Real Estate in Numbers: Butts, Clayton, Coweta, Fayette, & Henry Counties

 

Real Estate in Numbers:
Butts, Clayton, Coweta, Fayette & Henry Counties

 

We're noticing a change in the local real estate pattern ... for the past few years it seemed that we were on a steady decline in home values; however, 2012 has been a much different market and in some ways, even more challenging than the previous years because of low inventory. If you're in the market for a new home, you may have noticed that every home seems to have multiple offers and goes to a "highest and best" situation in which buyers bid over the asking price for the property. These competitive situations are pushing the average sales prices up little by little. I guess it all goes back to basic economics - supply and demand. In our current market place, there doesn't seem to be enough inventory for the amount of buyers that are out there. Not such good news for buyers, great news for sellers! If we can hold this new pattern, we may just see an improving real estate market. It's hard to predict what the future will hold and there's still talk of banks releasing their "shadow inventory." While none of us hold the crystal ball to the real estate future, we can study trends and patterns to and make our best prediction as to where the market is heading... here's the scoop:

Real Estate in Numbers: Sales Prices Sept '11 vs '12

Average Sales Price - September 2011 vs 2012
(Single Family Residences)

 

Are things beginning to look up? In reviewing the average sales prices for the southern crescent counties, it appears that the average sales prices may be inching up some. Of course, this is just an overview for the month of September in 2011 versus 2012 so we'll have to continue to watch to see what happens but here's the scoop:

 

 

 

We can tell you from experience that inventory is slim and so therefore, there's competition for the properties that are available. This means that in highest and best situations, buyers are often bidding higher than the asking price and in return, properties are selling slightly higher. If this continues to happen, then it would seem that Realtors and appraisers will begin using these higher comps and this will help market values increase. If you're thinking of buying a home, NOW is the time! Jump in there before prices go up any further!

 

Real Estate in Numbers: 2nd Quarter - Butts County, Clayton County, Fayette County, Henry County


Pulling statistics from the MLS quarterly is one of my favorite things to do! Call me a real estate geek, but I get excited to see where the market is heading! If you have questions about your local market or a specific subdivision/neighborhood/community, please contact us and we'll be happy to provide a detailed market analysis and other market data!

AJC Reports "Home Sales Up as Prices Plummet"



I must admit, I'm not really a newspaper reader. In fact, I rarely purchase the paper and if you do catch me reading it, I'm probably looking at the sales ads! I was standing in line at the grocery store on Sunday when I noticed that the front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a real estate related article as the cover story! The title, as you can see from my high quality iPhone photo above, was "Home Sales Up as Prices Plummet!" So naturally, I threw it in my cart and brought it home to read (along with the latest Target sales ad).

There are a gazillion different reports, studies, and opinions as to what the state of the real estate market is. If you get your news from a national source, you may hear that the market has bottomed out and prices are on the rise; however, being that the Metro Atlanta area was one of the hardest hit in the nation, that doesn't quite apply to us just yet. In fact, Melissa and I include graphs in our listing presentations that show just what this article is saying... the inventory level is down, the number of foreclosures is down, pending sales are up, and sold transactions are up which seems like the make up of a wonderful real estate market; however, the catch is that the average sales price is still down. So...the GOOD news: things are moving and selling! The bad news: they're still selling at lower prices.

Here are some interesting facts from the article:

• The number of overall home sales picked up by 11% across the metro Atlanta counties even though the median price dropped by nearly 15%. In most counties, the market was driven by resales, with the number of new-home sales either flat or declining. 
• The ZIP codes with the most home sales were in Lawrenceville (30044 and 30043) and Cumming (30040 and 30041). The Lawrenceville ZIP 30046 also saw the greatest increase in home sales, at 125%.
• The biggest declines in number of homes sold could be found in the Cherokee community of Waleska (30183) and the Southwest Atlanta area of 30310.
• The cheapest homes can be found in the West Atlanta area of 30314, where the median home sale was just over $15,000, slightly down from where it was last year.
  The Biggest Gain: 30294, Ellenwood: This part of Henry County had the biggest gains in 2011, up 22%; however, the median price was $56,500: that's still a 68.9% drop since the height of the market in 2007.
• The Biggest Loss: 30337, College Park: This city in south Fulton had the biggest price drop: down 45.7% since 2010. The median price was $57,000, a 69.2% fall from 2007

To view additional information from this article or to see statistics provided by the AJC, click on the following link: http://projects.ajchomefinder.com/atlanta-home-sales-report/

As you can see, Georgia is #4 in the nation for short sales!

If you're a buyer, there's a lot you need to know and understand before placing an offer on a short sale. If you're a seller, there's also a big process for completing a succesful short sale transaction. If you're in the market to buy or sell real estate, you'll encounter the term short sale in some capacity. We're happy to talk with you about it. Don't hesitate to call, email, or text for more info.



