Michael Neville - Intown Atlanta Realtor

The 73rd Atlanta Dogwood Festival is back in Piedmont Park this week (April 17, 18, & 19) after being displaced last year due to the drought. The dogwoods are in bloom and hundreds of artists from around the country will set up their tents for Atlanta's longest running event.

The festival is free to the public. The three days are filled with art & entertainment. This year will feature the largest Artist Market in the event's history. More than 250 artists from around the USA will gather in Piedmont Park to display their paintings, clay, glass, wood, etc.

The Kids Village features huge inflatable, games, arts & crafts, etc. & a 24-foot rock-climbing wall. A diverse collection of musical acts will perform throughout the 3 day event.

The food is where it's at with funnel cakes, gyros, crabcakes, corndogs....ahhh

There's the Amazing Animal Athletes Dog Show, Friday Night Open Air Comedy Show, & an Improve Show.

The "Friends of Dogwood Pavilion" is where you can taste some of the absolute best food the city has to offer.

This ticketed event that became part of the Dogwood Festival in 2008 will offer a special area on Saturday and Sunday featuring some of the city’s favorite restaurants combined with beer and wine tasting, chair massages from The Art of Touch and even private restrooms.

Participating Restaurants: Metrotainment Bakery, 4th & Swift, Babette’s Café, Twisted Taco, South City Kitchen, Wildfire, Eclipse de Luna, Genki, Dolce, Geisha House, The Nook, Six Feet Under, Nickiemoto’s, Gordon Biersch, Roy’s and The Real Chow Baby. --- the tickets cost $25 in advance, or $30 at the door - but you can get them from www.HALFOFFDEPOT.com for $12.50 - as long as they last.

For more info on the info go to www.dogwoodfestival.org

And if you'd like to live in walking distance to Piedmont Park, possibly in a condo in Midtown, or a home in Virginia Highland, Morningside, Midtown, or Ansley - just send me an email at Mike@LiveInAtlantaGA.com or call 404-310-8364 and I'll be happy to discuss the great options available to you.

Enjoy the Festival!

Georgia DCA Neighborhood Stabilization Program

If you are considering being an owner occupant buyer on a foreclosure in the Atlanta, GA area – there is special program for you that allows you to obtain $14,000 Georgia Dream NSP loan for a down payment or repairs in the form of a lien which is released over a five year period. Basically, as long as you own the home for 5 years – it’s FREE MONEY!

This program is designed to eliminate the number of foreclosures in our market, stabilize/improve neighborhoods, and stimulate the economy.

Now if you think about the fact that we have the $8,000 1^st time homebuyer tax credit, Georgia is looking at an additional $3,600 tax credit for home buyers, and this $14,000 – you’re looking at some homebuyers getting $25,600 to assist in a home purchase. NOTHING of this magnitude has ever been offered before & they won’t last through the year – basically saying if you can make a move in the next 60-120 days, you are setting yourself up for an incredible equity position & building wealth for your future.

I can think of more than a handful of homes in the Ormewood Park, Grant Park, East Atlanta, Kirkwood, Edgewood, and Oakhurst areas where these incentives would apply. Intown Atlanta living with a $25,600 DISCOUNT - this is INCREDIBLE!

Call or email me with specific questions as to how you can ensure that you’re able to be one of the lucky few who capitalize on these amazing incentives.

The Georgia Senate passed a version of H.B. 261 allowing Georgia home buyers to receive a tax credit of up to $3,600 (or 1.2 percent of the purchase price, whichever is less). The credit would not exceed $1,200 per year and any unused portion can be carried forward for two years.

Georgia residents who buy a home would get a three-year tax credit.

Under the bill, home purchasers would receive income tax credits of up to $3,600, up to $1,200 for each of three years. In order to qualify, homeowners would have to apply for the credit within six months of the date the governor signs the bill.

The legislation would apply to new and previously occupied homes as well as residences that have been foreclosed.

The credit could be used either for houses and condominiums and either on primary or second residences.

For some homebuyers, this could mean a total of $11,600 in tax credits for the purchase of their new home and for others who didn’t qualify for the federal $8,000 credit, it would mean a $3,600 tax credit. Either way, it’s a great incentive to take advantage of this great buying opportunity in the Atlanta market – especially intown locations like East Atlanta, Ormewood Park, Grant Park & Kirkwood where some great homes can be found under $250,000.

