Short Sales In Atlanta are Growing!

By Friday, the Jarvis Team will be working on over 20 Short Sales.  I've been a buyer's agent for myself (internet buyers) for over 7 years now.  Short Sales are multiplying and you need to know what the facts are.

Here's some useful links:

• Short Sales In Atlanta - Georgia Short Sale News
• Short Sale Listings In Atlanta
• Can Bankruptcy Stop Foreclosure
• What is a Short Sale?
• Why Short Sale?
• Foreclosure vs Short Sale
• Short Sale

Blogging Survey for Realtors Who Blog

I am gathering information about realtors who blog and I still don't have great answers for:

1. Why to Blog?
2. How much business do we get from blogging.

So I created a survey to try an answer that question. I'll post the results here right after I get 100 responses.

Thanks!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY

Foreclosure Trends In Georgia

• First, there's a new trend occurring with buyers.  Sales are up this year from last as far as inventory and I am finding that buyers are interested in buying foreclosures.  However, either the condition of the home will scare them or the incompetence of the bank/reo company/listing agent will send them to the hills to look for resales.

• The second reason is that builders have gotten smart.  They've stopped building. Centex only has 20 inventory homes in the 13 metro counties that make up Metro Atlanta.  Other builders are following suit.  This decrease in inventory is limiting the choices of todays buyers.
  

1. The banks wise up, streamline the process and/or improve the homes, in essence stealing the buyers from the "public."
2. Builders start building again even though there is no clear signal to start again.
   

Yuwie - A Social Networking Site That Pays You!?

I got an invite from a client today to join Yuwie. I will admit I do have pages at Facebook, Myspace and the others. I don't actively use them, except when clients see me and such. I will admit I have never received business from these sites, but I am hoping in the next year that it will help push the envelope with some clients (as in help me close the deal).

Basically, the above is just an excuse on why I have these sites. Well most recently with Konnects, Tagged and Zolve, this Yuwie is intriguing. It says, "

What is Yuwie?
=================
First off, Yuwie is 100% FREE. Yuwie is like any other "connect with friends" or social networking site. But we have one major difference.

Use Yuwie - Get Paid!

Yuwie pays you to blog, upload pictures, refer friends, chat, hang out, etc.

It sets itself up like an MLM Blog. What it's done is create a very welcoming atmosphere, one that sort of polices itself in the interest of money. So instead of seeing nasty stuff (granted I haven't looked that hard) it's taken the best parts of social networking and taken the leader of social networking (myspace)'s platform and given it to you in an ad/incentive filled experience.

My question is this:  Is anyone actually making money social networking, as in new clients?

In any case, I signed up because of a client. If you'd like to check it out, please click the link. Otherwise, I look forward to your thoughts on Social Networking.

Gary Keller's Rebuttal to Today's Show "WORST TIME TO BUY" Comment

I usually don't repost what KW sends us in our E-mail, but I thought this was a great Story! I looked but could not find the video for the today show.

Last week on the Today Show, during a segment on the national real estate market, CNBC's Jim Kramer uncompromisingly stated, "now is the absolute worst time to buy!"

Concerned that remarks such as these from so-called experts might be pushing potential buyers to the sidelines?

Here's what Gary Keller, co-founder and chairman of Keller Williams Realty has to say about waiting out the current market:

First, residential real estate is not a national market product - it is a local one. To say from a national position that this is either a good time or a bad time to buy real estate is like saying the national forecast for the U.S. today is 92 degrees - it is a useless and irrelevant perspective. What is happening in your local market is all that matters.

Second, trying to predict when it is a good time to buy, or not, means you're trying to time the market. Staying on the sidelines is the surest way for most people to never time anything correctly.

Last, and maybe most important - there are always two markets in every market. There is the market of properties that are good buys and there is the market of properties that are not a good buys. Interestingly enough, this is true in either buyer or seller markets. To categorically say that this is the time to buy or not is absolutely ignoring the fact that every market really has two markets inside it.

Can someone tell me why Gary isn't brought on to combat these kind of false claims!

Snellville Home Owners Sell Out

Villas At Knollwood Lakes

As you travel east on Highway 124, you cross over from Lawrenceville to Snellville.  There is a neighborhood that pops up immediately that is one of the newer neighborhoods in Snellville.  With homes featured from the mid $300's to the high 7's and 8's, Knollwood Lakes is certainly in the top 10% of all homes in Snellville.  Most people move out to Snellville for the value and the quiet lifestyle.  With a slogan like, "Everybody is somebody in Snellville," who wouldn't want to move here.

