Lake Sidney Lanier Homes Blog

Monday, February 27, 2017

Lake Lanier Home Sales Charted! Lake Lanier Real Estate Trends You'll Want To See!

Lake Lanier Home Sales Charted! Lake Lanier Real Estate Trends You'll Want To See!

I am often asked the question "How is the real estate market?" More precisely, it is often a question as to the status of the Lake Lanier real estate market. And generally, this question refers to how homes are selling and what the market activity looks like for home sales.

In order to answer that question which is so often posed, I decided to take a look at historical sales prices of Lake Lanier homes as provided by FMLS. The simple chart shown below provides a detailed view of where we have been and where we might likely be going with regard to Lake Lanier home sales prices. The chart goes all the way back to 2007 and shows each year along with the average sales price. This is for waterfront homes on Lake Lanier. No other criterion was used.

Lake Lanier Home Sales Historic Sales Price Trend 2007-2017 from Arthur Prescott

Lake Sidney Lanier Homes is the most comprehensive online source for information on Lake Lanier homes for sale and Lake Lanier area real estate. View the latest Lake Lanier home listings, foreclosures, lots, land, sales trends and real estate topics on Lake Lanier. Arthur Prescott is an Accredited Buyer's Representative and Certified Residential Specialist with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties. He has over a decade of Lake Lanier real estate experience. If you would like to schedule a free buyer or seller consultation, please feel free to contact us directly at www.LakeSidneyLanierHomes.com or 678-513-2014 or email us at Arthur.Prescott@BHHSGeorgia.com.

Friday, February 24, 2017

Lake Lanier Area Real Estate Market Update For January 2017 From The 400 North Board Of Realtors!

Lake Lanier Area Real Estate Market Update For January 2017 From The 400 North Board Of Realtors! Highlights: (compared to January 2016)

Forsyth County:

Total single family home sales: 244 (10.4% increase) Median sales price: $318,000 (4.3% increase) Average sales price: $343,000 (4.6% increase) Total active listings: 1265 (11.8% increase) New listings: 362 (7.2% decrease) Month’s Supply: 3.2 (0.2% increase)

Forsyth County Infographic - https://magic.piktochart.com/output/20377608-400n_01_2076-market_report_forsyth

Dawson County:

Total single family home sales: 23 (28.1% decrease) Median sales price: $257,000 (42.0% increase) Average sales price: $286,000 (29.4% increase) Total active listings: 271 (8.8% increase) New listings: 46 (21.1% increase) Month’s Supply: 6.4 (2.4% increase)

Dawson County Infographic - https://magic.piktochart.com/output/20377497-400n_01_2017-market_report_dawson

Lumpkin County:

Total single family home sales: 23 (21.1% increase) Median sales price: $165,000 (6.8% decrease) Average sales price: $160,000 (18.8% decrease) Total active listings: 157 (7.6% decrease) New listings: 21 (27.6% decrease) Month’s Supply: 5.2 (17.9% decrease)

Lumpkin County Infographic - https://magic.piktochart.com/output/20377287-400n_01_2017-market_report_lumpkin

Lake Sidney Lanier Homes is the most comprehensive online source for information on Lake Lanier homes for sale and Lake Lanier area real estate. View the latest Lake Lanier home listings, foreclosures, lots, land, sales trends and real estate topics on Lake Lanier. Arthur Prescott is an Accredited Buyer's Representative and Certified Residential Specialist with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties. He has over a decade of Lake Lanier real estate experience. If you would like to schedule a free buyer or seller consultation, please feel free to contact us directly at www.LakeSidneyLanierHomes.com or 678-513-2014 or email us at Arthur.Prescott@BHHSGeorgia.com.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties Atlanta Real Estate Advisor – February 2017

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Georgia Properties
Real Estate Advisor – February 2017

We are providing this monthly real estate advisor to keep you informed about the latest trends and issues in the real estate market. Remember that real estate is local and every market is different. Contact us to find out the specific details for your local area. If you know someone else who might be interested in receiving this report or who may benefit from our expertise, please let us know. Better information helps our clients make better real estate decisions!

The Metro Atlanta real estate market is off to a mixed start in 2017. Pendings show strong momentum. Closings are slightly up. Inventory has dropped making it harder to find the right property for some buyers. Here is the summary for Metro Atlanta through January 2017.

