Lambert High School Tops List with Highest Graduation Rate

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During this week, the last week of school, rating our area schools based on graduation rate puts Lambert High School at the top of the list. Graduating nearly all it’s seniors, Lambert ranked higher than schools like South Forsyth and Milton High School in North Fulton.

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Interestingly, Lambert didn’t make Newsweek’s list of top high schools in the nation. West Forsyth High School was the only Forsyth County school to make that list. The criteria for Newsweek looked at graduation rates, but also other factors.

Their methodology used six components: graduation rate (25 percent), college acceptance rate (25 percent), AP/IB/AICE tests taken per student (25 percent), average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10 percent), and percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB/AICE course (5 percent).

Here is Newsweek’s list of Best North Atlanta Schools.

Tags: Forsyth County Schools

Welcome to our blog, we’re glad you’re here. If you’re new to liveincumming.com, sign-up for our e-Newsletter to get our posts delivered to your inbox monthly.

It doesn’t happen all the time, but more and more frequently home buyers are getting into bidding wars for hot new listings hitting the market. Low inventory in certain price ranges is the driving factor and you can bet there will be multiple offers when you have 3 or 4 showings on the first day a home hits the market. When presented with multiple offers a seller can choose to negotiate on one of the offers or, ask all of the prospective buyers to submit their “highest and best” offer.

One reason a seller might choose to negotiate on a single offer would be that the other offers are very low or undesirable for other reasons. You never know if asking for highest and best might scare a buyer away that wouldn’t want to get into a bidding war for a home. But, the more common approach is to ask all buyers for their best offer.

Search Homes For Sale in Forsyth County, GA

When a buyer is presented with that request, the question always becomes, “what do we have to do to get this home!” Unfortunately, there is no right answer. You won’t know what the other buyers will be offering so, as a Realtor, we are left giving what sometimes might sound like imperfect advice.

That advice is; offer the absolute highest price you are comfortable paying for that home so that, if you do win the bidding war, you don’t feel like you’ve paid too much. At the same time, if you don’t win the war, you don’t feel like you’ve left any money on the table. You don’t want to say afterwards “I wish I would have gone up another few thousand dollars”.

There are some other aspects of your offer that can help you be that winning bid:

1. Don’t ask for closing costs. They drive up the price which can impact appraisals.
2. If you can pay cash - do it. Get a loan after you purchase the home. Most people aren’t in a position to pay cash but if you can - you’ll almost always win.
3. Offer to buy the home as-is. You can still put an inspection period in the agreement to ensure there are no major structural issues but let the seller know you won’t be asking for repairs.
4. Be flexible on the schedule. If the sellers want more time in the home, offer it.

In short, the cleanest offer with the best terms will usually win the day.

Tags: Home Buyers, Multiple Offers

On the 5th of each month I post a “Chart Of The Month” on local or national real estate.

This chart shows the quarterly number of homes sold on Lake Lanier, with a boat dock, over the past six years. Note that the first quarter of each year is traditionally the low point for sales. Q1 of this year ranks as the highest number of Q1 sales in the past six years. The trend shows lake home sales increasing from their low at the end of 2008 but still, with only 20 homes sold last quarter, lake home sales remain slow.

{click on chart to enlarge}

Tags: Chart of The Month, Lake Lanier Homes

The Washington Post released their annual list of America’s most challenging high schools. Many metro Atlanta area schools made the list of just over 2000 schools nationally. Ten high schools in our area were listed in the top 500.

The Challenge Index measures public and private high schools’ ability to challenge their students. A school’s ranking is determined by dividing the number of college-level tests given by a school to all its students by the number of graduates for that year. The index is designed to identify schools that challenge average students.

The High School Challenge list, compiled and published by The Washington Post since 1998, ranks* the nation’s most challenging high schools for academic rigor. From more than 22,000 high schools across the nation, the list spotlights more than 2,000 high schools, representing the top 9 percent of high schools based on total student participation in highly rigorous coursework and exams.

The only Georgia high school ranked higher than South Forsyth high school was Gwinnett School of Math, Science & Technology, in Lawrenceville GA. The complete national list can be found at http://apps.washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge

*rankings may change as The Washington Post adjusts data.

Tags: North Atlanta High School Rankings

2.5

The number of months of inventory in Forsyth County for Townhomes & Condos.

On the last day of each month I post a “Big Number” or interesting figure related to real estate in our area.

