A “warrior” is defined as ” a person engaged or experienced in warfare; a soldier; a person who shows or has shown great vigor and courage.” In other words, a Realtor!

Who among us agents has not shown courage and vigor by simply staying in Atlanta’s local market? In 2012, our market will be constantly changing, just as it was in 2011.

If you are looking for a “warrior” agent, I’m the one! Pick up the phone or send me an email or text. Let me show you that I’m ready! Set your goals and soar with me!!!

One of the new trends in real estate is not “big” (as in the mini-mansions of 2004), but more personal space (as in Owners’ Suite or Sun Porch). Anything that gives an Atlanta homeowner more bang for their buck, is hot right now.

People are always asking me what their home is “worth”.  Atlanta’s houses may not fetch the same price as they did 5-7 years ago, but what is making them hot and sell quickly, are the features that the owners have enjoyed, while living in their homes. Do you have outdated wallpaper or a master bath that feels like a spa? Do you have a living room no one enjoys or a sunporch that the kids use or one in which you like to curl up with a book?

I can help you modify your home to show off its assets and get it ready to sell. Call me, your Atlanta Realtor: Simply Done and always at your service!

Brookhaven Ashford Park Sun Porch

Atlanta Home For Sale

I’ve been feeling, and saying, that Atlanta’s real estate market is getting better. One of the ways to gauge Atlanta’s home market, is to look at new-construction. I feel like I’ve been right all along, as here’s another signal that the market is improving.

Single-Family Housing Starts rose to a seasonally-adjusted, annualized 430,000 units in October – a 4 percent increase from September and the highest reading in 3 months (a “Housing Start” is defined as a home on which ground has been broken).

The increase surprised Wall Street analysts, although it shouldn’t have.  Earlier this week, the National Association of Homebuilders showed that Homebuilder Confidence is at its highest point since May 2010, the effect of better market conditions and more sold units. Rising housing starts, amid a lift in builder confidence, is to be expected — the two metrics have moved with loose correlation since mid-2000.

Of course, as with everything in real estate, Single-Family Housing Starts volume varied by location. The nation’s 4 regions posted wide-ranging results:

• Northeast Region :  +10.0% from September
• Midwest Region :  -4.1% from September
• South Region:  +11.3% from September
• West Region:  -10.2% from September

Buyers of new construction in Atlanta can infer two key points from last month’s data. First, with more homes being built, home supply should rise, thereby softening pressure on rising home prices. This should help keep homes affordable. However, the second point is
that with builder confidence rising, buyers are less likely to win price concessions and “free upgrades” in negotiations.

The last 6 weeks of 2011 may be the optimal time to buy new construction. Home prices remain affordable and mortgage rates are rock-bottom, the lowest they’ve been in decades. If you are a buyer and because there are typically fewer active home buyers during the holidays, you’ll be more likely to locate one of the few remaining new construction “deals” in the next several weeks.

Talk to me, your Realtor, about neighborhood trends and new construction. Simply done and always at your service!

I am taking a social media class today to learn more about how it will help escalate my business to a higher level. Watch out Atlanta homes and real estate: here I come!

Many sellers think that agents have a secret listing strategy. However, the truth is, without a seller’s help, our strategies go out the window. Here are 6 easy steps to sell a house fast:

1. Price it right; price it competitively.
2. Interior and exterior condition is key. Make the repairs that your agent tells you to do; at a minimum, paint the outside trim and pressure wash the outside of the home.
3. Stage the house. Make sure it is clutter-free and clean at all times. When you have a showing, leave the lights on.
4. Make it easy on the agent. Allow the listing agent to put up a sign, a lockbox and please forget “Appointment Only”. If we can’t see it, we can’t sell it!
5. Internet and pictures will sell it. When the listing agent, or his/her photographer, is coming to take pictures, make sure that the house is sparkling. If the pictures are bad, or non-existant, buyers will skip over the house.
6. When in doubt, go back to items 1-5. If you are still in doubt, refer to #1.

