The Intown neighborhoods of Atlanta and Decatur are littered with failed sellers and with mistaken buyers. There are too many real estate agents who can’t keep their signs straight or keep flyer boxes full, or even how to position properties for internet validity.

Regardless, our neighborhoods are also blessed with rich amenities, diverse and interesting cultures and subcultures, and inherent Georgia value, lot for lot, street by street.

I know that most of the time, once a seller has the right information, then they will make an informed decision about pricing and staging their property to sell quickly and for the highest possible price.

I have a 93 Point marketing plan that has been proven to get houses sold 6 times faster than the average agent and at 98.5% of list.

I have a 27 page Guidebook to Purchasing Georgia property that has helped to lead over 100 buyers to successful real estate closings since 2004. (the file is so BIG, you’ll have to email me to get a copy)…

Uniquely, my value stems from knowing the streets of Intown Atlanta like few other professionals, from mastering the pricing properties with clarity, and from looking out for the absolute best interests of my clients.

If you or someone else that you know is seeking help with buying, selling or investing in real estate right now, please connect them with me.

A client of mine motivated me to give my opinion on a simple valuation idea.

He wants to base future value of a 2012 purchase on the recent value of the same piece of real estate back in 2007.

I suggested that if 2007 is a baseline for him…not so fast.

Literally – not so fast. A return to 2007 prices is likely to be decades away, and for only select US submarkets. Others are literally stagnant or dead. Unrecoverable.

The US real estate market is not best measured today, or in the future by using 2007 as a baseline for quick comparison.

Gary Keller’s message is North American in scope, but his mindset can help anyone see the bigger real estate picture on their Intown Atlanta or Decatur street.

I wouldn’t be bold enough to state that about 2007 unless I heard that from someone else – I’m no expert, but Gary Keller is. I’ve known Gary for 14 years. He’s the best agent in the country and he built Keller Williams Realty over the past 29 years as the real estate agency of choice – we’ll be #1 worldwide, next year.

I began my career with KW in 1999.

Gary wrote the Millionaire Real Estate Investor book about 7 years ago – I have not ever studied a better book on the subject. You should buy a copy. http://www.kellerink.com/products/millionaire-real-estate-investor-single

Gary delivers an annual vision speech at the KW convention – he’s as smooth as they get and he never pulls punches. Great speaker on a dry subject – stats and charts galore.

If you have 180 minutes to learn more about US real estate, and if you think BIG enough to apply what you learn to your property interests in Atlanta, then watch these videos of Gary last month delivering his Vision Speech for 2012…

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=5426&sh=40544 part 1

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=7045&sh=40545 part 2

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=7046&sh=40546 part 3

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=7047&sh=40547 part 4

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=7048&sh=40548 part 5

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=7049&sh=40549 part 6

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=7050&sh=40550 part 7

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=7051&sh=40551 part 8

http://kwconnect.kw.com/connect/user/share.jsp?p=7052&sh=40552 part 9

I want my clients to succeed at the highest levels with their real estate goals. I also would rather challenge their thinking now, rather than disappoint them later with blown expectations.

Gary helps us understand the bigger picture, and he helps Intown Atlanta buyers and sellers set realistic expectations.

The conditions that drive sales are improving so it might be the right time to get your house ready for showing.

If you want to attain the highest market value for your property, you must have exceptional marketing.

Exceptional marketing – That’s where I come in.

Remember, you only get one chance to make a great first impression – so curb appeal INSIDE AND OUT is critical. And now most potential buyers are looking online first. So first impressions online are critical as well. I already provide the most extensive online exposure in the industry with the KWLS and my 93 Point Marketing Plan.

I use high-quality photography, videos and other techniques to bring the unique story of your property to life – online, in print and in person.

I inventoried my signs today, and I have 13 For Sale signs, 13 flyer boxes, and a lot of directional signage for open houses and street by street navigation, all ready for deployment – how about you call me up and we place one in your yard and cause the sale of your property, right now?

To learn more about your local market conditions and how to get the highest value for your property this spring, contact us today!

If You Know Someone Who Can Benefit From Our Real Estate Expertise, We Would Love To Help Them.

The Federal National Mortgage Association plays an even greater role in the housing market today as our nation recovers from the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression.

Making an offer to purchase a Fannie Mae HomePath property is now quick, easy, and entirely online! Beginning February 2, all offers on HomePath properties must be made using the HomePath Online Offer system.

More good news – you can set up your own profile on their site and search all you want, nationwide – it’s a feature rich site, and the bid process is way more efficient than many other methods of real estate purchase and sale today.

All offers for HomePath properties must be submitted through a licensed real estate broker/agent, so that’s where I come in!

My office is located at 315 W. Ponce De Leon Avenue Suite 100 Decatur, GA 30030.

That’s in downtown Decatur, at the corner of Ponce De Leon Place, in a tall, white office tower called "Decatur Court."

We have free parking for my guests – the spaces marked "Keller Williams Guest" are parallel spaces, along the eastern side of the building – those spaces are accessed by pulling into the driveway that leads to the Wells Fargo teller lines on the Eastern side of the building.

If you have trouble finding those spaces, just park and come in – we are located on the first floor.

I met Chris Gardner yesterday – the guy that wrote the book, “The Pursuit of Happyness.” He’s a remarkable man. He says some things in his recently published book “Start Where You Are” that should resonate with Atlanta sellers who really, truly want to sell their houses in 2012, even if their attempts at being ON the market haven’t worked so far.

Chris teaches a lesson that should resonate with you if you are among the more than 50% of all listed sellers in the past few years, that failed to sell.

