Thought we’d take some time to update everyone on the Smyrna Vinings home and condo markets. There’s certainly plenty of negative press, but it’s also important to keep things in perspective. While sales are down compared to a year ago, homes are still selling and buyers are still buying. One key trend we like to track are the trailing 12-month sales.

This creates a trend that is easier to compare year-to-year than monthly sales. For example, it’s much easier to see the normal cyclical movements during the year. We’ll start with the Smyrna Vinings homes market.

First of all, you’ll notice that the blue line is 2007 home sales and the red line is 2008 home sales and you’ll also notice that the red line is a bit lower on the chart than the blue line or 2007 sales. You can see the deterioration of home sales throughout 2007, with a spike in September. But what you’ll also notice is that the 2008 sales trend line is pretty consistent with 2007 including the September spike.

But what I also want to point out is that even though sales are down, it’s not the end of the world. For the twelve months through September of 2008, there were still 745 homes that had sold in Smyrna Vinings. And while that is less than in 2007, that’s still a lot of homes. Sometimes you get the idea from the press that all of the sudden there are no Smyrna Vinings home buyers and that there are thousands of Smyrna homes for sale.

Now, let’s look at the condo market.

One interesting item to note about the Smyrna Vinings trailing 12-month condo sales is that 2007 trend is completely different from the 2007 home sales trend. The 2007 condo sales trend was pretty flat throughout the year and actually ended the year a little higher than it started. 2008, hasn’t been quite as good, however.

We’re obviously seeing a continuing drop in the condos sold during 2008. The question will be whether the condo market will continue to worsen or will it start to level out. But once again, one of the important points to realize is that condos and townhomes are still selling, with 326 having sold in the twelve months through September 2008.

So if you’ve thought about selling, realize that you still can. But it’s important to work with a local real estate expert that understands the market, what sells and how to get it sold. If we can be of assistance in getting your Smyrna home sold, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Homes for Sale, Vinings Homes For Sale, Smyrna condos, Vinings Condos

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Smyrna Fine Arts Street Festival

This Saturday, October 17, 3 PM - 9PM

The city of Smyrna and the Smyrna Artists’ Business Association are hosting the Spirit Talk Art Walk Fine Arts Festival. The fall festival is a celebration of fine arts, story telling and street entertainment. Local artists will display their fine art throughout the streets of the Smyrna Market Village. Story tellers, street performers and musician will make this a fun, family event.

3:00 PM - 3:20 PM – Whitefield Academy Wolfpack Jazz Band
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM – Whitefield Academy Wolfpack Jazz Band
4:00 PM - 7:00 PM – Street performers
4:00 PM - 8:00 PM – Fortune Teller
4:00 PM Storytelling — Betty Ann Wylie - Folktales, Urban Legends, & Spine Tinglers Stories for the Season (Pre-K-5)
5:00 PM Storytelling — Sherry Norwalk -Spine Tinglers and Ticklers (Haunting Stories for stout-of-heart) (high-school-adult)
5:45 PM Storytelling — Tersi Bendiburg (GA legends/folktales) (high-school-adult)
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM – Wine Tasting (The Wine Cellars) - click here for more details
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM – Larry Griffith Band

Artists Exhibits

Come see local artists display their original fine art in the following categories:

* Fine art painting (oil, acrylic, watercolor etc.)
* Drawing (pen & ink, pencil, charcoal, archival inkjet)
* Printmaking (serigraph, lithograph, archival inkjet)
* Sculpture (metal, clay, stone, wood)
* Photography (wet process, archival inkjet)
* Ceramics (glass, pottery etc.)

Looks like it will be fantastic weather this weekend, so be sure to make it out to the first ever Smyrna Spirit Talk Art Walk Fine Arts Festival.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Events, Vinings Events, Spirit Talk Art Walk, Smyrna Market Village

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Thought I should provide some more insight into today’s Smyrna Vinings real estate market. We have not seen a better time in years to buy Smyrna Vinings homes than right now. With everything you see in the news these days, you may very well be shaking your head, ready to “switch the channel”.

I was able to attend the Atlanta Small Business Forum on Friday and economists Dr. Donald Sabbarese, PhD. and Dr. Roger Tutterow, PhD. were very insightful in covering the state of affairs regarding our local and national economy and also covered key aspects such as interest rates, Atlanta home prices and much more. I definitely want to touch on some of those points today.

We talk to a lot of home sellers and homebuyers here at SmyrnaVinings.com and certainly there are a lot of people that express issues about the economy, the financial crisis, gas prices, job security and on and on.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. The financial crisis that has occurred has clouded people’s perceptions of the economy. In reality, the economy is fundamentally sound. What we have seen is a financial crisis that created a lot of uncertainty, but an economy that has legs. As the financial issues get resolved and more liquidity returns to the marketplace, concerns will disappear quickly.

