Dunwoody is a newly incorporated city in northern Dekalb County, Georgia. Located north of Perimeter Center, many home-seekers look to the dozens of prestigious subdivisions within the Dunwoody area, including Dunwoody Club and Dunwoody Club Forest, Kingsley, Buckline Crossing, Dunwoody Village, Mt. Vernon Springs, Deerfield, Hunters Branch, Redfield, Hidden Branches, Brooke Farm, Tilly Mill, North Wellington, Meadowlake, Ravinia, Oxford Chase, Devinger, Wellesley, Winter’s Chapel and the area around Zabin Park.

Dunwoody is home to the Marcus Jewish Community Center, several synogogues and a significant Jewish population. Dunwoody hosts many of the metro area’s shopping venues, including Perimeter Mall, a Simon Super Regional Mall. The Dunwoody area is served by MARTA’s Dunwoody train station and numerous bus routes.

Vanderlyn Elementary, Austin Elementary, Dunwoody High, Kingsley Elementary, Chestnut Charter Elementary and are some of the area’s most sought-after schools.

If you’re interested in buying or selling a Dunwoody home, call us. Experience True Experience!

With a thriving business community that boasts several Fortune 500 companies and a close proximity to downtown Atlanta, Sandy Springs is one of the most desirable locations in Atlanta’s metropolitan area. Beautiful homes — starter homes, urban townhomes, condominiums and multi-million dollar estates — are coupled with desirable public schools. These sought-after schools include several School of Excellence recipients, such as Highpoint Elementary, Heards Ferry Elementary, Sandy Springs Middle and North Springs High and many of Atlanta’s best private schools (First Montessori School of Atlanta, Holy Innocents Episcopal School, The Epstein School, Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School, The Weber School, St. Jude The Apostle Catholic School). This winning combination makes Sandy Springs a sought-after location for professionals and families.

Sandy Springs is located in Fulton County and is named for the sandy springs that still exist as a protected historic site. Sandy Springs is Georgia’s 7th-largest city, and is a newly incorporated city (December 2005), with an estimated population of 100,000. The boundaries of Sandy Springs are Atlanta, Buckhead, Cobb County and the cities of Roswell and Dunwoody. Neighborhoods within the Sandy Springs area include North Harbor, Riverside, Powers Ferry, Powers Lake, Idlewood Valley, Lake Forrest, Mount Vernon, Breakwater, Glen Erol, High Point, Lake Forrest, Wieuca West, Chastain, Dalrymple, Lancaster, Braemore, Coleman Manor, Glenridge, Hammond Drive, Powers Ridge and The Cloisters.

New to the area is Sembler Company’s redevelopment of a landmark shopping site, The Prado. The Prado, with excellent access to the high incomes of the Sandy Springs and North Buckhead markets, is situated inside the perimeter (I-285) on Roswell Road. The 345,000 square foot center will include large and small box tenants as well as shop retail, restaurant and office space.

If you are interesting in buying or selling a home in the Sandy Springs area, call us. Experience True Experience!

The Atlanta community of Brookhaven  boasts some of the city’s most beautiful homes, ranging from first-timer single-family homes, urban townhomes and condominiums up to multi-million dollar estates. Its prime location is less than one mile from Lenox Square Mall and Phipps Plaza, two of the most affluent shopping centers in the US. While Brookhaven is bisected by Peachtree Road, the historic part of Brookhaven is located north of Peachtree Road but includes several other charming neighborhoods, such as Starlight Hills, Ashford Park, Drew Valley, Brookhaven Gardens, Brookhaven Renaissance, Brookhaven Commons,Windsor, Murphy Candler, Harts Mill, Sexton Woods, Mendenhall, Nancy Creek Hieghts, Lynwood Park and Silver Lake. Brookhaven is also home to Oglethorpe University, the acclaimed Marist School and two golf courses, Peachtree Golf Club and The Capital City Club. The newly-renovated Capital City Club is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

New to the Brookhaven community is Sembler Company’s TOWN/Brookhaven, a mixed-use retail and residential development. TOWN/Brookhaven is adjacent to historic Oglethorpe University and is scheduled for a 2009 opening.

The majority of Brookhaven is unincorporated and is located outside the Atlanta City limits, in Dekalb County. This equates to lower taxes! Brookhaven is located on the western edge of Dekalb County, adjoining Sandy Springs and Buckhead, two other wonderful places to live in the Atlanta area.

If you are interesting in buying or selling a home in the Brookhaven area, call us. Experience True Experience!

In 2008, even with foreclosures, there are few areas that are down 44 percent in real estate!

Compare it to the DOW Industrials:
The DOW closed at 7,997.28 on November 20.
The DOW’s 52-Week High was 13,990.65 and its low was 7,882.51.

If you live and own property in Georgia, you should know what foreclosure means in your state. Remember all the documents that you signed at your closing? If you took out a mortgage on your property, there is a “power of sale” clause in one of the documents, that gives your lender the right to foreclose on your property.

A foreclosure is “the sale of real property by a secured lender pursuant to the power of sale clause contained in a security instrument”. This means, simply, that the lender has the right to foreclose if there is a debt secured by a valid security instrument and if the statutory foreclosure and notice process has been followed.