Pended sales for January 2017 were up 30% from last month and up 14.2% from last January. Closings were down 33.9% from last month and up 2.2% from last January.
The average sales price for January was $266,000 - down 5% from last month and up 4.3% from last year. The annual ASP for 2016 beat the record posted back in 2006.
The listed inventory for January was down 6.4% from last month and down 5.4% from last January. But the limited availability of desirable properties is still driving multiple offers and very quick sales in select areas.
Overall months of supply for January was 4.7 months. Six months is considered normal. Luxury properties are taking longer with homes above $1 million averaging 19.6 months and properties over $2 million averaging 82 months to close.
The latest Case-Shiller Index for Atlanta (1/30/17) was essentially flat (+.03%) compared to the previous month. Metro Atlanta home values are up 61% from the recent bottom of March 2012 and up 8.06% from the average index last year. Increased homes values are building positive equity and getting some sellers back into the market.
Visit HomeServices Lending at Georgia.HomeServicesLending.com for the latest mortgage rates. Ask about our Close On Time Guarantee and Free Second Opinion programs. Over 77% of clients who tried the Second Opinion Program found a better solution and ended up closing their loan with HomeServices Lending.

Click here for a more detailed set of charts including the National Real Estate Market, Metro Atlanta Real Estate Market and Trends for Georgia Real Estate.

Our first MEGA Open House Event for 2017 is this Sunday, February 19th from2pm – 5pm. There will be hundreds of beautiful open houses open across Metro Atlanta. This might be the right time to make your move!
If you know someone who is considering listing their home, please let them know about these events. We are having great success in attracting buyers for our MEGA Open Houses! The MEGA Open House Events are very different from the standard open houses from other companies. We leverage major advertising campaigns to drive more awareness for these events. Some examples include:

New iPad Air2 Sweepstakes - One lucky person will win a brand new iPad Air2 in our sweepstakes promotion.
Digital Billboards - We are using our extensive digital billboard network to promote the event to over 2.5 million drivers the week leading up to the event.
Paid Facebook Ads – We leverage paid Facebook campaigns to promote each open house. Our MEGA Open House ads were viewed by over 300,000 consumers who clicked over 28,000 times to see more property details.
Zillow Advertising Campaign - Zillow is the leading real estate website with over 65% of the online searches in our market. Our MEGA Open House locations will be identified on Zillow to reach the largest online real estate audience. In addition, we are launching a significant new advertising campaign for Zillow buyer searches to promote our MEGA Open House event.
Print Advertising – We will place ads in select newspapers including the Atlanta Journal Constitution business section.
Local Promotion – Our teams will be putting up directionals, balloons and other materials to attract local prospects. Of course, we will respect local ordinances.
Neighbor Previews – Our teams will also be organizing previews for neighbors who may be interested or know someone that may be a candidate as their new neighbor.
Neighborhood Campaigns – Our teams will be leveraging e-campaigns, postcards and other mediums to reach the local community before and after the event.

As you can see, these are NOT traditional open houses where the agent places a few directionals and hopes for a buyer. These are MEGA Open House Events!

If you know anyone interested in listing their home, we would be honored to help. Our next MEGA Open House Event will be Sunday, March 19th.

Comscore reports that the Zillow group websites command a 65% market share for online real estate searches in Metro Atlanta. Our company has a strategic partnership with the Zillow Group and recently announced an exclusive new Zillow Video Program that has dramatically increased views and leads for our listings. Zillow ranks listings with Zillow Videos first in their search results which provides 2X the listing views. Buyers also save listings as favorites at twice the rate of other listings. Contact us to learn more about this exclusive Zillow Video program.

We also have a strategic partnership with Realtor.com - the second leading real estate website. We recently launched new Advantage Pro Listings which provide a range of advantages for our clients including larger photos and special branding for each listing. We have the option to add up to 100 photos plus other listings enhancements to make the property stand out for buyers. All leads for our listings go to us - the listing agents. Agents or brokerages who do not pay for Advantage Pro Listings do not receive the leads for their listings. These leads are sold to other agents who purchase them. That means those buyers will be directed to the receiving agent’s listings and not yours! Zillow and Realtor.com generate 80% of the online real estate searches for Metro Atlanta. NAR reports that 95% of buyers search online. The online marketing for your listing is critical to your success in exposing the property and finding the right buyer.

We would be honored to assist you or someone you know with their real estate needs. We are experts in the local market and have access to proprietary information sources that are not available to the public. Better information leads to better decisions!

