Home Buying - Home Buying Tips

The answer to that question is dependant on how far out from Atlanta you want to look, and what price range you prefer. Here’s a broad overview. The areas that are very close in – Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Marietta, Smyrna and Vinings – have not only not lost value in the current recession, but are continuing to appreciate somewhat. Because of the cost of gasoline, I think this is a trend that’s here to stay. The closer to the city, or to a substantial commercial hub such as Windward, the stronger the home values will remain.

If you are considering an area a little farther out, then the strongest areas in the last 5 years have been Woodstock, Cumming, Buford and Dacula. This was largely driven by the excellent schools in most of these areas, and the reasonable home prices.

If you prefer to be farther still, Braselton is coming on very strong, as is almost all of Henry County.

The area around Camp Creek Parkway would be my bet for the best appreciation in value over the next 4 – 8 years. This is virtually undiscovered territory. It’s only minutes from downtown, yet there is still a lot of land available, and the builders are taking advantage of this. Home prices are much lower than in other areas this close in. Schools may be in question, but as people move to the area they should improve.

If you’re willing to be an “Urban Pioneer” areas in transition from old and rundown to renovated and new are always a good bet. The areas that are very strong right now are Kirkwood and East Atlanta, with lots of new development coming into these neighborhoods. Mableton is also undergoing an amazing transformation.

Please note that these are simply the trends we’ve seen in the last few years. I hesitate to make predictions any more, because with the current market the way it is, all bets are off.

Pour a capful of full strength bleach into the PVC pipe, provided for this purpose, from each of your furnaces. This helps prevent clogging of your main condensate lines. Do this more often when the house is new, and, then every 6 months or so, after that.

Don’t use W-D 40 on your window tracks, use Pledge.

Some builders have discovered that a really good competitive edge is to include most of the options that other builders are using as an additional profit center in their design studios. So, check out those builders. We do, and have been for over 40 years combined experience, and we keep on doing it. They’ve decided that many buyers are put off by constantly hearing the words, “that’s an extra”. They include these options as standard features and keep the costs down through volume purchasing these options for all their homes. You might be thinking, but, what if I don’t want all those options. I have to pay for them anyway. Guess what? Nobody is NOT choosing all these options. Derk says “I wouldn’t want all that stuff”, but, Derk isn’t the one buying. Todays homebuyer wants it all. This makes the buying process much simpler. Over and over, we’ve seen buyers breathe a sigh of relief when they don’t have to deal with comparing option prices along with home prices in sizing up which builder is the best value. And, you won’t be gouged at the design center.

So, check out those builders.

Finished Homes NOT Fully Punched Out

You know what we mean? You’re touring a finished home and you notice a missing piece of trim, or a gouge out of some woodwork and you think “this is not quality”. A real estate colleague used to say, “that wasn’t a sign of lack of quality. The builder just hasn’t punched out the house yet” But it still is a negative reflection. A builder who takes pride in his work will either have his best foot forward on a finished home or you can tell that he’s in the process of getting it done. Having all the little things fixed exhibits a detail oriented mindset. (If you don’t recognize some of these terms, please ask.)

Neat Job Sites

If you have to step over all manner of debris to get into a home under construction and then weave through an obstacle course of scraps and wraps to see the inside, this is NOT a neat job site. Not only does it make it difficult for subcontractors to function, it conveys the idea that they, likewise, don’t have to be neat and careful. A messy builder is usually a sloppy builder