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

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

Gorgeous (and LARGE) New Listing coming up in E Cobb (this weekend!)

Sope Creek Elementary, Dickerson Middle, Walton High School District

• $400,000 list price
• Traditional  with fresh new exterior paint
• 4 bed 2 bath upstairs with 1/2 bath on main level
• + Finished Basement with 1 bed 1 bath & Den/Playroom area
• + Bonus Rm/Playroom PLUS Office space upstairs (separate from bedrooms)
• 2 car garage
• LARGE Back Deck spanning lenght of house
• Gunite Pool
• Swim/Tennis N’hood

Kings Cove is a friendly & fun neighborhood that you will never want to move from!

Too new for pix, stay tuned, listing to be posted this weekend but ready to be shown now, so call 404-863-8680 if interested.

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

Our Team was in the news again this week as Lori Johnston with the Atlanta Journal & Constitution (AJC) recaps the home buying experience of one of our most recent East Cobb Home Buyers.  We sold his home in West Cobb in just 46 days for 96% of list price, which brought Brad & his son to East Cobb for the better commute & schools. 

Brad purchased this East Cobb Foreclosure in Gant Quarters for much less than the comparable sales & appraisal.  The water getting into the basement was due to a bent gutter from a tree limb that had fallen, and since the gutter was replaced (for less than $200), there’ve been no water issues at all!  The foreclosure bank had NO CLUE the fix was that simple so we did our due diligence & inspection & found that it was a very minor issue & repair.  Their loss is Brad’s gain!

Click here to see the full AJC article & Brad’s success story!

If you’re curious, here’s a link to search East Cobb Foreclosures. (this list doesn’t include East Cobb Short Sales, but I’ll send those to you if you’d like. Just email your request to HomeTeam@KellySellsAtlanta.com).  Let us know how we can help you or someone you know find success in this Real Estate market.

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team
#1 Team: Keller Williams Premier Atlanta
404-863-8680 | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com

Well, in “short,” a Short Sale is when the mortgagor/lender/bank accepts less than what the homeowner/borrower actually owes on the home (a “short” payoff).  Essentially, the mortgage company and the homeowner are using it as a solution to avoid a Foreclosure.  I’ve heard in the past that a mortage company will eventually lose approximately 18% on a property that forecloses instead of selling as a short sale, due to legal fees, worsened property condition, etc.  However, shockingly enough, close to 80% of the homeowners that go into foreclosure never even put their home on the market for sale, not even attempting a short sale.

Many short sale and foreclosure situations arise from either a spike in the borrower’s payment because they were maybe on an Interest Only ARM (Adjustible Rate Mortgage) which adjusted higher, a balloon payment at the end of an ARM, or due to a job loss, etc.  Sometimes, it’s merely because the homeowners needed to move, for one reason or another, and they couldn’t sell their homes for anywhere near what they paid for it in the booming years & they just decided to move on & cut their losses.  It’s not the ideal scenario for anyone or their neighbors or neighborhood, for that matter, but it definiltey happens.

Short Sales are definiltey the better route, for everyone involved (the seller, the seller’s lender, the buyer, etc) mainly because a foreclosure does more damage to the homeowner’s credit.  Also, the Seller’s Lender is normally getting more money than if they were to take it back in Foreclosure, and the Buyer will usually be buying a home in better condition than a foreclosure would be, but still at way below market value.

So, why do we see so many foreclosures happen – why don’t they all “short sale?”  Probably the biggest obstacle with short sales is the Seller’s bank’s ability to (or willingness to) process them in a timely manner and Buyers get anxious & tired of waiting on the bank’s response, so they decide to terminate & move on to another home.  Many times, the delay comes from the secondary lender (i.e. the subprime market) from the loans in which home buyers a 4+ years ago could get a 1st & 2nd mortgage (i.e. 80-20 loan, or 80% 1st & 20% 2nd) to avoid Private Morgage Insurance (PMI) and structure interest only payment, etc, to keep the payment low (essentially buying more home than a conventional mortgage would’ve afforded them).

