I just read an article written by Dian Hymer entitled “Is selling a home in today’s market worthwhile?” Dian is author of “House Hunting, the take along workbook for Home Buyers” and “Starting out, the Complete Home Buyers Guide.” Here’s a link to find Dian’s books on Amazon - she is a great real estate writer!

http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Out-Complete-Buyers-Guide/dp/0811812723

Dian said “Residential real estate is an intensely localized business.”

Knowing that, I’m even more confident this week about the health of the “intensely localized market” that The Rootdown Group serves. I’ll have some stats out later this month, but pending sales appear to be on the rise in Intown Atlanta and Decatur, we all know that primary mortgage interest rates are terrific, and The Rootdown Group is busy. Since January 1st, we have spoken directly with about 30 prospective people whom we know will buy or sell real estate this year, nearly half of them in the next 90 days. Greg Ruis, Dana Davis and I will help as many people as we can in 2008, and from initial apearances this should be a remarkable year for improving the long term health of the Intown Atlanta and Decatur real estate submarkets.

It may take longer for Adair Park and Mechanicsville to stabilize and start appreciating, but neighborhoods like Ansley Park, Chastain Park and Garden Hills, Virginia Highland and Oakhurst are in generally good shape, with prices rising slightly and lots of pretty houses for sale in good school districts. Read the rest of this entry »

I communicated with some folks at Trulia Voices today, because someone wrote in seeking preliminary suggestions on how to get a unique, architecturally significant house sold. The Architect of the house is Robert Green.

Some of the friends of IntownInsider.com love super cool houses just like I do, but many of us didn’t know that up until 2003, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright was designing metro Atlanta residences. Check out the link…

http://www.jetsetmodern.com/green.htm

If you ever see a super cool Intown Atlanta or Decatur house worth sharing with others - maybe it’s a house for sale - then please write us and make sure that we know about it. We’ve been inside 3 different Atlanta area Robert Green properties, and we think that they are all a work of art.

There is a built in demand for well-built contemporary residences at all price points, all over Georgia!

Do not miss Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings at Variety Playhouse on Saturday the 19th at 8:30pm

This is the band that Mark Ronson selected to be the backing band for Amy Winehouse. Amy can’t get it together, but Sharon Jones has it so together that she makes that junkie Amy look like a certified fool for blowing such a magnificent shot at the worldwide soul spotlight.

Nothing to do on the 19th? Go see this show.

I believe that in 2008, less contracts will fall apart. Crusaders like Ralph R. Roberts are making things happen by exposing the truth about mortgage businesses, but lets face it, market forces have placed mortgage companies on notice. Here’s a tidbit from Ralph about the nature of underwriters and their role in mortgage businesses posted at the always informative website Flipping Frenzy

“The underwriters were reminded daily of all the companies like theirs that were shutting down as a result of the mortgage meltdown and that their company was one of the few survivors. They were told to keep closing loans. With all of those other companies going out of business, they now had a golden opportunity to increase market share and become the lender of choice. They were told that management was aware and that they were over staffed, but because they were doing so much business, nobody would have to be laid off. They didn’t have to worry about having a job as long as they continued to close loans. It’s a bad time to be looking for a job in this industry, so we all need to work together.

Wow. That’s not the fuel of champions, ladies and gentlemen.

If you want to know more about stuff like this, then remember that Ralph R. Roberts is a real estate fraud expert and activist and co-author of Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership.

For more information, visit the website or e-mail RalphRoberts@ralphroberts.com, or call 586.751.0000.

Wrote a contract. Generated 4 Buyer leads and 2 Listing leads. Saw 8 or 10 new properties for sale. Got www.intowninsider.com up and running. Realtors are getting busy. I watched a Flip This House episode on 1/5/08 featuring a South Howard house purchased in the $130’s and an underfunded renovation that somehow went to foreclosure. Best TV all week. I missed Celebrity Apprentice with Gene Simmons. I got a new coffeemaker coming. Went to Piedmont Hospital to see the rooms and tour where babies get born. I shall return there soon with Laura to deliver one of our own!

2008 is upbeat! Good week.

Lets keep having more of these Atlanta!

My real estate team and I have closed over 100 real estate sales since The Rootdown Group formed in April 2004. As Listing Agents, we’ve probably received 75 or so other contracts that never closed. Contracts that never closed because the Buyer was working with an idiot for a mortgage broker. Or a criminal. Some of these folks are really good criminals and many of them are truly idiots who can not spell in their pre-qualification letters, can not understand basic mathematics, and many times can not seem to have an address other than a PO Box or moreover a FAX number that is disconnected. Bunch of punks.

Every time we suspect that the broker is not very good, we counter with stipulating that the Buyer must pre-qualify with the broker of our choice. Someone that we know and trust - right now, we know and trust about 15-20 mortgage professionals. That’s it!

With that one simple stipulation in a Counteroffer, we eliminate many buyers. They were never buyers in the first place. They were NINJAS (y’all know - No Income, No Job, No Assets).

Yesterday, Inman News reported that “a nationwide licensing system that’s intended to help states track mortgage brokers and lenders under their jurisdiction launched today with seven states participating and 31 more expected to join by the end of next year.

The Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) creates a single file for each state-regulated mortgage lender, broker, branch and loan originator, simplifying the process of licensing and monitoring companies and individuals who do business in more than one state.”

I understand that in 2004, the Georgia Residential Mortgage Fraud Act made Georgia the first state to specifically criminalize mortgage fraud and to furthermore give local and state law enforcement expanded powers. Good for Georgia. We have a long way to go to eliminate fraud, but the NMLS will certainly help to curtail it.

The NMLS is a good idea. If I’m licensed, if your massage therapist is licensed, and if your barber/hair extensions specialist/cosmetologist/aesthetician is licensed, and if Atlanta’s very own Blondie Strange from The Clermont Lounge is licensed, shouldn’t your mortgage broker be licensed?