Full Circle Real Estate Group: Athens Real Estate, Sustainable Real Estate

As an avid viewer of Bravo's cooking competition reality show, Top Chef, for all eight seasons, I could not be more excited to learn that local Chef Hugh Acheson, of Five and Ten and The National, has been named the show's newest judge!

It was just announced yesterday that Acheson and Bam! man Emeril Lagasse will join the show's original judges, Gail Simmons, Padma Lakshmi and head judge Tom Colicchio for the Emmy-winning show's ninth season.

Acheson came in fifth earlier this year when he competed on Top Chef Masters, a spin-off show where well-known chefs compete for their favorite charities. His one-liners and personality on the show obviously garnered the attention of the show's producers.

The ninth season started filming in June and will take place in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas.

The 32nd Annual Athens Twilight is a weekend full of professional cycling events and festival fun for fans, families, and racers. Full Circle is proud to sponsor The HUB cycling team! The weekend kicks off on Friday, April 29 with Twilight Music and Food Court and the Georgia Cycle Sport Twilight Grid Qualifiers, where spectators can get an up-close-and-personal view of the best cyclists in the country.

Saturday morning at the Twilight features the Twilight 5K Run/Walk Presented by Athens Running Company, the Twilight Gambler Bike Ride Presented by Georgia Cycle Sport, the Twilight Kids Criterium Presented by St. Mary's Hospital, the Twilight Kids Zone Presented by ABC Printing, and the Twilight BMX Jam Presented by McDonald's.

Saturday night brings the main events: the Terrapin Twilight Criterium, featuring the Terrapin Twilight Women's Criterium Presented by the Athens Downtown Development Authority and the Terrapin Twilight Men's Criterium Presented by the Athens Banner-Herald. For more info, click HERE.

Each year, organizations in the Athens area come together for a community-wide celebration providing citizens with the opportunity to increase their awareness of and interest in improving the environment of their home, yard, business, and community.

Events are hosted from March through May by organizations to encourage learning and to provide tools necessary for creating an environmentally friendly community.  Check out the GreenFest Calendar from March through May to learn what you can do to better our community for future generations!

Your dollars spent in locally-owned businesses have three times the impact on your community than dollars spent at national chains. We're lucky to live in a city chock-full of amazing artists, creative craftsman and indie buisnesses. There are so many local options for everyone on your holiday shopping list.

Make sure you pledge to Shop Your ATH Off! this year by clicking HERE. The Flagpole also put together a great round-up of local holiday markets, which you can see HERE. I'll highlight a few of my favorites:

On Friday, Dec. 10 from 3 p.m.–9 p.m. the entire Railroad Arts District joins Trace Gallery in celebrating the season by hosting a handmade holiday market. The event features hand-crafted ceramics, jewelry, knitwear and more. Homemade candies are available to satisfy the seasonal sweet tooth. Email ktimes2@bellsouth.net to find out more about this sale happening at the Chase Street Warehouses on Tracy Street.

I forgot to blog about the EcoFocus Film Festival that started a few days ago at Ciné. I must be distracted by this booming real estate market. Anyway, it is definitely worth checking out. The festival runs through October 3rd and there are still plenty of great educational and entertaining films left to see.

You can catch the premiere of Water War, a PBS documentary about the 20-yr water struggle between Alabama, Florida and Georgia, this Saturday at 7pm.

Today is EcoFest kids day, so they can watch films for free and there are a bunch of kid activities. Click HERE for info on other upcoming films and showtimes.

Sidenote: Did you know you can add the accent mark above the "é" by holding down the Alternate button on your keyboard and entering 0233 on your number pad? Who the héck knew that? I wonder what other tricks I don't know about...

Bicycles For Humanity Georgia and BikeAthens teamed up over the weekend to collect second hand bikes to redistribute to individuals in need in Athens, Georgia and Namibia, southern Africa. More than 200 bikes were collected.

"All in all, the event was a great success and we are very pleased with the turn out," said Mary Fortson Harwell with Bicycles for Humanity. "We had many families come by to drop off bikes, as well as several come by the building just to see what it was all about."

The event was held at Oneta, commercial space for sale or lease by Full Circle at the north end of Chase Park Warehouses. Oneta developer and Full Circle Agent Briggs Carney was a volunteer and sponsor. Contact Briggs for more info about Oneta or info on the Bike Recycling program, 706-461-2677.

