Ryan Ward's Blog: Atlanta, Georgia

As a consumer there is no question - the market is down. But, what does that mean, how does it affect you and what is the most important indicator? Well, there are lots of long winded answers with plenty of nuance and different people might give slightly different answers. To me, and I think to most, the most important part of the market is what the value of homes are and where they are trending. Most of the other things like supply and demand, the amount of foreclosures, pending sales, absorption rates and the like all filter in to the bigger equation of value. So here in Atlanta, the value of homes are down. Way down. Here is a chart going back a year showing the value of Atlanta real estate which has been on a steady decline.

I think this chart…

Unbelievable would be what I thought when I first saw it. Poor business decision, if that's what it is would be the reality. You see, MSN has some very unusual search results here in Atlanta. Typically, the most frequently searched term by consumers looking for real estate will be "city real estate" and in Atlanta, MSN returns the same website something on the order of 498 out of the first 500 search results! Here's a screen shot:

O.K. So I guess it's not exactly the same result - they are all subdomains of the same website. Now if you were a consumer searching for Atlanta homes for sale using the most used keyword phrase, do you think it might be a good idea to serve up the same website over and over again like this? Seriously.

Here is the search…

In an effort to improve marketing for all of our listings, I've finally decided to add single property websites as an additional marketing tool. These single property sites have been around for a long time and agents have been using them during listing presentations to woo their prey into listings, but, the truth is that these sites do little more than garble up the internet with more junk as none of them (at least none that I have seen) do anything except inflate the agent and seller while not really performing well in the search engines. Now, before I get comments about this post to the contrary, let me say that this is a generalization. Of course there are agents around that know how to effectively market on the internet and many have been able to use…

I had a closing today where I represented the buyer. We asked for a home warranty to be included at no cost to the buyer and at a cost of no more than $500. So, we got to the closing table and as I looked over the settlement statement I saw that there was a warranty on the statement, but, it was for $319.

I always order my warranties the day of closing and had done so today just about 2 hours before the closing and I knew that the one that I had ordered for my buyer cost $469 and was more comprehensive than the one that was on the settlement statement. While the buyers, sellers, closing attorney and both of us agents were sitting at the table, I said:

"I believe that this is the wrong warranty. I ordered the comprehensive warranty which was $469…

A quick update to the goings on in the Atlanta real estate market are in order as we start heading in to spring. This is the time of year for tulips to peak their budding leaves out of the ground and even more of them to get pushed back down by an ever growing number of real estate for sale signs. This year expects to be no different than in years past from that perspective, but, there is the potential problem that much of the left over inventory from last year that remains on the market combined with new inventory may cause a continued oversupply of homes.

Time will tell if that happens. for now it does in fact seem that there are a growing number of interested buyers beginning to land on some homes with more interest and more are jumping in and kicking…

I am sooooo tired of harping on this, but, I don't know what else to do. Real estate agents and brokers continually link to websites like Trulia and the rest increasing their rankings at the expense of our own. In the last week, they have found themselves on the first page for more terms in the Atlanta area and it is out of ignorance that this is happening.

THEY DO NOT PROVIDE CONSUMERS WITH ACCURATE INFORMATION! - at least not completely as it appears they do. Nor do they provide consumers with accurate listings and still agents put their little widgets on their websites thinking that they are helping consumers.

Are you an agent with a Trulia widget? What's wrong with you?

Why on earth would you, a professional do that to yourself and to consumers? The…

Since we are in a buyers market, and everyone knows it, buyers feel like they can pull the rug out from underneath sellers. Nowhere is there a better chance for buyers to succeed at obtaining a great deal on a home than in the new construction market. This will change as we move through 2008, but, for right now new construction homes might be the best all around value around.

Everywhere you look here in Atlanta, you will see large signs offering huge discounts and incentives for buyers. Some offer cars and many homes are discounted over $100,000 from there original list price a year ago. there is a home in Alpharetta that originally listed for about $2,500,000 that has been discount $1,000,000 and new luxury homes offer some of the deepest discounts…

The segment hardest hit by the overall slowdown in the real estate market here in Atlanta has to be the condo market. Prices continue to slide downward, inventories remain extremely high, sales low and new condos are still coming on the market. This chart shows exactly what has happened to Atlanta condo prices over the past seven years.

The purple dotted line reflects what has happened to prices during 2007. One of the reasons sales have remained sluggish all year has to do with prices (as if that is ever NOT the case). Finally, over the last couple of months we have seen a sharp decline in the average price for condos in Atlanta. Current average pricing show that the last time prices were this low was in 2005 and that should help to get buyers back in…