Category Archives: suwanee

Suwanee, GA, Market Report, May, 2013

Monday, 17 June 2013 08:53

Written by Lane Bailey

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Market stats for Suwanee, GA, May, 2013 indicate that there were 350 properties on the market (down from 353 last month). Overall, there was about a 3.8 month supply of properties (down from 4.8 last month). May had 118 sales. Compared to May, 2012 (99), this year was WAY up, but inventory was down compared to 2012 (439). There were 92 sales last month, so this month rocked last. The machine has really cranked up over the last couple of months.

In the Under $200k arena, there were 47 listings in Suwanee, GA, with about a 2.3 month supply (compared to 2.6 months supply last year). This May’s sales were 21 (42 last year, 24 last month). It used to be a county leader, though, for now it is moving back to one of the best price/locale segments again. The next level up is coming up fast, though. Last year at this time, there were 118 listings. Sales are being killed by last year’s, but the way the inventory has dropped, there is a pretty good chance that the low inventory is constricting sales.

Between $200k and $400k, there were 194 listings for sale (220 last year, 184 last month), and 3.6 months of supply. Sales in May, 2013 were 71 (54 in April), compared with 43 for the same period in 2012. Sales have rocked for the last few months. I’d like to see it stay up past 50 sales or so for the next couple of months. This shouldn’t be a “peaky” market/price segment. Unlike most of the county, this is the largest price segment in the area, and its direction plays a major part in how the area looks. Make no mistake, this is still basically in Seller’s Market territory.

From $400k to $600k, there were 56 homes on the market. The absorption rate was at 4.9 months (8.5 in April). There were 17 sales in May (11 last month)… up from 11 last year at this time. Looking at the three month average, there were 34 sales this year and 31 for the same period last year. This segment had become dramatically stronger in the last couple of months.

In the $600k to $800k arena, there are 26 listings, with about a 6.0 month supply. Sales at this level are not consistent, but there were 8 sales this month (2 last month). Looking at one month makes the numbers jump around. For the last three months, sales were 13… For the same time last year, the sales were 6. With the huge decrease in listings over the last couple of months, I was looking for this to become one of the strongest $600k-$800k area in the county. It is fairly strong right now… we’ll have to see if it holds.

The range from $800k to $1m, there are 10 homes listed and 30 months of inventory on the market. There were only 4 sales at this price level in 2011. There were 7 in 2012. This is a tough segment to try to sell in right now, but if inventory stays low, it won’t be quite as rough. But there still needs to be some more sales activity. There was 1 sale in March.

In Suwanee, GA, Above $1m, there are 17 properties listed. The current absorption rate indicated about 17 months of inventory, but because of the smaller numbers of sales, this could be significantly impacted by just a couple of sales. In this segment, we should be seeing reduced inventories… There were 25 homes listed in this segment at this time last year. There was 1 sale in May, but 3 in the Mar-May time frame, 4 the year before.

Suwanee, GA is a suburb of Atlanta in Gwinnett, Forsyth and (just a little bit) in Fulton Counties. The population is 2000 was 8,725, but that only included the area inside the city limits, and it had seen tremendous growth since that census. Money Magazine rated Suwanee in the “Top 10 Best Places to Live” in 2007, and it is one of the wealthiest parts of Georgia. Recently, the City of Suwanee has revamped their old town, adding a large park with a bandshell, condos, town homes and small businesses. It is also home to North Gwinnett High School, Peachtree Ridge and Collins Hill. I have a page dedicated to Suwanee Market Data.

Atlanta Metro Zillow Home Value Index

Atlanta Metro Home Values – Interactive chart

What’s Going on in Ruby Forest

Monday, 10 June 2013 09:22

Written by Lane Bailey

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Ruby Forest is a medium-sized subdivision on the northern edge of Suwanee, GA. There are around 400 homes in the development, built primarily between 1993 and 1998… although there were some homes built into the early 2000s. Most of the homes are 4-5 bedrooms, but there are some 3 bedroom homes and some with 6 bedrooms (generally including bedrooms in finished basements).

It is close to George Pierce Park, with access from parts of the subdivision to the walking/biking trails at the back of the park. There are numerous sports fields, in addition to the trail system which connects to the Suwanee Creek Greenway Trail System. It is also only a few minutes from Suwanee Town Center, which hosts all sorts of events, year round.

For sellers in Ruby Forest, things are looking better. Inventory is down. Prices have stabilized. Ruby Forest was hit pretty hard with foreclosures a few years ago. Prices crashed, with homes selling down into the low-mid $100k range. Now they are back into the low-mid $200k range.

