Welcome back!

No better way to kick off Tuesday than to announce the winner of our Smyrna Vinings social media contest on Flickr. This means it’s also time to launch our latest contest.

But first, let’s announce the winner. “Atlanta Gal” is this week’s winner of the Smyrna Vinings Flickr contest. Congratulations to Atlanta Gal and we hope you enjoy your dinner at at The Real Chow Baby.

Now on to our latest contest. We’re heading back to Facebook this time around. We just launched the SmyrnaVinings.com page on Facebook. So for all you Facebook folks, I’m sure you can guess what the contest will be. Simply become a fan of the SmyrnaVinings.com page on Facebook and you’ll be entered into our newest contest.

We want to see how far we can go with our latest contest, so we’re going to throw in a little incentive. If we get over 1,000 fans on SmyrnaVinings.com page on Facebook in the next two weeks, we’ll draw two names out of the hat. Two winners for one contest, our own version of economic stimulus!

The winner or winners (totally up to you) will be enjoying dinner at South City Kitchen Vinings in Ivy Walk. So be sure to let all of your friends know and have them become fans of our page as well. You’ve got two weeks, so get going.

Technorati Tags: facebook, flickr, smyrna, vinings

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The week in review:

Home loan rates ended the week only slightly higher than they began.

What to expect:

This week brings us a few very important announcements that could have a significant impact on the financial markets.  A technical accounting rule called “mark-to-market” may be modified on Thursday.  To find out more about this rule, see this article from Motley Fools. Many feel the rule makes the financial crisis even worse.  If changed, it may cause the stock market to rally which could cause home loan rates to rise.

On Friday, the Labor Department releases their Jobs Report.  A week report helps interest rates stay low.

Our advice to clients this week is to lock-in by Wednesday if you have a transaction in process.  The end of the week could be interesting.

Breg-ometer:

Next 7 days: Rates are at all time lows.  Lock-in.

Next 30 to 90 days: Expect rates to be in the same range

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Nickajack Elementary School Spring Fling and Silent Auction, is coming up on Sat. April 18th from 1 – 5 pm on the Nickajack Elementary School Campus and they would like to extend a warm invitation to all of you, your family and friends! Everyone is welcome!

Wrist bands are good for unlimited play time in all the inflatables and some games.    (i.e. 24′ dual slide, obstacle course, rock climbing wall, bean bag toss, putting challenge, football throw, spider ball, etc..)

Pre-sale wrist band prices:

Adults and children under 3 are free!
$10 per child, or $30 per family cap up to 4 children

Prices will go up the day of the event to $12 per child, or $36 per family cap up to 4 children.

Food and Activity Tickets: (can be bought the day of the event)

$5 for 12 tickets

$10 for 25 tickets

$20 for 60 tickets

Tickets will be good for food from Stevi B’s Pizza, Atkins Park (hot dogs and burgers), and Los Bravos Mexican Restaurant.

They will also be good for things like popcorn, homemade sweets, beverages, dunk tank, tattoos, hair painting, fishing hole, bake walk, lollipop tree, book sale, etc..

Silent Auction:

They have some great items to be auctioned!  Two different vacation homes, Disney Tickets, restaurants, hair salon services, summer camps, piano lesson, swim lesson, Atlanta attractions and much, much more!!

We hope you will join us for this fabulous community event!

Technorati Tags: Nickajack Elementary School, Cobb County Schools, Smyrna Georgia, Smyrna Vinings Events

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You may not be in the market to buy or sell a home, but rather you’re wondering what the recent economic turmoil has done to the property value of your Smyrna Vinings home. As a general rule, the answer is that the value has declined.

As a result, one  thing that you can do to potentially save some money is to request a re-valuation of your property. If your property is re-assessed at a lower value, you’ll benefit from a reduction in your property taxes.

Cobb County does not do a new assessment each year for every property. Since we’re in a declining market, it is doubtful that they’ll voluntarily send re-valuations out since it would only serve to reduce their tax revenues. The only option is to appeal your property appraisal/valuation.So to kickstart the process you have to file a “Taxypayer’s Return of Property.”

This form can be found on the Cobb Co. Tax Assessor’s website (www.cobbassessor.org) or simply by clicking on the link above.

Complete sections A, B, C and D and have notarized. Section A information about the parcel ID, etc. can be found on the same site by doing a Property Appraisal Search.

Once they receive this form, they’ll send you a Notice in late May or early June and that potentially starts the “appeal clock.”

Bottom line is that if you don’t take the initiative to lower the assessed value of your home given the current market conditions, you’re probably going to be paying property taxes on an inflated value. Homeowners could potentially realize a savings on their property taxes for years to come!

Deadline is April 1, 2009, which is next Wednesday, so don’t delay if you want to have your property re-assessed.

I’d like to thank one of our readers, John Williams, for providing us with this information and giving us the heads-up to get this out to all of our readers.

Don’t forget, deadline is next Wednesday.

Technorati Tags: Cobb County, Property Taxes, Smyrna Vinings homeowners

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They say ‘time is money’ and most people agree.  Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed with a list of errands?  Is there just not enough time in the day to get all of your day’s work done?  I’ve recently focused much of my time on identifying ways that I can leverage myself, both personally and professionally so that I will have more time to spend doing things I enjoy.  There are several ways that technology has helped me leverage, but I still find some chores that technology can’t overcome.  Enter Errand Runners of Vinings.

Established in September 2008 by Stephanie Reese, Errand Runners of Vinings is in the business of providing personal concierge services to individuals and businesses.  The company helps you leverage yourself by providing services such as: taking pets to the groomer and vet, grocery shopping, courier services, meeting with service technicians, and much more.  A truly unique and genius service.

Throwing a party?  You have guests to entertain; delegate duties to ERoV to do things like pick up the food, ice, tables, chairs, etc.  They’ll even help you setup!  When you start to think about the costs to perform simple tasks it is easy to see why Errand Runners of Vinings has had such great success in just a few months.  What types of things could you use help with?

With a background in corporate consulting management, Stephanie utilizes her skills in organization, time management, and prioritization.  Errand Runners of Vinings sets out to provide professional, affordable, and referenceable work. It is this standard that has led to her business being honored as Costco’s Business Customer of the Month  of March.

Rates for services start at $20 per hour with a minimum of one hour.  Anything over an hour, is billed at $5 per every fifteen minutes.  Packages are also available, including an 8 hour package which costs $140 and clients are able to allocate their minutes over a maximum period of one year.  More information on rates and packages can be found on the website.

Errand Runners of Vinings is licensed, bonded, and insured.  It is important to note that the company  does not transport people.

What are you waiting for?  Give yourself a promotion and start delegating duties to Errand Runners of Vinings so that you can focus on your 20%.