Intown Atlanta Real Estate News
A Three+ Year Study - the Average Sales Price of Atlanta Houses:
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Here we show the average price of those Single Family houses that sold, as reported by First Multiple Listing Service, over the past three years (plus the first quarter of 2010)
AREA 2007 2008 2009 1st QTR 2010
Between I-75 & I-85 914,514 921,688 800, 411 750,190
North of the connector
and in Atlanta City limits
West of I-75 140,300 72,078 91,970 98,372
North of I-20
and in Atlanta City limits
East of I-85 550,671 506,841 451,212 435,184
North of I-20
and in Atlanta City limits
Portions of 285,889 263,352 225,739 224,234
Dekalb County
and in Atlanta City limits
Dekalb County 443,742 419,974 366,000 358,287
North of I-85
and inside Hwy 285
Dekalb County 306,621 269,487 219,668 218,389
South of I-85, North of I-20
and inside Hwy 285
Dunwoody 495,244 464,055 453,485 423,469
In Dekalb County
Sandy Springs 548,787 538,465 431,827 419,631
North of Hwy 285
Sandy Springs 907,396 893,885 798,738 836,538
Inside Hwy 285
High Price for Area indicated in Bold Low Price for Area is underlined
- Scott Askew
Posted in: Intown Atlanta Real Estate News
Military Personnel Have An Extension Of Federal Tax Credits!
Thursday, May 06, 2010
The good ol’ U.S.of A. tries to take care of its brave soldiers, a tradition that Congress has now continued in little-known sections of the recently expired home buyer tax credit legislation.
Under the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act, which was signed into law in November 2009, a little known or talked about clause was added that allows military personnel and certain other federal employees serving outside the country to have an extra year to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit offered to first-time buyers and the $6,500 credit available to repeat buyers.
So, servicemen and women get an extra 12 months to sign a binding Agreement, (by April 30, 2011), and close no more than 90 days later!
The rule applies to individuals or their spouses who serve on qualified official extended-duty service outside the country for at least 90 days between January 1, 2009, and April 30, 2010. According to the IRS, only one spouse needs to be overseas on official extended duty for the requisite time to qualify.
Also… while for most buyers who went Under Contract by April 30, 2010, and if the home is sold or otherwise ceases to be used as a principal residence within three years of the initial purchase, the credit must be repaid, for an eligible member of the armed services, intelligence community or Foreign Service, that provision is waived if the house is sold in connection with orders sending the taxpayer to a new duty station at least 50 miles away. The new post can be either inside or outside the U.S., but the change must occur because the taxpayer is under orders to move for a period in excess of 90 days or indefinitely.
Members of the military also may be eligible for help if they are forced to sell their homes for less than what they owe on their mortgages because of a mandatory, permanent duty transfer!
Posted in: Intown Atlanta Real Estate News
Is This Investor Heaven?
Thursday, April 29, 2010
It’s real close.
Today’s real estate market is about as close as many investors will get to ‘heaven’ until that moment when we stand in front of the Pearly Gates and Saint Peter reviews our earthly activities.
Prices are at the lowest levels since 2005, interest rates are low, and the number of potential renters in the marketplace is at an all-time high!
Let me put into perspective what you may be missing -
through March 31, 2010, our office at 1411 North Highland Avenue closed 400% MORE sales than we did during the same three month period in 2009 and UP 158% when compared to 2008 sales. BUT - our dollar volume of sales closed during the first three months in 2010 was DOWN 1% when compared to dollar volume during the same period of time in 2009.
ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION? We closed on four times the number of sales in the first quarter of 2010…but our dollar volume was still down 1%. That has got to get your attention!
Investors are coming out of the woodwork and are buying homes that were selling for far more a few years ago and then fixing them up and re-selling some and keeping a number of them in their investment portfolio. (Don’t forget - you can put investment real estate into your IRA! See our blog posted on March 1, 2010.)
Questions? We have the answers!
- Scott Askew
Posted in: Intown Atlanta Real Estate News
Extreme Makeover - Is It Really Reality… TV ?
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Each week, an average 9.4 million viewers tune in to ABC-TV for what has become a classic formula: Find a struggling family with a heart-tugging story and send them on vacation as an army of volunteers work frantically to replace an existing home with a much nicer and bigger one in just 106 hours. Each episode ends with a dramatic tear-filled tour of the new home, packed with donated furnishings, and outsize extras like a carousel or bowling lanes.
ABC’s popular reality show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” makes dreams come true for needy families. But some people are tapping the equity on their expansive new homes, only to fall behind… and into foreclosure.
The house at 10512 Baldy Mountain Rd. in Sandpoint, Idaho, looks like just another vacant foreclosed home. Some appliances, a bathroom mirror and even the hot tub are missing. The dining room of the three-bedroom house has water damage. But this isn’t your run-of-the-mill problem house. The 3,678-square-foot McMansion is one of a couple of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” homes to fall on hard times. After the cameras have gone, it seems that Homeowners struggle to keep up with their expensive new digs. In most cases, the bigger, more lavish homes have come with bigger utility bills and tax assessments. Some homeowners have even gone as far as to tap into the equity of their super-sized homes only to fall behind on the higher mortgage payments. The show’s producers say they are aware of the problem and are making changes appropriate to current economic reality: downsizing.
Over the past few years, the makeovers got a little out of hand because of competition among home builders aware of the free publicity that came with the show and who tried to outdo previous projects. Today, the average size of the show’s makeovers is 2,800 to 3,000 square feet. (In comparison, a 2005 episode featured a house in Lake City, Ga., that became a 5,300 square-foot English castle boasting five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, five fireplaces and an outdoor kitchen.)
A swimming pool is no longer a must, unless it could be used for therapy. When pools are built, the show explores a well system to help reduce water usage and costs. Lavish landscaping is also out and working with the local environment is in.
Tracy Hutson, an interior designer who has been with “Extreme Makeover” since the beginning, says homes are receiving more earth-friendly products, such as low water-flow toilets and solar panels, curbing the giant electricity bills that caused a hardship for some families. “I think our hearts were in the right place, but we just got carried way”, said Ms. Hutson. Really?!
- Scott Askew
Posted in: Intown Atlanta Real Estate News
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