As I write this, there is one listing that is pending lender approval (a short sale), that listed at $140k. There is one that is pending sale with a contingent contract (likely the buyers need to sell a home) that was listed at $250k. Finally, there is one listing that is active at $300k.

If you are interested in finding out more, give Lane a call.

Suwanee, GA, Market Report, April, 2013

Friday, 17 May 2013 11:33

Written by Lane Bailey

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Market stats for Suwanee, GA, April, 2013 indicate that there were 353 properties on the market (up from 337 last month). Overall, there was about a 4.8 month supply of properties (up from 4.8 last month). April had 92 sales. Compared to April, 2012 (75), this year was WAY up, but inventory was down compared to 2012 (426). There were 65 sales last month, so this month rocked last. I think that part of the sales for this month were delayed from last month.

In the Under $200k arena, there were 56 listings in Suwanee, GA, with about a 2.6 month supply (compared to 3.5 months supply last year). This April’s sales were 24 (28 last year, 16 last month). It used to be a county leader, though, for now it is moving back to one of the best price/locale segments again. The next level up is coming up fast, though. Sales were likely limited by constricted inventory. Last year at this time, there were 117 listings.

Between $200k and $400k, there were 184 listings for sale (200 last year, 177 last month), and 4.5 months of supply. Sales in April, 2013 were 54 (38 in March), compared with 35 for the same period in 2012. Sales have been consistent for the last few months, but had fallen off somewhat, but may have started a recovery. I’d like to see it stay up past 50 sales or so for the next couple of months. This shouldn’t be a “peaky” market/price segment. Unlike most of the county, this is the largest price segment in the area, and its direction plays a major part in how the area looks. Make no mistake, this is still basically in Seller’s Market territory.

From $400k to $600k, there were 65 homes on the market. The absorption rate was at 8.5 months (8.7 in March). There were 11 sales in April (6 last month)… up from 10 last year at this time. Looking at the three month average, there were 23 sales this year and 24 for the same period last year. This segment had become dramatically stronger in the last couple of months.

In the $600k to $800k arena, there are 20 listings, with about a 6.7 month supply. Sales at this level are not consistent, but there were 2 sales this month (3 last month). Looking at one month makes the numbers jump around. For the last three months, sales were 9… For the same time last year, the sales were 6. With the huge decrease in listings over the last couple of months, I was looking for this to become one of the strongest $600k-$800k area in the county. It is fairly strong right now… we’ll have to see if it holds.

The range from $800k to $1m, there are 11 homes listed and 33 months of inventory on the market. There were only 4 sales at this price level in 2011. There were 7 in 2012. This is a tough segment to try to sell in right now, but if inventory stays low, it won’t be quite as rough. But there still needs to be some more sales activity. There was 1 sale in March.

In Suwanee, GA, Above $1m, there are 17 properties listed. The current absorption rate indicated about 25.5 months of inventory, but because of the smaller numbers of sales, this could be significantly impacted by just a couple of sales. In this segment, we should be seeing reduced inventories… There were 25 homes listed in this segment at this time last year. There was 1 sale in April, but 2 in the Feb-Apr time frame, 4 the year before.

Atlanta Metro Zillow Home Value Index

Atlanta Metro Home Values – Interactive chart

Garbage In… Garbage Out…

Wednesday, 01 May 2013 09:05

Written by Lane Bailey

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Garbage Only (Photo credit: Peter Kaminski)

It is an axiom among data types… Garbage in = garbage out. you can’t derive good data from bad. If you put garbage into the system, you are destined to get garbage back out.

MLS (Multiple Listing Service) data is the same way. Real Estate Agents have to use strange and unique search patterns to overcome the bad data put in by other real estate agents… in some cases because the inputting agents are lazy, in others because they are incompetent… or a combination. Mix in some “over-confidence” because they “have been doing this forever and don’t you dare think you can tell them what’s what” for good measure.

In this case, I’m talking about school district data.

Some of Butte’s School Buildings (1915) (Photo credit: Butte-Silver Bow Public Library)

One of the main motivators people have in looking at a certain area will revolve around picking the best schools they can find. In fact, the last areas to go down in value and the first to begin to rise are those with solid schools. And the areas with solid schools had less of a slide to begin with.

Getting the schools right is a BASIC part of our jobs.

Unfortunately, we can’t rely on the seller (home owner) to know which schools serve their area. Unless they currently have children in all of the schools, their data may be out of date. Sometimes, even when they DO have kids in school.

In the case of one local area, there was a re-districting that went into effect in June, 2010. A new High School, Middle School and Elementary School were added in the area. But, we are almost 3 years into this change.

