Horton Team Real Estate

It's a sign of desperation. Some mortgage companies are offering 40 and 50 year mortgages in order for buyers to buy a house with an affordable monthly payment. These are adjustable rate mortgages. (The lender doesn't want to lock in a rate for 40 or 50 years.) Equity will build very slowly and the chance of interest rates pushing up the monthly payment is very great. This is something most people should avoid.

With rising interest rates and increasing foreclosures, there are more tenants looking for rental properties than in the past several years. Numerous articles predict a decrease in apartment (and other rental unit) vacancies and an increase in rental rates.

Atlanta, however, will not feel the effect as much as other areas of the country. As the price of homes in Atlanta did not increase at the same rate as the rest of the country, so too the increase in rental rates will be more moderate.

Many parts of the country, metropolitan New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, etc., have limited growth potential, and therefore few new rental units get built. Atlanta, in contrast, still has room to expand its boundaries. Rental units are plentiful, and therefore, supply and demand does its job of keeping rents from rising faster than the overall economy.

The size of the average new house has been increasing for years, from 1500 square feet in 1970 to 2400 in 2005. Now, however, the growth seems to be at an end with some buyers now looking for smaller homes. Features, rather than size, has become more important to many current buyers.

Atlanta was not listed in either the hot markets nor the cold markets list. Not too hot and not too cold makes it just right. We are better off here than in many parts of the country. Over all it is good for prices to move up gradually over the years. It keeps houses affordable and prevents the actual price declines some markets are experiencing.

Atlanta continues to be one of the leading areas of mortgage fraud in the nation. Investigators just announced the arrest of five more fraud perpetrator in Atlanta.

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2006081005?OpenDocument reports that Atlanta remains in the top three metropolitan areas for foreclosures. The only good news is that the number of foreclosures in Atlanta did not increase from the previous quater to the current quarter.

As the Federal Reserve Bank governors considered the overall economy, of which the housing market forms a significant part, they decided not to raise interest rates this quarter. Subsequently, interest rates have declined slightly. It will take more than a slight decline to reinvigorate the sale of properties, but a decline of any amount is better than continual increases.

The Wall Street Journal's real estate section, http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/markettrends/20060721-hagerty.html, indicates that the inventory of houses for sale is only up only slightly for metro Atlanta from last year - between 10% and 20%. Other markets have as much as three times the number of homes for sale, but the Atlanta market has remained fairly constant. That is good news for both buyers and sellers.

According to MSNBC housing prices will fall only those markets that were over-heated. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14172172/ For the rest of the country, prices may hold steady for several months or even a couple years, before owners see any appreciation.

Forbes put out its list of the top ten most overpriced cities in the country. http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/realestate/2006/07/10/high-priced-metros_cx_lr_0711feat.html?partner=rss. Most of the top ten overpriced cities is unsurprising: New York City; Honolulu; four cities in California: San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and Los Angeles; three in Massachusetts: Essex County, Cambridge, and Boston; but then there is Tucson, Arizona with a median priced home running $248,600.

I have a new website: www.HortonTeam.com. The home page shows my current listings and a random selection from other Solid Source Realty agents. The site provides pages to search all active listings in FMLS. You can request a comparative market analysis to determine an approximate price your house might sell for. And there is a page with useful and interesting information about metro Atlanta.

Over time I will make changes and add other features. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

You can view all active listings in the throughout the country on www.realtor.com.