The Macon Beer Company is opening in downtown Macon and plans to produce more than 2,800 kegs per year. Not only that, but they plan to reinvest in the local community and downtown Macon.

“We’re just trying to produce and sell beer and bring something different to Macon,” says Knowles.

“It’s going to be a big deal for downtown. We are going to bring some jobs in. We are also going to be a part of a nationwide beer revival and it would be nice to bring some of that attention here,” adds Smith.

Attention welcomed by organizational responsible for downtown development. Mckinely says, Main Street Macon is can’t wait. “We’re really excited and we think it going to be a great tourism product as well as something for our local community to enjoy.”

Corey Smith believes, “Macon deserves something like this. It’s a great town.” via NewCentralGA.com

You can keep up with all of the new about Macon Beer Company on their Facebook Page or via Twitter.

Academy Sports in Warner Robins is now open.

Academy Sports is an outdoor and lifestyle retailer that sells almost everything from sporting, hunting, fishing, and camping equipment to footwear and apparel. Academy Sports in located in the old Kroger building near the corner of Watson Blvd and South Houston Lake at  at 2907 Watson Blvd.

They are open:

Mon – Sat 8 AM to 10 PM

Sun 9 AM to 8 PM

InvestingAnswers.com published and has updated a list of banks that are in danger of failing.  They compiled the list using fourth-quarter data reported by all 7,657 of the nation’s banking institutions.

We first blogged about it on 03/04/2011 and noted that there were 80 banks in Georgia on the list. Since then, Atlantic Southern Bank, headquartered in Macon, GA failed on 05/20/2011 and has been acquired by certus Bank. If you bank at Atlantic Southern your money is still safe and available.

Your money is safe and sound. Your accounts are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to $250,000. via certus Bank

Below is the official announcement from certus Bank.

6 Banks in Georgia have failed since 02/07/2011.

First Choice Community Bank — Failed 4/29/11

Bartow County Bank — Failed 4/15/11

Atlantic Southern Bank — Failed 5/20/11

The Park Avenue Bank — Failed 4/29/11

New Horizons Bank — Failed 4/15/11

First Georgia Banking Company — Failed 5/20/11

View the full list of all of the banks nationwide at InvestingAnswers.com

The Bottom Line

You probably don’t have anything to worry about if your investments and/or savings at one of these banks don’texceed the FDIC insurance coverage.

Will you be switching to another bank if your bank on this list?

There is not much that keeps  real estate appraisers from their scheduled appraisal appointments. I have appraised homes in the rain, snow, heat and humidity. In the past 5 years I can only think of 2 times I have had to reschedule an appraisal appointment due to severe weather.

While the United States Postal Service does not have an office creed or motto, it is often cited as as“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”. Real Estate appraisers should adopt something similar, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat stays these appraisers from swift completion of their appointed inspections.”

Today I finished my real estate appraisal appointments just before a storm moved in and it started to pour. I snapped a few photos of the storm on its way. I really like how you can see the line of clouds in the distance and how they slowly start turning darker the closer they are.

Here is a view of the beautiful blue sky in the other direction.

Don’t worry, I always wear shoe covers or take off my shoes if it is raining while I am at a house for a real estate appraisal. I would never want to track mud and dirt into a house. And if there is severe weather, I always call to reschedule an appraisal and would never just not show up for a scheduled appointment.

If you have any real estate appraisal related questions you can call me at 478-225-4287 or email me.

Bryan McDonald

I have many gadgets in my appraisal tool belt including an iPhone, an electronic tape measurer, and a tablet PC. I recently added Claritin due to the high pollen count. I suffer from allergies and you can see from the chart above that today and tomorrow have a very high allergy level.

Does a high pollen count hurt the appraisal on your home. Definitely not. Every house, patio, and deck is covered with pollen and there is not much you can do about it this time of year.

You could spend the time to pressure wash your house but chances are that it would be covered again in just a few days. Not only is your house covered with pollen, all of the comparables that will be used in the appraisal will be covered with pollen too.