You’d think that agents would have a handle on it…

Wheelwright’s tools (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, you’d be wrong. In fact, you’d be wrong 30% of the time. Yep, out of 210 listings in this High School cluster, 64 of them had bad school data. Usually one wrong school out of three… sometimes two. I didn’t look to see if they were in the wrong cluster totally… The one area that really surprised me was that 2 of them were new construction.

One of the tools that EVERY agent needs to use is the online data from school systems. Granted, some school systems are a decade behind the times on getting districting maps online, but that is NOT the case here in Gwinnett.

But often, agent think they know the schools (since they have been an agent in this area since it was farmland) or the look to see what other agents have put in for the neighborhood… or worse yet, they look at the schools listed by Trulia (which can even be in the wrong county). So, they don’t spend 10 minutes checking online.

I expected that with the agents listing bank-owned properties over the last few years. They were churning their listings, not caring about serving the needs of buyers. But as we have moved back into an era of private sellers again, I’m a little surprised at how few agents have the right info…

And Where Does This Go?

WRONG WAY (Photo credit: CarbonNYC)

First… as a seller, how many buyer searches are you missing out on because your agent doesn’t have basic information like schools entered properly? Buyer search by school… And they BUY based on schools they search.

Second… if they aren’t paying attention to things like schools, what other details are they not noticing? I run across poor descriptions, bad pictures and other faulty data all of the time.

Third… how much actual money or time are YOU wasting, as a seller, while buyers skip past your home because the data isn’t correct? The average days on market for homes listed in this cluster over the last year with the RIGHT info is 86. The average for homes listed with the WRONG data is 108. Do YOU want to spend an extra 22 days on the market… almost an extra full house payment?

Fourth… and this is the one I don’t have the ability to find data for… how many times were homes put under contract, only to fall out of contract when the buyers discovered that they weren’t in the school system they thought? How much missed market time was there?

Want to know more? Give Lane a call…

Suwanee, GA, Market Report, March, 2013

Friday, 19 April 2013 11:59

Written by Lane Bailey

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Market stats for Suwanee, GA, March, 2013 indicate that there were 337 properties on the market (up from 315 last month). Overall, there was about a 5.6 month supply of properties (up from 4.8 last month). March had 65 sales. Compared to March, 2012 (100), this year was WAY down, but inventory was down compared to 2012 (420). There were 66 sales last month, so this month was ever so slightly. I’m a little surprised that sales were this low. Inventory HAS to be responsible for part of that.

In the Under $200k arena, there were 70 listings in Suwanee, GA, with about a 3.8 month supply (compared to 2.7 months supply last year). This March’s sales were 16 (42 last year, 24 last month). It used to be a county leader, though, for now it is moving back to one of the best price/locale segments again. The next level up is coming up fast, though. Sales were likely limited by constricted inventory. Last year at this time, there were 115 listings.

Between $200k and $400k, there were 177 listings for sale (195 last year, 167 last month), and 5.5 months of supply. Sales in March, 2013 were 38 (32 in February), compared with 42 for the same period in 2012. Sales have been consistent for the last few months, but have fallen off somewhat for the last five months. I’d like to see it get up to around 50 sales or so for the next couple of months. This shouldn’t be a “peaky” market/price segment. Unlike most of the county, this is the largest price segment in the area, and its direction plays a major part in how the area looks. Make no mistake, this is still pretty much in Seller’s Market territory.

From $400k to $600k, there were 49 homes on the market. The absorption rate was at 8.7 months (6.0 in February). There were 6 sales in March (6 last month)… down from 10 last year at this time. Looking at the three month average, there were 17 sales this year and 19 for the same period last year. This segment had become dramatically stronger in the last couple of months.

In the $600k to $800k arena, there are 20 listings, with about a 6.0 month supply. Sales at this level are not consistent, but there was 3 sales this month (4 last month). Looking at one month makes the numbers jump around. For the last three months, sales were 10… For the same time last year, the sales were 6. With the huge decrease in listings over the last couple of months, I was looking for this to become one of the strongest $600k-$800k area in the county. It is fairly strong right now… we’ll have to see if it holds.

The range from $800k to $1m, there are 6 homes listed and 18 months of inventory on the market. There were only 4 sales at this price level in 2011. There were 7 in 2012. This is a tough segment to try to sell in right now, but if inventory stays low, it won’t be quite as rough. But there still needs to be some more sales activity. There was 1 sale in March.

In Suwanee, GA, Above $1m, there are 15 properties listed. The current absorption rate indicated about 45 months of inventory, but because of the smaller numbers of sales, this could be significantly impacted by just a couple of sales. In this segment, we should be seeing reduced inventories… There were 24 homes listed in this segment at this time last year. There was 1 sale in March, but 1 in the Jan-Mar time frame, 4 the year before.