With technology, it is easier and easier to create a video of a home for sale. But just because it is easy does not mean everyone can do a great job. 1.  Is the video engaging to home buyers? 2.  If they start watching, will they want to continue? 3.  Does the sound add value or detract? (Professional editors will tell you sound can often be more important than images.) 4.  Will the sellers be impressed? 5.  Will people share the video (this is a tough one)? Here is an example, compliments of our agent Michael Langston, of a quick video that does more than shows rooms, it inspires feelings of a lifestyle! NOTE: As you watch this, be sure you have your sound turned on. Pictures are informative, great video and sound invoke feelings!   What do you think about this video? How did it make... 06/07/2013

What a great night for folks who came to sample a taste of 16 area restaurants on Tuesday, August 11 at Camp Civitan!  The Taste of the Dadeville Area was sponsored by the Dadeville Area Chamber of Commerce to spotlight local restaurants and provide an entertaining evening for everyone.  Music by the Brown Derby Jazz Band added a nice touch for the more than 300 attendees.  Food and music were followed by a raffle for prizes and cash! If you missed it, shame on you!  This was a terrific evening - stay tuned for future events. 08/20/2009

      100 Harbor Pl unit 612, Dadeville, AL        Map It! Bed/Bath/Parking: 2/2.0/Parking SpaceLiving Area: 1,042Features: Waterview Condo, Pool Year Built: 1995Subdivision: StillwatersPrice: $179,900 This 2 Bed, 2 Bath villas comes complete with all the furnishing and Appliances. Nicely decorated and is ready to rent. This 2nd floor unit has a water view, Currently on rental program with good rental history, Good Investment opportunity Call Greg for showing at 256-239-1465 or you may view this listing at www.gregnafziger.com 06/22/2009

      185 Sunset Dr. unit 631, Dadeville, AL        Map It! Bed/Bath/Parking: 2/2.0/Parking SpaceLiving Area: 1,158Features: Water front, Pool, Boat slip Year Built: 2004Subdivision: StillwatersPrice: $319,900 This 2 bed, 2 bath second floor unit comes completely furnished and is ready to rent. There are 2 balconies that over look the water and has its own boat slip. This unit has everything you need, all you need to do is bring your suit case and come to the lake!!   Call Greg for showing at 256-239-1465 listing may also be viewed at www.gregnafziger.com or email gcnaf@charter.net 06/22/2009

State Park Contact Information: Wind Creek State Park4325 AL Hwy 128 Alexander City, Alabama   35010Phone: 256-329-0845 Adopt-A-Park Contacts: Yogi's Helper: volunteer positions open Nature Programs: volunteer positions open Photography: volunteer positions open State Park Overview: This park spans 1,445 acres along the shores of scenic Lake Martin, which is a 41,000-acre clear-water reservoir perfect for fishing, swimming and boating. Park facilities include the largest state-operated campground in the United States with 625 sites, many of which are waterfront sites allowing campers to fish, swim and boat right out their back door. Other facilities include a marina, campstore, fishing pier, hiking trails, playground and picnic areas with tables, grills and shelters. Ten camping cabins... 06/15/2009

There are now many bank owned foreclosures or REO properties on the market at Lake Martin. We are no different from anywhere else in the country in that respect. What is different about Lake Martin foreclosures is the curious choice that some banks or mortgage companies make when selecting a broker or real estate company.  I have talked to quite a few lately, and have compiled a few quick reasons why banks will struggle to unload their REO inventory at Lake Martin: 1.  Your agent is not a member of the Lake Martin MLS click here to read the other 3 reasons on my blog Lake Martin Voice 02/12/2009

The waterfront property sales in the Lake Martin MLS* ended the year by tying 2007’s December sales of 4. When we looked at November 2008 sales for Lake Martin, we saw that 2008 monthly sales were starting to beat 2007.  How did we finish the year? To answer this question, and see a lot more graphs and analysis, CLICK HERE for my blog Lake Martin Voice   02/09/2009

CNBC re-ran the story on HealthSouth founder and former CEO Richard Scrushy - On a show called “American Greed.”  Not exactly the sort of bio that any businessman wants. Every story I have ever read or watched about Scrushy inevitably mentions his “Lake Martin mansion.” Don’t get me wrong, it is a mansion all right.  By almost anyone’s standards. CLICK HERE to go to my lake martin blog to read more 01/23/2009

On Friday January 23, 2009 the Lake Martin waterfront home of 216 Harrison Road, Dadeville, Alabama (map here) will be auctioned off on the steps of the Tallapoosa County Courthouse, downtown Dadeville. This is a rare type of auction in that, as far as I can tell, it is NOT a property tax auction.  It it NOT a home being auctioned by a private auctioneer, so therefore it has NOT been heavily promoted or advertised.  The only promotion I could find has been the customary notification in the legal section of the Dadeville Record. Click here to go to my blog Lake Martin Voice to get a copy of the official legal announcement that last ran in the Dadeville Record on January 1, 2009. 01/15/2009

Lake Martin’s newest deli and grocery - Catherine’s Market at Russell Crossroads - officially opened on Tuesday, December 16, 2008.  I went by there today for lunch to check out the inside of the store and deli.  It was really nice, a first class operation. As advertised, the market section had lots of cool, higher end grocery items.  The wine shop was well stocked.  I even found my favorite Rioja. I didn’t scrutinize the meat counter very closely, but I am sure that it is nice. Click here to see more pics and get the menu from my real estate blog Lake Martin Voice. 12/18/2008

