Let me be the first to say that if you are looking for an investment, in my opinion a time share is probably one of the worst investments you can make. If you are looking for a place that you can trade in order to visit other time share facilities it can work out nicely. One lady in my office bought a Florida time share with her husband and they have never been to it. They trade it in every year and visit another location. For my wife and I, we purchase a time share in Daytona Beach Florida about 20 years ago. We have gone to it every year and we vacation with many of the same people each year. One nice thing about our situation is we don’t have to worry about who we may be playing golf with. There is always a foursome ready to go play. We have seen children grow up and are now visiting with the grandchildren. This will be our case this year. If you follow this blog or put it into your RSS Feed Reader, you may even see a picture of our grandson Lincoln playing on the beach or in the kids pool. Bet you will!

Accessibility to vacation areas and vacation homes from the Greater Atlanta area is one feature that we have over many other metro areas of the country. Let’s look at some of the areas that are in close proximity to Metro Atlanta.

• The North Georgia Mountains – About an hour and a half north of the city
• The Blue Ridge Mountains – About three hours northeast of the city
• Lake Lanier – About forty five minutes northeast of the city
• Savannah and Tybee Island – About four hours southeast of the city
• Jekyll Island – About five and a half hours southeast of the city
• The Florida Panhandle – About five hours southwest of the city
• Daytona Beach Florida – about seven hours southeast of the city

*  Residential-Basic Contractor (Contractor work relative to detached one-family and two-family residences and one-family townhouses not over three stories in height).
* Residential-Light Commercial Contractor (Contractor work or activity related to multifamily and multiuse light commercial buildings and structures).
* General Contractor (Contractor work or activity that is unlimited in scope regarding any residential or commercial projects).

A fourth classification of contractor is the specialty contractor who is not required to be licensensed. This classification would include painters and roofers for example and they are not allowed to hire subcontractors.

I would think that the purpose of this law would be to help protect innocent homeowners and home buyers from unscrupulous contractors. We have all heard horror stories about homes and projects that have not worked out as originally planned. One big advantage of this law is the requirement for contractors to meet minimum standards for education, financial stability and workers compensation.

So what will the down side of this law be? Since Atlanta is so close to Florida, some of what happens there makes its way to our news programs. When a major event such as a hurricane hits Florida, it can sometimes take additional time to even get bids on getting work done much less getting the work itself performed.

Well it’s election season in Gwinnett County as well as the rest of the nation. I don’t know about you but I am already tired of all the TV ads. Well advertising in Gwinnett County went to another level for me today. Someone stuck a flier for Charles Bannister on my front door. I don’t mean they put a flier on my front door, I mean they STUCK the damn thing on my front door. I took 3 pictures for every one to see. One picture is of the front of the flier, one is of the back of the flier (with a nice chunk of it missing) and the third is of the mess they made of my front door.

On the front of the flier it states “It’s been an honor to serve you, my neighbors. I promise to continue focusing on reducing traffic, enhancing our police force, combating illegal immigration and bringing new businesses and jobs to Gwinnett County”. I wonder if they will be coming out to clean and possibly repaint my door?

What Happened To the Mortgages?

Up until several months ago there was a mortgage program for just about everyone. Then came the sub-prime market shake up and loan programs were reduced to some of the most basic. On top of that, investors tightened up the qualification parameters for applicants. Many first time buyers utilized 100% financing programs which went away. That breathed new life into the down payment assistance programs, which congress may soon do away with. The number of buyers who can qualify for a mortgage in today’s market has declined which therefore creates a negative impact.

Price Your Home Right

Pricing a home correctly when it first goes on the market is more important now than ever. In the past sellers market, when the market was appreciating and mortgage programs followed freely, it was an accepted practice to price your home slightly above value to allow some negotiating room. In today’s buyer’s market this just is not the case. As a seller you don’t want to put yourself in the position of “Chasing the Market”. So how do you avoid this pitfall? The easiest and most comprehensive way is to have your home appraised by an independent third party who is a licensed appraiser.

Help Buyers Buy Your Home

What other factors influence a buyer’s decision of whether or not to make an offer on your home? The main ones are appearance, appearance and appearance. Make sure that the exterior is inviting, remember you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Removing clutter and having clean carpets along with fresh paint will help tremendously. If your home is not in show ready condition and properly priced it is almost certain that you will be chasing the market instead of having the market chase you!

