largest, if not the largest, waterfront loan in Aliant’s history. It is located at the end of Coosa County Road 20, directly across the water from the old Veazey’s Marina near Willow Point.

Aliant loaned the money to real estate developers that tried to market it as Eagle Point, but the bank ended up taking that land back, and now has hired auctioneer JP King to auction off the whole shebang.

I have read JP King’s promotional materials and also called and emailed them for more information. At the time of this writing, they did not have a location map, neighborhood covenants and restrictions, but did have about 15 photos. Here are the major points:

Date: Saturday, March 10, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM Central Time
Place: “On Site” – I don’t know which part of the property that means, but if you take Coosa County Road 20 all the way east, surely they will have signage up.

Disclosure Of My Extreme Bias

I have a lot of personal bias when it comes to both Aliant Bank and Water’s Edge, nee Eagle Point.

Firstly, growing up in Alex City, I either know or am related to just about everyone that works there. Fine folks and experts at Lake Martin lending. In fact, they are about the only source that I know of right now that will loan on Alabama Power leased lot homes.

Secondly, I have a lot of personal history with Water’s Edge / Eagle Point. I helped Aliant do much of the homework (market studies, comparable sales, realtor stuff, etc.) when they first foreclosed. I also listed two of the spec homes that they had for sale. I had those homes listed during the construction phase and for several months after they were completed.

However - and this is a big however - I never listed any of the lots nor the Island parcel. Not the lots close to the spec houses (which the auctioneer is calling “The Cottages at Eagle Point”), nor the “island” portion (which the auctioneer is calling “Narrows Point at Water’s Edge”).

The only time (to my knowledge) that Aliant has put any of these lots on the market was when they listed lots 3 and 4 with Rhonda Gaskins at RealtySouth, the brokerage that listed the homes on lot 1 and lot 2 after my listing period expired. As was apparent in our Lake Martin MLS, they listed the lots for $195k and dropped the price to $159k before that listing expired late this fall.

Why The Water’s Edge Auction Will Be Interesting

I think Aliant’s auction of the foreclosed Eagle Point / Water’s Edge waterfront development will be interesting for three major reasons:

1.) Waterfront auctions on Lake Martin homes, lots, and other property have not gone well in the past. Foreclosed or not, I can only think of one auction where a sale has been consummated in the last five or so years. I sell Lake Martin real estate for a living, and that’s the sole example of success, but I can also recall five or six aborted attempts. One in particular, the auctioneer allegedly marched off in a huff after no one submitted an opening bid.

2.) The auction is not absolute. This may change, but as of this writing, according to auctioneer JP King, none of the parcels is being sold absolute. Selling absolute means, essentially, if you bid $1, and you’re the high bidder, you get to buy it at that, regardless. If it’s not absolute it means that the bank has a minimum price, and if the bids don’t meet their minimum, they are not compelled to sell to you. Granted, this may change. When I talked to the auction company, they admitted that their information was incomplete right now. (Sidebar – the auction is in about 10 weeks. When will it be complete? Who will bid without complete information?)

3.) Only two of the lots have ever been on the market. As mentioned above, they last asked $159k each for lots 3 and 4 on the “Cottages” parcel. They have never – repeat never – put the island portion on the market (that is the parcel they call The Narrows).

Would you like to bid on waterfront lots or homes at Water’s Edge? Please contact me using this form or call me at 334 221 5862.

More Information about Water’s Edge At Lake Martin

I have written extensively about Water’s Edge in the past and also taken tons of video. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND that these are old posts from when I had the homes listed, so the pricing etc. NO LONGER APPLIES:

Lot 2, Water’s Edge

Does Ceiling Color Keep Away Bugs?

Water’s Edge Featured In Lake Magazine

Lake Martin Seawall Construction

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Lake Martin Home Sales For November 2011

johncoley — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:35:50 +0000

The Lake Martin real estate market posted good waterfront sales for November, 2011.

The Lake Martin MLS* reports that 8 waterfront homes, condos, and town homes were sold in November. This includes all real estate agents, all brokerages, on the entire lake, that are members of the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors.

It meant that November in 2011 was not as good as November 2010′s 10 homes sold, but was good enough to push the 2011 total above the 200 barrier to 203. This is significant because Lake Martin real estate market has not seen waterfront home sales above 200 since 2006 scored 235 sales.

