The Marietta Square Farmers Market is about to open in just a few weeks. Vendors are now being solicited. The market will open May 5th and will take place every Saturday through September 1st. The Marietta Square Farmers Market will be located in the parking lot at the corner of Church and Hansell streets in Marietta.

I’m very excited about having a local farmers market with fresh Georgia grown vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers, garlic, cheeses, and mushrooms! My hometown of Roanoke Virginia has a farmers market located in the downtown area. I used to work in the middle of Roanokes’ City Market area for several years in a family business. It was a wonderful street on Saturday. It was filled with people that were squeezing, smelling and thumping things they were considering to buy and eat. Most of the farmers would tell you “tats a goodin” then spit tobacco on the ground. I grew up thinking that’s how you bought produce. If they didn’t spit tobacco their produce usually wasn’t worth cow manure. Many of the farmers were characters and very funny people. I liked buying from Mr. Wertz’s stand; he also had pretty daughters that worked on Saturday’s.

My wife Sarah May, loves fresh vegetables. She cooks most of them with fatback her mother hauls across two state lines. She currently goes to a produce stand she found last year in West Cobb. She pulls up front and this gentleman farmer puts her in a golf cart and off they go into the garden to pick what she wants. I think this elder farmer has a crush on my wife as he’s always slipping her an extra tomato all the time.

There’s just something about a farmer that has always interested me. My friends laugh when I tell them I’d love to have a farm. All my farmer friends bend over hysterical when I mention I want a farm. But don’t be surprised if one day I have a stand in the Marietta Square Farmers Market. I couldn’t think of a better life after real estate other than working the land, selling my harvest and slipping pretty girls extra tomatoes.

Ready or not we’re in the Spring 2007 prime real estate selling season. We’ve all seen the papers and news articles. One day they tell us how bad real estate is. The next day you’ll read how great real estate is in the Atlanta area. Is there a Bubble?? How loud will the burst be?? It’s very confusing and contradicting even to a seasoned real estate professional. Most of the time real estate articles are written by someone like (example) President of the Home Builders Association or the Fannie Mae Chairman. Monthly I receive information from a company called Smart Numbers. They do a very good job. The only down side to the Smart Numbers reporting service is its 60 day old information. This market is changing every 15 to 30 days right now. I love this service because it supplies me with nothing but factual numbers re-capping real estate activity all around Atlanta. My dad used to say “Figures Don’t Lie……Liar’s Figure” Smart Numbers reports the facts each month. I also have to stay on top of the competition and network with other agents with listings in my marketing area. I’ve spoken to more agents in the last 120 days than in 15 years. I find it very refreshing; we share ideas and what’s working and what’s not! Naturally we also discuss the good, the bad and the crazy!!

Smart Numbers has been pretty optimistic about Atlanta’s real estate growth and stability returning to normal by Spring of 2007. But for the month of February 2007 they reported 9.9% fewer homes closed compared to February 2006. This was the 7th consecutive monthly decline in units sold. The fact is we’ve slowed, but we’re not dead. Price is everything right now! My take on things…..re-sale homes are deals, new construction is very expensive and builders have a lot of inventory. Their trying to hold price, but sooner or later many will have to break price because of more supply than demand. Commute times are becoming more important than schools. Properties for sale inside the perimeter are still selling well but many are over priced for what they are. Naturally you have to like the house but you better buy for the properties size and location if you’re purchasing inside I285 north metro. Future tear downs will continue to demand large lots to justify the land and new building cost.

Even with all I read sometimes I just feel like I’m trying to figure out Japanese arithmetic. Most real estate articles are based on Short Term Money, Long Term Money, National Product, Consumer Confidence, Prime, New Startups, Interest Rates, Fuel Cost, Unemployment, War, Elections and now baby births. That’s right we’re not having enough babies!!

I just read a fantastic article by Sue Rossi. She’s a 22 year real estate veteran and owner of a ReMax office in Crete Ill. She wrote a very interesting article about the birth rate being a key reason as to why we’re seeing a slow down. She has tracked and recorded the numbers and facts to show it’s not a theory. She says the average age of a 1st time home buyers is now 33. It used to be 25. Some of this change has been because of all the economic reasons discussed above. But the reality is fewer first time buyer’s means fewer people able to sale and move up. Her studies show that birth rates are directly related to slow home sales.

