Fresh off the success at 518 Argonne Road, Thad Roepke and Kevin Cotter of Crestar Properties have started a project encompassing three houses at the corner of West Wesley Road and Dawn View Lane.

One of the three houses site is under contract. Only 1001 Dawn View Lane is available now.

Recent progress photos taken February 8, 2012.

Also added to our ranking is the average sold price for closed sales of 3-5 bedroom, 2-4 bath houses in 2011 in that district. If you want a great elementary school and livable inexpensive house, looks like Grant Park’s Benteen Elementary is the best deal going. We did not look to see what sold for $107.  It probably needed a little work.

Typically we track Brandon, Jackson, Smith, Morningside, E. Rivers and Garden Hills. We included the two first place winners because of the noted high scores.  Both E. Rivers and Garden Hills have made tremendous improvement in the past 10 years. Although scores where down a bit this year we suspect there will be continued improvement. Sarah Smith is back  in 6^th place after several years of falling scores which had it below the top ten for a while. Morningside being above Brandon in test scores this this year is not surprising given that school’s improvement over the years. However, Sprindale and Benteen’s stellar performance was surprising.

One last little point, schools such as Sarah Smith and Warren Jackson are winners in the great recession. These are excellent schools that have attracted families that might have otherwise sent kids to private school in more flush times. It is funny how austerity and resourcefulness breads its own competition.

We think it is important to point out that test scores don’t make the school. There are other important considerations such as IB programs, student teacher ratio, etc.  The above table is more of a convenience. Also, we did not consider every elementary school. 

For more than 15 years, Heery Brothers has ranked in the top 1% to 2% of residential Realtors nationwide. Here is a summary of team performance since George joined in 2004:

 For more information, please visit “About Us”. The “Performance Page” has additional information.

The average single family house in Buckhead sold at about 89% to 93% of last asking price in 2011. The average short sale for single family house traded at 94% of asking price in 2011. Here is a summary:

 The above chart is from FMLS. It shows the conventional Buckhead market area (FMLS market area 21). All sales between January 2011 thru December 2011 that have “Potential Short Sales” as Special Circumstance attribute in FMLS.  We think the fact that short sales have slightly better “price performance” is partially attributable to the fact that short sale sellers are more aggressive with price reductions. Nevertheless, this is the opposite of what most people would anticipate.

To further drive this point home, short sales sell pretty fast.  The days on market metric for the above set of 37 properties is 109. This is a marketing period indicative of the overall market. Of course, this might simply be proof that when property is priced right it sells in a reasonable period of time.

The message for Buyers – Short Sales can yield a great deal. Use an agent that knows the ropes. Realize the best deals are often with Seller’s who can afford to sell.

The message for Sellers – Short Sales are perhaps more of a mainstream option than even you knew. They often do damage your credit. It is almost always better than foreclosure.

Heery Brothers works closely with a great short sale resource. Our client can act either as an investor or advisor. As an investor, they buy short sales up to $350,000. They typically remodel with the objective of a 20% return on investment within 6 months. As an advisor, they also provide assistance in working with the bank to get the short sale approved at no cost to you or your agent.

Please let Heery Brothers know how we can be of service.

• The number of active listings have dropped 28% across the city (Dec ’11 vs Dec ’10).
• The number of pending sales as of year’s end is up 20% from the prior year.
• The number of closed sales for the year was higher than any of the prior 3 years.

In the upper tier (over $750,000):

• Available inventory is down by 24%
• There were 17 more sales in this price bracket in 2011 than in 2010.
• The average sales price during 2011 was $35,000 higher than it was in 2010, at $1,166,000 (for 2011).
• The sales price to list price ratio was 5 percentage points higher at the end of 2011 than it was in December of 2010.
• The days on market dropped by 12.7% during 2011.

Source: FMLS and Natalie Gilmore, Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty

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The property is a beautiful, unimproved urban forest that runs along a platted, but yet-to-be-built street called Theodore Drive. It is 4.2 acres, and current ownership originally platted this property for 10 lots. At a list price of $745,000, price per lot is $74,500. Ownership can also deliver improved, build-ready lots for $125,000 per lot.

This and other information available Here.

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Click on photo to see construction progress

 Heery Brothers is delighted to present a new home in Garden Hills. 572 East Wesley Road will feature 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms on two levels with a 2 car garage. This is a large lot for Garden Hills – 0.31 Acres. Michael Hopkins,AIA has created a lovely contextual architecture that blends gracefully into Garden Hill’s surroundings. Developer/Builder Sean Pirali is experienced with renovating homes in infill locations. Asking price is $685,000. Completion targeted for the New Year (January 2012).

Garden Hills is a historic Atlanta neighborhood platted in 1926. The Garden Hills area of Buckhead is extremely desirable. Residents are walking distance from Atlanta International School, Garden Hills Elementary and an array of infill parks.

Garden Hills Park, the centerpiece of the Garden Hills neighborhood, is a gathering place for friends and families. During summertime, the pool is full of kids, moms and dads. The community center welcomes community meetings, parties and musical events. An open field is the site of soccer games, kite flying, Frisbee and other activities. An annual highlight is the neighborhood ice cream social. The Garden Hills Neighborhood Foundation (www.ghnf.org) supports the city-owned park.

Plans, Elevations and other information available upon request. Please email info@heerybrothers.com or call 404 237 5000.

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Let’s take a closer look at Buckhead. Here are some metrics:

• Buckhead (Area 21 and 22) had 253 active rental listings in FMLS as of August 18.
• Of this supply, only 61 were single family homes with 3 or more bedrooms and 2 or more bathrooms.
• Over the last 12 months, there have been 1141 completed lease listings in FMLS. This is about 95 completed leases per month.
• About 114 leases have been completed in the last 30 days, which mean the market is getting even tighter.

At current rates of absorption, this means there is less than 3 month’s supply of rentals.

It is important to note that, while FMLS is the most efficient platform for selling residential property in Georgia, this is not the case with leasing. Drive around your neighborhood, and you are just as likely to see an owner trying to lease a single residential property as you are to see a REALTOR’s sign on a rental. The bottom line is that many leases are completed outside the purview of FMLS. In other words, the above information is only giving a glimpse of a hyper-tight rental market.

We had initially finished this article about 10 days ago. Since then, the ground has shifted as the new owner of The Paces Apartments has notified tenants to vacate about 135 units in the next month or so. This is serving to dramatically tighten conditions further. If each tenant wants to remain in Buckhead, this will leave less than one month’s inventory. Many families chose to rent at The Paces to be in the Warren Jackson School District. The Jackson School district’s predominant housing stock is single family – where inventory is most limited.

Aside from this being an interesting market development, Heery Brothers wants you to know we are very much open to having listings that might lease before they sell. We see our business as a valuable collection of relationships, not just a series of transactions. Toward that end, leasing is clearly the best thing for some clients. Our ultimate objective is always to sell listings, but leasing can sometimes serve as a positive and practical interim measure to help protect the equity of our clients.

Heery Brothers’ leasing business shows how the market has changed:

2008 – 4 Leases

2010 – 13 Leases

2011 (Year-to-Date) – 11 Leases