The recently released National Association of Realtors report for September Existing Homes showed sales rose for the first time since July 2003 as compared to a year earlier. Good news right? Not so fast.

Keep in mind that this report reflects homes that actually closed in September 2008 which means that the homes went under contract in July and August. This was before the massive real estate slowdown which hit when the finacial markets went into turmoil in September.

When the reports come out that reflect our current October 2008 real estate market, the headline will most likely read “Largest drop since the records have been kept!” or “45-50% drop shocks the market”. The news media is better than I am in creating sensational headlines but you get the idea. These ugly reports will come in the following order: the October pending sales report due out on November 7th, October new home sales on November 26th and November existing home sales due on December 23rd.

These sales reports will all reflect what you can see in real time on the Alphahomes Sales Trends page. I report pending sales so you get a view of how the market is doing now. I keep the figures regularly updated so check them often to keep up with the real estate market in Alpharetta and Johns Creek, GA. Since it is near the end of October it is safe to say that our sales will show a drop of about 50% over October last year and September of this year. Read the rest of this entry »

These days I am often asked when the housing market will start to improve. Of course being me I have a few opinions. First though we must recognize what got us into this mess before we can understand how to get out.

Quite simply this was caused by a confluence of the following factors:

• Loose loan qualification standards driven primarily by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines
• Low interest rates that helped fuel the dramatic rise in home values giving the impression that fantastic profits could be made safely by short term real estate ownership
• Investors and owner occupant home buyers that purchased homes as investments without considering the reality that homes prices don’t always go up
• Lenders that were more than happy to originate loans to anybody that could spell their name correctly two out of three times
• Buyers that were willing to use creative loan programs designed to get them into homes that were really more than they could comfortably afford Read the rest of this entry »

This tough real estate market combined with the current economic environment presents a tough challenge for hopeful home sellers today. Let’s face it. Economic times are a bit tougher for most people today than they were a couple of years ago. Proper home staging is more critical than ever in this buyer’s market but the thought of spending thousands to get a home ready for market is out of reach for many sellers today. So how can you best prepare your home for sale in these tight times?

Try these 5 powerful budget friendly tips to tune up your home and sell in this market. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes it just takes a little perspective to help us understand that what we thought was tough was really quite good in comparison. Alpharetta and Johns Creek home sales in August 2008 were the lowest I can ever remember. We probably would have to go back to the time when this area was just horse pastures to find a month that had so few homes sales. Read the rest of this entry »

I heard of an interesting business idea that is being carried out in Atlanta right now. A businessman is purchasing foreclosed properties in the $35-$40K range and then putting about $20-$25K in improvments into them. Most of the work is to correct problems with the homes plus expanding the properties to add another bedroom and full bath.

After the homes have been renovated and expanded they usually have 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. The businessman now finds a tenant for the property. He selects tenants who qualify for Section 8 housing, which is a government program for low income earners, to establish a stable situation.

Now the businessman has an income producing property that he now sells as an investment to other parties who want to make money in the real estate market. Since these investment homes are sold with a tenant already established, the businessman is able to sell them for a good profit (in the $15K-$25K per house range).

Don’t let yourself get down just because the economy is challenging because good opportunities are all around us if we will just recognize them and take action. All the best, Jeff