As you start looking for a new home, you probably aren’t even considering your NEXT move . You probably just want to get this one taken care of! But it is always prudent to shop for a new home with an eye on potential resale value down the road. No one can predict what the future will bring , but here are some simple things you can look for:

• Lot Size and Shape: Larger Lots are beginning to add a premium to the price. This is especially true of new construction. And as a buyer, do not pay a premium for someone else’s landscaping efforts. Landscaping can typically decrease the time on the market but not increase the overall price by much.
• Neighborhoods: Pay special attention to the yard upkeep, neighborly involvement and the amenities. The best strategy is always to buy the smallest or lowest priced home in the best neighborhood. You can get community reports from me here or search all the communities in Georgia on my website .
• Kitchens and Baths: A spacious, updated kitchen is among the most important features in a home. Updated baths are also important.
• Basements: Although most in Georgia remain unfinished they can increase the resale value and decrease the time on the market. A finished basement can add an additional $50k to $100K depending on the neighborhood and the level of finishing work (i.e. Theatre Room with equipment staying, full kitchen, extra bathrooms). In a down market, Basements may only be worth $10K, but they can definitely speed up the sale!
• Backyard Features: Decks and patios generally yield almost a dollar-for-dollar return. But swimming pools are not generally great investments, however, they will decrease the selling time significantly. Typically buyers put a $10K - $20K premium on in ground pools, far less than what it cost to put in. Above ground pools actually decrease the home’s value in some areas as well.

As you can tell most items may not add directly to the value, but all these items will help the home sell much, much quicker. You’ve got to be the best of the best in a down market.

I’d be happy to answer any questions you have and show you properties that meet your needs. Please call (770-374-4667) or email me when you are ready to look for a new home.

One of the most important steps in the home-buying process is being pre-approved for a home loan. Many buyers apply for a loan and receive approval from a lender BEFORE searching for a home. This is called “pre-approval.”Why is pre-approval important at the beginning of the home-buying process?

• Pre-approval can cut days or even weeks off the closing, because the lender has already conducted its credit analysis and approved you for a mortgage.
• Pre-approval strengthens your offer and negotiating position. A home seller will often choose to accept an offer from a buyer who is pre-approved for a mortgage over one whose financial picture is still in question.
• Pre-approval will determine your price range and narrow your search parameters. Based on your down payment and that pre-approved mortgage amount, you will know how much you can afford before you even start looking for a house.

There is also a significant difference between buyers who are merely “pre-qualified” and those who are pre-approved.

Pre-Qualified Buyers - are those whose lenders have determined how much they can borrow based only on information the buyer has provided to the lender. Nothing has been verified to determine the buyer’s true creditworthiness. The buyer still must fill out a loan application and go through the lender’s approval process.

For buyers who have been pre-approved, the lender has already done a credit check along with verification of employment and deposit. The lender’s pre-approval is a commitment to loan the buyer up to a certain predetermined amount. The only piece missing is the lender’s appraisal of the home to confirm its value.

Contact me when you are ready to purchase your next home. And let me know if I can provide any additional information about pre-approval or financing options.

Real Estate across the country is different.  In some state, it may take 90 days to close while in others, like Georgia, 30 days is the norm.  Additionally, in some states you can close at a title company’s office, in other states you may get an attorney to help coordinate the closing while still in other states (Georgia) your Realtor is the one who coordinates for you. In Georgia, a Realtor has a fiduciary responsibility to look out for your best interest.

So what does fiduciary mean? Wikipedia defines it as,

A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care imposed at either equity or law. A fiduciary is expected to be extremely loyal to the person they owe the duty (the "principal"): they must not put their personal interests before the duty, and must not profit from their position as a fiduciary, unless the principal consents. The fiduciary relationship is highlighted by good faith, loyalty and trust, and the word itself originally comes from the Latin fides, meaning faith, and fiducia.

This agreement is set by a contract known as the, "Buyer’s Brokerage Agreement."  If an agent does not go over this relationship with you AND asks you to sign it before helping you, they are not looking out for your best interest. It only with honesty, loyalty and integrity that someone can represent you in the biggest transaction of your lifetime.

It’s more than just searching for homes, it’s knowing the market and identifying good investments, negotiating the best price, protecting your investment of earnest money, looking out for your family in their move and it’s about telling you that you might consider waiting to purchase or not purchase at all in certain situations.

When a buyer is looking for a new construction home, the question always comes up, "Is This A Good Builder?"  It’s a loaded question to say the least.  Although, the Real Estate Commission will be upset about this, most agents DO have opinions about the builders.  The bottomline however, is that an agent’s answers are based purely on their perceptions of a builder or their direct experience.  Keep in mind that even the most successful agents whose team closes 600 transactions or more a year, may only have a few transactions with a builder.

Still, the question remains.  So should you buy from a builder or not? There are some key things worth mention and I’m also a firm believer in bringing in the inspector early on.  Having the inspector there early on will "catch" many of the issues.

See, the truth is that most builders are not inherently bad.  Instead it’s the people they hire that make the difference.

For example, you could have a fine, upstanding builder who hires an equally qualified general contractor to manage his subdivision.  He in turn hires excellent framers, concrete people, electricians, plumbers, drywallers, painters, carpet people, lighting, landscape and fixture folks and of course, "punch out" people to finish up.  There may even be designers, realtors, and other people who have some input.  Last but not least, let’s not forget that the county will likely want to inspect and of course they have their own people in on the deal.

