I recently earned my EcoBroker Certified® designation, having successfully completed a unique and informative training program on the energy and environmental issues that affect real estate transactions. I joined the movement of professionals pushing the real estate market toward energy-efficient, sustainable, and healthier design/features in homes and buildings. The “performance home” movement is getting a boost right now. EcoBrokers, like me, throughout the country are forging this market and creating competitive advantages for their customers. With national surveys indicating that 80% of consumers consider themselves “green-minded,” real estate professionals with the EcoBroker designation are in a better position to serve the real estate consumer. “I’m always looking for the best ways to offer my clients the best value. My EcoBroker training helps me ensure customer satisfaction, my number one priority. From windows to moisture control to energy savings, I now have more resources at my disposal to help my buyers and sellers make better real estate decisions. The EcoBroker designation doesn’t make me an energy and environmental expert, but it allows me to better understand the issues and to convey this understanding to my buyers and sellers.”

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!

Some of you may be aware that the amount of water in your toilet has been on our local governments mind lately. That’s right, if you buy the right new low water volume toilet you’ll receive anywhere from $50 to $100 back from many metro counties. Some counties even wanted to mandate that certain age homes would be required to retro fit to the new low volume toilets.

Here’s the stat’s on the water savings published in the AJC March 7, 2008.

Average home savings 30 gallons a day!!!

Metro Atlanta would save 6 million gallons a day!!!

There’s an estimated 425,000 old toilets in the region.

Are these huge savings? Yes, but there’s a huge flaw in this equation ….. THEY TAKE MORE THAN ONE FLUSH TO WORK!!!

My good friend Chris called me this week. All I heard on the other end of my cell phone was “What’s up with these new toilets?? I just purchased a $500 toilet, and paid $100 to have it put in my new basement bath and it will not handle business”. When I told him his contractor wasn’t trying to pull something over on him he was very upset the government was in his bath room. We both agreed we may be using more water because the new toilets don’t work properly or in any fashion we’re all accustom to.

We all know water is an issue and will continue to be as Atlanta grows. I strongly feel there are a number of things the average family can do to save lots of water. Like stop washing the dishes then putting them in the dishwasher or running the shower as you’re also waiting for the iron to heat up, then ironing your cloths before entering to wash yourself. Quit letting the water run when shaving or brushing your teeth. Also quit using your toilet as a trash can. Simple things like this will conserve our water resources. I believe the media and government needs to do more in the way of education that will change some old habits,not changing out some old porcelain.

I think a new hot business could be on the horizon folks! It’s going to be in designer plungers. If there is an estimated 425,000 old toilets here then multiply that by say $9.99 to $29.99(Martha Steward deluxe model), you’re looking at possibly doing 4 to 12 million dollars in sales your first year just in Atlanta sales. I assure you the old natural wood, round stick, stuck into that odd black bell shaped rubber end just isn’t going to get it. Your going to need something attractive, quick and handy. It will become as important as the TP holder!

Some say the new campaign is like throwing money down the drain. In this case I promise you it will take 2 or 3 attempts to make the money go away if your trying to flush it!!

I usually only write one blog a month but after writing my most recent blog about the Sub-Prime Interest lock the government is proposing I decided to research more areas surrounding Atlanta to see the ratio of foreclosures by counties.

I always hear conversations about the person that just bought a 600K home for 400K. Sounds great doesn’t it? In reality it very rarely happens! In most cases the person is quoting you the asking price vs. what he paid for it. Or the best one I hear is someone saying they got a 600K home form 400K, it needs 200K but they can get it done for 100K. There’s more to these stories than you’re ever told.

I’m contacted every week by someone looking for a deal on a foreclosure. It’s understandable that everybody wants a deal on a home, but so far it’s been pretty hard for me to find plenty of foreclosure deals. I can find foreclosures but they are not deals!

However, I did find one this month. The buyer purchased this home for 225K which was about 25% less than the average home sold in the last 2 years in that subdivision. The home needs about 13K to 16K in cosmetic improvements and stripped appliances. This client has long term plans to live in the house. Thus making this a deal compared to the current market and county which was Cobb. The transaction took over 45 days from binding agreement to close!!

After doing some research I discovered why I’m not seeing all these foreclosures the media keeps talking about. I mainly work within Cobb and North Fulton County’s and these numbers tell my why I’m not seeing all those great foreclosure deals!

Below is the foreclosure rate per households in the following counties.
Cobb County - 1 in 597
Fulton County - 1 in 122 (Majority South Fulton)
Gwinnett County – 1 in 311
Paulding County - 1 in 164
Douglas County 1 in 260
Forsyth County 1 in 553
Cherokee County 1 in 396
DeKalb County 1 – 252
Rockdale County 1 in 207
Fayette County 1 in 368

So if you’re looking for a deal you might want to start in the counties with the most foreclosures. I want to make people aware that you have to do your homework when buying a foreclosed property. It’s very tricky and I recommend you hire a seasoned real estate agent to help you negotiate with the bank. It’s takes lots of patience and time to get foreclosure homes under contract and to the closing table! Banks are simply overwhelmed by foreclosure volume in general. They don’t pay any attention to the dates you want to close, etc. Be prepared to wait on all responses from the bank every step of the way. If you do your due diligence you may end up with some instant equity. If you don’t, your deal today will be a deal for someone else tomorrow. My dad used to say “figures don’t lie, liers figure”!

