Ryan Ward's Blog: All Categories

Last week I read a post from Eric Blackwell with his new open house platform for agents in his office. I really liked the idea and set out to create something for my market for my listings. Open houses, I think, might just be the best place to use maps. I would think even better than for a general consumer searching homes. The difference is that consumers searching for open houses are likely to be local and will be less intimidated by seeing a map of the city unlike a consumer from Omaha looking to relocate to Atlanta.

So maps are the perfect format for open houses. My new page featuring Atlanta open houses is simple and easy to use. It also allows consumers to get their eyes wrapped around custom single property websites, which, are showcased and linked…

It's no secret that across the country, much of the problem with real estate markets is the supply of homes available for sale. This is the simple economic principle of supply and demand. Below is a chart of the Atlanta market dating back to 1994.

Homes for sale in Atlanta have been on a steady increase as has Metro Atlanta's population so an increase in available housing is to be expected. However, this type of increase is not something that the real estate market is capable of absorbing for long periods of time. When underwriting standards constrict combined with difficulties caused by the sub prime mortgage, affordability goes down. This furthers the trend of rising inventories.

Until prices come down, we will continue to see inventories rise.…

The overall Atlanta market is not really moving in a positive direction for sellers right now; if anything, inventory is still rising. In some areas, however, things are beginning to either level off or move in a more positive direction. John's Creek is one of those areas that has been stagnant for some time. Here are some statistics for John's Creek.

• Currently there are right at 950 active listings in John's Creek with an additional 156 homes working on offers. This is a relatively good sign as pending sales do a decent job of indicating future performance.
• In the last 30 days of accurate sales results, 64 homes have sold. This yields an absorption rate of about 15 months of supply. The average sales price during that time is $357,000.
• In…

As a consumer there is no question - the market is down. But, what does that mean, how does it affect you and what is the most important indicator? Well, there are lots of long winded answers with plenty of nuance and different people might give slightly different answers. To me, and I think to most, the most important part of the market is what the value of homes are and where they are trending. Most of the other things like supply and demand, the amount of foreclosures, pending sales, absorption rates and the like all filter in to the bigger equation of value. So here in Atlanta, the value of homes are down. Way down. Here is a chart going back a year showing the value of Atlanta real estate which has been on a steady decline.

I think this chart…

Unbelievable would be what I thought when I first saw it. Poor business decision, if that's what it is would be the reality. You see, MSN has some very unusual search results here in Atlanta. Typically, the most frequently searched term by consumers looking for real estate will be "city real estate" and in Atlanta, MSN returns the same website something on the order of 498 out of the first 500 search results! Here's a screen shot:

O.K. So I guess it's not exactly the same result - they are all subdomains of the same website. Now if you were a consumer searching for Atlanta homes for sale using the most used keyword phrase, do you think it might be a good idea to serve up the same website over and over again like this? Seriously.

Here is the search…

We just listed a fantastic property in the heart of Sandy Springs inside of I-285 that offers an amazing 1.4 level acres with a pool for less than the average sold price for all of Sandy Springs. Located about 3 minutes from Chastain Park, this home at 750 Crest Valley Drive has one of, if not the best, lot I have seen for less than $1,000,000.

We just launched the exclusive single property website which will have even more information added to it over the next few days, but we already have about 100 photos up along with a nice slideshow and 4 virtual tour views - and yes, we know - two of the virtual tours will need to be shot again as the lighting threw off the panoramas...you can view this Sandy Springs home for sale at 750 Crest Valley Drive here and…

What? That's right! I have joined Team Eric - and I have thrown all the weight of my entry behind it. I found out where I stacked up so now it's time to give back to those who have the most to gain from a victory - Eric Blackwell. Besides, what would I do with another REW website with a custom IDX? I already have one.

And one more thing - I want to help prevent some other people from attempting to sneak in the back door just before the contest ends to claim victory. This will mean that my entry will begin to fall - it already has because I did this a few days ago and Eric should now be benefiting from the additional strength passed on from me now. For any of you following the contest, you might have seen some shifting taking place on the first page over…

Recently there was a big bloggers conference here in Atlanta and I missed it. For good reason, but, missed it none the less. Anyway, seems a big topic at the event dealt with "web 2.0". A search for web 2.0 from wikipedia suggests that what it is more than anything is the idea that we should be creating more interactive websites. Sort of take some of the anonymity away and get users involved. I'm not sure as to its effectiveness in general, but, it seems like something that we should all be trying to shoot for - make it easier for consumers to contact us. More of an evolution of ergonomics and methods of contact rather than some really new great idea.

So I've fooled around and added a new tool, Plugin actually, to my Atlanta real estate blog for…