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Lilburn, GA Real Estate News

By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
One morning last week I dropped by 590 Baltimore Ave in Lilburn to meet with the sellers and the inspector.  They were having a pre-listing inspection performed to make sure that everything was in perfect condition. It is obvious from just walking through that the property has been well cared for during the fifteen years since it was custom built.  While I have yet to see a perfect property… even brand new construction… this one ranks pretty well. When the results become available, we will share them with any interested buyers.  Of course, I still recommend that buyers have their own inspector perform a thorough inspection of any property they wish to purchase.  At the same time, buyers can offer with confidence that there won’t be giant hidden defects uncovered during the inspection th...
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By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
I don't know why, but I was reminded this morning about two very different people, one quote from both, and how cheap sex is like real estate success... for some.  Back when I first got into real erstate, a local "power agent" told me that the goal was to list as many properties as possible.  She said that I needed systems in place to spend as little time as practical for each listing, and to avoid spending money like the plague.  Seriously.  She was all in favor of spending money, but not on marketing property.  Her quote was, "It is a numbers game, the more you list, the more you sell."  She didn't care if the houses were over-priced, in bad condition... whatever.  It was just a numbers game.  And then there is a 'friend' of mine from my early college days.  He had a pattern... and it...
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How a child is taught to ride a bicycle may influence how they succeed in life. When you were taught to ride a bicycle, everyone I know did eventually learn to ride; but not without falling over several times (In my case more than several).  I have seen parents teaching their child to ride and when the child falls over the parent runs over and picks the child up and hugs them; then they will say something like "Bad Bicycle" or "Did that mean old bicycle hurt you".  The child then see their falling over was not their fault but the bicycle's fault.  When I was taught to ride a bicycle and I fell over my Dad would only hug me after I got up on my own and picked up my bicycle.  He then simply told me what I did wrong and to try again. He later told me that success is not measured in ride th...
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By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
Just in the last few days I have highlighted a couple of Buyer Programs that are currently available.  I have also hit a couple of others in the last few weeks... there are a lot of programs out there to spur buyer attention! photo credit: pfala If you are a buyer, especially one that doesn't have to sell a house in order to buy, you can find all sorts of great options to help with the purchase.  Let's hit some... $8,000 First time Home Buyer Tax Credit.  And while you can't have owned a home in the last three years, you don't actually have to be a first time home buyer. $14,000 Georgia Dream NSP Program.  This is specifically for foreclosed homes.  You don't have to be a first time buyer, but there are some hoops to jump through. $100 Down HUD American Dream Program.  This program is s...
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By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
Image via Wikipedia Have you heard of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs Georgia Dream NSP Purchase Plan? In effect it can provide $14,000 to qualified buyers of qualified properties that can be used as down payment or for re-hab of the purchased property.  And, if the buyer is a First Time Home Buyer, they may also be eligible for the federal tax credit of $8,000. Here are some of the qualifications (from the DCA website): Buyer must recieve 8 hours of HUD approved home buyer counseling/education. Eligible income level for Gwinnett County for a family of four is $85,450.  Smaller or larger families will have slightly different income limits. Buyer must use a participating lender. Property must be foreclosed and owned by HUD, VA, USDA, bank, governmental entity or eligible non...
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By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
Seriously!  I actually was going to write about this yesterday, but didn't want to release something this important on April Fool's Day...  Because this is NO JOKE.  HUD has a $100 Down Payment Program that is available on specific homes and through specific lenders.  I have one of those lenders programmed in my phone...  So, while the rates are amazingly low, prices have come down and the inventories are still generous, this is the time to take advantage of this kind of program.  Home ownership is the foundation of the American Dream.  Being able to have a home to call your own is one of the greatest things this country offers, and even as the housing bubble burst, many have been looking for a way to own their own piece of the American dream...  If you want to take advantage of this pr...
Comments 4
By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
A few years ago, Neal Boortz, an Atlanta Radio Talk Show Host and legend (in his own mind if no other) brought to light a something VERY important. He informed the population of Atlanta that the city's water supply had thousands of tons of a compound called "Dihydrogen Monoxide." The water supply was simply full of it. He went on the lay out some of the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide (from DHMO.org/facts): Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities. Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage. Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects. DHMO is a major component of acid rain. Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns. Contributes to soil erosion. Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many meta...
