From their site: “The Harbour Bar & Fish House is a casual seafood restaurant designed to give our customers a local place where they can come together to enjoy themselves with family, friends, and co-workers. Harbour Bar & Fish House feels like a Coastal Restaurant that you may have experienced while on vacation in Hilton Head, Charleston, Cape Cod or Newport RI. We want you to feel as if you are on a vacation in your own backyard.

The interior decor is comfortable and relaxing, accented with natural woods and nautical tones of gray and blue. The exterior has outdoor deck/patio seating, two bocce courts and an outdoor bar.

There is a large area in the backyard that can be used for private events when the weather permits.” Some of my fellow Keller Williams Realty metro Atlanta agents hung out yesterday in the outdoor area near the bocce ball arena, and we had a blast.

Check it out!

Curbed.com’s regional real estate reporting is superb. Their site is interesting and they are really on point with the style of their site.

Recently, they reported on a grim forecast that surfaced for Atlanta’s metro economy, bringing up the bad and the ugly that “planners” statewide need to consider.

The article cites ““Atlanta’s persistent unemployment, traffic congestion, a 29% loss in average per-square-foot housing prices between 2000-2010, and the fact that the city is increasingly offering a lifestyle opposite of that desired by the most desirable workers and companies. The opportunities he sees are also legion, though, and many of them simply involve re-embracing our transit roots: i.e. investments in commuter rail, continuing to capitalize on the power of our airport, making The BeltLine everything it can be and getting T-SPLOST passed.”

The AJC reported on the same Brookings Institution report that brought up these findings, stating the following about some of the vibrancy in Intown Hot’lanta:

“ One piece of evidence of the pent-up demand for walkable urban space: The only ZIP codes to actually gain housing value in the past decade were Virginia-Highland, Grant Park and East Lake. All of these were considered slums 30 years ago. Today they are among the highest price per square foot for housing in the region.”

When I decided to move Intown in 1998, I never looked back – isn’t it great to hear those stats about VAHI, GP and East Lake???

I was at an Atlanta Falcons tailgate party about three years ago, down in “The Gulch.” “The Gulch” is going to be the subject of another blog post soon, but in the meantime – if you don’t know about “The Gulch” and want to know exactly what it is – click here.

I looked up, and saw that on the very top of an old, decrepit building that sits at the edge of the US federal government buildings was a massive graffiti name tag  – actually two tags – quite an accomplishment, and because of the limited and probably dangerous access, quite an effort just to get the names up there.

Those nicknames, HENSE and BORN have been tags that I have seen for years around town. I have immense respect for the staying power of GREAT graffiti artists.

I have immense disrespect for those who vandalize, and I tried to run off untalented taggers when I was living in Inman Park – so to me, the HENSE and BORN tags on top of the dilapidated building are artistic, cool and worthy of respect – they are an improvement to the building.

So, when the Rocky Ford Road and Arizona Avenue underpasses were recently improved with beautiful new artwork that covers the depth and breadth of the walls, I was quite happy – these displays are not likely to be painted over with stupid, unskilled tags, cursewords and generally weak, eyesore sprays from amateurs.

I found this photo of the lovely artwork at the Arizona Avenue MARTA bridge on HENSE’s website – great artists can turn an eyesore into a street level, free gallery. I write this post to say thanks to HENSE for doing cool work and to anyone else involved in enabling these improvements. Read more about HENSE and this particular piece, here.

He calls it Float – “The public works are roughly 18×100 feet and painted with exterior latex enamel and aerosol on concrete. The pieces were funded with a grant awarded by the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs. These murals are now an asset of the City of Atlanta and will be included in the permanent collection of public art.”

Lets see more of this! The Beltline is leading the way…stay tuned, and maybe, just maybe, the punkass, untalented taggers will remain on the sidelines and away from our beautiful Intown neighborhoods…

It means “to have a common center.”

I just learned that in the world of fiber optics, the definition of concentricity is about being “well-centered.”

At any given real estate brokerage office with more than a few agents on staff, even the most free-wheeling and independent agents are part of the culture – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

At my “market center” in Decatur, Georgia – we live up to the title of market center. We sit in the center of our core submarkets and we dominate the numbers in FMLS Area 52 – the “Greater Decatur” submarket. We also have significant market share in the nearby areas both inside and outside the perimeter. How do we do it? Well, pretty much just like other successful, mature Keller Williams market centers do it.

