Category Archives: norcross

Local? Hyper-Local? National? What IS the Market?

Thursday, 10 February 2011 08:20

Written by Lane Bailey

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old photo of peachtree street, atlanta, GA

Image via Wikipedia

I love watching the news… but when they talk about the real estate market, I cringe. I like to hear the national numbers, but I also know that they are just a framework for a smaller discussion. Yep… a smaller discussion.

It matters what the overall market is doing, but it’s not nearly as important as what is happening in your neighborhood. It matters what is happening in Georgia, and the Atlanta Metro market, but not nearly as much as what is happening in your specific city. Real estate prices and demand react to specific local issues much more than to national trends. In fact, the national trend is just a compilation of local and hyper-local trends. What the national market does is create a headwind or a tailwind. That’s about it.

Here locally, we look at things like…

changing employment statistics
companies relocating into or out of the area
school performance and trends
tax burdens
quality of local governmental services
proximity to recreation and entertainment
ease of movement (commuting, shopping, etc)

As we see these things change, we see the market move in one direction or another. A prime example at the moment is the City of Atlanta schools issue. It is possible that the Atlanta City Schools could lose their accreditation. If that were to happen, it would drive down the price of most of the homes served by those schools. The price would be driven down because there would be a lack of demand on the part of buyers, combined with an increase in supply as sellers seek to move to districts without the same problems.

Gwinnett County has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Georgia, below the national average. But there is also a tremendous overhead of foreclosure action. We also have one of the highest performance school systems in the region… and reasonably low tax rates.

The market in Miami or Las Vegas doesn’t have an effect on what is happening in Georiga, much less what is going on with real estate in Gwinnett County.

Gwinnett Homestretch Program

Thursday, 03 February 2011 08:05

Written by Lane Bailey

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Ken Cook and I are working with Gwinnett Homstretch Down Payment Assistance. As a buyer, you need to have $1000 going into the purchase, but Gwinnett Homestretch may contribute up to $7,500, if you qualify. There are a few things to keep in mind:

It is paid as a 0% loan, which will be forgiven after 5 years of using the property as your principal residence. In effect, that makes it a grant… there are no payments due during the 5 years.
You will be required to complete an 8-hour counseling class from a HUD approved Housing Counseling Agency.
Total household income must not exceed HUD lmits, based on household size. Households range from 1-8 people.
- 2 people – HUD max is $46,000
- 4 people – HUD max is $57,450
- There are different income maximums for other household sizes.
Investors are NOT eligible for this program.
The home MUST pass an inspection by Gwinnett County PRIOR to closing.
Purchase Price may NOT exceed $200,000.

There are other requirements, such as being able to qualify for a mortgage. Contact Ken and I for details.

We’d love to help you buy a home. There are great deals on the market right now, and interest rates are exceptional.

For more info, click here. There are other Down Payment Assistance programs available around the Metro Atlanta area.

Gwinnett County GA Overall Market Report… November, 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Gwinnett County Schools Get $1M Scholarship (gwinnettgarageguy.com)

Norcross, GA, Market Report, December 2010

Thursday, 27 January 2011 08:33

Written by Lane Bailey

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: Image via Wikipedia

Market stats for Norcross GA, November, 2010 indicate that there were 365 properties on the market. Overall, there is about a 10.2 month supply of properties. November was a thrashing… 30 v 47 in 2009. December was better, but still only 35 sales for Dec 2010 compared to 41 the year prior.

In the sub-$200k arena, there were 219 listings, with about 7.4 month supply. Sales are down slightly from a year ago in this segment, which is the main driver of sales in this area (25 v 28). But the segment is still looking pretty strong, despite the weakness in July and September and relative weakness of sales in October, November and even December.

Between $200k and $400k, there were 111 listings for sale, and about 27.8 months of supply. Sales have been down and slowing for the last few months. November was a really bad month (1 v 11)… but December was still down, 7 v 10 sales.

From $400k to $600k, there were 31 homes on the market. The absorption rate is around 18.6 months. Much of the perception of strong Absorption Rates is from shrinking inventories. Actual sales have been mostly decelerating. I expect to see the numbers move the other way in the next few months. But, for the record, Sales for December were at 3 for both 2009 and 2010.

Image via Wikipedia

In the $600k to $800k arena, there were 2 listings on the market. Inventories have decreased as sales have increased compared to last year. The absorption rate (6 month average) is at 12 months of inventory… but with only 4 sales this year, obviously it is easy to bump one way or the other. The ONLY reason for the strong looking Absorption Rate is that there are only 2 listings.

The range from $800k to $1m, there were no homes listed on the market and no sales… seemingly forever.

Above $1m, there were 2 properties listed. But because of the smaller numbers of sales, the absorption rate could be significantly impacted by just a couple of sales. There have been two sales in the last year (Apr 10 and Oct 10).

Norcross, GA is a suburb of Atlanta in Gwinnett County. The population is 2000 was 8,41, but that only included the area inside the city limits, and it has seen tremendous growth since that census. The City of Norcross revamped their old town a long time ago, and it has served as a model for other towns in the area. It is also home to Meadow Creek and Norcross High Schools. One of the things that Norcross is known for locally is the beautiful older homes in the downtown area. They have maintained their historic flair quite successfully.

