Justin Winter’s Carolina Lake and Mountain Blog

Hagood Mill in Pickens, SC

One of the finest regional examples of nineteenth century technology can be found just three miles north of Pickens, SC. Located just off Highway 178, at 138 Hagood Mill Road, this 1845 gristmill served many generations of rural farm families until its’ closing in the mid-1960s.

Since 1996, the mill has operated, rain or shine, the third Saturday of every month from 10:00 until 4:00. These monthly “corn grinding” days became mini-festivals of traditional arts, folklife and music. Presently there are more than twenty-five regular demonstrators who share their skills in milling, blacksmithing, cotton ginning, moonshining, spinning, weaving, bee-keeping, metalsmithing, quilting, woodcarving, flintknapping, chair caning, open hearth cooking and more.

Click here for more information.

23rd Annual Issaqueena Festival set for May 19 in Pickens

The Issaqueena Festival is held the third Saturday in May each year in downtown Six Mile. Main Street is closed from Liberty Highway to Six Mile Baptist church during the festival. Free entertainment for both adults and children is provided with plenty of room to sit down and enjoy the entertainment under tents along Main Street. Both food and arts and crafts vendors line Main Street during the festival.

The area now known as Six Mile once belonged to the Cherokee Nation. A popular legend says that Six Mile was named by the Indian maiden, Issaqueena, who rode her horse on a journey of ninety-six miles to warn an English trader named Francis Allen of a coming Cherokee attack on his fort. Issaqueena numbered the creeks she crossed until she reached the fort in the area she labeled Ninety Six. There is still a town named Ninety Six, and many other “number names” on the path to it, these include Mile Creek, Six Mile, Twelve Mile River, and Six and Twenty Creek. The town festival was named in her honor.

http://thetownofsixmile.wordpress.com/events-2/

MetLife to Purchase Reynolds Plantation

MetLife announced today that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Georgia’s premier golf and resort community, Reynolds Plantation, located on Lake Oconee, 70 miles east of Atlanta. The acquisition will include The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, six championship golf courses, four full-service marinas and nearly 5,000 acres of undeveloped golf and waterfront property. The transaction is anticipated to close during the summer, subject to customary closing conditions. Terms were not disclosed.

“Reynolds Plantation is an exceptional development, and we’re excited about the opportunity to become the new owner,” said Robert Merck, senior managing director and head of real estate investments for MetLife. “This is a premier community with world-class amenities, a great reputation and a strong future. MetLife has been a real estate investor for over a century, and this transaction represents an outstanding investment opportunity for us.”

MetLife is engaging Daniel Corporation to oversee all day-to-day operations at Reynolds Plantation. The Daniel team will work in cooperation with MetLife’s Atlanta Regional Office, headed up by Regional Director Tom Coakley. The Atlanta office manages the company’s real estate investments in the southeastern United States.

The collaboration between MetLife and Daniel represents a continuation of a 25-year relationship between the two companies. Their projects include joint venture ownership of 12th & Midtown, a multi-block development along Atlanta’s storied Peachtree Street, which includes the 717,000-square foot 1075 Peachtree office tower and the Loews Atlanta Hotel.

“The team at Daniel is looking forward to working with MetLife to enhance Reynolds Plantation and position it for future generations,” said Charlie Tickle, chairman and CEO of Daniel Corporation. “We will bring a business approach to the operations to enhance the economic viability and sustainability of Reynolds Plantation, which is key to preserving and improving property values and attracting new residents and members.”

Ritz-Carlton will continue to manage the hotel under its long-term management agreement.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11528978/1/metlife-to-purchase-reynolds-plantation.html

S.C. Moves Up State Business Rankings

South Carolina moved up a spot to No. 7 on Chief Executive magazine’s list of the best states in which to do business.

The magazine released today its eighth annual survey of “CEO opinion of Best and Worst States in which to do business.” Texas ranked No. 1 and California ranked No. 50, rankings that have remained the same for eight consecutive years.

South Carolina ranked No. 8 in 2011 and No. 10 in 2010.

This year, 650 business leaders responded to the annual survey, up from 550 in 2011. CEOs were asked to grade states in which they do business among a variety of areas, including tax and regulation, quality of workforce and living environment.

North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Utah held their positions in the top 10, with Indiana moving up a notch to No. 5.

