Not Found Lane Bailey | Garage with a Detached Home | Gwinnett County GA

LaneBailey.com

Garage with a Detached Home

Contact Lane
  • What's YOUR Home Worth?

    Get a free Maximum Price Analysis to find out the current market value of your home.

    Read More
  • Browse Listings

    Take a look at what is currently on the market in the areas that interest you.

    Read More
  • Custom Listings

    Sign up to get notified when new listingscome on the market that meet your specs.

    Read More
  • 1

Author Archives: Lane Bailey

Wayback Wednesday… Price ≠ Value

This was actually one of my favorite posts… and oddly, I wrote it around the time of our last Leap Year.  However, it is possibly even MORE true now than it was then, back during the beginning of the crash, as things were unwinding.  At that time, foreclosures hadn’t accelerated, banks weren’t too worried about getting their inventory through the system, and they were still thinking THEY were the ones in control of their market.

English: To Let in Dover As the estate agent w...

Image via Wikipedia

There is a HUGE misconception among real estate consumers.  Many want to connect “price”, like the asking price from the seller, and “value”.  They feel that if they can buy a property for 10%, 30%, 80% (whatever) off of listing price, that they have a “great deal”.  The problem is that there isn’t a magic number that makes a property a “deal”.  As highlighted in the original post, the lower priced property in a subdivision, with the same floorplan and amenities, might not be as good of a deal as a higher priced property.

As I mentioned at the beginning, it may be more true now than it was four years ago.  Then we were seeing some foreclosures, but they weren’t making up half of the market.  They were on the fringe…  Now, they are often the bulk of the sales.  But more importantly, sellers have capitulated…  And because of that, sellers knowing that they have to compete in the price arena with banks and short sales, they have priced for a fight.  The bonus is that they are often homes that AREN’T loaded with the possibility of hidden issues.  They haven’t been sitting vacant for months or years on end.  They often don’t have a myriad of “deferred maintenance” issues (that’s real estate agent speak for “not able to keep up with the maintenance”).

Of course, that isn’t always the case… but the message is just as true now as it was then, pay close attention to the total cost, not just the price tag… or the discount on the price tag.  Look at the value.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Duluth, GA, Market Report, January 2012

This map shows the incorporated and unincorpor...

Image via Wikipedia

Preliminary stats for Duluth, January, 2012 indicated that there were 449 properties on the market.  Overall, there is about an 9.8 month supply of properties.  Sales in January were 30, slightly down from 40 a year earlier.  But, sales were way down compared to the prior month (57).  Duluth had been slightly leading Gwinnett County as a whole, but not so much over the last four months.

In the Under $200k arena, there were 180 listings in Duluth, GA, with about a 7.1 month supply.  The Absorption Rate for October, was 3.55.  Sales in January were down this year v last year (13 v 23), and way down compared to last month (35).  The Absorption Rate (A/R) is a bit better than most of the county… but it has decelerated again this month.

Between $200k and $400k, there are 131 listings for sale, and about 12.3 months of supply.  Absorption rates have similarly risen, dropped and then risen again, but have been moving mostly the wrong way (up) since August.  Sales were up compared to January, 2011 (10 v 7) but down compared to last month (14).  Duluth is a market that favors luxury, but this segment is not doing that well… although it is one of the few to beat last year.

From $400k to $600k, there were 46 homes on the market.  The Absorption Rate was around 8.1 months.  January brought in 4 sales. There were 6 last year and 5 last month.  As with much of the county, the recovery that seems to be solidifying at the lower end of the price strata is much weaker here.  Duluth is a luxury centric market, and it is doing better than the rest of Gwinnett County, GA, but the segment is still kind of weak, but it’s better than last month… and one of a very few to have posted a better A/R than in the previous month.

In the $600k to $800k arena, there were 33 listings, with about 9.9 months of supply.  Sales were 3 for January… 4 for January last year.  Month to month sales were actually up (3 v 2).  Last month was ok, but I would like to see three consecutive months with strong sales, and haven’t seen that for a while.  Since Duluth does favor luxury sales, it looks better than the rest of the County at this price level.

In Duluth, GA, from $800k to $1m, there were 23 homes listed and approximately 69 months of inventory on the market.  The 0 sales recorded for January was flat with last year’s 0 and from the 0 from last month.  Sales haven’t been moving much for the last couple of months, but 1 sale for the last3 months has killed the 3 month average A/R.  It isn’t as weak as that suggests… at least I hope it isn’t.

