Do Garage Door Maintenance

Some words of wisdom from my Dad: Be a good husband and father Be kind to other people Tighten down the nuts and bolts on your garage door????? I happened to look at my own garage doors today and noticed how many nuts were loose. Matter of fact a couple of the nuts were missing. Lack of maintenance could cause problems with the door and potential damage to the door opener. So this weekend change your clocks, change the batteries in your smoke detector, and tighten the hardware on your garage door. Thanks Dad! If you are in the north Atlanta, Lake Lanier area, come see us.... www.randywellsteam.com

Fall Festivals in North Georgia

It is that time of year in North Georgia! See the attached for some, of many, fall festivals in North Georgia! If you are looking for property on Lake Lanier, Dawson, Lumpkin, Hall, White, or Forsyth County, let us know. Nobody knows North Georgia like a neighbor. The Wells Team: Your North Georgia Neighbors

Granite and its Nautical Influence

I just got back from vacation in SW Utah. We rented a houseboat on Lake Powell. If you have not been there you are missing one of the most beautiful spots in the country. After 8 years in the real estate industry, houses are always on my mind. Trying to shut it off during on vacation was my goal but housing came up in a strange way. We rented a houseboat with two other families. One of the couples had the chance to go on a private houseboat. A boat that made ours look like a rowboat. What was the number one thing that my friends remembered from the boat tour? The size of the engines? The advanced navigation system? The stability of the ride? NO! The granite countertops in the Kitchen and the Bathrooms! So granite continues to have a profound influence with my home buyers and the my fellow boat lovers!

MORE HOME WARRANTY INFORMATION!

If you read my previous blog you learned of an issue I had with a buyer using a home warranty. Since I wrote that blog I have learned some more things that might be of interest to you and your clients. The biggest suggestion I have for you is to educate your client on the use of home warrantys. After 8 years in the industry, I have taken it for granted that my clients fully understand their use. The biggest point to emphasize is that a home warranty is not purchased to fix items that are already broken. The warranty is a form of "insurance" in case a system, in good working order, breaks in the future. Yes you would be surprised how many folks do not grasp this concept. The next point is to encourage your client not to immediately start making claims once they move into a home. Filing claims within 24 hours of moving into a property does not go over well with a warranty company. Before you file a claim make sure you have used the system numerous times without an issue. Again filing a claim within 24 hours on a system will raise some doubt from the warranty company. When you call the warranty company make sure you can explain the situation clearly. They are going to ask you if the system worked properly, how long had the system worked properly before you had a problem, and what the specific issue is concerning the system. Don't file multiple claims at one time. Know your warranty before you call. Do you have optional AC coverage, refrigerator coverage, roof leak coverage, etc.... I firmly believe that the warranty gives both buyer and seller a good piece of mind in the home sale/buying process. As agents we need to take the time to help our clients understand how to use them properly. If you are in the north Atlanta area come check us out: www.randywellsteam.com

LOCAL,LOCAL, ALL MARKETS ARE LOCAL

The real estate euphoria continues. Here is an excerpt from the National Association of Realtors: "February pending home sales flattened with limited buyer choices, but remained at the second highest level in nearly three years, according to the National Association of Realtors®." No doubt we are busy in the Atlanta area but you need to break down "Atlanta" into smaller segments to get the truest sense of the local market. Th60 e Atlanta area alone comprises between 8 and 14 counties depending on who runs the statistics. Here is my example: February home sales for 8 counties in the North Atlanta Metro Area: Average list price $432,000 Average sale price $247,000 Average days on the market 71 February home sales for Forsyth County. This county is 30-45 minutes north of downtown Atlanta: Average list price $383,000 Average price sale price $280,000 Average day on the market 85 February home sales for Dawson County. This county is 45-60 minutes north of downtown Atlanta: Average list price $413,000 Average sale price $220,000 Average days on the market 112 My neighbohrood Chestatee It is a Lake Lanier community with a golf course one hour north of Atlanta in Dawson County. Average list price $504,192 Average sale price $309,250 Average days o the market 174 Where am I going with this? There is a home listed in the Chestatee neighborhood or $699,000. The home has been on the market, up and down, for three years. The home has been lowered to the current price. We put an offer on the home last month. An offer that dictated a counteroffer. The listing agent is located about 35 minutes south of the neighborhood in area with a buiser market. He told his buyers to counter by lowering the price by $4000. He said the market is great for sellers, and houses are selling very quickly. Do you know that the listing agent had never been to the neighborhood? (his partner had). Moral of the story: When the media says Atlanta is booming and is a sellers market, the buyers need to know more. They need us to break down the market into very specific areas in order to educate them to the fullest. Markets are truly local!

