A PBR, some RPG's and thou...

 We love The Consumerist. You should too - they are always on point with some nifty thought or pithy commentary or relevant consumer interest story. I don’t love this website like I love my daughter and my wife, but I love The Consumerist, ya dig?

The photo above is what a night in Kirkwood looks like after a hard day of real estate agency work and before bathtime…

So, they asked: “Would you judge a real estate broker by his blog?”

My favorite comment from this insightful post touches on one of my favorite criticisms of real estate agents - many can not spell, construct illustrative sentences with a subject-verb-predicate sequence, or complete basic mathematical equations.

Here is the comment: “While I can’t say a blog would lead me to use someone as my broker, I have definitely already excluded two based on their (awful) writings! Sorry, but if you can’t spell correctly, or even express your thoughts clearly, I don’t want you fighting for my largest investment.”

Y’all holla at The Intown Insider when you need our expertise, OK? Between Greg, Dana and I we are really good at helping folks buy and sell real estate. Over 150 clients since 2004 can’t be wrong…

Nevertheless, if you judge me by my blogging inconsistency, then you just might think I’m a lousy Realtor.

Just know that we are never too busy for any of your referrals and that we would love to have the opportunity to earn your business!

Alright, alright, alright…I may be a sluggish “blogger” but if I am one thing, I’m a busy real estate agent and a 42 year old brand new father…

My Business partner at Rootdown, Greg Ruis is truly the Pricemaster. He ran these numbers and got 21 charts from our “Senior Partner” Chartmaster Chuck .

Today, I’ll focus on just one thing - PRICES. We asked Chuck to run the following submarkets - pretty much the primary geographic focus for our team:

1. Ansley Park and Morningside southward to Inman Park and Reynoldstown - that includes Midtown and VAHI

2. Eastside Atlanta Dekalb - the neighborhoods East of Moreland and Briarcliff, plus Johnson Estates and southward to Edgewood and Kirkwood - all North of I20

3. Southside Atlanta Fulton - Grant Park, Summerhill, Boulevard Heights, Ormewood Park, EAV

4. Greater Decatur - South of Mercer U, down to I20 at South Dekalb Mall

What we found is not terribly surprising, since we live in the market everyday:

 * In addition to slower sales, median sales prices have decreased by 10.1% year-to-date in 2008, compared to 2007

 * The median sales price in 1Q 2008 was 10% lower than 1Q 2007, while the 2Q price was -10.7% compared to 2Q 2007

Sales prices 2007 versus 2008 for Greater Intown and Decatur

Some of you know that I spend a good bit of time at trulia.com (I broadcast this enough, don’t I?)

I posted this question on the Trulia Q&A back on January 14th - this independent, amateur website called www.housingpredictor.com stated that they have an 85% accuracy rate, and that Atlanta prices would drop 12.3% this year. A couple of posters made statements about how frivolous these predictor guys are, but I was really just seeking thoughts and comments.

It turns out that they are not nearly 85% accurate, but they are close with the Intown neighborhood numbers, at least through the first half.

Stay tuned for more insights into the Intown numbers so far for 2008. If I’m really good, I’ll do this everyday for 21 days and form a habit!