Marcie Geffner is a noted real estate, finance and business writer and Bankrate.com published three of her recent articles that offer lots of information on the current federal income tax credit.

Here’s one entitled “4 Tips for the Homebuyer Tax Credit.”

Here’s another entitled “Secrets of the Homebuyer Tax Credit”

And, here is one more entitled “Homebuyer Tax Credit Rewards Repeat Buyers.”

Here’s my favorite item from the guidelines that govern use of the credit:

“The home can be a mobile home or travel trailer that is fixed to land owned or leased by the home owner. A mobile home or travel trailer that is actually mobile doesn’t qualify.”

Uh, does this particular mobile assemblage account?

Here is a helpful cut and paste graphic from my friends at W.R. Starkey Mortgage – they show the differences between last year’s Homebuyer stimulus plan and this year’s Homebuyer stimulus plan on an easy chart.

Please let me know if I can help you get your real estate on in the next 5 or 6 weeks – if you hesitate, don’t come crying to me!

Back in 2009, a fellow from California named Dennis called me and asked me to help him sell a house, a “retail flip” in the Parkview community. Parkview is just across Memorial Drive from my neighborhood, Kirkwood.

We told everyone who had an interest in the eventual $217,000 sale of a gorgeous 4/2/1 in August 2009 that a nifty new shopping center is coming soon to Parkview. Now, it’s real – Parkview Station is coming in the Fall of 2010.

I’ve been hearing about the redevelopment of Parkview Plaza, a rather dilapidated and lowly looking 1960’s built shopping center, ever since I moved Intown in 1998. The rhetoric started to pick up in 2007, and lo and behold the roof is getting a skin over, the front facade is getting a facelift and the whole place will be filled with tenants by Autumn 2010…we hope.

Here’s  a video with a quick look at the project, shot on Monday February 8th.

So, if you’ve read my blog posts before, you know that I take occasional subjective leaps. Here’s another one:

Parkview is also the name of a storied drug and alcohol treatment center that once existed in Nashville, Tennessee.

Country music legend and pioneering television star, Porter Wagoner sang a song that Johnny Cash wrote for him, “Committed to Parkview” on his final LP and here is a video that he cut with Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives that offers a haunting interpretation of the lyrics that Mr. Cash wrote – the legend is that both Johnny and Porter were once patients at Parkview and ultimately, they both kicked some demons there…

The players on this shopping center redevelopment are all veterans of nearby redevelopment projects, so with a neighborly heart I want to see them succeed with a bustling shopping center filled with nice stores, bars, restaurants and healthy local businesses.

I took my old friends at The Fresh Market and their broker on an Intown tour back in 2007, and they concluded that the opportunities on Memorial would not work for them. I think that The Fresh Market would be a perfect fit in  our Kroger / Publix / Wayfield / Aldi / Piggly Wiggly world of eastern Dekalb County, but really, I’m selfish and what do I really know about shopping center demography?

I know that the redevelopment team are committed to Parkview Station, but lets hope that they don’t get “committed” to “Parkview” in the risky process of making money in commercial redevelopment nowadays…

This photo and commentary are here to answer a question posed by Kirk Nace on Facebook today …

Kirk Nace asked  me “where do the recent spiking foreclosure numbers (as reported by the AJC today – a 27% metro increase) compare with the actual number of total sales per month? What does distressed supply v. demand ratio tell you about the future of pricing?”

Here’s what we know from 2009 in metro Atlanta:

• As the number of foreclosure sales (red trend line) increased, the median sales price (gold trend line) of non-foreclosure properties has declined

• The number of foreclosure sales fell somewhat after July 2009, likely contributing to somewhat more stable sales prices during that time

Looking ahead, since January spiked “unexpectedly” (Kirk Nace and I expect this, but the feel good prognosticators don’t) we expect that the metro Atlanta median sales price trend will continue to decline in 2010, particularly in the second half of the year…probably by 8-9%.

As always, many of the Intown neighborhoods that I serve will hold up way better than others, and many of these neighborhoods are barely seeing ANY foreclosure inventory – just lots of old-fashioned overpricing and hopefulness marketing!

On Friday, January 22 I filmed this quick look at the Home of the World Famous Ghetto Burger.

I saw that the property is listed for sale in my multiple listing service, so I decided that it was time for a couple of quick videos – this snack bar is a very successful “sole proprietorship.”

I like to call it a “soul proprietorship” because Miss Ann is the heart, and soul of her little place at 1615 Memorial Drive Kirkwood, ATL, Zone 6, GA 30317.

I’ve eaten here twice and waited for over an hour in a standing room only crowd, and left the premises, unfed, three times…

The burger is everything that “they” say that it is. They starts with the Wall Street Journal, and many other media mouthpieces and food-aholic burger-eaters.

But I’m not writing about burgers, I’m writing about Intown Atlanta real estate. Read the rest of this entry »

2010, The Year of The Short Sale…

2010, the year that national average prices will bottom in April-May…

2010, the year of the experienced real estate agent…

Here’s the most recent version of “The Mother of all Atlanta real estate charts” – which side of the bottom line do you want to be on?

“The Mother of all Atlanta real estate charts” does not lie.

Here are 5 reasons that Intown Atlanta and Decatur Sellers should hire me in 2010… Read the rest of this entry »

We have “Improved Conditions!”

–A year-to-year increase occurred in 4Q sales for the first time in the last 3 years

–Sales in the <$200K price range rose by 14% compared to the same quarter last year – a recovery will likely start with low-priced properties

–Foreclosure sales as a percentage of total sales were up slightly, but some stabilization in “distressed” properties sales may be happening

–The % Sales price/Original List Price ratio improved again in 4Q 2009 compared to earlier 2009 quarters and was above that of 4Q 2008 representing the first such increase in the last 3 years

–The “Failed” listing percentage is gradually falling from the peak

–Supply of listings is much lower than in December, 2008 and is lower in all price ranges, nearing a “balanced” market (6 mos.) in the <$200K price range

–Although still high, the percentage of transactions which followed a price reduction was lower in 4Q 2009 than in 4Q 2008

–Median Sales price was slightly above that of 4Q 2008 – check out that little blip of an improvement in this chart!

Regardless, we still have “Troubling Conditions…”

–4Q 2009 comparisons were against a severely depressed market in 4Q 2008. Future comparisons will not have that advantage.

–% S/L ratios are still low compared to past markets

–Days-on-Market remains high although slightly lower than in the comparable period of last year

–More than a 9-month supply of listings exists when a neutral market has a 6-months supply, with supply extremely high in upper price ranges for both New and Resale properties

–Distressed properties still represent more than 1 in every 4 sales, keeping prices lower and DOM longer for non-foreclosure properties

Buyers and Sellers can make informed decisions based on just this one fact:

87% of properties are still initially being overpriced for current conditions, setting up price reductions, lower S/L ratios and longer DOM.

Take that fact to any street or submarket and see how things compare versus the metropolitan statistics.

Please call me if I can be of help with your next steps in buying or selling.