If It Won't Appraise, You Might Have To Stay!

This last week has been tough on two of my sellers. 

Two contracts, one on a home in Auburn and one in Lawrenceville. Both in areas of Gwinnett County that are rebounding both in number of sales and values. But this past week these two homes didn't appraise for the contract price. This is really tough when you have a buyer that agrees to pay what the seller wants and needs to sell the house, and the appraiser has a different idea. I know how this works, the comps have to support the value and in both cases they did, just not in those particular subdivisions.

So why am I telling you this?

I'm hoping to help you as a seller understand how the market works when it comes to appraised value. Bottom line, the appraiser holds the key. If he/she can't support the contract price with comps, it's no deal. That's why it's so important to price it correctly to begin with. Listen to your Realtor because that's what they're trained to do. You might be asking why the two deals I mentioned above weren't priced correctly. Well I felt confident they were. The comps used to price the homes were just outside the neighborhoods they were listed in but were almost the same exact home as the subjects. Ultimately the appraiser will use the in-neighborhood comps before going outside the neighborhood even if those comps aren't as close to the subject's style, size etc. The type of loan the buyer is getting will also dictate how "loose" the appraiser can be with the comps. FHA will be more strict than a conventional. The lender also has veto power. 

Price it well, not with "a little room to wiggle"

It's hard to explain this strategy to most people because everyone thinks you need room to negotiate. The fact is, setting your price high, even a little bit, will lead to situations like I explained above. The seller prices $10k over the suggested price, the buyer comes in and agrees to a price somewhere in that range between suggested and $10k over and the appraiser says I don't think so. And unless the seller can meet the appraised value, the deal is dead. Yes, that is an option but it brings me to the point with all this.....why price it high when you can price it to sell and be done with it? 

Our goal is the same, sell the house quickly for the most money

When you hire me, my goal is to sell your home for the most money in the least amount of time. If we meet and you don't like my plan, you can talk to other agents sure. But are you accomplishing anything by listing with someone that just says yes? Think about it this way, if you went to the doctor and told him you have a cold and you need some antibiotics and he just says...."ok". Do you really feel comfortable with his ability to cure you? Probably not. So listen to your Realtor. 

www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

They're Just Little Kids

I can't wrap my head around this. I've tried to stay away from the news this morning, stay away from the internet and keep myself busy to not think about it. I've learned that's impossible because no matter what I do, the thought of those sons and daughters laying there, lifeless at the hands of a coward, creeps into every crevice of my mind. That's really what these folks need right now...thoughts and prayers....so I'm going to stop trying to avoid it. Thus the reason for this note.

My daughter is 6 years old and when I drop her off at school every morning, I kiss her and give her a wink as she closes the door. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for these parents when they found out that kiss or wink was the last their child would ever get from them. Parents should never have to endure this kind of pain, nor should a child.

It's so hard for me to write these thoughts out but I feel it's something I must do to cope with this tragedy. I'm not an overly emotional person but this story grabs you by the heart and just rips and tears until you give in. My daughter doesn't understand the scope of this event and I'm not sure if I want her to. We talked about it briefly and she has asked a few questions but nothing more. She hasn't seen my or my wife's emotions yet but if that happens she'll understand because she's a smart kid.

As I drove around yesterday listening to the news unfold, my stomach was sick. Every time a new detail or picture came out I got sick to my stomach. You know that sinking feeling that goes all the way to your toes? It was hard to function and as much as I wanted to know the details, every time a new one came out it was bad. The worst part was thinking about what the victims were going through as this was all taking place. How scared were these little angels as this devil was wreaking his havoc? That's the one thought that has haunted me since hearing about this and I can't get it out of my head. Imagine how scared they were.

In the coming days, these families and first responders will need us, the American public, to keep them in our thoughts and prayers. No one should have to endure this kind of pain. I'm 1000 miles away and I'm devastated as I'm sure every parent in America is. So I'm committed to keeping these people on my mind instead of trying to avoid it. That's what we do as Americans. We stick together and we feel each other's pain. I wish I could go there and just hug them. Comfort them and tell them that although it's hard to imagine it in a time like this, God has a plan. I have to be honest I'm still questioning His call on this one as I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Dacula Real Estate Trends

I'm asked this question all the time...."How's the real estate market doing in the Gwinnett area?" 

