Out of college in 1998, with a background in forest management, Josh Everett of northwest Hall County managed land for a timber company that owned hundreds of thousands of acres across North Georgia. “As the years went along, the economy started to get some engine in it from a real estate standpoint, so the company started to look at (whether it should be) cutting timber ... or selling land for development,” he said. In 2001, the company created a real estate division and Everett was put in charge of North Georgia “managing assets in preparation for sale,” Everett said.