If one or two of these "hires" or contractors has a bad day, bad employee … bad "run" then you’ll end up with 5 to 10 homes that all have a leaky shower for instance.

Building a bunch a homes very quickly isn’t always a bad thing, but it gives the builder a smaller margin of error.  One wrong move and it’s going to effect 10 homes or more in some cases.  Whereas a smaller builder may only be building 1 to 4 homes at a given time.

So how do you find out if a builder is "good" or not?  Try to inspect the finished product, try to inspect the product as it’s being built.  Then you’ll know the work of the contractors.

Real Estate is Local, so is building.  One subdivision does not a builder’s reputation make.

Are you waiting till prices drop further?  I have two KEY questions for you.

1. When is the right time to buy?
2. When do you know where the bottom is?

Buying a home in Georgia is different. Sure, you’ll likely get more home for the money vs most places, but the real difference is in the buying process altogether. If you are like most people reading this article you are either out of state (outside of Georgia) or came from another state. In fact, the reason Georgia is consistently on the top growth states is the influx of "transplants" to the city.

Most people relocating will notice the differences immediately. Whether it’s odd combination of zoning laws in different counties or the unnerving truth that most homes don’t have swimming pools and newer ones have no land, people from out of state usually still miss the boat.

So what am I talking about?

1. Realtors - In Georgia we have a legal responsibility to look out for our client’s best interest. This supersedes representing the seller. So although the seller pays for the buyer’s agents in most cases, the real estate agent must represent the buyer’s best interest to the fullest. (New York & New Jersey are not this way)
2. Foreclosure - Georgia is a non-judicial state. So foreclosures can take as little time as 30 to 60 days. You don’t pay, you don’t stay… for long at all. (compare CA at 6 to 12 months for a foreclosure hearing)
3. Mortgages - Did you know there are certain zip codes that lenders don’t like? Well, chances are if you have a mortgage broker not in Georgia, they don’t know that either. It’s important to have someone local because…
4. Closing Times - In Georgia, it’s common for offer to closing to only take 30-45 days. Compare other states that have "dry closings" that could take up to 6 months.
5. Due Diligence - Here’s one where Georgia joins most of the other states. Due Diligence is called a "free look" in some states. Once it’s over, your earnest money is non-refundable.

Those are just some of the ways that Georgia is different. Sure, we can spot you (you being an out of towner) a mile away, but eventually you’ll get used to the laid back atmosphere and hey, I’m actually in the minority here, as a native Georgian.

That’s one word that is tough to use in this current real estate market. Nothing is predictable right now. Months that historically good are bad and ones that bad are good. Weekends you’d think would be full of showings are filled with people going to see Batman.

The best slogan I’ve heard in a long time is “Don’t Wait to Buy, Buy and Wait.” I thought it was very telling. In what other market can you buy a 2000 Square Foot all brick ranch for $140K that should retail for $200K in 3 years with little to no work.

As mentioned in another article, St Marlo is a great place for executive homes and deals on them. With an average price of $1 Million, you can get in to a foreclosure for less than $600!

Homes like the one I listed on 3551 Bogan Mill Road or 4850 Shellnut Path would have sold in 30 days. Now they are steals, ripe for the taking.

Good news for the Jarvis Team is that we are officially down 1% for year compared to last year, which was the best year ever.

We’ll see how this year ends.

..

Oh, and By the way, I’m NEVER to busy for your referrals.

There’s some great opportunities out there, as mentioned … almost sounds like we’re chanting, "buy, buy, buy!" In reality, there really aren’t that many good deals out there. Oh, don’t get me wrong there are great deals like this one that’s a resale in Lawrenceville , or some of the foreclosures. Saw one the other day for $105K that I could sell today for $175K after repairs - 2400 SQFT with a basement.

Short sales are great deal opportunities if you are patient as I write about in this article.

Foreclosures are still the way to go for most lower end buyers as the response time from the banks and agents are usually more pallatable.

It used to be that if someone wanted to be in the home by the end of August, they could start looking in July. Not so anymore with the current market conditions.

With the sheer number of homes on the market, it’s taking longer to find that perfect home. What’s not intuitive is that if you have found that perfect home then it’s highly likely that someone else has their eye on it as well.

So in essence there are a TON Of homes on the market, but not many great deals.

The other thing that is causing longer “start to finish” times is that there are so many foreclosures and short sales on the market. Obviously, everyone wants a deal, but these things can be ridiculous. In many cases, it may take up to 6 weeks just to have an accepted contract on a short sale home… assuming that the bank and the seller are willing.

Foreclosures are a bit different, but the biggest problem with them is the multiple offer scenario. This scenario could add two weeks to the process. In addition, the banks generally want the buyer to close at an extremely inconvenient location with unheard of precision. What do I mean? I mean they would like you to have everything you need to physically close the property up to 5 days before you actually close.

Finally, with the “mortgage meltdown” there are loan officers and lenders running around trying to make deals and create deals. Some of them are not used to the new market conditions. Not only are they wasting client’s time but they can also cost them money, to the tune of $100 a day.

So if you’re thinking of closing at the end of August, you might just want to start looking… THIS WEEKEND.