How to Not Sell Your Atlanta GA Home
Posted: September 7th, 2008
Category: Atlanta Real Estate, For Sale By Owners, Home Sellers
WAYS TO SABOTAGE THE SALE OF YOUR HOUSE
You have your Atlanta home for sale, but you love it and have wonderful memories. We understand that you might not want to sell, and that you may need assistance in achieving that goal. We usually help people sell their Atlanta homes, but we understand when people don’t want to sell. And in an effort to help everyone we thought we would share with you all the things that you can do to ensure no serious Atlanta buyers show interest in your home for sale:
- List the Atlanta house yourself and be sure to advertise only in the newspaper.
- If you do use an Atlanta Realtor, then don’t believe any advice they give.
- Instead, get selling tips from your uncle, your dentist, or the guy next door.
- Avoid doing any market research and just price the home on what you “feel” is a correct price.
- Explain to your Atlanta Realtor that the commission will be cut for Buyer’s Agents.
- Don’t allow a lock box, which will mean that your Agent will have to escort each prospective buyer through your Atlanta home. This is instead of allowing a buyer’s agent to show the home. This will cut down on the number of people who see your home.
- Don’t allow a for sale sign to be placed in front of your Atlanta home. That way if there is a prospective buyer driving buy they won’t know your home is for sale.
- Keep your Atlanta house messy – that way if your agent springs a showing on you the prospective buyer will not be able to see the home through all the clutter.
- For goodness sake, don’t stage the house or clean up the outside of your Atlanta home. If you do that then your home might invite an offer.
- Stay home during an open house and follow the buyers through each and every room so you don’t give them a second to themselves.
- Should that dreaded offer be made, don’t negotiate at all. Stick to your guns and your Atlanta house will certainly not sell.
Of course this article is tongue-in-cheek, but hopefully it will demonstrate to you some of the pitfalls that might befall you if you are not careful. If you have selected a Realtor you trust and have confidence then you are well served to follow their advice. If you have not found that Realtor, please call us today at (678) 741-2060.
4 Reasons To Buy an Atlanta Area Home before October 1st, 2008!
Posted: August 16th, 2008
Category: Atlanta Real Estate, Marietta Real Estate, Roswell Real Estate, Woodstock Real Estate, real estate news, tips, tools & tech
4 Reasons to Buy a Home before October 1st, 2008!
$7500 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit
Atlanta First Time home buyers can receive a $7500 credit on their 2008 returns for purchasing a home between April 2008 and July 2009. So, in addition to your itemized deductions you will receive for being a homeowner, there is another $7500 to reduce your income just by purchasing a home.
Sunset Date for Nehemiah Down payment Assistance is September 30, 2008.
The Nehemiah Downpayment Assistance program is one of the few ways to have a seller pay for part of your down payment. Sellers have always had the ability to pay closing costs. However, the ability to actually make part of the down payment has been a questionable practice where many of these amounts were paid after closing or POC (Paid Outside of closing). At any rate, this program ends on Sept 30, 2008 so if you need help with a down payment you should get moving.
Call me if you have any questions!
FHA Free-Money
The FHA has set up a 5 to 1 matching down payment grant up to a total amount of $10,000. This program is based on family income level and is reflective of the county that you live. However, if you want to purchase a home, this may be the best way to get FREE MONEY. Government Grants!
Change in FHA Down payment Requirement
Though most of us are not familiar with FHA loans, today (post mortgage meltdown) these loans tend to be the most available mortgages. The US government has raised the lending limits of all government sponsored mortgages which makes the FHA very useful for home purchases of $200,000 to $400,000. However, most FHA’s in the past required a 3% down payment. Though you now know that sellers can pay this for you or even the government, the rate will now change from 3% to 3.5% for all loans after October 1, 2008.
If you have questions about these programs as they relate to Atlanta Real Estate you can call or e-mail me. Even though I do specialize in commercial, I do locate and represent residential properties.
Just ask!
My mortgage broker, and friend, is one of the most knowledgeable originators in the country and so any questions you may have will answered ASAP! According to the FHA, a “First Time Homebuyer” is anyone who has never owned a home, or has not owned a home in 3 years.
Lassiter High School- “A Tour of Cobb County’s Finest Schools”
Posted: July 23rd, 2008
Category: Atlanta Real Estate, Marietta Real Estate
The first stop on the tour of Cobb County’s finest schools is Lassiter High School.
Lassiter High School is located at 2601 Shallowford Rd, Marietta, GA. 30066 in East Cobb County.