Call me I would love to discuss real estate opportunities!

If you have a sub-prime mortgage on your home with a escalating interest rate then you may soon get some needed help from our government. If you’ve got one of those adjustable rate mortgages, you may qualify for a rate freeze under certain conditions. Standard fixed rate mortgages will not be affected.

The bailout is really designed for homeowners who are into trouble because their mortgage payments keep going up making it impossible for them to pay their monthly payments. If you have sufficient funds or income to pay your mortgage even if your payments have gone up then you’re not eligible for the rate freeze. You have to live in your home to qualify for the rate freeze, second homes and investment properties will not qualify for this program. You have to have taken the loan out between 2005 & 2007 with rates set to increase between 2008 & July 2010. You have to have less than 3% equity. You must be current on your mortgage payments or no later than 60 days. You have to prove you can handle the locked payment but not the higher payment. Analysts estimate this will help between 240,000 to 250,000 people out. That’s a huge number of homeowners with sub-prime mortgages. And there are many more homeowners with sub-prime mortgages that will not qualify for the rate freeze. This bailout is a half fix at best! Unfortunately many of the people that this rate freeze is trying to help out will eventually end up in foreclosure. We need a plan for other with a sub prime mortgage with diffirent curcimstances.

The current Bush administration is concerned about the fallout from the housing slump. The repercussions of the high rate of foreclosures will have a series of problems for the housing industry. Ten of thousands of American could be forced from their homes. This will slow consumer spending hurting the economy overall. All of this will cause home prices to fall even more.
This bailout deal will add some stability to the housing market, but it will not stop all the problems we face in the real estate industry right now. The same day Bush announced his plan, the Mortgage Bankers Association said that foreclosures had reached a record high in the third quarter. Mortgage foreclosures hit a record .78% up from the previous high of .65%. At the same time, delinquencies for all mortgages rose to 5.59%, from 5.12% in the second quarter. So we still have more people out there that will end up in foreclosure as time moves on. As I stated in a earlier blog, we haven’t hit bottom yet.

The Atlanta real estate market has had its share of higher than normal foreclosures this year. However it hasn’t drastically affected home prices in the North Metro Atlanta area. Supply and demand has softened our home prices more than anything else so far. It’s projected that we’ll get over million more people moving to the Atlanta area by 2011. Our job growth looks good. Atlanta will fair pretty well through this real estate downturn in the long run. The national news media wants you to think all the flood gates are open and look out below. The truth is the majority of the foreclosures are happening in three states, California, Florida and Ohio. Folks in these states will have a long journey back before they can say the word equity!! Reports claim some homeowners in these states have homes that are worth 37% to 40% less than 2006. Be glad you own a home in Atlanta. We’re actually project to have a slight increase in home values this year! But certain areas of Atlanta have been hard hit.

Keep in mind this rate freeze is really going to be a problem for the mortgage industry. Investors will think twice about backing mortgage programs that have been big money makers in the past due to uncertain returns. I don’t want to see anyone lose their house in foreclosure but Wall Street and many such firms have invested in securities that back your mortgage – there also tied into pension funds as well as mutual funds. Their clients include all sorts of people like you, teachers, fireman, policemen, etc. So……some people will have lower payments which are good……but other people will not have the kind of return on their investments which is bad for their retirement. We need much more of a fix to help the housing industry.

I’ve don’t believe the average person has any idea how many people are involved in the home buying process and the supply chain involved. The current mortgage problems are undermining what made America great! Long term financing!!

Olde Ivy is a wonderful gated community built by John Wieland Homes, located just inside I285 in Smyrna GA – Cobb County. This beautiful Vinings community is located on historic property that was s a supply point during the Civil War. Several Civil War bunkers are still located around the property. My wife and I were one of the first people to purchase a home in this community. The neighbors are wonderful and the HOA has done a great job keeping the community up. The Olde Ivy HOA is very financially secure and the monthly HOA fees are very reasonable.

There are 4 different types of maintenance free home styles in Olde Ivy. There are Court Yard Homes, Multi Level Townhomes, Lofts and Condo Flats. You’ll find very few communities that offers amenities like Olde Ivy. All residents have the security of a gated community and use of an elegant clubhouse, walk trails, large swimming pool, and professional fitness room.

This is one of the best locations in Metro Atlanta. Just minutes to the Hartsfield Jackson Airpor, Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, umberland Mall, Perimeter Mall, Lenox Mall areas. The area is just exploding with new mixed use developments and executive housing. There’s also a major property Cobb County tax break for persons over 62 years of age. Olde Ivy is also centrally located to some of the finest private schools in metro Atlanta.

I’ve been involved in selling homes in Olde Ivy since it was on the drawing board. I know all floor plans by name and know the community well. I’ve sold more homes the Olde Ivy community than any other real estate agent to date. I have a lot of pride and confidence in the community and its future. Want to see whats for sale in Olde Ivy? Click here! If you would like to discuss Olde Ivy real estate opportunities please contact me under no obligation.

