By: Christine Macrenaris

Even though the Federal Housing Tax Credit program is a distant memory, there are still many opportunities for buyers to take advantage of in this marketplace.  There are several new construction town home and condominium projects with a handful of homes remaining in their inventory, and developers are offering amazing deals in order to closeout these projects.

For instance, Grinnell, located in Inman Park, has a 2-bedroom/2-bath home discounted by $69,000.  Just up the road, LaVista Walk has just 2 remaining townhomes with amazing price discounts.  Kirkwood Station, located in the historic Kirkwood area, has only a few townhomes remaining that start from $249,900.  For a buyer who wants to be in the heart of Decatur, The Artisan has 4 remaining 3-bedroom condos with close out pricing up to $160,000 off original pricing.  And the deals are not limited to inside the perimeter area. Highgate at Sandy Springs have 3-bedroom homes available starting from $119,900!

Now is the time to take advantage of developers who are in the position to close out their remaining inventory and offer amazing values, as these prices may not last. This week’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, “Home prices, sales continue to rise,” reported that both the median sale price and the number of homes sold increased in Atlanta in May from the month before and the year before.

By: Jessica Weston

Now that the April 30^th tax credit deadline has passed, many of us real estate professionals are anxious to see what the immediate future holds.  Will buyers continue to be excited about the incentives offered by homeownership or will they wait to see what the government will do next? 

Fortunately, the tax credit didn’t seem to sway many buyers one way or the other, especially not like it did the first time in November of 2009.  The main buying decision this season was price.  And developers and builders have realized this.  Now, more than ever, pricing is competitive and buyers are eager to take advantage of these steals.  It’s cliché, but with interest rates threatening to rise, buyers who want to take advantage of this “buyer’s market” are eager to do so right now! 

 Many buyers believe the market is stabilizing and their confidence in their buying decision is growing.  According to a Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services survey found in an article on Yahoo News , consumers are “optimistic about real estate values, with 46% expecting prices in their area to increase over the next year”.  This same survey showed that among the list of buyers concerns, the tax credits ranked the lowest, with rising mortgage interest rates, unemployment, and stricter lending guidelines being the highest. 

There is no doubt the tax credit helped to stimulate the real estate market, but we are hopeful that consumer confidence in real estate continues to rise and that this consumer confidence in the economy as a whole will prove a stable real estate market is near.  Once that stable market has proven to be here with employment on the rise, affordable housing prices, and rising interest rates, we hope to see a boom in the sales for the summer 2010.  I don’t have a crystal ball, but it seems we’re moving in the right direction!