Atlanta Real Estate Blog

We launched an updated look to PremierAtlantaRealEstate.com last night and retired what was a great website. The old website was circa 2008 - sort of like a dinosaur by internet standards. The new site has lots of great features including a "responsive" design, updated map searches and an easier to use advanced search tool. The photos of listings has also been updated to show larger images of individual listings.

The responsive design upgrade is really nice though. Instead of dealing with a slow loading website on a mobile device, the wesbite detects your mobile device automatically and delivers a mobile friendly site instead. There are a number of other smaller upgrades like the social media integration on the listings and the ability to sign up using

Real estate has always been cyclical and it's no different right now. What is different is how quickly the scale has changed directions this time. We are in a stage where the reality of market conditions has shifted much faster than the mentality of many buyers in the market today. In my view, this abrupt shift occured due to fewer distressed sales coming on the market, slightly higher sales volume and the fact that many homeowners who would like to sell are still upside down. Prices are rising, but it will be some time before we get back to peak prices we saw in 2007.

What most buyers are finding out as they enter the market today is that this is definitely not a buyers market. Not only is it not a buyers market, but the lack of inventory to choose

10522 Maryam Trace

This is an exceptionally well maintained home in Johns Creek that shows like a model! Bright, open floorplan with a chef's kitchen including double ovens and opens to a spacious family room with plenty of natural light and motorized blinds for upper windows. The upstairs master bedroom is oversized with sitting area and double trey ceiling. Luxurious Master bath with large walk-in closet. Secondary bedrooms are good sized with large closets. There is also a guest bedroom on first floor currently being used as an office. The finished daylight basement is an entertainer's delight with play area, game/TV room, kitchenette, bedroom/office and full bath finish out this space. Designer colors, hardwoods on the main, sought after schools

A disappointing day to hear that Google, the world's leading search engine has decided to use Zillow, one of the world's most innacurate real estate listing sites, to power its real estate search on Android mobile devices. For a company that prides itself on presenting the best and most accurate data to consumers, they've made a terrible mistake. Studies have shown that the accuracy of the information on Zillow to be genuinely inferior to that of websites powered by local MLS systems like Realtor.com and local real estate websites. Take a look at this study by WAV Group that shows just how innacurate the data on Zillow is compared to 3 real estate brokerage website. The listing data on my website right here is a far more accurate way to search for Atlanta

We were fortunate to get a significant update on Avalon yesterday from Jim Costen (a commercial agent in our office) and the plan looks pretty good as of right now and it is scheduled to have a grand opening of October 26th, 2013. Directly below is a really cheesy youtube video and a flipbook with more details. I certainly hope the mixed-use development creates a community environment better than the video, but it's worth watching if you have some interest in what's coming.

The Video

Here is the video:

Download the Flipbook

Last October, I wrote that land values were on the rise in North Metro Atlanta and recent activity reinforces that article with more certainty. This is great news for all of us, but especially homeowners who had seen land values drop by about 40% from the highs of the market in 2007. This upward trend was inevitable, but it's been my experience recently with several other pieces of land available that many buyers are still quite reluctant to accept this upward trend as reality. I think there are a number of reasons for the uptick in values. What this means is that if you want to buy land, yesterday was better than today and tomorrow it will cost you more. This is irrefutable at this point and barring another major downturn (very unlikely), will in all

 Guest post by Andrew Hill @ www.NewHomeSource.com

At a time when cutting back has become the norm, it’s no surprise that many in the process of buying a new home might be asking themselves, “Why do I need a realtor?” This seems a natural question for those interested in buying a new home, while wanting to save all they can. After all, you can talk with the home builder or his agent and quickly be the owner of a brand new home- and you can do it all without ever having to sit down with those money-grubbing realtors. But what you may not realize is that the money you are saving by skipping out on the realtor isn’t really being saved at all. In fact, those who don’t use a realtor are costing themselves more in the long-run. Come again?

That’s right.

We are excited to bring Providence back on the market after a break for the holidays! As you can see from the pictures below, there is nothing quite like this anywhere in North Fulton, or really, anywhere in Metro Atlanta quite like this.

Providence is a very sophisticated, classic American home custom designed by Stephen Fuller. The setting - your choice of either 30 or 60 acres (both with lake frontage), is private and peaceful and the home itself is a magnificent achievement of understated elegance and symmetry inspired by Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and George Washington's Mount Vernon estates.

If you are interested in viewing this home, please contact me directly and I will arrange a private showing. You can find more photos and a video at

Luxury homes in Atlanta are available in all of the most sought after areas, but the highest concentration of luxury homes (homes for sale over $1,000,000) are found in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and the areas north of the Chattahoochee River on the east or west side of GA 400. It stands to reason that the closer you get to the city, the higher the concentration of luxury homes will be, but Buckhead and other intown areas do not hold exclusive rights to all of the finest homes available and there are many reasons you might want to look to Sandy Springs, Alpharetta or MIlton (to name a few) if you are in the market for a luxury home. Other areas of note might be Sugarloaf in Gwinnett or Virginia Highland, Ansley Park and Decatur, but those areas are small and

Last Tuesday the bar was raised on the north side of town for land values with a sale that took place on Clarity Rd just across the border from Milton in Cherokee County. The $2,600,000 sale was a nice home, but it was the amount of land that sold with the home is what gets me excited. I've been in the home - I showed it to a buyer and the home with it's 33 acres represents the best sale this year to set a new floor for pricing in this market. based on the the size and quality of the home, the land would have had to be valued at or above $50,000/acre. Given its location in Cherokee County, this should set the prices higher for North Fulton for hopeful sellers.

Property Details

• 6,100+ square feet according to the tax records
• Small Stable
• 2 ponds