I am asking anyone that reads this to please let me know where I can find any history on Lakewood’s legacy as a Holistic Health Oasis. I’ve googled it. I’ve Creatively Loafed it. I’ve driven the streets of Lakewood in search of it, yet I have not identified any sense of legacy that makes Lakewood Heights a Holistic Health Oasis.

We must all flock there for healing. I’m happy to give you a tour.

Close your eyes and you’ll envision a classic rock masterpiece being played in some basketball arena circa 1978. Open your eyes, watch the video, and witness a young girl playing Carry On My Wayward Son, note for note as if she were the band Kansas at full rock capacity.

Here are the American prog-rock masters, Kansas - live in 1976. You be the judge!

This video from the Today Show is a worthy view.

This woman from San Diego thinks that she can blame her real estate agent for the fact that she paid too much for her house. I’ll just say this: there are 36,000 real estate agents in Atlanta and you can choose to work with any of them. Some of these agents are the reason why we have a messy real estate market.

Caveat emptor, y’all.

I completed a Sales Analysis this week for Single Family Properties in Grant Park. Less than 32% of all so-called “Grant Park” listings sold last year. That is a percentage that holds up for most Intown Atlanta and Decatur neighborhoods right now, but when I realized that there is also a significant downward trend in prices, I decided that I needed to keep an eye on things in 2008.

I love Grant Park. Some of the coolest houses in Atlanta are in Grant Park. The park itself is just gorgeous, and the Summer in the Shade Festival in August is among the best of Atlanta’s festivals. Add a Zoo, a swimming pool and a Cyclorama, and you have a uniquely wonderful neighborhood. Add The Cooperative Preschool and the Charter School and the value really goes up. Add Six Feet Under, and a few other terrific restaurants, and the neighborhood provides a huge value, dollar for dollar, over Intown Atlanta neighborhoods to the north.

The data below is compiled in the following manner: Date range of recorded sales, total number of units SOLD, average type of house sold (always a 3 bedroom, 2 and a half bath) average Original List Price (OLP), average altered List price (LP) and average number of Days on Market (DOM). All dollar amounts are in the thousands. Here’s the data. Read the rest of this entry »

I counted that I am working with ten different buyers who will buy property Intown before the end of April. One of my clients is obtaining one of the most creative FHA loans that I’ve ever seen - it is geared to help Intown, urban buyers - HUGE leverage for first timers. I showed properties from Chamblee to East Point last week - probably opened 30 lockboxes.

I bought this software that organizes Expired and Withdrawn listing data and helps me track the following - who are the Realtors that are consistently overpricing listings and not getting them sold AND how to contact their former clients when the listing expires or gets withdrawn. I started making calls every morning to ask folks that I don’t know when they are going to hire a Realtor who can get their property sold. Aggressiveness counts in this real estate market.

My business partner Greg Ruis and I interviewed with the owners of a super cool Robert Green designed house - gorgeous architecture. We believe that we’ll earn their business.

My friends Scott and Teri Hagedorn were in town from NYC and we got to hang out, eat Fritti take out, and socialize. We gathered to be with our friend who is about to have surgery to remove his thyroid cancer - he is an amazing inspiration to all of us! What a remarkable outlook.

My wife and I had another good OB/GYN report on Friday - she is 3 weeks away from giving birth to our daughter!

I saw the Southside builder legend, Donnie Henry - he’s about to break ground in Edgewood on a fabulous new contemporary design 3/2 house - cool corner lot.

Interest rates are killer. Inventory is plentiful. Sellers are starting to realize that repairing every defect and resetting their expectations about price is the only way to go in 2008. Recession be damned!

www.HousingPredictor.com is remarkable and we’ll keep it on the Intown Insider blogroll. Here’s their methodology…

“We examine more than 20 micro market characteristics in each market place, including income levels, employment trends and changes, school enrollment, business trends, regional political influences, real estate sales history and current housing market velocity. The factors are all considered to come up with each local market forecast.

All of the information is gathered from hundreds of independent sources the staff develops without bias for the real estate industry to issue the forecasts.

Today, Housing Predictor is consulted by the nation’s foremost investment houses, mortgage companies, real estate companies and most importantly consumers for our forecasts. Housing Predictor maintains more than an 85% accuracy rating with its forecasts.”

I am going to read their Georgia forecast updates regularly. If you are an Atlanta property Seller, then you should too!

If you are an Atlanta Home Buyer then remember that Housing Predictor forecasts Atlanta will deflate an additional 12.3% in average housing prices in 2008.

Y’all do your own math…know your numbers!

Get your real estate on.