Short Sales are consistently becoming more & more popular in this real estate market, though, and have been for a few years now, and the Government has put some plans in place to speed up the process & close more short sales.  Every market is local & different, but we’re all seeing it happen around us.  Some markets just have it worse than others.  Currently there are just over 5000 Atlanta homes for sale in FMLS for sale marketed as “Short Sales.”  Let’s hope many of these sell without going into foreclosure!  It will help the market, no doubt.

Homeowners: Are you in trouble of going into Foreclosure?  Would you like to talk more about the option of a Short Sale?  Give us a call or shoot us an email, we have an Atlanta area Short Sale Specialist on our Team to negotiate with your lender to help you aviod the obstacles and roadblocks  mentioned above & help you succeed in selling your home to prevent foreclosure.

Buyers: Click here to Search Atlanta Short Sales in your price range (click the More Search Options link in the search criteria for the Distressed/Short Sale option).

You can also click here to search the MLS for Atlanta homes for sale, including all of the metro Areas.

Thank you for reading!

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team
www.KellySellsAtlanta.com
Your 1 Stop Real Estate Shop!

Click HERE to search homes for sale in Walton High School district or Email Us for all East Cobb homes for sale and we’ll help you launch your home search.

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team of Keller Williams Realty
hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com | 404-863-8680 cell

TODAY’S RATES:

30 Year FNMA: 4.375% with a .500% Origination Fee or 4.500% with a .125% Origination Fee

15 Year FNMA: 3.75% with a .750% Origination Fee or 3.875% with a .125% Origination Fee

30 Year Jumbo: 5.00% with a 1.00% Origination Fee or 5.125% with a .375% Origination Fee

30 Year FHA: 4.250% with a .250% Origination Fee or 4.125% with a Zero Origination Fee

5 Year FHA Arm: 3.00% with a Zero Origination and the lender paying -.875% of Closing Costs! This would be $1,750.00 on a $200,000.00 Loan Amount!

7 Year FHA Arm: 3.250% with the Lender paying -1.500% of Closing Costs! This would be $3,000.00 on a $200,000.00 Loan Amount!

Disclaimer: Rates are subject to change and are also based on the strength of the borrowers pre-qualification.  The above rate info was provided by Bank of America on Tuesday, 8/17/10…

Let us know how our Team can help you reach your goals in Buying or Selling.

With gratitude,

Aaron Allen & The KellySellsAtlanta Team
www.KellySellsAtlanta.com | 404-863-8680
For Sellers | For Buyers | For Results

Quick update on what’s happening in the the 2010 East Cobb Real Estate Market – specifically in the Walton High School District.

Currently, there are currently 391 “Active” listings on the market in the First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS) in the Walton High School District (highest price is $5,800,000..whoa! and lowest price is $121k, which is pretty much a “cash only” purchase for investors).

There are 5 which are in “Contingent” contract, meaning they’re possibly in the Due Diligence Period (i.e. inspection period) or have Contingencies which could range from a Financing Contingency, Appraisal Contingency or even that the Buyers have a home to sell before they can purchase. This “Contingency” period is basically a period of time from the “Binding Contract” to the “Pending Contract” period, which means it’s cleared contingencies & it’s “pending” closing.

With that said, there are currently 43 Pending Sale with list prices ranging from $2.7M to $139,900 with an average list price of $415,110. There are 7 “pending existing lender approval” meaning these are Short Sale properties that require Bank or Lender approval for the Short Sale contract price & terms. These range from $1.4M to $185,000 at an average of $433,200.

There have been 200 Sold homes in the Walton High School District since 1/1/10. The Sales Prices range from $1,335,000 to $163,000 and the average Sales Price was $463,220 and averaged 89 days on market, selling at an average of 93% of the list price. The only caveat to that is these homes had an average ‘original’ list price of $659,857 and the average list price at time of contract was $498,310 (a 24.5% difference). So what you can take from that is, there are still quite a few homes still going on the market over-priced. However, once they get the price right, they will sell much closer to list price, so it’s much better to create a buzz by pricing it correctly from the beginning because this is a VERY desireable area and the well priced homes will sell fast and Sellers won’t need to negotiate much off of their list price.