1. provide the The Best Technology tools to our agents

As technology continues to transform the ways in which buyers search for homes and real estate professionals communicate with their clients, Keller Williams Realty’s, agent driven technology development group is on the forefront of advances that continue to sharpen our agents’ competitive edge.

Read about our latest technology initiative, the eEdge, which is making news in the real estate industry!

2. offer The Best Training and Coaching in the area

A commitment to training and coaching at every level is at the heart of what sets Keller Williams Realty apart. Keller Williams University provides an industry-leading curriculum addressing every aspect of success in real estate. Multimedia training is offered online, via KWConnect, the real estate industry’s most innovative distance learning program. Among the industry’s top tier coaching programs, MAPS Coaching, led by Dianna Kokoszka, is having a profound impact on the careers of thousands of real estate professionals.

3. offer The Best Wealth-Building Opportunities

In keeping with the philosophy that agents are partners and stakeholders in the success of the business, Keller Williams Realty has created a distinct profit sharing program in which approximately 50 percent of every market center’s profits every month are returned to those who have contributed to a market center’s growth by attracting productive associates to the office. To date, 14 Keller Williams associates have earned more than $1 million in profit share and fully 23,769 associates are participating in the profit share program.

Read the recently published White Paper on profit share.

Find out how profit share is changing lives.

4. instill A Culture of Caring

Become part of something bigger…

Keller Williams Realty is a company that changes lives. The culture is as diverse as the countless ways in which associates and market centers commit themselves to finding and serving the higher purpose of business, and is united by cohesive understanding of our Mission, Vision, Values, Beliefs and Perspectives.

During the first, annual nationwide RED Day, which is now a companywide tradition, 22,000 associates participated in a coordinated effort to give back with their local communities.

At the heart of Keller Williams culture in action is KW Cares, a public charity created to reach out and support each other during times of extreme and unexpected hardship

Now,  take all four of those components of success, and find it in action at Keller Williams Metro Atlanta – my market center in downtown Decatur, GA.

1. technology is driving the success of our agents – we have 100% adoption of an online “paperless” real estate processing platform, we train and certify our agents on many MLS tools, research tools, and business operational tools that are in play today – we make things happen for our clients with savvy use of the latest and greatest technologies

2. the best local training and coaching comes from our association with Rick Hale – one of the top real estate agents in Georgia, and the owner/operator of 4 market centers that comprise the Heart of Atlanta Group. Our group is one of the top places to work in Atlanta according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Name another real estate office that can claim that!?

I can name another one – can you? No surprise – it’s another Keller Williams Group…

3. the best wealth building opportunities – in the past year, we’ve had Kay Evans, Bob Kilinski, Jennifer Barnes, Shaun Rawls (twice) and one of KW’s leaders in individual agent profit sharing Aaron Kaufman, plus attornies, accountants, and financial planners, all come to our market center and work with our agents on wealth building. There is not another real estate office in Georgia who can claim that who’s who list.

4. a culture of caring in Decatur, GA – In 2012, we will have a big Decatur Red Day in May! We will host our fourth annual charity event The Taste of the Town in August. We have fun things and heartwarming things and socially bonding things happening on our calendar every month.

One guy, our Team Leader for 13 months, Sean Damman stands as a shining example of the culture in our market center. We are proud to have him as our day to day, face to face, or better yet – IN YOUR FACE, leader – he’s a real estate agent first, with a decade long track record of success. When he left Re/max a few years back, he took full advantage of the technology, the coaching, and the wealth building opportunities at KW Metro Atlanta and shifted his entire team’s business so that he does not have to operate it on a day to day basis. He leads our team of nearly 100 agents. Sean, like Rick Hale, like Gary Keller, sets a terrific example.

And Sean cares. He proves that daily.

What’s really cool is that we are celebrating our TENTH ANNIVERSARY as a market center later this year – we see ten plus more years ahead of continued success, and we welcome anyone to call, stop by or inquire online about what we are up to.