My answer is always the same. "It's good if you're priced right and motivated". In the past few years it's been hard for most folks to price right because of the decline in values. Did you know there's a way you can stay informed 24/7 about your local market?

Click below to become a Market Insider. 

There's no cost to sign up and no obligation to get updated regularly on recent trends in your area. Just a few clicks, enter your zip code and you'll get tons of information. Here's a few current stats about the 30019 zip code....

Median Listing Price $219,990

Median Days on Market 71

Active Listings as of today 289

Distressed Listings 16.6% 

http://www.gwinnetthomesforsale.info/mimarket/zip/30019/


www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Short Sale Assistance in Dacula Ga

Don't know if a short sale is right for you? Let me help you make that decision. If you live in Gwinnett County Georgia call me 404 663 7063 or click below for more information. Don't wait too late because there are ways to avoid foreclosure in Georgia. 

www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Dacula and Gwinnett Real Estate Values

There's never been a better time to sell your Dacula home! Inventory is low. CALL ME TODAY for a free, no obligation market analysis. 404 663 7063

Dacula and Gwinnett Real Estate Values

www.stevesellsgwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

I'm Here to Help....But You Have to Let Me!

This week I found out that someone I met with in Dacula last year is about to be in foreclosure.

At the time of the meeting the homeowner was being transferred and wanted to lease the property. I offered to help find a tenant, screen them and handle the move in/move out. They declined because they didn't want to pay the fees associated with my services. The fee is one month's rent which in this case was $1200. This is paid by the tenant at the time they sign the lease along with one month's deposit. (So essentially the homeowner pays the mortgage the first month the tenant occupies the house, this way the homeowner doesn't have to come up with the commission)

They finally found a tenant that broke the lease before the end of the term. The next tenant was evicted three months later and the property has been vacant ever since.

 Let's break this down and see if they saved any money by not hiring a Realtor......

1. Paid attorney and court fees to evict tenant....$200
2. Cleanup of house....$250 (twice)
3. Time and travel from out of state.....$500 (twice)
4. Carrying costs (utilities and maintenance) monthly for vacant house (insurance is much higher) $200

So deciding to do this themselves actually cost them more than it would have cost to pay a Realtor to do it for them. Not only that, they've been paying the mortgage payment plus rent where they're living out of state because the house has been sitting empty for several months.

Now I hear the house is being foreclosed on in December which is sad because I've offered short sale assistance as well. This was a slam dunk short sale hardship but for some reason they wouldn't accept my offer to help. Short sales cost the homeowner nothing out of pocket and will save you about 6 years of headache on your credit report. The commission is paid from the bank's net proceeds, not from the homeowner.

Realtors have to eat too!

If you know any Realtors, you know that we like to eat. Have you ever been to an open house without food? Probably not. Just like every profession, we have to get paid and most people don't realize that Realtors are paid commission only! We are all self employed and working for you for free until we close the deal.

So I have just as much to lose as you, the client, if I don't get the deal done. Honestly I get as much or more satisfaction helping someone avoid foreclosure or just selling their home as I do getting paid. It's important to me but not my motivation. So if you know someone in a similar situation or maybe it's you, please CALL ME before it's too late. I'll be honest and advise your best solution even if it's not working with me!




www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

If You Build it They Will Come....and Buy Liquor

Who's ready for a drink?

Apparently the residents of Dacula are. The voters have spoken and the package store referendum passed on Tuesday by an overwhelming 181-76 margin. I personally signed a petition long ago to convince leaders to put it to a vote.

The votes are in and the people say "Let's buy some liquor!"

I know this is a hot topic for a lot of people in this town. Liquor stores on every corner could have a negative effect on the area. That's not going to happen so don't worry. Dacula isn't big enough to support more than one and the store Russ Weaver, the man behind this whole thing, will build is going to be nice. Quoting Mr. Weaver from Dacula Patch..."I’m going to open one of the best stores in Georgia. It’s going to be really nice.”

