Atlanta is a great place to live work, raise a family, own a second home or retire to!  What are the best reasons to live and own a home in Atlanta?  First of all there is something for everyone here!  Whether you area retiring, or scaling down, starting out and want a place of your own or an Atlanta country club homes of your own! Atlanta has very affordable homes for sale You can golf in Atlanta year round! The Atlanta Braves and Turner Field The Atlanta Zoo The Georgia Aquarium Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Lake Lanier Lake Homes Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport Atlanta gets very little or no snow    Kennesaw Civil War Museum 07/02/2007

Atlantic Station is the newest big development in Atlanta. It's a brand new little city, 138 acres, built on the spot of an old steel mill. They say that it will house 10,000 people.  It's just north of the Georgia Tech campus and it's on the west side of the interstate across from midtown.  It is a total community consisting of shopping, entertainment, business and housing.  It was the hottest area of town a few years ago when they were still building it.  People were lining up to buy condos and townhomes.  Prices shot up quickly.  But now it seems like things are changing.I went on a the shortest listing call of my life this morning, 15 minutes.  A young lady wanted me to come over to her condo and talk about possibly listing it.  I did my due diligence and found that things were look... 06/30/2007

Bloggin is one of the best things that has ever happened to me since REMAX CompuServe Forum!  Friendships, brainstorming, networking, an sharing ideas are great! Personally, I've found blogging addictive and almost compulsive, but it has allowed me to attain some new goals.  First of all, I am getting new ideas here all the time, those ideas generate more ideas!  Ideas can lead to implementing new marking strategies, and those can hopefully lead to more closed business.  I promise you, you will not be disappointed here!  Active Rain Want you to learn and prosper also! In the past week or so, you probably noticed I was not posting my usual number of Blogs here on Active Rain!  That was mainly because we have gotten very busy!  Yes, busy even in this market!  That is a good thing!  Some o... 06/29/2007

Rate Lock Duration Lock durations can vary for mortgage financing, but most lenders lock in the interest rate for 60 days from the date the loan application is submitted. As long as the loan is closed within that lock-in period, the lender honors the agreed upon interest rate.Some consumers are misled by advertising that quotes unrealistically low rates based on 15- or 30-day lock durations. This is called 'short-pricing.' The lender basically knows the borrower doesn't have time to meet their conditions and have all the necessary paperwork in order within that brief time period. As a result, the lender is not obligated to honor the low rate that was listed in their advertising.For simple refinance transactions, a 45-day lock-in period is more realistic. For purchase transactions, whic... 06/28/2007

I love my clients and they love me, I get into character and become a part of their family.  I guess you would call me that wise rich uncle everybody comes to for financial advice.  I believe that a home should not only be a place to live, but a nest egg in route to a bigger nest egg, there is nothing worse than buying a overpriced home with terrible loan terms and in an area on the decline.  Some homes show very great, they have all of the bells and whistles, but externally the neighborhoods have shown some signs of decline.  I try to encourage buying in neighborhoods that have active homeowner associations and homes with great school zones.  As far as financing is concern, I have switch from the old philosophy of adjustable rate mortgages because we were in a different climate that wa... 06/26/2007

The latest sales numbers for the Atlanta FMLS recently came out.  Overall, the total number of closings in May were down 28.5% vs. May of 2006.  But the average sales price went up from $263,087 to $264,487.The reason for this increase in average sales price was due to the million dollar plus homes being a larger proportion of the total number of homes that have sold. In May of 2005 there were 50 homes over one million dollars sold which accounted for 4.36% of sales.  In May of 2007, there were 97 of these homes which accounted for 9.12% of total sales.My personal observations confirm these numbers.  While driving around the ritzy neighborhoods north of Buckhead, I've seen many under contract signs.  The big question that I get asked all of the time is "Who are all of these people who c... 06/25/2007

I thought I would delve into the reality of dealing with a really big agent in today's real estate market!  My thoughts?  Start running to the next listing!  Don't rush to do business with them before dotting your "i's" and crossing your "t's!"  Leave outs in the contract.  Have contingencies in the contract tied to performance!  Utilities must be on for inspection...etc!  Cover yourself well! Spell it out in the contract what happens if this action is not performed! The profile is the agent that boasts they are carrying in excess of 40 listings.  The problems is that with less sales, they are not being serviced.  So now you write an offer, and can you fax it to another location, I'm at the beach!  24 hours go by,and you finally receive a call from them, I never received that contract, ... 06/22/2007

Atlanta Education and Schools. Atlanta Education Information. In the Atlanta area it is sometimes difficult to find great Atlanta education information web sites that have in depth information for education. Part of the problem is that what we refer to as "Atlanta Georgia Education" is a very broad term, and does not just refer to the city of Atlanta Department of Education.  Atlanta is more realistically represented by the greater Atlanta metropolitan area, and is comprised of many other counties, towns and smaller cities.  It would be easy to  spend several days trying to find Georgia department of Education School report cards, SAT Scores, ACT scores, school test scores, retention rates, information about the Georgia Hope Scholarship, Atlanta universities and colleges and so much mo... 06/21/2007

  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." 06/20/2007

Click here for the link: 1595 Trentwood Place Atlanta GA 30319    06/20/2007

Do you want a lively discussion about the pros and cons about living in Atlanta? Well, you're not going to get it from reading what REALTORS®  selling homes in Atlanta have to say.  We all have too much of a vested interest.  I got the title for this post from the title of a forum thread at City-Data.com.  I stumbled upon this site recently and have really enjoyed the discussions that I find there. They also have just about any statistic about a zip code area that you could possibly imagine.They have a forum for many areas around the country.  People put out a question and many locals chime in with their opinions.  It's kind of what I imagine what Zillow had in mind with their question and answer feature.  I don't see discussions about particular homes but there are discussions about sp... 06/20/2007