I have a page dedicated to Norcross Market Data.

Norcross, GA, Market Report, November 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Norcross, GA, Market Report, October 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Norcross, GA, Market Report, September 2010 (lanebailey.com)

The WRONG Top ten List to be on…

Thursday, 20 January 2011 08:31

Written by Lane Bailey

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: Image via Wikipedia

Yahoo News recently published an article titled “The Eight States Running Out of Homebuyers“. (I know, I said 10… they say 8, but they mentioned that Colorado and South Carolina barely missed inclusion).

Georgia ranked #6…

I’ll cut to the chase and give you the list. Check out the article for the details on each state…

Michigan
Nevada
Arizona
California
Illinois
Georgia
Oregon
Florida

: Image via Wikipedia

Georgia made it onto the list because of the following statistics…

2010 Foreclosures: 3.25% (6th Worst)
Unemployment: 10% (9th Worst)
Decrease in Building Permits 2006-2010: -82.29% (2nd Worst)

Of course, I want to put my spin on these things…

There is no getting around the foreclosures. As a real estate agent, I see loads of them listed in the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service), as well as properties that are foreclosed, but not yet listed. I also see the properties that are on their way to foreclosure… short sales, neglected homes, etc. They are seriously impacting home values across the state.

: Image via Wikipedia

Unemployment is the big one. As employment increases, pressure on the housing market decreases. Simply put, buyers are reluctant to buy when they aren’t feeling secure in their employment future. There are some rumblings that could bring an improvement to the employment rate… FedEx is building a new Distribution Center in Norcross (Gwinnett County) that will be bringing a good number of jobs to the area over the next 18 months (it is scheduled to open in Sept. 2012). While the 200 people that will work in the facility will be largely from other FedEx facilities, there will be jobs from the construction of the 215,000sf facility. There may be future jobs added as well. Kia Motors has a production facility in the state that is expanding. There are other companies, large and small, that are opening or expanding operations in Georgia, as well.

The decrease in building permits is another matter entirely. I see it as a backward looking indicator. I also see a decrease in construction starts as positive news for inventory already on the market. And in the last couple of years, we have seen the inventories decrease by half… If there is already an over-supply, more building won’t help that. And we have an oversupply.

The bottom line, for me, is that the article contains a mixed bag for Georgia. There is NO question that the market here has been damaged, but at the same time, there may be rays of hope hiding in the tunnel.

The Eight States Running Out of Homebuyers

The Eight States Running Out Of Homebuyers (247wallst.com)
Gwinnett County GA Overall Market Report… November, 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Lane’s Prognostications for 2011… (lanebailey.com)
2011 Could Be The Worst Year In The History Of Real Estate (realestateradiousa.com)

Norcross, GA, Market Report, November 2010

Monday, 03 January 2011 08:31

Written by Lane Bailey

0 Comments

: Image via Wikipedia

Market stats for Norcross, November, 2010 indicate that there were 386 properties on the market. Overall, there is about a 10.3 month supply of properties. October and September sales were down v 2009 (42 v 57 and 43 v 55), but August was way up (52 v 43). November was a thrashing… 27 v 47 in 2009.

In the sub-$200k arena, there were 215 listings, with about 7.5 month supply. Sales are down significantly from a year ago in this segment, which is the main driver of sales in this area (25 v 34). But the segment is still looking pretty strong, despite the weakness in July and September and relative weakness of sales in October and November.

Between $200k and $400k, there were 127 listings for sale, and about 20 months of supply. Sales have been down and slowing for the last few months. But October was down (4 v 13 last year). With the increase in inventory. November only had 1 sales, v 11 last year.

From $400k to $600k, there were 39 homes on the market. The absorption rate is around 19.5 months. Much of the perception of strong Absorption Rates is from shrinking inventories. Actual sales have been mostly decelerating. I expect to see the numbers move the other way in the next few months.

: Image via Wikipedia

In the $600k to $800k arena, there were 2 listings on the market. Inventories have decreased as sales have increased compared to last year. The absorption rate (6 month average) is at 4 months of inventory… but with only 4 sales this year, obviously it is easy to bump one way or the other. The ONLY reason for the strong looking Absorption Rate is that there are only 2 listings.

The range from $800k to $1m, there were 1 homes listed on the market and no sales… seemingly forever.

I have a page dedicated to Norcross Market Data.

Norcross, GA, Market Report, October 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Norcross, GA, Market Report, September 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Norcross, GA, Market Report, August 2010 (lanebailey.com)

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Category Archives: norcross

Local? Hyper-Local? National? What IS the Market?

Gwinnett Homestretch Program

Norcross, GA, Market Report, December 2010

The WRONG Top ten List to be on…

The Eight States Running Out of Homebuyers

Norcross, GA, Market Report, November 2010

What's YOUR Home Worth?

Custom Listings

Browse Listings

Follow Me on Pinterest

Category Archives: norcross

Local? Hyper-Local? National? What IS the Market?

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Gwinnett Homestretch Program

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Norcross, GA, Market Report, December 2010

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The WRONG Top ten List to be on…

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Norcross, GA, Market Report, November 2010

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