Well all of that is about to change.  A few years back, Snellville decided they wanted more commercial business.  The moved city hall to a central location and rezoned everything around it.  The allowed a new strip mall to be installed on Webb Gin House Road.  All up and down Highway 124 and Highway 78 you can see the results of this move.

With the success of these commercial ventures, developers are clammoring for more land to develop.  One such spot just happens to be adjacent to Knollwood Lakes.  Homeowners that neighbor the land are up in arms.  They moved out here for the serenity and at best figured another neighborhood would go in.  Not something that would cause more traffic, run off issues and other reported problems.

"Residents of the Essex Square neighborhood moved one step closer to selling out to a commercial real estate developer Tuesday when the Gwinnett County Planning Commission recommended that the project be allowed to proceed

The 1980s-era neighborhood between Snellville and Lawrenceville is increasingly surrounded by commercial development. Tired of trying to fend off rezoning efforts, residents -- a total of 19 homes -- finally agreed to sell out to Strategic Realty Group to make way for a 300,000-square-foot retail center.

After a one-month delay to consider concerns raised by nearby home-owners, the Planning Commission voted 7-1 Tuesday to recommend that the project on Ga. 124 near Webb Gin House Road should be allowed to proceed."

Homeowners jumped at the chance to sell out because of all the news they've seen and are not sure when they will get another opportunity to sell so high.

This issue is ongoing and more details will be posted at later date.

Check out the AJC article here.

Fulton County Real Estate Market Report - August 2007

August 16, 2007

Fulton County Real Estate is probably the most diverse in every possible definition of the word in Georgia.  It contains the city of Atlanta, as well as cities like Alpharetta and Roswell which feature very high end homes, as well as areas like College Park where there is a bit of a depressed value.

This May (according to Tax Records) in Fulton County Real Estate, 1500 homes were sold, that's down from down from over 2000 a year ago.  However, as in other areas such as Gwinnett County, prices are up by 20K on average.

As in the rest of the state, condo sales are down by almost 50%, however, Fulton is still one few places that a condo or townhome hold its value.  There has been little to no dropoff in the $180K average price.

Currently there are 9,281 homes for sale in Fulton County.  Of those 10% will likely sell in 77 days or less and the rest will sit until they are in the top 10%.

Roswell, GA Makes Business Weeks Top 20 South Affordable Suburbs

Don't look now but BusinessWeek has put out another List.  BusinessWeek has the uneviable task of coming up with only 20 suburbs in the North and 20 in the south that are affordable.   I'm not entirely sure how Roswell made it into the top 20 or how other cities in Georgia missed the cut, but I certainly feel slighted here.  Roswell is a great community, don't get me wrong, but there are several communities in Georgia such as Duluth, Lawrenceville, Dacula, Suwanee, Alpharetta, Buford, Kennesaw, that have equal or better options than the ones the selected from NC, SC or AL.

Yes, I am bias, I have no qualms admitting that,  I guess I expected a more thorough analysis coming from a magazine that basically just wanted to publish a slide show, but come on, Tyler,TX - ?  Weston, FL?  How any city from Florida got listed on an affordability article is ridiculous.  However, if bestplaces.net paid for the spot, and they said it, it must be true.

It's also worth noting that the top 8 or so cities have crime indices in the 80's, while Roswell and other notables have them in the 30's.  No wonder, those cities are affordable. 

Here's a link to the article, read it for yourself and decide: BusinessWeek Article

Next week, I'll put out my own list of cities with high crime and low cost of living.  I'll be sure to hit martha up and some other sponsors as well.  

Flip This?!

Real Estate Reality Shows are a dime a dozen these days.  We all know there is a certain amount of staging involved.  Whether it's House Hunters recreating the search progress, or other shows pulling in Realtor comments from areas that they don't service, it's all fun in the entertainment world.

More recently, investor related shows have become very popular.  One show, A&E's Flip This House is one that takes you from start to finish on a project and shows you the ins and outs of the whole project.  Although, some "fudging" is allowed in TV, I'm pretty amazed at the lengths that Sam Leccima from Atlanta went to stage this whole show.

Fox 5 did a great job on their story.  Watch the whole thing, "It's TV, man."

CBS NOT NECESSARILY THE NEWS

Business Week Has An Eye on Subsidies

If you have a GMAIL account or are a ready of Business Week, you might have found an article about subsidies.

The article talks about subsidies and how they play a role in moving real estate.  It gives the impression that there may be a false ceiling (or bottom depending on how you look at it).  It does not speak directly about numbers or what is being offerred.  Furthermore, it almost suggest that Realtors are the ones pushing this movement.

