Over the weekend yahoo!finance offered an interview that gave Powder Springs real estate optimists some of the most positive opinions they’ve heard in a while. The source was an onscreen interview with TV’s Barbara Corcoran, a permanent celebrity panelist on the perennial hit series. Yahoo’s headline story provided the simple encouraging prediction: “Housing Prices are Going to Go Through the Roof.”That view came from a well-respected source. Corcoran, herself a real estate entrepreneur as well as a Shark Tank regular, believes there “will be a major swing in the real estate market as soon as interest rates drop.” Her prediction that “All hell’s going to break loose and prices are going to go through the roof” was backed up with specifics. She expects buyers to come back out “and buy li... 09/04/2023

It’s no secret that throughout most of the country, the continuing shortfall of homes for sale—the U.S. inventory—has continued to strengthen real estate values in 2023. With the total U.S. ‘active inventory’ (the combined total of existing plus new housing units) shrinking a further 6.4% from last July’s levels, it would be noteworthy if that hadn’t had the inevitable effect on Powder Springs real estate as well.New construction plays a sizable role in how housing performs. Whereas many owners of existing homes still hesitate to list their properties because a sale would mean losing their current home loan interest rates, first-time buyers of newly built houses have no such concerns. So any decline in the rate of new construction is more likely to be caused by factors like inflation an... 08/28/2023

“If you’re thinking about buying or selling a house right now, you’re not alone.”That was the opening declaration in last Tuesday’s essay from the New York Times best-selling author and host of “The Rachel Cruze Show.” Her insights into personal finance and “fun, practical ways to take control of your money” reach millions of listeners who tune in weekly. Although she prefaced last week’s market prognostication with the welcome caveat that it’s never a good idea to let a market prediction control housing decisions, checking out the experts can be useful for providing an idea of what U.S. and Powder Springs “sellers and buyers might expect” in the coming months.Ms. Cruze directly addressed 18 questions: here are some that Powder Springs sellers and buyers should find interesting:· Is Now... 08/21/2023

One Vinings Mountain Atlanta Condos is a 12-story Atlanta luxury highrise located on Mount Wilkinson Parkway in the Vinings area of Atlanta. Built in 2006, these 156 luxury condominium homes sit prominently on Vinings Mountain above the historic Vinings Village. Trammell Crow Residential and Halter Properties joined forces to create a luxury building providing incredible views of Atlanta.This community offers one bedroom/den, two and three-bedroom floor plans. These condominium homes include spacious open floor plans, granite finishes, walk-in closets, hardwood floors, private walkout balconies, and stainless steel appliances.The residents of One Vinings Mountain are just a short walk from the Vinings Jubilee restaurants and shops. One Vinings Mountain is adjacent to I-285, and within p... 08/16/2023

They are commonly called “presale” inspections, but a more precise name would substitute “pre-listing.” Ordering Powder Springs pre-listing inspections represent solid proactive measures that experienced Powder Springs house sellers often schedule early in the process. Even when they have no reason to suspect anything is seriously amiss with the property, they make it an early priority. Here are some of the reasons you might decide that such a preemptive inspection would be well worth the expense:1. Time. The best Powder Springs contractors are busy all year long, so if their services will be called for, it will be valuable to have work completed before the first showing.2. Control. To keep your sale on track after an offer has been accepted, if you already know what their inspector wil... 08/14/2023

As soon as Powder Springs homeowners query the web for anything that has to do with home improvements, they quickly learn that the home improvement industry is quick to notice. They’ll do their promotional best to send along the ads they think are likely to get a click. Since “home improvements” is a broad field, lots of ads can be expected.That may have been responsible for an article from March of 2021 that recently popped into local screens, bearing the bold (and improbable) headline:“10 Home Improvements You Must Tackle This Summer.”Really! Who would be cheeky enough to propose that there are no fewer than 10 must-do home improvements that every Powder Springs homeowner MUST tackle in a single season? That proposition was silly enough to provoke many a click…but for those who took t... 08/07/2023

