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Category Archives: real estate

Can a $29,000 Home be overpriced?

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…

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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Exceptionalism

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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Sign, sign, everywhere’s a sign…

Real estate listings need a sign.  They all have one, right… or at least most…  But there is one problem with the ubiquitous real estate sign… it is boring!

I don’t like “normal”

I like EXCEPTIONAL…

Real estate signs aren’t an exception.  I have long been tired of the same ol’ signs…  so I decided to do something about it.

I needed an EXCEPTIONAL sign.

So… I looked for a solution.  A sign that would stand out.  I wanted something that would give an interested buyer a reason to stop and actually take a look.

1033 Constitution Way Sign
1033 Constitution Way Sign
590 Baltimore Ave Sign
590 Baltimore Ave Sign

I think this is a pretty good solution.  The idea is to get a buyer out of the car… maybe even to take a picture of the sign. 

Of course, as with all marketing, it will be tweaked as time goes by to be even more effective. 

And as always, I’d love your feedback!

REbarCamp…

Charlotte Skyline
Image by James Willamor via Flickr

Ok, it really doesn’t have anything to do with concrete (rebar).  It actually doesn’t have anything to do with drinking, either (bar camp).  Instead, it is about peer-to-peer technology education.  Blogging, social networking, video, listing search technologies and better utilization of market data were some of the covered subjects.

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