When placing a home on the market in the current Atlanta real estate market we are in right now, pricing is critical to getting a home sold.  It is critical to select the correct listing price!  Homes are still selling everyday in Atlanta. However, you may only get 1 chance at bat so it is wise to start off with the right price.  So how do you choose the right listing price?  New agents and ones without any experience will make the Fatal Home seller pricing mistake # 1 keying into current listed prices in the neighborhood.  If you start your process here, you are doomed to failure.  Correct pricing is not the price you want to get for your home, it is the number derived from what your neighborhood homes are actually selling for.  Fatal Home seller pricing mistake #2 If you added a new ... 07/25/2007

Selling a home in Atlanta?  What is the right price to list your home at?  Setting a home's listing price is key to selling in this current real estate market.  You have to choose the right price!  Sometimes it is a catch 22 of trying to educate a seller and a buyer in this current Atlanta real estate market.  What does the agent know about real estate?  Plenty if you'll just listen!There are a ot of very good deals for both home buyers and home sellers in this Atlanta real estate market if only they listen to the advice of a seasoned professional!  The big mistake Atlanta home sellers make is they want to overprice which is a major mistake.  Theirfatal mistake is that they assume they will get low offers, so they pad the price of their home thinking they can negotiate to the price they... 07/24/2007

When I get wound up like a clock sometimes the only thing that I really enjoy is having an ice cold Chocolate Egg Cream Soda!  There is nothing better to take you back to a time when there were ice-cream parlours that made real home made ice cream, and had fantastic fountain drinks like a 2 cent plain, a cherry cola, an ice cream soda, a malted, a cold glass of tutti fruitti or a chocolaty egg cream soda. A chocolate egg cream soda is an ice cream soda with out the ice cream.  It is made of Chocolate syrup, ice cold milk, and ice cold seltzer that is stirred rapidly as you add the seltzer.  The chocolate syrup was almost always Fox's U-Bet or Hershey's Chocolate syrup! Some of the things that I miss most while living in Atlanta, are the comfort foods I used to find so easily back in New... 07/23/2007

 Subject:  Cobb County Real Estate Market ConditionsCobb County Real EstateWe here at Millennium Choice Properties continuously monitor local real estate statistics to keep our clients informed and ahead of the real estate trends.  Below you will find Cobb County's real estate statistics for the end of June.New homes on the market: 2.052Number of homes entering escrow:879Number of homes closing escrow (sold): 703Avg Days on Market: 63To find the value of your home with a free, over-the-net home eval, please visit: http://www.millennuimchoiceproperties.com/If you would like a free list of homes for sale in this area/neighborhood, more information about Cobb County or would like an in-home evaluation of your home, then give me a call at:Johunna RedmondKeller Williams Realty P'tree Road404... 07/23/2007

Sometimes even the best Atlanta real estate professional has to ask themselves are Atlanta home prices coming down or are they just over priced?  All too often as a seasoned Atlanta real estate agent I can view a typical Atlanta neighborhood where we have listed and sold before and see some very high priced homes for sale.  You cannot help but ask yourself "Wow I did not know the home prices had gotten that high in that subdivision!"  The truth of the matter is they haven't!  A new agent or one without scruples have listed a home at whatever the seller wanted to list it for without advising the seller the home is just too high!  A real estate professional will not list a home at any price just for the sake of listing a home. Only an agent that either has no experience, no self esteem wi... 07/21/2007

What more could a person want?  Separate dining room, living room, library, 5 bedrooms, 5 full baths, 2 half baths!  Located in a very sought after neighborhood of Atlanta!  Close to Chastain Park, Buckhead, Sandy Springs, and of course Atlanta!Basement is stubbed and ready to be finished which you could use your imagination...have an office downstairs, a media room, workout room.  Basement has its own exterior entry.Call David Hutchins with RE/Max Greater Atlanta for full details or to schedule a showing of this home 404-257-4757 or email davidhutchins@davidhutchins.com 07/17/2007

The real estate market in Buckhead has reached a point where buyers can no longer absorb the inventory of available homes. Buckhead luxury homes appear to be the hardest hit segment of the Buckhead real estate market. Buckhead homes for sale over $750,000 have reached an extremely high absorption rate of over 16 months of available supply. This means that if no new listings of classic Buckhead properties become available for sale, it will take over 16 months to sell the current inventory of homes. This has created something of an opportunity for buyers - the only problem....No one seems to have told the buyers! So if you are out there, now is YOUR time. Get out while the house hunting is good and leverage your position to find an excellent value. 07/16/2007

