SUWANEE TALK!: August 2010

Your Dream Home is Waiting!

...and it is your job to find it! The Atlanta Race For The Home is a city-wide race for your dream home brought to you by HomeFinder.com and Prudential Georgia Realty. In this high-tech race, all of the locations and challenges will be delivered via text message right to your cell phone. Any cell phone, any model, on any carrier can play. And playing is totally FREE! However, spots are limited and you must win a spot to participate, so read more and apply at RacefortheHome.com.

• The big event starts at 9am on September 25th at Piedmont Park.
• Any couple or team of two can participate. All ages 18 years or older are welcome. Register at RacefortheHome.com and tell us why you should be chosen to play!
• The two-person teams will get final instructions at the kick-off event.  Then, you will be unleashed on open houses across Metro Atlanta to play the game.
• All locations and challenges will be delivered to and from your cell phone via text message. Any phone, any model on any carrier can play.  As for transport, you'll want to drive, yet smarts will beat speed in this high-tech adventure!
• The game is a scavenger hunt using your mobile phone.  The game platform is powered by SCVNGR.com which is a new mobile gaming platform funded by Google.
• The celebration event will be held at Max Lagers Grill and Brewery in downtown Atlanta.
• There will be a series of prizes including the Grand Prize of a $20,000 down payment on the home of your dreams.

What better way to spend your Saturday than playing a really fun game with lots of cool people, visiting some awesome open houses and having a chance to win a $20,000 down payment on the home of your dreams!  Remember, the game will be played at locations across Metro Atlanta so anyone from any area of town can play.

 

 

Come to my house
MySuwaneeHome.com

 

 

 

The market continues to move along as "The Little Red Engine That Could"; "I think I can, I think I can." And in the end, I have total optimism that the Atlanta real estate market will recover and we will sing loud and clear, "I thought I could, I thought I could!"

But the jouney up the hill hasn't been easy. We are seeing more home owners leasing their homes because they have given up trying to sell; or the short fall is too great they have no other option. And in that same vain, more real estate agents are becoming leasing agents. It is a new era in real estate and if you are in the business, you better be willing to be flexiable.

According to Lawrence Yen, NAR chief economist comments, "Broadly speaking, sales closed after the home buyer tax credit will be significantly lower compared to the credit-induced spring surge. Only when jobs are created at a sufficient pace will home sales return to sustainable healthy levels." (Realtor® Magazine July 22, 2010). Let's only hope someone is listening to him. Many experts agree that until people become employed again and there is a sense of confidence in the economy as a whole, buyers will sit on the fence and wait!  And, Atlanta's unemployment still teeters around 10% +/-.  Additionally, in a report from Steve Palm/Smart Numbers (Report July 21, 2010) referencing homes going under contract for May and June, "2010 was our weakest year and the largest year-to-year percentage decline....It appears the economy is much worse than is reported."

So....as the hot summer days in Georgia come and go, each new day brings new opportunity. And although the real estate market is still struggling I do believe we will prevail. I just hope it is sooner rather than later.

Now a look at June, 2010 compared to June 2009 -