Home sales & median sales prices were down in the 4th quarter of 2010 vs. 3rd quarter, but they started climbing in December & have continued through Spring 2011.  The Ratio of Sales Prices to Original List Prices was UP in the 4th Quarter of 2010 compared to 4th Quarter 2009 by 2% and Days on Market (DOM) was down slightly from 123 to 120, which indicate that homes are entering the market at more competitive prices. The amount of homes for sale in the Atlanta area (i.e. Inventory) also began to trend downward after June 2010, so although the market may seem a little saturated with inventory, it’s mainly overpriced homes or distressed properties that need LOTS of work.  The good homes at good prices are still going super fast.

We’ve noticed that in the $300-$400k price range, there seems to be a boom of interest from Buyers.  We’ve had 4 sets of clients in Multiple Offer situations since February (3 with Buyers, 1 with a Seller – and my buyers won all 3!!) and ALL have been between $325-$375k in Virginia Highland, Grant Park and 2 in East Cobb (yes, we can cover some territory – we have lived in Buckhead, East Atlanta & East Cobb in the last 7 years).      The $300,000 to $500,000 price range has the lowest inventory count (12 months) of any other price range besides the <$200,000 range at 9.7 months of inventory (which accounts for approx 60% of the current home sales in this market).

And to touch a little more on that price range: in the $300-$500k range, median Days on Market was down to 158 in the 4th quarter of 2010 vs. 189 days in 4th quarter 2009 (-16%).  For all price ranges, if a home is overpriced, the median DOM is 181, but if priced correctly it’s ONLY 28 DOM!!  Meaning you have to act FAST to get the goods.

So, this may have been a little scattered, but what we tried to indicate is that although the market seems to be slow-go, it’s really picking up in certain price ranges.  The Prices have fallen enough to where Buyers are definiltey taking notice.  I mean, who would’ve thought you could get a nice 3 bedroom home on a basement in Virginia Highland for under $340k?  Who would’ve thought you could get a 5 bedroom 3 bath home on a finished basement in the Sope Creek Elementary, Dickerson Middle & Walton High School district in the mid-$300′s?  The time is right, the prices are more right than ever, and the rates continue to be ridiclously low (although they do like to bounce around a little).

If you’re thinking of buying a home – do it before the rates go back up.  Seriously, that’s the biggest factor.  The prices are so good, you can’t miss if you plan on being in the home for at least 5 years.  Get the best rate, because that will ultimately have a bigger effect on your monthly payment.

If you’re thinking of selling your home, give us a call & let’s do a Market Analysis to see how your home would fit into the market.  Inventory may be low for comparable homes in your area & price range & that may help you get the best price by getting in front of those buyers looking for a great home at a great price & a great mortgage interest rate vs. waiting on the spring/early-summer inventory to come on the market & increase your competition.  You could potentially get yourself into a multi-offer situation!! Wouldn’t that be nice?!

Click here to search Atlanta Homes for Sale just like an Agent can, OR here to get a FREE Market Valuation to find out “What’s My Home Worth?.”  If you want a more custom, real-time search that pulls directly from the MLS & will prompt you when homes that meet your wants & needs, email us at HomeTeam@KellySellsAtlanta.com & we’ll have it set up for you pronto. 

With gratitude,

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team
#1 Team in Keller Williams of Buckhead since 2007

Seriously, though, we do hope you call us 1st!  And in the event you do, we’ll tell you that the very best 1st step is to be Pre-Approved by a Mortgage Lender.  We refers our clients to THE BEST Lender in the Metro Atlanta area, and he proves it time & time again.  Our clients rave about his service & his mortgage rates So even if you have a lender picked out, we advise that you speak with our lender as well, at least to get a 2nd opinion.  His loan packages are 2nd to none & you’re doing yourself a favor by at least giving him a call.  He can also do loans in other states, so if you’ve been transferred or planning to purchase a vacation home, he’s able to help with that too.

There are a couple of reasons that getting Pre-Approved with a Lender is the best 1st step to buying… the #1 reason is so that you know what your budget is.  Our Lender will be able to help you come up with a price range that will fit the monthly payment you need.  He can work backwards, based on the payment, county, estimated taxes, mortgage interest rates, etc & help you find the price range that actually fits into your budget.  He will also provide you with an interactive estimation tool that will re-calculate as you manipulate the data (i.e. mortgage rate, purchase price, down payment amount, etc) so that you can play around with it and see how your monthly payment, etc would look if you changed your price range, etc.  Just please don’t be fooled by the online mortgage calculators that generally don’t take into account (or do so inaccurately) the property taxes & insurance payment, etc.  You need advice from an actualy human being and starting with our Lender is definitely one step closer to reaching your goal of Buying a Home!