You know the old movie line..."If you build it they will come". Well I'm guessing that if you set up a 6ft table in the Kroger parking lot they would come based on the vote count. What I'm hoping for, and what the rendering shows, is a nice building that blends in well with it's surroundings.


Photo credit courtesy of Russ Weaver

There is quite of bit of work to be done before construction can begin but the largest hurdle has been jumped. This will definitely be great for tax revenue for Dacula. I just hope they have a good selection of tequila!


www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

The Varsity is Coming to Bethlehem!

If you've lived in the Atlanta area for any time at all, chances are you've heard of The Varsity.

This restaurant has been in Atlanta since 1928 and is a landmark in downtown. "What'll ya have?" can be heard as you walk up to the counter to order your burgers and onion rings. (If you leave without ordering onion rings you're missing out!) There are serveral locations around the Metro Atlanta area including Athens....where the Dawgs play!



Credit The Varsity Restaurants

But now the people of Barrow County and Dacula are going to have The Varsity in their backyard.

Expected to open in Spring 2013 a Varsity Jr. will be built in front of the theater at Gateway Station off hwy 316. It will be similar in size to a Chick-Fil-A with a drive thru. Apparently, this location will have the same menu items as the other locations. My favorite is a double cheese burger and onion rings!

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing for me personally.....

If you try to eat healthy like me but love cheeseburgers and onion rings, this is not going to help your cholesterol or your belt line. I eat there about 2-3 times a year, usually on the way back from dropping someone off at the airport. There's just something about that downtown location. But having one within 7 minutes of my house might tempt me to eat there more often. Good thing is my house is down wind from this location so I won't be able to smell it unless I drive past it!

The residents of Winder, Dacula and Bethlehem have no shortage of places to eat, mostly fast food. We'll see how the combination of movies and Varsity onion rings goes but my guess is it'll be a big hit! What'll ya have?


www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Predatory Lending or Not? You Decide

No Closing Costs? Yeah right.....

I met with a potential seller in Lawrenceville for a second time today after she called me for some advice. About two months ago I sat down with her and discussed her options for selling her home. She's an elderly woman in failing health and at the time she was uncertain about what she wanted to do. She received a letter in the mail from Chase a couple weeks ago offering her a no closing cost refi on her mortgage. Being intrigued and not understanding what she was being offered she asked them to send her more information.

The next day she receives a package FED EX from Chase and it contains several documents of which is a good faith and loan application for a new mortgage. The welcome letter congratulates her for being approved for a new 30 year fixed rate mortgage at 4.5% for her $86k balance. You might be asking, "what's so bad about that Steve?"

Here's what's bad about it....she only had 10 years left on the original note and her interest rate was 5.125%. Considering the fact that conventional rates are around 3.5% right now I don't see this as a win for her. In fact, to me it's borderline predatory lending. Why would anyone increase their mortgage by 20 years to save .6% on their rate?

Not Playing Fair

This infuriates me for two reasons...First, I've tried to refinance my own Chase loan for a lower interest rate recently to no avail. They wouldn't help me probably because I'm paying them 6.75%. Secondly, they sent this solicitation to an elderly person that would have been paid off in a little less than 10 years.....someone that had she not called me could have just signed the docs because she was made to believe it was a much better deal.

So they lower the interest rate to make it look attractive, her payment drops around $130 a month, and charge her no closing costs. Which in all actuality costs them very little to begin with. The only real costs are some processing and overnight fees and the fees paid to the attorney that handles the closing. Not cool Chase, not cool.

Consult a Realtor

If you receive one of these type offers in the mail, make sure you understand it before moving forward. It may seem like a good deal but it's probably not going to benefit you that much. Call me and I'd be happy to look it over for you.






www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Traditional Real Estate Closings are Back!

After years of non-traditional closings, the traditional closing is back!

It used the be the best part about selling or purchasing a home was the actual closing....the excitement of sitting across the table from the other party and trading stories about the house or the journey of getting to that day. Then we got into the foreclosure years where the seller was never there and the closing became just another day. Well, the number of one-party closings are dwindling and once again we're coming back to a more traditional sale...

In the last month, I've been lucky enough to sit at the closing table with both buyer and seller three times.