I Want it All Including the Cat!

Real estate transactions are becoming increasingly complex. Put together a contract, add financing contracts, inspection reports, appraisals, and the paperwork adds up. This was a first for The Wells Team: We received an offer on a home in North Georgia. Under Special Stipulations they added the following sentence: Home sold completely furnished! The alarm bells went off! Our seller did not know how to react. All of the furniture? Including the dishes? The silverware? The garden gnomes? The cat? Needless to say that makes it a very complicated transaction. First let me clarify this point. This was the primary home for my sellers. Not a vacation home. Selling a vacation home turnkey is pretty common. This was not. My sellers were trying to place a quantitative amount to all of the furnishings. It is hard to figure out how much a used leather couch is worth on the open market! There were also items that they wanted to take to their next home. To sell some of these items at "used furniture" prices and buy the same item new continues to complicate the decision. Here is my advice very simply: When your buyer wants furniture in a home have them buy the home first then negotiate the furniture separately with the seller. And if you want the cat please negotiate that after we close on the home!

The Pricer per Square Foot Argument

As I go another listing appointment I know the first question that will be asked: HOW MUCH IS MY HOME WORTH? Of course that is the most important factor our sellers look at when deciding to sell their home and of course which realtor to choose. I lost a listing last month because the seller held me to a price that was said as part of a lengthy discussion on marketing the property. Side-note: This home in question is in my neighborhood where my real estate partner and I have lived for over 12 years. We have had the most resale transactions in the neighborhood for the last 4 years! Back to the story: I gave him a quick number with the comment "If you want to sell it quickly". To this day he took that number, held me to it, and hired another agent two weeks later. However the seller does not seem to remember that our discussion continued. The seller had taken price per square foot of recent sales and arrived at a much higher price. We discussed this and I said he had a very valid argument. At the end of the discussion the seller said he wanted to list it for his amount and I said we could do that and see how the market reacts. Quick history of the home: •Built in 2005 •Approximately 3675 square feet plus unfinished basement •Went into foreclosure in the summer of 2013 •Overall good shape for a foreclosure •Listed, in foreclosure, for $327K, lowered to an auction price of $289K after 6 months of being on the market! •Present seller buys home in foreclosure auction for $284K •Present seller puts approximately $10K to 20K in work on home. •Present seller wants to list it at $399K! •I bring him an offer, before it is listed, at $389K, with $11K in closing cost. Seller turns offer down. Says he wants $10K more Here is my point: We cannot base the price of a home exclusively using a price per square foot model. In this particular case the home did not sell in foreclosure at a much lower price. It had to be sold at auction. Why is it going to miraculously sell now, over $100K higher than auction price, because the seller has cleaned it up? The home is located in a part of the neighborhood that is in lower demand than in other parts. It does not have a golf course or lake view that most buyers want in our neighborhood. When pricing a home you need to know the history of the home, its location in a neighborhood, and other subjective criteria, before pricing it. The price per square foot is a great start but it is not the ultimate determining factor!

Build or Buy in North Georgia

According to everything you read in the media the housing market is booming. Prices are up and inventory is down. New home sales are also starting to see an increasing demand. So this must be a good time to build!!!! In North Georgia the jury is still out. Here are some considerations: •Price pre square foot will be higher on a custom built home over a resale •Lenders, for new construction, are available but not easy to find •Lenders have tough terms when building a new home •Lenders have a fear that a new home will not appraise in a neighborhood of resales •Price overruns are possible I have seen great deals on new home construction. This is in new neighborhoods built by large builders who can keep their cost competitive. For now I advise my clients to take a good hard look at the pros and cons of each situation.