Her research shows, baby boomers – the largest generation in history began in 1946 immediately after WW II. The average age of a person purchasing a home then was 25 years of age. This pattern has held up through 1989, the last year of the baby boomers. So now the dip in home sale is mainly because the birth rates have gone down over the years. Beginning on 1989 Rossi claims homes sales declined for three consecutive years – coinciding with lower birth rates beginning in 1964. The government responded by lowering interest rates. Also older boomers were beginning to move up and sell their homes to younger boomers, who in turn moved up and kept the price’s going up for nearly 15 years. Rossi claims in 1992, this dynamic was in full swing. Sales went up virtually every year, culminating in the record year of 2005. There was huge demand for homes, resulting in record sales for five straight years (2001-2005). Rossi’s records predicted that the first wave of boomers would start retiring and putting their homes on the market in 2006 – at the same time of the baby bust generation (1973 – 1977) would be coming to maturity. The inevitable result: an over supply of homes.

Under Rossi’s theory the market will not come back strong until the “echo boomers” that began in 1978 starts buying homes which will be in about in about four years. How can we speed buyers up? We need government tax incentives to encourage the “echo boomers’ to enter the market to purchase. Lower interest rates. Affordable housing. Green building will appear to this crowd if builders can make it more affordable.

The echo boomers are going to be a great generation to work with. Most of them will do all of their real estate transactions on a PDA cell phone. For all the agents that don’t embrace real estate technology you better get your bags packed. The echo boomers are very hi-tech savvy crowd. They’ll not tolerate an agent that doesn’t embracing technology or lingo. I think real estate is about to get real fun. I’m really looking forward to working with this generation. I never though I’d have to watch MTV to get the 411 on the next group of real estate buyers. I’ll be able to calculate how many ends they want to spend. I understand they’re going to want a really tricked out pimped pad. And I’m their dog to get it done. I’ll be adding “Peace Out” to all my yard signs!!!

On March 11 2007 the Marietta City Council voted to ban all Pit Bulls and Rottweilers from city dog parks, including the dog park at Lewis Park at 475 Campbell Street near Sessions and Radium streets. Pit Bulls and Rottweilers are allowed in Cobb County parks as long as they’re on a leash. But they cannot run free any more in designated dog parks.

I personally have friends with Pit Bulls and Rottweilers. They’re all good dogs. I don’t think you can find a person that will tell you I’m not a pet lover. But as we all know not all pet owners are committed to other human or domestic animal safety. I’ve seen these dogs get into fights and many of the owners (men or women) don’t have the strength to bring the animal back under control once a fight or attack begins. When I read in the paper that a child or older person was attacked and no one could even beat the dogs off of them with pipes or bats just horrifies me to think what they went through. When you see the after pictures they’re very traumatic. Most suffer massive skin and tissue damage. Victims are tossed around like a rag dolls during these attaches. And to beat it all, you cannot shoot one of these animals if their attacking a person by law. I think if a dog is attaching a person and no one can stop the attack….I would have to shoot the animal if I had a gun and suffer the consequences of the law later. As I’m writing this blog I thought about the poor woman that was killed in her Manhattan co-op hallway in New York City a few years back. You may remember the dog owners were two pretty strange attorneys. They obtained the dogs from a person they represented that was in jail at the time of the attacks. Bottom line the lady attorney owner just couldn’t bring the dogs under control once they started attaching this helpless woman. These New York attorneys were convicted and sentenced to jail. I’m sure when they took these dogs they never thought anything like this would ever happen. It’s horrible for all parties. I’ve shown homes that potential buyers loved. But if they see neighbors with barking dogs showing aggression the house is never considered again by that buyer! The home is pretty much condemned as long as those dogs are around.

I’m starting to see more communities and subdivisions banning Pits Bulls, Doberman Pinchers, Rottweilers, Mastiffs, venomous animals & insects, large snakes,etc from living in a building, community or subdivision. The liability is huge for a pet owner if their animal attacks. You stand the risk of losing everything. I recently read that many insurance companies aren’t going to cover home owners liability as they have in the past. If a home owner has a dog which the insurance company has listed as dangerous they will not extend liability coverage if the animal attacks. If the animal bites someone it could cost you everthing. Many communities are enforcing laws requiring the removal of certain animals from a home if located in a community governed by covenants or the homeowner’s will be heavily fined or both. I’m very sorry to say that even if the animal is 35, friendly and blind with no teeth, walks on 3 legs with only 2 currently working he’s leaving or you’re moving with him. I truely hate when this situation happens. I hate we have to discriminate against certain breeds. But I understand citizens concerns. Please email me back a solution! Where do you draw the line? It’s very hard to govern sometimes and not discriminated against the helpless caught in the middle. It tears at my heart! Everytime they show a picture on TV of a dog that just killed someone they look so sweet and innocent too me. Something in me wants to give them another chance.

