Build It And They Will Come...Or We HOPE they Will Come!!

For many seasoned REALTORS, our current "bump in the road" with the mortgage and foreclosure situation is nothing to what you may have experienced in the past. It's challenging for some of us as we continue to establish ourselves and our business in our communities. I know I'm getting some gray hair!

The Atlanta market has done rather well, inspite of other markets. That is mainly because of our steady, modest price appreciation, and not the huge 40-50% jumps some markets had. However, here in Georgia, foreclosures are a another world. Miss just 2 months of payments, and the lender can foreclose on you! Scary thought, isn't it? And most lenders don't want to negotiate....at the closing table when clients are signing their loan documents, we aften refer to that piece of paper as ..."pay, or you don't stay." And then, when lenders do foreclose, it takes them FOREVER to put the homes on the market....case in point...a house down the street from me went to foreclosure. The guy was a victim of the dot com era, and just never recovered. 4 months after he moved out, the house finally came on the market....

What's all this have to do with "Build it and they will come?" you ask? Well, my office and The Thom And Ray Team is located on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta, and right on the new, exciting part called Midtown's Miracle Mile.

Just across the street from our office...here comes Viewpoint Midtown. And this is just the FIRST of three proposed towers that will have almost 1000 condominiums when finished. The first tower here will have around 400 and 60,000 square feet of retail space. Here there are currently some of the smaller 1 bedrooms with lower floor locations and less than the best views starting in the $180's, and 2 bedrooms in the $300's.

And then, just 4 blocks North of our office....here comes 12th and Midtown, a massive 4 phase development which will include 1010 Midtown, another condominium building with 300 plus homes. And in Phase 2 of 12th and Midtown will be a the Lowes Atlanta Hotel, a 414 room hotel, topped with....you guessed it.....more condominiums!! Here's a picture of 1010, currently under construction.

She's another beauty with 1 bedrooms starting in the $250's. Here's a glimpse of the size of 12th and Midtown.

Phase 4 I mentioned earlier will be to the left of Phase 1.

So, if we are working with a Buyer, and we have all this to choose from...and now the potential of foreclosures....

I understand the need to build while construction costs are lower, but gosh, where ARE all the people going to come from to fill all these homes?

And will somebody send them to me?

Gone are the days when they built Spire, just across from Viewpoint, and the building of just under 400 units sold out in 3 weeks. In fact, when I bought mine, I had to stand against a wall, and sign the contract on my leg...there was no place to sit down!

Maybe if the builder's could just slow down a bit....but hey, maybe then need to finish these buildings, and then sit on them for a couple years to sell them before they change their ways!

If you know anyone looking to transfer to Atlanta, you can see we have some great new options coming for them to choose from! Heck....maybe I'll even buy one...but I'm kinda starting to think about that place in the mountains or at the beach.....