Even a slumping market has hot spots

By LORI JOHNSTON
For the Journal-Constitution

With doom and gloom stories about home sales dominating the front pages, it’s easy to believe that nobody is buying these days. Turns out, though, that just isn’t so.

But what is selling? “Homes priced correctly” is the answer you’ll typically hear from agents.

We sought to look behind that answer into what specific prices and areas are selling best. Sure, homes in all price ranges are eventually finding buyers, although it may take more work and more time to put up the sold sign for some.

“It’s just sluggish,” said Van Johnson, broker/owner of Re/Max Executives and president of the Georgia Association of Realtors.

There are hot spots, though. And we uncovered them.

FIVE TRENDS REALTORS ARE SEEING

1. Intown is easier.

Properties inside the Perimeter that are updated are more likely to sell than those in the suburbs, said Muchugia Machua, an agent with Harry Norman, Realtors. He represented Laura Mwirigi in her purchase at Windsor Over Peachtree. He says some buyers are also thinking of the future. “I’ve run into a lot of investment properties where there’s multiple offers in town,” he said. “Investors are taking money and putting it in a very safe investment with equity.”

2. Giving options draws traffic.

One tactic Judy Crawford with Dream Street Properties is taking: listing homes for rent, lease purchase or lease option. One of those was a 2006 townhome in Cumming’s Pinnacle Glen subdivision. It sold last month for $168,350.

3. The $100,000s have been a magic number.

Dianne Stump, an agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, has seen that, especially with condos. She sold two units in the $190,000s in the active adult Villas at Stone Mountain in the past year. Another condo property, within walking distance of downtown Decatur, sold for $166,000. “We marked it way down, and it flew off the market,” she said. “What I’m seeing is that the younger people are buying. Maybe they’re planning on getting their bonuses and using the money as a down payment because the interest rate is so low right now.”

4. But high-end homes are finding buyers, too.

Even though they represent a small percentage of total home sales, new homes and resales in the $1 million-plus range are moving, Johnson said. But the prices are being negotiated - instead of fetching $1.3 million, a home might sell for $1.1 million. “A lot of people who buy and sell in that price range save their money,” he said, “and then they wait for the appropriate time when their money will buy them more. They live for markets like this. Basically the property is on sale.”

5. The middle market is struggling … but could get better.

Johnson said one problem last year was the maximum amount - $417,000 - that government-sponsored mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae would back. People were having a “dickens of a time” putting $250,000 down, for example, on a home in the $600,000s-$700,000s. But those programs are increasing their limits under the economic stimulus bill, which Johnson said could help “break that logjam.”