Real Estate in Atlanta - buy now or wait?

[dex]

I've been traveling around alot and looking at real estate prices as I do.
It appears you can get new nice housing in the 250K area.
For me the areas NEAR Atlanta have what I'm looking for:
Good weather
Near a major airport
Good library system
Reasonable cost of living
On the lower side of taxes
Universities
Cultural opportunities.

While looking around here I've noticed the following about the new homes:
Good inventory to choose from
Land still being cleared and infrastructure being built
Come fully equiped with a lot of upgrades
Prices reduced
Seller paying closing costs and giving buyer bonuses - cash discounts.

So the question is:
Buy now or wait for 6 months to see if prices fall significanly?

 

[tryan]

Buying a primary residence is more about personal preference than it is an investment ... only you'll know the personal preference side.

As an investment, I'ld wait. If "land is being cleared" there's plenty of upcoming competition for new homes. I've NEVER seen NEW homes appreciate where land is abundant - and cheap. In many ways a new home is like a new car ... depreciates the minute it's bought.

Now once the area is fully developed .... then you'll see appreciation.

 

[AltaRed]

As an investment, I'ld wait. If "land is being cleared" there's plenty of upcoming competition for new homes. I've NEVER seen NEW homes appreciate where land is abundant - and cheap.

Very true in Texas, especially around the Houston area that I am most familiar with. No point building/buying a new home unless it is intended to be your primary residence for some time.

 

[Mach1]

We lived in the suburbs of Atlanta for 13 years, place like Peachtree City, on or near lake Lanier are an excellent place to live. I would move back but I don't think DW ever would.

The new homes being build there offers a lot of values for your money in comparison to other areas in surround states. The speculation is that the housing market will return next spring, so now may be the good time to buy, don't be affraid to make offers.

Mach1

 

[cmy1176]

In my opinion, as an Atlanta resident, we haven't seen the same level of price appreciation as many other parts of the country, so I wouldn't expect much of a drop. This seems to be the overall media consensus. Now is probably a good time to be a buyer as things generally pick up in the spring.

Their also seems to be a push for people moving back into the city from the suburbs as we've seen a lot of sprawl. Most of the traffic is in the suburbs and not in the city. That being said, I bought in the city and now have to commute to the burbs. If you are retired, that may be less of an issue, but don't plan on going anywhere from 7-10 or 4-7 during the week. When I worked in the city I had no commute, now I have an hour each way...

 

[sailor]

Dex,
I agree with tryan in the first part, meaning if it's an investment - i would wait, if primary residence - probably buy it now.
Disagree about the appreciation after development - after my area was fully developed, appeciation was less than inflation. We bought our house new for $142k in '99, now it's probably worth about $165k (a 1800 sf house in a relaitvely nice subdivision near Gwinnett Place Mall).

sailor

Dex- if you are in the neighborhood give me a shout, I'll buy you a beer.

 

[REWahoo]

Hey Dex...

According to the fine folks at CNNMoney.com, Hotlanta is one of the 10 best places in the US to buy a home right now:

1. Panama City, FL 6. San Luis Obispo, CA
2. Vero Beach, FL 7. Wilmington, NC
3. Bridgeport, CT 8. Manchester, NH
4. Lakeland, FL 9. Fort Collins, CO
5. McAllen, TX 10. Atlanta, GA

...and the 10 worst places:

Stockton, CA
Merced, CA
Reno/Sparks, NV
Fresno, CA
Vallejo/Fairfield, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Bakersfield, CA
Sacramento, CA
Washington, DC
Tucson, AZ

 

[Mwsinron]

Yep all those places in California are crazily overpriced. But the topic at hand housing prices today have their biggest fall in 35 yrs.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061026/economy.html?.v=12

 

[Nords]

1. Panama City, FL

Did these "authors" actually bother to visit the places they've recommended?

6. San Luis Obispo, CA

Maybe they did. Damn... another nice place ruined by the "Best Of" rankings.

 

[treypar]

If you find a house that you like and plan to live there long term, I would go ahead and buy now. Atlanta has not seen the speculation that some of these other areas have experienced.

 

[dex]

I'm leaning towards the buy now opinion. Prices may fall or they may give more deal sweeteners in the future but how much could that be - another 5 to 10K off? The new home subdivisions I've looked at came donw in price by about 40K so far.

I do look at this house as a place I want to live for the next 10 or more years

 

[wabmester]

I'm leaning towards the buy now opinion. Prices may fall or they may give more deal sweeteners in the future but how much could that be - another 5 to 10K off? The new home subdivisions I've looked at came donw in price by about 40K so far.

I do look at this house as a place I want to live for the next 10 or more years

Here's Atlanta:

Compared to a lot of places, it didn't get very bubbly. Looks like a 15% drop would bring prices back to the inflationary trend line there.

 

[free4now]

I was in Atlanta for a few days last month. Man, the traffic was bad, especially on that ring road around the city. The driving style was the most aggressive I've seen (well maybe next to Boston). Other than the traffic, it did seem like a good place to retire. You get big-city amenities nearby at a very reasonable housing price. The downside of course is that appreciation is likely to be low because it is still sprawling out. There was a lot of poverty to contend with, and associated problems.

I had a lunch at the Chik-fil-A Dwarf House, the diner that the fast food chain was born from. Eating fast food out of a paper sack on a table with white tablecloths and being served by a waitstaff refilling my soft drink was a true trip. Afterwards I was making some phone calls from my car in the parking lot outside, and I observed the strangest scene:

An old abandoned gas station was across the way, and there were several dilapidated but running ambulances parked in the back of it. A man with no shirt would walk up to the various ambulances doing I have no idea what. Then a guy in a ghetto looking car backs out and accidentally knocks over a gas pump. The guy with no shirt comes running to look and the driver gets out of the car and stares at the toppled gas pump. The driver shrugs, and just calmly drives away. The guy with no shirt heads back towards the ambulances, and then I see someone on top of one of the ambulances doing something with the tree branches overhead. I have no idea what any of this ambulance stuff was about.