A Line Drawn in the Sand

The media is full of great stories about our national housing market. Atlanta is also included as one of the latest success stories. If you read between the lines in these articles you will see that the surging house market is also causing other issues for homeowners. For the homeowner who is "underwater" in their home, moving forces them into a financial dilemna: lose money on their existing home to pay more for another home or stay where they are? What I am seeing an hour north of Atlanta is a direct result of the perceived surge in home sales: My neighbors are holding out for 2007 prices. I live in the only golf/boating community on Lake Lanier. At one time I saw homes selling for $1 million dollars! Last year the highest priced sale was $430,000! Many of my neighbors bought lake homes at the top of the market. In addition they spent more money on upgrades. As the foreclosures and short sales appeared in the neighborhood, prices declined. Finally we have reached the bottom. In the case of our area it was a 30% decline to the bottom. So now my potential sellers are in a quandry: •I want to sell my home but I dont want to lose money •Everything I read says the housing market is on its way up. Where is my price increase? •I dont understand why buyers will not pay what I have in my home. As a result they have "drawn a line in the sand". They are going to hold out until they can get their "fair" price for their home. The line has been drawn.

It's Ground Hog Day

I was watching Ground Hog Day over the weekend with my son. This was the movie with Bill Murray where he went to Punxsutawney PA, as a newscaster, to report on Ground Hog Day. He ends up repeating the same day over and over in the town until eventually the cycle is broken. (I do not explain movies very well!) Ground Hog Day would be the perfect theme for a lot of clients I am dealing with in North Georgia. The Atlanta area had a good year last year. Reports of a 1 to 2% price increase, lower inventory, and new construction. That is great news for an area that went down approximately 30% after the market peaked in 2005! Unfortunately we have sellers who had bought their home at the peak of the market. They also put additional money into their home as upgrades. Our sellers are under the impression that the market has turned around to the point that they can receive a higher amount for their home. The reality is that when a market goes down 30% and has since gone up 2%, we have a long way to go. In other words it is Ground Hog Day: Bill Murray has woken up in bed to the same Atlanta housing market he saw last year. Bottom line: Yes our market is doing better but it is not back to the 2005 levels. Our sellers need to take this into account when they decide to sell their home.

MY POCKETS ARE FULL...OF "POCKET LISTINGS"

I know that most of you have never heard this phrase from your friend or neighbor (sarcasm): "If you know somebody who is looking for a home in our neighborhood bring them to my home, I am willing to sell". Yes they are willing to sell: •If the buyer is an all cash buyer so we do not have to have an appraisal •The buyer will pay top dollar for my home including everything I have done to the home •The buyer will close when it is convenient for me •I do want to sell but under my terms My partner and I have pockets full of our neighbor's "pocket listings". We appreciate them giving us the opportunity to sell their home but we are scratching our head on why they will not list with us. Why won't they list their home? •They do not want to pay commission? •They do not want people seeing their home on the internet? •They do not want the neighbors to know they are trying to move? •They do not want to show their home too much? We are trying to wrap our hands around this to give these potential sellers the reasons why they need to list their homes with an agent. •Our neighborhood has no new construction. Buyers have seen the existing inventory and have decided not to come into our neighborhood to look further. They have no idea about these "pocket listings". •We get clients when they find our listings on the internet, or drive into our neighborhood and see our signs. If they do not see a home they like they will not contact us. Therefore we do not get the chance to meet with them and show them our additional "pocket listings". If over 90% of potential buyers start their search on the internet then there is a good chance the "pocket listing" will never be seen. To my fellow real estate agents? What do you think? Meanwhile I remember as a kid when I had army men, bubble gum, pennies, rocks, marbles, and baseball cards shoved in my pants pockets. Ultimately my mom would end washing my pants along with their contents. Unfortunately we do not have a washer big enough to wash my pants with all of these pocket listings. Have a great holiday!

BUT ITS A USED HOUSE!