Graphic courtesy of KCM Blog - Steve Harney

Where Did All of the Houses Go!?!?

What happened to all of the houses for sale?! Just a few months ago we had more properties than we could possibly sell. Now, we're scrambling to find good inventory for our buyers who are anxious to find a home and tired of looking at the leftovers - you know, the stale inventory... the properties that are still available for a reason (overpriced, horrible condition, etc).

When a good property hits the market it seems as if it instantly goes to a multiple offer situation/"highest and best." In the past two months, I've had one buyer who has participated in three multiple offer situations, offered much more than the asking price ($15k, $30k, etc) and still wasn't the best offer. The competition is crazy out there right now and can be very discouraging for buyers.

Realtor.com just released statistics that show that the Atlanta market is #8 in the country in terms of metro markets that have experienced the greatest drop in "for sale" inventory and boy does it show! Here's the complete list:

1. Oakland, CA
2. Bakersfield, CA
3. Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
4. Fresno, CA
5. Miami, FL
6. Fort Lauderdale, FL
7. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
8. Atlanta, GA (-39.62% decline)
9. Orlando, FL
10. Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA

So what does this mean? Hopefully it's a positive sign for an improving market. If you're thinking of selling your property, now might just be the time. Buyer's have less to choose from so if you get your house in tip-top shape and price it aggressively, chances are, you're going to be successful in selling it! If you're a buyer, it means that you better be aggressive with your home search. If a house hits the market and you think you might be interested, don't wait a week to go check it out. By the time you go view it, it will likely be under contract! If you fall in love with a house that just hit the market, there's probably 4 other buyers who love it just as much. If you'd be heartbroken if you missed it, then it's probably not the time to lowball!

If you're looking to buy or sell in this crazy market, please call or email us! We would love help you!

Real Estate in Numbers: Butts, Clayton, Fayette, & Henry Counties

Here's the scoop on real estate for the first quarter of 2012 in the South Metro Atlanta Area (Butts, Clayton, Fayette, and Henry Counties). Reviewing the numbers is always interesting.

Zillow Zestimates = ZestiWRONG

When Melissa and I go on listing appointments we review detailed comparative market analysis (CMAs) with the seller as well as expansive market data and in the end, share our opinion of value and/or suggested list price for the current market. We’re definitely not the average agent who walks in with the just a listing agreement in one hand and a pen in the other. We would never expect someone to take our numbers seriously if we didn’t backup our opinions with supporting evidence and facts. After we review the data, we say something like: “Mr. and Mrs. Seller, if we were to list your home today, we would list it for….. (if it sounds like something off of an HGTV show, it’s because it is and we even put a 45 second delay in there too)... $175,000.” Occassionally, and what seems to be more and more these days, the seller will respond with something like “but Zillow.com says my home is Zestimated at $225,000?!” For those of you who don’t know, Zillow.com is the second most visited real estate website after Realtor.com and so therefore, more and more folks are visiting it these days and trusting every piece of information they find on it as if it were the real estate Bible. Browsers can search for homes on this site as well as inquire about their home value which Zillow refers to as “Zestimates”. Unfortunately, Zillow’s numbers are so wrong and they should be shot for giving seller’s false hope in this market! Imagine if you visited the site and thought your home was worth $25-75k more than what the market would support? So you may be wondering what makes us think that our opinion of value is any better than Zillows. For one, we’re good at what we do. Reallllly good at what we do. But most importantly, Zillow.com will tell you themselves how bad they are. It’s on their website, in the small print. Visit their site and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Zestimate Values & Accuracy”. Then click on “States/Counties” and click on the Peach State. Review the chart and take note of the median margin of error (last column on the chart). Here are some examples: Clayton County’s “Zestimates” are off by 78.2%, Henry County’s by 28.8%, Fayette County 10.8%, Fulton 21.8%, Coweta 16.3%, Rockdale 29.2%.


We wish that Zillow’s Zestimates were more accurate, because if they were, home values would be higher and that would be a good sign, but unfortunately, the Zestimates are Zesti-WRONG. So before you pull up Zillow.com to determine your home’s value, please talk with a local Realtor who knows the area and can provide accurate information. And when we said “local Realtor” we were talking about us. :) Give us a call or send us an email and we’ll be happy to help you determine the fair market value of your home. Even if you’re not in the market to sell and are just curious – we’re here to help. There is one thing that we’ll admit to – while we might have better numbers and more knowledge of the local market than Zillow does, they have something we don’t … a cool name for the home values that they provide – the “Zestimate”. Perhaps we should come up with one! So should you hear a friend, relative, co-worker, etc. talk about their “zestimate”, kindly tell them the news and refer them to us!