The only banks involved in these transactions were the buyer's lender. Seller and buyer sitting across the table, talking about the house and the memories created there....and the new memories to be created. At one point during the last closing for a home sold in Dacula, I said...."This is like old times!" Everyone except for the buyer agreed.....mostly because she was a first time buyer and had no reference point! That was the best part...she purchased her first home and got to actually meet the seller!



DeeDee Smith purchased a home in Dacula Ga

Randy and Nara Taylor purchased a home in Cumming Ga

So if you think the only homes selling are the ones that are in some type of distress, you're wrong.

Traditional resales are back and selling for list price. If you're interested in selling your home and want to know how you can get your price, CALL ME NOW and let me explain how.



www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Dacula Neighborhood Uses Nextdoor.com Website to Spruce Up

For those that live in a neighborhood with no HOA in place, you know it can be frustrating sometimes to get everyone to come together. Whether it be cleaning up the entrance to the subdivision or just keeping everyone aware of safety issues. With no group or governing body, most things just don't get done or passed along.

I've lived in Brookton Place in Dacula since 2000 and we don't have an association. We have 127 homes and no way to mass communicate with everyone, that is until about 3 months ago. Nextdoor.com is a free website you can set up for any neighborhood, big or small. It's very simple to use and has a message board that comes in handy.

Our neighborhood just came together and renovated the subdivision entrance signs and it was all made possible by our Nextdoor.com website. I sent out a request to see if anyone would be interested in helping contribute monetarily and physically to this project and the response was great! It was amazing how many people were thinking the same as I was about how bad our entrance looked, but didn't know how to get something started to fix it.

Before...Reggie scraping off old lettering

In a little less than a month we collected enough money to purchase the supplies needed. With a little help from several residents, we cleaned up and spruced up the entrance and it looks great!

Signs put out throughout neighborhood

After the work was done...much better!!

The best thing about all this is the residents of Brookton Place now have a way to communicate with each other. Not everyone in the community has joined the site but it's growing every week. If you'd like more information about how to get your site started, just call me. I'd be glad to tell you how it works or just follow the link to get more info.  https://brooktonplace.nextdoor.com/about_us/ 

www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Don't Trust Your Short Sale to Just Any Agent

I hear this a lot...."Short sales take too long and our credit is shot already. We're just going to let it go back to the bank". This makes me sad honestly. To think that homeowners put their hopes and dreams into something that they are now just giving up on. There are plenty of reasons why this is happening but the most common is mis-education and mis-information.

I spoke to an expired seller yesterday and she was ecstatic that someone was willing to help her. She apparently had an agent that wasn't experienced in short sales and wasn't marketing it agressively enough. She was just going to let it go into foreclosure and she's only behind one month! Not hiring an experienced short sale Realtor is like going to a pre-med student for a heart transplant. They could only get you so far then wouldn't know how to stop the bleeding. Make sure your Realtor is CDPE. Click here to learn more about CDPE.

Don't think you have options?

Loan mods, short sale and deed in leiu are all options to foreclosure. All of these options will be reported on your credit report for shorter periods of time than foreclosure. Go to Georgia Foreclosure Help for more info on these.

If you need help with a short sale in Gwinnett, Barrow, Jackson or Hall counties in North Georgia, please call me. Don't just wait until the notice comes in the mail!



www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

New Interchange at 316 and Hwy 20 Promises a Smoother Commute

Most everyone that lives in Barrow County or Dacula has traveled hwy 316 during peak traffic hours. And if you have you know this can frustrating to say the least. Heck, I've been known to cut a few people off and throw around the ol' middle finger a few times myself. (that was pre-medication of course).

So you've probably noticed the construction that's been going on since November around the area of Hwy 20 and Collins Hill Rd in Lawrenceville. GDOT has been touting the new interchange for years and I'm hoping it relieves most of the backup in that area. I was wondering over the weekend as I'm driving through that stretch how they will reconfigure the roads. Will Hwy 20 pass over or under 316 and how will Collins Hill be routed? Does it really matter as long as they remove the lights? No, no it doesn't!!

I found this information on the GDOT website and thought it might be good to pass along. Although there's no drawing or rendering, it does explain how the roads will be reconfigured. It seems like they will combine the two interchanges into one. Personally I can't see how this will work but I'm not an engineer either.