Here is a trend we are seeing in the North Georgia real estate market: BUT THE HOME IS OVER 10 YEARS OLD! WHY WOULD I BUY THIS HOME WHEN THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO! I live in the only golf course/boat community on Lake Lanier. One hour north of Atlanta it is truly a resort lifestyle experience. Unfortunately there is no new construction going on in the neighborhood! Why? Because the North Georgia area is slower than closer into the city. Because the North Georgia area does not have the jobs and we are too far to commute everyday into Atlanta. We are becoming a quasi retirement area where the empty nesters move to get away from the suburbs! This means that there is not enough demand to bring builders into our neighborhood to build specs. So here comes our clients who have waited for the opportunity to move into this neighborhood. Kids gone, golf clubs in the car, they are finally ready to buy after many years of driving the neighborhood looking for their future dream home. Those houses they have seen for years have grown older. Their dreams have been wiped out because they wanted a brand new, fully updated home, at a foreclosure price! Where is this home? The home has aged. If you want the newest and greatest build a new home. They do not want to because that would cost too much! I want a new home but at a deeply discounted resale price! They drive home dejected and confused. This is not fair. I should be able to have it all at a low price. Just not fair. So they go back to their existing home, read some real estate articles, watch HGTV, decide if they want to move or upgrade their current "older" home, and wait for the next "new older home" to appear in our neighborhood for sale. The cycle then continues.

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

How much is too much? As agents we always go above and beyond. My partner and I live in a neighborhood one hour north of Atlanta. We have each lived there for 12 years and have been #1 for resales the past four years. Here is our scenario: We have a listing in our neighborhood. Our sellers had lost one contract and were anxious to sell. Homes sell here but at a slower pace. My partner receives a call from an individual who lives in Atlanta. She has one family member who lives in our neighborhood and has another family member who is moving to Atlanta from out of state. She saw our listing on the internet and thought it would be a good fit. My partner showed this individual the home a few times. Eventually the prospective buyer came in to see the home. Overall my partner was the only one who ever showed any of the family members the home. Enter the buyer’s agent. During the looking phase the individual Atlanta said that she had an agent who was going to assist her family member who was going to buy the home. Here is where it got interesting. This agent never showed his client the home. When we eventually asked him to show the home he said he did not have a lock box key, does commercial real estate, and had a bad back. Not only did he not show the home, he was not present for the inspection, appraiser, and the final walk through. He asked my partner to meet the above individuals. When it came to contracts, the buyer’s agent did not have access to residential contracts. Matter of fact my partner had to fill out parts of the purchase and sale agreemet, disclosures, amendments, and counteroffers. My partner did everything. Then there was the commission. Throughout the process the buyer’s agent claimed he was entitled to his commission. At the same time we had the following information for this listing: “If we show your buyer our listing, you receive 1%”. He did not see this because he did not access to our listing services FMLS and GAMLS. After conferring with our broker we put together a smaller commission for the buyer’s agent. Needless to say that did not go over well. At the closing the buyer’s agent used some new adjectives to describe my partner, broker, and myself. Eventually we settled the commission. So how do you handle this? We had a seller who needed to sell and we had made commitment to do this. We had a buyer, first time homebuyer, who did not know the proper protocol when it comes to working with an agent. How much is too much?

