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THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT from you and me…

02 Wednesday Nov 2016

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THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT from you and me….

By Mary Anne Walser, Realtor & Attorney, 404-277-3527, maryannesellshomes@gmail.com

“The Rich are different from you and me,” said F. Scott Fitzgerald. “Yes, they are – they have more money,” replied Hemingway (or so goes the legend). The rich often are different in other ways, too. Let’s look at what is it that they expect and want, and how are the homes they buy different from our typical Atlanta homes. (Even if you are NOT a luxury home buyer or seller, these insights can help you when considering how to add value to your home in any price range.)

This isn’t a scientific study, but I took a look at luxury homes on the market and those that have currently sold in Atlanta. The first interesting fact is that there are more than 1300 homes in the Metro Atlanta area that are currently listed above $1M. 1368, to be exact. More than half of those, however, are between 1 and 1.5M. More than 3/4ths of them are between 1 and 2M. The pickings get slimmer and slimmer as the price is increased, with only 26 homes over $6M. When we take a look at the luxury homes above $2,000,000 (since with those numbers, 1 to 2 million is barely “luxury”), many of the homes are largely alike in ways you would expect. Most of them:

  • Are 6,000 square feet at a minimum
  • Have a lot of land – generally speaking, the more expensive the home, the more land associated with it
  • Most of them have swimming pools; infinity edge pools are particularly popular
  • A disproportionate number of them are on the following Buckhead streets:
    • West Paces Ferry
    • Blackland
    • Tuxedo
    • Valley
  • Most of them are in Buckhead or in the northeastern Metro Area, especially Milton
  • There is a lot of statuary (statues) on the grounds
  • Movie theaters with movie seats and popcorn machines are popular
  • Forget guest ROOMS – luxury estates have guest HOUSES on the property
  • Privacy is important – the homes are often gated and far from the street

There are further trends that could apply to ANY price range – so let’s take a look at those:

  • CHEF’S KITCHEN with commercial style appliances (to make it look as if you cook, even if you don’t)
  • SPA BATHROOMS – two shower heads and body jets, heated flooring, towel warmers
  • OUTDOOR KITCHEN – grill, fridge, sink, beer tap
  • TECHNOLOGY – control your entire home from your smart phone. Now that most everything is wireless, this can be the case even in lower priced homes

Even if your home is NOT luxury and worth two million or more, the more you can incorporate luxury elements the more you will be able to get from you home when you go to sell.

The most expensive home in Atlanta right now? A $48,000,000 home on Riverview, inside the Perimeter east of 75 and south of I-285. It has more than 18 private acres, 17,000 square feet and comes fully furnished. It’s an English Manor style home with… you guessed it – a four-bedroom guest house. And, of course, statuary. If that doesn’t appeal to you, there is always the “Urban Island” of Old 4th Ward, which you have definitely seen if you drive down Freedom Parkway. Right in the middle of it all with amazing views of downtown, it’s listed for $5,000,000. Or the “Zombie Fortress” at an undisclosed Georgia location, a bunker built underground with room for 15 people in the event of catastrophe – yours for $15,000,000.

If you want to buy or sell a home or just need advice, for million dollar service in any price range, call us!

 

Mary Anne Walser is a licensed attorney and full-time REALTOR, serving buyers and sellers in all areas of Metro Atlanta. Her knowledge of residential real estate and her legal expertise allow her to offer great value to her clients. Mary Anne s a member of the Atlanta Board of Realtors, the Georgia Association of Realtors, the State Bar of Georgia and the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers. Contact Mary Anne at 404-277-3527, or via email: maryannesellshomes@gmail.com.

 

 

 

 

Splish – Splash – Splost – Why I think T-SPLOST is important

21 Friday Oct 2016

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Splish – Splash – Splost – Why I think T-SPLOST is important

By Mary Anne Walser, Realtor & Attorney, 404-277-3527, maryannesellshomes@gmail.com

ARRRGGGHHHH. Traffic. Lots and lots of traffic.  That’s what we face in Atlanta every day. Please consider voting “yes” for T-SPLOST, at the bottom of your ballot – and I hope that this blog post will help explain why I think it is important.

As a busy Realtor with clients all over the Metro, I am in traffic all day every day. And it’s not getting any better – only worse and worse and worse. With Metro Atlanta projected to grow by 2.5 million people over the next several decades, is there any hope in sight? Those in the know say that there is no way we can add that many residents if we keep DRIVING everywhere. Cities are not static – they are dynamic and everchanging, have life cycles of their own, and the “people” market corrects itself. Meaning that if traffic is unbearable, fewer people are going to move here and some who are here will move out.

Unfortunately, my job as a Realtor requires that I be in the car. And as one who drives ALL THE TIME, I know I’m biased, but I believe that traffic is the number one problem the Metro faces. If we don’t deal with the problem, Atlanta will start shrinking, not growing. We have to figure out a way to add more transportation capacity or risk losing lucrative business and losing great people.

So how do we get cars OFF the road? Some traffic relief is happening organically. Milennnials, more than prior generations, like walkability and rideability. More of them walk to work, bike, or take public transit, and they tend to favor those neighborhoods where this is possible. Witness The Beltline! The 22 mile loop around Atlanta is transforming the way we live in Atlanta.  The Beltline trail only accommodates walkers and cyclists – NO CARS. The largest portion of it that is finished is The Eastside Trail and it has increased property values near The Beltline by 26% on average. The hip new companies moving to Atlanta like MailChimp and Google Fiber have moved into Ponce City Market in no small part because it is ON The Beltline. Consider this – at Ponce City Market (“PCM”), there is only one parking space for every 2.5 people who show up there every day, showing that many who go there must indeed be walking, biking, or taking public transport (go to PCM any day and you can see for yourself – people arriving in all modes of transport).