Everything has turned a light shade of yellow. Below are photos of my now yellow truck.

Here is a pretty funny video of the pollen in Lewisburg Tennessee.

Click HERE If you can not see the embedded video above.

You can check your local area allergy forecast at Pollen.com.

While there is not much you can do about the pollen, I will be taking allergy medicine so I won’t be constantly sneezing while inspecting your home.

If you have any real estate appraisal related questions you can call me at 478-225-4287 or email me.

Bryan McDonald

InvestingAnswers.com has published a list of banks that are in danger of failing.  They compiled the list using fourth-quarter data reported by all 7,657 of the nation’s banking institutions.

According to the article, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said that there are 884 “problem banks”.  In normal times there are fewer than 100 problem banks so we are at nearly nine times the normal level.

As of February 25th, 7 of the top 10 banks in danger of failing are located in Georgia and there are a total of 80 banks (9% of all of the problem banks) in Georgia that are in danger of failing.

Two of the eighty banks have headquarters in Middle GA, Atlantic Southern Bank in Macon, GA and The Bank of Perry in Perry, GA.

Below is the list of 80 Georgia Banks (click to view larger).

View the full list of all of the banks nationwide at InvestingAnswers.com

One more thing: You may notice that there are no credit unions on this list. Credit unions are an entirely different animal, and therefore are regulated differently. If you bank at a credit union and want to check out its books, you can visit the National Credit Union Administration Financial Performance Report. via Investing Answers

You might need to start looking for a new bank if your bank on the list and you have investments that exceed the FDIC insurance coverage.

Groupon, the money saving website, has finally come to Macon, GA.  Groupon leverages group buying to provide you with big discounts all across the county.

Groupon’s inaugural Middle GA deal will get you $15 worth of Pizza at Ingleside Village Pizza for only $7!  You should definitely take advantage of this deal if you have never eaten at Ingleside Village Pizza.  It is a local pizzeria with excellent pizza, subs, and salads.

Here is a brief overview of Groupon if you are not familiar with it.

How Groupon Works

Groupon is a combination of the words group and coupon. Each day, we offer an unbeatable deal on the best of Macon: restaurants, spas, sporting events, theater, and more. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, we get discounts you won’t find anywhere else. We call it “collective buying power.”

If you want to get the deal, just click BUY before the offer ends at midnight. If the minimum number of people (5 for today’s deal) sign up by the end of the day, you’ll be emailed a gift certificate the next morning. You can print your Groupons, or redeem them with our mobile app. Use them whenever you want until the deal expires—today’s expires in 6 months. If not enough people join, no one gets the deal (and you won’t be charged), so invite your friends to make sure you get the discount! via Groupon

As of the time of this blog post, 289 people have already taken advantage of this deal!

View all of the details of the deal here: http://www.groupon.com/deals/ingleside-village-pizza

Ingleside Village Pizza is located at 2395 Ingleside Avenue, Macon, Georgia 478-750-8488 and at 1635 Montpelier Ave. Macon, GA 478-743-4113.  You can view their menu on their website: Ingleside Village Pizza.com.

You can sign up for a free account (if you haven’t already) and receive money saving deals in Middle GA. https://www.groupon.com/users/new

Do you use Groupon?

Warner Robins, GA was named as the best military town for the buck by WalletPop.com!

But let’s ring in the new decade optimistically, with Walletpop’s Top 10 List of the Best Places to Buy a Home in 2011. This mostly unscientific and partially biased list is based on a grab-bag of lifestyle priorities and, yes, thorough reporting. via msnbc.com

From mcnbc.com:

Warner Robins, Ga.: Best military town for the buck
Population: 53,629
Median home price: $124,900

Why here: Located midway between Atlanta and Savannah, Warner Robins’ housing affordability is the big draw. The median price of a home is $110,000, while the median family income is about $63,000. That leaves some extra dough to hit the local aviation museum, motor speedway and golf club. The city’s main employer is the military (home of Robins Air Force Base), bringing engineers and employees from around the globe, so the population is eclectic. The city fared well during the recession.

