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        <title>Atlanta Real Estate Blog</title>
        <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/tags/foreclosures/</link>
        <description>Atlanta real estate blog. Consumer focused real estate information for Atlanta and information and insight into local and national topics. Areas of interest include; Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Roswell &amp; Alpharetta. North Metro Atlanta.</description>
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            <guid>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/georgia-ranked-10th-for-foreclosure-filings-in-january.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/georgia-ranked-10th-for-foreclosure-filings-in-january.html</link>
            <author>ryan@premieratlantarealestate.com (Ryan C Ward)</author>
            <title>Georgia Ranked 10th for Foreclosure Filings in January</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
From the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

&quot;The Peach State had 11,274 foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions -- last month. This was down 13.1 percent from December 2009, but was 13.8 percent higher than January 2009. The state ranked 10th for foreclosures&quot;.

The report also says that 1 out of every 357 houses in Georgia got a foreclosure notice in January. This is in line with national numbers that have a decrease from December, but a year over year increase. Nationally, 1 in 409 homes received a foreclosure notice so we are performing worse than the total market. More from ABC:

&ldquo;January foreclosure numbers are exhibiting a pattern very similar to a year ago -- a double-digit percentage jump in December foreclosure activity followed by a 10 percent drop in January,&rdquo; said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac &ldquo;If history repeats itself we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan modification programs or the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives works.&rdquo;

I am still of the belief that banks will moderate the number of foreclosure homes entering the market. Every home they add to supply lowers the value of their REO assets so I believe that they will continue to manage the flow of listings to protect the values. It's in their best interest and it is in our best interest.
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            <pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:13:56 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/auctions-and-value-things-arent-what-they-seem.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/auctions-and-value-things-arent-what-they-seem.html</link>
            <author>ryan@premieratlantarealestate.com (Ryan C Ward)</author>
            <title>Auctions and Value - Things Aren't What They Seem</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Sold to the lady in the back for $435,000! What a deal! The screen says the previous value for this home was over $1,000,000. I've found it at last! Now I know exactly where to send every person who calls looking for that great deal. The auction!

If you're in the business and you get leads online, you definitely know the guy. Most others in the business know this guy now too. It's just a product of the current conditions. He acts like he knows more than you about real estate and before the phone call is over, he has made you feel like it's true. We get one almost daily, but the problem is, that guy doesn't have a clue about what he is talking about. If you are that guy, I suggest you re-read this paragraph.

I attended an auction this past Saturday with a friend/client as an exploratory event as a possible place to pick up homes that are in need of small repairs that can be flipped. My job is consultant here. The commission checks are small from auctions, but, it's more important to me that he buys the right houses at the right prices otherwise there is no chance to flip so it's a win/win partnership if I find the right houses. As this was a bit exploratory for both of us, I decided to pick a few houses to really watch closely at auction for a number of reasons. I wanted to know what the real &quot;previous value&quot; was, I wanted to know what they would sell for at auction and I figured the after repair value prior to getting there so I was ready to see how this unfolded.

The Auction

First, I need to say that it was quite a rush. I'd do it again. I think I will actually. The truth though, is considerably different than most people I have spoken with think it is as it relates to values and auctions. Of the homes I watched, none sold for the price I believed they needed to be purchased for anyone other than an owner occupied home. In other words, they sell for fair market value. Some for more than market value, but, that too is to be expected as the auctioneer is awesome! There are other homes - like those that might be in new construction neighborhoods that decimate value fro the entire neighborhood instantly. I watched as 6 houses were sold for between 80K - 90K where the values were in the 150's. Now, the 80K home isn't even a &quot;deal&quot;. That's what the whole neighborhood is worth! Look, if you don't know values going in and you rely on the information on the screen you are going to get burned and speaking of that information on&nbsp;the screen, it's hardly accurate. I don't know where it came from, but, most of these homes have histories that I can look up in 30 seconds to determine and let me tell you what was on screen and what the real &quot;previous values&quot; were did not match. It made these homes look to be much better deals than they really were. I saw a home that I said should sell for no more than 425K sell for 412K, but, the &quot;previous value&quot; was wrong (over 800K, it was never woth that). Later I saw something that they said was over one million dollars sell for a little over 400. It was listed in the 500's in the FMLS and didn't sell. Where is the great deal there? This is what happened over and over and at all different price points. &quot;Previous value&quot; of 115K, starting bids at 500 dollars, listed in the FMLS for $17,000 and selling for $10,000. Do you think that is a good deal? I could go on...

