2009 4th of July in Buckhead

We had a great 4th of July yesterday. We went out and cheered Martha on at Peachtree Battle as she ran the 40th Anniversary of the Peachtree Roadrace. She finished in about 49 1/2 minutes which is awesome! After that we decorated the golf cart and headed down to the Chastain Park Parade and Funfest. The streets were filled with families, dogs, strollers, wagons, bikes, and a handful of golf carts, all decorated for the occasion. The parade ended at the swimming pool where we enjoyed games, live music, lunch from Chick-fil-a, snowcones and at last a day full of swimming.

For the last part of the day we had dinner and enjoyed a city full of fireworks from a Buckhead highrise where we had almost 360 degree views, specifically Downtown & Lenox.

I hope everyone had a safe and memorable Independence Day!

Carson Matthews

2nd Annual Chastain Park 4th of July Parade and Funfest

Don't miss this years 4th of July Parade and Funfest in Chastain Park. Staging for the Parade will begin at 11am at the Chastain Art Center. The Parade will start at 11:30 and make it's way down to Pool Road where the Funfest will take place. There will be a contest for best decorated bicycle, stroller/wagon and golf cart. There will be fun for the whole family including:
Games - Live Music - Prizes - Snowcones - Chick-fil-a sandwiches - Pizza - Facepainting - Inflatable Moonwalk - Firetruck
And don't miss games at the pool afterwards (admission kids $2, adults $4)

Carol and I are happy to present our first "Green Life" Speaker Series which will take place this coming Wednesday, June 10th at 7pm. It will be held at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve on Roswell Road just across the street from Pike's Nursery. Our featured speaker will be Matt Hoots of the Hoots Group. Matt is a leader in the Green building industry in Atlanta and will talk about sustainable solutions for your home. Our flyer is below and you can also learn more about The Hoots Group at www.thehootsgroup.com. We really look forward to seeing you. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me at 678-595-9286 or post a comment on here.

Streets of Buckhead Delays Opening to Fall 2010

Notice anything different about the Streets of Buckhead these days? Well, that's because it stopped moving as Ben Carter has been renegotiating the construction contracts for the 7 acre build-out estimated at $1.5 billion. According to an article in the Buckhead Reporter Ben Carter was able to shave $10 million off of the construction cost, or equal to .67% of the cost (my own calculation). I still think the development has the potential to bring lots of everything to Buckhead and the City of Atlanta, including people, jobs, revenue, parking (which Buckhead really needs), and most of all a high profile LEED project. The project has been delayed but not too much; it is now scheduled to open in the Fall of 2010. To find out more about The Streets of Buckhead, visit their website http://www.streetsofbuckhead.com/.

thank you http://skylineviews.typepad.com for the image.

April 2009 Buckhead Home Sales Report

Below are the statistics I have compiled for Buckhead home sales in April 2009. These numbers reflect single-family detached homes in area 21.

Homes Sold in April - 33 (up from 28 in March)
Average List Price - $1,390,433 (up from 855,600 in March)
Average Sales Price - $ 1,095,827 (up from 785,375 in March)
Average Sales Price/List Price Ratio - 78.8% **
Average Days on Market - 110 Days
Months of Current Inventory:
*New Homes - 20.3
*Resale - 19.6

Pending Sales in Buckhead
Number of Homes Currently Pending - 54!!! with another 29 with either contingencies or in the due dilligence period
Average List Price of Pending Homes - $925,600

I would like to point out that in the month of April we saw the most expensive home sale in Buckhead since 2006. 3650 Tuxedo Road "Descante" closed for $10,500,000 (listed for $16,900,000). That sale and reduction had a pretty big affect on our averages so I think it's important to look at a couple of those numbers without that sale so we are comparing apples to apples. Without that sale, the average sales price would be $801,946 and the average sales price list price ratio climbs 10% to 88.5%.

Looking at these numbers you will see that we are looking better in every category from number of homes sold to average sales price to sales price/list price ratio. Carol and I are seeing our business pick up and our buyer traffic increase which is great. There seems to be positive news around every corner so we are staying very positive on the outlook for Atlanta's real estate market. If you would like to see a custom report for your neighborhood, please let me know and I would be happy to put one together for you.

To view the March 2009 Chastain Park Home Sales Report, visit ChastainParkBlog.com

Natural Setting for Sale in North Buckhead

Carol and I went and previewed a property that is coming on the market soon in North Buckhead. The land is natural, undisturbed, and has a creek running through it. Here are some pictures of the land.

Human Signs Line Buckhead Streets

Yesterday
Since the City of Atlanta and Sandy Springs initiated their sign ordinances, it seems that human signs lining the streets are becoming more and more common. Before, every street corner was covered up with real estate signs pointing to open houses, homes for sale, for sale by owner etc...

Today
Today you see people standing with signs in their hands mostly promoting companies going out of business and apartments for rent. It really takes sign promotion to another level because your average Realtor can't afford to pay someone to stand on the street corner holding a sign, so what you see today is mostly commercial.

The Future
On Saturday I was headed to the Eco-Fair in North Buckhead and I passed a guy riding a rick shaw style bike with a sign attached to the back! It was promoting Post Properties apartments for rent. Now this I think is a pretty cool way to advertise and if I could figure a way to ride around and promote my real estate business, believe me, I would be doing it. But the best thing I have seen and you have probably seen it to is this guy that has a sign in the shape of an arrow pointing in the direction of whatever he is promoting, and he is essentially dancing with the sign, doing tricks, almost like juggling with it. It's pretty awesome and I tried to take a picture of him but just couldn't get the camera together in time. If you see him, take a picture and email it to me and I will post it here.

Carson