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Category Archives: real estate

Lawrenceville, GA Market Report, January 2012

Friday, 24 February 2012 08:00
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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.

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I have a page dedicated to Lawrenceville Market Data.

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Wayback Wednesday… Great Schools = Great Tool

Wednesday, 22 February 2012 08:00
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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.

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Buford, GA, Market Report, January 2012

Monday, 20 February 2012 08:00
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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.

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Sugar Hill, GA, Market Report, January 2012

Friday, 17 February 2012 08:00
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Market stats for Sugar Hill, GA , January, 2012 indicates that there are 159 homes on the market.  Overall, there is about an 5.9 month supply.  There were 20 sales, compared to 31 last month and 15 last January.  The Absorption Rate (AR) increase, largely due to the decrease in sales.

For Sugar Hill homes priced under $200k, there are 120 listings, with about 5.1 months supply.  There were 18 sales this January, significantly than last year for the same time (12).  But, last month there were 24 sales.  Inventories have been fluid, rising and falling.  Normally, this time of year we see inventories leveling out, but this month there was a slight increase.

Sugar Hill Listings between $200k and $400k, there are 37 listings for sale, and about 10.1 months of supply.  Last January there was an 11.3 month supply.  Last January there were 3 sales, this year there were 2.  Last month had 7 sales.

For listings in the $400k to $600k range, there is 1 home on the market.  The absorption rate is around 1 months, but with 3 sales in November (and those being the only sales since July), it is tough to calculate accurately.  Obviously, a sale or two could make a BIG difference.  I still hope to see some consistent activity in this segment.

In the $600k to $800k, $800k to $1m and Above $1m (combined), the sales are too inconsistent to have a solid read on, but there is only 1 home listed for sale in that price range. No sales have been recorded in the last 2+ years.

Sugar Hill, GA is a suburb of Atlanta in Gwinnett County. The population is 2000 was 11,399, but that only included the area inside the city limits. The name comes from a bag of Sugar that spilled on a hill while in transit between Cumming and the railroad in Buford. And while it is actually a big market, it is in the shadows of Lawrenceville, Duluth and Suwanee… which all are nearby. That also makes it a great location, as it is close to everything that Gwinnett County, GA has to offer.

I have a page dedicated to Sugar Hill Market Data.

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Wayback Wednesday… Why Hyperlocal Matters in the Real Estate Market

Wednesday, 15 February 2012 08:00
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Downtown Lawrenceville (as of June 2006)

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Last year I was writing about why the only REAL important market report in real estate is a VERY local market report.  It’s all fine and dandy to hear the talking heads on (insert your favorite national news network), but national averages mean nothing on the state level.  Even state averages mean very little in specific counties.  In fact, looking at county level data might only be marginally relevant to a certain city in the county, and even then, there might be specific school districts or subdivisions that buck the trend… one way or another.

I run market reports for Suwanee, Lilburn, Sugar Hill, Buford, Lawrenceville, Norcross and Duluth, and it is surprising how often two cities that are right next to each other in the county will have wildly different market reports.

There is a lot more in the original post…  Hop on over and take a look.

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