If you have been “in” the real estate market, either working, buying or selling in it, since January 1st you are already aware of some of what I am about to tell you.  For those of you who are busy with other things this may come as somewhat of a shock to you:  PRICES ARE GOING UP.  ….and in some areas not just a little up but BIG up.  The funny thing is, it doesn’t “feel” as good as it should.  I mean, when I pictured the market finally coming back and prices going up I skipped over the part we’re in now: the- multiple offers-1 day on market-above asking price-part.  Let me start from the beginning….of 2013:

I’m excited to be a part of the #1 brokerage in the US.  Keller Williams is #1 in the country AND in the Atlanta area markets!  We are also the only company still gaining in number of sales.  I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished!

Now for what happened in January, February and March

To recap, sales are down slightly from last year, however, the median sales price is up…and in some areas like West Midtown and Smyrna the median sales price has increased by more than 75% year over year!  I believe a large part of this can be contributed to a shrinking under $200,000 market.  This and low inventory are driving prices up faster than normal.

Sellers are having to negotiate less than they did last year.  The days of a buyer expecting to feel like they’re getting a “deal” are gone…at least for now.  Right now buyers are happy when they learn that a home that was listed on Monday is still for sale by the weekend.   Not surprisingly it’s taking fewer days to sell homes and I expect to see that number continue to fall.

Fewer sellers are having to reduce their price in order to entice offers.  No surprise there.  A few years ago we would have to put the house on the market for LESS than what the neighbor just sold for but now we are able to go higher.

And with only 3.7 months of inventory I will officially announce that we are in another housing crisis.  There are more buyers than homes right now and if that doesn’t change we will continue to see prices rise at a pace that will quickly price some buyers out of their desired areas.

So, what if you’re a Buyer?

• tell your boss that you’re looking for a new home and he may see you running out the door at 2pm on a Thursday to see something that’s just listed.  DO NOT WAIT until the weekend to see homes!  You must be willing to drop everything when a home hits the market.
• Come up with a strategy for getting the home if you’re in a multiple offer scenerio.  Our team has a secret we’ve been using for the past year to entice sellers to work with our buyers over others.  EVEN when we’re not the highest price!  Call me to find out more- 404-606-2219!
• Know that by making an offer you’re really just reserving it so that you can decide if you really want it during your inspection period.  If you change your mind during your due diligence period then you get your earnest money back.  It’s risk free!
• Listen to your Realtor (hopefully me, but if not keep listening).  I’m in the market everyday and even though it’s an extremely emotional market I will remain logical and help get you the house for the fairest price possible.  I always tell my clients this- I will tell you if I think a home won’t last.  I’m not telling you that to pressure you.  Rather, I’m telling you so that you understand that it will be gone if you decide you want to make an offer 3-4 days after we’ve seen it.

And if you’re a Seller?

• Your time has arrived…again!  Sit back and enjoy this crazy market.  Buyers will love your home…more than they did when you had it listed 3 years ago.
• Continue to stage and present as perfectly as possible.  Now’s not the time to fall short of expectations.  To get a buyer to pay your asking price or, in many cases, MORE than your asking price, you need to justify it in your home’s presentation.
• Pay attention to more than just price.  You’ll get your price.  Focus on the contingency periods with a special focus on the appraisal contingency.  Negotiate as few days as possible.  Get more earnest money.  Heavily consider buyers who can prove how qualified they are to get the mortgage with a significant down payment.
• Remember- the more a buyer pays for your home the more they will expect to be done during the inspection period.  Be prepared to fix what comes up on the inspection.  Not everything but some to most.  Keeping the deal together once the buyer has had time to calm down after negotiations AND after they learn every little thing that’s wrong with your home can be difficult.  Remorse and 2nd guessing are natural.  Surprise them with more yeses than no’s.

I look forward to updating you in a few more months!  In the meantime give me a call if I can do anything for you!

So here we are again!

