The Dunn Team: Real Estate by The Book

Here we go! The start of the Good News Report! We hope you enjoy reading these reports and learning the facts about the real estate market in your neighborhood. The following statistics pertain to neighborhoods in Northwest Acworth (Cobb and Paulding counties).

* Number of homes sold in the last 90 days: 75
* Average Listing Price: $316,447
* Average Selling price: $292,204
* Selling Price Range: $51,575 - $2,150,000
* Average Days on Market: 107
* Days on Market Range: 9-876

Now let's get into the specifics!!! The following is a list of the neighborhoods in which there has been a sale in the last 90 days, along with . . . (Read more here)

In Real Estate, "No News is Good News" is not helpful at all. However, it seems all we hear is Bad News and that does not help anyone either! So, what do we need?

THE GOOD NEWS!

One phrase I hear quite often is "Nothing is moving", such as "We've been thinking of selling but nothing is moving". I am convinced this frame of mind stems from the current flood of Bad News. In order to make an educated decision... (Read more here.)

Our beautiful state of Georgia is famous for peaches, peanuts and the great city of Atlanta. The 1996 Olympic games really helped put Atlanta on the map and brought us attention from across the world!

A vast number of businesses thrive in our great city, and commuters make the daily trek to the city from one of our many lovely suburbs. Living in the outskirts of Atlanta provides the ideal combination of being close enough to enjoy the city life, but far enough removed to enjoy nature's wonders.

There is one little town that is quickly gaining attention from families and businesses alike for all it has to offer: the City of Acworth, also known as the Lake City. Acworth is bursting at the seams with activities for families of all ages as well as for avid enthusiasts of all kinds! From unique playgrounds, beaches and team sports to boating, fishing, live theatre and more, you will never run out of things to do! When it is time to refuel you will also find a variety of restaurants for every craving: Cajun, Italian, Mexican, Southern Home cooking, and All American too. Not to mention the Farmer's Market every Friday morning! Come by tomorrow for fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables!

The Historic District downtown features shops as unique as they are charming. You can find trendy clothes, unique home décor, hard-to-find antiques, collectibles... I could go on and on! National chains have also found value in opening franchises, so you can be sure to find your favorite one!

Since there is so much to discover in Acworth, we will begin featuring a business or hobby each week. Be sure to come back for an inside peek at this charming, beautiful, emerging Atlanta suburb!

Well do they? We have been asking ourselves this very question.
My gut instinct is a resounding "NO WAY!"

Yea, maybe sometimes Nice Guys have to deal with bad situations. But in the end, they win, right?

Sometimes it seems tough trying to be the Nice Guys. Not that we would do it any other way, but often we are left in the dust of someone else who got the deal, and we think, OK, the client must have felt they would do a better job. And then what do we see?

This house has been on the market since July 28^th! What is today? Mid SPETEMBER?!? This is a client we felt we shared a lot in common with. We gave him over 25 pictures of his house, posted 12 on the MLS with descriptions, plus a virtual tour, audio tour, E-magazine, aggressive internet marketing campaign, full color 13 page home book, color flyers, home staging, and well, you get the idea: our entire 84-point marketing plan. It was clear the house was way overpriced. We had many interested buyers call and see the house. No one made an offer. The price needed to be lower. Then the listing expired July 1st. The gentleman tell me he does want to re-list yet as he was going on a mission trip and would be out of the country for the next three weeks. He would call me when he returns on the 28^th.

I scheduled a reminder to call him on the 29^th if I did not receive a call from him the previous day. When I double-checked the MLS (as I always do to be sure not to incur an ethics violation) what do I find? HE HAS RELISTED!

Ok, I think to myself. He must have thought she would do a better job. No hard feelings. But now? I just don't get it.

That brings me to my next point. How is it that agents can get away with doing as little as possible and still grow their business? This agent doesn't even take a single picture of her $250,000 listing! Down the street from me is a house for sale that was listed with Realtor A, and then re-listed with Realtor B. BOTH SIGNS are still in the yard. Yeah, Realtor A should have come and picked up his sign. But why on earth has Realtor B not taken it down yet?!? (It's been 2 months!)

Yesterday, I spoke with a buyer who called on a listing and I asked her my usual "are you working with a Realtor?" She says, "well, kind of. I got pre-approved with my mortgage broker and he recommended the agent in his building. She sent me a couple of houses to look at, but when I called her to schedule a showing, she never called me back."

Please tell me, why??

And we have all run across the person who says their previous Realtor never called them period. (Listing expired and they had no clue, house was shown and they never got a call about how it went, FSBO was listed and never received updates about how marketing efforts were going, etc.) How do they continue to be in business like that?

There are so many very good Realtors around, ones who:

• take tons of great pictures
• do all they can to market the home
• provide sellers with weekly marketing updates
• communicate and return calls consistently
• provide buyers with an organized way to keep up with homes they have seen
• even go out and take pictures for buyers when a listing they think they like has none.

These are the agents you know you can trust; you can count on them to do it right the first time. But their job is made so much more difficult by, let's call them the NSGRs- the not-so-good Realtors, because they have to prove themselves over and over again that they are different. As if Real Estate wasn't hard enough already.

Yes, business is slow for everyone right now, but how is it that the NSGRs continue to get a piece of this small pie?

On October 18^th local restaurants and business will set up once again for the Fourth Anuual Taste of Acworth. They will be set up in the Historic District on Main Street from 10 AM until 6 pm and admission is Free! A variety of food samples from local restaurants will be offered from $1-$3 for any craving!

Over 150 booths will be showcasing local restaurants, businesses and artisans. There will also be two stages providing live entertainment such as fashion shows, a dog show, live music and more all day long. For the kids there will be inflatables, bungee jumping, a rock climbing wall, candy making, a pumpkin contest and splatter painting!

Parking and shuttles will be available throughout town. So pack the whole family, including Rover, come hungry and enjoy the fun!