Tag: Atlanta

Spring Season, Competitive Housing Market in Atlanta

Rather than throw a bunch of stats at you, I’ll keep this short and sweet:

  • Inventory is painfully low.
  • Realistically priced homes in popular areas sell in a few days (or hours), often with multiple offers.
  • Interest rates are fluctuating wildly on the current stock market turmoil. I think most experts would argue that the long term pressure and trend is for rates to rise, which is exacerbating the drive for buyers to purchase now before the cost of financing rises further.
  • There has not been a better time in recent history to sell your home in the City of Atlanta.

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Its tough out there right now and people do “fight” over in-demand properties, but I can help you get through it.

If You are Buying:

  • Register at scott.viewhomesforsaleatlanta.com.
  • Get your financing in order. Get as far in the loan underwriting process as your lender will allow without a purchase contract on a specific property.
  • Set up showings with me for properties that interest you as quickly as possible.
  • Make the strongest offer you are comfortable making up front and be willing to walk if it doesn’t get the house. Don’t waste time playing the negotiation game. Too often, it just allows more time for other competing offers to come in on the property.

Thinking of Selling?

  • Set up an appointment with me to view your home. We’ll talk about a customized marketing system to get the most money out of your house in the shortest amount of time possible.
  • Check with your lender and see if you need to sell your current home before you can execute the purchase of your next house.
  • Start researching short to medium term housing options in the event that your home sells before we find you the right house to make your next home.
  • Breathe. Its good to be the one holding the house right now. If you bought more than 2 or 3 years ago you are likely in really good shape and we can get you through this with as little stress as possible.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Holidays.

Be present in the moment and enjoy the time with your friends, family, and whoever else makes the list of who you love this holiday season. For my crew, this is also the time of the year that we enter the month long marathon of watching our favorite holiday films. For the adults in my house this means:

die hard santa

Die Hard (Its not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from Nakatomi Tower).

Elf (Not now, Arctic Puffin.)

Four Christmases (Mistletoe!)

Bad Santa (Do you want some sandwiches?)

Love Actually (Oooooo… Would we call her chubby? RIP, Alan Rickman)

My kiddos aren’t quite old enough to pay attention through a whole movie just yet so they’ll make due with some periodic exposure to Rudolph and Frosty.

With market activity slowing heading into December and current sellers getting anxious about whether their house will sell before the clock runs out on 2017, its arguably the best time of the year to get a great deal on a home. Avoid the mad rush and bidding wars that chronic low inventory is going to bring in the spring. Call me today. 

Also- We have a new website/search platform going live in a few weeks. Check it out at scott.viewhomesforsaleatlanta.com . Register, play around with it, and let me know what you think.

On Wardrobe Malfunctions, Big Brother, and High School Nightmares: Are you being watched while you shop for your next home?

spygame

Is the Real Estate Game the new Spy Game?

( Image from Spy Game: (2001) Robert Redford, Catherine McCormack, and Brad Pitt. Great flick if you haven’t seen it)

I’ve been meaning to get a post out about this for some time now, but a “wardrobe malfunction” last week put it front and center of my mind.

Allow me to set the scene:

Its 3PM on a beautiful autumn Thursday in the city of Atlanta. My out-of-town client is flying in to view several houses over the weekend. They texted me about a specific property and wanted more information on a couple of features in the home. The house was vacant, so I ran over to get a better look at what they were asking about, take some pictures, and to decide whether to add that property to our itinerary to view on Saturday.

I arrive at the home, make my way to the front door, and bend down to activate the lockbox and retrieve the key.  Upon performing this completely reasonable, harmless, and relatively risk-free action, my belt decides that it can no longer take the strain, and explodes right there on the front porch. In what can only be described as clothing carnage, the buckle lay scattered across the battlefield in 4 different pieces.

Two things go through my mind:

1. I am so glad the client isn’t with me.

2. I really, really need to find the time to get into shape.

Now that I am very much reliving a high-school nightmare where my clothing stops functioning, I hurry my now-very-awkward-self inside to get situated. I fumbled with the belt for a good minute or so before surrendering to the sad fact that nothing could be done to fix it. As I gave up the fight, I looked up to see that I had been performing this embarrassing ritual dance directly in front of their DIY internet security camera.

So, a couple of big things to be learned here:

  1. If I show up for an appointment belt-less, please don’t judge. Keep in mind I may have lost it in a recent tragic incident that will negatively impact my mental state for the foreseeable future.
  2. People may very well be listening or watching you through electronic devices while you walk through a potential new home.

I do attempt to emphasize this to all of my clients, but a best practice during home shopping is to wait until you are safely back outside to discuss your feelings on price, condition, and your overall desire to purchase the property. Don’t give the seller the advantage in future negotiations by telling them exactly how much you love the property, and how much you may be willing to pay, before we ink the initial offer. With today’s technology and connectivity, you can never be sure that you are not being monitored.

30306 Real Estate Trends By the Numbers

Median Days on Market. Properly priced and marketed homes are still moving very quickly.

Med Days to Contract (Sales) - ZIP- 30306

Median Sale Price and Median List Price are Moving in lockstep. Homes are still selling very close to list price on average.

Pricing Trends - ZIP- 30306

Housing inventory is still very limited. New listings have crept up, but not nearly enough to flip us into an overall buyer’s market. Some of that inventory is going to get snapped up as we move into the next busy cycle closing out 2017 and into the early months of 2018.

Market Activity - ZIP- 30306