Mike Mastrario on how he found Turner County while living in New Jersey
Dublin Core
Title
Mike Mastrario on how he found Turner County while living in New Jersey
Description
To read the full interview, check out this link: https://turnercountyproject.com/2021/07/21/mike-mastrario/
Creator
Sami Mastrario, Turner County Project
Date
July 4, 2021
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Interviewer
Sami Mastrario
Interviewee
Mike Mastrario
Location
Sycamore, Georgia
Transcription
Turner County Project (TCP): When was your first visit to Turner County?
Mike Mastrario (M): I am gonna say probably June/July 1992.
TCP: Explain how you found out about Turner County?
M: We saw a house in Country Living Magazine and it had a section called the “Real Estate Sampler.” The house we wanted to see was in Rebecca, Georgia. We called the real estate agent, it was an agent out of Tifton, but they said that the house was under contract but there were a lot of other houses in the area for sale. So she sent me a little real estate magazine that showed different areas with houses for sale. We saw how big Tifton was and decided we didn’t want to live in Tifton. So we started looking at some of the surrounding areas in the book and there were some houses for sale in Turner County. They were extremely inexpensive. We initially came down to look at a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house on 5 acres down the middle of West End Avenue. We saw the condition of the houses around there and figured whatever money we put into this house, which needed a bunch of work done, we would never reclaim that value. So we looked at it and passed. The real estate agent was driving us, George Beasly from Ashburn, and we came back up West End Avenue and jokingly he said, “That big house there is for sale.” He was referring to the big 2 story Victorian [the Betts-Shealy House] with the grass about 2 feet tall and it was very unkempt. He said, “It’s really nice inside and it’s for sale!” and he sort of laughed like maybe it was out of our price range or that it was not quite what we were looking for and my wife said, “Can you get us the key so we can look at it?” The real estate agent said, “Really!?” To which I replied, “If she wants the key, get us the key.”
Mike Mastrario (M): I am gonna say probably June/July 1992.
TCP: Explain how you found out about Turner County?
M: We saw a house in Country Living Magazine and it had a section called the “Real Estate Sampler.” The house we wanted to see was in Rebecca, Georgia. We called the real estate agent, it was an agent out of Tifton, but they said that the house was under contract but there were a lot of other houses in the area for sale. So she sent me a little real estate magazine that showed different areas with houses for sale. We saw how big Tifton was and decided we didn’t want to live in Tifton. So we started looking at some of the surrounding areas in the book and there were some houses for sale in Turner County. They were extremely inexpensive. We initially came down to look at a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house on 5 acres down the middle of West End Avenue. We saw the condition of the houses around there and figured whatever money we put into this house, which needed a bunch of work done, we would never reclaim that value. So we looked at it and passed. The real estate agent was driving us, George Beasly from Ashburn, and we came back up West End Avenue and jokingly he said, “That big house there is for sale.” He was referring to the big 2 story Victorian [the Betts-Shealy House] with the grass about 2 feet tall and it was very unkempt. He said, “It’s really nice inside and it’s for sale!” and he sort of laughed like maybe it was out of our price range or that it was not quite what we were looking for and my wife said, “Can you get us the key so we can look at it?” The real estate agent said, “Really!?” To which I replied, “If she wants the key, get us the key.”
Duration
2 minutes, 57 seconds
Collection
Citation
Sami Mastrario, Turner County Project, “Mike Mastrario on how he found Turner County while living in New Jersey,” Turner County Project Digital Archive Repository, accessed June 2, 2024, https://turnercountyproject.com/archive/items/show/141.
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