Since I have a waterfront lot listed for sale in Lake Martin’s The Ridge, I get a lot of questions about the various amenities of the Ridge. One of the huge benefits to owning a waterfront home or town home in the Ridge is access to all of the “stuff.” Though I have been in the neighborhood countless times, I had never been by road to The Ridge’s Beach Park before yesterday.  It was really nice, it has a big covered pavilion, changing / rest rooms, and, of course, a big beach.  The water view is of Lake Martin icons Chimney and Acapulco Rock Islands. While I was there, I also hiked a bit on some Ridge Trails (download a map). The developer, Russell Lands, has done a really nice job about incorporating off the water features here.  There are tons of mulch lined trails through the woods, ... 12/11/2008

One of the great things about working around Lake Martin is that occasionally you bump into some really crazy folks. The other day I met Kyle Walton and a bunch of his buddies who are professional wakeskaters and /or wake boarders. click here to watch the video on my blog Lake Martin Voice 11/13/2008

My family recently moved to a new-to-us home (fyi my “old” home sold in 2 days).  The new home is on a septic tank system, whereas the old one was tied in to the sewer system of the City of Montgomery.  This got me to thinking about a claim my father has long made, that is, those “flushable” wipes they sell these days may be flushable, but they are bad for septic systems as they do not properly disintegrate like toilet paper does. I did some research, then an experiment.  The results made me immediately think about homeowners on Lake Martin, as I would hazard a guess that 99% of waterfront homes on Lake Martin are on some sort of septic system. THE EXPERIMENT:  Do “flushable” wipes degrade like toilet paper? Modus: Following the suggestion from this site, I took 3 separate Tupperware bo... 11/08/2008

  In the November issue of Lake Magazine - Lake Martin Edition -  Nikki Reeves sent out an email to interview local real estate agents. The topic was the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors (LMAAR).  She also interviewed the past presidents of LMAAR about the past, present, and future of the Lake Martin real estate area.  You can click on the above link to read the other folks’ quotes. Of course, I am never shy about supplying my honest thoughts.  I sent an email to Nikki with the below. The part that she used is highlighted in yellow.  After reading the article, I can see why she didn’t use the other parts of my quotes.  They wouldn’t have fit in with the tenor and tack of the others. Here’s the text of my email: Nikki- some thoughts on LMAA... 11/05/2008

One of my listings for sale is 302 Villas On The Harbor, a 1 bed 1 bath condo in Lake Martin’s Stillwaters Community.  The Villas On The Harbor sits right next door to Harbor Pointe Marina, and Harbor Pointe Condos. I got a challenging email the other day from Ron Botterbusch, Broker of RB Commercial Properties in Montgomery.  He said: Click here to read what he asked on my blog Lake Martin Voice 10/29/2008

If I drive directly to my office from home, I never glimpse Lake Martin. So sometimes (read Mondays) when I am headed to the office, and need some inspiration or a reminder about what I am really doing, I drive to Kowaliga Bridge, take in the view, and turn around refreshed.  Today it was really helpful, especially after hearing so much bad news lately about the real estate industry. If you talk to families that have owned or rented Lake Martin homes for a long time, you will never hear them say, “boy we enjoyed the lake house, except for the late 1970s’ oil crisis” or “golly, the failure of the savings and loan banks in 1987 really screwed up my weekends at Lake Martin.”  Nope. Instead I hear comments like “that lake house has been the only place I can really relax” or “my favorite pic... 10/27/2008

To respond to some readers’ comments, I thought I would publish a few more statistics from the Lake Martin MLS* waterfront home sales for August 2008. Before I get into it, let me first caution all readers not to draw broad conclusions about the Lake Martin real estate market from the following two graphs.  I still maintain that looking too deeply into monthly sales statistics may be misleading, since we have such a very small market in terms of number of sales.  It just doesn’t make for a very good sampling pool when there are only 20 sales. So again I stress, this is for illustrative purposes only.  Keep in mind that you are only looking at 20 sales, only in the month of August. The chart below makes a great case study as to why I am loathe to use trend analysis on monthly sales stati... 10/23/2008

Lake Martin MLS* waterfront home sales did not match the sun and fun for August 2008. July 2008 waterfront home sales turned in a winner, beating 2007’s mark and giving us hope of the start of a rally. To read the results and see my 3 charts, CLICK HERE TO GO TO MY BLOG LAKE MARTIN VOICE 10/20/2008

If you’re wanting to find out more about The Preserve at Stoney Ridge on Lake Martin, please see the below video I shot to show the amenities, just click the play arrow below: CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO ON MY BLOG LAKE MARTIN VOICE 10/15/2008

I was over in the Pleasure Point area the other day, going by two homes for sale that I have listed over there. One is on Claytons Lane and the other in on Captains Road. If you are ever riding around in that section of Blue Creek, off of Tallapoosa County Road 34, you might find it interesting that there is an old cemetery off of, you guessed it, Old Cemetery Road. I snapped these pics: Click here for the pictures on my blog LAKE MARTIN VOICE. 10/08/2008