Thursday, February 09, 2017

Inventory Of Waterfront Homes For Sale On Lake Lanier Very Low! Buyers Are Looking, But We Need More Listings!

Inventory Of Waterfront Homes For Sale On Lake Lanier Still Very Few! Buyers Are Looking, But We Need More Listings!

If you've been searching for waterfront homes for sale on Lake Lanier, you've probably come to the conclusion that there just doesn't seem to be a lot of inventory right now on the lake. A quick look at the numbers today in FMLS would tend to substantiate your thought process that indeed listing inventory is very tight right now. As of today, our most recent search of available waterfront homes for sale on Lake Lanier resulted in 194 home listings. Folks, that's not a lot of inventory of Lake Lanier homes for sale! Last year at this time, inventory was also tight with the number of homes listed coming in around 207. The median price point on what is for sale right now came in at about $682,450! That's up substantially from last year at this time. So if you're a little frustrated in your Lake Lanier property search, you are not alone! However, the good news is that it's still early in the season. While buyers are indeed looking now, the traditional Spring market has not taken off just yet.

If you are considering putting your Lake Lanier home on the market this year, now is the time to start cleaning the place up and getting it show ready. In a few more weeks the flowers will start blooming, the weather will start warming up on a more consistent basis, and Lake Lanier buyers will be out combing the shoreline in full force! Feel free to contact us today for a free market analysis and valuation of your Lake Lanier property. When we do our site visit to your property, we can also make suggestions about things to consider doing in order to get your property in tip-top shape for the upcoming selling season.

Lake Sidney Lanier Homes is the most comprehensive online source for information on Lake Lanier homes for sale and Lake Lanier area real estate. View the latest Lake Lanier home listings, foreclosures, lots, land, sales trends and real estate topics on Lake Lanier. Arthur Prescott is an Accredited Buyer's Representative and Certified Residential Specialist with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties. He has over a decade of Lake Lanier real estate experience. If you would like to schedule a free buyer or seller consultation, please feel free to contact us directly at www.LakeSidneyLanierHomes.com or 678-513-2014 or email us at Arthur.Prescott@BHHSGeorgia.com.

Wednesday, February 08, 2017

Lake Lanier Waterfront Lot Sales For 2016! Let's Check The Sales Trends!

The numbers are in for Lake Lanier waterfront lot sales for 2016! Here is a brief recap of the lot sales as reported in our comparative market analysis that we will provide via SlideShare later in this article.

Lake Lanier waterfront lots sold: 41

The highest priced lot sale was $535,000

The lowest priced lot sale was $7,000

The average original list price was $242,529

The average list price after price adjustments was $234,209

Average sales price was $211,599

Sales price vs original list price ratio came in at 85.57%

Average total days on market was 237

Lake Lanier Waterfront Lot Sales Market Analysis 2016 from Arthur Prescott

Our market analysis is generated at the beginning of each year. It is designed to show you Lake Lanier waterfront lot sales statistics. Each year, we search the First Multiple Listing Service for lot sales (closings) based on the following criteria:

Area: All counties with frontage on Lake Lanier. Specifically Forsyth, Dawson, Lumpkin, Hall, and Gwinnett counties.

Status: Sold (Closed Transactions)

Lake Frontage: The lot must be a waterfront property on Lake Lanier as described as lake frontage in the First Multiple Listing Service.

Property Category: Our analysis includes only residential developed lots as categorized in FMLS.

This market analysis is deemed to be accurate but is not warranted. It is meant to give a general idea and overview of the current real estate market for waterfront lots on Lake Lanier.

Sunday, February 05, 2017

Sail Boats On A Cold, Winter Day At Lake Lanier!

The joys of sailing and showing Lake Lanier homes on a cold, February day!

Sail Boats On A cold, Winter Day At Lake Lanier

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Lake Sidney Lanier Homes And Arthur Prescott Receive International Recognition For Real Estate Sales In 2016!

Lake Sidney Lanier Homes And Arthur Prescott Receive International Recognition For Real Estate Sales In 2016!