Make sure you go out and support the local folks raising money for The Cancer Foundation of Northeast Georgia and participating in the Tri to Beat Cancer Triathlon this weekend. There is a free Expo open to the public Saturday from 2pm to 6pm at the downtown Athens Holiday Inn. There will be several vendors promoting health and fitness and there will be fun things for the kids, including a face-painting booth sponsored by Full Circle Agent Katie Throne.

The race, comprised of a 400 meter swim, 16 mile bike race and 5K run, starts Sunday at 7am at Sandy Creek Park. Good luck to all the participants! For more info, click HERE.

Bicycles For Humanity Georgia and BikeAthens are teaming up to collect second hand bikes to redistribute to individuals in need in Athens, Georgia and Namibia, southern Africa. The Bike Drive will be held on Saturday, September 11th, from 10am to 3pm at Oneta suite 6E3, adjacent to the Chase Park Warehouses. For directions please visit www.onetaspace.com.
Bicycles For Humanity Georgia (B4H Georgia) is a non-profit organization with a mission to empower individuals to improve their quality of life by transferring mobility through the use of bicycles. B4H Georgia will be collecting mountain and all-terrain bicycles to load into a 40-foot shipping container and send to communities in Namibia.

The Barber Street Park Project is almost ready to move on to the design phase. Volunteers have explored and documented the site, and now have a good sense of the design challenges ahead. But there's a little work from the initial clearing phase to finish up, and this mostly involves removing a large pile of bush honeysuckle that was generated during the first two volunteer works days.

Project leaders are looking for volunteers to help them move the bush honeysuckle pile at the Barber St. site this Sat. June 12 from 10am to 2pm. Other touch-up work includes keeping paths clear of vines. Some trash pick-up may also be necessary.

The Barber Street Park Project is a volunteer effort to design and build a neighborhood park here in Athens on an empty lot on Barber Street. Located at the top of Boulevard, the site is well positioned to serve as a neighborhood focal point and could easily be integrated into a future greenway network and/or a rails-to-trails project.

For more info about this project and to find out how you can get involved, check out Dan Lorentz's great blog HERE.

We are proud to announce our sponsorship of the Athens Farmers Market this year. The Market is an organization of local farmers, craftspeople and volunteers working to make local naturally grown food, crafts and works of art available for the good of all.

Make sure you visit the Market, located at Bishop Park, Saturday mornings from 8am to Noon. Click HERE for more information, including a list of what will be available each week. You'll also see a link to the Market website at the bottom of our homepage.

Go get your veggies and support our local farmers!

Full Circle Agent Briggs Carney participated in the 2010 Tour de Farm over the weekend.

Tour de Farm is a three-day, approximately 100-mile bike ride to many small local farms in and around Athens-Clarke County. This year's Tour de Farm was a huge success, as both riders and volunteers alike connected to and formed relationships with the agricultural landscapes of Northeast Georgia, the food grown locally and seasonally in our region, and the people working hard to produce this food sustainably.

"It was a really cool experience and one I would definitely do again," Briggs said. He said guest chefs prepared dinner each night using food grown on the farms and riders camped at stops along the way.

The group of riders were followed by a camera crew from CNN, so we'll post those videos when they are available. To check out photos from the event, click HERE.

About one-fourth of Americans say they'll discard a large piece of furniture when moving rather than recycle or sell it, reports a new survey. Since 40 million Americans move each year, that means about 10 million will leave behind a sofa or other large item, which often end up in landfills.

As we head into moving season in Athens, keep in mind your local options and don't toss your furniture in the trash. There are plenty of area non-profits that will even pick up that old sofa you no longer want! Put a phone call in to one of these places and RECYCLE:

Athens Habitat ReStore - 706-354-0936

Goodwill - 706-433-1900

The Salvation Army

Athens Thrift Store - 706-546-5596 drop-off or 706-357-9244 pick-up

Donations are tax deductible! Click HERE for more on the survey.

Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.

Looking for ways to make an impact? Click HERE for a few ideas and check The Flagpole for local activities, including the New Earth Day Festival.