Check out this link for the explanation  Hwy 316 interchange

Here's the first paragraph: On November 15, 2011 Georgia DOT began a 2.2 mile project to extend limited access along SR 316 in Gwinnett County. Crews will reconstruct the first two signalized intersections (Collins Hill Road and State Route 20) into one interchange serving both roads.

As a Realtor and someone that lives on the 316 side of Dacula, I'm hoping this will open up this side of town to more prospective buyers. It might also help property values as well because I've been told more than once by a potential buyer they want to stay away from Hwy 316. If the traffic backup is a non-issue, this will benefit values in the long term.

If you're considering buying or selling in Barrow County or Dacula, please CALL ME TODAY! I




www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Traditional Sales Outpacing Short Sales in Barrow County

Who would've thunk it? Traditional resales number more than short sales? Yeah right Steve, you must be reading the chart backwards. But it's true for Barrow County which includes Winder, Auburn, Bethlehem and Statham for the month of March 2012. Here are the numbers....
207 closed transactions in March in Barrow County

Foreclosures 144/207 70%

Short Sales 17/207 8%

Traditional/NC 46/207 22%

Inventory is down an average of 30% in Gwinnett, Jackson, Hall and Barrow counties. This means it's a great time to list your home if you have a desire to sell. Less inventory means buyers are competing for your home. You could have multiple offers if it's priced correctly.

If you want specific numbers for your neighborhood, call or email me and I'll be happy to send them!


www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com

Dacula Neighborhood | Apalachee Farms

You can waste a lot of time on YouTube......you can also find some useful videos as well. Especially if you're looking for a home. I've seen so many slide shows and virtual tours on YouTube and they're boring and didn't keep my attention for more than 10 seconds.

 

So I decided to make an actual video of one of my listings and the amenities in the subdivision. If you're relocating from another area, watching this will give you a much better feel than a virtual tour. Not to mention you get to hear a soothing narration.....it's me by the way. If you don't want to hear me then just turn the sound off and watch the video.

Apalachee Farms is a neighborhood in Northeast Georgia about 50 minutes from downtown Atlanta up I85. This is a golf course community with great amenities and a strong HOA. If you need more information about this area or any other in Gwinnett County, please call or email me!




www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Fannie Mae and an Extra Day!

Looking to purchase some rental property? If you have money stashed away in a coffee can in the back yard, dig it up and read this article.......

Fannie Mae has put a block of 2,490 REOs up for sale. It’s the first pilot transaction of the federal government’s Real-Estate Owned (REO) Initiative announced in August 2011, which aims to sell homes repossessed by government agencies to private investors for the purpose of turning the properties into rental units.

Read more about the program here


What will you do with your extra day? Unless you live in an area where they don't recognize daylight savings time or leap years, you will have one extra day this year. That day is tomorrow, Feb 29th. If you were lucky enough to have been born on this day, you can celebrate your birthday today, or tomorrow, or March 1st. It's your call!

If it's not your birthday, do something special anyway. It's an extra day and you don't get one every year so make sure it's productive. Remember, what you do tomorrow could impact the rest of your life!! Here's some interesting info on why we need leap years....

A leap year consists of 366 days, as opposed to a common year, which has 365 days.

During Leap Years, we add a Leap Day, an extra – or intercalary – day on February 29. Nearly every 4 years is a Leap Year in our modern Gregorian Calendar.
When is the next Leap Day?
Traditions and Superstitions on Leap Day
Leap Day Trivia
World Events during the Leap Year 2012

Why do we need Leap Years?

Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun.
It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (a tropical year)– to circle once around the Sun.

Note: The illustration is not to scale.

However, the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days in a year, so if we didn't add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!

How do we calculate Leap Years?

In the Gregorian calendar 3 criteria must be met to be a leap year:

• The year is evenly divisible by 4;
• If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless;
• The year is also evenly divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.

This means that 2000 and 2400 are leap years, while 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years.
The year 2000 was somewhat special as it was the first instance when the third criterion was used in most parts of the world since the transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar.

Who invented Leap Years?

