The annual Big Canoe Easter Egg Hunt for Big Canoe residents and their young guests will be held at the Wildcat Recreation area near the North Gate of Big Canoe on Saturday, April 23rd from 1:00 p.m. till 4:00 p.m. Bring your favorite little person and join the fun.
Bunker Sales Up Since Japanese Earthquake
March 25th, 2011I thought this article from CNN Money interesting and worth passing along for the humorous content if nothing else. We here in the gated community of Big Canoe in the North Georgia Mountains feel safe and so removed from happenings like this that installing a bunker in the back yard would never occur to us. The “bunker mentality” has definitely not come to our mountain home.
Daily Real Estate News | March 24, 2011 | 
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ShareBunker Sales Soar Amid Japan Crisis
More home owners are considering adding a bunker to their backyard. The 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis in Japan as well as the tensions in the Middle East have prompted doomsday bunker sales to skyrocket, as much as 1,000 percent in some cases.
When it comes to bunkers, there are plenty of options to choose from too — from reserving your spot in a giant warehouse-sized building that even has medical facilities to luxury, nuclear-safe tents.
Northwest Shelter Systems has seen sales of its bunkers increase 70 percent since tensions rose in the Middle East. The company offers shelters ranging in price from $200,000 to $20 million.
UndergroundBombShelter.com sells portable shelters, bomb shelters, and underground bunkers. Inquiries for its shelters has jumped 400 percent since the crisis in Japan, with sales reaching all-time highs for its $9,500 nuclear biological chemical shelter tents.
Hardened Structures says interest has soared for its apocalyptic 2012 shelters, radiation protection tents, and nuclear, biological, and chemical air filters.
Doomsday bunker company Vivos says reservations for its bunkers have spiked nearly 1,000 percent. The company sells rooms in 200-person doomsday bunkers. A reservation requires a minimum deposit of $5,000. One of its bunkers in Nebraska can withstand a 50 megaton blast and is 137,000 square feet. It can house 950 people for up to one year and even contains a medical and dental center as well as a pet center.
Source: “Sales of Luxe Doomsday Bunkers Up 1,000%,” CNNMoney.com (March
Capital Economics Research Firm Reports Undervalued U.S. Housing Market
March 9th, 2011The following article by housing analyst Carrie Bay gives credence to what I have been saying about the Big Canoe home market. Homes are selling for much less than it would cost to replace them at current market levels and are great deals for savy home shoppers. There are lots of buying opportunities for one looking for a change of pace from the hectic pace of the city. The biggest real estate sale in history is still here. Come home to the Big Canoe mountains.
Research Firm Says U.S. Housing Has Never Been This Undervalued
03/07/2011 By: Carrie Bay 
The continuing depreciation of residential property values at the end of last year has made housing look more undervalued relative to income than ever before, according to analysts at the research firm Capital Economics.
Based on the latest Case-Shiller home price index, Capital Economics’ study shows that in the fourth quarter of 2010, housing was 21 percent undervalued when compared with disposable income per capital.
Looking at data included in the index published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the firm found that housing in Q4 was 15 percent undervalued as measured against individuals’ disposable income.
Capital Economics says its results illustrate “housing is exceptionally undervalued,” and the gap is getting bigger. In its third quarter 2010 report, the research firm pegged the Case-Shiller index readings as 19 percent undervalued and the FHFA index as 14 percent below what would constitute a balanced housing value in relation to income.
The recent fall back in house prices, coupled with low rates, explains why the initial monthly mortgage payment on a median priced house bought with a 20 percent down payment has fallen to a record low of 13 percent of the median income, Capital Economics pointed out in its report.
Home prices in 29 states hit a new cycle low in the fourth quarter of last year, and the research firm says on both
the FHFA and Case-Shiller house price indices, housing now appears close to fair value when set against rents.
Such favorable valuations mean there is plenty of scope for housing to perform well in the medium-term, according to Capital Economics, but over the next year, the firm says the combination of weak demand, high supply, and more forced sales of foreclosed properties will push prices lower.
As Capital Economics pointed out, the sharp fall in the mortgage delinquency rate at the end of last year means there are fewer homes in the foreclosure pipeline, but the elevated number of defaulted properties still in process means home values will continue to be negatively impacted by the presence of distress for some time.
