Load up the mini-vans, throw in the pack-n-play, don’t forget the stroller and move to Marietta, GA! BusinessWeek magazine in its November 10 edition named Marietta the second best place to raise children in Georgia among towns with at least 50,000 residents and an average family income between $40,000 and $100,000. Marietta was chosen based [...]
Archive | November, 2008
North Georgia Lakes at Record Lows
Although it doesn’t make the headlines on the local news anymore, the election and economy have taken front stage, we still have a serious water problem in North Metro Atlanta. Drought conditions continue to grow harsher across north Georgia. Water levels in reservoirs and streams are at or near record lows across most of the [...]
Atlanta Real Estate Investment Market: Underpriced by 37%
This is not another “Now is a Great Time to Buy” real estate article. It’s just some simple facts of the Atlanta real estate investor grade market. Investor grade is a starter-home property ready and suitable for renting or resale. The analysis was conducted by a third party company, PortReal, LLC. PortReal benchmarks investor grade [...]
Auto Industry Execs can Fly Private Jets to Cherokee County
Since FAA funded the Cherokee County Airport expansion ahead of schedule, we now have enough runway length (4,100′) to land private jets. It would have been a better PR move for the Auto Executives to fly into our newly paved runway in Ball Ground, GA and then drive up to Washington in their fuel-efficient automobiles. While we’re on this subject, it is worth noting that they already owned the private jet and they did bring lots of people with them. It probably would have cost more to fly them all commercial and/or drive to Washington. Either way, it was bad PR move to show up in a private jet.
Wachovia Declares Recession in November Economic Report
The first paragraph of Wachovia‘s Report is a tough one, but I think a first real honest look at where we are in today’s market…. A Serious Recession Has Set In While the NBER will not likely get around to declaring when a recession began until late January or early February, there is little doubt [...]
Residential real estate investments beat the stock market
As bad as the housing collapse has been in America, the stock market collapse has been worse. And not for just the past year plus, but for the past 10 years. PortReal, LLC, publishes real estate investment reports and provides custom analysis for investors and industry professionals. Here are their findings: On average, residential real [...]
Real Estate Strategy: Buy & Hold (even if it hurts right now)
I know many homeowners are upside down in their mortgage, meaning you owe more to the bank than your home is worth in today’s market. Don’t panic. Don’t force a sale. Don’t do anything, except keep making your payments – even if it’s hard to do so. Cut back on everything else in your life and keep making payments on your house.
Haste Makes Litigation Waste: Poor Drafting Renders Option to Purchase Unenforceable, guest post by Justin Daniels
Blackberries, text messaging and instant messaging have resulted in a culture that worships speed at the expense of precision. I see this effect every day when people explain transactions to me that they wish to pursue only to leave out important details that they either had not considered or were in their head and did [...]
Another Point of Light, guest post by Brian Dubuc
Recent news stories about the federal plan to support the U.S. financial system explain that the Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen has shifted the focus of this effort from purchasing suspect mortgage backed securities to other non-real estate backed securities and bank capitalization. The question is why? If you are looking for that pony in the [...]
Woodstock GA: Ridgewalk Interchange Gets Funding from DOT
The future of Ridgewalk in Woodstock looks brighter for the long-term. Granted we’re still in a real estate downturn and commercial real estate will definitely get worse before it gets better, but Woodstock can now see a future with a better way around town, improved access to I-575 and high-end retail.