Atlanta Luxury Home Market – People are always asking me, how’s the Atlanta real estate market? In August 2011 there were 32 luxury homes that sold that were listed for over $1,000,000.  In August 2010, that number was pretty close to the same with 28 luxury homes sold.

What was the difference?

In August 2010 the lowest sales price was $850,000 with just 11 days on the market.  The average number of days on market for all the luxury homes sold was 193 days and an average sales price of $1,317,598.  The highest price Atlanta luxury home sold for $2,400,000 with 805 days on the market.

In August 2011, we saw a decrease in the number of days on the market in the Atlanta Luxury Home Market.  The lowest number of days on market is 0, yes, not even 1 day on the market for a home that was listed at 1,099,000 and sold for $520,000 in McDonough.  The average number of days on market for all luxury homes in the Atlanta area was 116 days with an average sale price of $1,620,534.  The most expensive luxury home that sold in August in the Atlanta area was $9,000,0000.  It was on the market 454 days.

Many of the Atlanta Luxury Homes are in golf course communities with fabulous amenities.

Where did the Atlanta area Luxury Homes sell in August 2011?

Buckhead  - 8 of the Luxury homes sold in Buckhead

• London Estates in Atlanta
• Kingswood – Atlanta Fulton County
• Woodward Investment (near Buckhead in Atlanta)
• Sugarloaf Country Club in Duluth – Gwinnett County – 2 of them sold here – For the same time period last year, 4 Luxury Homes sold at Sugarloaf
• Peachtree Manor Heights –Atlanta in Fulton
• Atlanta National in Alpharetta in Fulton
• St. Marlo in Duluth Forsyth County
• Tuxedo Park – Near Buckhead in Atlanta
• High Gates on Robinson in Marietta – Cobb County
• Chatham Park in Roswell –Fulton County
• Riverwood in Johns Creek – Fulton
• Sentinel Ferry at the River in Sandy Springs –Fulton County
• Lake Lanier in Cumming – Forysth
• Atlanta National – On the Golf Course in Alpharetta
• McDonough in Henry County
• Atlanta Country Club in Marietta
• Country Club of the South in Johns Creek –Fulton County
• Chastain –Atlanta Fulton County – Last year same time period 3 Luxury homes sold in Chastain
• Spalding Stables Estates in Atlanta – Sandy Springs area of Fulton County
• Chatsworth in Atlanta near Buckhead
• The Enclave at Jett Ferry – Dunwoody – New construction by John Wieland

If you’re thinking of buying or selling an Atlanta Luxury Home, contact Jen Bowman, Broker Associate with Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners, Luxury Homes by KW at 404-456-5024.

www.LuxuryHomesGA.com

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I can’t say it any better than my friend Jennifer Fivelsdal “Just a few years ago it was not uncommon to see a house assessed at $200,000 selling for $400,000 and this made home sellers happy.  That was a market called a Seller’s Market, in other words more buyers and fewer properties.  The well known rule of supply and demand dictates that a higher demand with a limited supply will result in higher prices.  Today the scenario is so different.  Very high inventory and few buyers makes this a Buyer’s Market. In this case buyers want to spend less and get much more for their money.”

We are very much, for almost every market, in a buyer’s market. More now than ever before many sellers are having to short sell their home or bring cash to closing to pay the difference between the sales price and the mortgage pay off. To be sure a home seller may want to have their home appraised independently. While that appraisal cannot be used by the buyer’s lender due to all sorts of rules and regulations it should still be a standard, Uniform Appraisal and the result should be within a few percentage points. If you are in the Atlanta area I can give you the names of a few Atlanta area Georgia licensed appraisers.

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Continuing the great and enlightening discussion on the topic of short sales it has come time for the bane of the web: a poll. Actually polls are not the bane of the web but they are also usually skewed and completely unscientific when used in this manner. However, which is the same as but, your opinion and perspective is invited on this particular matter.

Having taught and “done” short sales for a number of years, in fact well before they were one of the biggest buzz-words in the industry, I have had the chance to work with many agents, sellers, buyer, banks, and lenders in multiple aspects of the process. Still there are “gaps” in understanding, approach and even the timing of a short sale. Moreover, and more personally important to me as the lender offering financing to people who are purchasing short sales, the timing of when a property officially becomes a short sale.

Many of you, some very dear to me, have made sure I understand the MLS in various areas, require a property which is upside down to be listed as a “short sale”. This has, can and will produce a couple of buyer damaging situations and for that reason is well worth addressing in detail, in public and with an open agenda.

The legal definition of short sale wherein regards real property is the sale of a property for an amount less than the amount due to the existing lender(s) to whom the payoff is owed. I don’t think anyone will argue with the meaning of that statement although some may offer different verbiage. So we can all agree on the definition.

More and more we lenders are getting contracts from buyers and their agents for us to proceed with a mortgage application on short sale properties where the short sale has not yet been accepted by the existing lender(s). In other words a non-valid contract. Then there may or may not be pressure from the buyer/buyer’s agent to proceed with the loan process not knowing if the short sale will even be approved by the existing lender(s).

The cost to the customer is credit fees (if charged), appraisal fees, inspection fees, fees associated with verifying their employment, income and assets if charged by those third part providers, time, dreams, and hope.

The cost to the new lender (loan officer, set up person, processor, underwriter) is hours and hours which could be spent on someone who has brought a viable transaction in for a loan application. The most important of people affected is the customer.

Here’s the catch – many short sale acceptances come with a 10 day validity period. Ten days? According to the new RESPA guidelines the loan officer can’t even accept documentation from the customer until all 6 triggers have been met and one of those triggers is a property address. In reality there is no address until there is a valid, fully executed contract which, on a short sale, requires acceptance of the short sale by the existing lender(s). Ten days to get an appraisal, inspection if needed, the title work, verify all assets and income from the customers, get it into underwriting, cleared and funded in 10 days.

It “can” happen and often does but not on every transaction. It takes massive coordination to close a loan in 10 days. ASK FOR 21.

So here’s the catch. Should MLSs be educated to the difference between “short sale” and perhaps a category called “requires short sale” instead of short sale? After all, it is not a short sale until …

Please take a moment and answer the one question poll to the right. Your feedback truly is valuable. Your comments, as always are invited.

There is little secret about the devastation delivered to the real estate industry in the Atlanta area over the last twenty-four months. Values plummeted in 2009 as more properties made their way to the market through increasing numbers of foreclosures leaving banks and investors holding inventory unlikely to resell in months if not years.

Making matters worse many of the foreclosed properties are not in prime condition with many of them needing repairs to return them to livable condition. Add to this trouble the number of properties which have been vandalized while vacant and those continue to set in a deteriorating state further impacting the values of other properties in the area.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, through their Federal Homeowner’s Association, established a special loan in 1978 using revisions to the National Housing Act (NHA). Since that date FHA 203K loans are available to help America restore and preserve its existing housing inventory even when the homes need upgrades or repairs.

Allowing for almost all repairs except structural repairs the FHA 203K loans, more specifically the Streamlined version thereof, are helping sellers like banks and servicers including HUD to sell housing inventory that otherwise would likely not be sold. The loan is good not only for repairs but for upgrades as well.

Real estate professional and mortgage executive Jesse Kight of Marietta says, “the solutions provided by the FHA rehab loan are helping HUD and banks accept offers on properties with only the standard 3.5% down payment required by FHA to insure the loan. Since all other qualifications are the same anyone who qualifies for any FHA loan is eligible for the rehab version.”

For more information on the FHA 203k Streamlined loan in Georgia contact Ken Cook at 678-439-8683