Atlanta Real Estate Blog - Jarvis

As with any city there are good and bad parts.  With only 545 homes for sale in Norcross, it has the fewest of Gwinnett's cities.  At an average price of $256K it's also one of the most affordable places to live. Currently there are 84 homes under contract with an average price of $232K.

Like Suwanee, 15% of the best homes in Norcross are selling with an average days on market of ony 65 and a price of $234,790.  Like all cities in Gwinnett county, sellers can expect to give up 3% or roughly the total of all the closing costs.

Search all Atlanta homes here.

Photo by M. Michael Farr

Suwanee is quickly growing into an Alpharetta/Duluth hybrid city.  ... And why not? After all it borders these two cities and they are among the most desirable (although Suwanee is the only who made the CNN list).

Currently there are 919 home for sale in Suwanee at an average price of $492,673.  Most feature four bedrooms and three and one half baths.

There are also almost 150 homes that are currently under contract.  Here's the interesting number though, the average price of a home in Suwanee that is under contract is $395K.  Almost a full $100K below the average home for sale!

Last month (July) there were 106 homes sold in Suwanee with an average price of $370K.  Those top 15% homes spent only 77 days on the market.

Cities like Duluth and Suwanee are going to turnover a little faster in terms of sales, but you'll also find that people typically live in their homes longer in these cities.  They are among the most popular of Gwinnett County.

Search for all Atlanta homes here.

Buford is becoming quite a booming place with the Mall of Georgia drawing people out here in droves.  Unfortunately, it's also one of the slowest markets right now.

With over 1024 homes currently active in the month of July and August, Buford rivals many metro areas for active homes.  The 10% number that seems to be a theme is here in Gwinnett is present here.  In the past month, only 92 homes sold with an average price of $312K.  Those homes had at least 4 bedrooms and 3 and one half baths.  Those homes also spent on average 121 days on the market.

Currently there are 124 pending transactions with an average price of $310K.

Please search all Metro Atlanta Homes Here.

I got this e-mail with this title, "KW Listings Now on CNN Money."  I really appreciate the effort and they are making great strides.  However, I guess I am cynnical or something, but it was through Truilia's partnership with CNN that our listings get put on there, not KW.  As with most third party partnerships, KW is at the mercy of what Trulia wants to do.  I don't like that position one bit.  For now, though, I'll take the added exposure as long as I can get it.

I want to reiterate that this is indeed a good thing for KW and for all KW agents.  As stated below, something just bothered me about KW touting it as if they did it. 

Catch the listings here on CNN's The Best Places to Live (according to a biased news orginazation).

Snellville is one of "those" cities.  With a motto like, "where everybody is somebody" you have to wonder how small is it.  It's actually growing quite fast with a new outdoor mall on Webb Gin and a huge jump in average price per home.

Currently there are 1153 properties on the market averaging a high for Gwinnett (relative to some cities of equal size) of $240,055.  The top 10% of these are selling in 75 days or less. A total of 94 homes were sold in Snellville for the month of July.

Search for all the Snellville Homes For Sale.

A good friend Ansley at Okelley & Sorohan in Duluth sent out this great check list and I thought I should share it.

• Over 100 mortgage lenders have gone out of business in the last couple of months. 
• The Georgia "Good Funds" Statute (O.C.G.A. § 44-14-13) states that collected funds means "funds deposited, finally settled, and credited to the settlement agent's escrow account."
• Our title insurance companies are also requiring that we have "collected funds," i.e. cash, wire received into our escrow account, or a deposited check which has "cleared."
• This does not include cashiers checks, certified checks, bank drafts, or personal checks UNLESS those checks have been deposited into and credited to our escrow account. 
• Wired funds are considered collected when they are verified to be in our escrow account.
• The State Bar of Georgia monitors attorneys' IOLTA escrow accounts and will be monitoring the present situation very closely.

August 15, 2007

Although Lawrenceville is the largest city in terms of size, number of homes and possibly even population, Duluth is quickly becoming Gwinnett County's commercial hub.  With very easy access to everything and ways around I-85, it makes it a logical choice for most Gwinnetians.  Duluth sports a very diverse, affluent population and some of the best all around schools in the state.

Currently there are 984 homes for sale in Duluth with the typical home being priced at $595,699 with at least four bedrooms and three and one half baths.  With an average market time of 62 days, Duluth Real Estate couldn't be better (this is certainly relative).  With 132 homes under contract and 124 sold in June, the market looks pretty good.  Keep in mind that's less than 5 months of inventory - which is a good thing in Georgia. 