And the 2nd most important reason to call a Lender & get pre-approved is that you want the Seller to view you as a serious buyer and one that has has the backing of the bank/lender (i.e. money in hand).  Every Seller questions whether the Buyer has been pre-approved for a loan, and when you provide the Pre-Approval Letter with the offer to the Seller, that question is already answered.

Recap: Call The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team 1st & let us help you through the process of Buying a Home.  We’ve been in business for over 10 years & have aligned ourselves with some of the best in the industry… So rather than piecemeal the homebuying process on your own, come to us & let us align you with our partners (lender, home inspector, home warranty company, closing attorney, contractors, vendors, etc) so that you can focus your time and energy on YOU & living life.  Our Team is leveraged internally as well with an administrative assistant & marketing specialist, a Buyers Specialist, a Closing Coordinator & 2 Listing Specialists to help you efficiently & effectively reach your goals of buying or selling a home.  After all, our goal is to help you reach YOUR goal.

In the meantime, if you just want to browse homes for sale, you can view ALL metro Atlanta MLS listings HERE on our website.

With gratitude,

The KellySellsATLanta.com Team
Keller Williams Realty Premier Atlanta
404-863-8680 | hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com

your 1 stop Real Estate Shop…

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

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR REAL ESTATE CLOSINGS:

A) FHA Condo Considerations:

a. Condominiums must be covered by hazard and liability insurance and, when applicable, flood and fidelity insurance.
b. No more than 15 percent of the total units may be in arrears (defined as more than 30 days past due) of their condo association fee payments.
c. Condo associations must have a reserve account which holds an amount equivalent to at least 10% of the condo association budget.

B) Furniture Sold as Part of the Contract:

a. Be cautious when including personal property, such as furniture, in the contract. Appraisals are consistently coming in lower than the sales price, and an inflated sales price due to personal property can exacerbate that issue.

C) Seller Mail Aways/Seller Signing Early:
a. Be aware of whether the buyer has an FHA loan. If so, the lender will send documents that must be signed by the seller with the loan package. The seller must have access to a fax machine on the day of closing so that they can sign the FHA docs and fax them back to us as these docs are usually required for funding authorization.

D) Closing Costs:

a. Make sure to prepare both the buyer and seller that closings costs can change. The lender can put a cap on the amount of seller concessions allowed or a minimum on what the buyer must contribute. Therefore, the closing costs listed in the contract will not always be the closings costs allowed to be paid at closing.

Again, our Team’s job is to avoid these issues – whether we’re the Buyer’s Agent or Listing Agent. Our Preferred Lender and Closing Attorney are with you every step of the way to ensure a seemless closing & experience for our clients. I’m serious – they’re fantastic, and our business woulnd’t be where it is without them. We’re definiltey blessed to have found them & our clients have always felt the same.

Hope this was helpful! Let us know if you need us…

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team of Keller Williams Realty
404-863-8680 | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com | HomeTeam@KellySellsAtlanta.com

Aaron & Kelly Allen | Keller Williams Premier Atlanta | aaron@kellysellsatlanta.com | 404-863-8680 1242 Briar Hills Drive NE, Atlanta, GA ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE, RENOVATED ranch in Briar Hills!! 3BR/2BA Single Family House offered at $329,500 Year Built 1950 Sq Footage Unspecified Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 2 full, 0 partial Floors 1 Parking 1 Uncovered spaces Lot Size Unspecified HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION OPEN HOUSE THIS SUNDAY APRIL 18TH FROM 2-4PM!!!! ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE, RENOVATED ranch on FULL BSMT & FULLY FENCED backyd. Open Floorplan w/ SunRm. GREAT LOCATION minutes to VA Highland/Emory/CDC & convenient to Downtown Decatur & ATL. BRAND NEW, FULL LENGTH DECK, professional landscaping w/seasonal color. Ready for you to move-in & enjoy! see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES - Central A/C - Central heat - Hardwood floor - Family room - Dining room - Dishwasher - Stove/Oven - Microwave - Granite countertop - Basement - Laundry area – inside - Balcony, Deck, or Patio - Yard ADDITIONAL PHOTOS Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6 Contact info: Aaron & Kelly Allen Keller Williams Premier Atlanta aaron@kellysellsatlanta.com 404-863-8680 For sale by agent/broker Equal Opportunity Housing Posted: May 14, 2010, 8:43am PDT

]]> http://www.kellysellsatlanta.com/2010/05/14/open-house-may-16/feed/ 0 http://www.kellysellsatlanta.com/2010/04/20/fha-policy-changes-and-mortgage-rate-update/ http://www.kellysellsatlanta.com/2010/04/20/fha-policy-changes-and-mortgage-rate-update/#comments Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:57:56 +0000 Kelly and Aaron http://www.kellysellsatlanta.com/?p=497 Hi All!