I watched for a few hours and was amazed at how free markets correct themselves so efficiently if allowed to do so. But, it occurred to me also that the deals really aren't that great - at least not on the whole and that makes them no different than regular listings for sale (unless you are the bank because they do liquidate properties). There are good deals and there are not so good deals. The problem with getting a good deal at an auction is as follows:

You have a room full of ready, willing and able buyers offering multiple offers on properties. None of that is what you want when you are in the market for a &quot;deal.&quot;

So, the takeaway goes something like this...most of the homes for sale at auction were already for sale. Some have histories that go back years now so we know a lot about these homes. Most of them sell for what they would sell for in a fair market sale. These are the homes that were listed too high to sell or did not have good enough marketing to illicit an offer that might have been acceptable to the bank. None of these homes made exceptional deals and most importantly....

Nobody bought a home for 40 cents on the dollar!
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            <pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:06:21 -0400</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/foreclosures-we-followed-where-are-they-now.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/foreclosures-we-followed-where-are-they-now.html</link>
            <author>ryan@premieratlantarealestate.com (Ryan C Ward)</author>
            <title>Foreclosures We Followed - Where are They Now?</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
A few months back I wrote a few posts about some excellent foreclosure deals in Roswell and Alpharetta. One&nbsp;is a foreclosure in Glen Abbey, one&nbsp;is a great investment property in Berkshire Manor and another&nbsp;is a large home with a pool in Brookfield Country Club. The purpose of all three of these posts was really twofold:

1. They were good deals.

2. There is a terrible misconception on the part of the buying public (many of which are regular buyers who believe this is a good time to &quot;invest&quot;) in understanding how to ascertain value and/or an offer price on properties such as these which is truly unfortunate because there really are so many great deals.

I figured if I went through a few examples, we might help set some buyers get straight on the process. It's become difficult in today's market because many buyers have outrageous stories about a friend who has a brother who works with someone who bought an $800,000 house for 250K....or, they pay too much attention to incomplete stories from the media. Either way, here is what the true real estate market in Metro Atlanta is like so if you are in the market for something like this (and if you are in the market, you probably are) you might find this helpful.

So, to the properties....

The first was the foreclosure in Glen Abbey. Because of this blog post, we showed the property a couple of times, but, we did not sell it. Originally when this was listed as a foreclosure it was priced too high which is what I said in my original post about the home, but, once the bank got the price right, it sold quickly. Moral of the story? Use an agent who is capable of ascertaining real market value, who knows where the deals are and&nbsp;trust their advice and you will find a great deal!

The next one was a little investment property in Berksire Manor. This one is scheduled to close in June and went under contract in about 2 weeks as most properties that are priced right do whether they are foreclosures or not (even in this &quot;buyers market&quot;). The difference is that foreclosures priced correctly typically have multiple offers - and when I say multiple, I mean more than 5 which often leads to sales above list price. Moral of this story? Same as the other...you can't&nbsp;really buy&nbsp;foreclosures for 60 cents on the dollar from the list price you see when you are in the house, but, you will typically be able to buy them for 60 cents on the dollar from the high of the market. This represents the value that you need to be looking for, not 60% of list price. Understand?

The third foreclosure that we talked about was a really nice deal in Brookfield Country Club. At the time I wrote the post, it was listed for $415,900. They dropped this one to $399,000 and it sold for $390,000. The entire listing period was 30 days. I think we could have&nbsp;closed this one for the $390K price even when it was originally listed at the $415K. Moral of this story? There are some really good deals to be had. What you need is excellent representation and to trust that representation.