This year’s number of waterfront homes sold so far on Lake Martin has surprised me. After a strong summer and fall, I thought that we would end the year with 205 or so total. Hitting 203 with one more month to go is very encouraging. My revised estimate for the entire year is 210 or so homes sold, which, as mentioned, will be the best since 2006.

Will December 2011 beat December 2010? I doubt it. Last year there were 12 waterfront homes sold through the MLS. That’s strong – the best December since I have been tracking the numbers in 2005. The average amount of Lake Martin homes sold in December has been about 6 if you look at 2005 – 2011.

If that holds true, Lake Martin will be on a two month losing streak to the prior year. Does this bode ill? Not necessarily, in my opinion. Firstly, it’s hard to be anything but happy with the best year’s sales since 2006. Secondly, we have learned that the winter months can be unreliable predictors. To wit, 2007 had an awesome first quarter before totally tanking.

I won’t slice the numbers too much this month; I need to save my strength for my year end review later this month. But in case you are interested, there was another waterfront lot sale on Lake Martin in November:

Also the sales versus the prior month chart is as expected, November posted a loss versus 2010 but overall the year was great:

Waterfront lot sales for Lake Martin property sold through the MLS were also strong in November.

Strong lot sales on Lake Martin this year could mean a good year for the construction industry. Granted, total waterfront lot sales are only about 60% of their peak in 2006, but hey, over 30 is a good year.

As I mentioned above, I will put a greater amount of emphasis on the year end numbers. I will wait a week or so more to make sure that all realtors and brokerages on Lake Martin have finalized their reporting to the MLS, so please stay tuned!

All Lake Martin Market Reports

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Yes, It Is Raining Here

johncoley — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:40:11 +0000

In case you are wondering, it is in fact raining here at Lake Martin.

Those of you who are celebrating Christmas here might want to consider planning on some rainy weather activities.

On a bright note, it looks like the weather will break on Friday. It will be a fair 63 and only 10% chance of precipitation.

My suggestion: break out the smoker!

Smoking a Boston Butt, some ribs, chicken, or something more adventurous is a perfect way to look busy while being lazy. That works at Lake Martin – or anywhere!

Merry Christmas, all!

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Go Mobile For A Lake Martin Home Search

johncoley — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:18:59 +0000

I have made a change to Lake Martin Voice.com for mobile users that I think will make it easier to search for a waterfront home, lot, or condo.

Most users probably won’t notice or care, but I explain here because I want to draw attention to my new mobile search for Lake Martin real estate. Previously, I had a WordPress Plugin that would kick in when you accessed my site from an iPhone, Droid, etc. The result was that the mobile version of my site did not look like the regular. It categorized and summarized the articles and made reading my posts much more easy from a smart phone.

However, I have changed my mind on that. I think that many mobile users of my site are more likely to be searching the Lake Martin MLS. I decided to optimize the mobile experience for the best search possible.

Enter FBS Data Systems’ new Mobile Search.

FBS sells a product called FlexMLS. FlexMLS is the software that the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors uses for its MLS system. I really love FlexMLS. I have looked at a lot of other MLS software, and even dabble in another association’s, but I have yet to find a better overall MLS software system than FlexMLS. They just seem to be out on the forefront of usable new features. I like a company that rolls something out before I realize I need it.

FlexMLS has recently improved its mobile search for consumers (that’s you). The search is really clean, simple, and effective. I played around with the beta test and they have improved it since then. I love it.

Mobile users will still be able to read my blog posts, neighborhood pages, etc. But I make this change because it makes it easier to get to the search from a mobile browser.

I would like to make a few customizations for the Lake Martin market. For instance, I would love to have the field “Waterfront” available on the default page, and defaulted to a “Yes.” Overall, though, I am really happy with it.

Here are some more screen shots:

Once you search the Lake Martin MLS, through the mobile site or the regular version, if you see something you like, just click the smiley face next to it. That will allow you to register for your own “portal” to login to the system. Don’t worry, your info only comes to me.

If you have your own login, you can save your likes, dislikes, and “I’ll buy this one when I win the lottery” home.

Or, just contact me here or call me at 334 221 5862 or email me at john@coleyre.com and let me search for you.

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