If there’s a better industry for obfuscation of a practitioner’s qualifications than the real estate industry, please let me know. Do you have any idea of what that alphabet following an agent’s name means? Or that most of it is completely meaningless? A few of them, the more established ones, reflect experience and skill but [...]
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Roswell, GA 30075
Phone: 678-428-8276
About Hank Miller
Location
Roswell, GA 30075
Phone: 678-428-8276
Posts
Spilling Tears Over Bad Appraisals – Stop Already!
Can the real estate industry please stop spilling tears over bad appraisals – stop already! Katie Cosner of AGBeat posted a well done article about “bad appraisals”, hitting the very same things I’ve been hammering for years. The disconnect between agents and appraisers (and now builders as well) inexplicably remains. To be sure, variables exist [...]
Home Sellers Want Experienced and Honest Agents
Home seller trends for 2011 Home sellers want experienced and honest agents according to the 2011 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. As noted in AGBeat, Home sellers care more about integrity and an agent’s ability sell their home than what a Realtor looks like and whether or not they are tweeting about [...]
Milton, GA is Ninth in the South for Quality of Life
Milton, GA is ninth in the south for quality of life and highest ranking in metro Atlanta, according to On Numbers’ quality-of-life standings for the Southern United States. The highest ranked metro area is West University Place, TX. Many streets in that Houston suburb are named after colleges, authors or poets. Rice University is located nearby and [...]
Paying the Credit Card Before the Mortgage
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that a new trend is apparent; homeowners are paying the credit card before the mortgage. Historically, Americans protected their house payment and were more apt to be delinquent on credit card payments, said Charlie Wise, the company’s director of research and consulting. But crashing home values and desperation have caused that [...]
3rd quarter 2011 Atlanta Home Sales Data
Interesting results when the 3rd quarter 2011 Atlanta home sales data is reviewed. Chartmasters gives us a look at current Atlanta real estate trends, most noteworthy is that 65% of homes sold in Metro Atlanta (viewed overall) were below $200,000. Keep current by clicking on Atlanta Real Estate Market Conditions and sign up below for [...]
Why Appraisers Hate Real Estate Agents
The reasons why appraisers hate real estate agents (many of them anyway) are both varied and lengthy; almost all have to do with agent ineptitude and ignorance of how appraisals are completed and how data – specifically comps – are selected and utilized. I’m an active certified appraiser since ’89 as well as an active broker; I see [...]
“Occupy” Occupies Atlanta Foreclosure – Waits for the Marshals
I wish I had the time to do nothing but look for a cause, because the “Occupy” cottage industry seems to be looking for a few good nuts. After setting up at the Fulton County GA courthouse for the Nov ’11 foreclosure on 11/1, they have decided to take up residence at one of the [...]
Homebuyers Still Expect Appreciation
“More than 42% of prospective homebuyers polled by Zillow believe home values will appreciate by 7% annually in the years ahead.” Seriously? Apparently so…this according to the recently conducted poll of 177 people who said they were planning to buy a home within the next three years. “It’s troubling that we’re still in the midst of one [...]
A Graphic View of Mortgage Rates Over the Years
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words…we’re all used to hearing about “historically low rates” but what does that mean to a generation of folks that don’t really understand where rates were in the past? Even for folks that have been around, have past rates been completely forgotten about? Here are two charts that [...]
Occupied Distressed Homes Worse for Values than Vacant Homes
Many areas of Atlanta are experiencing the same issues with foreclosures and distressed properties as others around the country. Distressed homes (foreclosures – short sales – loan mods) and bank owned homes obviously hurt neighborhood value and appeal. Now a study conducted in Cleveland seems to assign tangible impact levels; while far from definitive, it [...]
Sales Up in Atlanta, Values Down
A good news – bad news post. Homes sales in metro Atlanta were up about 25% from the same month last year, that’s above the national average of about a 15% increase. Remember though, the government incentives intended to jump start things in ’10 were ending about this time last year. Regardless, any positive move [...]
How to Stop the Drop in Home Values
The challenges facing this economy are diverse, complicated and enduring. Over the last several years and two administrations, the bleeding has continued unabated. Despite billions of dollars tossed at the problem, schemes to increase employment and opinions from economic experts on how to dig out, the country remains mired in the economic mud. A critical component [...]
It’s Time to Buy That House
Those of you that have worked with me or read my posts over the years know I’m not a mouthpiece for the real estate community; I don’t march in lockstep with what the various real estate industries put out. I don’t think everyone should own a home; I don’t (and never did) think a home [...]
First Time Homebuyer Interest in Short Sales Plummeting
The Convoluted Process Is the fact that first time homebuyer interest in short sales is plummeting a big surprise? The Atlanta real estate market is loaded with short sale “opportunities”; which is a liberal use of that word. Many short sales are simply a maneuver to extend an owner’s time in the home. By offering their home as a short sale, [...]
Wealthiest Areas in the Nation
Well this will rattle a few wine glasses and BMW windows in and around several of the affluent Atlanta areas…the numbers are out and according to On Numbers, there’s a new hot spot for concentrated wealth in Georgia…Berkeley Lake. It is at the top of the state in terms of overall wealth and median household [...]
Her Bank Got Enough Help When It Was in Trouble. She Didn’t.
“Mimi Pierre Johnson and her husband bought their four-bedroom home in Elmont, on Long Island, for $413,000 in 2005. Then the recession blew in. Her husband lost his construction job, her real estate work slowed and their boiler wheezed and died. Their once-reasonable mortgage resembled a forbidding mountain. She dialed her bank, JPMorgan Chase, seeking [...]
Help the Housing Market – Increase Foreclosures!
It’s refreshing to see an article in CNN Money reiterating what many of us in the real estate industry have known for years; that the foreclosure abatementprocess is simply delaying the inevitable. Many of the homes in the foreclosure process will never be recovered, it’s much better to foreclose and get on with the next [...]
Fed Sponsored Refi’s – Spend, Don’t Save the Difference!
As the economy continues to free fall like a stone approaching terminal velocity, the administration continues to try and pop ‘chutes to slow the decent. It’s no secret that real estate is a vital cog in any recovery, arguably the most vital as it impacts both personal and commercial/industrial wallets. Distressed home inventory remains high [...]
Another Head Scratching Filthy Foreclosure
Here’s another nasty foreclosure, the kicker on this one is that it looks like this after clean out. I walked this and seriously wondered how you can live in something like this – living outside in a tent would be cleaner. From an appraisal stand point I called for a total gut job on this [...]
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FHA 203k Loans: For many homeowners remodeling could be a better a...
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Rob@Jupiter Real Estate: In Florida we have many condos located on oceanfro...
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Larry: It should almost be a necessity to have a swimming...
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New Media 4 Agents: I think we are past the stage of wondering if it w...
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Jim Wagoner: Good information we all should try to live by....
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$10000 California First Time Home Buyer and New Home Tax Credit Extended
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Unite Against the Sarasota MLS Board
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Short Sale Heaven Coming April 5th 2010
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The Lones Group – Real Estate Social Media Marketing Firm – Sues Agent For Being A Zebra
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California Senate Bill 94 (SB94): Passes; Not even Attorneys can do it!
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