Powder Springs homeowners have ample reason to expect to attract bids that reflect the recent run-up in U.S. real estate prices, but that alone shouldn’t lull them into complacency as they prepare their property for entry into the Powder Springs listings. That’s a real estate truism—even in a well-defined seller’s market. For area homeowners who see tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands!) of dollars more in market value indicated by recent comparable sales, it’s tempting to then assume that little preparation will be needed to achieve similar results. Not true.The value of thorough preparation to show off any property continues to make a substantial difference at the signing table. Since the word “thorough” may be too vague to be of much value, here is an abbreviated listing of ac... 07/31/2023

If you have ever tuned into “Today’s Homeowner,” you’ll be familiar with Danny Lipford, the friendly, drawling host of one of TV’s longest-running home improvement shows. Lipford is a contractor who demonstrates practical tips on how Powder Springs do-it-yourselfers might remodel outdated or rundown areas in their homes with little more than ambition, energy, and a few bucks. He makes it look fun and easy, which is undoubtedly why the program has been syndicated for a quarter of a century. The show has a website, too, which last week published a valuable safety tip: “20 Ways to Reduce the Effects of Indoor Air Pollution in Your Home.” It covered the topic from top to bottom: everything from what it is and what its health effects can be to what to do about them. It’s well worth reading—b... 07/24/2023

At least at the beginning, Powder Springs real estate doesn’t automatically find its way into many retirement plans because hands-on investments aren’t among the simplest ways to invest. For youthful investors, building a sturdy retirement portfolio is a new endeavor—and it is much simpler to earmark a regular amount to be automatically invested at regular intervals. A mutual fund or other favored asset that can grow at a pace the market determines is easy to start and easy to monitor—it doesn’t require much attention.Yet it is worth reviewing why it’s so widely held that some real estate investments can play such a valuable role when they are made early on. Powder Springs residential real estate—for instance, a property that can become a rental house—may require a greater commitment th... 07/10/2023

Late last week, NAR’s VP of Demographics and Behavioral Insights Jessica Lautz weighed in with her view of the importance (and lack thereof) of mortgage rate fluctuations. The title of last Thursday’s CNBC interview spells it out:“Mortgage Rates Matter Less Than You Think.”To the extent that her insights are valid, that would be good news, since borrowing rates have doubled from two years ago. Dr. Lautz is a psychologist by training, so her views center on how people perceive information (like changes in Powder Springs mortgage interest rates)—and how they tend to react to them. Her reasoning:· About a quarter of May transactions were all-cash sales—so only the remaining three-quarters of buyers are affected at all· Because of the past years’ runup in real estate equity, many homeowners... 07/06/2023

The good feeling you might have gotten after reading the lead story in last Thursday’s yahoo!finance was a lot like hearing welcome news at the doctor’s. If he tells you you’re in good health at the end of your annual checkup, it feels great—even if you hadn’t suspected anything was wrong. So when the yahoo!finance headline announced that “the housing market recession is over,” it was momentarily uplifting—even if you hadn’t worried about any true Powder Springs housing “recession.”The article in question did make a reasonable case that for much of the U.S., a ‘buyer affordability shock’ stemming from ‘spiked mortgage rates’ had sent markets into a housing recession—but one that was pronounced only in some western housing markets “like Reno and Boise.” The direst areas had not only suff... 06/26/2023

It does seem that around this time of year Powder Springs’s weather gets a proportionately larger share of attention from the news media. This would stand to reason when it breaks records or registers one extreme or another, but it seems as if Powder Springs’s weather doesn’t even have to misbehave to gain extra attention. Come this time of year (right around graduations, Juneteenth, and Father’s Day), weather always hogs more of the spotlight.The reasons could be because right now is when heat waves or tornados usually start to break out somewhere, and since that makes for interesting pictures, news providers grab it. Also, this is when media workers start to take vacations, so short-staffed editors can’t depend on being able to fill news columns or time slots with authentically newswo... 06/20/2023

CNN’s Business web pages published an analysis that would interest the Powder Springs real estate watchers who track the national press’s interpretation of the latest housing activity—it is they, after all, who establish the public perception of “how real estate is doing.” If the emphasis is on falling prices and activity, most would-be homebuyers expect that deals are there to be made. If the press describes a seller’s market atmosphere, emphasizing examples where multiple offers are the rule, homebuyers can often become discouraged before even taking a look at the actual Powder Springs real estate market returns. That was why, last Thursday, CNN Business writer Anna Bahney’s article rated a close second look. “Middle-income buyers face the most severe housing shortage” spelled out som... 06/13/2023