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Tags: Condos and Townhomes, Forsyth County Market Statistics, The Big Number

Welcome to our blog, we’re glad you’re here. If you’re new to liveincumming.com, sign-up for our e-Newsletter to get our posts delivered to your inbox monthly.

It’s a term coined recently by the Wall Street Journal and we’re going to be seeing more of these buyers in the coming months and years. These are buyers who have experienced a bankruptcy, short sale or foreclosure but are approaching the time where qualifying for a mortgage is becoming a possibility again.

Since 2007 nearly 5 million homeowners have lost their home in a short sale or foreclosure. Qualifying for a conventional loan can take up to 7 years after a foreclosure and up to 4 years after a short sale, less time for an FHA or VA loan.

Map Search Homes For Sale In Forsyth County Georgia

I’m hearing rumblings about loan requirements easing for people who have experienced a short sale, although I can’t get any concrete information from loan officers yet. But there are other options.

Investors, eyeing an opportunity, move to meet that need. There are Alt-A loans out there, 30-year fixed loans backed not by the government but through investments from hedge funds. The interest rates are higher but for home buyers with cash to put down and verifiable income, purchasing a home one day out of bankruptcy, short sale or foreclosure is possible.

Why would buyers pay higher rates to own? The answers are simple; prices will begin to rise so affordability will be going down. Alt-A loans have no pre-payment penalty so refinancing when credit scores go up is an option. And finally, paying $2000 or more in rent each month, without the benefit of a mortgage interest deduction, is expensive.

The desire for home ownership remains strong.

Tags: Foreclosure, Short Sale

You can Google the title of this article and get millions of results with answers ranging from High-End Amenities and Energy-Star Ratings to Home-Theaters or First Floor Master Bedrooms. The reality is that the desires of Home Buyers are extremely personal and vary regionally. On top of that, there are typically two lists, the first focusing on things like schools, commute, community and type of home; the second focusing on features within the home.

If you read these “Top 5” lists it may make you think you should have these items to sell, or if you have them your home will easily sell. A better approach is to highlight the features you have. No one knows your home better than you – consider the things that drew you to your home or community in the first place; or the improvements you made that enhanced your lifestyle.

Map Search Every Home For Sale in Forsyth County

Features you have that many other homes don’t have should be highlighted. Examples would be a mudroom, workshop, screened porch, outdoor entertaining space, extra storage, walk-in pantry, a home office or sunroom. But don’t discount other features not easily seen like community activities & sports programs or proximity to or shopping and entertainment.

New mechanicals, energy efficiency, green building products are all nice to have but when a buyer walks through your front door they’ll be looking for the hardwoods, granite, functional rooms and lifestyle they want before anything else.

Tags: home office, mudroom, outdoor entertaining, pantry, screened porch, storage, workshop

On the 5th of each month I post a “Chart Of The Month” on local or national real estate.

This chart shows the quarterly number of distressed sales in Forsyth County, beginning in 2008, for both single-family detached and single-family attached homes. Single-family distressed sales are down 49% from one year ago and are currently at levels comparable to the end of 2008.

{click on chart to enlarge}

Tags: Chart of The Month, Foreclosures, Forsyth County Market Statistics, Short Sales

13

The number of Forsyth County homes currently listed for sale in Active Adult communities. More people are downsizing or moving closer to grandchildren - this is an incredibly low number.

On the last day of each month I post a “Big Number” or interesting figure related to real estate in our area.

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Tags: Active Adult Communities, The Big Number

Tightening inventory and declining distressed sales both have contributed to asking prices and sales prices rising in Forsyth County. The lower inventory is driving buyer demand, especially for properties with updated features and finishes. Despite some communities still dealing with the occasional short sale or foreclosure; the county as a whole is doing well.

February sales data is in and the number of single-family homes sold this February jumped 49 percent compared to February 2012. The average sales price for those homes leapt from $240,063 to $264,960. A whopping 10 percent increase over a year ago.

Although prices are showing strong gains, we still have a way to go before return to peak-level values. A comparison of home values in Forsyth County to their near peak levels shows prices are still down approximately 20 percent from their highs.

Homes For Sale In Forsyth County

New construction inventories are positioned to climb over the coming summer which may prove to be a release valve for the low inventory and give re-sellers more competition. However, there are a couple of reasons why I think buyer demand is likely to remain strong.

First, companies are moving more people; the number of relocation buyers is increasing. Secondly, we will see the “boomerang” buyers. Those buyers who lost their home in a short sale or foreclosure during the housing bust. Those buyers will be re-entering the market, anxious to return to home ownership.

Tags: Forsyth County Market Statistics, sales prices