About Atlanta's Chastain Park

Early results from August 2011 show that Home Sales in Chastain Park under $700,000 are up over 68% versus 2010. Overall, Home Sales in Chastain Park jumped 28% for all price points combined thus far this year. The news could be even better if additional sales post in the next few days. I believe the outlook is good for home sellers in Chastain Park looking to put their homes on the market in the Spring of 2012. That's the good news.

Here’s the less-than-good news: Sellers this fall will still have to contend with the appraisal “hangover” which lingers from the downward momentum and instability in values over the past few years.

Oddly this news comes on a day when the just released Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home pricing index for Atlanta rebounded for the third month in a row. This chart shows the rise and fall of the index values over the past eleven years. 2011 is tracking with the moderate sustained climb of the early 2000’s - before all the speculation turned the American Dream of home ownership into a high stakes game where opportunists used properties like stacks of real estate poker chips.

Sale prices for homes in Atlanta are posting similar to what they were 11 years ago in 2000. Yes, Y2k all over again. This is hard for most people to wrap their mind around and it is no more evident than in the failure rate for listed homes which has averaged around 60% for the past three years. More good news came in from second quarter though...the failure rate for listed homes dropped to 47%. The market downturn clouds are lifting!! I can see the sun peaking through.

Horseradish Grill Restaurant at Chastain Park – Feel the love of great food!

Atlanta GA offers phenomenal restaurants of many kinds. We love the tremendous options here, but especially appreciate the unique one of a kind, non-chain restaurants like the Horseradish Grill Restaurant located in heart of Chastain Park. Nestled in the gorgeous residential area known as Chastain Park, the restaurant actually preceded the neighborhood, which was later built around it.

Originally a country store, Horseradish Grill was first opened in 1946 as a restaurant (with a different name) to serve those hungry golfers coming off the North Fulton Golf Course in Chastain Park. Today, it is the longest continuously operating restaurant in Atlanta.

The original country store was where the current bar area is today. As well, they have a fabulous front room for groups that gives you some nice privacy. The restaurant area is reminiscent of a horse barn and the décor shows off gorgeous beams, as well as reminds you of a simpler time. One of my favorite spots to eat is their outdoor patio when the spring, summer &; fall seasons allow.

While in its original days, the store was surrounded by 200 acres of farmland, the current restaurant still has a garden of its own just behind the restaurant. We feel as if this gives them a big edge in preparing fresh tantalizing entrees. The menus change throughout the four seasons, so they can offer the freshest varieties for guests to enjoy.

Throughout the past 20 years, we’ve been there for dinner dates, lunch with friends, a great meal before a fabulous Chastain Park Amphitheater Concert, Mother’s Day, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta fund-raising events such as Cookies with Santa, to celebrate the end of a tennis season after playing across the street at the Chastain Park Tennis Center and Girl’s Night Out. It’s always a hit that keeps us coming back for more.

Chastain Park is truly an amazing treasure for Buckhead residents to enjoy. How many places can you live that you can walk to a top notch restaurant, golf course, tennis courts, horse park, swimming pool, Private and Public Schools, Baseball - Football and Basketball Fields &; Courts respectively, Playgrounds, Art Centers, a concert Amphitheater and a walking trail? In Atlanta, the answer is that no area can match Chastain Park for it's amenities!

Horseradish Grill Restaurant (HRG) is located at 4320 Powers Ferry Rd, Atlanta, GA 30342. Their phone is 404.255.7277 and we highly recommend reservations. Also, they do sell gift cards, which new home sellers and buyers of Tim Francis Realty just LOVE!

Where do you go time and time again to enjoy good food and feel the love of a good chef preparing a treat for all your senses to enjoy?

Have you checked out the Chastain Park Tennis Center recently? Spring 2011 in Atlanta GA!

While we are very fortunate to be able to play tennis year round in Atlanta, spring is just an awesome time to start planning your tennis game plan. Atlanta, GA saw a beautiful 65 degree day without a cloud in the sky today in mid February. During the last year, Chastain Park, located in the North Buckhead community inside the I-285 perimeter of Atlanta, built a beautiful new tennis building and refurbished the tennis courts.

The Park originally started as the North Fulton Park and was renamed for Troy Chastain, a Fulton County Commissioner, in 1946. The Chastain Park Tennis Center boasts nine bright blue courts (three in each section), a gorgeous new club house with covered viewing area in addition to an amazing hilltop viewing area so you can support your ALTA or USTA tennis team.

The Chastain Park Tennis Center is located next door to the Chastain Park Golf Course, across the street from the Horse Park and across from the Horseradish Grill, a phenomenal restaurant nestled in a Park setting. While playing tennis you can smell the fabulous aroma’s coming from Horseradish Grill Restaurant.