“It may be no accident that most of the states in the top 20 are also right-to-work states, as labor force flexibility is highly sought after when a business seeks a location,” wrote JP Donlon of Chief Executive. “Several economists, most notably Ohio State’s Richard Vedder and Harvard’s Robert Barro, have found that the economies in R-to-W areas grow faster than other states, have higher employment and attract more inward migration.”

http://www.columbiabusinessreport.com/news/43691-s-c-moves-up-state-business-rankings

3 Hot Trends for Bathroom Remodeling in 2012

By: Jamie Goldberg

From toilets that double as sound systems to water-conserving spa experiences, here’s what’s trendy for bathroom improvements for 2012.

Trend #1:  Conservation rules

All around the country, water reserves are stressed. In response, regional governments are implementing conservation measures. As a result, there are likely to be new regulations that’ll affect your construction or remodeling plans. Here’s what to watch for:

Your new toilet will have a lower flush-per-gallon rating than the one that’s in there now. Consider a dual-flush version, or any low-flow toilet coming on the market that meets your style preferences. At the very least, your next commode is likely to feature a 1.28 gallon-per-flush rating — better than even the most-recent 1.6 GPF offerings. You’ll find them at home improvement centers from $100 to luxury showroom models for thousands more.

The WaterSense label, launched in 2006 by the Environmental Protection Agency to promote water conservation by plumbing manufacturers and home owners, will become as well-known as Energy Star. You’ll be shopping for low-flow shower heads and faucets with the WaterSense symbol on the box. Just as with Energy Star appliances, there is no cost premium associated with WaterSense savings — there are faucets in every price range. WaterSense shower heads are newer on the market, with a more limited selection today — mostly at more affordable prices. 

You’ll start seeing more shower heads — especially rain shower models — using Venturi principles that deliver strong water pressure by adding air, not water, to the mix. They’re available in every price range, from ultra-affordable standard heads to luxury rain showers.

Trend #2: Technology advances

You may not think of your bathroom as a high-tech space, but that’s about to change. Here are some of the trends that can benefit your home:

You’ll be able to create a custom showering experience more affordably than ever. For $300 for simple controllers to $3,500 or more for a complete luxury installation, programmable showers let you digitally set your preferred water temperature, volume, and even massage settings before you step in. To achieve a personalized showering experience, you’ll need a 120-volt power source, and a thermostatic valve and controller in addition to your standard shower head or heads. Luxury models may include a steam system, a wi-fi source for music, multiple body spray outlets, tankless water heater, and a secondary controller to start the system from another room.

Dock your iPhone or MP3 player directly with your speaker-equipped, high-tech toilet so you can entertain yourself on the commode. While you’re not likely to invest $4,000 to $6,000 for a Kohler Numi toilet using this technology today, start looking for competitive models later in the year with lower prices.

Catch up on news and weather while you brush your teeth. Television screens are being integrated into medicine cabinets and vanity mirrors. Cost? Early entries to the market command a premium $2,200 to $2,400 price tag.

Plug your smart phone or MP3 player into your medicine cabinet so you won’t miss a call or song while getting ready for work or bed. A built-in jack keeps your unit charged (and away from wet countertops) and linked into a built-in speaker system.

Trend #3: Aging demographics emphasize safety

It’s not just high-tech that’s bringing an “experience” to the bathroom. Trends in universal design features add comfort, convenience, and safety. But that doesn’t mean your bathroom has to look institutional. Here are some universal design innovations that can factor helpfully (and stylishly) into your 2012 bath remodeling plans:

Sleek, low-profile linear drains are ideal for creating safe, zero-threshold shower designs. Unlike standard round drain covers that are typically mounted near the front end of a shower, these long, straight drains can be installed in different locations to minimize the slope of the shower floor. One popular location is at the outside edge of the shower, creating a wheelchair-friendly curbless shower. More offerings in more finishes — including nearly invisible tile-in channel models that are largely covered by shower floor tile — are becoming the standard for upscale spaces. You’ll spend $500 to $900 for a quality linear drain.

The rapidly-expanding selection of porcelain, glass, and ceramic tiles makes it easy to find slip-resistant, low-maintenance floors that don’t skimp on style. Expect to see faux wood, linen, and uniquely-textured looks for tiled bathroom floors and walls in 2012. The texture adds both visual impact and better traction for wet feet.

