Why do we feel it necessary to do what is normal. We’re in a very different market. One that acts like nothing most of us have ever seen. What used to be “normal” isn’t any longer. It’s like when we were kids, the boys ALWAYS asked the girls to the dance, right? Why didn’t the girls ever ask the boys? Maybe some did. Those girls who refused to do what was considered normal.

That’s what a reverse offer is like. I had a unique listing that received little traffic but great feedback when we had showings. After too much time on the market I decided to do something different. We had a buyer who loved the house but wanted to keep looking. I approached the Seller’s with the idea of making an offer to the buyer.

Now, here is the important part. If you do this, it must be a meaningful offer. Meaningful enough to pull the buyer off of the fence and say “Maybe I don’t need to keep looking”. At the same time, you want to deliver the offer in a way that says “We think this is meaningful and you shouldn’t see this as an opening offer to a protracted negotiation. We’re pretty much where we think we can go”.

Well it worked. We had to give up a little more than our original reverse offer price but the important thing is we motivated the buyer to make a decision. As most Realtors out there can attest, getting buyers to pull the trigger can be difficult in this market.

If we shift our thinking with the shifted market, we will survive…or better yet, thrive!

It sold near the peak of the market for $935,000 and the bank has it currently listed for $575k. With 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths and a view of the Lake that it sits next to - it’s what you call a no brain-er. Granted, there are some cosmetic updates it needs, like carpet, paint, wallpaper removal. But there is granite in BOTH kitchens, the rooms are ample and the structure is sound (it’s only 8 years old).

So, while I’m amazed it’s still available - move quickly while it still is. These deals won’t be around next year.

OK, we’re not exactly running out of homes. I did want to get your attention though because the inventory of single-family resales are the lowest they have been in more than 2 years. And, foreclosures seem to be selling like hotcakes in North Fulton. I pulled some quick numbers of inventory levels at the end of June for this year and the previous two years, take a look:

	June 2007	June 2008	June 2009
Active SF Resale Listings in North Fulton	2024	2279	1970

While nearly 2 thousand homes sounds like a lot, keep in mind that the area I looked at is all of North Fulton both west and east of Hwy 400. This area includes Roswell, Milton, Alpharetta and Johns Creek. Another interesting note is how low the percentage of resale listings are foreclosures in North Fulton. Take a look below:

	Total	No. of REO	% REO
Active Listings in Metro Atlanta	43412	4442	10.2%
Active SF Resale Listings in North Fulton	1970	63	3.2%

Compared to all of Metro Atlanta, North Fulton has a pretty low percentage of bank owned properties. The reason for that could be the fact that North Fulton Schools remain in high demand. Most buyers out there are looking for deals so the foreclosures get snapped up more quickly. So, if you are looking for a foreclosure in this area, don’t waste too much time thinking about it.

But on the flip-side, if you want a well maintained, move in ready resale and you are looking in a very specific area or school district - there may not be as many out there as you think. Sellers offering more for less (a home in perfect condition and priced well) should be able to move their property in a reasonable amount of time.

Case in point: I listed a home in the Highlands at Park Bridge community on June 12th (about 3 weeks ago) and put it under contract on July 3rd. They had the home in perfect condition and the sales price was exactly where I thought it would end up - so there were no surprises for anyone.

It’s open for business every Saturday through October 24th from 8am to 12:30pm. This is the 3rd year for the Farmers Market and they have put more of a focus on locally grown organic food. The further we get into the season we’ll see more produce and more vendors, so go back throughout the season for different offerings.

So, wether you are getting fresh vegetables, locally produced honey or a straight-out-of-the-lemon glass of lemonaide, come on down, grab a coffee and meander around the street and see what looks good. Take a look at the video below and see for yourself.

You can view all of the homes for sale in the Milton High School district. If you are interested in viewing homes for sale in any of the other North Atlanta School Districts, see the Property Search button to your right where school districts are a search option.

Public schools are ranked according to a ration devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured this way.

Note: Subs. Lunch % is the percentage of students receiving federally subsidized meals. E and E % stands for equity and excellence percentage: the portion of all graduating seniors at a school that had at least one passing grade on one AP or IB test.

** Includes IB. Nearly all other schools use just AP tests.

Jim Chapman Communities recently received a Gold and Silver award at the National Association of Home Builders Best of 50+ Housing Awards. Their development in East Cobb County, Brookhaven of East Cobb is an award winning Gated Active Adult community with a Clubhouse, heated pool and outdoor fireplace as part of their amenities. In order to win, the community and its entries were recognized by an elite panel of 13 judges that included builders, developers, architects, marketing experts and other respected industry professionals. Additionally, Brookhaven at Johns Creek was awarded the Best Detached Home over 2,000 square feet.

Windsong Properties, who recently just celebrated their 5-year mark in Atlanta, sold out thier Somerset Communityin Woodstock earlier this year, proving that well built and affordable homes in the Active Adult category have a strong market here in Atlanta.

A few other Active Adult communities in the area are, Beragio At Crabapple, North Farm, Seasons at Creekside, Greystone Village, Watercrest Commons, Orchards of East Cherokee and Cottages of Woodstock.

Contact us for a complete list of all available Active Adult homes in your area.

I have an investor client that has been looking at everything that hits the market in his price range, waiting for that great deal, like almost every other buyer seems to be. Occasionally a listing will hit the market at a great price and this one did. A nearly new foreclosure home in Canton that was priced at 88k, 12k below the most recent sale.