Atlanta Area Real Estate Summary

I was recently able to attend a real estate class highlighting national and local real estate trends. This is our commitment to stay as informed as possible about our industry and how it affects our clients. Our Atlanta area buyers and sellers • Have been on the sidelines • Have been shifting from higher end consumer stores to outlets • Have a consumer confidence, according to surveys, double of 2009 levels but approximately 60% of 2007 levels (national level) • Have seen an increase of 68,400 jobs in Georgia January 2012 vs. January 2011 • Are part of one of the top 25 US job growth markets in the country • Unemployment in the Georgia Mountain Region is 8.3%. Specifically 10.1% in Dawson, 8.2% in Forsyth, 10.1% in White, 9.25% in Hall, 9.2% in Gwinnett, and 10.8% in Lumpkin • Unemployment in the Atlanta Region is 9.3%. This includes Cobb, Fayette, and Rockdale Counties • Median income (2010) in Forsyth County is $95,906, Dawson $58,766, Lumpkin $46,360, White County $42,487, Hall County $56,240 and $81,904 in Gwinnett National Home Sales • 11973 homes sell every day. Of those, 8501 receive a mortgage • 25% of home sales are distressed property sales. This compares with 35% in January 2012 • Months inventory of homes for sale have gone from approximately 9 months to approximately 6.5 months, June 2012 vs. June 2011 • 30 year fixed mortgage rates started at 4.75% in January 2011. Today they are averaging between 3.75% and 4% • California is #1 for amount of homeowners who have negative equity in their homes • Total homes sales 4Q 2011 were approximately 4,300,000 units vs. 4,600,000 units in 4Q 2012 • The highest foreclosure inventory are in Nevada, Hawaii, Florida, Illinois,NY,NJ,and Maine • Florida, 11.9%, has the most foreclosures in process • NY and NJ have the most months of shadow inventory. (shadow inventory are houses owned by HUD, banks and other organizations) Atlanta area home market • Atlanta metro area is comprised of 28 counties including Dawson, Hall, and Forsyth • 65% of the growth in the last 20 years has been north of the Atlanta airport, 35% to the south • Home inventory is shrinking. In the Atlanta metro area there were approximately 42,000 homes for sale in 2010, 25,000 homes in 2011, and 22,000 homes available in 2012! • Median home price (2010) was $230,598 for Forsyth, $134,000 for Gwinnett, $124,500 for Lumpkin, $119,500 for White, $125,000 for Hall, and $156,775 for Cherokee • There are 795 new home subdivisions in the 22 county area • 48% of the building permits in the 22 county areas were for Gwinnett and Forsyth County. In the last 12 months Forsyth has had more building permits than Gwinnett. • There are 285,000 developed lots in the Atlanta area waiting for a house! • 45% of the builders in the Atlanta area are national builders a very large increase • In 2000-2007 land represented 25-43% of the total cost of a new home. That percentage will drop to 18-22% • 70% of all 2011 sales were homes priced under $149K • In the 2011 the lowest number of sales were in the $250K to $750K range! Summary The home sales in our area are a direct reflection of the above statistics. The majority of our transactions for 2012 took place in Forsyth, Gwinnett, and Fulton Counties. One home was under contract in 2 days, one in 6 days, and one in under 30 days! Pockets of Dawson County, especially the Chestatee golf/Lake Lanier community, continue to sell but at lower prices. Counties to the north of Dawson are receiving lower amounts of traffic and are under pricing pressure. This pricing pressure is a result of their median income, unemployment rate, and the high amount of second home properties available for sale. We have not seen pricing go any lower for homes. However they continue to “bump” along with no large price appreciation. Resale homes in Forsyth and North Fulton, priced well, are selling quickly near full asking price. Multiple full price offers have also happened in these areas in resale and foreclosure properties. We are telling our buyers that the conditions are not going to get any better. Interest rates are ridiculously low but cannot stay this way forever. Property prices are not going any lower and the inventory is shrinking. This is the time to buy!

The Proper Use of a Home Inspection

Last week I attended a CE course given by a local home inspection company. The teacher, a home inspector, is a mechanical engineer. He has had extensive experience with large engineering firms that inspect large structures. Yes very qualified! We spent a full three hours looking at pictures of homes that were “repaired” by their owners. This included garden hose used as a gas line, welcome mats used on a home for shingles, light switches in a shower, and mdf boards used to hold up a floor joist. Very creative! I have not personally had the pleasure of seeing these type of “repairs” on homes that I have listed or sold. I hope that my streak stays alive! The main part of our class was a discussion about home inspectors and their relationship with the home buyer and the real estate agent. This relationship has become strained with the home inspection becoming a source of conflict between the seller and buyer. Specifically most home inspectors are missing “the forest through the trees”. Is a squeaky gate an item that must be put on a home inspection report? Is a reminder to change out the air condition filters an item to include on the report? Is it imperative to highlight deck rails on a 1987 home that are 3 inches too short if they are compared to a 2013 building code? Heaven forbid we do not have mention of the “lack of GFCI breaker in the Kitchen” on a home built 25 years ago. (We have a standing bet on how many times the GFCI breaker would be mentioned in an inspection report. After 7 years 100%) The problem is that our home sellers (still a buyer’s market) have dropped price to rock bottom only to be confronted with a list of items that the buyer wants repaired prior to moving into the home. The issue is that this list of items that the buyer wants repaired are not items that “have” to be repaired or cause a “major structural defect” to the home. I pushed our teacher hard to ask his inspectors to be more big picture when it comes to inspections. I ask that their inspectors take the time to give an overall assessment, from a structural point of view, of the home. The inspector needs to clarify what he or she feels has to be done vs what needs to be done. The buyer needs to keep the whole deal in perspective when putting together a “laundry list” of must need items that are really more of a like to have items. The buyer needs to look at the age of the home and the present condition of the home. Homes have a lot of moving parts, are exposed to the elements, and do age over time. Any home has maintenance that must be done on a continual basis. The perfect home does not exist.