Above $1m, there were 36 properties listed. The current absorption rate indicated about 54 months of inventory. A couple of sales at this level could have a large impact on the Absorption Rates. There were 2 sales in the Nov-Jan period this year, and 3 for the same time last year. Fall was weak last year, but we should be posting four sales a month here instead of the 0 we got.

Duluth, GA is a suburb of Atlanta, in the heart of Gwinnett County. It actually straddles the county line and has unincorporated portions in South Forsyth County. The population of Duluth is estimated as about 26,000 people as of 2008, but this doesn’t include unincorporated areas outside the city limits, but with a Duluth mailing address. It is also home to Sugarloaf Country Club, a PGA stop until recently. Forbes Magazine rated Duluth 26th in their nationwide survey of the best places to move, and it is one of the wealthiest parts of Georgia. It is also home to the Arena at Gwinnett Center (Home of the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators) and the former Atlanta Thrashers practice facility (the Duluth Ice Forum). There is a LONG list of celebrities and athletes that call Duluth home, largely because of the country clubs and proximity to Atlanta.

Atlanta Metro Zillow Home Value Index

I have a page dedicated to Duluth Market Information.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Lawrenceville, GA Market Report, January 2012

This map shows the incorporated and unincorpor...

Image via Wikipedia

Market stats for Lawrenceville, GA, January, 2012, indicate that there were 1151 properties on the market.  Overall, there was about a 4.9 month supply of properties.  In 2011, sales for January were at 148, so 213 sales was a excellent increase, year over year.  Coupled with the decrease in inventory, things are looking great.  Normally they start weakening in September, but we are rolling right along… but not quite better than last month (264 sales).

For Lawrenceville, GA, Homes Under $200k, there are 983 listings, with about a 4.4 month supply of homes.  Sales were way up from January 2011 (205 v 121).  This segment is easily the lion’s share of sales for the area.  With the 4.41 month A/R, it is solidly in Seller’s Market territory.  The big drop in Absorption Rate (AR) is due to strong sales, coupled with lower listing inventories.  Month over month sales were down from 247 in December.

Between $200k and $400k, there are 147 listings for sale, and about 12.3 months of supply.  Oddly, this had one of the weaker segments in the county, now it’s mid-pack.  The 7 sales for January, 2012 were down from the 18 from last year.  They were down significantly from the 16 sales last month.  Sales should have been closer to 20 units for January.  We are still solidly in Buyer’s Market territory here.

From $400k to $600k, there are 17 homes on the market.  The absorption rate is around 12.8 months.  However, with the level of sales in this segment, a couple of sales added or subtracted can have a HUGE impact.  There were 0 sales for January, the Absorption Rate has dropped from 78 months in June, through good, but sporadic sales.  There were 2 sales in January, 2011.  This is acting like a luxury market and the A/R is jumping all over the place… with just a few sales (A/R was 7.1 two months ago).  While the long term trend was looking better, now it is still pretty choppy.

In the $600k to $800k arena, there are 4 listings, with about 6.0 months of supply, again. As with the next lower priced segment, a couple of sales makes a big difference and there was only 1 sale in January. There were only 6 sales at this level in all of 2011, 2 of them were last January.  There was 1 sale last month.

Between $800k and $1M, and Above $1M there are 0 homes listed (combined) and not enough sales data to give an accurate absorption rate. There has only been one sale in this range in the last 3 years (Aug, 2010), according to FMLS.

Lawrenceville is in Gwinnett County, GA, just outside of Atlanta. As of the 2000 Census, there were 22,937 people in Lawrenceville, but that is only including people in the city limits, and there has been a lot of growth since 2000 in Gwinnett County (2008 estimates from the Census Bureau peg population around 29,000). It was incorporated in 1821. Lawrenceville is home to Central Gwinnett High School, and also has students that the Mountain View and Archer clusters. It is also home to Gwinnett Technical College and Georgia Gwinnett College. Another recent addition to Lawrenceville is that it is home to the Gwinnett Braves, playing at the Gwinnett Stadium on GA20 between I-85 and GA316. Possibly the most famous resident of Lawrenceville was Oliver Hardy. As a small boy he lived in Lawrenceville with his parents for a short time. Lawrenceville was also home to Junior Samples. Some of its other residents included Jeff Francouer, Brian McCann and Jennifer Ferrin.

Atlanta Metro Zillow Home Value Index

I have a page dedicated to Lawrenceville Market Data.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Wayback Wednesday… Great Schools = Great Tool

English: Farm Security Administration: School ...

