Atlanta Real Estate Market Red Hot This Week.

Contracts to buy and sell real estate have been flying through my email account this week.  Buyers have lighted up my inbox with sales contracts.  Some sales contracts are offers on houses for buyers I represent.  I have also received sales contracts from buyers making offers on English Team listings.

The past 7 days have been a frenzy of activity. Unfortunately, this activity has not been evenly spread as some listings are getting a bunch of showings and others are getting none.  It is not hard to predict that most offers on English Team listings came in on properties where the activity was high. 

While out showing houses this week I had several occasions where more than another agent was simultaneously showing a house while I was walking my clients through.  It has been a while since this happened to me and it took me by surprise.

Another by-product of the market activity has been a breakdown in the reliability of data on FMLS and especially on the secondary housing Internet sites like Zillow and Trulia. Buyers looking online at houses are seeing a snapshot of the housing market that is at least 24 and probably 72 hours old.  In effect, the data is unreliable.  Houses showing “for sale” on Zillow and Trulia have been under contract for days but the changes do not come through the online listing for several days (or weeks!).

Even my normally trustworthy and reliable Multiple Listing Service is not keeping up with the market.  Brokers are not changing the status of properties when they go under contract.  I am out showing properties that have already been “Sold” AKA “pending sale” and the property is still showing “Active” on the MLS.  This is just wrong.

My remedy has been to go “old school” and call the listing agent to check availability of homes I am showing.  AND I am not wasting a lot of time showing homes where the INFO may be unreliable.  If you are a seller listing with a discount brokerage, you should especially take note.  Unless you are able to QUICKLY respond to requests for showing instructions, I am moving my buyers along to the next house on the list.  We do not have time to wait around for you to decide to call us back, text or email.  Sorry you were in an important meeting and could not respond.  But hey, you are saving money on the commission so missing a sale is not big deal.

And a special shout out to those Brokers listing Bank Foreclosures, you stink!!!!  I mean it.  You make no effort whatsoever to update your information on the MLS.  And you are slow to respond to calls and emails.  More on that in a later post.

SELLERS, if you are not getting showings right now in the Atlanta market, something needs to be tweaked.  Call your listing agent and talk.

BUYERS, have your loan prequalification letter in hand and be ready to move ASAP when you spot a house that works for you.  There will not be a lot of time to mull the decision over.

If you have an Atlanta Georgia home to sell, call me at 770-939-3174 and I will guide you through the process. Want to buy an Atlanta Georgia home, call me at 770-939-3174 and let’s talk.