Here is the “To-Do List” that my Assistant Dana and I follow for our clients when we need to market a luxury penthouse for rent.

It looks exactly like my marketing checklist for the sale of a property, only I add some personal teeth to the tenant selection process.

We modify and customize our list to suit every client, but this is pretty much what we do every time we list a property.

38 items – turn me and my team on and we will get it done for you! Dana, my Assistant is a hyper-detail oriented master of the internet, so she gets the major media placements done.

I’m just the hustler.

Please call me if I can answer any questions… Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a series of videos that I Flipped on Saturday, January 16, 2010. My client wanted to see 2 properties, and I added lots of color commentary on the way, and at the properties.

If you are a serious buyer in the 30032 or 30034, and if you either need exclusive or non-exclusive brokerage assistance, then call me.

There are some intriguing opportunities over here for the savvy, single family residence buyer.

The capital gains advantages of moving from house to house every 2 –4 years for the next 10-20 years is about as remarkable a bonus plan as there is in these United States.

Starting at less than $50,000, investor cash capital is bolstering this submarket.

Starting at less than $50,000, savvy primary residence buyers should be all over this. Big brick ranches on 1/2 acre + land parcels are remarkable investments in 2010.

Check out these videos.

This neighborhood is loaded with unique, well-crafted mid-20th century ranches on large lots.

This house would make a sweet bachelor pad and could be finished with a privacy fence and pool for maximum effect.

This house sits of a full basement and it has 3 beds and 2 baths up the split living level – HUGE, and really well built.

Bob Dylan on the radio, driving on Columbia southward to Rainbow. Lots of real estate comments after the second minute.

Driving into Leisure Woods, Southwest of Wesley Chapel.

The perils of deferred maintenance. My client passed on this property – deferred maintenance was not the primary reason.

My client passed on this property not because of the deplorable, stripped interior, he passed on this property for one reason – the spiral staircase.

Spiral staircases are an interior construction stigma in most cases – many folks will disregard a house if the house has a spiral staircase, so resale demand will be impacted.

This video, for 1969 One Hit Wonders “The Spiral Starecase” is a reminder to you that not all spiral staircases are stigmatized. This is certainly one of the greatest songs in pop history.

You got all that?

Call me if you think that I can help you.

Leave a comment if you can testify that you watched every single one of these videos!

I just shot a video last week in the Summerhill and Grant Park neighborhoods. My client Dennis wanted me to check out a $45,000 house for him over on Connally.

I drove back through Grant Park to get home to Kirkwood, turned left off of Georgia on to Grant and lo and behold Winston Killingsworth’s house, the former home of a Union Officer, built in 1868, is for sale – for $1.6 Million. Winston is a Realtor with Re/max with an established Grant Park based practice.

The counterbalance between $45,000 and $1.6 Million in one zip code fascinates me.

I toured Winston’s house quite a few years ago on a Grant Park home tour and it is exquisite – a gorgeous Victorian with every square inch in impeccable shape.

The AJC completed an article on the restoration of Winston’s house – you can read it here.

I toured the $45,000 house here’s a video of the premises…

Here’s a photo of the $1.6 Million listing.

Here’s a quick driving tour that features the few minutes between these two significant portents of the 30312 submarket…

You can read more of my opinions about Grant Park at Trulia Voices, and if you want to do some more reading, then check out  some of the Grant Park specific Questions and Answers!

This post from January 2008 features my market analysis and a handy boundaries map for Grant Park.

If you want to grab lunch at Six Feet Under and take a tour of the 30312 with me, just email or call me and we’ll arrange.

If you are interested in selling your property in 30312, then I can help you – it’s 2010, and between $45,000 and $1.6 Million folks are getting their real estate on.

See you in the 30312!

Lake Michele is this pretty little lake off of Rockbridge Road in Stone Mountain – the neighborhood has a few, classic brick ranches that are within walking distance of a tranquil fishing lake.

It’s pretty – and my friend Kris listed an REO there for just $37,620.00. He received 3 offers in the first 24 hours after listing and one of them was from my client.

My client didn’t get it.

But somebody did, probably for under $50,000.00.

A well built 3 bedroom, 2 bath on an ACRE of land.

If you are looking for a ranch – a traditional or a mid-century modern – and if you are looking for properties with some land mass to them, and if you do not care about public school performance, and if you like the Eastside of metro Atlanta, and if you want a fixer-upper, and if you like lakes, and Stone Mountain, by God…you should be looking in and around the 30088.

I’m not talking about an investor flip – I’m talking about smart primary residence buyers buying these type of properties, fixing them up and living in them.

Seriously.

Read this IRS publication #523 – it is all about “Primary Residence” taxation and it has an explanation on “excluding the gain.”

Fix ‘em up, and move out in a few years – either rent the property and get a nice positive cash flow, or sell them for a profit!

If you do this over the next 5 – 10 years, then you will probably be able to locate properties just like these, for under $100,000, all over this submarket.

The capital gain “upside” is remarkable.

The fact that the gain is not “income taxed” if the gain is less than $250,000 and if you live in the property for at least 24 months … well,  that fact is just the biggest bonus plan in the United States today.

Prices are increasing on average in this submarket. Get ‘em while their still under $50,000…

If found this photo on Collin Kelley’s website:

Collin wrote back in July 2008: “This poster — along with others touting American cities and states as being gay friendly travel destinations — are all over the Underground in London coinciding with their Pride celebration. The adverts were created by Amro Worldwide, a gay travel and tourist company. A similar poster that claims “South Carolina Is So Gay” has brought out the Bible-thumpers and politicians who say it’s sending the wrong message. The state’s tourism board signed on to the campaign, but now the state doesn’t want to pay. Gay for pay….hmmm. I’ve been to SC many times and never found it particularly gay myself.

Atlanta, on the other hand, is one big queen.”

I spent some time on his blog and he is hilarious – he dishes on American Idol, daily!

Well, The Advocate just broadcast to the world that Atlanta is indeed one big queen.

“Yep. According to The Advocate magazine, Atlanta rates as the nation’s gayest city, followed by Burlington, Vermont., Iowa City, Bloomington and Madison, Wisconsin. Don’t bother looking for San Francisco, New York or Los Angeles — those supposed gay meccas don’t even place in the rankings compiled by the nation’s oldest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender publication.”

Here’s the article in the AJC.

I am so glad that I left the hatin’ state of South Carolina in 1987. I got to Intown Atlanta as quickly as I could.

I love that my daughter Kaylie has about 5 gay uncles …one of them inspired her to wear this wig and they all encourage her to be extra fabulous…

First take about 7 minutes and you’ll see a tour that takes you from Kirkwood’s Bessie Branham Park over to the prettiest house in Kirkwood.

Along the way, you’ll see the edges of Hawthorn Park’s 6 acre greenspace and you’ll see all 47 of the houses in Hawthorn Park, an island in the middle of Kirkwood.

You’ll see one of my competitors signs, leaning and lacking erection too – I always get a kick out of that, especially when the sign has only been in the ground for 18 hours.

But I digress…check this out – it even features an MLK Day civil rights music soundtrack with Stevie Wonder singing “Heaven Help Us All.”

Now, here’s the prettiest house in Kirkwood – from my perspective. It is impeccable. It’s priced under the recent average price for a new or newer 3 bedroom 2 and 1/2 bath property in 30317. It’s loaded with extras – check this video out. I start the video in the custom Master Bedroom closet…

If you want to study some photos and contemplate this house a little longer, please click here for the virtual tour.

Just $395,000!

Thanks for watching! Call me if you want to see “The Prettiest House in Kirkwood!”