When you thumb through this year’s comprehensive housing report on the identities and motivations of U.S. home buyers and sellers, you are reminded anew of how wide-ranging the results turn out to be. It’s a truism among Powder Springs housing industry professionals that you can’t predict just who the ultimate buyer of any property will be—young, old, in-between? It is wisest to create a marketing campaign that appeals to as broad a swath of the public as possible. The National Association of Realtors® 2023 edition of their Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report provides the latest word on the subject. It is short on surprises.For instance, Millenials (ages 24-42) were having trouble becoming first-time homebuyers, while a greater percentage of buyers belonged to the Boomer ... 06/05/2023

Powder Springs’s Memorial Day capped a weekend that had all the expected Mem Day activities—including the feeling that summer is close at hand. Actual summer may not arrive in Powder Springs until the summer solstice on Wednesday—but especially in years like this one, when Memorial Day is just a few days removed from the start of hurricane season (officially on Thursday), it clearly marks high time to check whether enough charcoal briquettes overwintered from last fall.You don’t have to have a primary or vacation home that might be affected by hurricanes to mark June 1 as the point in the year when summer weather makes news. The official start of hurricane season is said to be when mid-Atlantic storms usually begin to get going in earnest. Ninety-seven percent of Atlantic tropical cyclo... 05/29/2023

With Powder Springs housing activity up and down, one impactful facet remains: there still aren’t enough properties to choose from. To many, this fact is a downer: a drag on home sales totals, an impediment to buyers who face stubborn seller's market asking prices, and a stubborn roadblock to many would-be homeowners whose incomes won’t quite stretch.But (as the old saying goes) in adversity lurks opportunity. When it comes to how that might apply to Powder Springs housing, The National Association of Realtors® spelled it out in last month’s Real Estate News article. The advice was intended for their readership—the nation’s brokers and agents—but “4 Property Investment Opportunities Created by the Downturn” can be equally enlightening for their clients.The piece isolated four main point... 05/15/2023

This condo is rarely available as one of only 12 of the larger floorplans in the building. Unit faces south with spectacular panoramic views of entire Atlanta skyline! Three large bedrooms with ensuite baths, a powder room plus a den/office or media room. Other special features are a marble clad fireplace in the open concept family room, recessed lighting throughout with dimmers, custom paint and built ins in the living room and den. Beautiful hardwood floors throughout with carpet in the bedrooms, tile backsplash and granite counters in the kitchen with stainless steel appliances. One Vinings Mountain has exceptional amenities including: infinity-edge heated pool and hot tub, health club, pet-park, indoor golf room, fireside game room/library, complimentary coffee bar, workshop, confer... 03/22/2023

The spring 23 market is on around Atlanta and other areas, as the market heats up so do the questions. Will low appraisals become a problem again? After the nonsensical last two years, underwriters and lenders are tightening the reins when it comes to appraisals. Low Appraisals Become More Frequent Already this year, there has been an increase in appraisal related issues. Most frequent with VA and FHA loans as underwriters get back to holding the appraisals to strict underwriting. Appraisers have been receiving updates from FNMA as well, reminding them of "best practices" as the early 2023 housing market evolves.It would be a good idea for agents to reacclimate themselves with appraisal guidelines and understand how underwriters and appraisers will be approaching this spring.   02/21/2023

30+ years of full time selling and appraising, I've seen a lot. This one made me pull out the camera. This is a home for sale in Alpharetta, GA in the 900K's....WTH.... 02/13/2023

Purchasing a home is a major financial event, it must be treated like the business transaction that it is. Home buyers should always work with a buyer's agent, not doing so is reckless and unwise.Buyer Beware in GeorgiaWhile home sellers are obligated to accurately complete a seller's disclosure, little faith should be placed in them. Buyers must complete the research they deem important before the end of due diligence.Best of luck suing and winning a case where the home seller might not have been completely transparent on the disclosure. Same for suing agents, exceptionally low chance of victory.The purchase of a home is serious business, treat it that way and work only with seasoned professionals. Buyers have no idea what they don't know...Let us know how we can help - The Hank Miller... 02/10/2023