When I was growing up, there were always a bunch of house boats that were moored at docks by the River Bridge. They were on the east side of the river, across from the old Lake Hill Restaurant, on the north side of the Tallapoosa River. I guess this was the late 1970s, early 1980s.

We would be driving eastward on highway 280, and as we’d cross the bridge, we could see them all parked over on a dock system. I never went down there, and don’t know their owners.

When I saw this one parked across the street from my office, it made me think about how long it’s been since I have seen a boat like this on Lake Martin.

I originally posted this on my media blog, at Posterous.

Imagine my surprise at the Facebook invite to help celebrate!  I mean, who purposely invites their Realtor to anything after a closing?

Well, this family is a lot of fun, and I was flattered to be included, so we tubed the kids all way from Kowaliga Bridge to the 280 River Bridge, and made the trip with a birthday cake (almost) intact:

Tom and Melissa, thanks again for the invite and the testimonial!

We like to show you authentic Lake Martin “moments” and love it when our readers contribute, too.  Check out our fan page on Facebook, and feel free to share your own Lake Martin memories – photos, stories, videos.

As you can see from the monthly results chart above, 2010 is posting consistently strong results when compared to years post bubble burst. Interestingly though, if you compare it only to the prior year, 2010 lost badly to 2009 in June (17 sales versus 26) and tied it in July at 28.

What about cumulative results? How does it look if we add each month’s sales to get a rolling calender year total? That gives us an idea of the sales trends and a historical perspective.

Lake Martin waterfront home sales at July 31, 2010 ,are stronger than by the end of July in 2009. This is certainly good news, as 2009 was (what I have dubbed) as the comeback year for Lake Martin real estate. Looking only at the above chart, we could rightly assume that 2010 will be even better than last year.

But what about momentum?

How do we measure how fast lake homes are selling? Sure, 2010 is ahead of 2009 so far. But does it have enough gas to stay ahead?

Loyal readers of Lake Martin Voice know that I put a lot of stock in comparing how this month’s number of lake homes sold stacks up versus the same month of last year. I truly believe that this is the absolute best measure of the state of any real estate market. It cuts through all the hocus pocus. It doesn’t concern itself with ivory tower parleying over macro economic data, nor nit picking through minutia of this home versus that. It’s all about the scoreboard. It’s like the feeling when the clock hits 0:00 in the Iron Bowl. There’s nothing more to say, no more trash talk or what ifs. The scoreboard does the talking.

How does the scoreboard look for 2010?

If you are a fan of sales increasing, you want to see action above the zero line. That means that the current month is beating the same month in the prior year. A quick glance shows anyone that Lake Martin real estate sales in 2009 were beating the pants off of 2008. The “good” news is that 2010 is still beating 2009, just check the cumulative sales. However, it is not at the same furious pace.

Is this evidence of the dreaded macro economic “double dip” of bad results? I don’t think so. Let’s wait until a year starts losing consistently before we make that call. For right now, I think the jury is still out for 2010. These are halftime results, let’s wait until November to make that call.

Inventory

Another positive trend for Lake Martin sellers is the fact that the waterfront homes for sale seems to be decreasing. One look at the above chart can show you that in the Lake Martin real estate market, inventory usually peaks at mid summer, and then slides down toward January. If we have hit our apex for 2010 already, it would seem to indicate a trend towards a smaller number of properties for sale through the MLS.

This is classic supply and demand, folks. We still have strong sales, but if waterfront homes on Lake Martin start to be more scarce, prices will finally cease their slide.

We need more data to be sure, but I think this helps the odds of my earlier prediction of stabilized prices for 2010.

Related Posts:

Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Waterfront Lots
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review

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 sales on Lake Martin.

Here’s a quick video I shot of the early hours of the concert:

Depending on whose estimates you read, anywhere from 15-20,000 people showed up (as compared to 25,000 last year).  That’s a lot of folks.

It was a lot of fun.  My family (yes – I brought kids) anchored up with some really nice people from Columbus, GA and spent most of the afternoon floating in our tubes. We made it up to the front and hung out at the stage, and saw lots of friends along the way.  We made the swim back to our boat just before John Anderson started playing.  For those of you who have not made it to Aquaplaooza yet, we’ve decided the raft/tube/float is key.

We want to thank Russell Marine and Sea Ray for what has turned out to be not just one of the best events on Lake Martin, but one of the best summer events in the southeast.

Once again, local photographer and newspaper baron,  Kenneth Boone, aka “Mr. Perfect,”  has what I think is the greatest collection of pictures from Aquapalooza.  If you’d like to see if he caught you in the action, check out his gallery here.