Julius Caesar introduced Leap Years in the Roman empire over 2000 years ago, but the Julian calendar had only one rule: any year evenly divisible by 4 would be a leap year. This lead to way too many leap years, but didn't get corrected until the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar more than 1500 years later.

• What's a Leap Second?
• Is there a perfect calendar?
• February 30 was a real date

Information from timeanddate.com


www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Be a Dacula Real Estate Market Expert!

You have ESPN for sports stats and updated scores. CNN or FOX News will deliver the latest news stories right to your laptop or smart phone. Domino's will deliver a fresh, hot pizza right to your door. So why shouldn't you be able to get real time, accurate Dacula and Gwinnett County real estate information when YOU want it?

You can and here's where...............wait for it....
                        
                                www.gwinnetthomesforsale.info

Click on the "Market Insider" tab and enter your email address. You'll have instant access to any area you desire. If you can type in a zip code, you can get recent solds, active listings with pictures, school information, compare neighborhoods and much more. No gimmicks, no fees, no obligations. But if you want to send me a gift for being so generous, click on the contact me tab and I'll send you my address!

Why would I give this information to you for free? Because an educated consumer is easier to work with, that's why! I'm here to help so if there's anything I can do for YOU, please don't hesitate to contact me.


www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

What the mortgage settlement means to you. - Feb. 9, 2012

This is an update to my post from Feb 7th. This article is the best explanation I've been able to find about the recent mortgage settlement.


What the mortgage settlement means to you. - Feb. 9, 2012

www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Mortgage settlement involving states said to be closer - Feb. 6, 2012

More help from the government? I hope this turns out better than the HAMP situation. Click on the link below for more information about how The Fed might be helping "under water" homeowners by allowing up to $20k in relief of the principal owed.


Mortgage settlement involving states said to be closer - Feb. 6, 2012



www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Dacula Real Estate Stats for January 2012

January historically is a slow month for real estate and this year didn't deviate from that trend.There's lots of different factors that contribute to this fact but to try and narrow it to one or two things is hard. Real estate is very local so what is happening in one area of the county could be just the opposite from the other. That being said, don't let the following statistics for the Dacula area be discouraging. It's still a great time to buy real estate! Interest rates continue to stay low and there are some great deals on the market.


This chart shows new listings in the 30019 zip code for Jan 2011 and Jan 2012. You can see there's a slight decline (2.2%) from Jan 2011 but it's up from 65 units in Dec 2011 to 90 units in Jan 2012. More inventory means more choices!

This graph shows the number of closed listings for Jan 2012. It's up 40% to 35 units from Jan 2011 but down 8 units from Dec 2011. A slight decline in closed units but expected this time of year.

The average sales price in 30019 declined slightly from Dec 2011 to Jan 2012 but was only down 1% from Jan 2011. Once again, the media has everyone believing prices are declining drastically everywhere in Metro Atlanta but this is not the case. Remember, real estate is local.

This last graph shows "average days on market". This is across all price points in 30019 and shows a sharp decline from Dec 2011 (148 days) to Jan 2012 (107 days). That was also down over 30% from Jan 2011. What does this mean for buyers? It means you can't wait too long to make a decision on that perfect house. And for sellers? You're listening to your Realtor and pricing correctly!

If you need some help deciphering these numbers are want more detailed numbers for your neighborhood, give me a call or email steverider1@gmail.com. I'm always happy to help!


www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Brookton Place has a new website on Nextdoor.com

It only took 10 years, but Brookton Place in Dacula finally has a website. Nextdoor.com offers free neighborhood websites where residents can plug in and stay informed. The only requirement is that 10 residents join the site in the first 15 days. You can invite your neighbors either by email or the site will actually mail postcards to residents and pay for the postage.

It's a private social network for your neighborhood!

For subdivisions without an active HOA, this is a great way to stay informed and it's free to join! Residents only need to verify their address either with a phone call or a postcard. Enter the code given on the site and you're in.

If you're a resident of Brookton Place, go to https://brooktonplace.nextdoor.com/login/ to sign up.

If you're not, go to https://nextdoor.com/ and start one for your neighborhood.

http://www.stevesellsgwinnett.com/ Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.