Ryan Ward's Blog: Atlanta, Georgia

Buckhead is the most familiar and popular area in Atlanta for fine Atlanta homes and luxury real estate and a popular destination for Atlanta visitors because of  the high end shopping and dining. In the past year, the Buckhead business district has undergone some very important and much needed renovations to the roads and infrastructure. While the construction north of Piedmont road on Peachtree has been a nightmare during the renovations, the eventual sidewalk and beautification project will be well worth the wait. Along with the city of Atlanta's roadwork, many new luxury high rise condominiums have come out of the ground and are nearing completion and what used to be one of Atlanta's hottest bar scenes gone bad is now being redeveloped as a high end…

Here is a quick snapshot of the current Atlanta real estate market conditions. The numbers clearly show that the market is beginning to pick up steam as we head into the busiest part of the year for buying and selling Atlanta homes. The number of homes sold is a lagging indicator as it takes some time for many of the homes to be entered in the Atlanta MLS, the FMLS. Pending sales is a forecasting statistics that helps to show a more current reflection of market activity. Visit my Atlanta Real Estate website to view current homes for sale.

Atlanta Real Estate  Atlanta  March  Active  5,803  Pending  1,215 …

I finally implemented a much needed upgrade to my website by adding a new and improved way to view homes for sale in the Atlanta MLS. You can now save your favorite homes and come back to them later, add to your list of favorites or email your favorite homes to whomever you would like. There is also a just listed feature that allows you to enter your preferences into the system to have all homes that meet your description emailed to you as soon as they become available. This upgrade allows you, the consumer, a better way to search for homes on my website than was previously available. When you search for Atlanta real estate, you expect to be able to find what you are looking for easily and to that end I am trying to facilitate that process. Any comments or…

Here are the current statistics for Alpharetta homes for sale provided by the Alpharetta MLS, the FMLS:

Currently, there are 1888 Alpharetta homes for sale and another 505 pending sale. Interestingly, in the last 30 days only 141 homes sold while there were an additional 636 new homes for sale. Another 231 homes either had their listings expire or were withdrawn. What you can gather from this is that there are currently more active buyers in the market than there were just a month earlier. This is the typical trend as we see more buyers and sellers enter the market in the spring and homes sales begin to ramp up.

You can view all of the Alpharetta homes for sale at your leisure at my website while you get to know more about the city of Alpharetta and what…

Atlanta real estate for sale signs usually begin popping up out of the ground at about this time every year - for good reason. The cold weather is almost behind us and school will be out before we know it.

This gives me a good opportunity to remind you that if you plan to sell your home this year, now is the time to finish up that to do list, clean out the basement and garage, tidy up the flower beds and spruce up that paint before you put your home on the market. Although the Atlanta real estate market weathered the national real estate slowdown better than many other large metropolitan areas, you will still be selling your home in a market that will have more homes for sale than last year. Make sure your home looks great, price it correctly and hire a…

Ryan Ward, Keller Williams Realty Consultants

I have changed my affiliation to Keller Williams Realty Consultants located in Roswell, Georgia. I am very excited about the new opportunities that my affiliation with Keller Williams will bring. My decision was based on the premise that real estate is local and this places me geographically right in the middle of my area of specialization - Alpharetta, Roswell and Sandy Springs. I look forward to working in a team oriented environment and and I am excited to learn from the new experience and pass on any knowledge that may be of some help to other agents.

The good news about the Atlantla luxury real estate market no longer means that you must live in Buckhead to enjoy fine homes and amenities you have come to expect in the luxury real estate market. In fact, you might consider whether or not the city of Atlanta is the right place for such a large investment. I am not saying that areas such as Ansley Park, Buckhead, Tuxedo Park and other, long established neighborhoods don't offer some of the finest homes, designed by some of the greatest architects Atlanta has ever seen, are not worthy of consideration - I am only saying that there is more to the luxury Atlanta home market than ever before. Atlanta luxury real estate now means that you can find the unparalleled amenities you have come to expect, on lots and… Read Full Post

Alpharetta is a very forward thinking city, not reactive like many other municipalities. This forward thinking vision allows for better planning for future development and costs taxpayers less money in the long run. The proactive approach to government results in a safer, more efficient and less expensive government for residents of Alpharetta. A perfect example of proper panning in action is demonstrated on newly annexed areas of Alpharetta. The city puts its money and its resources where its mouth is by hiring police officers before they are needed to cover the increased areas. Every neighborhood has a police officer that is designated to that neighborhood. It's much easier, costs less money and creates less of a drag on resources to prevent crime from…