Exciting New....Yours Truly is going to be interviewed by the Weather Channel tomorrow www.weather.com  all about Lake Lanier and our Drought. The show will air Wednesday 10/8/08.

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We Need your help! http://www.supportlesli.com/

A very special Realtor in this area Lesli Smith (Lake Lanier Realtor) needs your help and donations. She and her husband own Lake Lanier Lodges just outside of Aqualand Marina. She has been battling Inflammatory Breast Cancer and it has spread to her brain. She had surgery at MD Anderson and is doing well, but she has a long road ahead of her. Please click on the link above to find out how you can help and PLEASE, PLEASE spread the word.

Welcome to Mary Thompson Appraisals Home Page. If you are looking for someone who specializes in Lake Lanier Appraisals, you have come to the right place! We appraise as well as invest in Lake Lanier Property, so we know what the market is doing on a daily basis. We are Lake Lanier drought specialists too, check out my BLOG for details.

Message From Mary Thompson

Turn you Speakers UP!

We also specialize in premier, high end properties (Golf Course Homes, Home on Large Acreage,  Million Dollar+ Property). We appraise all single family residences, new, existing and proposed construction!  Please go to our "coverage area" for more details!

Lake Lanier IS NOW 17.0+ feet below full pool! We need more rain from Hurricanes but hate to see the devastation that IKE caused those in Texas. Our thoughts and prayers are with them all!!

Check out my BLOG & Subscribe so that you immediately get notification when I update my BLOG!

**Want to know the CURRENT Value of your Lake Home or one you are thinking of Purchasing...Contact US! Chances are we may have already appraised the home in question and if we have we can appraise the property for a  reduced fee, since we already have alot of the information in our files.

You need an experienced lake property appraiser, especially if you currently have NO water at your dock. You want a Fair and Objective view of the values on this lake. We can provide you with that information! 

We employ several factors to determine the  current value when the water is down. Some appraisers have tried to value lakefront homes that have no water now as if they are no longer lake front property. This is not the proper way to evaluate lake front property, when there is no water at the dock.

It is a complicated process which we employ however,  we do have the experience to handle the appraisal assignment.

 Lake Lanier drought is a GREAT opportunity for you buyers out there to be looking for lake homes, to make sure you have decent water when the lake goes down in the future or to know just where you will stand in the next drought. You can  drive around and see which coves are totally without water and of course now there are plenty, but at least you will know this ahead of time! 

Get that appraisal done BEFORE you list or buy your next home.  Seller's: You need to price your home to sell..without leaving money on the table. You also do not want to have your home sit for months longer than it should because it is overpriced, which is a money losing proposition. Buyers: You do  not want to over pay for a home and if the home is listed under market value, we can tell you that as well!

BUY FOR THE LOT FIRST (this is quite obvious NOW)....then the house....you can always change or renovate the home, NOT the lot! Buyers are proving this to be the case. They want good deep water with nice views at least at the dock. They are sacrificing views from the home as long as they have nice views and deep water at the dock. So if you can get views from the home AND the dock with deep water, you have a great investment for your future.

If your lake levels are very low or nonexistent and you are thinking of selling, if you can, hold off selling or you will have to take less for your home..Some buyers will not be concerned with low lake levels, if they can get the home at a good price.

The fact is that while we are going through another drought in a 6 year period, it does not remain that way for very long (this last one lasted less than 1 season going from 10 foot below full pool to under 3.0 feet) and if you have at least 10-15 feet during full pool, then the number of times you will be without water completely is very infrequent.

Overall, Lake property values have kept going up, even during this drought. However with continued drought conditions and our current market, this year will be the first where values will fall on the Lake!

What I am seeing recently is those owners with good water NOW are asking high prices for their lake properties, since good deep water is getting quite scarce these days. So you need to decide if

 this premium is worth paying for....is this a good investment to be able to say you will NEVER be without water.... A lake home without water is worth far less, however, this situation should not be permanent, so there are many factors to weigh out, thus another reason to get an accurate appraisal of lake property, especially NOW.

Many buyers are being priced out of the market and may be willing to have some periods of drought in order to get into a lake home...So the next best thing is, if you have low water, but  decent views of the water, this can be the trade off. Also if your lot is not steep, but levels are on the low side, this is another trade off....

There are people who are willing to take on steeper lots and/or lots in coves, if the water is DEEP. Still others want good views with level lots and will take the low periods on the lake now and again. If the water is close the home or the corps line is close to the water, these features of course are desirable. As you can see MANY factors come into play on the Lake in order to determine its value!

We can also provide Consulting Services to you if you chose to sell your home on your own, which with a little help you CAN do!

We have both real estate sales as well as real estate appraising experience and we can give you the REAL facts when it comes to the entire process (which at times can be somewhat intimidating) from listing your home all the way to the closing table. We can give you the peace of mind that you need to make sure you are not making any mistakes along the way. We have nothing to gain or lose in the process: IE: a commission that is paid for listing or selling the property and this is why we can give you the cold hard facts that you need to make the process just as smooth as possible.

We can even help you negotiate the actual sale, market your property online, tell you what you need to do with your home to make it sell for the highest possible price, etc. For a flat fee that we both can live with (which would be much lower than a sales commission and which will include a full appraisal report on your home) we can: Excuse the expression......" HOLD YOUR HAND THRU THE ENTIRE OR JUST PART OF THE PROCESS"....it is up to you!

You can contact Mary by e-mail at marytt@charter.net or by phone: 770-967-0753. 

QUALIFICATIONS: Mary is a Certified Appraiser with over 14 years of appraisal experience, She has a proven track record in the area for providing professional, quality appraisal reports for both lenders and individuals.

Mary was inducted into the Who's Who of Business Professionals for her work in the appraisal business and for her success in the founding of her own company 9 years ago. Mary and husband Chuck, also an appraiser work together out of their office in Flowery Branch, GA

  • Our investment in training and technology has helped our customers greatly reduce their workload. By offering online appraisal ordering, coupled with automated report status updates and electronic delivery of the final product, we are able to eliminate the run around and phone tag hassles associated with this process. And since this process saves us money as well, we can keep our rates competitive with anybody in the industry.

  • Through this web site, you can perform a number of tasks. Ordering an appraisal is just a click of a button away. Or, spend some time and find out a bit more about the appraisal business. The more you know, the better decision you can make. And check back frequently, as our content is always being updated.              

Mary is well known by many of the top Lake Lanier Realtors and they can tell you that Mary knows the Lake!!  

Pete Edwards, Patsy Bailey, Teresa Smith, Leslie Smith, Ty & Susan Ginac, Arthur Prescott, Carl & Rae Lynne Swigart, Ben Ray, Sheila Davis, Larry Ness.


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