Not sure where Warner Robins is?

Warner Robins GA is located in the centroid of Georgia.  If you balanced the state of GA on a pencil, the tip of the pencil would rest on Warner Robins.

Warner Robins has been a great place to live and raise a family.  We have an excellent school system, are home to the Little League Baseball and Softball’s Southeastern Region Headquarters, and have large Air Force Base that helps keep our local economy going.

Here is a list of the other cities mentioned in the article:

Austin, Texas: Best all-around city
Median home price: $122,921

Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Most affordable town with a view
Median home price: $89,400

Broomfield County, Colo.: Best jobs
Median home price: $239,000

Durham, N.C.: Best city to retire in
Median home price: $174,900

Woodbury, Minn.: Best place to raise kids
Median home price: $245,000

Madison, Wis.: Best college town
Median home price: $199,900

Pocono Mountains, Pa.: Best vacation-home location for the price
Median home price: $78,000 for Pocono Lake

Portland, Ore.: Best city for Gen-Y
Median monthly rent: $1,200

San Francisco: Best city, period, price be damned
Median home price: $682,800

You can read the full article here.

If you are thinking of buying a home in Warner Robins and have any questions or need an appraisal, you can contact call (478)225-4287 or email me at bryan [at] pvaweb.com.

Freddie Mac has a calculator that helps potential home owners decide if they should continue to rent or buy a house.  Unfortunately, the calculator had a major flaw until now.

Until now, the calculator had a fundamental (and revealing) flaw: It assumed home prices could never fall. via NPR

The Rent vs. Buy calculator is a great tool.   Enter information including your monthly rent, the purchase price, loan amount, and a Appreciation (Depreciation) rate.

After you enter the information, the tool will give you the results that include principal and interest, taxes, insurance, and mortgage insurance payments.

The tool also gives you several graphs based on the information you input:

You can try the calculator HERE.

[Blog post inspired by NPR via Matrix.Millersamuel]

The Bibb county tax assessor office is working on the county’s 2011 property values.

Most of the county’s property values in 2011 will be the same or go down due to a state moratorium that is blocking properties from increasing in value unless there is an improvement to the property.

Even though the assessed value of your house might be going down in 2011, the taxes you will be paying could go up.

The good news for Bibb County property owners: The county’s appraisal of your home almost certainly isn’t going up, and could be going down. The bad news: Lower property values across Bibb County could force governments to cut services or raise the tax rate.  Via: Macon.com

The fair market value of the property as determined by the tax assessor’s office is established as of January 1 of each year.  According to the article, nothing has been finalized yet and the 2011 tax digest probably won’t be complete until March of 2011.

If you live in Bibb County, you will probably get a tax notice that will list the current value of your house as determined by the county and list an estimate of your taxes.  This type of notice from the tax assessors office that includes an estimate of your taxes has never been sent out before.

The tax assessors office is repsonsible for appraising, at fair market value, all tangible real and personal property while the tax commissioners office is resonsible for performing all functions relating to billing, collecting, disbursing and accounting for ad valorem taxes collected in the county.

Ad valorem tax, more commonly known as property tax, is the primary source of revenue for local governments in Georgia. The basis for ad valorem taxation is the fair market value of the property, which is established as of January 1 of each year. The tax is levied on the assessed value of the property which, by law, is established at 40% of fair market value. The amount of tax is determined by the tax rate levied by the various entities (one mill is equal to $1.00 for each $1,000 of assessed value, or .001). Via: Bibb County Tax Commissioner.

You can read the full article at Macon.com

Contact Property Value Appraisals if you need help appealing your tax assessment.  You can call us at 478-225-4287 or email Bryan McDonald at bryan [at] pvaweb.com.