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By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
I have a really cool tool called the Client Gateway that I deploy for my buyers.  It builds a web site for them with the new listings that meet their needs. I was doing some maintenance today, checking for messages in the Gateways of a few buyers and seeing if I needed to get further information on properties for them.  One of the things I check is properties that are "No Longer Available".  The reasons a property will no longer be available are: The listing has been Withdrawn. The listing has Expired. The home has Sold. The property is Pending Sale (It is past the due diligence period and should close). I was a little shocked at what I found.  Normally, I would find properties 'No Longer Available' and they would usually be expired or withdrawn. That wasn't the case today.  As I ran th...
Comments 3
By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
It has been pretty well publicized, but I thought I would toss it out there again...  There is an $8,000 tax credit available for 'first time home buyers.'  Here are a few facts about the program... A First Time Home Buyer is defined as someone that hasn't owned a home in the last three years. The Credit is good for 10% of the purchase price of a home (new or resale) up to $8,000. There is a phase out for people with a Modified Adjusted Gross Income of more that $75,000. There are several ways to recapture the tax credit NOW, even if you have already filed your 2008 taxes. It is good on purchases up until December 1st, 2009. There is a lot of pretty easy to digest information available direct from the source, the IRS, available here. If you qualify, this is a GREAT incentive to buy a ho...
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By Tim Maitski, Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal
(Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage)
The Lilburn area average home sales price has broken down significantly over the past year. The number of sales had been going down quite a bit also but year over year they haven't changed much. Total days on market went up to 123.  The sales price to original list price ratio continues to drop down to around 82%.  The numbers below are for single family detached homes in FMLS area 64. Links to stats for other areas are at the bottom of the page. Year over year, total transactions decreased from 106 to 95 (-10%) Year over year, average sales price decreased from $200,166 to $128,896 (-36%) All data for graphs is taken from the FMLS statistics put out by Smart Numbers. For other market areas as shown in the following map, please click on the links below. All areas combined: Summary of al...
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By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
Spending a lot of time with buyers can teach an agent a few things that are useful when listing property... So, here are the top 5 great ways for a seller to tell a buyer to move on and not consider their house.  In no particular order: Require 24 hours advance notice for showings. Many times... the majority of the time, actually, buyers decide on the properties the night before looking at them.  Sometimes they have plenty of time to look, but there are always last minute additions to the list.  In some cases, they want to look at a house they run across WHILE searching.  In that case, the buyer's agent may not have a listing sheet for the property to even see that you have a required time to make an appointment.  Don't have a lockbox... or just have a combination box and an absent agen...
Comments 4
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 The following is some great information on the Temperature Pressure Relief values on your water heater from InterNACHI (International Association of Certified Home Inspectors) website www.internachi.org TPR Valves and Discharge Piping by Nick Gromicko, Rob London and Kenton Shepard     TPR (temperature pressure relief) valves are safety devices installed on water heating appliances such as boilers and domestic water supply heaters. TPRs are designed to automatically release water in the event that pressure or temperature in the water tank exceeds safe levels.   If temperature sensors and safety devices such as TPRs malfunction, water in the system may become superheated (exceed the boiling point). Once the tank ruptures and water is exposed to the atmosphere it will expand into steam a...
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By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
Lilburn had a nice website... it was fairly simple to navigate... better than most of the local municipalities.  But it has been over-hauled lately.  And it looks great.  Whether you are looking for information about upcoming events, information about City of Lilburn services or you need to know something about one of the local departments, they new site is very easy to navigate, and quite complete.  You can visit the new site at CityOfLilburn.com. While you are there you might look into the history of Lilburn theough the photo essay.  You could go through news section or look through upcoming events.  Don't forget the information about city services like police, sanitation and courts... and planning, parks and street cleaning.  Basically, all of the information you could want about the...
