Andy Peters

You will find Brookhaven nestled between Buckhead and Sandy Springs inside the Atlanta perimeter (ITP, as they say). Brookhaven is separated east and west by Peachtree Road. The westside of Brookhaven is well known for historic homes from the 1920's-1940's in the neighborhood that bears the community's name and the classically popular Capital City Club. The community of Brookhaven was originally built around a golf course, Brookhaven Golf Club, which later became the previously mentioned Capital City Club. In 1986, the area was named a historic district by the the National Parks Service. The expansive new Sembler Town Brookhaven development on the northwest side of the area will bring even more modern day convenience including commercial, retail, and restaurants. The eastside of Brookhaven is filled with blossoming neighborhoods such as Ashford Park, Drew Valley, Brookhaven Fields, Brookhaven Gardens, Brookhaven Heights, Fernwood Park, and Hillsdale to name a few. New developments along Dresden Drive like Village Place at Brookhaven on the eastside have furthered property values and the desirability of the area. Current restaurants of interest in the area include Hudson Grille, Haven, Verde Taqueria, and Terra Grille.

There's a lot to like here for all price ranges, but why not take advantage of a deal? Foreclosures are affecting every market, even the highly desirable community of Brookhaven. The below link is updated daily for all active Brookhaven shortsale and foreclosure listings in the 30319 zip code so make sure you bookmark this page for easy access and reference.

Click Here for an Easy One Click Brookhaven (30319) Foreclosure and Short Sale Search.

Andy and Lesley Peters with The Peters Company at Keller Williams Realty Peachtree Road are well versed in Atlanta Brookhaven real estate. In fact, we live in Brookhaven ourselves! We represent both buyers and sellers, and we are intimately familiar with the Brookhaven short sale and foreclosure market. For more information about The Peters Company, visit our website at www.thepeterscompany.com. You'll also find us on Kudzu.com under "The Peters Company" where we have received well over 40 5-star reviews and are ranked as one of Atlanta's highest rated real estate teams. Give us a call today at 770-634-2782. We look forward to working with you and helping you take advantage of today's market!

Inflation. Is it our friend or foe? Well, we all know that dollar won't get what it used to. I bought a jumbo sized package of Wrigley's gum the other day and paid $1.69. It doesn't seem like that long ago when it was 79 cents. Everything goes up in price. The same can be said for home prices. That's why 30-year loans are so attractive. You're buying and locking at a time in space that typically over a 30 year period will see massive amounts of inflation, positively affecting price and value.

Looking at this economy and the money that is being thrown around or proposed to be thrown around, one thing is obvious. We're going to be printing more money folks and lots of it. The most likely solution to this economic dilemma is good old fashioned spending. Lots of spending. What's President elect Obama calling for? Survey says, "Spending!" These events will sooner rather than later lead to a classic case of stagflation, for all you economic minded folks out there. All that means is that we will have an ecomony that isn't growing while prices are rising. Unemployment will rise as well for a time period as the economy searches for a bottom. This infusion of dollars into our economy will dillute our buying power, costing us more and more to buy the things we want and love. That's the negative. The positive is that it's going to add value to our appreciating assets at a larger than life rate. In perhaps one of the most historic times to buy a home from an inventory, price, and interest rate point of view, we have something else to consider now in short term inflation. It's bound to happen. It's simply a matter of how much inflation we'll see. The likely response to the stagflation is to spend more and more and more to a point that we out run it and get over the hump. The cash will eventually lead to more than an artificial boost to our economy. Meanwhile, property owners will see their home values rise considerably. Unfortunately, so will interest rates. The government has demonstrated that it is prepared to do whatever it takes to boost our economy. So fire up that money press, Mr. U.S. Mint, and lock those floating interest rates and lines of credit!