Chris learned this lesson from his Mother one night while they were watching an old Western TV show – “The cavalry ain’t coming!”

Here’s a further look into what that means, from page 33 of his recent book:

“yes, I can speak to factors outside of my control and blame them for the predicament or make excuses about why things didn’t work out like they should have…maybe it’s all true, but that doesn’t change where I am…”

Are you someone who wants to sell your house in 2012, in spite of failed attempts in previous years?

Mr or Ms. Seller – what do you think stopped your home from selling?

“It’s the market.”

Here’s a few questions to ponder…

What did your previous agent do that you liked best about them and their services?

What do you wish they would have done better?

What would you expect from the next agent you choose?

If you are an expired, withdrawn or otherwise crestfallen Intown Atlanta or Decatur seller, then I would like to apply for the job of selling your home.

Are you familiar with the techniques that I use to sell homes?

If not, then when would be a great time for me to stop by and show you?

On January 17, she published a quick read on technology trends in the business, and featured some cool photos and stories on 4 Tech trends to watch in 2012 that she gleaned from the CES earlier this month.

I decided to repackage her findings a little and add some local color.

1. intuitive combination devices – I am going to kill my Dell laptop after I turn it in for it’s second keyboard in 15 months, and just go Ipad or with a super thin ultrabook or something. I already rely so much on my Iphone, and with apps like GAMLS, Kurio and Trulia’s mobile apps, plus a killer app like Dropbox, field level functionality for agents has never been better

Add KW’s eEdge paperless real estate and client service platform, and a guy like me is highly dangerous.

The .25 calibre ACP that I carry sometimes really isn’t that dangerous – it’s there to “get me out of situations…” I haven’t had to use it yet, and y’all know where I get deployed from occasionally. I do think that my handgun is an intuitive combination device…

2. seamless and instant video sharing – my 4 year old Flip Camera will soon be obsolete. My Iphone doesn’t have enough video portability for longer videos. So, 2012 is going to be the year for me to step up to a new video camera. Stay tuned. Leetaylor.tv is coming…

3. enabled and enhanced on-the-go products and services – I just mentioned a few in the first paragraph, but Emily’s feature on the pocket-sized PowerTrekk really caught my eye. It is coming this Spring and it “uses fuel cell technology to power up mobile phones, cameras, GPS devices, and other electronics. The pocket-size charger provides instant power to your devices by converting hydrogen into electricity. It can produce the power of up to four AA batteries–suitable for powering up your phone for 10 hours. You just insert the fuel pack and add water to start recharging your portable devices.”

How cool is that?

4. thin is in – form is meeting function – Emily talks about the ultrathin notebook in her post. I believe I’ll move to an Ipad sooner rather than later. More and more, agents that I know are working Ipads almost exclusively. Cloud apps are making lightweight dreams a reality.

I have a lot of tech savvy, creative clients and they have always kept me engaged on the latest and greatest devices, tips, tricks, tools, shortcuts, hacks and applications that make my real estate business better. If you know about a tech trend that I should know about too, please contact me and keep me in your loop!

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!

She wrote me today and told me that when she googled “Atlanta real estate” the Intown Insider showed up on the first page. Cool!

This may not always be the case, but today, it is. Check it out here at this link to the google page for the search terms “Atlanta real estate,” and you’ll see about 262,000,000 results.

My article entitled The recent quarter in metro Atlanta real estate, dated July 2011, appears among the first 13 results today.

Again, cool.

Trulia, my favorite real estate monster site, published this piece today about “How to safeguard your online reputation.”

Trulia’s best advice to me today is: “Proactively use this to your advantage and create online content that demonstrates your knowledge and expertise.”

So, what being on the first page of google means to me today is that I just had a significant life lesson reinforced.

That lesson is that proactivity rules. Proactivity is the #1 habit of highly effective people.

Lets see if I can keep this up!

To tell you the truth, I have not ever spent a single dime on SEO for this website and I get a call every week from some numbskull in another part of the USA that wants to put me on the first page of google for “Atlanta real estate” with their magical web enhancements for $500-2000 per month.

I think I’ll just keep blogging…Thank you world wide web.

The long tail is right here, and if you have a property to list for sale or lease in Intown Atlanta or Decatur, then call me and lets talk about online marketing results that will get your house sold for top dollar in the fastest amount of time possible…my 3 year average is 28 days. My listings sell at an average of 96.3% of list price.

And today, I’m #1 on google.

Sellers can still get the highest possible list-to-sell ratio and sell their homes as quickly as possible if they are willing to put their trust in two time trusted principles of real estate: condition and price.

Since 72% of all sales transactions are “equity” transactions – not distressed, not some odd luxury transaction and not an estate sale, the chances are favorable for sellers who “get it.”

Here are the the top ten features that attract buyers according to the Keller Williams Realty International survey conducted for our 2011 Market Navigator booklet.

1. Location – favored by 69% of buyers

2. Neighborhood – favored by 55% of buyers

2. Floor plan – favored by 37% of buyers

3. Updates to the house – favored by 36% of buyers

4. Curb appeal – favored by 30% of buyers

5. Square footage – favored by 28% of buyers

6. Back yard – favored by 25% of buyers

7. A great kitchen – favored by 23% of buyers

8. Lot size – favored by 22% of buyers

9. Age of the home – favored by 18% of buyers

10. the final 4 – Garage, Style, Flooring and Commuting range – all favored by about 15% of buyers

If you are selling real estate in metro Atlanta – if you are distressed by a real estate problem in metro Atlanta – please call me. I am a capable navigator in this market, and I would appreciate the opportunity to help you accentuate the positive with your property…