This chart is a big eye opener.

Take into account the following facts:

1. The <$200K price range had a more severe impact (-24.9 percentage points) on the percentage of listing price realized after a price reduction, but all price ranges are affected heavily when a reduction is necessary

2. The lower price range impact was likely amplified by the number of foreclosed properties in that price range

3. Between $200K and $999,999, Sellers who don’t price their property right the first time are losing anywhere from 5-8% on the sale … that doesn’t even account for the lost capital - time is money, and monthly debts must be paid, month after overpriced month

In the past 2 weeks, we’ve concluded the following, in addition to this bold statement about the effect of price reductions:

A. Sellers are paying some or all closing costs in about 71% of Intown transactions

B. Most Listing Agents and Sellers, most of the time are off by about 7% List vs. SOLD on Intown sales

C. The Median Sales Price is down 10.1% through the first half for the Intown neighborhoods we surveyed

Here are the submarkets that we studied…

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

If you seek a detailed, street by street market analysis of your neighborhood, or if you are tired of hearing the same old thing from real estate agents and so-called property marketers, then call The Rootdown Group. You will be glad that you did…

Sellers in Intown Atlanta and Decatur paid some, or all, of their Buyer’s closing costs in 71% of the transactions through June, 2008, which is nearly the same as in the last two years…

Seller Paid Closing Costs

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

Based on my experience, these numbers seem even higher  - like 90% of the time or more. That being said, I’ve also experienced two transactions this Summer where appraisal almost caused the deal to fall apart and the Buyers ended up paying their own closing costs, among other concessions, in order to make the deal work.

It’s business as “unusual!”

Here’s another eye opener…we’ve seen this trend for a long, long time - at least since The Rootdown Group got started in April 2004…but…in Intown Atlanta, which we define thusly:

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

…We see, that for the first half of 2008:

1. The median of the sales price as a percentage of the original list price dropped to its lowest level in three years during 1Q 2008 and, although higher than in 1Q, remained historically low through 2Q 2008

2. The 2Q 2008 percentage is nearly the same as in the greater metro Atlanta area

So, at 92.6% of original list price most listing agents and sellers are missing significant sales by overpricing - overpricing by over 7% on average.

Median Sales Price as a %age of Original List Price

Does your Realtor get this?

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!

In the past decade, on any given day in the peaceful environs of Grant Park, you might have seen a sturdy workhorse of a man driving his faithful Jeep to and fro … alas, those days have ended.

Less than one year ago, this Jeep came back from a larcenous joyride that would have left other vehicles for lost. It came back painted pink, and covered in mud. Recovered from a Newton County salvage yard, many would have left it for dead. No, not this man among men. He restored the working parts and continued to drive it, pink and muddy. Until this past weekend…

The photograph only tells a wee part of this story.

The owner of this vehicle, Mr. Tad Mitchell gave it all of the love that he could, but in the early morning of May 25, the Jeep burned to the ground while parked across the street from the Grant Park pool.

Tad states that “he is not ruling anything out.” I asked - “was it spontaneous combustion?” Tad states that he is not ruling anything out. I asked - “could it have been a picnic reveller with some leftover lighter fluid - there were 1000’s of people BBQ’ing in the park on Saturday…?” Tad states that he is not ruling anything out.

Possibly, this could have been a hot wire attempt gone bad - nevertheless, City of Atlanta officials have hauled the burned carcass to their laboratory in the hope that they will be able to establish a definitive story. They stand ready to serve a fine citizen like Tad at a moment’s notice.

 I know one Rolling Stones lyric that sums this up - “Sparks Will Fly“:

…You’d better stand back

The flames are high

Better get help

Can’t stop the fire

Bell’s going to ring

Hear the alarms

Better tell the fire chief To quit playing cards…

Kat Hagan and Drew Dominey, two emerging Atlanta Artists will be hosting a closing reception for their show, Doin’ What We Do, this Friday, March 28th at the Hushpuppy Gallery, starting at 7 PM.
Here’s your directions…379 Woodward, near 6 Feet Under in Grant Park.

The entire show will be on display, in addition to a select number of brand new pieces. Visitors to the gallery will also be able to participate in a Silent Auction on many of the pieces. Additionally, popular local music act, Le Sexoflex, will be performing at the gallery at 8PM.

Le Sexoflex has performed to several near capacity crowds and even appeared on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie soundtrack, and will be doing an “acoustic” version of their stage show in an intimate setting for this special event.

I’m goin’ just to see the self-proclaimed “sexiest band in the world” performing acoustically…otherwise, Kat and Drew are remarkably talented artists - catch ‘em before they blow up!