If you are taking a significant hit right now on the sale of your home, don't sell. Rent. Keep your home. We have told many clients this here recently. We've told clients for months now to buy investment property. Why not treat your primary residence as an investment property and buy your next home while the rates are ridiculously low, prices are painfully low, and inventory is incredibly high? Nothing pains us more than to give bad news, but we are not going to expect or coach you to list your house below what you paid for it, if we can help it at all. The rental market is great with plenty of folks looking for a deal to rent that depressed valued home that either they can't afford right now or are too scared to buy. Despite low interest rates, the lenders are ruthless in making you stand on your head to qualify for loans. In addition, first time homebuyers have to put down a minimum of 3% on the purchase of a home, which is downright hard to come by for some aspiring homeowners. I might argue that if you don't have 3% to put down on a house, perhaps you should not be thinking about buying a home, but that's a totally different conversation. By renting, you may not be in a position to get your value back to where you need it to be in the time frame you want, but it can't get much worse, right? Give it a couple of years and let inflation help you out. I'm not cashing in my IRA right now just because it lost 25% of its value over the last quarter. By the way, that's a true story. Whew! I'm buying real estate from now on as opposed to the stock market. Call me crazy, but at least I can do something to the real property. Improve it, rent it, something besides pray it goes up in the stock market. Hang on folks. This year is going to be historic for the economy, and the housing market will lead the charge back. We'll be here whenever you need us.

You can always find more news and views on www.thepeterscompany.com/blog. Thanks for visiting.

Brookhaven Gardens is a small residential neighborhood in the incredibly popular and fast growing Brookhaven community of DeKalb County in intown Atlanta. The neighborhood, originally constructed in the late 1990's, is home to a variety of floorplans and size homes. You will find the small neighborhood tucked away within the larger Brookhaven Fields community and adjacent to the even larger Drew Valley community.

Highlights of the neighborhood include an active Homeowners Association, which acts indepently and also participates within the larger Brookhaven Fields Civic Association. Each year in the fall, Brookhaven Gardens organizes a block party filled with great food courtesy of the neighbors, karaoke machines, pony rides, visits from the local police and fire departments giving tours of police cars and fire engines, football on TV, and other surprises. In addition, Brookhaven Gardens participates in the annual Brookhaven Fields Yard Sale, an event that grows every year and one that you should give serious consideration to attending if you have never seen it. It's the largest organized yard sale I've ever seen in Atlanta.

Perhaps one of Brookhaven Gardens' best features is also the area's best kept secret, a small fountain filled pond, home to at least 10 beautiful and friendly ducks. Neighbors sometimes pause for a humorous duck crossing in the street, and many are found feeding the neighborhood "pets" from their waterside decks. The community is built around the pond, and a waterfront gazebo is a welcoming spot for visitors to feed the ducks or enjoy the sounds of the fountain.

The quiet community is a refreshing suburban setting within 1 mile of the hustle and bustle of Buckhead. The homes within Brookhaven Gardens are still considered an exceptional value given their size. When compared to new construction in the area, an objective buyer will quickly see that these spacious homes, priced in the $500,000+ range, are undervalued. My wife and I lived within half of a mile of this neighborhood in Ashford Park for many years, and we never even knew Brookhaven Gardens existed until we began looking for larger affordable housing in the area. We love Brookhaven, and we were willing to sacrifice space in order to stay in the area. Thanks to this neighborhood, we didn't have to do that. We moved into Brookhaven Gardens almost 2 years ago, and our home is much bigger than we thought we would find. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, and the location is to die for. Nowadays, I'm surprised the word is not out about this great neighborhood. Of course, the homeowners of Brookhaven Gardens would just assume you not know about their little secret. That's what makes it special.

For more information on this and many other great intown Atlanta and Brookhaven destinations you can visit www.thepeterscompany.com/blog. As always, it would be our pleasure to help you find your own place to call home.

Considering what's going on in the real estate market, you have a tremendous opportunity. This opportunity requires you to make a decision though! You have to decide if you are going to be a pioneer or a settler. No, you're not playing a game of Oregon Trail so calm down you children of the 80's. So what's the difference and what are you?

pi⋅o⋅neer  [pahy-uh-neer] - one who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress: pioneers in cancer research.

set⋅tler  [set-ler, -l-er] - one who establishes himself in a new region.

A pioneer in this real estate market is quite honestly a smart buyer, keeping in mind that the money to be made in real estate is not in the up time. It's all about buying low and selling high in those up times. If you're one of the few who is buying a primary residence with no other strings attached (such as, not owning another home somewhere else and/or having the good fortune of selling your previous home), words can't describe the opportunity before you. You can be a pioneer by simply buying smart. Many homebuyers are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see just how low things can go. I believe at the end of the day those folks will be very sorry considering inventories are high (although falling and showing promise of a turnaround) and rates are in the low 5% range (and sure to rise).

