Why do I care who “Tyler Durden” is? Because “Tyler Durden” told the world about an article that Charles Hugh Smith wrote.

Tyler operates a blogsite called Zero Hedge. Tyler is anonymous.

On April 11, Charles Hugh Smith asked “What if housing is done for a generation?”

He states that “declining employment, income and household formation are complex, long-term trends. If they continue trending down, so too will housing.”

My daughter is 4 years old and she is the generation ahead – she has immense, positive  possibilities for her future. Massive positive changes for the good of mankind are ahead. Futuristic amazement.

She’s a child that will grow up Intown – some of the massive, positive changes that are coming her way are driven by a demand for sustainable Intown living, a demand for automation and efficiency, and a demand for high touch, in a world of high tech – you name it – cool stuff is ahead.

So, does that mean that the average value of residential housing across the United States will go up over the next twenty years?

NO.

The generation ahead is simply looking for good stewardship from us. Think about that…

And the generation ahead in housing is what the bright minded stewards of 2012 should be thinking about, submarket by submarket – street by street.

Because, in the larger pool, when Charles Hugh Smith puts up this graph and states “What few are willing to entertain is the possibility that housing is no longer the foundation of middle class wealth, and that its decline is structural, not cyclical” you gotta take him seriously…

Just don’t own in markets that have a greater propensity to exist on the collapsing side of this graph…that’s what I’ll tell my daughter when she buys her first house.

And, to Scott Mauldin, a local Atlanta CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™  and one cool dude that I know from college – thanks for introducing me to Tyler Durden. No matter how dark he gets…

I moved to Euclid Avenue in Inman Park in 1998 and I have lived in Kirkwood and now Decatur.

Ever since I moved Intown, the #1 property crime has always been the “auto break in.” For the first time ever, this particular crime affects me.

It sounds like there is a coordinated wave happening too, according to an APD article about a recent arrest.

I am the victim of a car break in in the parking lot at 27 Waddell, last night around 9pm. It’s the lot at my daughter’s pre-school. It’s the lot that Yoga Samadhi and Sauced use.

I’m really angry about this, and I want this to be the last break in our lot. It sucks to have this happen. It sucks that is it probably going to happen in 30307 about once every 60 minutes almost every night of the week…it really sucks that it happened in our lot, twice in two days.

This is my first “car break in.” I’m 46. I know that this is the most frequent and quite frankly the easiest crime to commit in Zone 6. I know that enough to have always locked my car, and to have always kept valuables out of plain sight in my car, even pocket change. Tonight was no exception.

About eleven years ago, I was the Inman Park Public Safety VP – when I say I never expected this level of amateurish vandalism it is an understatement. I really haven’t heard about this particularly dirty type of break in until lately – the kind where a scavenger is obviously comfortable enough to crack a window, and then spend time in a vehicle and snoop around and look for stuff that isn’t so obvious. This guy is working our parking lot like a business.

I had nothing of value on display – he took nothing. But here’s where it gets interesting – I saw him. I saw him shortly after he broke my window.

I walked out of the school board meeting and I’m the first in the lot – I see no one else – I looked over at my Black Mazda 5 minivan from 50 feet away, and I saw someone. I hesitated for a few seconds and then he apparently scurried like a rat along the base of the eastern fence wall, and then I hear a rattle at the fence – then his feet hit the Edgewood sidewalk, and I see him and he starts walking towards the Waddell intersection, westward on Edgewood.  He sees me – I’m ten feet from him and I’m within 4-5 feet of the wall at Edgewood – he takes off sprinting, turns the corner on Waddell southward and he’s gone.

I’m flustered, so I run towards the parking lot entry at Waddell, thinking that I can photo him or something, but he fled into the night, and since I was not ready for this, I got nothing but my weak description.

He was an African American male with dark skin, 20-25 years old, he looked relatively healthy, had short hair and he was wearing a grey t shirt and probably blue jeans of some sort.

That’s what I told the police and the 911 operator.

Here’s the rest of what I can speculate about him …
He probably has a criminal record, he is a no good, low grade criminal who probably lives nearby and just works this low level vandal thing taking advantage of private parking lots that offer, I guess – room to operate, and easy escapes.

This same guy probably is the guy that broke into another school parent’s car yesterday morning, parked in nearly the same spot. Morning or night – he likes our parking lot. Is he brazen enough to return soon?

I am particularly glad that he apparently was not armed.

He is a comfortable figure in “our” comfortable world, but I have to believe that he is slightly uncomfortable in our parking lot for now -  but damn, he must know a secret way in and out and he must really, really like our area of operation…all that I was left to say was “he went that way…”

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 headline sounds gloomy doesn’t it?

The good news is that we are only talking about distressed sales being 30% of the FOR SALE market.

The venerable Atlanta Business Chronicle reported on the latest CoreLogic numbers in a recent article: “In metro Atlanta, 37.4 percent, or 456,242, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity in the fourth quarter of 2011. This compares with 34.5 percent, or 420,160 properties in the third quarter.

Another 6.8 percent, or 83,248 residential properties, were in near negative equity in the fourth quarter, compared with 7 percent, or 85,819, in the third quarter.”

Negative equity is another term for underwater. Underwater means that a homeowner owes more to a bank or to more than one bank, than their property is worth for sale.

These 456,242 homeowners are spread throuhout metro Atlanta.

Some neighborhoods have a higher concentration than others.

Mark Fleming, Chief Economist with CoreLogic states: “The high level of negative equity and the inability to pay is the ‘double trigger’ of default, and the reason we have such a significant foreclosure pipeline.”

What does this mean to you?

• Not only has the percentage of distressed property SALES increased during this market shift, the percentage of distressed property ACTIVE listings continues at a high percentage of listings, also
• When Buyers have a greater percentage of distressed property listings to choose from, the likelihood of finding a lower-priced acceptable one to buy increases, forcing non-distressed property Sellers to lower their listing prices in order to compete

If you are interested in selling an Intown Atlanta or Decatur property right now, then please call us and schedule a meeting  – underwater or not, market knowledge rules. I am a Certified Distressed Property Expert, and helping underwater sellers with a short sale is one of my daily duties.

Helping an equity seller plan a move up, a move out or a move away, is always one of my daily duties.

Please call us if we can help you…underwater or not.

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?

Zillow, with all of it’s pitfalls, can’t be all wrong.

Whenever someone tells me about a Zestimate, I just say, please speak with a Zappraiser about that. I’m in the business of selling houses, not zestimating.

Metro Atlanta’s home values fell 12.9 percent in 2011, according to Zillow ’s Real Estate Market Reports.

The area’s home values averaged $109,100, which was down 37.9 percent from the market’s peak several years ago.

So, with the fourth quarter numbers in, here’s a little bit of a forecast for 2012:

“…Fortunately, against a backdrop of modest further declines in home values, we expect that home sales will pick up briskly this year as affordable prices bring more buyers to the table, especially investors and second-home buyers.”

Zillow does not forecast a definitive national bottom until 2013 and predicts a national decline of 3.7 percent in 2012. Click here for more….”

There are two things that my client needs to know if they decide to do this.

1. they could be under contract on two properties, but they would be violating a clause in contract #1, and before they get a preapproval for contract #2, their lender would want to see a termination of contract #1, unless they didn’t tell their lender about contract #1, so that means that they do indeed need to be working with two lenders who don’t know about one another – they could do this if they want to put two earnest money checks in play, and as long as they understand the other legal risks. They might lose their earnest money(ies), and/or they might get sued if they don’t protect themselves.

2. they can obtain enough cash to buy both and move forward without consequences