Flowers Crossing at The Mill is a family oriented active subdivision. Amenities include 10 tennis courts, 2 pools and a community center which is aptly named “Kids Towne Hall”. Year round activities are available for both children and adults and include Easter Egg Hunts, a community Garage Sale, Chastain Night at The Lakes, both adult and youth Christmas Parties along with much more.

Schools are an important part of any family residential area and this one is no different. This home is service by three of Gwinnett Counties finest schools; Craig Elementary, A C Crews Middle and Brookwood High School.

For additional pictures and information on 1264 Williston Drive, please view this page; http://www.mackperryhomes.com/property/1264-williston-drive/

The clubhouse and heated pool were impressive. Inside the clubhouse several amenities stood out. The complete exercise room, the resident’s game and media room just to name a few. The grand room of the clubhouse featured card tables along with a full kitchen for resident events.

The Villas of Johns Creek is a planned 70 unit luxury ranch style condominium community. The condos are built utilizing a quad design and feature 2 or 3 bedrooms. Priced from the mid 250’s, these maintenance free homes are perfect for all ages to enjoy. Let someone else take care of the yard work while you spend you free time doing the things you enjoy most.

You can view the available properties at The Villas of Johns Creek here.

General Maintenance - Paint Metal Roof: "Each homeowner shall keep and maintain each Lot and Structure owner by him, as well as all landscaping located thereon, in good condition and repair…"

Specifically please paint the metal roof on the front of the house to match the shutters.

We will recheck your property in approximately twenty (20) days from the date of this letter. Please note that violations that are not corrected by that date or continue to be repeat violations will incur a fine of $25 per day. The association has the right of abatement (the right to correct the violation at your expense) and the right to membership suspension. Please refer to the Covenants.

In my subdivision many of the bay windows and Queen Anne returns are covered with copper. Now if the copper roof is to be painted the same color as the shutters, then just on my cul-de-sac of 7 homes there would be grey, taupe, reddish orange, blue and black painted copper. I think it is easy to visualize just how silly that would look. Obviously the individual that wrote this letter was not very well versed about copper roofs and their maintenance. For those who don’t know as it ages, copper naturally goes through several stages. Rather than educating themselves first, it is sad that the homeowner’s association just sent out this letter for no good reason.

After several phone conversations and countless hours of research obtaining documentation about copper roofs along with emailing these documents to the homeowner’s association the violation was dropped. The resident was guilty until proven innocent. Seems a bit backwards from the way we have all been brought up don’t you think? Below you will see a picture of a monument that started out as bright shiny cooper and been going through the aging process for some time. I think we can all agree that it would be a shame to paint this structure.

On the upper level the spacious Master Suite has a separate tub/shower along with a large walk-in closet. Also upstairs is the laundry room and 2 additional large bedrooms along with an additional full bath.

The level cul-de-sac setting provides low traffic near the home and the fenced backyard is ideal for pets, children and entertaining. This home is also just a short walk from the community swim and tennis amenities. The annual Home Owner Association dues cover your privileges for these facilities.

What About Pricing

One problem that I see with new homes in the Atlanta market is that some of the builders are asking inflated prices for them and then discounting the list price by huge amounts. What is going to happen when this real estate slow down rebounds? Will the builders want to go back to the inflated pricing? Natural tendency would be to say yes. But guess what, the appraisers will be using the discounted pricing for establishing the value of future sales. Kind of a catch-22 don’t you think? Certainly no one expects the builders to work for free. They are entitled to a return on their investment and should run their business accordingly, just be realistic. When I see prices discounted by $50,000 to $100,000 on individual homes, something tells me that the builder is acknowledging that the home was overpriced to begin with. Why not price the homes competitively and negotiate the transaction in a normal manner.

Several years ago when the real estate market in Greater Atlanta was booming, builders viewed real estate agents as a necessary evil and tolerated our existence. With Buyer Agency being so well advertised and promoted as the best course of action by consumer advocates, builders now realize that collectively the REALTOR community is working with the majority of the buyers.

For more information about buyer agency and an Atlanta Buyers Agent contact Mack.

America’s Best Builder - 2007

Taking a proactive approach to their business, although not officially one of the categories, could be one of the reasons that Touchstone Homes was named America’s Best Builder for 2007. For more than a decade Builder Magazine and the National Association of Home Builders have recognized the best builders in the nation. Builders are judged by a panel of ten industry experts on finance and operations, customer service, design and construction, quality and marketing. Congratulations Touchstone and keep up the good work.