Congrats again, Atlanta!First, you're the #1 city on Hotwire.com's 2007 List of Value Cities, and now listed on Forbes.com's list of top cities for young professionals!Based on criteria ranging from populations size to cost of living to percentage of single professionals, Forbes released a list of cities across the United States. According to the article, "If you're a recent graduate looking to jump-start your career, New York City isn't the only destination you should consider."The top five cities are truly diverse, though much what one would expect in a list of this sort.1. New York City2. San Francisco3. Atlanta4. Los Angeles5. Washington, D.C.With a #3 ranking, the Atlanta area can certainly hope for a surge of relocation of recent graduates! For assistance with all your Atlanta rea... 07/15/2007

Perimeter RestaurantsI wanted to make a separate list for you of all the restaurants in the Perimeter area. Look them up they are some of the trendiest places around to eat!  Santi Thai Resturant      Wildfire      Alexander's      Max & Erma's      McCormick's & Schmicks Seafoor       Fudd Ruckers      El Azteca     Tin Drum     Outback Steakhouse     Cheeseburger Palace     Mimi's     Flamingo's     P.F. Changs     California Pizza Kitchen     Maggiano's     Cheesecake Factory              Houston's  Search properties for sale in Atlanta for free!! 07/14/2007

 Well if you enjoy shopping then a good place to consider is the perimeter. On a recent trip to the area I was flabbergasted by all the local shopping there was for one to do. First let's start with Perimeter mall. Built with the same idea as Lenox it has a Bloomingdales, Nordstroms, Macy's and Dullards. Along with smaller specialty shops like the fabulous luggage store. It sports a large food court and plenty of ambiance to walk around. Once you leave the mall there is still so much shopping to do. With no less than 4 separate shopping centers in the area you have plenty to choose from. My personal favorite is the container store or maybe the Henredon furniture store. Of course I like the smaller boutiques as well like Merci Woman a full-figured woman's store or Wine Styles, a very fri... 07/14/2007

Inspired by a recent article in Atlanta Magazine, I have decided to give you... Atlanta, Georgia...By the Numbers! 108,812 - the number of homes currently for sale in the Metro Atlanta area, as of today, July 12, 200710 - the number of deliciously delectable restaurants in the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group (11, if you count 103 West, which is really just for private parties)100+ - the number of streets in Atlanta named Peachtree something-or-other (it really is excessive, isn't it? but it's part of our charm!)272 - the number of feet above the surrounding street that the Atlanta capitol rises...gold dome, cupola, statue and all70 - the number of Coca-Cola products you can sample in the sampling room at the new World of Coca-Cola60 - approximate number of miles of I-285, a.k.a. "the Per... 07/12/2007

REMAX Greater Atlanta | Real Estate Blogging for Your Business | A Real Estate Blogging Seminar | Real Estate Speaker Jim CrawfordReal estate as an industry has always been driven by innovation, technology and the implementation of cutting edge tools. The fax machine, personal computers, software, email, pagers, cell phones, the Internet, GPS, emails, laptops, tablet PC's, and wireless technology have all played a part in the rapid expansion of our real estate industry. Broker reciprocity, IDX has further pushed the ambitions of the early founders of our Multiple Listing Services to unbridled levels never before imagined.  In the last 25 years the real estate industry as a result of embracing these technologies...has evolved into a new era of productivity and efficiency...but it is not ... 07/11/2007

Ever feel like you want to have all the best facts and approximate home prices before going on a listing appointment?  You want to have your numbers in line so that the home the seller wants you to list is not out of line for the actual appreciation of a neighborhood?  It doesn't make sense to list a home at $550K if it is really only worth 420K!  Sometimes it is super difficult to figure out the appreciation of a home you are thinking of listing.  I found this neat little Appreciation Calculator that is great for this!  I book-marked the free on-line real estate tool and created a short cut on my desktop for it.  I thought it would be a great real estate tool for all! Appreciation Calculator  07/10/2007