There are a lot of really good real estate agents out there, but, many of us are becoming frustrated with a large number of buyers who hear stories that are not likely&nbsp;true and are unwilling to listen to us without first exercising their desire to make extremely unreasonable offers on several properties until they either leave the market or finally decide to listen to their agent. Save yourself the trouble. Get yourself a great real estate agent, and utilize their expertise. That's what we are here for.


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            <pubDate>Sat, 09 May 2009 10:31:56 -0400</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/foreclosure-in-glen-abbey-80000-below-lowest-sold-in-neighborhood-alpharetta.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/foreclosure-in-glen-abbey-80000-below-lowest-sold-in-neighborhood-alpharetta.html</link>
            <author>ryan@premieratlantarealestate.com (Ryan C Ward)</author>
            <title>Foreclosure in Glen Abbey $80,000 Below Lowest Sold in Neighborhood - Alpharetta</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
This is one of those foreclosures where the bank finally has priced it right to sell. It's most recent sale was in April of 2007 for $575,000 and it's now on the market for $436,900. It's also about $80,000 below&nbsp;the least expensive&nbsp;home that sold in Glen Abbey in 2008 and over $250,000 below the most expensive sale in 2008. If you have looked at homes in Glen Abbey in the past, you would probably have a good feel for what type of floorplan it has as well as the condition of the interior. Honestly, at this price, I was expecting it to be in far worse condition than it is and I was definitely not expecting to see a basement finished out this well. At this price it's going to be a real bargain and put a new homeowner in a pretty solid equity position rather quickly.

The Glen Abbey Real Estate Market

Up until a couple of years ago, Glen Abbey was really considered one of the very best neighborhoods in Alpharetta and was extremely sought after. With all of the new construction that has been built, interest in the neighborhood leveled off (still at a higher than normal level) because many of the homes were beginning to show there age. You would find them to have Corian counters and honey colored hardwood floors and lots of homes with wallpaper - not exactly what buyers in today's market are looking for. Still, the neighborhood has appeal as one of Alpharetta's more established swim/tennis neighborhoods and a reputation for well built homes and a neighboorhood that is less homgenous than many of the newer comparably priced options. Now with most new homes gone or no longer the value that they were once perceived, neighborhoods like Glen Abbey are returning to more popular positions.

Right now, there are 12 other&nbsp;active homes and one under contract. Prices on those homes range from $575,000 to $700,000 and sold homes in the last three months range from $575,000 to $650,000. You can view all of the Glen Abbey homes for sale here. This also means that the supply of homes in Glen Abbey is lower than the greater surrounding area so there should be less worry about further price declines as far as what we know to be the market right now.

And then there is this home. It was originally listed for $575,000 and now the bank has wised up. At $436,900, it's no longer even really possible to adjust this home up in value with the surrounding neighborhood and have it stay within Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting guidelines. In other words, it's a bargain. Here is a link to the details page for this home. It's listed with Harper Real Estate Services, Inc.

Here are some addtional pictures:

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&nbsp;



What Kind of Work Does it Need?

Well, as a home built in 1999, it has the usual dated interior appointments, corian counters, dirty carpet and walls that need painting and wallpaper that need to be removed. All things you should expect when looking at a home like this. Of course, the bathroom still has all of that romantic contractor grade brass that everyone so loves if that's your thing, but, I suspect you'd want to change that out as well. Otherwise, it doesn't immediately scream as a money pit. Jim Cowart built homes don't fall in the category of poorly constructed homes.

Why is This Home a Deal?

It's a deal because you could update this home to today's standards and have a positive equity position. It has a 3 car garage, a finished basement with a second kitchen, smooth (not dropdown) ceilings and it's the full footprint of the house, it's brick and Hardiplank, you can't beat the location, the schools are excellent and it's priced WAY under market.

When Can You See It?

Call me. If I can't get you in it today, one of my partners on my team can. It's a great deal, it's way below market, it's a great neighborhood and it's definitely going to make a new homeowner proud. Plus, where it's priced, you won't need to fool around with a jumbo loan so all time record interest rates will apply! If your looking now or will be this summer, it might be time to jump off the fence. The key to actually getting one of those deals you hear about on the news is to actually buy something when the deal is right in your face. 
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            <pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:57:47 -0500</pubDate>
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