Welcome!

I am an Atlanta native and made the decision in 2007 to leave my job as an architect/urban planner to get my real estate license. This was a difficult decision but has been great since my very first day in my new career and I am really enjoying it! It is so rewarding helping people find that perfect home, and it allows me to continue to satiate my love of good architecture and great neighborhoods!

I attended Georgia Tech (GO JACKETS!!!!) which is where I met my husband. For almost a decade we lived in one of Atlanta's fabulous in-town neighborhoods in a great 1920's Craftsman bungalow with our two dogs and two cats. Following the birth of our first child, we bought a foreclosure in the west Buckhead area and fully renovated it using an FHA 203k loan, which was a fun and sometimes daunting process. And just prior to the birth of our second child, we purchased and renovated a home in downtown Historic Roswell, completing our personal tour of some of Atlanta's best neighborhoods to live in!

I decided to create this blog in order to share useful information and resources about the real estate market and home buying process, as well as hopefully bring some humor and levity to what is often a complex and intimidating process. Enjoy!!!

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

My Recent Sales

Here's a quick peek at some of the awesome homes I have sold recently. My listings have all sold in under 30 days in the last 6 months and most of them sold at or above list price!
East Cobb
Duluth
Marietta
Smyrna
Grant Park
Roswell
Marietta
Roswell
Roswell
Woodstock
Cabbagetown

Old Fourth Ward

Midtown
Buckhead
Roswell
Smyrna
Woodstock
Sandy Springs
Marietta
Alpharetta
Woodstock
Thanks to all my amazing clients for following my extensive list of instructions to get their homes ready to list.  =)   It is a testament to all their hard work that these homes sold as quickly and for as much money as they did!

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For Sale By Owner: Things to consider before going this route


Trying to decide between selling your home on your own as a for sale by owner or choosing a full service Realtor like myself? Do you have a potential buyer interested in purchasing your Atlanta area home? 

Before you make the jump and decide to do FSBO, ask yourself these questions to avoid costly mistakes: 

  • Have you already met with an attorney to verify you are doing everything correctly? 
  • Do you have the correct paperwork and forms to fill out for both seller and buyer or did you print random documents from the internet? How about mediation, what do you know about how this impacts your sale? 
  • Are you familiar with the term "Seller's Disclosures" and know where to find them, how to properly fill them out, and what the law requires?
  • Are you familiar with title companies, what fees they charge you and how they prorate taxes? 
If you answered "no" to any of these questions, you may want to consider hiring a professional Realtor who has knowledge in housing transactions. You may be thinking as a for sale by owner you will save money, but ask yourself: why are you not considering hiring a Realtor to help you? 


Here's the advantages of hiring a professional: 

  • We have access to so many more marketing tools than you do. Here in Atlanta, we have not one but two MLS systems that all full-service Realtors use (this program feeds out listings to housing websites on the internet and other real estate companies in the area); as a FSBO you have no access to these systems and no way for other agents to find your home when performing searches for their buyers. In addition, I know that I personally spend thousands of dollars a year to make sure that my listings are promoted on every available real estate website, jump to the top of Google searches through smart search engine optimization, and are featured with beautiful, professionally designed marketing pieces. 
  • My agency has money to advertise your home in the paper, magazines, brochures, local news, radio, and TV. RE/MAX owns the largest market share of TV and radio voice not just in Georgia, but nation-wide as well.
  • Companies such as RE/MAX are more reputable and well known by prospective buyers, and people will trust a brand name agency over private homeowners. The RE/MAX Balloon is as recognizable as the Nike Swish!
  • For sale by owners increase their chances of engaging in "dispute resolution" after the closing. What does this mean? If the new owner finds something wrong with the house (water damage, leaks, etc), they can sue you and take you to court, particularly if you mishandled that "seller disclosure" piece I talked about earlier. At this point, you will need to hire an attorney and pay out of pocket costs at your own expense. On the other hand, Realtors are insured and also have access to their company attorneys. 
  • Convenience - what do you know about scheduling buyers to tour your home? How will they gain access and what security measures do you have in place? Have they been pre-approved for a loan to buy the house? If the potential buyer is not pre-approved for the price of your home, then they are wasting your time. 
  • FSBOs historically are much more likely sell their property under value, both because they are unable to properly price their home from the beginning and because they lack the negotiation skills and training that a Realtor has spent years perfecting. According to the latest Keeping Current Matters article this month, for sale by owners sell their house substantially lower than if they worked with a Realtor
  • Although you may be frustrated with paying for an agent's commission fee (the Atlanta average is 6-7% of the sales price, which is split between the Buyer's and Seller's agents), you still may earn more profit in the long run and it will certainly be a much easier and more stress-free process with a professional doing all the work.
If you have been thinking about selling your home (or have a neighbor interested in purchasing it), contact me today to discuss what I can do for you, and how the services I provide will help you to sell your house with the least amount of stress possible while also achieving your financial goals!
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