As you go about your day, take this quote with you from the great Dr. Seuss:

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It's not. - The Lorax

The Classic Center & Athens-Clarke County Recycling Division invites professional and amateur Athens artists of all backgrounds to participate in a Request for Design proposal for a combination outdoor recycling bin. The unit shall be designed to have one bin for aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, and a second bin for small cardboard and paper items (i.e.: newspapers, magazines, etc.).The primary goals of this project are as follows:

• Provide a pedestrian recycling option which will reduce the burden on our local landfill;

• Support of our local artists and the arts;

• Beautify downtown with artistic recycling bins.

Proposals due by 2pm June 11th. Selected artist recieves an honorarium of $500. Click HERE for more info.

We recently celebrated Full Circle’s 1st Birthday! It is hard to believe it has already been a year since we launched Athens’ first green-centric, locally-owned real estate firm. That old saying about time flying when you’re having fun is true – we’ve had a great time in our first year of business and we’re excited about where we’re heading in 2010. I asked our fearless leader, Patrick O’Brien, to take over the blog today and reflect on the company he started one year ago:

What a year. Along with any new business venture comes a mixture of excitement about starting something new, trepidation as to whether it will be successful, and a lot of hard work. I am both happy and thankful that we have negotiated this period without major incident in a challenging market and have positioned ourselves to flourish in the years to come. I can say with certainty that I could not have done it alone and will be forever indebted to the people who believed in me and the ideals upon which Full Circle was founded. Their continued efforts are central to the company’s growth and success. I am lucky to have them. Lastly, I am thankful for the opportunity to continue our mission of promoting sustainable development practices in a community we care deeply about, something we could not have done without the clients who have chosen to work with us this past year - thank you!

- Patrick

Historic preservationists and urban planners are hoping a Saturday symposium at Ciné will titillate local citizens’ imaginations about redevelopment possibilities in downtown Athens.

“We’re hoping for a little bit of a wow factor,” said Amy Kissane, executive director of the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, which has organized the one-day event. “The reason were doing this is to broaden people’s ideas about what can happen in downtown from an architectural standpoint and new construction, to public art and transportation in and out of downtown.”

The symposium, titled “Look at That! Fresh Approaches in Urban Redevelopment for Athens,” will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Ciné, 234 W. Hancock Ave. Registration costs $15, which includes lunch, and reservations are required. The deadline for signing up is Tuesday. For more information, call (706) 353-1801 or e-mail achf@bellsouth.net or click HERE.

Athens was named one of the Top U.S. Cities for Young Professionals this morning on The Today Show. Real Estate expert and "Shark Tank" judge Barbara Corcoran compiled a list of the most vibrant cities for young professionals based on affordable housing, jobs, good schools and welcoming communities.

Athens was the only small town on the list, which also named Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, D.C., Chicago, LA and Boston as top cities. She said Athens was known for its love of UGA, pretty architecture and thriving music scene. The segment showed a 3BR/3BA home listed at $132,900 as a great example of the low real estate prices in town.

To watch the full segment from The Today Show, CLICK HERE.

Monday is the deadline for Clarke County property owners to file forms that could drop the taxes they pay on their homes and businesses.

Property tax returns are a method of appealing the taxable value of land and buildings. By filing a return, owners tell tax assessors what they think the property is worth.

"That's one thing that's happening a lot now, is that people want to appeal the value of the property," Clarke County Tax Commissioner Nancy Denson said.

After a return is filed, assessors decide whether they agree or disagree with the value the owner places on the property. If they disagree, they send the owner an assessment.

Monday also is the deadline for Clarke County residents to file for homestead exemptions, a tax break on owner-occupied houses. Homeowners who already have a homestead exemption do not need to reapply. For more info, CLICK HERE to read this Athens Banner-Herald article.

The 2nd Annual Green Life Expo will be held Friday, 10am to 5pm, and Saturday, 10am to 3pm, at The Classic Center. The FREE Expo is designed to educate businesses, families and individuals on ways to lessen their carbon footprints while saving natural resources and money. Make sure you drop by to check out all of the exhibitors and bring recyclables including home electronics (including TVs), CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, computer games, alkaline and rechargeable batteries, fluorescent light bulbs/tubes, gently worn clothes and shoes for Soles4Souls.

