Now that the first half of the year is behind us, time to kick off the second half of the year with a fan favorite. I just ran across this picture when searching for a client.

Now, while the picture itself isn’t that great as it doesn’t really show much of the room, it does beg the question. And that question is…

how many people actually turn their heads sideways to even look at the picture?

If you’re thinking about selling your Smyrna Vinings home, is this how you want it marketed???

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Real Estate,   Vinings Real Estate,   Bad MLS Photo of the Week

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We have a lot of fun writing about the Smyrna Vinings community and it’s great to know that so many people actually find the information we provide useful and helpful. SmyrnaVinings.com has become so popular, we have been ranked a Top 100 real estate blog.

We’re thrilled to be ranked in the Top 100 real estate blogs in the country. Obviously, this list includes lots of national sites and also large metro sites. SmyrnaVinings.com is a little different as we focus on a very tight niche of just the Smyrna Vinings community, which has a population of 121,737.

Most amazing of all is that we actually rank higher than any other Georgia or Atlanta real estate blog. This is nice recognition, but it also shows you the significant exposure that SmyrnaVinings.com can provide.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Vinings real estate, SmyrnaVinings.com, Top 100 Real Estate Blogs

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Upward Sports Fans,

Upward Sports Ministry is excited to announce registration is open for their 2008 Flag Football and Cheerleading league sponsored by FBC Smyrna.

They are pleased to offer another year of building character, learning sports, having fun, and growing closer to God (not only for our children, but for our parents, coaches, and community).

By registering early (during July), you help them plan more efficiently for a winning season. You are encouraged to register online at www.smyrnafirst.org/upward/upward.htm. Additional information is available at the Upward Sports website along with a downloadable registration form if you don’t want to register online.

Deadline for registration is August 9, 2008.

Click here to learn more about all Smyrna Vinings sports programs.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Sports Program, Upward Flag Football, Upward Cheerleading

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The Crossings at Four Corners Update

Thanks to Ben for the recent inquiry regarding The Crossings at Four Corners. There certainly have been more vacancies recently. You typically a property appear to deteriorate further before being redeveloped. As covered in the January update, The Crossings at Four Corners was purchased by Tri-Land Properties out of Chicago along with several outparcels in front of the shopping center in December of 2006.

The company has been working on several options and no final plans have been completed as of yet, but they are getting close. According to the company, they will working on lining up new tenants and should expect to have a finalized plan within the next 6-9 months and then start the redevelopment. This project will most likely mean a complete raze of the current structures due to functional obsolescence and a brand new concept replacing the current shopping center.

Above is a illustration of a possible plan for the Smyrna redevelopment project. Additionally, you can check out a proposed site plan for the project below (click on the site plan to enlarge).

Needless to say, Smyrna residents are eager to see the redevelopment of this parcel of land due to its high-profile and high impact on the future of this area of the city. Hopefully, the redevelopment of one corner will lead to redevelopment of the other corners as well. I will certainly keep everyone updated as I learn more about this property.

And keep the questions coming. It’s always great to hear what you want to find out about our community. Just click the button below to email us your questions.

Technorati Tags: The Crossings at Four Corners, Smyrna Real Estate, Smyrna Redevelopment, Smyrna Georgia

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As I was writing about Vinings home sales last week and while disagreeing with the AJC’s take on the Vinings home market, I realized that the name Vinings has long had a value placed on it, which obviously explains why so many neighborhoods not located in the Vinings use the name of Vinings.

At SmyrnaVinings.com, we provide information on over three hundred home, condo and townhome neighborhoods. So the question is, just how many neighborhoods use the term Vinings? As noted in last week’s post, you can see that 14 out of 35 actual neighborhoods in Vinings, use it in their neighborhood name. So how many other neighborhoods in the Smyrna Vinings area use the term Vinings?

Well, I just did a quick tally and a whopping 56 additional neighborhoods use the term Vinings in the name of their neighborhood. That means over 20% of all the neighborhoods in Smyrna Vinings use Vinings in their moniker. Here are all the additional “Vinings” neighborhoods not actually in the Vinings.

