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USA Today: Atlanta: Saturated market...

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Real Estate Agent

There was a not so flattering article on February 12th in the on line version of USA Today (brief synopsis provided) about the Atlanta housing market.

Mike Wright of the Atlanta Board of Realtors is cited in this article.  He states that we have a saturated 11.2 months inventory of homes and condos on the market as compared with 7.2 months of inventory in December.  He fails to state the average months of inventory on a yearly basis for 2006.  It was predicted that our inventory would grow from approximate 10 months for 2006 to 12 months for 2007. 

IMO the full title of this article (Atlanta:  Saturated market, mortgage fraud fallout has flattened home prices) gives misleading information to the public.  Is it really mortgage "fraud" that has caused a tremendous jolt in our foreclosure rate and hence the number of homes on the market? 

Might it have started in the aftermath of 9/11/2001 when the "2nd home" market became flooded?  Might it be that the "interest only" mortgage loans that were so popular only a short time ago are a strong contributing factor?  Or, might it also be the changes in the rate of transferees into the Metro Atlanta area?

Forsyth County initiated a 90-day (renewable) building moratorium on residential rezoning last month in an effort to help the County keep up services for the growing population and to review its failing infrastructure.

Is our market "saturated" truly because of foreclosures and mortgage fraud, or is the continued over-building of residential properties a very large factor?

Disclaimer:  Writer takes no responsibility for random thoughts written before 6:00 a.m. on any given day :)

Just my .02 folks, thoughts???

Mark Flanders
Consulting - Silverdale, WA

Sensationalism in Journalism!

Doesn't it just drive you nuts!

PS- Your pre-6:00 a.m. random thoughts seem pretty coherent to me :)

Feb 14, 2007 09:28 PM
Anonymous
Matt Ratcliffe

How were sells in 2006 compared to 05,04,03?  Did total volume go up our down?  Youe thoughts were great.

Keller Williams Relty will have its 2007 Family Reunion in Atlanta.

 Matt Ratcliffe

Feb 16, 2007 11:25 AM
#2
Mark Flanders
Consulting - Silverdale, WA

This is a great article!

Congratulations, it was included in the most recent Unsung and Overlooked collection.

This should get it a little more exposure :) 

Feb 16, 2007 11:15 PM
Jim Crawford
Long & Foster - Fredericksburg, VA
Jim Crawford Broker Associate Fredericksburg VA
The statistics are not surprising at all.  I may not like the article, but the fact is it is true. Atlanta leads the nation with no money down interest only loans.  52% last year alone.  For the past few years we have as many expireds and withdrawn listings as the homes we sell.  In fact they exceed the solds. In the last few months the numbers of foreclosure homes coming on the market here are exceeding the monthly sold homes. We carry more forclosures that Michigan which is hard to believe by anyones standards. The article is correct with flat prices in Atlanta.  The sad thing is they keep on building.  Thanks for sharing.
Feb 16, 2007 11:44 PM
Charles Blumenkehl
Blue Asset Management - Wayne, NJ

I have heard that the Atlanta market is lagging becasue you arent't getting the 100,000 people a year from up north who are migrating into your market, apparently becasue they aren't able to sell up north with the same ease as in the prior few years. That being said, there is a bottom line in real estate, there will always be people who have toi buy, and people who have to sell. Your job is to make sure they buy and sell through you!

Good luck!

Feb 17, 2007 02:45 AM
Herb Hamilton
RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors - Portland, OR
Real Estate Broker ,CDPE, Downtown Portland

In the  News Business they call that " If it Bleeds it Leads " . Trends in Real Estate Markets have always been fodder for the Media. And in General the comments are not always kind.

A long long time ago I was trying to recall the circumstances of a meeting I had with an Agent. I was now preparing to work with him once again on a new transaction. I rememberd his Name but could not place the circumstances. Was it a good transaction or a poor transaction. Another Agent quickly chimed in and said " To that Agent it isn't important why you remember his name as long as you remember his name "

Perhaps over time it will not be important why people Remember Atlanta as long as they REMEBER ATLANTA.

Feb 17, 2007 02:48 AM
Maggie Dokic | Indialantic
Magdalena Dokic - Indialantic, FL
Selling the beach in Florida's space coast
Laurie, congratulations on your post.  I wish my market looked as healthy as yours ;-)  I did my numbers last week and came up with 29.68 months worth of inventory.  OUCH!
Feb 17, 2007 08:53 AM