We are thrilled today to announce the recognition bestowed upon us by our parent company and managing real estate broker, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties. For 2016, Lake Sidney Lanier Homes and Arthur Prescott received the highly coveted President's Circle Award from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices recognizing our real estate sales performance in 2016 as ranking in the top 4% of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices agents worldwide. Working almost exclusively with real estate buyers and sellers of waterfront properties on Lake Sidney Lanier in Georgia, we are proud and excited to receive this ultra, exclusive recognition, and we look forward to an even more impressive 2017. Thank you to all of our clients and customers who relied on our advice and guidance in securing their real estate investments here on Lake Lanier in 2016 and for your continued trust for the past sixteen years!

Monday, January 23, 2017

Lake Lanier Waterfront Home Sales For 2016! Let's Check The Sales Trends For Last Year!

The numbers are in for Lake Lanier home sales for all of 2016! Here is a brief recap of the home sales as reported in our annual comparative market analysis that we will provide via SlideShare later in this article.

Lake Lanier waterfront homes sold: 356

The highest home price sale was $1,800,000

The lowest home price sale was $54,000

The average home sold had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and 1 half bathroom

The average build date was 1987

The average original list price was $573,067

The average list price after price adjustments was $554,005

Average sales price was $526,042

Sales price vs original list price ratio came in at 94.69 %

Average total days on market was 142

Lake Lanier Waterfront Home Sales Market Analysis 2016 from Arthur Prescott

Our annual market analysis is generated at the beginning of each year. It is designed to show you Lake Lanier home sales statistics. Each year, we search the First Multiple Listing Service for home sales (closings) based on the following criteria:

Area: All counties with frontage on Lake Lanier. Specifically Forsyth, Dawson, Lumpkin, Hall, and Gwinnett counties.

Status: Sold (Closed Transactions)

Lake Frontage: The home must be a waterfront property on Lake Lanier as described as lake frontage in the First Multiple Listing Service.

Property Category: Our analysis includes only residential detached homes as categorized in FMLS.

This market analysis is deemed to be accurate but is not warranted. It is meant to give a general idea and overview of the current housing market for waterfront homes on Lake Lanier.

Lake Sidney Lanier Homes is the most comprehensive online source for information on Lake Lanier homes for sale and Lake Lanier area real estate. View the latest Lake Lanier home listings, foreclosures, lots, land, sales trends and real estate topics on Lake Lanier. Arthur Prescott is an Accredited Buyer's Representative and Certified Residential Specialist with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties. He has over a decade of Lake Lanier real estate experience. If you would like to schedule a free buyer or seller consultation, please feel free to contact us directly at www.LakeSidneyLanierHomes.com or 678-513-2014 or email us at Arthur.Prescott@BHHSGeorgia.com.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Lake Lanier Area Real Estate Market Update For December 2016 From The 400 North Board Of Realtors!

Lake Lanier Area Real Estate Market Update For December 2016 From The 400 North Board Of Realtors! Highlights: (compared to December 2015)

Forsyth County Data:

Total single-family home sales: 312 (6.9% decrease)
Median sales price: $329,000 (9.7% increase)
Average sales price: $362,000 (10.0% increase)
Total active listings: 1251 (12.1% increase)
New listings: 209 (15.7% decrease)
Month’s Supply: 3.2 (1.4% increase)

Dawson County Data:

Total single-family home sales: 36 (5.9% increase)
Median sales price: $221,000 (4.7% increase)
Average sales price: $295,000 (9.7% increase)
Total active listings: 265 (2.6% decrease)
New listings: 29 (3.6% increase)
Month’s Supply: 6.2 (11.7% decrease)

Lumpkin County Data:

Total single-family home sales: 34 (47.8% increase)
Median sales price: $176,000 (14.3% increase)
Average sales price: $205,000 (34.0% increase)
Total active listings: 169 (5.1% decrease)
New listings: 16 (11.1% decrease)
Month’s Supply: 5.7 (13.7% decrease)

Forsyth Infographic -

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/19482140-400n_12_2016-market_report_forsyth

Dawson Infographic -

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/19482181-400n_12_2016-market_report_dawson

Lumpkin Infographic -

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/19482206-400n_12_2016-market_report_lumpkin

Lake Sidney Lanier Homes is the most comprehensive online source for information on Lake Lanier homes for sale and Lake Lanier area real estate. View the latest Lake Lanier home listings, foreclosures, lots, land, sales trends and real estate topics on Lake Lanier. Arthur Prescott is an Accredited Buyer's Representative and Certified Residential Specialist with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties. He has over a decade of Lake Lanier real estate experience. If you would like to schedule a free buyer or seller consultation, please feel free to contact us directly at www.LakeSidneyLanierHomes.com or 678-513-2014 or email us at Arthur.Prescott@BHHSGeorgia.com.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties Atlanta Real Estate Advisor - January 2017

The Metro Atlanta real estate market is off to a fast start for 2017. The market has been very active during the first few weeks of January. Here is the summary for Metro Atlanta real estate through December 2016.