In Georgia, real property foreclosures are non-judicial (a judge is not involved in the process). Other states, such as Florida, require that a judge be involved in the foreclosure process. Generally, if a lender forecloses in Georgia:

·    There must be the existence of a promissory note and security agreement, secured by real estate in the State of Georgia;

·    The promissory note is in default;

·    Witten notice of the default has been mailed to the borrower (the borrower may bring the debt current within the next thirty (30) days to stop the foreclosure process);

·    Advertisement has been published in a legal organ (newspaper) of the county in which the property is located. The ad must run once per week, for four (4) consecutive weeks, prior to the sale;

·    Auction of the property takes place on the first Tuesday of the next month (except when that date is January 1 or July 4) on the county’s courthouse steps. The property is sold to the highest bidder for cash.

 What happens on the day of foreclosure?

In most metropolitan Atlanta counties, there are dozens of people milling around. The attorneys read out loud the foreclosure ads, and many times, there are multiple ads being read at once. After the attorney reads the foreclosure ad, the attorney opens the bidding.

·    Typically, the foreclosing lender will make the first bid, which is for the debt owed. That debt includes principal, interest, late fees, as well as the attorney’s fees and expenses of foreclosure;

·    After the first bid, there is open bidding. Anyone, other than the original borrower, can bid;

·    The terms are simple: cash from the highest bidder. If you are bidding, bring certified checks!;

·    Once a winning bidder is determined, the attorney will write down the bidder’s contact information, so that a deed under power of sale (known as a “DUP”) can be prepared. The DUP is typically given to a buyer after foreclosure; it is usually the buyer’s responsibility to record it.

A foreclosed property does not guarantee a clean title. Many savvy investors conduct their own title searches or have an attorney or title company perform one. Either way, a title search is important for several reasons:

·    Liens (all types), encumbrances and mortgages filed prior to the mortgage being foreclosed, are not affected by the foreclosure;

·    The foreclosure a second mortgage does not wipe out a first mortgage;

·    Federal tax liens against the borrower in foreclosure vest a right for the IRS to redeem the property. Proper notice must also be delivered to the IRS to start the time running on the IRS’s redemption rights.

Looking for a specific area? Click here: Atlanta Foreclosures and Bank-owned Properties. We’ve already done the searching for you! Or, if you are interesting in buying or selling a home in Atlanta, call us. Experience True Experience!

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We hear a lot these days, about “Short Sales”.  What is a short sale and who qualifies for one?

If a Seller sells his mortgaged property and the proceeds of the sale will not pay off the property’s loan(s), he will need to either “bring money” to the closing or arrange, before the property goes under contract, for a short sale. In essence, a lender will agree to “short” its proceeds from a sale and take less than what is owed on the loan. Short sales are meant to help a borrower that has no or little savings, lost a job or has catastrophic circumstances (such as health or medical issues) that will not allow the borrower to pay off the loan in its entirety.

Before agreeing to a short sale, the lender will require that the borrower show that he does not have the funds to pay off the loan(s). This process resembles a reverse of getting a mortgage; in other words, it’s like showing the lender why the borrower can not pay. A seller should seek his lender’s permission before pricing, and placing under contract, his property. If not, the seller could be in default of a contract, by not being able to close and deliver clear title to the buyer.

Many lenders will agree to a short sale based on simple arithmetic: it will probably cost less if the lender accepts a short sale rather than forcing a foreclosure. Banks don’t like short sales, but who can blame them? In short sales, the lender loses money or gets a lesser return. Most lenders limit short sales to primary residences.  
 
Short sales are not meant to help borrowers that have sufficient income or savings to pay off the loan(s). Many borrowers think that they can ‘declare’ a short sale, without the lender’s permission, because the property has depreciated in price. This is incorrect. If a borrower has savings or a 401K, the lender will probably say “no” and pursue the borrower for the remainder of the loan(s).  

In most cases, a borrower’s credit will be damaged with a short sale, but it will not be as badly hurt as it will be in a foreclosure. Within a few years, most short sales’ borrowers can get credit, but foreclosed-upon borrowers will find it more difficult and will need to wait longer to buy another home.

Looking for an Atlanta home? If you are interesting in buying or selling a short-sale home in Atlanta, call us. Experience True Experience!

Buckhead is one of the most prominent and prestigious neighborhoods in Atlanta. Comprising of over 100,000 residents and located in approximately the northern one-fifth of the city, Buckhead is home to the 9th wealthiest zip code in the nation and is one of Atlanta’s wealthiest residential neighborhoods. Buckhead is legally defined as that portion of the city of Atlanta, northwest of Interstate 85 and northeast of Interstate 75; however, local advertisers stretch the definition.

Home-seekers look to the charming neighborhoods within Buckhead area, such as Garden Hills, Brookwood Hills, Ardmore Park, Collier Park, Peachtree Park, Paces Ferry, Haynes Manor, Lenox, Phipps, Wieuca, Tuxedo Park and Peachtree Hills. Many home-owners are proud of the designation of the Georgia Schools of Excellence. Recent winners of this prominent award are Sarah Rawson Smith Elementary, Morris Brandon Elementary, Esther Jackson Elementary, Sutton Middle and North Atlanta High School. Winners of this award are nominated for the coveted National Blue Ribbon Award; Sarah R. Smith, Morris Brandon and Jackson Elementary Schools are recent winners of this award.

The name “Buckhead” comes from a story that Henry Irby, who had a general store and tavern at what is now the intersection of West Paces Ferry Road and Roswell Road, killed a large buck deer and placed the buckhead in a prominent location. Prior to this, it was called Irbyville through most of the 19th century.

If you are interesting in buying or selling a home in the Buckhead area, call us. Experience True Experience!