Luxury Homes Networking at Greystone Subdivision

In January, the Luxury Homes Networking breakfast club was hosted by Michael Crane of Fidelity Bank Mortgage and Alex McGraw and Associates of Harry Norman Realtors at one of the lovely estates in the Greystone Subdivision in the heart of Milton.    This beautiful European styled estate is nestled on 22 acres which includes luxurious pool, private 18 hole golf course, tennis courts, private stocked fishing pond, walking trails, basketball court, regulation sized football field and baseball field, and more.  The featured speaker for the event was  Steve Palms, President of Smart Numbers>  Steve discussed the 2012 real estate market:  “2012 – Expectations of the Real World”. 

Here are some pictures of the event and the home:  Luxury Homes Networking at Greystone in Milton, Georgia

If you are looking for a wonderful estate home, look no further than Greystone.  

Senator John Albers at Business Connection

Senator John Albers, Deputy Whip of the 56^th District in Georgia, spoke at the Business Connection in January (prior to the Georgia legislative session starting).  Along with being a member of the Economic Development, Education and Youth, Ethics, and Finance Committees, he is the Vice Chairman of the Finance, Public Safety, and Science and Technology Committees. 

Pam Santoro & Senator John Albers

Highlights  from Senator Albers:

Georgia has a balanced budget with no debt.  It has the lowest cost per government for all fifty states.   The state grew by 18% adding another congressional district. 

Senator Albers is working on a bill to raise the dropout rate in high school.   Students who don’t finish high school have a higher chance of ending up in jail than high school graduates do.  Plus he’s working on state charter schools.

In tax reform, Georgia is moving away from income/capital gains structure to sales tax usage based on the economy (like Texas and Florida).   

As an incentive to establish and keep jobs in Georgia, we may need to take the tax off energy for businesses.   

There’s a need for retraining workers for the technology jobs in Georgia.   Students should focus on science, technology, engineering, and math.   Currently, there are 5,400 open technology jobs in Georgia.  

They are also working on a military bill of rights to help soldiers.   The University of Phoenix enables soldiers to go to school from anywhere in the world with 25% off tuition and free books for the military.   

2012 will be a great year!

Georgia's Jobless Rate Falls

The December unemployment rate in Georgia fell to 9.7% which is down from the previous month by .1% and the previous year by .7% .  At the same time last year, the unemployment rate in Georgia was 10.4%.   In December, there were 600 new construction jobs and 400 new manufacturing jobs.  New construction jobs have not increased that much since 2003.   Information services, trade and transportation also had gains in the job market.  The national unemployment rate is 8.5%.

To read the entire article in the AJC, click here:  Georgia's Jobless rate falls for third consecutive month.

Current data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Unemployment Georgia)
National Unemployment Statistics

Georgia Department of Labor

Next ABWA meeting January 17th

January’s ABWA speaker is Heather Herrig, from Every Last Detail Events, Topic:  “Effective Communication in a Digital Age”.   The next ABWA Crabapple Chapter meeting will be on January 17th (third Tuesday of January) at The Barn (770-650-9838) behind the Fickle Pickle, 1085 Canton Street, Roswell, GA 30075 www.ficklepicklecafe.com.   Networking starts at 6:00 PM  with dinner and speaker following at 6:30 PM. For more information on the ABWA Crabapple Chapter, email pam.santoro@harrynorman.com or go to www.abwacrabapple.com.