What you won’t find in the metro-Atlanta area are opportunities for snow skiing. What you will find is that snowfall is only experienced once or twice per season (usually less than two or three inches) with rare occurrences of ice storms (winter temperatures on average remain above freezing). The average annual temperature is 61 degrees, with July being the hottest month averaging 89 degrees and January being the coldest month averaging 33 degrees.

What does that mean for metro-Atlanta residents? Well, you can play golf or tennis, bike or run, garden, attend outdoor festivals and enjoy the area’s natural resources such as the Chattahoochee River and Stone Mountain all year long.

Many of the new home communities offered by Traton are located near parks and preserves that allow residents to enjoy the wonderful Atlanta weather all year long. The builder has new homes throughout the north and northwest suburbs of downtown Atlanta with prices starting from the $180,000s.

Visit http://www.TratonHomes.com for more information about this builder’s communities and homes.

It’s easier now more than ever to take direct control over cutting down your paper storage. You can ditch time and space consuming physical filing operations by investing in a scanner or an all-in-one scanner-printer-fax-copy machine for your home office, which can also be a tax deduction as a business expense. Now is a great time to shop for one, as most consumer electronics are on sale as manufacturers get ready to roll out 2012 models.  Check sites like Consumer Reports and CNet to find out which model is best for you, and know that there are wireless solutions that can reduce the number of cords and cables in your office.

Now, once you’ve got stuff scanned, there’s the question of how to keep your digital copies. Having them all on one hard-drive is a big no no, as there are all manner of internal and external opportunities for them to be deleted. If you’re old-fashioned, buy an external hard drive and manually transfer everything over and keep that drive somewhere separate from your primary computer – your office, your car, anywhere that is safe and away from your primary data set so you don’t lose both in the event of a fire, flood or some other natural disaster.

The article has a number of other tips and tricks for conquering your paperwork, including hiring other services to do the dirty work and some benefits of putting your data on the cloud.  Be sure to check the Equifax Finance Blog for more information about keeping your taxes, credit, insurance, real estate and retirement under control.

If you’re donating a lot of stuff, say $500 or more, you must provide a detailed list of what was donated, how many units, what it cost originally and its value when making the donation. It’s a great idea to take a snapshot of them for proof of condition with your phone or digital camera for records. There are many sites online which can help you determine the value at time of donation.

If your donations exceed $5,000, you’re going to need a written appraisal from a professional to be able to claim deductions. This may mean that you should hold onto your donations until you can make one big one that can be properly appraised to keep your deductions safe and make sure you pay the right amount. Or you may want to wait and plan out your big donations so you’re not stuck at the end of the year with a total at or near $5,000 and no way to appraise already donated items.

For more information about properly documenting your deductions and all kinds of other tax expertise, be sure to check the Equifax Finance Blog, especially as the year ends so you can be sure to make all of your i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed before the end of the calendar year.

Despite the encouraging increase in the Housing Market Index (HMI), overall measure continues to remain quite low. High numbers of foreclosures, financing difficulties, inaccurate appraisals, and restrictive lending are all key factors in the discouragement of potential buyers.

According to the NAHB’s Chief Economist, David Crowe, this second consecutive gain indicates that well-qualified buyers from similar areas have been “tempted” by favorable mortgage rates and pricing to seek a new home. Gradual gains can be expected as conditions continue to improve.

Three out of four regions saw an increase in November. The Northeast increased by 6 points, the Midwest by eight, and the South by two points. After a large increase in October, the West returned to trend with a six point decline. It now rests at fifteen.

Overall poor housing market conditions are beginning to improve. With a slow yet steady increase in the HMI, buyers and builders alike can see a bright future ahead. Although it may take a significant amount of time to enter into ideal levels of confidence, good things come to those who wait.

In her recent article for the Equifax Finance Blog, “Homeowners Insurance: Someone Gets Hurt On Your Property” Linda Rey offers homeowners advice for dealing with injuries on their property.

The first thing that needs to be assessed is the extent of the injuries. Are they serious enough to warrant a 911 call?

After that, depending on your relationship with the injured party, the police may need to be called so both parties can make statements.

Next, be sure and take photos of the situation. Try and photograph any injuries and the area of your property where the injury occurred.

Depending on how the injured party wants to handle the situation, more work may be required on our part. If the injured party is merely looking for reimbursement of medical costs, this could be a best case scenario. Of course, if the person is looking to sue you or claim damages beyond what your insurance policy covers, the aforementioned steps become even more important.

Either way, be sure and call your insurance agent as soon as possible for more guidance on how to handle a situation. The sooner you bring in an agent, the sooner he or she can assess the situation and offer advice.

For more insurance advice, visit the Equifax Finance Blog.

A recent post on the Equifax Finance Blog offers some tax tips for deducting business mileage. Tax specialist Eva Rosenberg’s article, “2012 Standard Mileage Rate: How It Affects Your Business Vehicle,” has the following advice.

If you use your car for business or work, you probably already know that you can use either the standard mileage deduction or you may use actual expenses. Using actual expenses allows you to claim depreciation deductions, in addition to the registration fees, repairs, insurance and fuel costs. Aside from the standard mileage rate increase, the rate for moving and medical mileage has also increased to 23.5 cents per mile from 19 cents. Charitable mileage stays the same, at 14 cents.