The average sold home in Duluth is $454,233, selling in 62 days with 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths and 1 half bath. Sellers are netting rougly 97% here as is Gwinnett County as a whole.

Search Duluth Real Estate and Homes For Sale Here.

August 15, 2007

Dacula is a great little city that expands from Interstate 85 North at exit 120 to highway 316, making it a very wide city. Located about 40 minutes from Downtown Altanta, Dacula is a family oriented town with excellent schools, a down to earth (easy to reach) Mayor, and some great property values.

Dacula Real Estate has been in a bit of slump.  Currently there are 826 homes for sale with an average price of $331,132.  These homes typically feature four bedrooms and three full baths.  In most of these homes there will be a basement at this price, (read: just over 50%).

In 90 days, 200 of these homes will sell.  Currently 99 properties priced just over $250K are under contract.  In the month of June, 79 Dacula homes were sold with an average price of $275,627.  Dacula residents are giving up around 3% as is the rest of Gwinnett County.

Dacula has a few hot spots, such as Hamilton Mill and Apalachee Farms and some of the homes often mistaken as part of these, like Apalachee River Club.  These golf homes move, but the sheer numbe of them makes it seem like there are a ton of homes on the market.

You can search all of the Dacula Homes for sale here.

August 15, 2007

Lawrenceville Real Estate seems like a bleak proposition, but with only a 80 day sell time there must be some sort of silver lining.

Currently there are over 2,800 active listings.  Yes, there actually that many.  It's a funny number, because according to some websites out there Lawrenceville doesn't even have that many people.  

Of those 2,800 plus homes in Lawrenceville, about 600 of them will sell in the next 90 days.   Currently we have over 375 homes in Lawrenceville under contract and waiting to close.  Another 313 homes have already closed for the month of June.

The average Lawrenceville home on the market is priced at $237,000 with 4 bedrooms and 2 and 1 half baths.  However, the average SOLD home in Lawrenceville is $194,000 with the same features, save a half bath.

As stated in the Gwinnett Real Estate Market Report, the average seller is netting around 97% of what they want.

New Construction and Condos were hit the hardest, with condo prices (based on average sales price) dropping under 50%! 

Search Gwinnett and Lawrenceville Homes for Sale

August 15, 2007

Gwinnett County Real Estate has always been the tortoise in the great real estate race.  Never too slow, but never fast either.  This is still the case.  In over 15 years of Real Estate, Gwinnett has been a buyer's market.  It's a bit more of one now.  County wide, sellers are getting just under 97% of their asking price. Although, the numbers are at a new high (for discounts), the Jarvis Team has experienced a rate of 1% better.   Although, this is a bit of self promotion, it's also worth noting that a Realtor (or Team) that works hard for the seller can actually net more for the seller.  This is not opinion, it's fact, proven out statistically.

Statistically speaking, by owner and discount brokers are netting 89% and 91% of the seller's asking price respectively.  Additionally, these homes can sometimes be a great find for investors as many of them are up to 10% below market value.

For the month of June 07 we recorded 1,531 sales in Gwinnett County, that's down from 1,897.  However, prices have increased in Gwinnett from $191,900 to $204,700. Which is a good sign that there is still some appreciation in this area.

Hardest hit are the new construction areas furthest from Atlanta.  Cities like Dacula, Auburn, Hoschton, Snellville and even Buford are suffering in the new construction department.  Resales in this market need to be priced right.  If priced correctly, the average time on the market is less than 90 days. However, overpriced homes can last over a year.  In Lawrenceville alone, there are over 600 homes on the market, with almost 1/3 of those selling every month.

The condo and townhome world of Gwinnett is the one that has easily had the roughest time.  Sales are down by 50% from over 300 a year ago, to now just a buck fifty (150).  Prices are down as well, Last year at this time, the average condo was actually more expensive than the average home at $240K plus.  Now prices are in the sub $150K range.  Does this mean sellers are giving away the farm?  No, of course not, it means that there are a ton of lower price condos and townhomes selling selling while the higher priced ones are stagnant.

Here's August Market Report for each city:

• Lawrenceville Real Estate
• Dacula Real Estate
• Duluth Real Estate
• Norcross Real Estate
• Snellville Real Estate
• Grayson Real Estate
• Buford Real Estate
• Suwanee Real Estate
• Sugar Hill Real Estate