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution ran an article this week: How does your home stack up? It’s very well known that the Atlanta real estate market is soft. The AJC did a great job explaining and showing charts of the 2005 -2006 housing market pertaining to different zip codes. I receive calls and e-mails’ all the time asking me if it’s a good time to sell? There isn’t a simple answer anymore?

The AJC article supports the advice I’ve been giving prospective clients for a while now. It’s all about area and price. What I’m finding in the market right now as far as pricing goes is a seller has to be prepared to price a home for not much more than the home was worth in late 2005 or early 2006. So if you bought a home in the last 2 years your goal should be to just break even if possible. I know of very few homes or areas that have appreciated any noticeable amount since early 2006.

If a seller is willing to price a home with this in mind then they stand a very good chance of selling a home in a reasonable time frame. The Atlanta market isn’t dead by a long shot. I will personally sell more homes this year than last year! In most cases what you lose in selling is offset by what you will save when buying. How?? If you take a 5% reduction on a $300,000 ($15,000) home and you purchase a $600,000 home at 5% off ($30,000) then your net gain is $15,000. Right now I’m seeing the higher end homes taking even bigger discounts, especially if you want new construction. So if you’re moving up in price the time couldn’t be better to make the move.

As I been saying and the AJC showed the numbers are very different per location and home. For instance, the Vinings 30339 zip code experienced a 54% increase in sales, but the median home price dropped more than 30%. Smyrna’s 30082 had a median price increase of 15% (mainly due to new construction) but sales are off 5%. You can throw a rock and hit both of these areas but look how different the numbers are.

I’ve been telling client’s re-sale homes are great values for a long time now. It’s finally sinking in! But the biggest problem with many of the re-sale homes is neglected maintenance. This is compounding the real estate slow down as much as anything else. If you want to list your home in today’s market it has to be in move-in condition. With the recent changes in mortgage requirements and programs, buyers now need more cash to qualify. This means the buyer has less cash to do upgrades after a purchase. Sellers have to adapt to the market demands to sell a home. Fresh paint and carpet goes a long way right now with a buyer!

Many new home communities are taking huge discounts. But buyers need to beware. You have to make sure the builder has the financial means too not only finish your new home but to also finish out the subdivision. I’ve been in this business long enough to see wonderful new developments not being finished because the builder ended up bankrupting before the project was built out. I’ve seen numerous new defunct communities where a new builder/developer comes along (eventually) and they change the style and price range of the homes that was originally built, thus messing up the continuity needed for solid appreciation. You cannot have apples and oranges in the same neighborhood. There are several other things buyers need to be cautious of when buying new right now. Contact me if you’re thinking about buying a new home. I’m willing to discuss with you some of my concerns and knowledge as it’s different for each area and builder!

People are trying everything right now to sell homes. Buyers and agents are being offered free laptops, upgrades, vacations, TV’s, cars and cash. These types of spiffs just aren’t working overal. A professional real estate agent should always have his client’s best interest when guiding the way. Not what a free gift they will receive if they can sell a home!

Bottom line….Be sure the deal today isn’t a deal for someone else later!

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!

Federal Aviation Administration director Marion Blakely announced that Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport will receive a $1 million grant that will fund a 2 year study. It seems it’s going to take 2 years to determine if Hartsfield-Jackson International should be expanded or if we should build another airport somewhere else in the metro area to meet future demand. I’m not sure if you remember but Hartsfields–Jackson International’s last runway expansion was the largest cubic feet of earth (dirt) ever moved in the history of the US to build the new runway. They conveyed across 8 lanes of interstate. It was a mechanical marvel. I know somewhere in the US there is a big hole in the ground from where all that dirt came from.

So I’m taking it the federal government needs to figure out if Hartsfield-Jackson International has the space to expand?? It would seem to me the last runway expansion would have a feasibility study of some kind they could use to quickly figure this option out?? But what do I know?? In Ms Blakey’s opinion, Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas and San Diego all have airports in the US that will not meet the demand in the very near future. She claims one of the reasons airline demand will be up is because gas prices will hit $4 dollars a gallon. As I read the article in the AJC I started to think out loud. Gas is going to be $4 a gallon and stamps now cost .41 cents. This isn’t a pretty picture Barry.

Marion Blakely I want you to know at $4 a gallon combined with the fact stamps now cost .41 cents in my household airline demand may be down…..and I FLY FOR FREE!! It’s simply because I can’t afford stamps!! We should be spending money trying to figure out why the US Postal Service can not seem to make ends meet. Has anyone been to a post office lately? Have you looked at the mailing date on mail you receive to see how long it took to get too you?? Something else that’s a little scary is the US Postal Service is now going to print a universal stamp with no set amount on them?? That’s like me asking a person to sign a contract without a purchase price. What we need is runway expansions at US Post offices to meet our immediate needs!!

Honestly, now I’m starting to feel that neither gas prices nor airline travel cost will be my problem. Buying stamps to pay my bills will be!!

(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.