If you already have a home which you are bound to for various reasons or maybe you have no desire to move, you can be a pioneer too. Investment property, which I have talked about previously, is a golden opportunity for you to actually experience a return on investment RIGHT NOW. Have you looked at your 401(k) or securities accounts lately? Returns? What's that? Learn the value of cash flow, buy an investment property, build equity, and sleep well at night Mr. Pioneer.

The alternative is to be a settler, the person that follows the market and the crowd. When it's just about to crest, you are buying and following those clever pioneers. The bad news is that crest soon turns into a valley, and there goes your profit, your equity, or even worse your property. Sure, you can make money as a settler, but literally every day you wait costs you money.

As your real estate consultants, our job is to advise you and keep your home search or home sale "between the ditches," as my grandfather used to say, teaching me to drive his old truck on dirt roads in south Georgia. Simply put, we win when you win, and that includes finding values, negotiating values, and facilitating a smooth transaction. The moral of the story is, as in all of life, you have a decision to make. If you can afford to do so, be a pioneer. Your long term wealth will thank you for it later.

As always, we'd love to be your home base for all your pioneering needs. For more info, visit www.thepeterscompany.com.

Lesley and I are fortunate to go on at least two listing appointments every week. So, we must get a lot of listings, right? Well, we certainly are successful securing listings, but we don't want every listing. You see, many desperate real estate agents take listings regardless of the situation because they know in their heart of hearts that even if the listing can't and won't be sold that they can use the listing to promote themself. It's a terrible reality, but it is just that, a reality. When we all agree to agree to take a listing, Lesley and I take it because we genuinely believe we can sell it. We aren't desperate. We aren't in the business of listing homes. We are in the business of selling homes. If we can't sell your home, it bothers us. We don't sleep well at night. You aren't happy. You don't use us again. You don't refer us to your friends and family. We are sad, and eventually we become desperate.

So, what would cause us to not take a listing?

1 - Price - it's hard to sell a home when it's priced so high that it doesn't attract buyers. We are very realistic on price, and we play to the percentages, not to the possibilities. This has helped us achieve an average days on market much lower (30.4 days) than the average Atlanta real estate agent. We tell everyone that we meet with for a listing presentation that there will definitely be another agent that will come along and price their home higher than we would. That will always be the case. We completely understand when someone feels like they must "try" to sell their home at a higher price with another agent. Unfortunately, the market stats suggest we have far more "tryers" as opposed to sellers considering 67% of listings fail due to being overpriced (ChartMaster 3rd Qtr Market Stats).

2 - Condition - in this buyers' market, you have to be competitively priced and you have to be the "prettiest." If a buyer sees a defect in your home, they don't discount in hundreds of dollars. They discount in thousands of dollars. It's hard to build value to a buyer when there are glaring defects that a seller is not willing to repair. With high inventory, it is easy for a buyer to simply move on to the next listing without batting an eye. It's very unlikely that we will walk into the absolute perfect home that needs nothing done in order to get it ready for the market. Part of our listing consultation includes a walk through of a home to make some clear cut recommendations on what exactly needs to be done in order to maximize your opportunity to sell in the least amount of time for the most amount of money.

3 - Financial - sometimes it is just not in the best interest of the seller to sell. If someone is severely upside down on their home, we don't want to take that listing unless the seller absolutely has to sell. If they have to sell and it isn't pretty, we coach people to explore short sell options with their lender to avoid foreclosure. We tell more people not to sell than we do ask for their listing, and that's the honest to goodness truth. The rental market is booming right now as more and more people realize that renting their property gives them an opportunity to fulfill their obligation to their lender and hold on for a better day. We want that better day for everyone if it's in their best interest.

We know that selling a home can be a very stressful experience or a very enjoyable experience. We are the difference maker. We are not desperate. We do not do desperate things. We follow a time tested model that allows us to sleep at night. We study real market statistics that give us important clues and direction when listing and buying property. Continue to think like a buyer, and if you are looking for an agent that will give you the straight talk on selling in this market, look no further.