Mortgage Rates are slightly up .125% for Conventional Loans & .125% for FHA Loan Products! This means homes are basically going to “cost more” (when your rate goes up, so does your payment)!!!

Also, not only will homes begin to “cost more” when the tax credit expires and the mortgage rates creep up, but FHA Policy changes may also take a little out of your pocket at closing…(see FHA Policy Change info below).

Oh, and I’m sure you haven’t, but don’t forget that there are only 10 days left for a homebuyer to get Under Contract to meet the April 30th Deadline for the Tax Credit!!!

FHA Seller Sales Concession Policy Changes

FHA has sent the Notice soliciting public comments on lower allowable seller sales concessions (i.e. to pay for Buyer Closing Costs) from 6% of the home’s purchase price down to 3% to OMB for review. This means the Notice will probably be published for comment in 30-60 days. Accordingly, implementation will likely occur in late Summer (August or September).

TODAY’S MORTGAGE RATES:

30 Year FNMA: 4.875% with a .625% Origination Fee

15 Year FNMA: 4.250% with a .250% Origination Fee

30 Year Jumbo: 5.500% with a.875% Origination Fee

30 Year FHA: 4.750% with a .750% Origination Fee

7 Year FHA Arm: 3.750% with a .625% Origination Fee

Disclaimer: Rates are subject to change and are also based on the strength of the borrowers pre-qualification. ~source: Bank of America Home Loans

IMPORTANT DATES:

April 30, 2010: Cut-off date to be UNDER CONTRACT to qualify for the $8,000/$6,500.00 Tax Credit.

June 30th, 2010: Cut-off date to be for CLOSINGS to qualify for the $8,000/$6,500 Tax Credit.

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team
Your 1 Stop Real Estate Shop

Currently there are just over 200 homes for sale in the Morningside District with an average list price of $703,889. There are 35 homes under contract (this is a HOT area) and in the last 3 months, 42 homes have sold for an average sales price of $581,184.

I’ve set up this hot sheet link for you (see below) to view all homes for sale in the Morningside Elementary School District. The list of homes is always up to date, so you can put it in your favorites & feel free to revisit anytime.

Once you’re ready, you can call or email us for a FREE home valuation on your home, to set up a listing appointment or to view some of these listed homes and we can tailor a search that fits your specific criteria.

Our Team would love to help…and until then, Happy Hunting!! Oh, and the tax credits expire in 3 weeks & mortgage rates have gone slightly this week…still really good rates, but seems like they may not stay in the 4′s too much longer.

Click here for a list of homes for sale in the Morningside Elementary School District!

Click here for the Morningside Elementary School Website…

HomeTeam@KellySellsAtlanta.com | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com | 404-863-8680 cell | 404-969-1600 office

One of the toughest elements of this market is the fact that houses lose their uniqueness. The real disconnect is coming from this: Most sellers are trying to sell emotionally and buyers are buying logically. And agents who list properties and only speak “emotion” are really exacerbating the level of disconnect because buyers can’t understand the logic behind their sales pitch. The best thing that we as agents can do for sellers is to speak “logic” when we take a listing a pitch it to buyers in the market. An emotionally charged marketing campaign in the absence of a logically based price results in reduced prices and expired listings, and sellers continue to be “held hostage” by a home they no longer want. Logic means that something has to make good sense, particularly when compared to other things. Therefore, the properties that sell in less than 1 month on the market are the properties that show better than the other active listings on the market and are priced better than anything else that a buyer sees.

A listing is like an illness. With the right prescription (price) it goes away. With the wrong prescription (price) it gets worse.

As agents (and essentially independent business owners), no matter what, we have to be more concerned about taking an overpriced listings: it hurts our bottom line; it hurts our reputation; and it does our sellers a disservice by giving them false hope and wasting time and money that many of them don’t have.

