2011 ends with one or two real estate brokerage surprises that I did not see coming 365 days ago. Kind of a turbulent year for some in the real estate brokerage business. 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 … [Read more...]
Best performers in Atlanta
In the past two posts, I wrote about distressed properties. Today, I am writing about two of the best performing neighborhoods of Intown Atlanta and Decatur. Last night, my daughter was the best performer in Kirkwood. So, when thinking about real estate values, one of the safer notions to consider about today’s real estate market is that even the best performing neighborhoods of Atlanta are “down about 10% or so…” I looked up 2 neighborhoods that offer tremendous value, two neighborhoods that have pretty consistent demand, just to see if my notion is valid. 1. Morningside - there were 209 sales in 2007, at an average sold price of $578,072, and the number of days on market average was 74 … there have been 143 sales so far in 2011, at an average sold price of $524,815, and the number of days on market average was 81 2. City of Decatur - there were 273 sales in 2007, at an average sold price of $391,342, and the number of days on market average was 64 … … [Read more...]
Advice on buying a $9000.00 house…
I have a house listed for sale for $9000.00. The house is located at 1245 Byewood Lane in Southwest Atlanta. It’s a short sale. It’s open for showings. It’s pretty big. It backs up to the city of Atlanta’s “Oakland City Park.” I get inquiries from around the world about it – it has been on the market for over a month, yet no one seems to want to buy it. Oakland City is in one of the most distressed zip codes in the country, 30310. Regardless, in my opinion, 30310 has a great twenty to thirty year outlook - it's the zip that I will buy in when I start landlording new properties again. Here’s some advice I’ve offered recently to a potential investor – a guy from Australia: I told him - check out these links that detail current trends in and around 30310: 1. Fort McPherson redevelopment 2. Lakewood Fairgrounds redevelopment 3. Ford assembly plant redevelopment and the recent commitment by Porsche North America The way … [Read more...]
Buying beats renting, dollar for dollar in Intown Atlanta
Trulia.com's "rent versus buy index" is the best resource on the internet for answering a very generic question - should you rent, or should you buy in metropolitan Atlanta? For the past few months, Atlanta property, dollar for dollar, is better to buy than to rent - on average - across many counties. The BUY NOW versus RENT NOW numbers get even more dramatic for buying now when certain submarkets are studied. Here's two examples: 1. just about any close in condominium, loft or townhome 2. just about any house in a great Intown school district My friend Scott Mauldin sent me a 16 page document yesterday entitled "Housing: A Time To Buy" written by some of his folks at JP Morgan Asset Management - the overwhelming evidence supports buying in the best Intown Atlanta submarkets - is it time for you to make the move up? You can find the article within two clicks, here. … [Read more...]
One year later, in downtown Decatur
I bought my downtown Decatur townhouse one year ago today. My purchasing power was amazing - VA Loan, 100% financing and a 4% APR. Who was thinking that we would be seeing rates lower than that one year later? Not the Mortgage Bankers Association...but I digress. I completed the renovations months ago, but it is still a work in progress - Decatur is a fantastic place to live (and walk to work), my real estate agency business at Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta is terrific, and life is extremely good - in a world of complaint, misery, woe and confusion, I know what I know and I know that I am blessed... My daughter is asleep upstairs, as I write at 700 this morning. She likes the fact that my townhouse is next to the dog park, and within walking distance of the Snoball Cafe'. I am going to use my townhouse as an example for the rest of this post - an example of advice that I offer to my clients everyday. I like to distinguish the fact that real estate purchases - … [Read more...]
The recent quarter in metro Atlanta real estate
I am about to dig into the stats and charts that Chartmaster Chuck prepares for us every quarter and his recent report through June is really a “tipping point” kind of report. I picked up on three highlights that I’ll note in this post – look for details in the next few posts. Highlight #1 - Current Buyer price resistance remains very high due to availability of lower-priced distressed inventory, making high-value initial listing prices essential Highlight #2 - Unusual opportunity exists for high-value purchases – we see declining prices, distressed property availability is high and anxious sellers are getting it done Highlight #3 – only 47.4% of all listings failed to sell, that is down a good bit There is more significant, market intelligence coming to this blog, so stay tuned! … [Read more...]