thenorthgroup

When Jo-Anne Jackson’s 6th grade art class was featured on a local new station recently, it came as no surprise to me. Ms. Jackson uses a “make your own test” website called Qwizzy’s World. It allows students to better prepare for tests, quizzes and CRTC testing, which is done annually.

South Forsyth Middle School took an out-of-the-box approach and partnered with Qwizzy’s World to offer discounted memberships for students. The website allows for instant scoring, providing immediate feedback for the student. It’s no wonder that South Forsyth Middle School is one of the best schools in North Atlanta, ranking 14th in the entire state according to the Georgia Report Card for Parents site.

• Read More...

6

Months of new construction inventory in Forsyth County. 307 New homes available for sale, 602 sold over the past 12 months.

• Read More...

The market is correcting, are buyers?

Here are the stats: 5 bedroom, 4 bath, 3700 square feet on 3/4 of an acre with a gentle walk to a covered double-slip dock. Reduced from $549,900 to $449,900!

• Read More...

I have a few clients looking for foreclosures on Lake Lanier so I’ve pulled together some statistics you might find interesting - I did. I took a look at homes for sale on Lake Lanier, by County, and broke that data down by distressed and non-distressed sales. Take a look at the following charts:

Homes available and sold on Lake Lanier, by County
NOT DISTRESSED
	Active	Avg. List Price	Total Sold 2009	Avg. List Price	Avg. Sales Price	Avg. LP / SP
Dawson	50	$722,579	5	$397,240	$371,000	93.4%
Forsyth	107	$925,853	31	$697,948	$598,004	85.7%
Hall	195	$876,632	49	$704,457	$629,982	89.4%
Gwinnett	10	$875,289	3	$558,266	$483,300	86.6%
Totals/Avgs:	362	$850,088	88	$589,478	$520,572	88.8%

 

• Read More...

There have been news reports recently that home sales across the country dropped off significantly from Nov 09 to Dec 09, but we looked at the year-over-year trends and found that home sales in Forsyth County for the 4th qtr. of 2009 were up 23.4% over 4th qtr 2008. There are several factors that are contributing to those increased sales, first of which is the first-time homebuyer tax credit. Originally set to expire at the end of November, many buyers pushed to purchase a home before that date. Now that the tax credit has been extended, and expanded to move-up buyers, we should see more activity than normal during the first qtr of 2010.

In addition to the tax credit I’ve noticed the start of a shift in consumer confidence in some sellers. We are working with quite a few who have been in their homes for a number of years and don’t need to sell but feel that if they are going to take advantage of this buyers market, now would be the time as these deals may not be around in another 12 months. I agree with them. We have a long road out, it won’t change overnight, but there are some green shoots of recovery that will take stronger hold as we move further into the year.

• Read More...

It's a stark number: 22%

That's thepercentage of Lake Lanier homes sold in 2009 that were bank-owned or distressed.

• Read More...

Regardless of a federal judges ruling against Forsyth County, or in favor of the YMCA - depending on how you look at it; Monday evening County Commissioner Patrick Bell hosted a town hall meeting to allow representatives from the Friends of the YMCA and the Friends of Bethel Park to give their reasons why the project should or should not move ahead. Before they began Patrick Bell gave a quick history of the issue. It seems that the YMCA has been pursuing this property for some time so that they can build a camp facility for Camp High Harbour. The County expressed interest in the park with plans to build a 75 space RV park.

The Argument
In short, the Friends of YMCA say that Bethel Park is an under-utilized park which has been partially closed since 1998. The YMCA will develop an $18M project that will include a gymnasium, baseball field, pavilion, pool, outdoor amphitheater, chapel, cabins for kids camp, docks with boats and much more. Camp High Harbour is such a well run and sought after kids summer camp that waiting lists around the country are constantly full. Additionally, at the Corps’ request, the YMCA will update and upgrade Two Mile Creek Park to ensure it will accommodate local park visitors. Initial improvements include adding a new boat launching lane, additional parking spaces, restrooms, relocating the courtesy dock, and shoreline reclamation & stabilization.

• Read More...

Homebuyer Tax Credit Update

Last year there were many First-Time Homebuyers in Forsyth County that purchased homes. And quite a few that didn’t make the deadline or just weren’t in a position to do so. In addition to those, there were many other homebuyers that wished they could have taken advantage of a tax credit.

• Read More...

If you moved to the Cumming area last year, and purchased a home, then you just had your first Christmas there. The decorations are all put away and you’re probably welcoming a normal routine again. But something in the back of your mind is saying “didn’t my Realtor tell me something about a property tax exemption I need to handle in January?”. Hopefully they did and now is the time to file.

What is a Homestead Exemption?

• Read More...

It’s official - Metro Atlanta is past the bottom - We’re seeing the beginning of the end.

OK, I’m not saying that we have arrived where we want to be, the continuing road to recover will still take a while. However, the numbers for November home sales in Metro Atlanta are in and, as expected, closings shot up significantly for Atlanta and in Forsyth County we are leading the pack.

• Read More...