2013 is here and we here at the KellySellsATLanta.com Team have been patiently waiting on our Stats Guy, Chuck, to finish with his incredibly detailed report of what exactly happened in the 4th Quarter of 2012.  For this post let’s zoom into the following areas:

• Buckhead (area 21)
• Midtown/Ansley Park/Virginia Highlands/Morningside/Candler Park/Lake Claire/Inman Park (area 23)

….among a few others that are sprinkled in between all of these neighborhoods.    Here goes!

NUMBER OF HOMES SOLD

• Buckhead- 178 detached homes sold, which was a 35.9% increase over 4Q 2011.  So, sales were up!
• Midtown- 115 detached homes sold,  which was a 26.4% increase over 4Q 2011.  Again, sales were up!

DISTRESSED SALES- How much of an impact are they having on these markets?

• Buckhead- Only 1.1% of the above sales were foreclosures.  9% were short sales.  So in Buckhead, not much impact at all.
• Midtown- 4.3% of the above sales were foreclosures.  9.6% were short sales.  A little more impact here but still not much.

MEDIAN SALES PRICE – Are prices going up or coming down?

• Buckhead- had the highest median sales price out of all 41 Metro Atlanta areas in the 4Q.  It was $606,000, which was
  8.2% higher than the median sales price of 4Q 2011!  
• Midtown- the median sales price here was $460,000, which was a whopping 15.9% higher than 4Q 2011!

HOW LONG ARE HOMES TAKING TO SELL?

• Buckhead- It’s still taking over 3 months or 110 days, on average, to sell a home in Buckhead.  That is over 20 days longer than the Metro Atlanta average of 78 days.  This number is actually 37.1% FASTER than last year’s average though so at least the number is heading in the right direction.  :-)
• Midtown- this area didn’t do much better than Buckhead. It took an average of 97 days to sell a home in Midtown’s neighborhoods which was 28.7% faster than 4Q  of 2011.
• KellySellsAtlanta.com Team- We’re excited to tell you that our 2012 Average Days on Market blows away both of these “averages”!  We sold homes in an average of only 40 days!  That equals thousands of dollars in carrying costs that our Sellers got to keep!

HOW MUCH ARE SELLER’S HAVING TO NEGOTIATE OFF THEIR PRICES?

• Buckhead- These sellers averaged getting 89.8% of their asking price.
• Midtown- Midtowners did better than the Buckhead Bettys in that they got an average of 91.8% of their asking price.
• KellySellsAtlanta.com Team- we blew them BOTH away!  Our sellers got, on average, 98% of their asking price.  Which, again, means our Sellers got to pocket thousands more just because they hired us to handle their marketing and negotiating!

SO, HOW MANY HOMES ARE STILL FOR SALE?

• Buckhead- As of December 31st Buckhead had 5.5 months of inventory left and I’m betting that number hasn’t gone up.  What this means is that if NO other listings came on the market, and we keep selling homes at the rate we’re selling them, it would only take 5.5 months to sell EVERY home currently listed.  That, my friends, is what we in the industry call a “Balanced Market”. Which means that it’s neither a Buyer’s market nor is it a Seller’s market.  And because I’m curious and maybe some of you are too here’s a link to ALL of the homes currently for sale in Buckhead!
• Midtown- This is the area where we’re really feeling some stress. There is only 3.5 months of inventory here.  And this isn’t the only area of Metro Atlanta with such low inventory levels.  Parts of Cherokee, Douglas, Cobb, Gwinnett and Dekalb are all feeling the burden of having more Buyers for their homes than listings.  In these areas this crazy pendulum has swung from way too much to not enough!  Here’s a link to ALL of the homes currently for sale in Midtown’s neighborhoods!