Hope this was helpful.

CLICK HERE to see a Real Time list of Homes for Sale in the Walton High School District.

If you’d like to only see homes that are in the Sope Creek Elementary or Mount Bethel Elementary School Districts that feed into Walton, you can CLICK HERE for those homes as well.

Also, if you’re a home owner or interested in a FREE Market Analysis tool to monitor the home sales and Real Estate Trends and Market Activity in your neighborhood/area of interest, CLICK HERE for the FREE Market Snapshot Tool and start keeping an eye on the market and your home’s value and please keep us in mind when the time is right for you to buy or sell!

We live in East Cobb & REALLY love it. We’d love to help you & your family become winners in this market. Our Goal is for you to reach YOUR Real Estate Goals.

Warmest Regards,
The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team of Keller Williams Premier Atlanta
www.KellySellsAtlanta.com | 404-863-8680 | email: hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com

Zillow.com is actually the #1 site for Home Owners to check their home’s value.

What most don’t realized is how inaccurate that Zestimate really is. Check out this chart below from Zillow.com (go to www.Zillow.com, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page & click “Zestimate Values & Accuracy” and you’ll see this chart as well). You can also drill down by Counties for a better look at your metro Atlanta area.

Basically, Zillow’s Zestimates Home Values are not calculated by a Real Estate Market Specialist and they apparently aren’t very accurate at all. If Zillow has a 20% error rate in your area (Atlanta’s is 24% off) then that’s a potential 40% swing (20% higher & 20% lower) than what they “Zestimate” your home is worth. With that said, if we are 20% off in either direction, we wouldn’t still be in business, and our Team has been selling homes in the metro Atlanta area for 10+ years now! And as a side note: of the last 5 listings we’ve taken & sold, the Average Days on Market is ONLY 18 days and the Average List Price to Sales Price Ratio is 98%!! That’s a statistic that we’re very proud of and even get excited about!! We’re getting our sellers more money faster. That puts smiles on faces!

Based on Atlanta area market statistics, if you overprice your home (even by a little bit) it will likely take you 250+ days to sell your home & you reduce your price until you only get around 80% of your original list price. But if you price it correctly, you can sell within 30 days and even net yourself more money by pricing it properly rather than overpricing. And don’t worry so much about leaving “negotiating room” because that’s how you price yourself out of the market… the hot properties sell so close to list price that if you price it right, you won’t have to negotiate much at all. And another way to look at it: if you overprice, you’re likely not going to get an offer to negotiate anyways, so you’d be best off pricing it correctly and having a really good offer in hand in a short amount of time. The alternative can be a long, drawn out, frustrating and defeating process, without a better way of putting it.

Our job is to look at the market from a practical perspective and advise you on price based on actual comparables for your home, whether it be an Active Listing, a Pending Sale or a recently Sold home in your neighborhood or immediate area in the last 3-6 months.

It’s a simple strategy: we help you price it right, stage it, a professional photographer takes GREAT photos and from this (especially the price) you’re able to draw quick attention, and that’s what you want! A feeding frenzy! That’s when you get your BEST offer(s). You want an offer within 30 days and hopefully multiple offers, and you’re not going to get that being 20% off on pricing by using Zillow Zestimates.

So don’t trust Zillow to price your home for you… go to a Real Estate Agent you trust and you’re on your way to your selling and buying goals. Go with the pros on this one… “do what you do best and let an expert do the rest.”

And if you’re still just wanting to get a glimpse of the market before calling an agent, click here use this FREE Market Snapshot tool to view market data (including home sales), analysis & trends in your area. It will send you bi-monthly updates so you can keep up w/ the market until you’re ready to speak with a Realtor (like us!).

Hope this was helpful and thanks for reading!

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team of Keller Williams Premier Atlanta
404-863-8680 | hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com