ALPHARETTA GA HOMES FOR SALE – Alpharetta, Ga Real Estate

Get a Hot Deal in a Cool Market

Buying or selling a home? Here’s how to strengthen your hand in rough times.

Birth, death, marriage, divorce. Throw in new careers and lost jobs, and you’ve got the reasons most of us fail miserably at timing the real estate market. We sell and buy because life — not market conditions — drives the decision.

It’s how you manage the deal that dictates whether you’ll give up too much of your profit in a fire sale or forsake future profit by paying too much — especially now that the housing market has taken a chilly turn. In the fourth quarter of 2007, the median home price in the U.S. fell 5.8% over the same period 12 months prior, according to the National Association of Realtors. And 13% fewer homes were sold last year than the year before. Below, we have tips for both buyers and sellers to help you strengthen your hand in these rough times, no matter what side of the transaction you’re on. (Hint: It wouldn’t hurt to read both sections so you know the other team’s strategy, too.)

Buyer Tips

Buyers definitely have the upper hand in a cool market. You can press your advantage to negotiate the best price possible. However, bear in mind that today’s credit crunch has lenders tightening their belts, so you’ll need to make the right moves to get a good deal on a mortgage. Also, dust off those negotiating skills that went unused during the seller’s market of the past few years.

• Have a down payment. A 100% financing deal is much harder to get. So be prepared to put at least 5% down. Lenders also want you to have at least two months’ worth of PITI (principal, interest, taxes and insurance) in reserve.
• Boost your credit score. Based on current interest rates, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is about 1.3 percentage points lower for someone with a credit score of 760 to 850 than for someone with a score of 620 to 659. On a $200,000 loan, a borrower with a top-tier score would pay $173 less per month — a saving of $2,076 per year — than a borrower near the bottom, according to MyFICO.com.
• Do your homework. Learn as much as you can about the local housing market and the seller’s motivations. For example, find out what similar homes in the neighborhood are selling for at Zillow.com. Ask questions about the sellers, such as why they’re selling, how long the home has been on the market, when they bought the home and how much they paid. Once you zero in on a property, hire a home inspector to find any defects in the home.
• Sharpen your negotiating skills. Just about everything is negotiable when buying a house, especially in a buyer’s market. When making an offer, it can include contingencies that protect you, such as requiring that the home pass an inspection, appraises for at least as much as you’re paying for it and that the seller accept your offer by a certain time.

You also can ask that the seller pay part of your closing costs, include a redecorating allowance or remove an above-ground pool you don’t want. The trick, though, is to prove to the seller you’re a serious buyer without looking too eager. And you’ve got to be willing to walk away from a home if the seller refuses to negotiate in price or make concessions to your satisfaction.

Seller Tips

A cool market means it may take you longer to sell your home, and you might not get as much money as you’d like. Those are two tough pills to swallow. But if you make the right moves, you can increase your odds of striking a good deal and getting the most from your sale.

• Pick the right agent. You want somebody who is going to market the place, not some slacker who talks you into setting a low-ball price and then waits for a bargain hunter to trip over the house on the MLS. Your best bet is to find someone who was in the business during the last downturn. That’s a survivor who knows how to sell when others can’t. Interview several agents.
• Shop the market yourself to get a feel for prices. Ask your agent to show you listings that are competing with your own.
• Buy down the interest rate. It’s not a sales price that people are buying — it’s the mortgage payment. And buying down the buyer’s interest rate is a smart way to attract buyers without giving up your profits. For example, lowering the buyer’s interest rate from 6.5% to 5.5% on a $150,000 loan reduces the monthly payment by almost $100 per month. The buy-down would cost you about 4.75% of the loan amount, or $7,125 in this example. Alternatively, if you lowered your sale price by that amount, the buyer would save only $45 a month. You can also offer to buy down the interest rate for the first year or two for less money. Either way, you’re allowing buyers to get more home than they would have otherwise been able to afford.  

   

   

• Dress up the house. Agents call it staging: Haul out the oversize furniture; get rid of clutter; break out the touch-up paint; polish the glass; buff brass fixtures; eradicate smells. “Things you were willing to live with are not necessarily something you want a buyer to see,” says Kevin Cook, president of the Cottage Realty Ltd. in Berthoud, Colo.
• Hire an inspector. Most buyers make their purchases contingent on a home inspection. But hiring your own inspector before placing your house on the market can help you identify things to fix ahead of time and make your home more attractive to the buyer. For example, you’ll find out if your roof needs replacement or if any electrical or plumbing work should be done.

Copyrighted, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.

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POPULATION :
Since 1980 the City’s population has increased from around 3,000 residents to over 35,000. Alpharetta’s population in 2000 accounted for approximately 18% of the total population of north Fulton County. By April of 2005, the City of Alpharetta’s estimated population had swelled to 37,870. As of July 31st the estimated population for the City of Alpharetta is 53,919 residents. Alpharetta has added an estimated 5,679 residents through annexation since January 1st of this year.