This is not your mother's negotiations!

Everything is negotiable? The traditional way to negotiate involved going back and forth until both sides agreed on the terms. It was done void of emotion with both sides trying to feel like they have won. Real estate is supposed to be no different. Or is it? For the month past few months The Wells Team has been involved in numerous negotiations. Some turned out successful and others no so successful. Here is what all of them had in common: •Emotion came into play from both buyers and sellers •Buyers would not move off of their initial offer even after receiving a solid counteroffer. •Buyers did not tell us that this was their final offer. •Small items in the home (appliance, pool table,) became the focal point of the negotiation. •Buyers and sellers were basing their price on "what they FELT the home should sell for" and not the statistics that we provide. •Both buyers and sellers were holding their grounds based on "principle" •Both buyers and sellers were determined to be the winner. There was no concept of win-win. What are we telling our sellers? Before we receive an offer on your home ask yourself the following questions: •What is my time frame for moving? •Do I need to sell now or do I want to wait for the "perfect" offer? •What is the power of money? In other words if I sell now for a little less am I better off than continuing to pay taxes, utilities, and maintenance while waiting for the bigger offer? •What items in the home am I absolutely, at any price, unwilling to leave in the home? •Do I want to negotiate in small increments or do I want to be aggressive with any counteroffer? •Am I mentally prepared a "low ball" offer? •Has my agent provided me with enough data to give me a fair assessment of my market? It is not getting any easier. Take the time to prepare your sellers and your buyers for negotiations!

We Would Like Some Respect

A couple of years ago I did a blog about the lack of respect we receive as agents. After 7 years in the business, numerous awards, and high rankings as a top producer, our team receives absolutely no respect from the majority of our clients. I say this as a point of ever deepening frustration for The Wells Team. Three weekends we received 5 offers on 5 different properties. As of today three of those offers fell through. As we presented these offers to our clients we were met with very negative, and frustrating, comments and feedback. In every case we presented our sellers a thorough analysis of the offer, the market, neighborhood statistics, and other supporting information. The results were mixed at best. One seller got very rude with us over the “horrible” offer. He was not going to closing with money. (That was not correct) We were told our negotiating skills were terrible. “Why am I paying you? All you do is write amendments and pass them back and forth.” I don’t want to look at any of your statistics. They do not apply to my home. I don’t care what has sold around me my home is different. You showed me you could get a higher percentage for my home. (If it was priced right from the start) I just had an appraisal. Why won’t they pay me what my appraisal says? And other comments that were insulting to us We deal with well educated professionals as our clients. We give them the respect that they are due. The Wells Team is made up of three professionals who are college educated, have had successful professional careers, attend classes, meetings, and seminars on a constant basis. As a result we are met with a serious lack of respect. The ironic part is that our clients who state they understand that this is a business end up becoming emotional when they receive an offer. My summary on this: I do not tell you how to do your job, I show you respect, and you hired me to market and sell your home. In return I ask for respect, I do not need to be told how to do my job, and The Wells Team will work their best to do the best that is possible for you our client.

BEFORE YOU SAY NO TO A DEAL READ THIS EMAIL!

This is an email that we sent to our 5 offers. These offers were received over the weekend. After some of the less than enthusiastic responses we received we wanted to give our clients more information on how to deal with offers. Here is our email below.





Barb and I have been busy. In the last five days we have presented 5 offers.



