Ryan Ward's Blog: Atlanta, Georgia

Intown Atlanta real estate comprises a number of different areas and styles of homes. The one that comes to mind for me right now is the numerous choices we have in the condo market. Take for example this condo in Art Foundry at Atlantic Station.

401 16th Street, Unit #1463 in Atlantic Station

This condo represents much of what you can expect for a condo in Midtown Atlanta and you cannot beat the location. You can walk to the shops and the Atlantic Station Mall and if you work in Midtown, it's about a 15 minute walk. Now that is thinking green!

Another of the benefits of this condo is the view. Located on the top floor, you can see midtown like many other condos, but how many have a view like this?

To your left is the the Atlanta skyline and what…

Atlanta luxury real estate still centers around the area known as Buckhead, but, now more than ever, other neighborhoods and cities are providing alternatives to Atlanta's most famous luxury home neighborhood. Here are some statistics for Buckhead and the new players in the Atlanta luxury real estate market; Sandy Springs and Alpharetta. For these statistics, luxury real estate is deemed to be properties and estates with a list price of over one million dollars and actively listed as of April 3rd, 2007.

Currently, there are 877 homes available with the majority of the most expensive estates available being located in Buckhead. Twenty eight luxury estates are available over 5 million dollars. Another 100 additional homes are currently either  under…

Consider this a warning for you if you are selling your home - Get rid of your wallpaper or many buyers will get rid of your home from this list of possibilities. This is more serious than many sellers think and it affects homes at all price points the same way. Wallpaper is unchangeable in the minds of most buyers and they will leave your house because of it.

I was showing homes to a couple this past weekend who had plenty of money to have a contractor remove the wallpaper and apply custom finishes to the rooms affected by wallpaper and they simply decided it would not be worth the hassle. Just yesterday I was showing luxury real estate to another buyer with the same result. We walked into the kitchen and the first comment was about the sellers…

An alarming trend is taking shape that threatens to shift the power of real estate marketing away from real estate brokers and place the information directly into the hands of third party vendors that will change the way real estate is advertised forever. For some time there has been a clamoring for an open, national MLS that would display listings from all around the country in one place that is easily accessible for consumers. That place has existed since 1999. It's called Realtor.com. Unfortunately, while the NAR sat back, resting on its laurels and charging the very real estate professionals who they represent for full contact information to be placed on those listings, interloping, third party vendors swooped in to fill the void that the NAR (National…

Spring is a beautiful time in Alpharetta and the city plans to make the most of it again this year with the annual Alpharetta Arts Streetfest. The event will take place in historic downtown Alpharetta on Milton Avenue and admission and parking is free so be there! If you've never taken the time to stroll down the sidewalks of downtown Alpharetta, you are really missing one of the main reasons Alpharetta real estate is so popular. The Alpharetta Art Festival will host artists and their exhibits from around Alpharetta and Atlanta as well as from around the county with all types of art on display and for sale. It's not just art you will miss if you don't make it to the festival there will be food from great local restaurants, and, of course, local fair food…

Buckhead is the most familiar and popular area in Atlanta for fine Atlanta homes and luxury real estate and a popular destination for Atlanta visitors because of  the high end shopping and dining. In the past year, the Buckhead business district has undergone some very important and much needed renovations to the roads and infrastructure. While the construction north of Piedmont road on Peachtree has been a nightmare during the renovations, the eventual sidewalk and beautification project will be well worth the wait. Along with the city of Atlanta's roadwork, many new luxury high rise condominiums have come out of the ground and are nearing completion and what used to be one of Atlanta's hottest bar scenes gone bad is now being redeveloped as a high end…

Here is a quick snapshot of the current Atlanta real estate market conditions. The numbers clearly show that the market is beginning to pick up steam as we head into the busiest part of the year for buying and selling Atlanta homes. The number of homes sold is a lagging indicator as it takes some time for many of the homes to be entered in the Atlanta MLS, the FMLS. Pending sales is a forecasting statistics that helps to show a more current reflection of market activity. Visit my Atlanta Real Estate website to view current homes for sale.

Atlanta Real Estate  Atlanta  March  Active  5,803  Pending  1,215 …

I finally implemented a much needed upgrade to my website by adding a new and improved way to view homes for sale in the Atlanta MLS. You can now save your favorite homes and come back to them later, add to your list of favorites or email your favorite homes to whomever you would like. There is also a just listed feature that allows you to enter your preferences into the system to have all homes that meet your description emailed to you as soon as they become available. This upgrade allows you, the consumer, a better way to search for homes on my website than was previously available. When you search for Atlanta real estate, you expect to be able to find what you are looking for easily and to that end I am trying to facilitate that process. Any comments or…