One of my first time condo buyer clients asked me today "hey Lee, what does distressed property mean?" I answered: "Distressed means a lot of things, but simple, physical distress is vandalism, misuse, abuse, etc. Many distressed properties are physically harmed fixer uppers. In condos, distressed communities are insolvent, poorly led, lacking reserve funds, overwhelmed by rule breaking owners, exceeding the landlord limit of 25% maximum rentals for most bank approvals, and a host of other financial problems that banks will not underwrite with traditional financing guidelines..." I decided to find the current Trulia graphic for one of the most maligned zip codes in the state of Georgia, 30310 - a zip code that has seen real estate value distress for about 8-10 years, and that has been written about internationally as a "poster child" for mortgage fraud, foreclosure and in some neighborhoods like Pittsburgh - outright abandonment - like 40% + of all houses are boarded … [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...]
True shadow inventory in Intown Atlanta
I speak with agents and other players in the real estate business everyday and one subject that seems to creep up lately is “shadow inventory.” Shadow inventory includes properties that are abandoned by their former owner, typically due to foreclosure, plus a few other oddities. Here’s a better definition, from Investopedia: “real estate properties that are either in foreclosure and have not yet been sold or homes that owners are delaying putting on the market until prices improve. Shadow inventory can create uncertainty about the best time to sell (for owners) and when a local market can expect full recovery. Also, shadow inventory typically causes reported data on housing inventory to understate the actual number of inventory in the market…” Here’ s local example – a house listed for short sale in Ormewood Park for a few months in 2009. The sellers failed to sell, and were notified that the bank seized their property in foreclosure in December 2009. Nearly 20 … [Read more...]
The secrets to finding a buyer in the Intown Atlanta real estate market
Many different features attract buyers to a real estate purchase, but the seller only has control over two of them. 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 … [Read more...]
Predicting Atlanta’s housing forecast
I have written about Housing Predictor and their uncanny accuracy since my first days of blog writing back in 2008. For the three years that I have followed the writing at Housing Predictor, they have been almost 100% accurate, and they have tracked closely with a statement that I heard from my business coach back in October 2007. He stated: “The median price for a metro Atlanta single family house will fall by 35-45% in the next 3-5 years.” I mentioned that to many other folks at the time, and most disagreed…it sounded unbelievable to most people just three years ago…looking back, through the use of this chart, I remember the lowest lows, and I remember the 2010 stimulated highs… Housing Predictor’s 2011 Georgia forecast is on track with his prediction and the writers believe that due to weak consumer confidence and unemployment, Atlanta’s median price will be down another 8.2% at the end of 2011. Do you have confidence that this is the best market … [Read more...]
The distinction and value of a lakefront lot
This is another story where the value of knowing Hank Miller comes in handy. I represent some folks who wanted to buy a house on a lakefront. More like a pond front, but we’ll call it a lakefront. Not Lake Altoona or Lanier – a small suburban lake. Well, the buyers didn’t think that the seller and the listing agent were realistic with their pricing. The property had about 100’ of lakefront. So, I talked to this listing agent and she encouraged me to consider the value of lake frontage - she lives on lake frontage - she's sold many lake fronts - she told me that they always have to be “comped” against other lake lots and she told me that appraisers routinely will go outside of distinct zip code and school district level geographic parameters in order to make an accurate comparable for a lakefront property. She encouraged me to look at lake lots all over and to go back further than 6 months of sales - she states that appraisers will routinely adjust for the sales … [Read more...]