Amazing price on 2BR/2BA end unit condo in Decatur!

Know anyone working with CDC or Emory that would love about 1,100 square feet of quiet enjoyment... for $159,900? Wow!!! This lovely end unit condo is perfect for the Emory grad student, first time home buyer, CDC scientist -- or anyone else wanting to have a condo near downtown Decatur. Just will not last at this price!!!

Atlanta home values

I have set up a great tool to help you monitor prices and values in Atlanta -- by zip code or neighborhood. This site will update you monthly with a snapshot of which type of homes are selling, at what price... and how long a particular house has been on the market. You can even view a graph depicting asking price vs. selling price, which can be eye-opening for many homeowners who might be working with a realtor less than educated in how to correctly price their home to sell.

Just go to www.AtlantaRealEstateMarket.info and you can enter your address to receive a detailed market snapshot of your neighborhood... or any other neighborhood where you may be interested in buying a home!

Holding...penalty -- 3 years!

Three years is the estimate that most are throwing about in reference to the question: "How long will it be before the Atlanta market gets rid of these foreclosures?!?" Most real estate professionals are already ringing the bell, advising their clients that holding on to homes waiting for the smoke to clear will bring worse consequence than taking a loss now and moving up. I listened to a very reputable and brilliant executive from Bank of America today forewarning a group of top realtors of the tidal wave of foreclosures that are to come. You've heard the old saying... it's gonna get worse before it gets better? Banks have been holding out on releasing these inventories, for various reasons. But they can't hold out forever. You better have your friend Katie go ahead and bar that door. Think it's tough now to sell a home? Just imagine looking down your street and seeing 5,6,7 or more signs with the words FORECLOSURE on them. If you have friends in Florida, they have likely already sent you photos from their iPhone having lived through this themselves.

For a peek at what these distressed sales are already looking like in Midtown, Buckhead, Ormewood Park, Virginia Highland and Morningside, go to http://www.realtorbestbuys.com/.

My advice to those looking for bigger space remains the same....sell now or forever (or at least it will feel that way) hold your peace.

Slowly but surely!

Many economists are already referencing some early indications of price stabilization. (Even though we're off 8.5% over last year's median price.) Sales of existing homes reported up 9.2% for September! This means that at some price, EVERYTHING WILL SELL! We would rather see this continued absorption of home supply than to worry about short-term losses in home values. It's what I've been saying all along -- even if you are "losing" money by selling right now, chances are you are "making" money on whatever you are buying! We do need a steady supply of qualified buyers to continue to bring these neighborhood inventories down and return us to a period of normal, steady price growth. This will serve to further calm all those unbridled consumer fears -- and that will revive the broader economy! See how it all works together?!?! Hang in there, Atlanta. Slowly but surely, we will recover.

Price reductions for the week -- homes in Morningside

Good evening! For those following my new weekly reports on Intown home sales in Atlanta, great news to report. Whether you are tracking trends on 3 bedroom homes in Virginia Highland or 2 bedroom bungalows in East Atlanta Village, I will keep you up to date.

This week's focus is the neighborhood of Morningside, near Midtown Atlanta. I have visited these homes and found 4 price reductions of note for the week of October 12th - 19th in the Morningside area. These showcased homes for sale in Morningside are:

1590 West Sussex Road - reduced to $929,000

• This is a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath traditional cape cod style home with tons of light and Northeast style charm.

1743 Johnson Road - reduced to $699,000

• This is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath tudor-style home with a lovely pool.

1034 Amsterdam Avenue NE - reduced to $595,000

• WOW!! This 3 bedroom, 2 bath home is a garden cottage style and originally priced at $743,000. What a dramatic reduction!

585 Pelham Road - reduced to $415,000

• This is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home that is much larger than it looks.

For more information on these Morningside homes for sale, click on the link below.

http://fmlslistings.marketlinx.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?emailGUID=15690f04-9683-4490-8144-d4f6e6ed68c8&AgentId=KELLUMJ

The bigger the bubble... the bigger the POP!!!

We have much to be thankful for. Like the fact that we did not lose 30% in value in the past 12 months. Oy vey! Miami is hurting and will take 7-10 years to recover. But apparently there's a new way to make money in the condo market in Miami.... become an atty and sue! http://tinyurl.com/yf7yp3k

On your mark... get set... RESET!!!

We all saw this coming. The Atlanta condo inventory that no one seems to talk about, like the Midtown projects The Atlantic and Luxe. Huge monoliths of eerie silence that stretch to the Atlanta sky. But now the cat is out of the bag. Corus Bank's failure is going to reshape the already trimmed landscape of the Atlanta condo market. They had about 2,000 condo units being financed during the construction phase... with about 80% that remain unsold. Scary. So... the FDIC stepped in and auctioned the loan portfolio, with Starwood Capital Group being the winning bid. The resolutions to these loans (aka. price cuts) is predicted to cause a sort of knee-jerk reaction, as other banks start to pull the foreclosure trigger on projects in those market spaces. My friend Uri Vaknin was quoted in the Atlanta Business Chronicle when asked about the cut in condo prices that is to come - - "This is going to reset the market, but I think this is a really positive thing for the Atlanta market."

My advice? If you are thinking of selling in order to take advantage of a "move-up" opportunity to get a bigger place while prices are low, you could end up disappointed if you wait to sell your existing condo -- thinking the market will return next year. You can't sell high and buy low in this market. Take a smaller loss now and buy bigger for less... and you will come out ahead in the long run.