Atlanta, GA

Weekend of October 11 & 12, 2008

Fall is in the air and the temperature is (finally) dropping here in HOTlanta! People are coming out of their air conditioned homes and are ready to enjoy the season.

There are some spectacular festivals this weekend....

OCT 11 - Oakhurst Decatur Arts & Music Festival

OCT 11 - Brookhaven Arts Festival

OCT 11 - Taste of Atlanta at Atlantic Station

OCT 11& 12 - Candler Park Fall Fest & Tour of Homes

PLEASE NOTE -- If you are planning to attend the Great Decatur Beer Festival next weekend, I've heard rumors that it is almost sold out (86 tickets left as of yesterday). Not sure if this is true, but I wanted to let you know, just in case!

STAY TUNED for next weekend's special events and festivals IN & AROUND ATLANTA!

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I was just about to turn off my over active Active Rain and for some reason I decide to take a look at my stats....I'M 19 FOR MY AREA!!! Why this may not seem ALL that impressive to you, I have only been dancing in the rain for seven weeks.

Furthermore, my first three weeks were just blogging, I didn't understand or follow the point system or even care for that matter. I was just excited I had an outlet to let my creative juices flow and was grateful for the opportunity.

Even though the point system is important to the community and must be respected, I don't take it too seriously. I'm more concerned with educating buyers and sellers with the information they need to make an INFORMED decision and giving back to my blolleagues who have given me so much. But, I have to admit I was tickeled tonight when I saw me go to the teens....19 that is!

IS THIS A FORECLOSURE OR AN AUCTION???

I am working with SEVERAL buyers who want "a good deal." Depsite that I bring them deals of a lifetime, they bring me what they consider "good deals" to be.....FORECLOSURES that they find on the internet. Now, I am a specialized Atlanta foreclosure real estate agent and very familiar with all of the special stipulations that go into foreclosure contracts, as well as the long winded addendums.

Because I have such extensive knowledge in dealing with foreclosures, as well as the proper way to write the contracts so that my offers get accepted, I have closed many foreclosure deals this year.

Lately, I have another word to describe today's Atlanta foreclosure homes.....its called............AUCTION HOUSES!!

In the past two weeks I have put 3 offers in on foreclosures and ALL of them came back with the dreaded "we have multiple offers on this property and we are requesting your client to submit their highest and best." The banks are now having bidding wars on their properties. Actually, this has been happening for quite some time, but buyers are becoming more aware of it.

Buyers then get frustrated of having to go back and forth on multiple counters and addendums. They get stressed because they want "a good deal" and if they pay a penny more than $30,000 off asking price or even what the bank is asking (despite its priced low in comparison to the rest of the neighborhood), then they feel they are being cheated.

Do yourself a favor look at foreclosures, but don't rule out regular ol' OVER-PRICED HOMES that no one is bidding on. Stop following the LABELS! The banks DO want to get rid of their inventory and YES they will negotiate a little. BUT, if you are bidding against SEVERAL other people, you will NOT get the "good deal" you were envisioning.

P.S. A note on auctions....If you haven't already done so, PLEASE READ MY BLOG ABOUT AUCTIONS..Its one of the 10 Biggest Mistakes Buyers Make in Today's Atlanta Real Estate Market (and Other Markets Too)!!!

And, if you DO decide to go to an auction.....

PLEASE DON'T GO WITHOUT A QUALIFIED REALTOR REPRESENTING YOU!!!

You know you do it, we ALL do it....www.google.com, and type in the words....Winter Baserva(or whatever YOUR name is) to see where we rank in Google and how "we show up." We'll for those of you that are unaware, you can sign up for Google Alerts and have them email you when and where you show up.

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. You can Google alert your name, your competitions name, things related to your business.

Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

• Keeping up-to-date on a developing news story...like the bailout
• Monitoring yourself....take back those 10-15 min. you spend Googling yourself and let them be sent to you
• Keeping tabs on a celebrity or competitor...Ooops she did it again!!

For me, I have Google Alerts set up for:

• Atlanta Foreclosures
• Costa Rica, as I work for a one-of-a-kind, eco-friendly development called Corazon de la Tierra in Esterillos Este, Costa Rica. It's located about 20 minutes South of Jaco and I like to know what's happening in the news there.
• And, myself
  

P.S. Be careful to set up your alerts to alert you once a week or so. Otherwise, you'll wake up with LOTS of emails to sift through....

SO, JUST DO IT!!!! SET UP YOUR GOOGLE ALERTS NOW!!!

Jonathan Blackwell
Renovation Loan Specialist
Hometown Lenders
jonathan.blackwell@hometownlendersllc.com
http://www.203KLoan.net
http://www.GoGreenWithFHA.com
404-551-3845