You might think that because Lake Martin is such a special lake community that not many people may hear of us very often.  Especially when you’re considering selling your lake property, you may wonder how far the reach is of Lake Martin Voice Realty..Alabama wide? East Coast wide?

Well it might surprise you to know that we offer marketing that stretches nationwide, and is growing all the time, thanks to our readers and community.

This map shows a recent marketing campaign that we did, and all of the interest we had based on the shaded states. Alabama of course is the darkest, it had the most interest, followed closely by Georgia and Florida.  I was also happily surprised to see that Nevada garnered almost 10% of the interest in the campaign.  Did someone have a great night at the tables?

The other light blue states were also included in the “Who Wants to Know More About Lake Martin” category, so I’d say that’s a pretty good reach!

I want to stress, this is from just one email campaign.  I have hundreds of regular visitors on my blog every day.  Over the course of three years of blogging about Lake Martin, I have been blessed to have about 300,000 page views from every state at one time or another.

Yes, I also realize the internet has no borders. That’s exactly the way Al Gore designed it.  That’s the whole reason I go to all this effort to keep it going.  But every now and then even I have these little “wow.. that’s humbling!” moments where I realize that people really are reading, really are getting good information here, and really are picking up the phone and calling us.

So to all you Lake Martin Voice readers – THANKS!

And by the way –

If you own waterfront property on Lake Martin and are considering selling
– are you tired of vague allusions from agents that they have “nationwide marketing” or something fuzzy like “coast to coast referral programs” that are somehow going to get your home sold?  What does all of that mean?

Tell them to show you the numbers: how many calls have you received from your “program?” How’s that network going? What’s your plan, anyway?

Then call us. We will peel back the curtain (except there is no curtain) and show you our numbers. Our results. Our happy clients.

There’s no mystery, no secret plan. We work our butts off to provide good info, to be helpful, to be informative, and be responsive. People like to be treated like that, whether they are from Alabama or Nevada.

This home is one of my listings and it’s a huge piece of property: 3.9 acres with +/- 440 feet of shoreline.  We’re calling it the “Mimosa Home” for its traditional Southern style, and for the large Mimosa tree boaters see from the water.

Using the natural terrain as a guide, the owners built a waterfall feature that runs from the top of the property to the waterfront.    The result: the sound of bubbling water greets you at every turn.  Listen for it in the video below and imagine enjoying that peaceful sound on a daily basis.

If you’re interested in this house, click here for pictures and complete listing information, or call me at (334) 221-5862.  A video tour of the entire property is embedded below.  I’d love to show you this property, or any property in the Lake Martin MLS.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Congratulations to Cecil G of Greenville, Alabama. He and his luckiest friends and family will be enjoying a free stay next weekend.

Thanks to everyone that entered.  We had a tremendous response. Some of you really made me laugh with your comments that you left in the form. Some of you left some things I can’t print (you know who you are ) and others left some funny ones. To wit, a few examples:

We had the spam fearers:

“Please do not distribute or sell my number or email address.” and “Please do not give out my personal information!”

Don’t worry, your info is safe with me. I will put you on my once a month email list, and if that’s too much, by all means, unsubscribe.

Also we had some folks that have obviously dealt with some aggressive realtors before, here are a few:

“please use only for wining giveaway—no sales calls” and my personal favorite: “Please do not share my phone number or bombard me with calls. Thanks.”

We had some very complimentary words about the new homes for sale at Water’s Edge, and Lake Martin in general:

“We actually drove by this development recently. It looks great, we’d love to spend an weekend there.” and “Can’t wait to see the finished homes.” and “one of my favorites home sites on the lake” and “Lake Martin is by far the best lake in Alabama. The water is so clear, the restaurants on the water are great and everyone is so friendly!”

There were a couple of good natured attempts to influence the results. All were unsuccessful, of course. This one took the cake: “I hope I win, then you can sell my old lake house for the new one!!” - Wow, talk about temptation!

If you are wondering how I made the draw, please let me explain. I took all entries and then dropped their info into a spreadsheet. Every entry had a row #. I then went to Random.org and used their random number generator to give a number, then I looked up the row, and saw who won. That’s how Cecil G. scored a free weekend at Lake Martin.

For More Information on the Waterfront Homes for sale at Water’s Edge, see:

Lot 1 Water’s Edge – $589,000

Lot 2 Water’s Edge – $569,000

They each have 3 beds and 3 baths, and are sitting literally on the water’s edge.  The view is stunning – jaw dropping even – you can see for miles, from its spot at the end of Coosa 20.  You can see much of Parker Creek, the old Veazey’s Marina, Willow Point, and all the way to Sand Island.