Image via Wikipedia

Last year I had a quick little post about one of the tools that is easily available to everyone… for free.  And we like free tools.  Since I posted that, we’ve moved.  And just like I counsel prospective buyers, we spent a LOT of time looking through GreatSchools.org to find out about the schools in the areas we were looking.  We eliminated a lot of houses because we weren’t sold on the schools.

Even if you don’t have kids, schools are an important consideration.  When it comes time to sell, a prospective buyer might have school age children… and if the schools in your area have a top rating, there will be more demand in the area.  If the schools are bad, less demand and lower prices.  Of course, keep in mind that schools move up and down in the ratings all of the time.  Also keep in mind that “Your Mileage May Vary” on schools… a great teaching in an average school might work out better than a crappy teacher in a top-notch school. And school boundaries change over time as demographics shift and schools are built and closed.

Gwinnett County has a pretty good school system compared to others in the Atlanta area.  And within Gwinnett, there are a few clusters (we organize schools based on what high school they will feed to) that out-perform.  And within those clusters, there are some middle schools and elementary schools that out-perform others in the same cluster.

My best piece of advice is that #1 isn’t the thing to focus on.  Focus on long term trends for the school and the area.  Schools pop in and out of the #1 spot all of the time, but there always seems to be a core group of schools that are near the top.  When you are looking at having kids in school for the next 14 years (our situation), looking past this year’s #1 and seeing schools that have decades in the top tier becomes more important.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Buford, GA, Market Report, January 2012

This map shows the incorporated and unincorpor...

Image via Wikipedia

Market stats for Buford, GA, January, 2012 indicate that there were 417 properties on the market.  Overall, there was about an 7.0 month supply of properties (Absorption Rate or A/R).  There were 52 sales for January, way down from 83 last month but strikingly up from the 27 sales last January (2011).  It isn’t the strongest market in Gwinnett, but it is much better than it has been.

In the sub-$200k arena, there were 246 listings, with a 5.9 month supply.  This is the largest price segment in this market area, so strength here usually equals strength across the whole local market area.  Sales were down from last month (42 v 53), but huge compared to last year (18 sales in January, 2011).  But, the A/R is under the 6 months that would be considered fairly balanced… pointing towards a slight seller’s market.

Between $200k and $400k, there were 126 listings for sale, and about 8.6 months of supply.  The 8 sales recorded were well down from the 25 from last month and up a bit from the 6 sales last year for January.  This had been one of the weaker segments in the county, but has improved dramatically and at current A/Rs, it is one of the stronger $200k-$400k segments in the county.

From $400k to $600k, there were 24 homes on the market.  The absorption rate is 9.0 Months.  There have been 8 sales in the last 3 months (3 sales for November, 4 sales for December and 1 for January).  When the market is rolling, there should be 5-7 sales a month during this part of the year.  September was pretty strong, and but we didn’t have the follow-up the next two months I was looking for…  December is back in the right direction, and the drop in listings certainly helps.  January certainly wasn’t the month to call a recovery.  Just for comparison, there were 5 sales in the Nov.-Jan. period in 2010/2011.

In the $600k to $800k arena, there were 6 listings.  Absorption Rate is 9 months… but it jumps around a lot.  Sales in this range are pretty sporadic, but steady when looking at the long-term.  The drop in inventory over the last few months from 14 homes to 6 homes has made things look less slow… but there were 4 sales in this segment last year… and 1 sale in January.

The range from $800k to $1m, there were 5 homes listed.  But, with no sales in the last year (2011), obviously trends are hardly definable.  Listings are down, but sales aren’t following through.

Above $1m, there were 10 properties listed.  The last sale in the segment was in April… of 2009…and then there was May… and 2 sales in June. So, we have 40 months of inventory.  I hope, but am not expecting, sales to be more consistent.

Buford, GA is a suburb of Atlanta in Gwinnett and Hall Counties.  The population is 2000 was 10,668, but that only included the area inside the city limits, and it had seen tremendous growth since that census.  Buford is home to Lake Lanier, one of Georgia’s premiere recreational areas, and Lake Lanier Islands.  Recently, the City of Buford has revamped their old town.  It is also home to Buford (Buford City Schools aren’t a part of Gwinnett County Schools), Mill Creek, Mountain View and Lanier High School (Lanier will open for the 2010-11 school year).

I have a page dedicated to Buford Market Data.

Atlanta Metro Zillow Home Value Index

Enhanced by Zemanta
Copyright © 2009 - 2019 Garage with a Detached Home | Gwinnett County GA. All Rights Reserved. Created by Blog Copyright.