Our ability to price listings accurately enough to attract offers has never had more importance. The time and money that this can save our sellers can literally save them. It can save their marriages, their families and it can save them financially. For the agents who understand this and become obsessive about it, there’s never been a more rewarding time to be a Realtor.

We realize that the truth is tough and can hurt a seller right now. However, the lack of truth hurts more and does more damage than most people can see on the front end of selling a home. Our challenge and our opportunity is to raise the level of our game so that our clients can trust our data, trust our recommendations and predict the future as clearly as we can. Together we can meet this challenge! 

We’re fighting the good fight! Together, we are making a huge difference in the lives of the people that we serve.

Thanks to Keller Williams & our owner, Shaun Rawls, for providing us with this info and for all of the traning we receive.  I’m so proud & fortunate to be in business with you.

Aaron Allen & Kelly Allen | Atlanta Real Estate Consultants

The Kelly Sells Atlanta Team | Great Service for Great People

Give us a call & we’ll guide you to making the right decisions when it comes to buying or selling a home.  We’re here to help you reach those goals.  We’d love be your Atlanta Real Estate advisors.

More “What to Watch For” coming soon…

The Kelly Sells Atlanta Team | 404-863-8680
Great Service for Great People…

1. Are you a full-time professional Realtor® and how long have you worked full time in real estate?

Absolutely.  With that said, as with any profession, the number of years a person has been in the business does not necessarily reflect the level of service you can expect, but this is still information you want to know and it is a good starting point for your discussion.  Knowing whether or not your Realtor® practices real estate on a full-time basis can help you foresee scheduling conflicts and, overall, his or her commitment to your transaction.

Kelly started this company over 10 years ago and Aaron has joined her since, along w/ the rest of the Team.  This business is our livelihood and since so much of our business comes from referrals, we’re committed to customer service.  After all, a referral is the best compliment we could ever receive.

2. Do you have a Team or Staff to handle different parts of the purchase transaction?

Our Team has a Buyer’s Specialist, a Listing Specialist, an Admin and a Closing Coordinator.  Our office partners with a prominent Closing Attorney’s office in Atlanta and we also have a Lender we work very closely with that will NEVER disappoint you if you’re shopping the best rates & loan packages.

Although we have an Admin Assistant and a Closing Coordinator, we stay involved in every step of the process and we’re only a phone call, text message or an email away!

Buyer Specialist: Aaron Allen | 404.863.8680 | aaron@kellysellsatlanta.com
Listing Specialist: Kelly Allen | 404.606.2219 | kelly@kellysellsatlanta.com
Team Admin: Lorena Theiler | lorena@kellysellsatlanta.com
Closing Coordinator: Holly Syers | hollysyers@kw.com
Closing Attorney: Ferguson McManamy Buckhead | 404.705.7933
Lender: Mark Daker with Fidelity Mortgage | 770.649.4949 | mark.daker@lionbank.com

3. Who selects the homes I will see?  Do you have a website that will provide me with useful information for researching homes, neighborhoods, etc?

Approximately 90% of homebuyers start their search for homes and home buying information online. There are certain privacy and comfort levels that you might appreciate in starting a preliminary search this way, and often it is just a matter of convenience to have 24-hour access to information.  You may start your research here on our website, but once you’re getting serious and ready to take the next steps, we will set up a personal, tailored search and webpage for you which will allow you to see the homes that meet your search criteria and you can also add notes, categorize and prioritize the properties so that you start to narrow your focus.  You will receive daily updates from your personalized webpage with new and reduced property listings that match your wants/needs.

4. Will you show me properties from other companies’ listings?  Who do you represent in the transaction and how do I benefit from having you represent me?  How do you get paid?

Yes, we have access to all listings that are Active and allow agents to access them via a lockbox and we will never limit your search to only our company’s listings.  (Some real estate companies do offer their buyers’ agents a higher commission if they are able to sell “in-house” listings and there may be added incentive to show you a more limited range of homes than you might consider. If this is the case with your Realtor®, you should be very clear on how this will impact your home search). 

As full-time Realtors, we study the market and have access to all of the market data, active listings and comparable sales in the metro-Atlanta area.  An Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement in the State of Georgia protects your rights as a Buyer and details the Buyer’s Agent’s fiduciary obligation to work in the Buyer’s best interests and negotiate on the Buyer’s behalf.  We like to call this your Buyer Confidence Form.  As part of the Georgia Association of Realtors we’re bound by ethics and your needs are our focus and any information you disclose to us will always remain confidential. 

