Now is a great time to buy a home in the Smyrna Vinings community. And we’ve just made it even better. In conjunction with our Smyrna Vinings business partners, we are offering a buyer bonus in excess of $4,000 on the purchase of your next home.

So if you are thinking about buying a home, townhome or condo in the Smyrna Vinings community, you’ll want to contact us ASAP to make sure you’re registered for the program.

This program applies to not only Smyrna Vinings homes, condos and townhomes for resale but also new construction. Certain restrictions due apply, so click here to learn more about this exciting Smyrna Vinings homebuyer program.

Quantities are limited, so don’t delay. Here are some of our participating Smyrna Vinings businesses.

Don’t miss this opportunity. And even if you’re not in the market for a new home, be sure to let all your friends know about this program.

If you have any questions about this exciting program, be sure to contact us.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Vinings Homebuyer Program, Smyrna Vinings Ultimate Welcoming Gift, Smyrna Vinings Real Estate, Smyrna Vinings Homebuyer Bonus

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We realize that many of you in the Smyrna Vinings area are in the process of purchasing a new home, thinking about purchasing a new home or just mulling over the idea. We thought it would be helpful to bring in a guest columnist to provide you with weekly mortgage rate updates.

So we’ve asked Bob Bregitzer with Innovative Mortgage Solutions to provide you with a quick weekly update. Bob has been in the mortgage industry for over 10 years and is also a Certified Public Accountant, which means he has a lot of experience and a strong financial background.

So without further adieu, here is the Mortgage Rate Update for the Week of July 21, 2008.

Week in review:

My clients sometimes tell me that watching mortgage rates is like watching an out of control roller coaster. While I feel the same way, this past week felt more like watching a cannonball being shot out of a cannon straight into the air.

It’s been a rough week for home loan rates. The week started out with several economic reports showing inflation is still high and a concern for the Fed. Inflation is the enemy of mortgage rates – high inflation causes higher rates. Overall, rates increased by about .375% from the beginning of the week.

What to expect:

Home loan rates are as high as we have seen in a year, just about matching the high mark from July 2007. Although there are no inflation reports this week, inflation concerns will continue to weigh on the financial markets and mortgage rates. If the stock market continues its rally from last week, expect rates to get worse.

For rates to reverse the trend, there needs to a catalyst. Economic reports this week are expected to show weakness and may offset the effects of inflation on rates. If those reports are much worse than expectations, we could see a reversal.

Breg-ometer:

Next 7 days: Neutral
Next 30 days: Neutral
Next 90 days: Higher

Bob Bregitzer
www.bobbregitzer.com

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Vinings Real Estate, Smyrna Vinings Mortgages, Atlanta Mortgages

For the Bad MLS Photo of the Week, I came across not one, but lots of really bad photos and they’re all for the same home.

Not good when you’re trying to sell your home. The home has been on the market for almost three months in a popular Smyrna Vinings neighborhood. But the big problem is that 92% of homebuyers start their home search on the Internet. Not sure that these pictures are going to get any buyer to walk away from their computer and run out the door to go check this Smyrna home out.

Perhaps the agent was so enamored with their camera phone, they decided that they could take high-quality property photos with their phone. But in the end, I don’t really know what is more amazing, whether it’s the fact that the agent hasn’t noticed how bad the photos are or the fact that the home seller hasn’t noticed.

For an added bonus this week, I hope you noticed that I spiced up the feature with music. I picked “You’re Going to Miss This” by Trace Adkins, which I thought was appropriate. It’s very likely that lots of potential homebuyers have missed this one. (FYI - To hear the song, you’ll have to hover over the slide menu, then click on the speaker icon at the top of the iPhone, otherwise it might scare everyone away from the site that doesn’t like country music)

If you’re thinking about selling your home, make sure you hire a professional, experienced and knowledgeable Realtor that specializes in your area. It can make the difference between your home sitting or selling. And there’s nothing more painful than your home just sitting on the market.

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

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I recently got to experience the Vinings new Quiet Zone in person as I was first in line when the train came through.

The quiet zone is based on the installation of a four-quadrant gate system (which you can actually see above) at the crossing to fully block traffic from entering the crossing when the gates are lowered. This system includes at least one gate for each direction of traffic on each approach.

A four-quadrant gate system is meant to prevent a motorist from entering the oncoming lane of traffic to avoid a fully lowered gate in the motorist’s lane of traffic. Because an additional gate would also be fully lowered in the other lane of the road, the motorist would be fully blocked from entering the crossing. (That somewhat wordy description is courtesy of The Federal Railroad Administration, but the following diagram probably gives you a better idea.)

So as I continued to sit there, I realized that indeed it is a Quiet Zone. The train didn’t blast its horn, which didn’t mean that much to me at the time since I wasn’t trying to sleep, but obviously a nice plus for those when they are. And if you’re hanging out at NY Pizza, you may still be able to talk on your cell phone.

However, I have been getting inquiries about regarding the Quiet Zone, specifically related to why people are still hearing the train horns. Is it perhaps that they have supersonic hearing and can detect the horn blows from some distant crossing?

As it turns out, they’re just normal everyday humans (no superpowers) and that the train is still blowing its horn. As you may remember from the previous post on the Vinings Quiet Zone, there are two crossings that were planned to have the new quadrant gates installed, Paces Ferry Road and Woodland Brook Drive. Unfortunately, there is a third, little known crossing in Vinings at Paradise Shoals Road.

There will not be a new quadrant gate system installed at Paradise Shoals Road, rather the road is planned to be realigned to eliminate the crossing completely. According to the Cobb Department of Transportation, which is handling the project, there have been some property issues that needed resolved and this has pushed the project back. The realignment project is currently slated to begin in March of 2009.

Expect future access to this land, which will be redeveloped in the coming years, to be provided from Settlement Road off of Woodland Brook Drive.

View Larger Map

So just a few more months and you should all be able to sleep peacefully in the Vinings. In the meantime, if you have any other questions on the Smyrna Vinings area, feel free to contact us.

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We try to offer you the best and most efficient tools to make sure your Smyrna Vinings home search is successful. For years, agents have been using flyers outside of homes to provide buyers with information on the home.

We’ve come up with a better solution for you, the home buyer. Rather than looking for flyers in the flyer box and finding it empty, the flyers soggy or flyers with bad pictures, outdated information, etc., wouldn’t it be better if you could search for all the information from your cell phone.

SmyrnaVinings.com is excited to announce the ability for you to search for all the homes currently listed on the Multiple Listing Service via your cell phone. You will be able to get instant, updated access pulled directly from the Multiple Listing Service via your cell phone. No more having to search for flyers.

And unlike the wireless web or text messaging, HomeSearchbyPhone works on every phone.

With SmyrnaVinings.com’s HomeSearchbyPhone, you’ll get one phone number and you can use that to get information on every home on the market. It can’t get any easier or more convenient than that. How the program works:

1. Send us an email with your Name, Cellphone # and Email address.

2. We’ll register you in the program and send you your exclusive phone number to use for searching for any home on the market. (Tip: Save the number to your speed dial for easy access.)

3. When you’re driving around and curious about a home, simply call your exclusive phone number, enter the street number and street name and you will immediately receive an automated recording of all the details of the home, including any recent price reductions. No more hassle.

4. In addition, you will also receive an email with a summary of any properties that you have called about that day.

This is just another way that the real estate team here at SmyrnaVinings.com is trying to use the latest technological advances to make your Smryna Vinings real estate purchase is a success!

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

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Homes for Sale, Vinings Homes for Sale, Home Search by Phone, Atlanta Real Estate

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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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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:

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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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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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