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Category Archives: gwinnett

Can a $29,000 Home be overpriced?

Thursday, 04 June 2009 23:44
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DSCN2941
Image by lane.bailey via Flickr

I wandered out to look at some investment properties this afternoon…  One of the properties was priced at $29,000… in a neighborhood of $100,000+ homes.  In fact, this very home had sold for over $110,000 in the last couple of years.

Could it be overpriced at $29,000?

Yep.

The funny thing is that the wholesaler says it needs like $12,000 in repairs…   Maybe if you pick up all of your materials from the curb after they are tossed out of nice homes…  I would put the budget at closer to $40,000.  and that is assuming that the mechanicals and structure are ok, and that isn’t a safe assumption.

Here is a list:

  • Gutters
  • Roof repairs
  • Front door and casing
  • Enough of the siding to make it worth replacing all of it
  • Ditto for the windows
  • All of the flooring.  That which is still there is nasty
  • And every wall and ceiling needs paint
  • Rebuild the rear deck
  • About 20 sheets of drywall
  • All of the appliances
  • EVERYTHING in the kitchen… like the cabinets and counters
  • Landscaping
  • Un-convert the garage from its bonus room conversion

I would peg the property at a value more in line with $15,000.  An investor will need to realize a healthy profit AND have enough room for hidden defects.

  • Mold abatement
  • HVAC replacement
  • Structural repairs
  • Foundation repairs

I’m not saying that those are probabilities…  just that they are possible.

An end-use buyer would face similar issues,  AND they will need to be able to finance it without FHA support, since it probably wouldn’t qualify.  It also would have trouble with many renovation programs… so cash might be in order for renovations.

But for the right buyer it could be a great deal.

I did run across another property that looks like a much better deal…

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Location, Location, Location…

Tuesday, 02 June 2009 19:31
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Sunrise in Lilburn
Image by jeremypullen via Flickr

That has to be the most tired and over-used statement in real estate.  But there is a problem with it…  It kind of died as a truism.

The idea behind that statement is that homes in the right area could bring more money.  And that has always been true…  But there is a big donut hole in the theory…

People go to where they can get the house they want…

Even Clark Howard says that.  Look at the Gwinnett County market or the Atlanta area market.  Up until a couple of years ago, buyers would drive out from the center of town until they could find the house they could afford with the amenities they wanted.  Twenty years ago that was “way out” in Lawrenceville or Duluth.  Ten years ago that was Dacula or Buford.  Just a couple of years ago it was Loganville or Flowery Branch.  I would imagine that forty years ago it was Lilburn and Peachtree Corners.

But then last summer gas prices skyrocketed… there were shortages.  People started to look at their lifestyles and the cost of living 40 miles from Atlanta… and working close-in.  And there is a major cost… not just gas, but time as well.

That is one of the reasons my wife and I settled in Lilburn eight years ago.  She worked in Midtown and I worked near Northlake.  Later she worked near Perimeter Center… now she has clients in Midtown again.  She can make it all of the way to the Atlanta Station area in 20 minutes.

We also have to go the other way…  Garrett is playing ice hockey at the Duluth Ice Forum.  It takes about 20 minutes to get there.  And then there were the Thrasher’s Season Tickets… 30 minutes to Philips Arena.  My wife’s parents in Sugar Hill… 30 minutes.

We have found that this is an excellent location to get anywhere in Gwinnett County or into Atlanta easily.  We have at least three ways to get almost anyplace… so we can drive around the traffic.

The best part is that prices here are quite reasonable.  There are areas with homes under $100k that are quite nice.  There are luxury homes knocking on $1m.  There are loads of options in between.

And the other best part is the schools.  Lilburn is the Home of Parkview, and a few parts are severed by Brookwood.  These are a couple of the best clusters in Gwinnett County… and Georgia.  They have both ranked well for decades.

If this area of Gwinnett County sounds like someplace you’d like to call home, give me a call, Tweet, IM, email… whatever.  I know some great homes for sale here.

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Come and Get It…

Monday, 01 June 2009 23:03
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DSCN1980
Image by lane.bailey via Flickr

Today was Garrett’s first day of Hockey Camp.  And he had a ball.

Dan Sullivan of the Gwinnett Gladiators, and some other area “hockey-types” have been putting together a new camp at the Duluth Ice Forum.  Dan approached us last week and asked if Garrett might like to try a “big-guy” hockey camp… most of the participants are past the Cross-Ice stage, and are competitive players.  Garrett’s answer was a resounding YES.

So, this morning I loaded him and his gear up for the trek to the Ice Forum.  He was suited up and on the ice for the 9:00 Power Skating session.  Over the course of the day he had three hours of ice time, including the Power Skating, Puck Handling and a one hour game.  In all the kids are there from 8:30 until around 4:30.  They get a breakfast snack, mid morning snack and a lunch.

I left Garrett with the staff in order to go about my day… after watching a little of the Power Skating.  The coaches were really working the kids.  I noticed that they were able to spend time with just about every kid during each exercise… the bigger guys were getting pointers while the smaller guys were getting reminders of what they were supposed to be doing.

Around 3:30 I came back to watch some of the game.  It was excellent.  Basically, each team had three lines… big guys, medium guys and small guys… and they played against kids their own size.  They would play in short shifts and a couple of coaches were on the ice with them… and even a ref to make it feel official.

Coming home, Garrett told me all about his day.  And he told me how much fun he had.  He said that he wanted to be in camp all summer…

The camp runs this week and then there is another week August 3rd-7th.  We will be trying to arrange it for Garrett to make it to the August camp as well.

If you might have a kid interested in this, keep eyes here for contact info or feel free to contact me.  I’ll put you in touch with the right folks.

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Exceptionalism

Tuesday, 26 May 2009 23:46
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Cell phone tower cleverly disguised to look li...
Image via Wikipedia

There are a lot of real estate agents.  The NAR reports over 1.2 million members, and the Atlanta area alone has more than 40,000.  It is hard to NOT know a real estate agent.  Regardless of where I go and who I talk with, they know an agent.  Today at the cell phone store, the clerk helping me has an agent for a Mother-in-Law.  There are three in my small neighborhood.  There are at least two at my son’s pre-school.

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SRBC Car Show, May 16th…

Monday, 18 May 2009 21:48
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Best in Show

Best in Show

Showers flirted with the event, with a few passing through, but there were some pretty cool rides that dodged the drops to make the event.

Smoke Rise Baptist Church holds this event on the first Saturday in May each year.  Here is the event website.

Below is a slide show with all of the cars that showed up for the event.  The Pastor’s Choice went to the ’65 Mustang Convertible, while the Best In Show went to the Red Alfa Romeo Convertible.

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