Closings for December 2016 were down 8.2% from last month and down 3.3% from last December. According to Trendgraphix, 2016 closings were up 9.8% compared to 2015.
The average sales price for December was $282,000 – up 1.8% from last month and up 5.6% from last year. The annual ASP beat the record levels posted back in 2006.
The listed inventory for December was down 8.2% from last month and down 3.3% from last year. But the limited availability of desirable properties is still driving multiple offers and very quick sales in select areas.
Overall months of supply for December was 4.3 months. Six months is considered normal. Luxury properties are taking longer with homes above $1 million averaging 12.2 months and properties over $2 million averaging 28.5 months to close.
The latest Case-Shiller Index (12/27/16) was up .41% from the previous month. Metro Atlanta home values are up 61.79% from the recent bottom of March 2012 and up 8.06% from the average index last year. Increased home values are building positive equity and getting some sellers back into the market.
Visit HomeServices Lending at Georgia.HomeServicesLending.com for the latest mortgage rates. The recent Fed hike has driven mortgage rates higher and many buyers are taking action before rates rise further. Our Close On Time Guarantee and Free Second Opinion programs have been very beneficial to our clients!

Click here for a more detailed set of charts including the National Real Estate Market, Metro Atlanta Real Estate Market and Trends for Georgia Real Estate.

Our first MEGA Open House Event for 2017 is Sunday, February 19th from 2pm – 5pm. There will be hundreds of beautiful open houses open across Metro Atlanta. This might be the right time to make your move!

If you know someone who is considering listing their home, please let them know about these events. We are having great success in attracting buyers for our MEGA Open Houses! The MEGA Open House Events are very different from the standard open houses from other companies. We leverage major advertising campaigns to drive more awareness for these events. Some examples include:

New iPad Air2 Sweepstakes - One lucky person will win a brand new iPad Air2 in our sweepstakes promotion.
Digital Billboards - We are using our extensive digital billboard network to promote the event to over 2.5 million drivers the week leading up to the event.
Paid Facebook Ads – We leverage paid Facebook campaigns to promote each open house. Our MEGA Open House ads were viewed by over 300,000 consumers who clicked over 28,000 times to see more property details.
Zillow Advertising Campaign - Zillow is the leading real estate website with over 65% of the online searches in our market. Our MEGA Open House locations will be identified on Zillow to reach the largest online real estate audience. In addition, we are launching a significant new advertising campaign for Zillow buyer searches to promote our MEGA Open House event.
Print Advertising – We will place ads in select newspapers including the Atlanta Journal Constitution business section.
Local Promotion – Our teams will be putting up directionals, balloons, and other materials to attract local prospects. Of course, we will respect local ordinances.
Neighbor Previews – Our teams will also be organizing previews for neighbors who may be interested or know someone that may be a candidate as their new neighbor.
Neighborhood Campaigns – Our teams will be leveraging e-campaigns, postcards, and other mediums to reach the local community before and after the event.

As you can see, these are NOT traditional open houses where the agent places a few directionals and hopes for a buyer. These are MEGA Open House Events!

If you know anyone interested in listing their home, we would be honored to help and get their home designated as a MEGA Open House location.

Our company is strategically partnering with the Zillow Group to introduce a new Zillow Video Program that will dramatically increase views for our listings. Zillow ranks listings with Zillow Videos first in their search results which provides 2X the listing views versus other listings. Buyers also save listings as favorites at twice the rate of other listings. As we move into the early spring market, our seller clients will benefit from the increased exposure to more buyers.

As the recipient of the first ever Zillow Group Broker of Excellence Award, we will continue to partner with Zillow to introduce innovative programs that benefit our clients.

The outlook for Metro Atlanta real estate looks positive in 2017. We are forecasting an 8-10% increase in overall unit sales. There may be some slowing in the entry level market with rising mortgage rates and escalating home values. The general market in the $200,000 to $500,000 price range is very strong with homes expected to sell very quickly. The luxury market is expected to remain soft in some areas. Contact us for details about your local area.

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