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.