The use of the term Vinings is obviously abundant and spreads across all spectrums, from million dollar luxury homes to $100,000 condos. Does it increase the allure of the neighborhood, create a premium for the property? No, not really, but people just love Vinings.

Technorati Tags: Vinings, Vinings Real Estate, Smyrna Vinings Neighborhoods

A recent survey and a rate increase could mean more competition for homes

Recent indication is that first time home buyers are getting tired of sitting on the sidelines. According to a recent online poll taken by the National Apartment Association, 17 percent of renters plan to make the jump to home ownership in the next year; 41 percent of the 2,041 respondents planned to be home owners within two years. Only 31 percent planned to still be paying rent five years from now.

Another factor that could very soon contribute to an increase in home buying could be rising mortgage costs. Fixed-rate mortgage rates rose to 6.32 percent, the highest it has been since October. After months of aggressively dropping interest rates, many lenders are worried that the Fed will be forced to raise rates back up. As interest rates rise, so do mortgage rates.

According to a press release on freddiemac.com, Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist said that, “Mortgage rates jumped this week after a number of Federal Reserve officials, most notably Chairman [Ben] Bernanke and Vice Chair [Donald] Kohn, expressed concern over a threat of inflation.” We may very well be seeing the beginning of the end of the super-low mortgage and potential buyers may realize that with rising rates, now may be the time to jump in. Nothaft added, “Moreover, pending home sales for April unexpectedly rose by 6.3% and mortgage applications for home purchases … were also up last week.”

If you’re undecided on whether it’s the right time to buy your new home, feel free to contact us for a complimentary homebuyer consultation.

Technorati Tags: Interest Rate Update, Homebuyer Trends, Smyrna Real Estate, Vinings Real Estate

Vinings Home Sales Update

As a general rule, I’ve been telling people to ignore the newspapers as many of their stats are usually based on metro, state or even national trends, which can be heavily impacted by factors not relevant in your local Smyrna Vinings real estate market.

Last Sunday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution proclaimed that “Vinings home sales hot in frigid market“. So I’m sure you’re probably thinking I should change my stance on newspapers. Not only was the headline positive about the local market, but it also used local stats.

But I can always poke a whole in their analysis.They do mention that they’re not really talking about Vinings, but rather the 30339 zip code. But that is the last time in the article that they mention this. The article mentions that home prices increased 57% and the number of units sold increased by 21.5%. But the majority of the article tried to hone in on the mystique of Vinings, the allure of Vinings and why it was kicking real estate butt when much of the Atlanta market was down.

In reality, they covered an area much larger than “true” Vinings according to the Vinings Homeowners Association. It was more the general concept of Vinings, that also includes the Cumberland and Wildwood areas of 30339 while also excluding the portion of Vinings that is in the 30080 zip code.

According to the Vinings Homeowners Association, “the northern-most part of Vinings is that area along and south of Stillhouse Road and Ranch Road, west of Cobb Parkway, and east of the railroad tracks. Vinings then includes all of the residential areas in Cobb County down to the Chattahoochee River, and then to the west up to the railroad tracks and then across to include all of the homeowners along Log Cabin Drive between Plant Atkinson Road and Cameron Place“, which is depicted in the shaded area of the following map:

View Larger Map
Given the fact that true Vinings is actually a pretty small area that doesn’t tend to have any new construction, thus making it difficult to have a huge surge in home sales or home prices, I ran the statistics from the First Multiple Listing Service for the actual neighborhoods in Vinings. What I found was that home and condo sales decreased by 6% from 2006 to 2007 and prices decreased 14% on average. This is a stark contrast from the AJC which stated home sales increased 21.5% and prices increased 57%.

The neighborhoods included in “Vinings” as defined by the HOA are:

So what does this mean and why as your local real estate guru am I telling you this?

