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Atlanta, GA Real Estate News

By Ramsey Yount
(Signature Lending Group, Inc)
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...
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By Charles Cobb
(o48georgia)
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...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
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...
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By Jim Crawford, Jim Crawford Broker Associate Fredericksburg VA
(Long & Foster)
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, ...
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By Jim Crawford, Jim Crawford Broker Associate Fredericksburg VA
(Long & Foster)
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...
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By Joshua Jarvis, Moving Families Forward.
(Virtual Properties - Atlanta Real Estate)
  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."
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
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...
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By Jim Crawford, Jim Crawford Broker Associate Fredericksburg VA
(Long & Foster)
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 ...
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By David Woodworth
(Sun Realty, LLC)
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...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
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...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
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...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
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...
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By Jim Crawford, Jim Crawford Broker Associate Fredericksburg VA
(Long & Foster)
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.
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By Jim Crawford, Jim Crawford Broker Associate Fredericksburg VA
(Long & Foster)
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...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
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.      ...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
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...
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By Jim Crawford, Jim Crawford Broker Associate Fredericksburg VA
(Long & Foster)
Are you an Atlanta home seller? When selling a home in the Atlanta buyers market it makes sense to allow adequate marketing time to effectively sell a home.  Normally there would be about 55,000 homes for sale,  In one listing service, FMLS they are quoting over 82,000 Atlanta Active listings, GAMLS is quoting over 112,000 Atlanta active home listings.  If all things given are equal, if your home in Atlanta is priced right, shows right, and has open access via Lockbox, and is not "appointment only" then given current competition, it can take almost as long as the determined absorption and given competition to sell.   In fact 38% more!   There are more homes in Atlanta expiring,a nd being with drawn each month from the market that we sell!  If you are selling a home in Atlanta, you need ...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
I often get asked whether it is worth it to purchase owner's title insurance when buying a home.  I always say YES.  I like to tell the story of what happened to a group of homeowners in a little subdivision, Anne Place,in Cobb County Georgia.A man in Cobb County had inherited over 50 acres of land from his grandmother.  It just so happens that he married a lady who had the same name as his grandmother. Unfortunately they divorced and he had moved out of state.  His ex-wife, pretending to be the grandmother who had the same name, went ahead and sold the land to a developer.  They did a title search and assumed that she was the owner since her name  was the same as the name still on the deed. The developer went ahead and built 59 homes on the land. Everyone assumed they had clear title t...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
Sandy Springs, a newly incorporated city just north of Atlanta, gets it's name from a little spring on a farm in the area. It is an area that is a great example of the suburban sprawl that most people talk badly about.  Developers are being challenged to recreate the area and give Sandy Springs an identity, other than tacky strip shopping plazas and traffic congestion.There are a lot of new projects going on and in the planning stages around the area.  Right next to the Heritage Center, they completed an interesting project called City Walk. They took a typical Kroger shopping center and built a ring of small boutique shops and restaurants around the perimeter of the parking lot.In back of the Heritage Center they just completed a small terraced amphitheater. Last Sunday they had the op...
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