With all of the various things that someone could ask me about real estate, the question that I answer several times per week is "What does pending sale mean?"  I guess when I look at it with fresh eyes, it might not seem obvious.  So I thought I'd take the time to explain the terms that are used in the FMLS to indicate the sales status of a property in the Atlanta area. Active: This means that it is available to be shown and the sellers haven't negotiated a contract with anyone.  Contingency Other:  This means that the sellers have a signed contract with a buyer but they have at least one item that the contract is contingent on, usually financing or inspection.  If those contingencies are met, the home will sell on the date specified.  There's always a chance that something will go wro... 07/10/2007

 Sales Statisticsfor FULTON County GARealist's most recent recording date for this county is 06/05/2007 Single Family Residence Time PeriodNumber of SalesMedian Sale Price  Apr 20071,493$228,700  Apr 20061,581$207,000  Mar 20071,554$228,000  Mar 20061,894$205,050  2007 YTD7,055$224,900  200621,000$209,900  Condominium Time PeriodNumber of SalesMedian Sale Price  Apr 2007552$185,000  Apr 2006875$201,900  Mar 2007573$186,000  Mar 20061,006$212,950  2007 YTD2,614$188,900  200610,250$200,600 Source of Data: RealistThese are the local sales numbers for Atlanta and Fulton County. Real Estate is Local. This gives you an idea of what is actually going on in the local Atlanta market. 07/08/2007

With all the talk of buyers markets, real estate bubbles, softening real estate markets, declining real estate prices, buyer incentives, price reductions and the rest...are you seeing any real great deals in your markets?   What I am seeing is buyer incentives, increased commissions, and price reductions on properties I know are just over priced.  To me it does not matter if someone tells me they paid 400K last year, and are selling it for 350K this year.  My take is that the buyer may have overpaid initially.  What are you seeing in your market?  Each market will vary, but I would love to hear what is taking place across the land!  In the Atlanta real estate market I'm seeing softness in condos, and town homes.  Single family clean homes with the right location, right price are selling... 07/07/2007

All homes have personalities.  Some are dictated by the location, while others are dictated by the style of the home.  Regardless, the home needs to be showcased in the best possible light.Too often, a home, when vacant, lacks the personality it once had.  When that occurs, it's often difficult for a prospective buyer to envision living there.     With a trained eye, a real estate stager can visualize the look and feel the home requires to compliment the home as well as the specific features the home has to offer.  That's one of the true values of hiring a professional stager.Here's an example: This simple, yet elegant design brings out the "personality" of the home making it far easier to connect to.  Georgia Interior Solutions is a full service home staging company in Atlanta, serving... 07/05/2007

I received a call from an investor last week who has a condo for sale in Buckhead, Georgia.   Fortunately, I was going to be in the area when she called so... we were able to hook up on the very same day.  After having visited the condo, I knew exactly the look and feel we were after.  Armed with this insight, I created a list of the furniture items as well as the accessories needed that would compliment the look.  At Georgia Interior Solutions, we give the client the option of leasing the furniture/accessories or to buy them.  In this case, with her owning several other homes, she elected to purchase.   The owner did an incredible job with purchasing exactly what I had outlined. Despite the wonderful view this condo offers, the rooms just weren't captivating.  As a result, prospective ... 07/05/2007

Listings from the Internet | Home Sellers Find Atlanta Real Estate Agents on GoogleMore often than not Atlanta real estate agents speak about marketing but do not understand how to put together the pieces of the puzzle to complete a real estate sale. Inexperienced Atlanta agents get the listing, that is an easy thing to do, but what do your do when it doesn’t sell? What next? It is a tedious game of price drop after price drop, and no results. Atlanta homes sellers, and especially those that may have been relocated or are living out of state are anxious to get a home sold, but at a major disadvantage to oversee the sales form the comfort of their own home! They are living thousands of miles away! Over the years, many of these anxious home sellers have found our Atlanta real estate websi... 07/03/2007

Atlanta Expired Listings | Sometimes Atlanta Homes Just Don’t Sell! There are always reasons that homes in Atlanta don’t sell. The listings just expire! Sometimes they were not prepared for the market with new paint, carpet, they have visible signs of neglect such as missing shingles on the roof, overgrown landscaping, rusted gutters, an the siding is falling off the side of the home. Yes, there are also other reason homes don’t sell in Atlanta, sometimes the Atlanta listing agents is too inexperienced and the home was not priced or marketed correctly. Sometimes it is price, but more often than not, the listing was never marketed correctly. Homes have to have appear to be worth what the seller is asking for them in the list price. If the home down the street had loads of upgrades, a ne... 07/03/2007