If you're looking for a "GREAT DEAL" be careful you don't make one of these potentially painfall pitfalls.

We've seen sales prices drop 12% in Metro Atlanta in the last year, 28% in the fourth quarter, and that's for the entire Atlanta real estate market, for the condo market it looks even more unsightly. While this sounds like an amazing opportunity for Buyers to seize the opportunity and gain instant equity positions - Buyer's Beware!

We've seen two condominium auctions in the last few months, including the Element at Atlantic Station where 1 bedroom condo units started at $95,000 (previously listed in the 170's) - yet all of the units didn't sell out.

Funny thing is, with certain auction companies you hear on the radio, see on the web or on billboards lock you in on very interesting wording, want you to close quick, and have large percentage of earnest money down (which typically is non-refundable). Foreclosure auction companies (who'll remain nameless) who advertise about these 2 day blow-outs starting at $1,000 a property are usually trying to sell the worst of the worst listings that have been on the market for over a year and no one has touched - yet they lock you in to ridiculous contracts with $5,000 non-refundable down. Amazingly, if you used a realtor with decent knowledge and interest in protecting clients you could have secured these properties already on better terms or after the auction is over & the inventory hasn't sold - the terms will not be as risky to your financial well-being.

Heck, I just spoke with a young woman so excited about the Horizon development that will be auctioned this week - or should I say 40 of the 250 units will be auctioned. They've sold roughly 100 or so units, lets just say they sell these 40 - they'll still have another 100 units to sell. This is an example of a strategy many builders/banks use trying to get at least 50% of the inventory sold so FHA loans will be permitted on the property. But think about your resale capabilities if you need to sell in the next 24-36 months and the development still has a massive inventory of unsold units - how will you compete?

This is a development that truly fits the lifestyle of the Midtown area but is situated outside the loop (the Atlanta Perimiter of I-285). Why are there so many 1/1's when the demographics of that geographic area is more likely to be made up of "empty nesters" who'd be downsizing and more than likely would need 2/2's. But try to get that type of insight from an onsite rep who's promoting an auction rather than the Buyer's best interest.

Hey - if it hasn't suck in and you still feel that these auctions are a great opportunity - never mind class action lawsuits & standing inventory. Just remember, if you end up needing to do a short sale to get out of the property down the line....you'll probably want to have a realtor who's well versed in the process because that may be your only way of competing with builder/bank inventory.

This week I wrote a contract for $10,500 for a 2 bedroom 1 bath home. Of course it needed work, the investor had bids of roughly 15K to make the home livable. THINK ABOUT IT. For less than $30,000 - someone is going to be living in a 2 bedroom/1 bath home.

Yes, that's an incredible rental property that will have a positive cash flow of a few hundred dollars NET every month from day 1, never mind the land appreciation in the coming years. (The home is less than 1 mile from the Georgia Dome, CNN Center, Philips Arena, the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park and The World of Coca-Cola!) Tell me if you don't think a developer is eventually going to want a lovely little development to go up in an area with such a prime real estate location in the heart of Fulton County Atlanta, GA! In fact, there are numerous proposals that have been discussed about the Vine City area of Atlanta, it’s just a matter of time before someone takes action.

We currently have 3,120 active listings for Single-Family Homes for less than $50,000 in the GAMLS system!

For all of those people running scared from the stock market and trying to figure out where to invest - take a serious look at the Atlanta Foreclosure Market! People are amazed that you can actually buy homes for less than the price of the average American car, but it’s true. For 2008, the FMLS listing service shows 1,763 homes sold with a list price of below $30,000!

Investors are making wise decisions in developing investment portfolios, whether to acquire & hold for purely land appreciation, modestly rehabbing to create rental properties with immediate positive cash flow, or conducting full scale rehabs for immediate flips (only for the truly serious/experienced investor in the current market) – people are seizing the opportunity to gain financial freedom through real estate acquisition in Atlanta, GA. It wasn't that long ago that the same type of action was taking place in areas like Grant Park and Candler Park, and look at home values in those areas (both of which I service).

If you have questions or would like to discuss this topic further please feel free to call or email me. Happy house hunting!

All The Best,

Michael

Michael Neville & Associates

Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Midtown

www.LiveInAtlantaGA.com

404-310-8364

Mike@MichaelNeville.com