Comments 4
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In the United States House of Representatives today they are trying to throwout the Rule of Law over the Congress' embarrassment.  What embarrassment? The AIG bonuses. I know the emotional response for this is it is wrong, wrong, wrong!  BUT the question is What Laws have been broken? NONE.  AIG had contracts with their employees and they paid them what they were owed. What has me personally outraged is Congress wants to pass a 'Special' Bill' to tax the people who recieved AIG bonuses because that is NOT FAIR.  Again no laws were broken.  This bill if passed WILL set a very dangerous precedent.   When Congress does not like what is done in your business; someone makes a profit on a book or song; television or radio show makes money that the Congress does not like - They will simple TAK...
Comments 18
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When you compare the President's Tax plan to the FairTax it is very hard to imagine anyone not picking the FairTax.  But when you talk to people about the FairTax they have only heard of the 23% sales tax and they have been misled about what that really means.  They have been told that the 23% sales tax is added to what they are already paying in taxes; when, the 23% sales tax will replace all of the other taxes we are paying for now at the federal level. Here is a good chart to compare Obama's Plan to the FairTax:
Comments 7
By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
Well, LaneBailey.com made it to the first round of the VAR National Blog Brawl.  Now the hard part starts... the brackets.  We need EVERYONE to go to VAR Buzz and vote for LaneBailey.com in Zone 4.  There are some GREAT blogs in the field, and it is going to be hard work going up against them.  We won't be able to make it without all of our friends here at Active|Rain.  Tell your friends.  Tell your family.  Tell your friends' families.  LaneBailey.com needs every vote it can get.  And of course if there is anything you want to see written about, we are always open to suggestions.  For those coming to REtechSouth, I will be making a run in the truck from the hotel to the speaker's dinner on Thursday night.  I will also be helping with tech questions on the Saturday morning session... th...
Comments 10
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What are the bare bone areas that the Federal Government should involved in?  The basics we want them working on with the taxes they take from us.   Defense -Most people when asked where their freedoms come from they will always say the Constitution; but without flesh and blood standing in front of the Constitution it would only be a piece of paper. Secure our Borders - We must control and limit the people who come into this country. Commerce - Both Interstate and with other nations needs to be mediated for a level playing field.  Interstate Transportation, Air Traffic Control. ___________________?  What areas do you think should be added to this list and why?  And is it covered under the Constitution?  I will update the list as we go.
Comments 8
By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
Fast forward to the last line of this post and you will see me swallow my foot... Leading indicators v. Trailing indicators I didn't think Atlanta values would drop more than a couple of points... if that.  Well... 20% later, and there is no way for me to spin it otherwise... I was wrong.  I really thought that we wouldn't see more than a 5% decline. The rest of the post is interesting as well... simply because of the talk of leading and trailing indicators.  And that is what I want to expand on...  Leading and Trailing Indicators. As mentioned previously, leading indicators portend to the future.  One of the better leading indicators is the stock market.  Many feel that the stock market points to the larger economy six months in the future.  Of course, there are moments when that isn't...
Comments 5
By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
The March Market Report, looking at preliminary numbers for February, and solid numbers for January is now out on LilburnDwellings.com.  If nothing else, I have to say that we live in a dynamic market.  But, we really need to see what March through May holds.  We probably won't have a good handle on the market until at least June or July.  There is a possibility that something big could happen between now and then, but we had a bump in September and we couldn't confirm it as a non-repeating event until December.  Wander over to LilburnDwellings and take a look.
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By Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy
(Century 21 Results Realty)
I need to do some chainsawing in the yard.  There is brush to be cleared and trees to trim.  Unfortunately, my chainsaw doesn't really want to do any work right now.  It needs two basic ingredients... fuel and fire. The real estate market is similar.  There are two ingredients, fuel (sellers/listings) and fire (buyers).  Unlike my chainsaw, fuel is plentiful.  While we don't have the record inventories of last year, there are plenty of properties on the market.  Fire on the other hand is tougher to make.  And the powers that be are trying.  There are things like the incredibly low interest rates, $8000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit (FTHBTC) and rock bottom prices.  These interest rates are hanging out close to 5%.  There have only been a few times in the last 60 years when that has h...
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