So, what does this all mean for the Intown Market?  Let me bullet point-

• If you live in these areas then you have every right to feel giddy about our real estate market.  Sales are up!  Prices are up!  Times are good again!
• Foreclosures are having very little impact on these areas so if you’re looking for a bargain, these are probably not the areas you should be focusing on.  (which areas have the highest # of distressed sales you ask?  SE Dekalb, SE Fulton and Douglas Co’s to name a few)
• I would predict that after the 1Q numbers come back that we will see another decline in how long it’s taking to sell homes in these areas.  If your home is on the market longer than a couple of weeks it starts to get stale and buyers/agents start to wonder why it wasn’t snapped up.  This is why we spend SO much time on the front end preparing our homes to enter the market. We know we have one shot to get you the absolute most for your home so we take no chances when it comes to presentation.  This has resulted in much faster selling times and much happier clients!

Please call us @ 404-606-2219 if you are wondering if now is the right time to sell.  We have buyers all over the Intown neighborhoods that might want a home just like yours!

• 192 homes sold in Q3.  (up 21.5% from 2011 Q3)
• Of those sales 10.9% were distressed sales.  (only 3.1% were foreclosures and the rest were short sales)
• Buckhead has the highest median sales price in all of metro Atlanta which was $620,000.  Therefore, half of all sales were above that and half were below.
• The median sales price rose 5.5% from the same time last year
• On average, it took 112 days for homes to go under contract
• This is down 37.6% from last year
• Sellers got, on average, 89% of their original asking price, meaning they averaged coming off their price 11%
• Over half of all sellers had to reduce their list price before they went under contract

Getting excited about a long weekend but haven’t decided what to do yet?  (Us too!)  We’ve scoured the metro Atlanta area for fun things to do this Labor Day and hope it helps in your decision.  If all else fails you can come hang out with us Saturday!  We’ll be watching college football all….day….long!

Get your geek on!  DragonCon is a huge convention of sci-fi/fantasy/comic book nerds fans that happens in downtown Atlanta every Labor Day weekend.  Even if you’re not a big sci-fi fan, it’s fun just people watching.  Where else can you see Williams Shatner AND zombies in the same building??  www.dragoncon.org

If you’re looking for a more intellectual environment then look no further than the Decatur Book Festival.  This year is bigger and better than ever so come ready to get smarter.  Focuses this year will be on Environmental issues, Atlanta authors, live music, children’s activities including a parade and even a Teen poetry slam!  Check, check, check it out!  www.DecaturBookFestival.com

Do you bleed purple and orange?  How about blue and orange?  If so, we know where you’ll be: The Georgia Dome for the Chick-fil-a Kickoff Game!  Friday Tennessee Vols will be taking on NC State Wolfpack with Saturday’s match up being the Clemson Tigers will battle the Auburn Tigers.  Go Tigers! (Just kidding)   http://www.chick-fil-akickoffgame.com/

Stone Mountain is always great for holiday fun.  Check out their Labor Day events at www.Festivals.stonemountainpark.com.  Not on Labor Day, but worth mentioning is a crafters DREAM!  The Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain is the following weekend and  a real treat for those of us who love the smell of hot glue and old stuff.  Check out more info here:  http://festivals.stonemountainpark.com/mini-section/default.aspx?id=14

And oh, wait!  This looks like fun!  Travel a little south of the city to the  Sky High Hot Air Balloon Festival at Callaway Gardens!  I’m not sure if you just watch or get in them but who doesn’t get excited when they see one of these, much less hundreds!  http://www.callawaygardens.com/info/calendar/calendar.sky_high_hot_air_balloon.event.aspx

And finally, one more spot for you to meander through will be the Marietta Square for Art in the Park.  Come get your sidewalk-chalk on with an all ages contest AND be ready to shop for locally crafted goods.  My kind of afternoon!  http://www.artparkmarietta.com/

We can’t wait for our long weekend and hope the rain stays away and the Bulldogs win.  Happy Labor Day!