But the organic densification is not enough; there are still many of us in the Metro very dependent upon our cars. At a recent panel before Urban Land Institute (“ULI”), a panel of transportation experts opined that T-SPLOST passage is absolutely necessary for providing some relief to our crazy traffic.  T-SPLOST stands for Transportation – Special Local Option Sales Tax. No one likes more or higher taxes! But we need money for traffic fixes, and this is the best we have got.  It would increase sales tax slightly and the money would go for projects designed to make moving around the Metro more manageable. T-SPLOST will be at the bottom of your November 8 ballot. A majority of those voting must vote “yes” for it to pass – so a failure to vote is effectively a “no” vote. Rusty Paul, Mayor of Sandy Springs, said that “if it doesn’t pass there is no opportunity available for the long term. If we can’t get people in and out, they go away.” SO PLEASE VOTE YES for T-SPLOST.

You might remember the T-SPLOST ballot from 2012 that did not pass, largely because many voters outside the city did not see how the proposal at that time would benefit THEM. The 2012 ballot was perceived as primarily benefitting only certain select areas.  In hopes of preventing a replay of 2012, this time around each city within the Metro has their own list of projects that will be funded so it’s no longer a battle of regionalism – each city benefits.

Google “T-SPLOST 2016 list of projects” and see what is in store for the county and city where you live. And give me a call to discuss if you’d like – I will be waiting in traffic. Somewhere. Hoping that T-SPLOST will pass.

Mary Anne Walser is a licensed attorney and full-time REALTOR, serving buyers and sellers in all areas of Metro Atlanta. Her knowledge of residential real estate and her legal expertise allow her to offer great value to her clients. Mary Anne s a member of the Atlanta Board of Realtors, the Georgia Association of Realtors, the State Bar of Georgia and the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers. Contact Mary Anne at 404-277-3527, or via email: maryannesellshomes@gmail.com.

A REALTOR BUYS A HOUSE

12 Thursday Jan 2012

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I have been a real estate agent for almost a decade.  But until recent, I lived in the home I owned I purchased PRIOR to becoming an agent, back when the process was more mysterious to me than it is now.  In the past few years, it is no secret that home prices in Atlanta have tanked, crashed, bottomed out.  SO, I decided to take the advice I give my clients – buy a home NOW!  Interest rates are incredibly low, so are home prices – buying a home has never been more affordable and has never made more sense.

First I had to convince my husband that this was a good idea.  We love our home in a charming little neighborhood called ChanningValley, where the neighbors know one another, kids play in the quaint neighborhood park, and there are active garden and book clubs.  Our home is a ‘50s ranch that I renovated into a cute little cottage that is the perfect size for two people.  So why would we move?  Well, I told my husband, we can rent out our home in Channing Valley, make money every month from it – and use that money to leverage ourselves into a home that is even better for us.

Once I showed him what we could purchase in today’s market, and once we found an architect’s dream home – he was convinced.  And it has been the best process in the world for me.  I have a much clearer idea of EXACTLY what my clients go through in the home buying process.

First, there is the difficulty in deciding which neighborhood to live in.  I have a better idea of all the “neighborhoods” in Atlanta and their individual characteristics than my clients do, of course – unless you are a Realtor, you do not intimately know a large number of neighborhoods.  Part of my job is to help a client decide which neighborhood is best for them.  My husband and I knew this much: that we did not want to move more than five miles from his work.  (He works right across from the High Museum of Art).  Since as a Realtor my work is all over the metro area (as far North as Forsyth County, as far South as Peachtree City, as far East as Stone Mountain, and as far West as Douglasville), location was not as key to me.  My office is my car and it goes everywhere.

But even with that focus on my husband’s place of business, it was much more difficult to decide on a neighborhood than I imagined – there are so many that we love (Virginia Highland, Morningside, Ansley Park, Garden Hills… the list goes on, but all closer in).  And the number of available properties is staggering.  While with clients, I can generally know in very short order which home would be perfect for them by listening to their needs, wants, likes, dislikes, when it is a personal decision it is a lot more difficult.

This definitely helped me become more aware of my value in guiding clients in choosing a neighborhood.  A third party unbiased view is very helpful.  Ultimately, of course, it can be and must be the client’s choice, but a good Realtor familiar with the neighborhoods can be an invaluable asset.

What I learned from my own experience with this also, however, is that the “right” home might not be in your favorite neighborhood.  The home my husband and I ended up buying is farther out than we thought we’d be willing to move, and not in the “historical” intown neighborhoods that we so love.  We initially thought we had to live inAnsleyPark.  But when we got down to considering practicalities and our budget, a larger home a little farther out on a larger lot made a lot more sense for our lifestyle.

So, keep your mind open!  But also keep in mind that you cannot look “everywhere”.  It’s very important to be limited in geographic scope.  Consider traffic patterns – if you work downtown, you probably don’t want to spend an hour and a half every day in traffic.  Look for something closer in.  But if your Realtor suggests a neighborhood you did not think of, consider it!  If the home you love is in a neighborhood you were not considering, consider it!  It may be the perfect neighborhood for you.