The accessible tub is no longer limited to the high-walled, narrow-door format that dominated the market in the last decade. Newer models, such as Kohler’s Elevance ($5,100), employ rising panels in front that give more of a traditional tub look with easier entry and exit. Others use standard hinged, sealed doors, but are increasing door width by several inches for better accessibility and appearance.

What improvements — big or small — are you planning for your bathroom this year?

http://members.houselogic.com/articles/bathroom-remodeling-trends-2012/preview/

Central Railroad Festival This Weekend!

The Central Railroad Festival will pull into historic downtown Central Saturday, April 28, with music, great food and festivities for all ages.

The Railroad Festival celebrates the rich heritage of Central, so named because the town is situated at the “central” point of the railroad line between Atlanta and Charlotte.

The festival begins at 10 a.m. and runs until 6 p.m., featuring entertainment, food, music and arts and crafts vendors.

“The Central Railroad Festival has activities for the entire family,” said Bobby Ballentine, festival organizer. “Come spend the day, enjoy the entertainment and the great variety of food. There are tons of free activities for the kids.”

Free entertainment for children will include the Fun Express, model train displays, a musical show for children, a balloon artist, a tractor train ride, face painting and a Thomas the Tank Engine display. Also open for free tours will be the Central Railway Museum, which features a large HO-scale model railroad layout complete with cities, towns and features found in the region more than a half century ago. The museum also houses a Heritage Room, featuring classic model trains popular in the mid – 20th Century. Also, there will be a tour of the Central red caboose.

Central restaurants will be open on the day of the festival, offering options of Mexican, Oriental, Coffee House and Deli Specialties, plus Seafood. Street vendors will also cater to a variety of tastes, offering pizza, hot dogs, barbecue, nachos, corn dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, funnel cakes, chicken wings, crab cakes, Italian ice, kettle corn, fried Oreos and more treats.

Clemson Area Transit buses will run continuously, taking festival-goers from parking areas, which include Central Town Hall, New Life Church, Cannon Memorial Baptist Church and Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home. There will also be bus tours of nearby historical sites, including the Central Heritage Museum and Collins Ole Towne, a recreated 1920’s-era village.

Admission to the festival is free and convenient parking is available.

“There isn’t a festival anywhere that has the variety of free activities for the entire family that you can find at the Central Railroad Festival. Bring the entire family and spend the day. Everyone will have a blast,” Ballentine said.

The Central Railroad Festival is sponsored by the Central Area Business Council and the Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce. The festival is supported by the Town of Central and the Central Railway Museum.

For festival details, call Lindsey Newton at (864) 654-1200 or visit the Central Railroad Festival website at www.centralrrfestival.com. The site includes a map of convenient parking areas.

6 Painting Tips for Freshening Up Exteriors

Springtime is the best time to give a home a fresh coat of paint, according to the Paint Quality Institute.

“By painting in moderate weather, you’ll likely get a longer-lasting paint job,” says Debbie Zimmer, paint and color expert for the Paint Quality Institute. Zimmer says that exterior painting is best to do when temperatures are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but not when it gets too hot. “Very hot days can cause the paint to dry too quickly and impair good paint film formation,” she notes.

Some more tips for exterior painting from Zimmer:

 1. Paint in the shade and avoid painting in direct sunshine. Sunlit surfaces can be 10 to 20 degrees hotter than the air temperature.

 2. Don’t paint when it’s too windy. Wind can cause latex paint to dry too quickly as well as cause dust and other contaminates to imbed in the paint, possibly creating a surface ripe for mildew, Zimmer says.

 3. Avoid the rain. Wait for another day if it’s rained within the last 24 hours. If several days of rain is forecast, postpone your painting for several days until a rain-free week.

 4. Prime the surface. Apply a coat of primer to any new surface that has never been painted, or spot-prime areas where paint has worn away, Zimmer suggests.

 5. Don’t skimp on paint. Use top quality 100 percent acrylic latex paint. It’s durable, flexible, colorfast, and can often last 10 years or more compared to ordinary paint, Zimmer says. To make the paint last even longer, apply at least two coats–a coat of primer and coat of paint, or two coats of house paint, she adds.