2. Roger Tutterow touched on consumer confidence and noted that consumer confidence in the Atlanta market is at its lowest point since the early 1980s when we had severe economic issues, high interest rates and high unemployment. And what he has isolated as one causal factor has been the rise in gas prices. As gas prices continued to increase, consumer confidence decreased. His point was simply that while gas prices have increased, in reality it represents such a small part of a family’s budget it really shouldn’t impact consumer confidence. However, when all we talk about is rising gas prices in the news, it creates a misguided perception about the state of our economy.

3. People have recently been talking about how our current state of affairs is similar to the Depression. Once again this appears to be a knee-jerk reaction and a misunderstanding of our current economy. The unemployment rate during the Depression exceeded 25% while our currently unemployment rate is around 6%. Another important point that Roger Tutterow pointed out was that the Fed is increasing liquidity to eliminate any sort of “run on the bank” that occurred during the Depression as the federal government tightened liquidity then.

4. People have to have a place to live. It’s basic, but it speaks volumes about Atlanta real estate and your decision to purchase a Smyrna Vinings home. Today there are 4.78 million people in the metro Atlanta area; it’s predicted there will be over 8 million by 2025.

5. Interest rates go up and interest rates go down, but you can always refinance when money is cheap. We are in a temporary situation in which it’s hard to find money for non-owner occupied properties and in which the public’s perception is that interest rates are high. Perception is not reality and interest rates, while volatile, are still at historically low levels. New loans are being closed daily; if you are a good borrower, loans are available.

6. Inflation is our friend. — Sounds crazy, but controlled inflation can be helpful in growing our economy. According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, “Over the long term, home prices tend to rise with commodity prices. And with prices for commodities such as oil, copper, steel and cement commanding sky-high prices, sooner or later the increasing costs of raw materials will push home prices higher. Consider housing to be the ultimate commodity. And as the oversupply may be keeping home prices low for now even as the cost of raw materials rises, the long-term home price equilibrium will shift to reflect the price of production and the cost of land.”

7. The tax benefits of real estate are, indeed, too good to be true. But they are true. The annual tax benefits of owning your personal home are significant and the exclusion of any gain on your primary residence when you sell it is the single greatest tax benefit out there.

8. You have to think about real estate as an investment, whether purchasing as your primary residence or holding as a rental property. And there is no greater investor to heed advice from than Warren Buffet. Consider his statement “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”

9. While you’ll never know when the market hits bottom until it has already happened and is rising again, most real estate experts project that the Atlanta real estate market has already hit bottom or is very close. This means right now presents one of the best opportunities for you to purchase a home and accumulate wealth. At the Atlanta Small Business Forum, Roger Tutterow felt that the Atlanta residential real estate market had hit bottom and you should expect to see significant improvement by the second and third quarter of 2009.

10. FORBES.com has ranked Atlanta as #9 on its list of cities most likely to see a rise in real estate values.

The basic rule of investing has never changed - buy low and sell high. Now is the time to buy. Period.

If our team can assist you with your real estate needs, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Homes for Sale, Vinings Homes For Sale, Smyrna real estate

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A lot of things have transpired to increase foreclosure rates of new and resale homes in Smyrna Vinings. If you’ve been looking for bargains, keep in mind that foreclosures can often create an excellent buying opportunity. Be warned, however, that not all foreclosures are created equal and foreclosures are not recommend for all buyers.

If you’d like to talk more about foreclosures, feel free to contact us and we can schedule some time to talk about your goals and how we can best help you. In the meantime, we’re going to be updating you weekly on foreclosure opportunities in the area, including lender-owned, investor-owned and other properties that are distressed. Keep in mind that this is a sampling of everything out there, but it will give you a good idea what to expect in the Smyrna Vinings foreclosure market. If you’d like additional information or to know what other Smyrna Vinings short-sale or foreclosure properties are available, just let us know.

But for now, this will give you some options for foreclosures and other distress properties:

Smyrna Vinings Foreclosure Properties

Cottages at Lois Pointe

Cottages at Parkview Village

Sherwood Park Homes

Sherwood Park Townhomes

Oakdale Preserve

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Foreclosures, Vinings Foreclosures, Smyrna Homes for Sale

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Becoming a homeowner often means acquiring a new skill set for many first-time homebuyers. If you could use a little hlep with the basics of home maintenance, then plan on attending the Whole House Maintenance Workshop on Saturday, November 1st from 9:45 to 10:45.

The event will be held in the community room at Fire Station 3 located at 2825 Park Road in Smyrna. The workshop is free, and registration is at 9am on the day of the event.

Presented by the City of Smyrna Housing Authority, the workshop will cover topics such as electrical systems, plumbing and HVAC. The Smyrna Fire Department and the Smyrna Police Department will also make presentations.

For additional information, please email questions along with a contact phone number to joeblande@bellsouth.net.