Home not selling?  No Surprise to other Agents! They know your agent is a sleep at the wheel!  Old photos, poor photos, no photos in the MLS!  No comments to embellish the sale of your home!  Wow!  Whom have your hired?  It is no surprise to other agents when a home is not selling.  It is so poorly represented in the MLS who would want to come by your home and see it?When your home is listed and is just sitting on the market because it is not marketed correctly....Did you know it is unethical for another agent to contact you and tell you the mistakes your listing agent is making?  But Hey it is your dollar, and your home Mr or MS Seller.  Other home sellers would insist upon some accountability of their agent.This  MLS Photo has a date picture of last April 6,2006  Expired!  By the way ... 06/19/2007

This past month I was in Atlanta to help my son buy a condo since he will be starting graduate school in the fall.  One of the properties my son made an offer was a Fannie Mae (Countrywide) property.  My son made an offer and it was countered by the seller (agent for seller based upon handwriting).  There were no signatures on the counter and a thirteen page addendum attached that made the contract offer null and void.  If you are a READER then this addendum may interest you, especially if you make an offer on a Fannie Mae property.  I would suggest that you attached this addendum to any offer an agent makes on a Fannie Mae property.  It should be filled out so that your buyer is protected and that they are able to close.  This is the link to where it can be downloaded:http://www.megaup... 06/19/2007

Yesterday, Elaine Reese wrote an interesting post about a listing agent refusing to allow a seller to terminate the listing agreement.  Some suggested that in the Georgia contracts, there was an early termination clause that allowed a seller to terminate a listing agreement at anytime without any penalties.I always look at the contract when it comes to these things. In the 3/09/2007 version of the Georgia Association of REALTORS® listing contract I only see the following: 17. Seller Default. Seller acknowledges that Broker will be damaged if Seller breaches this Agreement by terminating this Agreement early or otherwise defaulting hereunder. Such damages shall include, without limitation, the cost of advertising and marketing the Property and Broker's lost commission(s). Seller shall be... 06/18/2007

Have you ever had a client back out of a contract and then go after them for the commission?  I usually tell a buyer that a seller can always go after them for specific performance instead of only taking their earnest money.  Until recently, I had never considered that an agent can pursue a non-performing party for the commission.  The father of a client of mine asked me about the worst case scenario of making an offer and then not being able to go forward.  He wanted to know what could happen if his daughter couldn't go through with the contract for whatever reason.  I went over the earnest money scenarios and being sued for specific performance. He was comfortable with that.But then he brought something up that I had never even thought about or knew about.  He had read the contract ve... 06/18/2007

I hear a lot of doom and gloom about the real estate market.  I like to be up to date on the general market conditions.  I read the monthly numbers that are put out by the MLS and I read all the national updates by the NAR.  The FMLS numbers for April said that sales were down by 15% over the previous year. That sounded pretty bad to me. Many buyers are hearing the same thing and are expecting to find bargains out there.I've been working with a few buyers in the East Cobb area and we have found it difficult to find a suitable home.  When making appointments to show homes, there always seems to be a few that have just gone under contract.  There also doesn't seem to be many homes coming on to the market lately.I did some number crunching with a few MLS searches in the areas that I do bus... 06/18/2007

Atlanta homes for Sale?  Atlanta luxury homes. Atlanta is one of those great cities where you can find just about any type of property for sale.  Looking for a lake home or waterfront home for sale on Lake Lanier?  Perhaps an Atlanta waterfront home or property in another area of Atlanta?  Maybe you are just interested in Atlanta homes for sale with a swimming pool!  Then you can own a home where you can There is so much to choose from in the Atlanta area. Atlanta Luxury Homes for Sale with Wine Cellars,  Atlanta country club homes, Atlanta golf homes, new homes for sale in Atlanta, Atlanta condos and town homes. 06/18/2007

Recently our industry has been flooded with new agents that have little or no supervision, and or experience.  They run around writing offers with unqualified buyers, or buyers that are using them for their lack of knowledge.  To the unsuspecting and unbeknown  listing agent... they may receive an offer that is not backed by real funds or consideration. Fake checks, photo copies of checks, email scans of promised checks that will never be received by the buyer agents creates a nightmare scenario.  It is not an uncommon scenario for the buyers agent to present an offer and not be in possession of the earnest money check.  The buyers feel like they may be kicking tires on low-ball offers, and if things do not go their way just move on.  However the agent that is representing them is respo... 06/17/2007

Many of my clients like to know how homes in a particular neighborhood have increased in value over the years.  Unfortuanately, our MLS data only goes back a few years.  But we do have access to the data in the tax records.  It's fun to play around with the data in order to have it give you some useful information.I helped a buyer a few days ago by pulling up all the home sales in a particular neighborhood.  The tax records went back to 1983.  I was able to do a sort on the data and have a nice picture of increasing prices over 25 years.  I can then export this data into an Excel spreadsheet and make a nice graph to show the rate of appreciation.  This data can all be emailed to my client. As an agent, I have some nice tools to work with. It helps my clients make better decisions.      ... 06/16/2007

Many buyers ask me about how properties taxesdiffer in various counties and cities around the metro Atlanta area. There is a big difference between some counties.  The difference between taxes in Fulton county vs. neighboring Forsyth county is very significant.  Sometimes there's a big difference depending on whether or not you reside within city limits.  City taxes for the city of Atlanta and Decatur are quite high.  A few counties give big exemptions to senior citizens.  A person in Cobb county living in a $500,000 home will probably will pay less than $1000 in property taxes if they are 65 or older.  Forsyth county also has a great deal for senior citizens.I found a great chart that helps you calculate and compare property taxes for the various localities around Atlanta.  Go to Atlan... 06/16/2007