I’m by no means trying to tell people what kind of pets they should have or like. But I do feel communities have the right to say that certain animals with an aggressive or venomous pedigree shouldn’t live in well populated areas. Anything that can catch me and squeeze me to dead shouldn’t live near me either. I once had a friend that liked snakes. One evening he was bathing his Python in his apartment tub. Somehow he got distracted for a while (you know those crazy snake lovers) and when he came back into the bathroom all he saw was the tail of this 6 foot snake going over the lip of the toilet bowl. The drama and inconvenience he put his apartment building though was unbelievable!! I don’t believe they ever found that snake….I think about that snake every time I pass that building. I would hate to meet Herbie the snake reading my morning paper and not having my pants in the correct running position. You know what I mean!! I had a real estate agent friend duck walking under a old home off Bolton Rd in Atlanta with a home inspector and the buyer one day. Now we have three grown men under a home at the very back end of the house away from the small entry door they entered. Guess whats rapped around the top of a hotwater heater? It’s cooper alright, but it isn’t piping….it’s a big Python. Now I know these are two snake stories. But I find it funny that someone will post a picture of their LOST DOG offering a big reward if found. I’ve never seen a picture of a Big Python Snake stapled on a phone pole saying LOST…CALL IF FOUND. Be a good neighborhood. If you lost your snake please tell your neighbor so they can put the kids and the Yorkshire up! It’s the least you can do! For true….Do you remember a few months back when some lady living in Buckhead was feeding what she thought was a big fat cat that showed up at her house? I was totally freaked out when we were told it was a neighbors escaped exotic Lynx. A neighbor that was a licensed big cat breeder. Why in the WORLD OF COKE do we have any large exotic cat breeders in any part of Fulton County much less in the heart of Buckhead? This cat was appoximately 30 lbs or more. I cannot believe someone in their right mind would issue a licenses for an exotic cat breeder in this type if urban density. Listen it’s a free world but to be breeding large exotic cats within a stones throw of the governors mansion isn’t right!! It’s just stupid to take such a chance!

If you plan on getting a questionable pets I wish you the best and hope you get a wonderful loving animal. But do yourself a favor and check with you landlord or covenants committee first. It may save you a lot of hassle you didn’t expect. I know it would be awful to get a new pet only to be told you have to get rid of it! It very emotional! You need to be aware that your living options will get harder and harder to find if you have certain animals as pets. There are now a lot of animals that urban and suburban Metro Atlanta will not tolerant as part of their community any more. I grew up where all the dogs ran free. They very seldom got into a fight. Once in a blue moon a few dogs would gang up on a cat. They never chased the horses or cattle. We had very few dog attacks, nor were we bitten. Most of the time when a kid was bitten it was because they messed with the dogs food or tried to yank their tail off. Only the slow learners were bitten twice! We had Irish Wolf Hounds, Dobermans, German Shepards, Yorkshires, Labs, Huskies, Hounds and tons of Mutts. They all got along. Even some of the cats hung out with the dogs in my old neighborhood. When I was young if a kid had a snake for a pet he caught it. Most of the time they were of garden variety not boxed and shipped from the Amazon.

I soley put the blame for most dogs behavior on their owners. If you treat your dog as if their your body guard then their not going to understand how great it is to be a dog. Remember to error is human, to forgive is canine!

Atlanta’s growth tops the nation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Atlanta was the number one metro area in the country for population growth. Atlanta added more residents between 2000 and 2006 than any other city!

Atlanta’s metro population is now over 5,138,000 as of July 2006. This growth has been great for our real estate market and is one of the major reasons we haven’t had a real estate bubble or significant drop in homes values. The only downside to me has been the increase in our traffic. When I hear someone say to me, Oh you live in Atlanta, I hear the traffic is horrible. How do you deal with it? I usually tell people that the only reason we have traffic is because everybody wants to live here. We have well paying jobs and an excellent quality of life. If you can make appointments between 9:30 am to about 4:30 pm you can move around this city pretty easy. But commute times can be very long for many and it didn’t use to be. Traffic has greatly increased. Commute times are now issues for many living here.

No questions more people will be coming to Atlanta in the future. We need high speed mass transit systems to accommodate our current and future population. As Atlanta grows a lot of people will be forced further away from the city into out laying counties in order to find affordable housing. I feel as time goes by it’s going to be harder to convince someone and companies to move here if they know they have over a 1 hour plus commute to and from work everyday. I feel as county governments see their population increase and as they build their infrastructure for new houses, they also need to have a new job development plan that brings jobs to their own areas and counties so people work and live within a reasonable proximity of each other. I know Cobb County has this sort to strategic plan in place. Not only has Cobb County grown in population but also in job opportunities it had created. This is a very key piece of the puzzle in offering a great place to live with a quality of life others cities will envy.

Atlanta has the best job opportunities south of the Mason Dixon Line if not in the country. I would love to see all surrounding counties work together to accomplish a premier mass transit system.