Foreclosures in the Atlanta Market - Where the Deals Are…

February 26, 2008

After 22 years in the real estate business I can tell you that the foreclosures are offering opportunity like we have not seen since I have been selling property. Atlanta narrowly missed being on the top ten list for the highest foreclosure rate in the country in 2007. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, 2.5% of Atlanta homeowners were in the foreclosure process in 2007. In every price range, in every neighborhood, we can see the stark reminders of those poor folks who reached too high, didn’t pay enough attention, or had the unfortunate luck to get an expensive illness without insurance. Many of these houses were simply vehicles for loan fraud. Whatever the story, there are so many that it is really pretty amazing. Many are beaten and bruised and will take a lot of elbow grease too bring them back to life. On the other hand, there are some still have tracks in the carpet where someone vacuumed and cleaned, they still have their appliances and window treatments and are ready for their new homeowners. 

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Posted by danconnolly | Filed Under Foreclosures 

Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World

February 13, 2008

First and foremost the greatest real estate agent in the world is not the one you think he is. He isn’t the one who sells the most houses in a given year or the one with the best car. He is not the one who has the highest priced listings or the one who lives in biggest penthouse in Trump Tower. He is not the one who knows all of the best closing techniques or the one who could sell ice to an Eskimo.

The greatest real estate agent in the world is the one who tells the first time home-buyer the truth about the mortgage he is thinking of getting. He’s the one who can tell a Buyer that even though the bank will give them an adjustable rate mortgage to buy the house, he shows them where the payment could go, and explains what happens if he can’t make the payment. He doesn’t tell the buyer that they can always just sell or refinance, because he knows that the market could change and the prices could go down. He knows that just because there are 100% loans today for stated income borrowers with 620 credit scores, that two years from now the loan programs could expire. He knows that sometimes bad things happen to good people and pushing the envelope and borrowing the absolute max has brought many people to ruin. 

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Posted by danconnolly | Filed Under General Real Estate Info 

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