This morning, ABC’s Good Morning America reported the top 10 places to live, according to Zillow. The cities were ranked by affordability, their unemployment rate, their foreclosure rate and the area’s price increases. The “winning” cities are:

1. Utica NY. Utica has the lowest foreclosure in the US, with a median sales price of $104,000;
2. Oklahoma City OK: Prices are up by 3% and the median price is $117,800;
3. Rochester, NY: the median home price is $121,000. 91% of the homes sold in 2010, sold for a gain;
4. Pittsburgh, PA: Home prices are up and the median price of a home is $110,300;
5. Tulsa, OK: This was the most affordable housing market; the median home price was $112,300;
6. Albany, NY: This is a stable housing market with a relatively low foreclosure rate. The median sales price in Albany is $193,100;
7. Lancaster, PA: Lancaster boasts a realatively strong economy and low foreclosure rate. The median price in Lancaster is $179,300;
8. Madison WI: Prices were down in 2009, but rebounded in the last quarter of 2010, asking the question “Have we seen the bottom yet”?;
9. Green Bay, WI: The median sales price is $143,100 and their economy is improving: the unemployment rate fell 1% to 6.6%;
10. Lincoln NE: Unemployment is 4% (lucky Lincoln!) and the median price of a home is $104,000.

This is great news for these cities. Foreclosures are down and their local economies are improving. Can the rest of the country be far off from this reporting?

Here are 5 great business commandments that a loan officer just sent me:

1. The sale is made on what the client says, not what I say.
2. My clients want a trusted advisor, not a salesperson.
3. Adversity and opportunity are joined at the hip.
4. Never tell a client something I can ask him/her/them.
5. I don’t need twenty ways to close a sale; I need one good way to open a relationship.

If your Atlanta real estate agent does not live by these commandments; I do!!!! Give me a call or send me an email and let’s start a relationship!

Eligible buyers now have until September 30 to close on a home sale, to be eligible for the much heralded tax credit.  On July 2, President Obama signed a bill to extend the $8,000 Home Buyers Tax Credit. To be eligible for this extension, buyers needed to be under contract as of April 30, 2010.

The National Association of Realtors estimated that there were approximately 180,000 home buyer families who were unable to get their new-home purchases closed by the previously-extended deadline of June 30. It has been difficult for these buyers to get their mortgages approved on time, as lenders could not work through the clogged pipeline of applications.

It’s a shame that congress won’t give working families the credit indefinitely.

Atlanta’s home sales’ numbers and statistics for March are out and they are amazing! There are currently 27,042 homes for sale in the metropolitan Atlanta area and only 6,040 are “Pending” sales. That is a ratio of 18.2%, which roughly put, says that 4 out of 5 sellers didn’t, or couldn’t, sell their homes. Price and condition sell homes and to me, these numbers say that Atlanta home sellers are still over-pricing their homes for today’s market! In this same time period, 10,872 listings expired, or failed to sell.

For today’s market, unsuccessful home sellers have three choices. Quite simply:  Reduce it, Remain in it, Rent it. It is a market of the 3 R’s.

Today, I showed thirteen homes to two different buyers, all of them in Atlanta’s upscale areas of Sandy Springs, Brookhaven and Buckhead. We were looking in the $750,000 to $1.2M range and the majority of these homes were in horrible showing condition. I couldn’t believe that a seller would present a home in this manner, or that an agent would actually allow a Seller to do it. I was embarrassed for both the seller and the agent.

I made appointments to show all of these houses one day in advance, so the sellers and the agents knew that buyers were coming. I also gave them a 45-minute to 2-hour window in which we’d be arriving. We saw pet “deposits” left on floors; hoarders’ clutter (and I’m not talking about a little bit; I’m talking major hoarding); blinds pulled and lights off; cleaning products left on counters; pets gone wild; beds unmade; dark rooms with burned-out light bulbs; one house even had an alarm turned on, with no way to turn it off and no way to reach the listing agent! In three homes, the seller/owner or their agent followed us through-out the house, talking constantly. What were they thinking?!!!

In the future, I’m going to post pictures and blog about the worst offenders. It may not help my buyers, but I think it will help the sellers that I represent.

If you are thinking of selling a home in Atlanta, call me to see how you can present your prperty in the best possible way. Call me and Experience True Experience!