“Denial isn’t a river in Egypt” Mark Twain

The popular real estate web site Zillow.com recently did a survey I found very interesting. Seems 62% of the homeowners surveyed felt their homes had increased in value, while the actual fact was 74% of all their homes had decreased in value. Many people I speak with about selling their homes are in economic denial. As I’ve written in past blogs, people will acknowledge the economy is soft and home values are down, but they act as if they can choose not to participate in that economy.

Standard & Poor’s and Newsweek reported Atlanta’s homes lost 8.6% in value August 2007 vs. August 2008. It’s hard to believe 1.2 million homes nationally are in some stage of foreclosure and one in five homeowners are upside down on their mortgage payoffs.

When people see this media they interpreted it in many ways. Most of the time they get very confused what all of it really means and how it relates to their home. No question there’s a lot of conflicting information out there about home values. Today it’s essential when you buy or sell a home you must hire agents that truly understand the market and what any home is worth today. Certain prices range homes have more buyer activity than others price ranges. Certain homes have to make more price concessions than others for a number of factors.

A comparable home in Cummings and one in Buckhead need very different pricing considerations and adjustments. I still strongly believe there are three key elements to selling a home. Price, condition and appearance. Not one of these key elements can be missing when you want to sell a home today.

A humble real estate agent is one that’s just sold their own home in this market. My wife and I recently SOLD our home. I’m proud to say we did it in 3 weeks and got within 99.9% of the asking price. Our homes asking price was in the slowest selling price range in the Smyrna / Atlanta real estate market. I’ve had several astonished people and agents contact me to see how I accomplished the sale in the current market?

The answer is simple. I took my own advice. I had and appraisal from 2006, I knocked 6% off the top. Got my house in tip top shape and this smoked the surrounding Smyrna /Vinings competition.

I’ve been saying for some time now that price, condition and staging is the winning combination for maximum return. One without the others will not work in most cases. I have a great testimony to share with you. There was another home for sale across the street from mine. It was priced 14K under mine. I felt hands down I had the better home, as all homeowners think they do. In no way was the price enough to make a difference. But I kept noticing that home was getting much more buyer traffic than mine. I knew most of the showing agents so I called them to see why my home wasn’t shown. They informed me the buyers were looking up to a certain price and I was missing the top end price by 14K. I was like… holy, moly, 14 K difference…. give me a break!!! Make me an offer?? But with no showings, you’re not going to get an offer, plain and simple!! This is proof that being in the right price range or bracket is very important. You must consider what your home is worth and then research if buyers are in that price. You must be within that range to sell! If you’re not, then it’s like setting a baited fishing hook just above a school of fish. If you’re not a fisherman what happens is the fish never sees the worm. You have to drop it in their sight! Same difference!

You see it didn’t matter my home was bigger, larger lot, custom wall treatments, finished basement, etc. It was first and foremost about price. We had beautiful curb appeal but it just wasn’t enough to bring the buyers in. We made the downward price adjustment and it went under contract within days. I’m like every other seller out there, I wanted more but I wasn’t going to get it in this market. I feel your pain. It simple doesn’t work in today’s real estate market to start out high and think you’ll get an offer and negotiate from there. The only paper (contract) you’ll see is the AJC newspaper on your front door every day.

A recent survey by Zillow.com claimed 62% of the homeowners surveyed claimed their home had either appreciated or stayed the same in value over the last 12 months; the reality is 77% of those surveyed homes had decline in value in the past 12 months. The day when an agent priced a home just using the MLS comp’s are over. You need an agent that’s in the market everyday and can provide you with numerous facts and data to support the correct asking price to sell to today’s buyers. Pricing your home correctly is very, very important! The slightest adjustment may make things happen! I’m proof of it!

The new Belmont mixed use development at the corner of Atlanta Road and Windy Hill Road is going to be a premier mixed use community. The old Belmont shopping center is hopefully going to see life again. The Belmont shopping center in the 70’s was one of the hottest shopping centers in the southeast. It set the pace for the malls we have today. I read an article that said Hollywood would open new movies at the old Belmont Shopping Center and would gauge the success of a movie based on the Belmont box office take. It must have been something to see in the day!