Getting the house you want at the price you want can be tricky – even in a buyer’s market. Sometimes a home seller just isn’t willing to budge on price. Don’t despair! There are other ways to sweeten the deal and drive it to close in a buyer’s market. Here are seven tips on how to negotiate with a home seller.

Get the Dirt on the Home Seller

Learn as much as you can about the motivations and situation of the home sellers. For instance, if they’re living in the house and they need flexibility around the closing date, you could offer to be flexible on closing if they move on terms. In the case of estate properties, take some time to learn about the heirs – where they live, what kinds of houses they live in and whether or not they are in legal or financial trouble. It sounds creepy, but most of this information is available for free online once you have the names of the home sellers. You can also research obits and marriage documents that are in the public domain. The more you know, the more leverage you have when it comes time to negotiate.

Know What the Property is Worth

Work independently or with your agent to research comparable sales in the immediate area of the home, then make an offer at least 10 percent below what the market says it’s worth. Dig into the details to figure out how the home you want to buy stacks up against comps, and look for ways to communicate the legitimacy of your offer or requests by backing it up with data. For instance, if all comparable sales have a pool, waterfront property or updated kitchens and the house that you want doesn’t, point that out. Use this data to justify your offer or other requests to create value if they won’t budge on price.

Don’t be Afraid to Ask

If there are things that you want or need to feel comfortable with the deal, ask for them. The home seller can always refuse, but if you don’t ask, you don’t know. If you’ve created leverage by learning about the property and the seller’s situation, you can use this information to ask for things, such as repair of items found during the inspection period or appliances that weren’t listed on the original contract for the house. Don’t make assumptions. Even if your realtor balks at the idea, always ask.

Offer a Quick Close

The faster a deal gets done, the more quickly the home seller can cash out their asset and move on with life. Homes that remain on the market or unsold for extended periods of time become costly to sellers (especially if they’re unoccupied) and start to decline in condition. Offering a quick close builds confidence with the seller as it means that there’s less time for things to go sour with the deal. If you’re situation allows for this negotiation tactic, you might be able to either lower your price or get other benefits in exchange.

Make an As-Is Offer and Ask for the Furniture

If you want to make a reasonable but low offer on a property, consider the pros and cons of presenting an “as-is with right to inspect “ offer. The upside is that you can walk away from the deal if the inspection frightens you. The downside is that what you see is what you get, leaky plumbing, termites, mold and all. If you really want a property and are willing to take it as-is, but aren’t really comfortable with the seller’s floor price, ask for the furniture or other non-fixed assets that make the deal more palatable such as a boat or fitness equipment.

Ask the Home Seller to Cover Closing Costs

If you’re apart on price for the home itself, one way to get around the cash crunch and get a deal done is to meet the home seller on price, but ask them to cover all or part of the buyer’s closing costs. Some home sellers might balk, but if they’re able to do this and want to finish the deal with a sale at a particular price point, this technique can work.

Be Willing to Walk Away

Buying a home can be an intensely emotional experience, but at the end of the day it is really just a business transaction. This means you can’t get attached, and you have to be willing to walk away if you’re unable to negotiate with a home seller or if the seller becomes unreasonable. If the seller’s agent senses desperation or over-eagerness on your part, they might interpret that as a signal that they have the upper hand. Silence can be your friend. Hold your cards close and always be willing to walk away.

Warren T. Jackson Elementary School in Buckhead is one of only 22 schools in the state to be recognized as a 2010 Georgia Schools of Excellence in Student Achievement award winner.   Click here to read more on Jackson Elementary in this article.  The Georgia Public Policy Foundation (2010 Report Card for Parents) has it ranked as the #10 Elementary School in the State!

Jackson Elementary District is located in the North Buckhead & the Chastain Park areas.  VERY desireable areas…

Jackson Elementary (along with Morris Brandon Elementary & Sarah Rawson Smith Elementary) feeds into Sutton Middle & North Atlanta High.