I simply want you to be aware that Vinings by itself is not immune to the current real estate market as much as the AJC led people to believe. Their statistics were heavily affected not by traditional resales, but by new construction in the Vinings area defined as 30339, with much of the positive impact coming from the wildly popular One Vinings Mountain and other new neighborhoods such as Rivers Call at Wildwood, Greystone at Vinings, Riverwalk at Wildwood, Flats at Riverwalk and Vinings Overlook.

I guess what is most important to realize is if you really want to know what is going on in the local Smyrna Vinings real estate market, ask your trusted local real estate advisor. They certainly understand the local market better than anyone at the national or metro levels.

Technorati Tags: Vinings Real Estate, Wildwood Homes, Cumberland Homes, Vinings Homes for Sale

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It’s always interesting to see what we come across in the real estate world. This has nothing to do with Smryna Vinings real estate, but is interesting, none the less.

A Tale of Two Houses

House #1 A 20-room mansion ( not including 8 bathrooms ) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool ( and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. per month. In natural gas alone, this property co nsumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern “snow belt” area. It’s in the South.

House #2 Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet ( 4 bedrooms ) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.

The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summe r. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000-gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the hou se. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

Now, for the clincher:

HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville , Tennessee ; it is the abode of the “environmentalist” Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford ,Texas; is the residence of the President of the United States ,
George W. Bush.

Is this an “inconvenient truth?”

You can verify it at:http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

Sometimes I’m amazed at the lack of photography skills of most real estate agents, which resulted in the Bad MLS Photo of the week series. But what amazes me even more are the homes that don’t have pictures or perhaps one picture.

What is that old saying, let me think. Something to do with pictures…something to do with words…Oh, I think I remember.

“A picture is worth a thousand words”

Not just being your average Realtor, I’ll now try to amaze you with my math skills. This is just hypothetical, but follow me on this one. If a property has no pictures, is the agent saying that the home isn’t even worth a thousand words vs. a home with twelve pictures (maximum permitted in the multiple listing system) is worth 12,000 words. Obviously, if the agent isn’t excited about the property, how many buyers are going to be lining up to look at the home.

Through the variety of media sources that agents use to promote their properties, we are somewhat limited on the amount of space we have to write about a property. Thus the beauty of being able to provide pictures as well. As a general rule, buyers looking at homes online, tend to just move on if there aren’t any pictures or not many or just really bad ones (which does seem to happen occasionally).

So perhaps if we required every agent to own a camera and take a course on photography, we might see home sales increase. You may be sensing my frustration level. And basically this little ditty is the result of a home search that I just ran for a client in Smyrna.

The search resulted in 44 homes, of which 7 properties only had one picture and 4 properties didn’t have any pictures. So once again, let me amaze you with my math skills. That is 25% of the homes that had no more than one picture. And of the 44 homes, only 4, or 9%, had virtual tours.

I kind of feel sorry for the sellers. I’m not sure, but I don’t think this is what is meant by stealth marketing.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Real Estate, Vinings Real Estate, Bad MLS Photo of the Week

I’m often asked how do we do it? How has SmyrnaVinings.com become the go-to resource for everything in Smyrna Vinings from homes to restaurants to local events and the latest scoop on new developments, while at the same time being a top real estate team at the #1 real estate office in Smyrna Vinings, Keller Williams.

The secret is called time-blocking. We set our daily priorities and allocate the appropriate amount of time to ensure that the most important tasks get accomplished during the day. Just to give you some insight, here’s a quick video that depicts what a normal day in our office is like.

So hopefully the video was able to answer some of the questions we are frequently asked. In fact, if people would stop asking, we’d have even more time for blogging.

But seriously, while we love to provide information on the Smyrna Vinings community, our main goal is to provide the highest level of professional real estate service to our clients. So if you’re thinking about buying a new home or perhaps considering selling your home and moving up to that dream home, we’d be glad to meet with you and discuss your real estate needs, wants and wishes. Contact us today!

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Real Estate, Vinings Real Estate

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