A Buyer’s agent is typically paid through the listing agent’s commission.  This commission is set with the listing broker or agent when the listing is taken and the listing agent will usually compensate the Buyer’s agent approximately 50% of that commission for bringing a Buyer.  So, what you’ll want to take from this is: BUYER AGENCY IS FREE TO THE BUYER!!!  Nice, right?  And if you ever decide that you are not satisfied with our services, this Buyer Brokerage Agreement can be terminated at any time with no haggle from our end.  Absolutely nothing for you to lose.

5. What is the current appreciation/depreciation in our area?

This is a case-by-case answer, but we have market statistics at our fingertips and can sit down with you to show you market trends, comparable listings and sales, how long it takes listings to sell, # of foreclosures in that area, sales price to list price ratios and ultimately what’s a good deal and what isn’t.  We’ve also set up another FREE tool for you to get a feel for the market you’re interested in.  Go to:

http://www.kellysellsatlanta.com/blog/free-neighborhood-report/

6. What strategies should I use when competing with other buyers for the same home?

Wow!  This happens very often, especially with foreclosures.  Banks are listing homes so low that they attract multiple offers from Buyers hungry for a steal, and these offers come in quickly…so you have to be ready to react when a deal presents itself (which brings me to question #7 below).  And since the listing agent represents the seller and the seller’s best interests, they may drop a hint or 2 but they won’t reveal any of the details of the other offer(s) that they’ve received. 

What you want to do 1^st and foremost is: decide how badly you want that home and whether or not you would be discouraged if someone else got it.  At that point, using comparable sales and values in that neighborhood that we retrieve for you, you want to make the best offer you feel comfortable with so that you know at the end of the day, win or lose, you gave it your best shot.  There may or may not be any negotiations in a “highest and best” offer situation.  Keeping stipulations and requests of the seller at a minimum can’t hurt, but you’ll always be protected by the Due Diligency Period (a.k.a. Inspection Period), which is generally negotiated to somewhere in the range of 7-21 days.

7. Should I be pre-approved by a Lender – can you help me with that?

This is actually the very 1^st step when getting ready to buy…the lender will estimate what your PITI (Principal, Interest, Taxes & Insurance) should be and help you determine a comfortable price range use in your home search.  You’ll need a pre-approval letter prior to submitting an offer, so you want to have one current and handy so that we’re ready when that perfect place comes on the market! 

You may have a lender you’d like to use, but it never hurts to get a 2^nd opinion.  Call Mark Daker with Fidelity at 770-649-4949.

8. What distinguishes you from other Realtors®? What is your negotiating style and how does it differ from those of other Realtors®?

It should be important to know that your Realtor® has unique methods of overcoming obstacles and is an effective negotiator on your behalf, but most importantly that your Realtor® can advocate for you in the most effective ways.

Our Team carries almost 15 years of negotiating experience and we have an office of over 100 agents, along with a network of professional (like our Lender and Closing Attorney) that we can go directly to with questions or concerns that will help us avoid issues before they even arise; after all, over 70% of lawsuits in Real Estate transactions result from an unrepresented party!!

As for our personalities & negotiating styles: We’re very easy to work with, laid back and down to Earth, and we approach each transaction and negotiation this way – they always say you catch more bees with honey then vinegar.  However, when push comes to shove, or if a situation arises that causes us to have to fight for our clients, we have no problem adjusting our belts and handling business. J

9. How will you keep in contact with me during the buying process, and how often?

Once we’ve met and done our initial consultation, we begin your search. We have access to systems that will notify you of new properties as they come on the market (which could happen several times a day or several times a week).

From the results of the initial search, you may have a list of homes you’d like to see.  We’ll schedule a time so that our Team can make appointments for us to view the properties together.  We can stay in contact as often as you’d like, working at a quick or slower pace.  Most of our clients see approx 8-10 homes before making an offer. 

Once an offer is made, negotiation starts and we’ll be communicating multiple times each day, most likely.  Once the offer is accepted and the agreement between all parties becomes “binding” the lender, closing attorney, home inspector, etc become involved and work towards the ultimate goal of getting you into your new home ON TIME, SEAMLESSLY and SMILING!

10. Will you give me names of past clients who will give references for you?

Absolutely – just ask.  We would, of course, like to ask their permission each time, but as long as they don’t mind receiving your phone or email then we wouldn’t mind either.