HOUSING :
From 1980 to April of 2005 the total number of housing units increased by more than 1,000%, growing from 1,116 to 15,096. More than 67% or 10,203 of Alpharetta’s total households are single-family residential units. An estimated 4,893 multi-family households can be found in the city. Forecasts indicate that by the year 2010 approximately 17,286 homes will be located within the City, a number that will swell to slightly more than 21,500 by the year 2025.

HOUSE VALUE:
The median house value in Alpharetta in 1990 was $119,800, approximately 30% higher than the Atlanta Region’s median of $92,300, with 62.3% of Alpharetta’s housing valued at $100,000 or more. According to the 2000 Census, the median house value had increased to $226,300. As of June 2006, the median sale price of a home in Alpharetta climbed to $299,119.

FAMILY:
According to the 2000 US Census approximately 54% of the City’s households consist of married couples, with nearly half of that number having related children living at home.

AGE:
Approximately 34% of Alpharetta’s population is under the age of 25, while slightly less than 6% was age 65 or older. The median age is 33 years.

DENSITY:
The City of Alpharetta’s density increased from 1.08 persons per acre in 1990 to 2.69 in April 2005.

INCOME:
According to the 2000 Census, the average household income in Alpharetta is $71,209, up from $50,559 in 1990.

EMPLOYMENT:
By January 2005 an estimated 101,536 workers were employed by businesses within the City of Alpharetta, a figure that is forecast to swell to 109,937 by the year 2010 and to more than 130,000 by the year 2025. Over 77% of Alpharetta residents are employed in professional, managerial, technical, sales and administrative positions.

EDUCATION:
Approximately 63.29% of Alpharetta residents have earned a college degree; with approximately 13% holding graduate degrees. Over 92% of Alpharetta residents age 25 and older have at least a high school diploma. Public schools serving the City of Alpharetta are among the best in the nation. With approximately 89% of area high school graduates taking the SAT, as compared to 48% nationally, the average SAT score for our schools is 1092, which exceeds the national average of 1026.

Source: The US Census Bureau – 2000 Census, Atlanta Regional Commission, and the City of Alpharetta Department of Community Development

Traci Morreale Strub – “the best realtor in Alpharetta”

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4th of July Celebration at Wills Park!

Celebrate Independence Day with family and friends at Wills Park. Bring your blanket or yard chairs and picnic basket and relax under the stars. Activities include free children’s game, concert by the Alpharetta City Band and other musicians. Watch a beautiful fireworks display at dusk. Children’s activities and musical entertainment will be held from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm on the Event Lawn behind Alpharetta Community Center. Food vendors will be located throughout the park selling food items. The spectacular fireworks show begins at dusk

Alpharetta, Ga has its eyes on a big prize:
2008

2008 will not only be the sesquicentennial for Alpharetta but it will also be the year that three major new developments are planned to be completed.
These three developments will shape the next chapter in Alpharetta’s history and further establish Alpharetta as a destination city in North Atlanta / North Fulton County.

The three new developments are Prospect Park, Encore Park and the Alpharetta City Center.

Prospect Park
Prospect Park is a $1Billion development in the northwest corner of the GA-400 and Old Milton Parkway intersection. The developer, Thomas Enterprises, had broken ground and dirt work is underway. Planned for the site are 750,000 sq ft of high-end retail, a “life style center” a.k.a. spa, and designer boutiques. The total retail will be about half of what NorthPoint Mall currently has.
Also included will be The Stanbury, a 140 room Georgian Revival style six-star hotel, the only one in the country. There will be 80 additional condos, starting at $1.5 million and there could be a second, less high-brow hotel.
The whole mixed use complex will have two towers, one 10 stories and the other 6 stories.Encore Park
The second development is Encore Park, which is the amphitheater planned as the northern home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. It is being planned by Cousins Development and will seat 12,000 people, twice what Chastain currently seats and may potentially have skyboxes.

There is also a Multi-Use Facility in the plans for smaller concerts, gallery showings and stag productions. This project is still in planning, though; and the public private partnership has not been solidified to start work.

Alpharetta City Center
The trifecta will be a new Alpharetta government complex. The existing City Hall will be razed and the entire block in the middle Alpharetta will be redeveloped with an acre-sized plaza and 53,000 sq ft of office space to consolidate all city offices.

Included in the development will also be 60,000 sq ft of street-level retail, not as high-end as Prospect Park, and 150 residential condos priced in the $200’s and $300’s. Two parking structures will round out the project.

Currently, the City is waiting for resolution of issues surrounding the Tax Allocation District before work can start, but that is expected to be resolved favorably in the very near term.

All three projects are expected (hoped??) to be completed by sometime in 2008. Parts of Westside Parkway will be completed as part of Prospect Park and will be completed in 2007. When everything is finished, many of the amenities that you now travel to Atlanta, Cobb County or Duluth will now be available within your zip code, making Alpharetta a destination not only for work, but also for recreation, relaxation and shopping.

by: Local Affairs, Alpharetta, Ga

Have any questions about development in the North Atlanta, Ga & Alpharetta/Fulton Area?

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