ALTA – Atlanta’s Lawn and Tennis Association is a huge tennis organization in Atlanta that runs leagues of Men’s, Women’s, Mixed Doubles, Juniors, and Seniors all four seasons of the year. It’s a large group with teams literally all over metro Atlanta for each seven week season. USTA also runs all four seasons with the same options. Today, there are huge arrays of other options to get out and play tennis in Atlanta such as FlexLeague, T2Tennis and more so that you can play any day, week and month of the year in Atlanta.

Long time tennis professionals serve the Chastain Park Tennis Center like Oscar who has been there over 12 years. Additional lessons, private and group are available as well as fun social mixers. For more Atlanta Tennis information check Chastain Park Tennis Center Website for upcoming events. Looking for a team? No problem, just sign up at Chastain Park or an the ALTA website as looking for a team and you will be out playing tennis in no time.

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While I love my career selling and leasing Chastain Park Real Estate, any day I get to play tennis is a GREAT day. Look for me at the Chastain Park Tennis Courts or at an ALTA match near you. Chastain Park Tennis Center Phone Number is 404.255.1993, at 110 West Wieuca Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30342.

What is your favorite game and where do you play?

Searching for Chastain Park homes for sale can be a real challenge. (Continued from earlier post)

One would think it should be easy. Websites come up in the searches that clearly offer Chastain Park as a neighborhood you can search on. Some even claim to specialize in Chastain Park as a neighborhood. So, what is the problem? Well, let's continue:

1. The third website Google produced yielded 34 actively listed homes for sale. Even if they are truly in Chastain Park, this search engine is only delivering 60% of what is available.
2. The fourth website Google produced had a sentence on the home page that offered to lease this site to me as an agent... The search engine offered price range searches and required immediate registration which I declined. Next.
3. The fifth website Google produced yielded 41 actively listed homes for sale but left out the portion of the neighborhood in Sandy Springs... Arghh!
4. The sixth website Google produced yielded 3 actively listed homes for sale. Are you kidding me!!!
5. Ok, one more. The seventh website Google produced yielded 34 actively listed homes for sale. Even if they are truly in Chastain Park, this search engine is back to only delivering 60% of what is available.

Looks like I am long overdue for getting this word out. If you want to see Chastain Park homes for sale, www.SellingChastain.com is probably the only place you will find an accurate and complete summary of them. Yes, you have to register but it is quick and easy. Technically, I need you to ask me for this so I can provide it to you in full detail. But I am happy to do it while I earn your business and answer any questions. Take our Chastain Park virtual real estate sales center for a test drive! We have specific web pages for homes, condos, townhomes, developed lots and rentals. We would love to help you make your move.

Searching for Chastain Park homes for sale can be a real challenge. One would think it should be easy. Websites come up in the searches that clearly offer Chastain Park as a neighborhood you can search on. Some even claim to specialize in Chastain Park as a neighborhood. So, what is the problem? Well, the problem is that agents input listings by subdivision and that particular search field is not controlled by a pick list. It is up for interpretation because most older neighborhoods in Atlanta (inside the I-285 perimeter highway) are not well defined. Neighborhood areas like Buckhead, Brookhaven, and Chastain Park cover large areas and the boundaries are not defined like suburban neighborhoods with central entrance and a planned grid of streets. This can make life really challenging for buyers relocating here from out of town. As a long time neighborhood resident and local real estate expert, I decided to put on my buyer's hat and Google Chastain Park homes for sale to see what comes up. The results were very interesting and they left me more convinced than ever that www.SellingChastain.com was worth the effort we put into building it.

Keep in mind that I live in Chastain Park and so the neighborhood boundaries we use are my "opinion" of what neighborhood pockets legitimately surround the park without having to cross a major road. These boundaries encompass approximately 1600 homes that we believe comprise the Chastain Park neighborhood. Now, back to the internet websites and my home search project. Knowing that my custom search yielded 58 actively listed homes for sale, here's what I found:

1. The first website Google produced showed 59 homes currently for sale. I thought - wow, that is pretty close. The problem is that there were 10 duplicates, 10 were condos, 2 were lots and some others were fringe locations outside of true Chastain Park. So, at least 22 of the 59 listings displayed were not Chastain Park homes for sale resulting in a maximum of 62% accuracy.
2. The second website Google produced yielded 74 actively listed homes for sale. After clicking on 3 or 4 properties to see the actual addresses, this site asked me to register which I declined. This search engine eliminated the duplicates but I could definitely recognize many properties outside the neighborhood. I was unable to get specific metrics on this search but I do know it is delivering properties that are not in Chastain Park so it is not a full and complete summery.
3. It gets worse

To be continued...