All of you who have received these offers have something in common: You have recently had some major changes in your life. This includes divorce, the death of a loved one, health issues, or other factors.



The offers we presented to all of you have been met with great senses of disappointment, frustration, and in some cases, anger. The first point from Barb and I is this: Don’t shoot the messenger! In our opinion every offer is a starting point.



Before you counter these offers I want to offer another way to look at them. This is as a result of my recent experience with the sale of a family condo in Florida.



• A condo was purchased in Florida in 2007 by my family and my parents

• The down payment was from the profit of our previously sold condo and some inheritance money

• We purchased the condo to enjoy not as an investment

• In 5 years the price declined 50% !!!!!

• We sold the condo at the end of 2011, and went to closing with a very large amount of cash!



How did we arrive at the conclusion that we had to sell at such a large loss!

• Family-My Dad had turned 80 and did not want to continue paying monthly payments!

• Recovery of funds! There was no possible way that the property would appreciate to the point where we would recover our investment

• Cost! There is always cost with operating the property that do not go away. This includes utilities, condo fees, repairs, and possible assessments!

• Better investment choices for the money! We could take the monthly payments, condo fees, and utility money and invest in areas where we would receive a higher return.

• We had to be honest about the situation and make a hard decision.



According to the National Association of Realtors, the average home price in the South went up 1.8% over the past year (median home price is $138,100).



Take the price of the offer that was presented on your home. Now increase the value of the offer 1.8% a year. Take that value, subtract HOA dues,taxes,maintenance,and utilities. Now look at how much more money you would gain by waiting another year to sell the home.



Example: Home offer of $350,000 in our neighborhood Chestatee



Year 2013 Home is worth $356,300 (1.8% price increase)



Cost of running the home for year 2013: $1000 HOA dues, $1200 in lawn maintenance, $1200 for utilities, $378 for higher real estate commission, and??? for repairs.



Your net increase is $2522 (assuming no repairs)



I ran the same numbers on our condo. I let it go up 2.5% a year, figured in the operating cost, and came to this conclusion. Not only did I not make any of our loss, in year 4, I started to lose even more money!



There are a few things Barb and I have learned in 7 year of real estate.

• We do not control the market

• Real estate is very emotional for both the buyer and seller

• Life changes (jobs, marriage ,kids, divorce, job change, retirement) despite the market

• There are times when you have to do a thorough analysis of your situation using numbers not emotion!

The 3.8% Tax

The National Association of Realtors has put together a publication entitled: "The 3.8% Tax Real Estate Scenarios and Examples".



Some of the highlights of the publication:
•This tax will go into effect on January 1, 2013
•The tax will not be imposed on all real estate transactions
•A 3.8% tax will be imposed on some, not all, income from interest dividents, rent (less capital loss) and capital gains (less capital losses)
•The tax will be on AGI over $200,000 for a single filer and $250,000 for a couple filing jointly.



The publication has various scenarios that show what the potential, if any, tax that might be paid on a real estate transaction.



There have been a lot of rumors on this new rule. The National Assocaition or Realtors publication does a great job of laying those rumors to rest.

GAR Contract Changes for 2012

We just completed our 2012 GAR (Georgia Association of Realtors) contract class.

Every year we go through this class as GAR continually refines our contracts. Every change helps our buyers and sellers and the amount of protection we offer them in their real estate transaction.

The biggest change to the GAR contracts is in reference to access to the actual contracts. Starting this month there some new procedures in place.

Real estate agents, who are members of the National association of Realtors and GAR, will continue to have full access to all GAR forms.

However if an agent is not a member of GAR, they will have to pay an annual subscription fee in order to access the GAR contracts.

The last option is that an agent can us non GAR contracts that will be available on both of the Atlanta area listing services FMLS and GAMLS. As this time those contracts will be available on a limited basis.

Bottom line: Real Estate agents in the state of Georgia are not required to be a member of the GAR or NAR. The Wells Team, of The Norton Agency, chooses to be members of these very important organizations. NAR provides us with a code of ethics, access to information, and training that allows us to provide the best service possible. Full access to the GAR contracts just solidifies our position a little more.