The heart-wrenching stories of tragedy and survival coming out of Haiti are overwhelming. It’s hard to watch the evening news and not feel a sense of helplessness. What can we do here in Athens, GA, to help those in need so far away? The answer is to donate money to organizations you know will put your contribution to good use immediately. As a Peace Corps friend of mine pointed out, sometimes grassroots organizations work better than the big, government non-profits because they know the country in need more intimately.

Last weekend, tiny Madison, GA, raised $30,000 during a benefit concert to support Hope for Haiti, a FL-based non-profit started by a Madison resident. Now a UGA Professor who worked for 20 years in Haiti has planned, Athens For Haiti, a benefit concert to be held at 8pm, Jan. 30th, at the Town & Gown Theatre. All funds raised will go straight to those in dire need in Haiti.

If you’re looking for a new career direction in 2010, getting into the solar energy biz may be a smart move. Even though the market in Athens is just now developing, demand is expected to grow thanks to government incentives, increasing energy costs and tighter restrictions on pollution from power plants. As the market grows, demand for trained solar installers will increase.

Local green builder and renewable energy expert, Tony Purcell, teaches Solar Thermal Water Heating System training classes right here in Athens. You can get info on upcoming Jan/Feb classes HERE.

Tony has already completed one project for the EPA on College Station Road (photo left) for their main lab building. It can be seen from the street when driving by on the right side of the roof (facing the building). He has also done an installation for a house built in Bogart that achieved Earthcraft Platinum certification and his personal home has an active solar space heating system installed via a hydronic radiant floor system. He's also done numerous other smaller residential installations in the local area.

Full Circle Broker Patrick O'Brien was featured in an article in today's Athens Banner-Hearld about how real estate agents and homesellers are starting to see some signs of life in our struggling market.

Patrick's comments are below or you can read the full article HERE.

From The Banner-Herald:

After months of stagnant sales in Clarke and surrounding counties, homes are starting to sell again, but they aren't selling as fast - or for as much money - as they would have just a couple of years ago.

"What we have seen in the past six to eight months is an increase in the number of homes being sold at the lower ends of the price range out there - less than $200,000 or even $150,000," said Patrick O'Brien, a broker at Full Circle Realty in Athens. "Those are the homes that the first-time homebuyer is shopping for, especially in this tough market."

I loved the "Shop Your ATH Off" ad I saw in this week's Flagpole Magazine encouraging Athenians to shop local this holiday season. Readers can pledge to spend at least $100 at locally owned businesses at www.flagpole.com and register to win gift certificates from those shops.

One of my favorite local holiday markets at Big City Bread sadly won't be open this year, however there are a slew of other local holiday markets where you can buy pottery, arts and crafts and other items all made by local peeps. Many of these events start THIS WEEKEND! Check out the list below or click HERE for The Flagpole's Holiday Shopping Guide.

Enjoy the Christmas Parade downtown tonight at 7pm and remember to pump a little money into our local economy this year!

Railroad Arts District Holiday Market on the loading docks at the Chase Park Warehouses. Friday Dec.4, 2-9pm. Part of the big First Friday event happening in the RxRAD. www.railroadartsdistrict.blogspot.com

Trace Studio Collective's pottery sale Friday Dec.4-Sunday Dec.6 from 2pm-7pm. 160 Tracy Street, 2A

Marmalade Pottery will have its holiday sale on Saturday Dec.4 from 5pm-9pm and Sunday Dec.5 from 9am-5pm.

R.Wood Studio pottery sale Saturday Dec. 5, 9am-4pm www.rwoodstudio.com

Cont...

Athens Heritage Walks are a series of guided tours celebrating Athens-Clarke County’s designation as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2009 Dozen Distinctive Destinations. Each tour is led by a distinctive Athens personality whose knowledge brings a unique and colorful perspective to our local history.

The tour of UGA's North Campus and Old Athens Cemetery is already sold out for this Saturday. Go to http://achfonline.org/heritage-walks/ for more info and to see what upcoming walks are still availalble.

Our secret is totally out!

MSN Travel today named Athens, GA one of the Top 13 Best College Towns, saying "The music scene in the University of Georgia’s hometown is simply unbeatable. R.E.M., the B-52s and Widespread Panic got their start here, and Athens is widely credited as one of the birthplaces of alternative rock and New Age music."

In the last month, Athens also made U.S. News and World Report's list of 15 Great Underpriced College Towns and Hotel and Travels Reservations' list of Best College Towns in America.

Keep 'em coming...