Short Sale Primer
I’ve written about short sales fairly extensively on this blog and have actually dealt with short sales and foreclosures more than a lot of my colleagues in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody. I have worked with clients in Buckhead and Sandy Springs who have tried to buy pre-forecosure and REO properties. I’ve seen some very good deals on Buckhead luxury properties. Although I’ve had some experience with short sales, the whole concept is still a fairly recent phenomenon that requires any Atlanta agent to continually search for more information. I found a great article by...
Read MoreThe best foreclosure deals
While there are many different ways to find great foreclosure deals in Atlanta, one of my favorite places to look are builder spec homes. When buying a foreclosure you still have to rely on the most basic adage in real estate: location. I would be hesitant to buy a home in a development that has a lot of foreclosures, as it will probably take a while to recover. The current market allows buyers to find deals in desirable locations, you just have to be patient, but be able to act quickly when the opportunity arises. Of the high-end communities in Atlanta; Buckhead, Dunwoody and Sandy...
Read MoreGeorgia homebuyer tax credit
I wrote about the Georgia home buyer tax credit a couple of weeks ago, but believe it needs mentioning again. While the Federal credit appears to have very little to do with economic stimulus and more to do with socioeconomic engineering, the Georgia tax credit is not limited by income or to first time home buyers. Since most of my business is in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, the federal tax credit is basically worthless to my clients and meaningless from a stimulus standpoint. Here is a link to some FAQs; it appears as if the only catch is the property needs to be financially...
Read MoreUpdate on Buckhead foreclosure
We are still going through renovations at our home. We closed on a Buckhead bank owned property April 9th and things are going a little slower than anticipated. The biggest unanticipated expense was the family of rodents living in our attic. The home was vacant for 12 months so there is nothing like rodent feces and urine piled up in 100-degree attic to make for a toxic environment. Arrow exterminators charged us $7,000 to have all the insulation removed and attic sanitized. The men went up in “hazmat” suits and respirators to perform this task. Oddly enough, it’s one of the few...
Read MoreThe one sided real estate contract – buying an REO
I’ve been blogging about my personal experience in buying a Buckhead foreclosure here in Atlanta, Georgia. There is so much to write about, it’s hard to know where to begin. When we finally went under contract on a bank-owned foreclosure, it was just the beginning of our journey into the depths of anxiety. The bank stated that our offer had been accepted, but we were not under contract, and then faxed us a 25 page addendum, that was five times as large as our original contract. It’s the most one-sided thing I ever read in my life (other than the other bank-owned real estate...
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