One thing that people may not realize is that the standard mileage rate has deduction built into it. Rosenberg points out that when you sell your car, you must take depreciation into account. She suggests using the table on the Small Business Taxes & Management site to determine how much depreciation you used each year. This number will be be based on the total number of business miles you reported on your tax returns.

Read Rosenberg’s full article on the Equifax Finance Blog.

Hotel guests are certain to enjoy the lavish interiors, amenities and services that the South Ocean Boulevard boutique hotel offers, year-round. The 134-room hotel was designed by Leslie Schlesinger Interiors, who turned the time-worn and old-fashioned building completely around, into the city’s newest and hippest hotel with modern, clean design approaches and state-of-the-art conveniences and amenities.

Modern Asian influences give the beachfront property a relaxing feel and fresh and simplistic design. Omphoy balances the edifice with tranquil, earth-friendly details intended to evoke a stress-free environment.

With trunk-like pillars, koi ponds and floor-to-ceiling ocean views, the soft and comfortably relaxed earthy design scheme of The Omphoy lobby takes the breath away of guests and visitors. The scheme continues in the chic lobby bar, which offers sexy backlit caste glass, an Asian-influenced billiard table, 103-inch plasma television and sumptuous sofa seating that creates a genuinely inviting atmosphere.

With low lighting in the hallways, guests only experience lush, gentle and warm surroundings at The Omphoy, which extends into the guest rooms boasting custom-designed furniture, crisp white sheeting, bronze porcelain tile floors. All rooms offer a spacious balcony, terrace or large picture window that open the rooms to panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean or the Intracoastal Waterway.

Omphoy guests enjoy innovative and world-class cuisine by celebrity chef and James Beard award winner, Michelle Bernstein. The Exhale spa at The Omphoy Ocean Resort features a full spa with transformational spa therapies, skin-care services, steam rooms and cardio gym with yoga. The hotel also offers a full-service complimentary business center, Wi-Fi access throughout, a palm tree lined pool with a soothing waterfall and private cabanas, refined pool bar, direct beach access and access to exclusive area golf courses.

For more information, please visit www.omphoy.com.

In “Pet-Friendly Housing Steering the Real Estate Market,” Equifax guest blogger Steve Cook points out that living with pets can be pricey. However, people seem to be buying more pets than ever before. This can lead to some uncomfortable situations when renting property, especially when half of rental property owners don’t allow pets at all, and the rest charge extra fees for them. When the costs range from $20 to $700 up front and are often in addition to a monthly payment, pet owners are looking at homes as the cheaper alternative.

In fact, the demand for pet-friendly real estate has caused one real estate broker in Naples, Fla., to build a business around advertising properties to pet owners. The Pet Realty Network allows pet-owning buyers to search listings across the U.S.

So if you’re looking to sell your home, you may be missing out on a huge market by not including pet owners in your search. Read Cook’s post at the Equifax Personal Finance Blog and see if selling your real estate to the dogs helps!

Well, the Equifax Personal Finance Blog is back again this week with just the sort of news we need. According to a recent post, “Hardest Hit States Are Showing Signs of Economic Recovery,”  Florida residents are demonstrating our credit smarts once again. Equifax credit expert Janet Dedrick says higher average credit scores could mean that economic recovery is headed our way.

In her post, Dedrick explains that the areas that were worst hit by the economic and housing crisis – including Florida – saw declines in credit scores for more than three years. The worst, she says, was in June of 2008. At that time, 42 percent of Major Metropolitan Areas (MSAs) watched as average credit scores fell.

But the news is better since December 2010. Average credit scores are back on the rise, with the largest increases being seen here in Florida and in other hard-hit states, such as California. Dedrick says it all means that consumers are smarter when it comes to using their credit. If creditors see good risk once again, maybe they’ll loosen the lending reins a bit, and we’ll see more homebuyers with access to the loans they need to make homeownership a reality.

What’s your opinion? Do you think Floridians are being more careful with using and managing our credit? Check out the Equifax Personal Finance Blog,  then come back here to let us know what you think. We hope your observations will confirm the positive trends the research is showing.

The updated edition includes more details, strategies and examples than the first. You’ll be able to see specific social media campaigns with sales results organized by builder type. The book also has sample Twitter campaigns designed to increase foot traffic to communities.

Through clear, concise writing and real-world examples, Carol can help you design programs that are perfect for your business. You’ll also learn how to:

• Gain Facebook friends and Twitter followers
• Improve search engine optimization (SEO)
• Optimize your websites, blogs and social media sites
• Run successful social media campaigns
• Track, analyze and improve results

With 20 years of experience, Carol Flammer is the go-to person for social media and public relations for real estate and construction. She is the founder of Atlanta Real Estate Forum, president of Flammer Relations, Inc., and managing partner of mRELEVANCE, LLC.

Whether you’re already involved in social media or just looking for a place to start, Social Media for Home Builders 2.0: It’s Easier Than You Think, is the book for you.

You can buy the book from BuilderBooks or Amazon.