I can only speak about my experience here in Atlanta, but a typical offer will look like this:

Asking Price: $200,000

Agreed Price $198,000
Seller Pays $4000 in closing
Seller leaves refrigerator or pays $1,000 decorating allowance.

For the purpose of the article, I would consider $1,000 to be a subsidy.  Lenders are getting very tough on this sort of thing.  Heaven forbid you find a home that needs a lot of work, decorating allowances are all but gone.

Each state has a differing view on Closing Costs.  It seems like this article mistakes the seller paid closing costs (the norm in Atlanta) for a subsidy.  Its been my experience in states like New York, they will negotiate the price and tack on closing costs if needed, whereas in Georgia, we negotiate with them as an option included already. 

As for Realtor practices skewing data, it would only take a surveyor to find out this is false as well.  Ask any Realtor what the standard discount on a home is and they likely have an average for the area.

The article is interesting because it's writer is obviously someone who doesn't understand that Real Estate is a market like the stock, commodity or currency market.  Prices go up and down, each market has commissions, incentives and a variety of purchasing options. 

Ooops, I think I rambled too much.

Realtors Lower Sales Expectations

By Rex Nutting

RISMEDIA, May 10, 2007-(MarketWatch)-Stricter lending standards are likely to further erode housing markets this year and next, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday in its monthly forecast update.

"If it weren't for a favorable economic backdrop, housing would probably have a hard landing," said Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the NAR. "As it is, we see this as a soft landing with home sales rising gradually in the second half of the year and prices recovering a bit later."

Sales of existing homes will probably fall about 3% this year to 6.29 million from 6.48 million in 2006. Sales of new homes are projected to fall about 18% to 864,000, compared with a 14% drop predicted last month. Housing starts are expected to drop 19% to 1.46 million.

No Spring Thaw for Housing

FROM BUSINESSWEEK:
Spring is usually the hot time for home sales. But this year, March results were terrible—and April and May don't look much better

by Maya Roney

March, April, and May are traditionally the strongest months for home sales. Pleasant weather draws shoppers out of hibernation, and buyers want to get settled by summer so they can take their vacations and be ready for the coming school year. In the Northeast, interested buyers venture out in the wet season to settle fears of leaky roofs and flooded basements.

But this year, the usual throngs of spring buyers just aren't there. On May 1, the National Association of Realtors reported that home sales closed in April will remain soft, with some drag possible into May. The NAR's Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in March, dropped 10.5% from March, 2006, and 4.9% from February, 2007, to 104.3, the lowest reading since March, 2003.

Waiting for April Results

The prediction for home sales in the coming months was worst in the Northeast region, where the index fell 14% year over year and 4.9% from February's reading. The West showed the most promise, with the index rising 1.6% from February but still falling 8.6% from year-ago levels. NAR does not break out sales by state.

The rate of existing home sales actually increased in February of this year, prompting NAR Chief Economist David Lereah to point to "signs of stabilization" and predict a leveling out of home sales in the months ahead. But in March, existing home sales fell 8.4% year over year, marking the sharpest plunge in 18 years and the beginning of what is sure to be an illuminating spring season.

"March [home sales] weren't anywhere near where they should have been, but April is going to be the month that reveals that things really aren't good," says Pat McPherron, housing economist for Moody's Economy.com. "If April doesn't go well, then that's it. This is the market."

Blame It on the Weather

What squashed the spring boom? February's unseasonably cold weather, like January's unseasonably warm weather, jumbled the normal cycle. But despite better weather in March, April still isn't looking up. Even before the NAR announced the March drop in its Pending Home Sales Index, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Index measuring builder confidence fell to 33 from 36 in March (a reading below 50 means most respondents view conditions as poor).

Now, most of the blame has fallen on the new stricter lending that has reduced the pool of potential buyers. "Although the weather improved in March, we're starting to see the effects of a decline in subprime lending and tighter lending standards," Lereah says of March's Pending Home Sales Index reading.

But tighter lending standards from companies such as Washington Mutual (WM) and Merrill Lynch's (MER) First Franklin are only part of the problem. "Even if they kept [standards] the same you wouldn't get the same recovery," says McPherron, noting that house prices accelerated faster than incomes during the housing boom. "What [subprime lenders] have done is stopped the bleeding."

Eyeing a Better Second Half

The NAR will revise its home sales forecast on May 8 and release existing-home sales for April on May 25. Lereah now predicts that home sales will remain "sluggish" in the second quarter but sees a "modest uptrend" during the second half of the year.

McPherron, on the other hand, says he wouldn't be surprised if home sales were still soft well into the summer months, even though year-over-year comparisons could improve. And if the trend set in March continues, as the numbers suggest, into April, May, and beyond, the many sellers who are struggling to make their mortgage payments and holding out desperately for a spring buying boom could be in for a shock, at least, and foreclosure at worst.