With a population of over 2,000 students, Lassiter High School has a reputation for being one of the best high schools in the Cobb County School District and in the state of Georgia. According to Principal, Chris Shaw, stated in a message from the Princpal, “Our mission is to educate each and every student and to better prepare him or her for the world beyond Lassiter High School. ” He also boasts that “The variety and level of our course offerings are without fail the most impressive aspect of Lassiter High School. Our emphasis is to encourage all students to take courses that challenge them to push their academic limits. Because of this and more, Lassiter was recognized in 2007 as an Advanced Placement Demonstration School in Cobb County. We offer more than twenty Advance Placement courses for our students and therefore
better prepare our students for the rigor of college. “ See more of Principal Shaw’s message.
Here are some important facts about that make Lassiter shine:
* Advanced Placement Certified Demostration School
* A”Distinguished” school- making adequate progress for 3 or more consecutive years.
* Received the 2007 Gold Award for Highest Percentage of Students Meeting and Exceeding Standards.
* Average 2006-2007 Total SAT Score for High School Seniors (Reflects Most Recent Scores for Verbal, Math and Writing)
at the School, System, State, and National Levels
School- 1636
System- 1534
State- 1458
Nation- 1495
See All Georgia/National Test Results
* 2007 Hope Scholarship Stats- 492 graduates, 275 graduates eligibal, 55.9% eligibal
* 2007 Graduation rate for all students- 94.6%
Not only are academics a priority at Lassiter, but so are Athletics and Student Activities. Lassiter offers 12 interscholastic sports for boys and 13 interscholastic sports for girls, including competitive cheerleading. Lassiter is also widely known for it’s award winning marching Band! You also cannot forget about the newly re-energized football staudium, which has renovated artificial turf and one of the largest jumbo tron scoreboards in the country. These improvements were all accomplished by private funds from the Lassiter Foundation and SPLOST II.
If you are looking for a great school for your family to attend, make sure to think about Lassiter High School. Your children will receive a well rounded education in an environment that is productive for future success. Remember, not only is Lassiter a great school, but so are Lassiter’s feeder schools.
If you would like more information on Marietta Real Estate, East Cobb Real Estate, Cobb County Real Estate, or East Cobb Swim/Tennis Communities, please contact me!
Helpful Links:
Lassiter Athletic Championships
GOSA (Governor’s Office of Student Affairs) 2006-2007 Report Card
East Cobb Swim/Tennis Communities
Local Available Marietta Real Estate in the Lassiter High School District
Cherokee Co. Considers Floating Homestead
Posted: July 10th, 2008
Category: Atlanta Real Estate
The July 15th Primary Ballot contains a referendum for the purpose of establishing a “floating” homestead exemption.
An Act to Amend Property Assessments- House Bill 1269
“Shall the Act be approved which provides a homestead exemption from Cherokee County ad valorem taxes for county purposes in an amount equal to the amount by which the current year assessed value of a homestead exceeds the base year assessed value of such homestead?”
What Does it Mean to Homeowners?
The simple purpose of this measure is to protect homeowners, who occupy their home, from increased assessments. If approved by voters, property owners who receive a “homestead” exemption will have such exemption increase dollar for dollar with any increase in assessment. Thereby creating a “floating” homestead exemption.
This floating homestead exemption would only apply to the portion of a homeowners tax bill associated with county or city government. It does not impact the portion of the tax bill associated with the local school system.
The practical effect of this measure is to freeze the assessment portion of the property tax formula for homeowners. Under this plan a homeowners property tax would only go up if the local governing body votes to raise the tax (millage) rate. Again, it is important to note, this does not pertain to the school funding portion of a homeowner’s property tax. It is also limited to homestead properties. Commercial and other non-homestead properties, do not qualify.
I’d love to hear what our readers think on a floating homestead for Cherokee?
Maxsell hires Service Oriented Agents
Posted: June 20th, 2008
Category: Atlanta Real Estate
Maxsell Real Estate has never advertised to recruit agents. We built our model to succeed with a small number of Realtors. We are not a multi-level marketing gimmick, we don’t hire for numbers, we never go for quantity over quality and quite frankly…we are snobbish about who we hire. We only want individuals with the utmost integrity. We care less about production level and more about service level to each and every client.
It is with these thoughts and goals in mind that Maxsell has accepted the license of 4 new agents to join our company in the past month. Maxsell is proud to announce the hiring of Leah Smith, Lisa Murad, Sydney Ray and Kevin Warmath. No, we didn’t have a job fair or start a hiring ad campaign. These agents came to Maxsell because of our professional relationships and our combination of quality service and trusted value.
Maxsell is proud to have professionals from other brokerage firms choose us as the best place to deliver quality service to their clients. Our recent hires were non-discriminatory to other brokers, they came from many different firms. Leah Smith joined us from Exit Realty, Lisa Murad came over from Prudential Georgia Realty, Sydney Ray and Kevin Warmath left Keller Williams to grow their team at Maxsell Real Estate.
I consider it a compliment for them to choose Maxsell as their brokerage and I hope they view our acceptance of their license as a compliment in return. We don’t hire everyone and we don’t hire just anyone.
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