On top of low prices, mortgage rates have fallen back a bit in recent weeks, leaving them even further below the 20-year average of 7 percent, the firm’s analysts wrote. Last week marked the third consecutive week that rates have continued to decline. A national survey conducted by Freddie Mac shows that the average 30-year fixed-rate has dropped to 4.87 percent, while the 15-year fixed-rate has slipped to 4.15 percent.
When you wrap declining home prices and historically low mortgage rates together, Capital Economics says, “The incredibly favorable affordability and valuation environment is the housing market’s one big positive.”
But despite this fact, mortgage applications have remained subdued. While buyer demand is notably weak by conventional standards, Capital Economics says the decrease in mortgage apps of late reflects, at least in part, the prevalence of cash buyers.
The company says the recent “de-valuing” of housing stock appears to be attracting cash buyers and investors back into the market.
They have driven 70 percent of the increase in existing home sales seen since last July, particularly among heavily discounted foreclosed homes, Capital Economics pointed out. Over that same period, first-time buyers have been responsible for just 6 percent of the increase in sales of previously owned homes.
Obituary for Southern Humorist Ludlow Porch
February 19th, 2011Sadly, the beloved southern humorist,Ludlow Porch, died last week. Ludlow, a long time North Georgia mountain resident and Big Canoe Chapel member will be missed by family, friends and his many fans. A memorial service is being held for Ludlow at 2PM Saturday in the Big Canoe Chapel. His obituary follows.
Ludlow Porch (Bobby Crawford Hanson)
October 11, 1934–February 11, 2011
Pioneer Talk Show Host and Humorist
Service at Big Canoe Chapel, February 19, at 2 p.m.
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| Ludlow Porch |
Ludlow Porch was born Bobby Crawford Hanson on October 11, 1934. He was an American radio humorist, popular throughout the United States and especially in his beloved South. Anyone who has lived in the South very long has likely listened to the incomparable Porch and laughed for hours at his irreverent, yet genial and gentle humor. Ludlow cared little for politically correctness or the vicious talk show radio that permeates the airwaves these days. Instead he made people laugh with his spoofs and conversations with his regular “Wackos.”
Ludlow Porch, a Chapel member, died a little after 6:00 a.m. on February 11 following a stroke. The service will be at Big Canoe Chapel on Saturday, February 19 at 2:00 p.m. with Dr. Jimmy R. Allen officiating. A memorial reception will follow in the Broyles Community Center adjacent to the Chapel and the Varsity will be catering the reception.
Ludlow served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. He was 17 years old and still flies a U.S. Marine flag in the yard of his mountain home with a back deck overlooking Amicalola Falls. Ludlow’s stepbrother was the late humorist and Atlanta Journal Constitution columnist Lewis Grizzard. It was Grizzard who introduced Ludlow to Sports Illustrated as a master of trivia. The magazine sent someone to interview Ludlow and his trivia knowledge was written up in Sports Illustrated. That was the springboard for Ludlow enter the radio business. He was a guest on WSB and then became the Ringmaster for WRNG Radio in the 1970s (now CNN Radio). His show was a great success and after a decade, he moved back to WSB where he remained for more than a decade. He then founded the Funseekers Network in 1994 and remained a radio talk show host until his health failed. Ludlow always ended his show with his famous line: “Whatever else you do today, you find somebody to be nice to!”
Ludlow was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame in 2007 and is the author of a number of books.
At the time of his death, he was married to Nancy Hanson since 1996 after becoming a widower. He and Nancy were a team and even she did not escape his wacky sense of humor. When she was to receive an award from Florida State University, her alma mater, Ludlow reported on his Funseekers Network that the award was for a 62-yard field goal she kicked against Baylor. (The award was a Centennial Laureate Award from the FSU College of Family and Consumer Sciences.)
In real life, Ludlow was a generous and kind-hearted man. When Dr. Jimmy Allen’s late wife Wanda took a terrible fall from a deck on Sanderlin Mountain, Ludlow gave a fund-raising program of humor to benefit Wanda to help with huge medical bills.
In addition to his wife Nancy, Ludlow Porch is survived by his children: Barbara Davison, Ashville, NC, Philip Hanson, Marietta, Charles McGarvey, Washington, DC, Kyle Harvey, Alpharetta, and grandchildren Liz and Will Lewis, Michael and Jennifer Franklin, Kathryn Hanson, Helen Hanson and great-grandchildren Hayley Franklin and Nathan Franklin. He was predeceased by a daughter, Leigh Ann Hanson.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, 122 S. St. Asaph Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314 or to the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 5313, St. Mary’s, Georgia 31558