"Many people think, 'if I can just hang on 'til the spring,' they will get an offer," says McPherron. "This spring, they'll be lucky to sell."

Click here to see a roundup of 10 housing markets headed for a decline.

Full Service Actually Saves You More?

"Written By: Minnie Bridgers

Last Modified: 5/2/2007 11:14:07 AM

You may have seen those "You Keep the Commission" billboards around metro Atlanta. They are paid for by real estate companies offering a-la-carte services. These so-called "discount agents" have become very popular as the housing market continues to cool.

So the bottom line is, if you want a full course menu of services and someone to wait on you -– hire the commission-based agent. If it is just as peachy for you to do the leg-work yourself and save some green along the way – give the discounter a shot. You can always hire the traditional agent later if you fail to sell your home the new-fashioned way."

• FSBO - Net 74% of asking price
• Discounter - Net 88% of asking price
• Full Service - Net (including commissions) 90% of asking price

The real AHA here should be while opinions can differ on what agents do before the sale, it's the negotiation skill that's worth the big bucks.  Bottomline, anyone can make a flier, but an experienced, skilled negotiator is worth their commission.

Real Estate Roller Coaster

In light of the constant babble of Real Estate Bubble talk, one person has actually looked at the data.  Keep in mind this is NATIONAL data, but it serves it's purpose nonethe less.

The following video gives us a clear picture of what housing prices have done since the late 1800's.   Talk about Roller Coaster!

Remax Greater Atlanta to Acquire Remax Horizons!

RISMEDIA, May 2, 2007-RE/MAX® Greater Atlanta announces its agreement to acquire RE/MAX Horizons. Their three offices, located in Gainesville, Buford, and Braselton, all reside in Hall County and house approximately 120 RE/MAX® professionals.

"We are extremely delighted to enter one of Georgia's fastest growing counties," said Steve Graham, President and CEO of RE/MAX Greater Atlanta. "[RE/MAX] Horizons agents' dedication to real estate excellent is a perfect fit for our organization and I believe the transition will be quite seamless."

Hall county, with access to the popular Lake Lanier and the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, has seen a near 25% increase in population since the year 2000. RE/MAX Greater Atlanta sold more than 16,700 homes in 2006 equating to nearly $4.4 billion dollars in sales. Honored as the nation's 18th largest real estate brokerage by RISMedia's 2007 Power Broker Report, RE/MAX® Greater Atlanta will comprise 15 offices and more than 1,300 agents once the acquisition is complete.

For more information, visit www.remax-greateratlantaga.com.

Down Market?

Undoubtedly if you have turned on the news in the past year you have heard that we are in a down market.  I'm not sure about "THEM" but I for one do not see it.  I see a slow down in some rural areas here, but the Atlanta Market has never been hotter.  

I recently had a discussion with a client where I explained the Atlanta market to him.  He seemed to think we were getting all the people from the other areas.  While that is certainly true, I finished up 06 with over $3 Million in agreements with folks to buy homes that weren't able to sell their home where they live.  So they at least will not be coming to Atlanta.

So what keeps Atlanta afloat?  Great Values, Job Opportunities and a constant rotations of new blood.

Our appreciation rates are relatively low in most areas, but you'll have a difficult time finding an area in decline.  Atlanta is like a train, it's just chugging very slowly.  You can still find a 3000 SQFT home for $250K in most metro areas.

Job Opportunities abound! New companies pop up every day and long standing companies are always looking for qualified people. The education and patient care fields are booming!

Atlanta is also a hub for training.  Walmart, Publix, Home Depot, Bellsouth and more will open stores or use profitable stores as training grounds for their "chosen."  They'll ship in the family to Atlanta to train or right a ship and then ship them back out.

Foreclosure rates have also been very high, but this is not new.  Many of those buyers, the ones who actually stay, move up to nicer homes.  While new home buyers have a vast assortment of affordable housing.

What's not to love about Atlanta, aside from the traffic.

Gwinnett County Gets A College

Enrollment in Gwinnett College is through the roof.  Up from 118 students, it's now expected to enroll a whopping 3,000 students this year.  This puts Gwinnett on the map as a college destination, and should boost rental rates in the area.  This is nothing new for Gwinnetians, though.  Gwinnett County has always been a great place for students commuting to and from campuses such as Georgia Tech or Georgia State.  In addition, many who live in Gwinnett attended the University of Georgia, which is only a 45 Minute ride from Lawrenceville.

Here's the link to the article: Click Here