 6. Don’t postpone painting. Postponing painting the exterior of a home that is long overdue can actually cause damage to a home. Exposed wood can begin to rot and other types of exterior siding also can suffer when the paint starts to wear off, Zimmer says.

 Melissa Tracey at http://styledstagedsold.blogs.realtor.org/2012/04/16/6-painting-tips-for-freshening-up-exteriors/

28th Annual Pickens Azalea Festival

Do you enjoy live music and entertainment? Maybe you are more of a history buff? Are classic cars your thing? Let’s not forget about arts and crafts!  All of this and more will be included in the 28^th Annual Pickens Azalea Festival held Friday, April 20^th and Saturday, April 21^st. For more information, go to http://www.pickensazaleafestival.org/.

Housing Is ‘Awakening From Hibernation,’ Freddie Says

An improving economy is contributing to a gradual rebound in home prices across the country, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s 2012 Economic Outlook report, released Wednesday. But there is still a way to go in the road to recovery for the housing market, the report noted.

“The housing market is showing some signs of shaking off the depression-like conditions that have plagued it for much of the past few years,” according to the report. “As if awakening from hibernation, housing starts and home sales moved to higher levels of activity.”

In fact, the signs have prompted Freddie Mac to revise its forecast upwards for home sales and originations. One economic contributor that’s helping to stabilize housing: The drop in the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent, its lowest level in three years, according to the report.

“A variety of encouraging indicators suggest that the housing market may be feeling a nascent recovery … and more neighborhoods may see a stabilization in overall demand and housing values this spring,” says Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Median home sale prices are up, despite a slight drop in new and existing home sales, Freddie Mac reports. About a half of the increase in housing starts has been for construction of rental apartments in multi-unit buildings to meet the increasing demand, the report notes. New rental construction, at its current pace, is expected to reach its highest level since 2005.

“Housing starts continue to run below net household formations [and will allow for absorption of existing vacant homes],” according to the report.

Source: “Freddie Mac: Economic Growth Expected to Stabilize Housing Market,” Dow Jones Newswires (March 28, 2012)

2012 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey from NAR

NAR Survey: 

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) just came out with their “2012 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey.” NAR Chief Economist Lawernce Yun said ‘real estate buyers’ with cash took advantage of market conditions in 2011.

Here are some interesting bullets from the survey:

·         Vacation Home sales were 11% of all transactions, up 10% over 2010

·         42% of vacation home buyers were cash, 39% of the properties were distressed

·         Currently, 42.1 million people in the U.S. are ages 50-59 – a group that has dominated second-home sales since the middle part of the past decade and established records. An additional 43.5 million people are 40-49 years old, while another 40.2 million are 30-39.

·         “Given that the number of people who are in their 40s is somewhat larger than the 50-somethings, the long-term demographic demand for purchasing vacation homes is favorable because these younger households are likely to enter the market as their desire for these kinds of properties grows, and individual circumstances allow,” Yun said.

Equity Market:  

Today is the last day of what has been the best quarter for stocks in fourteen years; currently the S&P 500 is over 1400. In the case of the NASDAQ, it’s been the best quarterly return in over 20 years. As the quarter has progressed, the calls for a correction have increased in intensity. Indeed, for the latest week hedgers were net short ~$9.6 billion of the NASDAQ 100, which is an all-time record. While hedgers are not always right, history does show that markets tend to have a difficult time rallying when professional hedgers are this bearish. As it usually does, the market has pretty much ignored the soothsayers and scaled the proverbial “wall of worry.”

Let’s revisit a couple of things that might ring true for those who are a bit more bullish about the long-term prospects for the market and the economy. Prior to 2008, there had been four times that the trailing ten-year return on large cap stocks had fallen below 2.5%, twice in the 19th century and twice in the twentieth century. In each case, the ensuing ten years provided above average returns. The mean was 14.6%, anyone with a calculator can determine present and future values, can come up with a target on the Dow using these numbers. (over 4000 on the S&P 500 by year 2020) And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I have been consistent with the statement, “You can get cautious, but do not get bearish!”

 I’m a member of the Mark Twain school of economic thought. He said that while history doesn’t always repeat itself, it often rhymes. I’m betting that we’ll recognize the tune over the next eight to ten years.   

Bert Karrer - bert.karrer@morgankeegan.com