I know that this has been a long blog post, but I hope that it helps some of you who might be looking for some CONCENTRICITY!

We got it in Decatur…

And 2012 is going to bring a big surprise to some real estate players, but to real estate business folks like me, we won’t be surprised.

My company President, Mark Willis, claims that Keller Williams Realty is poised to be the #1 real estate company in the world next year.

On 12/31/2010, I did not even speculate that one of the world’s largest Re/max franchisees, Re/max Greater Atlanta, would evaporate and scatter its agents far and wide by Spring 2011. A sad, broken business model. Ran out of money.

I also did not consider that one of Atlanta’s most formidable boutique brokerages, Sanctuary, was struggling too.

I got my real estate salesperson’s license in Georgia in 1999.

Back in 1999, when I became a Charter member of Keller Williams Realty First Atlanta, I became a “blueprint buyer,” for Keller Williams Realty in Georgia. “Keller who?” was a constant  statement. We were unproven, yet quite bodacious with the red signage, the talent pool and the belief that we had a better model – a better model that focused on the agent, and not the brokerage, as the key driver to a team’s success.

Today, worldwide growth places Keller Williams Realty International on it’s way to being the #1 real estate brokerage in the world. We’ve been rising place by place in the top 5 for about 5 years in a row.

Locally, the net results of 2011 in the Atlanta real estate market have transformed lives, businesses, careers and mindsets.

For those of us who have been a part of Keller Williams Realty for a while, we just keep shifting, and growing.

And, when I say that A is for Atlanta, D is for Decatur, I am offering an Eastside shout out to one of KW’s newest agents, and certainly Atlanta’s best real estate blogger, Jon Effron.

He just wrote a swell article that shouts out my walkable hometown of Decatur as the best submarket in metro Atlanta…nice call.

Jon’s A is for Atlanta blog is entertaining, informative and loaded with value.

Jon is also one of the best real estate agents in Intown Atlanta, and at the end of 2011, he and some of his fellow Sanctuary agents joined Keller Williams Realty’s Heart of Atlanta group.

We are glad to have them, and I am glad to know that I can use their cute little office space in Inman Park when I need it…

I believe that 2012 will bring some counterbalance to the past 5 years of real estate market upheaval. Intown, we have seen far less distress than the suburbs, and as an Intown specialist, I am very encouraged by the outlook for 2012.

Some of the most talented agents in metro Atlanta have joined me at Keller Williams Realty over the past 12 years. Many are hustling everyday and they are building careers worth having, businesses worth owning, and lives worth living.

As Zig Ziglar says, see you at the top!

It’s a relatively rare book nowadays, but I found one for sale at this link. Books are rare nowadays…here’s more for sale on amazon.com…

The book is dedicated “to those families who are shaping the best of yesterday into a better tomorrow.”

I am about to start the chapter called “The Preacher” and I am only on page 81 – I’ve read the opening “Look Away,” “The Native,” “The Planter,” “The Cracker,” “The Negro,” “The Factor,” and “The Teacher” chapters so far.

It’s a timepiece. It’s respectful. It’s circumspect. It’s a fascinating look at how we all got here in the past few centuries, and each chapter is a quick read, written by an expert on the subject…

In “The Cracker",” I learned that Ponce De Leon was fatally wounded about one month after making an attempt to establish the first permanent European settlement in what is now the USA. Other momentous Ponce De Leon events like the groundbreaking of The Clermont Hotel, and the inaugural dance of Blondie Strange at The Clermont Lounge are not mentioned…

The book, and some other reading that I’m doing on the Civil War Battle of Atlanta in 1864, has led me to a much deeper interest in the gently rolling hills of our neighborhoods and to a desire to find the oldest houses and chronicled happenings in Intown Atlanta and Decatur.

The book is a really good look at how The South developed, until 1959…the transformation since then makes many in my Mom’s generation cringe…if Robert West Howard had a blog, a laptop, an Iphone, and listened to Outkast and Lynyrd Skynyrd, then my Mom would think that he is in league with Satan.

Write me if you want to get together on July 21 – a Thursday afternoon, and go to The Cyclorama in Grant Park. I blocked my afternoon that day for an Intown Insider gathering – The Cyclorama, then beers and snacks on the rooftop at Six Feet Under.