There are currently 216 homes for sale in the Jackson district, and the average list price is actually quite eye opening ($2,131,423) but if you take out the 146 homes that are over $1M, you still have over 50 homes under $1M to choose from, including our Listing at 361 Valley Brook, a renovated brick ranch on a partially finished basement with a HUGE flat lot & a great, popular neighborhood, walking distance to shops & restaurants on Roswell Rd & also Chastain Park & Chastain Ampitheater.  The home is listed at $435,000 – currently the 2nd lowest list price for a finished basement in the school district!

There are currently 13 under contract in the district and 50 have sold since 1/1/11 (for an average of just over $1M, which is heavily weighted by a few VERY high sales – so 33 of those 50 homes were under $1M).

Click here to learn more about Warren T. Jackson Elementary.

Click here for Homes For Sale in the Warren T. Jackson Elementary School District.

Get your kids into the TOP Public School District in Atlanta!   And we’re here to help.

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team
Keller Williams Realty of Buckhead
www.KellySellsAtlanta.com

UNDER CONTRACT IN 18 DAYS!

Open, airy & RENOVATED in EAST COBB’s most desirable & convenient district (Sope Creek, Dickerson, Walton)! Gorgeous .66 acre, CUL-DE-SAC LOT is the perfect spot for summer get-togethers while still offering privacy. Sunny kitchen boasts granite countertops, backsplash and overlooks vaulted, fireside family room. Huge window overlooks green, flowering, backyard & deck. Vaulted master BR, renovated baths! Meticulously maintained! Neighborhood has SWIM/TENNIS/LAKE & NATURE TRAILS and you are only a few short miles to Trader Joe’s, Whole foods, Publix, Target and more!

Congratulations Brigitte & Patrice!

The KellySellsAtlanta Team 
Your 1 Stop Real Estate Shop!

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team | Aaron Allen | 404-863-8680
hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com

3251 Turtle Lake Dr. SE Marietta, GA 30067 | 4Bds/ 2.5Bths

Close in East Cobb, Sope Creek Elementary! Three sides brick beauty on full basement with large level fenced backyard with views from family room, kitchen & breakfast. New kitchen appliances, granite countertops. New Master bath with double vanity, tile flooring, frameless glass shower. Large bonus room. Front and rear stairs. Full basement – partially finished with plenty of storage& play space. New exterior paint, fresh interior paint, freshly cleaned carpeting. Recently upgraded deck & porch. New driveway. Move in ready. Active swim/tennis/lake community.

                                                                                                                            Congratulations Matt & Amy!

The KellySellsAtlanta Team
Your 1 Stop Real Estate Shop!

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team | Aaron Allen | 404-863-8680
hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com

 945 Highland View Atlanta, GA 30067 | 3Bds. 1Bth

 Custom-built new England farmhouse, 2-stry 4bdrm, 3 1/2 bath east Cobb traditional located on cul-de-sac in Walton School District. Formal living room & dining room, paneled den with masonry fireplace opens to all-weather porch. Large kitchen with new granite countertops, backsplash, stainless appliances, dishwasher and breakfast room. Terrace level with fireplace and private entry. Conveniently located to shopping and dining.

                                   Congratulations Frank & Lauren!

The KellySellsAtlanta Team
Your 1 Stop Real Estate Shop!

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team | Aaron Allen | 404-863-8680
hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com 

4285 Blackland Way Marietta, GA 30067 | 4Bds. 3.5Bths

Custom-built new England farmhouse, 2-stry 4bdrm, 3 1/2 bath east Cobb traditional located on cul-de-sac in Walton School District. Formal living room & dining room, paneled den with masonry fireplace opens to all-weather porch. Large kitchen with new granite countertops, backsplash, stainless appliances, dishwasher and breakfast room. Terrace level with fireplace and private entry. Conveniently located to shopping and dining.

                                          Congratulations Garth & Anna!

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team | Aaron Allen | 404-863-8680
hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com