It’s a huge piece of property. It’s a sprawling 47.5 acres right in the middle of the hottest growing area in Atlanta, Smyrna GA. Atlanta Road has made major road improvements. Having this new mixed use development right in the middle of Atlanta Rd will have a huge impact on future development extending in both directions up and down Atlanta Road. In time you will be able to start at the Marietta Square and have beautiful buildings and developments all the way to I285. Take a ride today and you might think I’m nuts. For true it’s coming, now is better than later. Nothing is getting cheaper to develop.

The developer Halpert Enterprises has had to jump through a lot of hoops with Cobb County. Halpert is asking for TAD (Tax Allocation District) financing. Cobb County has set June 26 as the tentative date to approve its TAD guidelines. TAD money helps offset some of the expense in developing a project of this proportion. For instance TAD financing was approved for the Jonquil Square development right down the street. This projected needed to build underground parking for 1000 cars at a cost 18 million dollars. You had to have the parking to make this project work. Without the TAD financing the project would still be on the drawing board or an old run down strip center would still be there with half empty store fronts. Why give any developer TAD financing? Because Cobb County will get bigger and better reoccurring long term tax revenues from the new development. It’s a win - win situation for the city of Smyrna and Cobb County. I personally hope Cobb County approves the TAD guidelines that will allow the Belmont project to move forward. Halpert Enterprises is hemorrhaging money as they wait for the commission and school board to approve the project.

Belmont will be the new downtown Smyrna when finished. The proposal just looks beautiful. It offers lots of green space in proportion to development. This project gets my full support and thumbs up!!! It will bring new life to an old tired mall that was once a great attraction for all of metro Atlanta! Make it happen Cobb County!

(CBS/AP) Most of us would agree that a mother’s job is priceless.

But the folks at Salary.com take time every year to figure out how much the actual work is worth.

This year, they say the work of a stay-at-home mom would command an annual salary of more than $138,000. That’s up about 3 percent from last year, but not as much of an increase as employers predict for their workers: 3.9 percent.

For working mothers, the amount is put at more than $85,000 this year. That is on top of any money earned in the workplace.

Much of the theoretical salary, by the way, is figured on overtime.

“Mom works multiple jobs and rarely gets a break from the action, working an average of 52 hours of overtime,” said Bill Coleman, senior vice president and chief compensation officer at Salary.com, in a press release.

According to the Salary.com survey, stay-at-home moms work a 92-hour workweek while working mothers logged 49 hours, or nine hours more than their formal workweek.

The Cobb County School District’s Pre-Kindergarten classes will be relocated to state-designated private locations after the conclusion of the 2006-2007 school year. The District currently operates 26 Pre-K classrooms in 19 schools. Those classes will not be offered at Cobb schools for the 2007-2008 school year, but Pre-K classes will continue to be available at state-designated private facilities. A separate program that serves special-needs Pre-K students will continue to be offered at 39 of the District’s elementary schools.

Because the cost of the Pre-K program is not fully funded by the state, and because classroom space is at a premium in Cobb County, the District no longer can provide resources for a successful Pre-K program and still meet the requirements for regular elementary students. The District’s Pre-K program slots will be transferred to the Georgia Department of Education for reassignment to other private pre-school providers in Cobb County for 2007-2008. All 26 existing Pre-K classrooms in Cobb serving approximately 519 students will complete this school year with current staff and funding.

“There is tremendous value in exposing children to a learning environment before they begin kindergarten,” said Chief Academic Officer Diane Bradford. “While Pre-K classes will no longer be available in Cobb schools, they will continue to be available elsewhere in the community and we encourage parents of young children to take advantage of those opportunities.”

Parents seeking Pre-K classes for the 2007-08 school year may visit the Bright From the Start Web site at www.decal.state.ga.us to search a directory of local providers, or call (404) 656-5957.