Now, $12,000 doesn’t sound like much but in that price range it is significant. Within hours multiple offers were submitted and that bank asked for “highest and best” from everyone. We raised our already-over-the-asking-price offer even higher. While I don’t yet know what the final accepted price was, we do know it was far in excess of the lowest comparable in the community.

So, what is the take-away here? Well first off, if you are a buyer looking for a deal and didn’t realize this already - EVERYONE is looking for the same deal you are. So be ready for it when it shows up, and when it does-move on it.

But the other take-away is that there are buyers out there and they will move when motivated. For sellers, it’s all about price and condition. It’s not always true to say “if I price it that low then the offers will come in even lower”. They may come in lower but if you are priced attractively against your competition, there will be demand and there will be offers. I would rather say no to 4 low offers than get no offers, what about you? What you have to ask yourself as a seller is “Can I sell at an attractive price?”.

The Friends of the Alpharetta Library (FOTAL) has released a position paper detailing what the potential site needs to achieve if the new library is to meet the community needs, you can read these characteristics here: Alpharetta Library. I have to say that while the 6-acre site will easily support the building and necessary parking, the location being pushed by Fulton County misses the target one very important detail. It isn’t a pedestrian friendly location within the Downtown Alpharetta Business District.

There are 2 other potential locations that have been proposed, one being the old Milton High School, or what is now called Independence High School. I’m all for that location becoming something that will draw people to downtown Alpharetta but I’m not sure the Library is the best option for that site. A mixed-use development would be great-once we get back to an economic climate that will allow a development like that to happen.

The other potential location is the new Alpharetta City Center. That will be located where City Hall is currently but will also include residential condo’s, retail shops, office condos, and approximately 50,000 – 80,000 sf government building, along with 2 double deck  parking structures for parking; all on 9 acres of land. It is the perfect location for the library in my mind, offering easy walking access from the parking structures and another magnet to pull people into the downtown area. Your can check out the current site and all three proposed locations here: Alpharetta City Map.

In the end, the good news is that Alpharetta has long needed a larger, newer facility to support the surrounding communities. We all just need to make sure what Fulton County delivers is what will achieve that goal. Tell us what you think about the locations, or what location you think would meet our needs best.

Yes, I’m giving my 2-cents again about where we stand on this economic roller coaster ride. So, to answer my own question: a bottom isn’t a bottom if it hasn’t arrived, or….maybe if we don’t know it’s the bottom.

I was watching two talking heads on one of the networks yesterday talk about the housing recovery and they both agreed that nationally we have hit the bottom in terms of units sold, but have not hit the bottom with respect to average sales price.

I can’t tell you how much I dislike hearing “national” numbers. It’s a bit like saying the average temperature across the country tomorrow will be 70 degrees.  Who cares, if you live in Maine and it will be 50 degrees there. Then the national average is meaningless.

So, where does that leave us here in Atlanta, or more specifically, Alpharetta and Milton, GA? It’s easy to tell you that home prices haven’t dropped by 67% like Las Vegas has, and we haven’t seen an increase in sales like Sacramento has experienced. For Metro Atlanta in the first quarter of 2009 the average sales price is down about 20% from it’s high. That number is closer to 17% for Alpharetta and Milton.

There are communities here that look like they are turning the corner. Take Triple Crown for instance. Now that some foreclosures and most re-sales under $800k have been snatched up, other homes are moving pretty quickly. I know there are a few homes getting ready to be listed in the mid $900’s but there are a few properties that may still hit the market in the $800’s still. Soon though, those that wanted to buy in Triple Crown will have missed the bottom. Why is Triple Crown experiencing this? It’s sought after AND hasn’t been hammered with foreclosures.

But there are still communities like Six Hills that have such a large number of homes for sale, across such a broad price range, that buyers still have the opportunity to “shoot fish in the barrel” so to speak. There are 11 homes on the market at this moment, 5 have sold over the past 12 months at an average sales price/list price of 78% of asking.

So what does this mean? We really don’t know that we’ve hit bottom until we are looking back at it. I’m suggesting that we are hitting the bottom right now and by this fall or next spring we’ll look back at the bottom and know it. That’s when the media will report, consumer confidence will rise and everyone on the fence will jump to get what they can.

The Federal government is offering an $8,000 tax credit (up to 10% of the purchase price) for first-time home buyers (anyone who has not owned a home in the last three years). To be eligible, you can’t make more than $75,000 per year as an individual or $150,000 per year filing married.

Also, as of May 11th, 2009, the State of Georgia is offering an $1800 tax credit (or 1.2% of the purchase price) which ever is less, for any home buyer. This will be received in installments over three years.

Here is where it gets interesting. First time home buyers can now borrow against their federal tax credit for down payment. The department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced that FHA approved lenders and other governmental agencies / non-profits can advance the amount of the tax credit coming to the buyer with short-term or “bridge loans.”

This is enourmous help for first-time home buyers who may not have the down payment necessary to buy a home. BUT - for the $8000 credit you must purchase a home by November 30th, 2009. The $1800 state tax credit is only for home buyers who purchase by November 11th, 2009.

Real estate will lead us out of this current economic crisis. While  in my opinion these tax credits fall far short of what we could have (and should have) done to spur home purchases, it is a great opportunity in the next six months for those thinking about buying a home to make the leap.