Yes!! It’s true.  Fill out the form linked below and you will be entered to win a free stay at a very nice 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom lake home at Water’s Edge on Lake Martin.

CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT THE ENTRY FORM

No entries will be accepted after 10 PM Central time on Wednesday, July 28th.

The winner will be announced the next day.

Some pics of the home:

And:

The home where you stay if you win is normally rented out on this site, but the developers of Water’s Edge have approved this free weekend to a lucky winner! You will have to sign a rental agreement, but if you behave, your security deposit is returned, and you will have spent a weekend at a cool Lake Martin home for free!!

WHEN: Free weekend will be Thursday, August 5 – Monday August 9, 2010

DEADLINE: Everyone must enter by 10 PM central time Wed. July 28, 2010

HOW TO ENTER: You must fill out THIS FORM.

MORE INFO ON RENTAL HOUSE: See THIS LINK

WINNER ANNOUNCED: Thursday July 29, 2010

If you are having difficulty with the form you can email me at promo [at] lakemartin voice dot com.  I will walk you through filling it out.

WHY: Water’s Edge is celebrating the soon to be completion of their two waterfront homes for sale:

Lot 1 Water’s Edge – $589,000

Lot 2 Water’s Edge – $569,000

They each have 3 beds and 3 baths, and are sitting literally on the water’s edge.  The view is stunning – jaw dropping even – you can see for miles, from its spot at the end of Coosa 20.  You can see much of Parker Creek, the old Veazy’s Marina, Willow Point, and all the way to Sand Island.

The free weekend rental home is not one of the new ones, it is out on the end of the “island” portion that almost touches other side of the lake near the old Veazy’s marina.  The new homes are side by side, and face down the big water, in a general southeast direction.

Obviously, the purpose of all of this is to draw attention to the two new homes that will be complete soon. I have been working on this project for a while now and I am really excited about the homes.

I think they are an awesome deal, new homes that are custom designed by Bryan Jones of Jones Pierce Architects in Atlanta.  Bryan created this design from the ground up to take advantage of the view and the terrain here.  This is NOT your typical spec home that is shoe-horned into a site. Wade Wilmeth is our builder. He has a tremendous amount of well earned respect around Lake Martin for doing things the right way.

To top it all off, Aliant Bank is creating some special financing for qualified buyers.

So if you’ve ever wished for a free weekend rental of a waterfront home on Lake Martin, here’s your big change.  Please only enter once per person or I will just disqualify you. Please spread the word!

Good luck!!

The featured artist, John Anderson, will wrap up the show (Think, “Seminole Wind”).

I went by Kowaliga Bridge this morning and shot some video of the set up.  The logistics worked last year, so bring your boat and enjoy a really fun afternoon on Lake Martin.   Take a look:

What: Lake Martin’s Aquapalooza 2010

When: Saturday, July 24,  12pm -7pm

Where: In the Kowaliga area of Lake Martin between Church in the Pines and Sinclair’s Restaurant (off of Highway 63)

Reservations: not required

Especially fly fishing guides.  They just are. They know all the secret spots, the best trails to get you there the fastest.  They know if you sit on that rock to eat your lunch, the ants will find you sooner.  They know to fish a regular Adams on this riffle but a para Adams on that one.

No matter how transparent they are, you are sure they’re holding back on you, too.  But that’s okay, because they are so cool you don’t mind.

<yes, I can hear my wife’s eyes rolling>

In short, they are the ultimate local experts.

Last fall I went fly fishing with Ian Rutter , who has to be one of the best guides on this side of the Mississippi.  He and his wife Charity run R&R Fly Fishing out of Townsend, TN. In the course of planning the trip I obsessively read everything I could find on and offline, and watched every video I tracked down.  Ian’s blog was the main source here.  I couldn’t get enough.

When I finally got up there, my experience was richer for it, and I can’t wait to go back.

What does this have to do with Lake Martin real estate?

Nothing much, except that my trip up there has had a big influence with how I blog and present information now.  I mean, if I want every morsel of info from the rock star guide for a 1 day fishing trip, how much more info and local color would someone want before buying a $400,000 waterfront lake home?

Obviously, I can’t turn my marketing engine (this blog and its related spots on twitter, youtube, facebook, etc.) into a Chamber of Commerce. I realize that I have to serve the meat and potatoes of real estate: Lake Martin home searches, market reports, and home valuations.

I also realize that we real estate agents will never be as cool as fishing guides.

If you see a good guide out somewhere, you corner him and bug him about what they’re biting and where.  If you see a realtor in the grocery store – admit it – you duck behind the Co-cola display, don’t you?

How can I ever be cool with that professional prejudice?  Oh well.