Wanna join me? Email or text me.

Robert West Howard was a Yankee, by the way. He edited “This is the West” prior to writing his Southern collection. This man built communities of writers and created books that are still worth reading – I suggest that you pick up a copy!

We told everyone who had an interest in the eventual $217,000 sale of a gorgeous 4/2/1 in August 2009 that a nifty new shopping center is coming soon to Parkview. Now, it’s real – Parkview Station is coming in the Fall of 2010.

I’ve been hearing about the redevelopment of Parkview Plaza, a rather dilapidated and lowly looking 1960’s built shopping center, ever since I moved Intown in 1998. The rhetoric started to pick up in 2007, and lo and behold the roof is getting a skin over, the front facade is getting a facelift and the whole place will be filled with tenants by Autumn 2010…we hope.

Here’s  a video with a quick look at the project, shot on Monday February 8th.

So, if you’ve read my blog posts before, you know that I take occasional subjective leaps. Here’s another one:

Parkview is also the name of a storied drug and alcohol treatment center that once existed in Nashville, Tennessee.

Country music legend and pioneering television star, Porter Wagoner sang a song that Johnny Cash wrote for him, “Committed to Parkview” on his final LP and here is a video that he cut with Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives that offers a haunting interpretation of the lyrics that Mr. Cash wrote – the legend is that both Johnny and Porter were once patients at Parkview and ultimately, they both kicked some demons there…

The players on this shopping center redevelopment are all veterans of nearby redevelopment projects, so with a neighborly heart I want to see them succeed with a bustling shopping center filled with nice stores, bars, restaurants and healthy local businesses.

I took my old friends at The Fresh Market and their broker on an Intown tour back in 2007, and they concluded that the opportunities on Memorial would not work for them. I think that The Fresh Market would be a perfect fit in  our Kroger / Publix / Wayfield / Aldi / Piggly Wiggly world of eastern Dekalb County, but really, I’m selfish and what do I really know about shopping center demography?

I know that the redevelopment team are committed to Parkview Station, but lets hope that they don’t get “committed” to “Parkview” in the risky process of making money in commercial redevelopment nowadays…

On Friday, January 22 I filmed this quick look at the Home of the World Famous Ghetto Burger.

I saw that the property is listed for sale in my multiple listing service, so I decided that it was time for a couple of quick videos – this snack bar is a very successful “sole proprietorship.”

I like to call it a “soul proprietorship” because Miss Ann is the heart, and soul of her little place at 1615 Memorial Drive Kirkwood, ATL, Zone 6, GA 30317.

I’ve eaten here twice and waited for over an hour in a standing room only crowd, and left the premises, unfed, three times…

The burger is everything that “they” say that it is. They starts with the Wall Street Journal, and many other media mouthpieces and food-aholic burger-eaters.

But I’m not writing about burgers, I’m writing about Intown Atlanta real estate.

Here is a paraphrased version of  the listing agent’s public remarks:

“A snack bar – home of the Ghetto Burger. After 37 years, Ann is ready to sell.

Ann will agree to to stay for a period of time with the new owner.

The Ghetto Burger was named the “Best Burger in America” by the Wall Street Journal.”

If you watched the first video, then you saw my 2 minute, exterior review of the premises. As my friend Alex says – “it’s just a snack bar, right?”

Yes, a snack bar is exactly what it is. And, I’ll bet that the property is about 1/2 acre, with a little less than 100’ of Memorial Drive street frontage. Somebody built a sturdy little snack bar here in 1969, the listing agent advertises 20 parking spaces but I only count 5 or 6, and Miss Ann had property taxes last year of just $597.00…

I filmed this next video of the immediate commercial real estate neighbors nearby – certainly, this area is loaded with traffic, and if we get 2 more grocery stores “re-installed” within a mile of each other on Memorial by 2013, which is my prediction, then the traffic will get even heavier.

A grocery store and other decent retailers, are about to load up the Parkview Plaza, about 1/2 mile to the east, this year.

Right now the biggest driver of traffic on east Memorial Drive is Miss Ann.

How much is her $1.5 Million offering worth, without her?

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!

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…