Atlanta Parent magazine is a tremendous resource. Their website is a fantastic place to find out lots of information about parenting, schools, events, parties and other services.

Atlanta Parent’s 2008 Education and Schools listings This link takes you to their Education and Schools page.

If you are an Atlanta parent, and don’t know about this site, then now you do! You can thank me by remembering that:

The Rootdown Group operates our real estate practice at an exceptionally high level of skill, commitment, and competency. We simply offer excellent assistance to anyone who needs real estate help, anywhere in the world. Our specialty is the Intown Atlanta and Decatur submarket - please contact us when we can help you or someone that you know.

Steve Palm’s “Smart Numbers” Area Sales Summary for January 2008

Steve Palm publishes his Smart Numbers reports monthly for members of the First Multiple Listing Service.

One of my clients asked for some numbers data related to “days on market” averages, so I decided to upload this hyper-detailed “Area Sales Summary” report based on data through January 2008. The report drills down into minutiae for 100 seperate submarket areas statewide in Georgia. Larger counties like Fulton have multiple submarkets, whereas counties with less real estate transactions may only have one or two submarket areas.

As a data example, the average days-on-market (DOM) for January’s single family properties was 101.8. This is the highest DOM since January 1998’s 108.4 !

As I said in January, and I shall say again here on the last day of February - supply and demand is a bitch.

The report also offers further detail into price strata for each submarket area - for example, in my neighborhood submarket, area 24, which comprises the “Dekalb County, City of Atlanta” (not unincorporated Dekalb) neighborhoods on the Eastside, all the way to the Decatur border, I can tell you that there were only 28 total sales in January in neighborhoods like Lake Claire, Kirkwood and Johnson Estates. 25% of those sales were in the $300-499,000 price range. 21.4% were under $100,000. The rest are spread out amongst the other price strata, and there was only one sale over $500,000.

On the other hand, in the Midtown, Inman Park and Morningside submarket, area 23, there were only 24 total sales, but 13 of those sales were over $500,000.

Dig in, and do some self-discovery, my analytical friends!

Let us know if we can help you with a more detailed street by street analysis for your particular neighborhood, OK?

Two bright Irishmen just made millions of dollars today by selling word definitions and linking them to specified websites. They’ve had this site up for three days - hot stuff!

The Big Word Project website

As an example, my wife Laura’s website represents her business “Retail Media Consulting” on the world wide web. I bought the word “retail” today, and it is now, henceforth and forevermore, linked by definition to her site.

If this is a gimmick or a hoax, then it only cost me $6.00. If this is for real, then the powerful search term “retail” is now Laura’s word.

I bought a bunch for me too.

My business partner Greg Ruis bought “real” and “estate.” Hmmmm…

Lets see how this little phenomena moves forward…

Jimmy Stanton is having his once a year sale - he is trying to sell everything he has on hand at a deep discount, and in doing so, make room for more fresh, beautiful, lovely stuff!

All week until the end of the day on Sunday. The store closes Monday, and opens again on Tuesday, completely refreshed.

Armoires, beds, accessories, paintings, frames, books, chairs, end tables, lamps, you name it.

I bought $240 worth of Modern Alchemy candles that smell like the following scents:

* Ex Libris (antiquated leather bound volumes of handmade papers and parchment)

* Opium Den (a languid hazy cloud of smoldering resins, opiates and tobacco fumes)

* Tincture of Winchester (a fire arsenal of wood stock, 19th century lacquer and smoky gunpowder)

I’m not kidding. You should smell these candles…Jimmy has cool accoutrements for Intown Atlanta living - go now while they are all on sale.

Stanton Home Furnishings in the Edgewood Retail District

Atlanta Home Sales Bottoming Out Link to a PDF version

Atlanta Home Sales “Bottoming Out” Click to read an online version at ajc.com

A previous Intown Insider article about “the bottom” Words from the man, Bernard Markstein.

A joke about economists for real estate sellers in 2008 A reminder that the AJC’s authority, Roger Tutterow from Mercer University, and Bernard Markstein, the National Association of Home Builder’s authority, are merely economists.

Economists can forecast, but can they really get hyper-local?

I say no. Streets, neighborhoods, school districts and builders with good fundamentals, and Sellers who pay attention to the “leading indicators” for their street smarts will fare just fine in 2008.

Those who are missing the finest fundamentals, must compete on price against lots of competition. Those who don’t pay attention to the “leading indicators” for their street smarts, shall suffer.

Ecclesiastes 3: To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Single family home sales are down 40% year over year across Atlanta, according to Steve Palm’s recent Smart Numbers report. Knowing that, I decided to get hyper-local, and research my neighborhood, and make some judgments about my specific submarket, and our immediate competition. In doing so, I get to check out Steve’s research and see how it holds up on my streets.

On the bright side, the average sales price for new or newer houses like mine (built in 2003 or later) in my area of Atlanta is up about 6% from 2006 over 2007. I live in Hawthorn Park, a 47 home neighborhood with a 6 acre creekside forest and other common areas, built in 2003 in the heart of Kirkwood, and about 1/2 mile from Oakhurst. I like to say that I live on an island in the middle of Kirkwood. Back in 2003, just about everyone paid less than $400,000 for a minimum 3/2/1 with a garage, maybe a basement, maybe a BIG bonus room, and definitely lots of nice features.

Like nice, big kitchens.

And, nice open floor plans with seperate dining rooms.

And, naturally beautiful settings.

Well, I let some other Hawthorn Park island dwellers know today that we have some decisions to make about pricing and marketing. Of course, there is a lot of broader market bad news, and I choose to keep my street smarts up, and not let it get to me. As the leader of a real estate agency team, I must work within the market that we serve - good market, slow market, buyer’s market, seller’s market, whatever it may be, it’s my job to help my clients sell properties and purchase properties based on informed decisions.

If you listen to all of the bad news available nationwide, then you may end up being deeply affected spiritually, mentally, even physically.

Use your “street smarts” filter!

So, used my street smarts filter and I validated a market truth today. Read the rest of this entry »