Posts made by author 'Jess Barron'

By JESS BARRON, Lindsey's Inc. Realtors

Every month, there are many new employees moving into Coweta County. Recently, I had the pleasure of working with the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce and taking some of the new hires for a "Windshield Tour" of Coweta County. We took them to see many different areas and sites around the county. 

One of the handouts provided to the new residents was a Coweta County "fun fact" sheet provided by the Chamber of Commerce. I knew many of the facts but there were several I did not so I thought I would share:

Coweta County covers 441 square miles with nearly 150,000 residents. The number of residents has nearly tripled since 1990 and will reach 163,00 in the next five years. 

The average Coweta household earns $79,795 per year, compared to the state...

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 2023 is off to an interesting start. While national headlines and media outlets report and forecast doom and gloom, the Coweta County real estate market is holding strong. Residential real estate prices are practically unchanged while listing inventory and the number of transactions decreased significantly.

According to the Georgia Multiple Listing Service (GAMLS), the number of homes for sale was down 15% in January and 20% in February year-over-year. Pending sales (properties under contract) were down 28% in both January and February. Closings were down 48% in January and 34% in February.

All of this sounds bad but there are several positives. Realtors are seeing a healthier market in 2023. While it is still a seller's market, we are seeing less multiple offer situations and buyers have a greater chance of securing a home. Active listings (homes for sale) were up 36% in January and 33% in February. Buyers have a much better selection of propertie...

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As a Realtor, we deal with contingencies in contracts every day. As a consumer, you may or may not be aware of these contingencies. Contingencies are provisions that must be met for the property transaction to be completed or the buyer is entitled to terminate the contract and receive their earnest money back. They are critical in our contracts and in protecting our clients.       

The most well-known contingency is the home inspection contingency. This gives the buyer the right to have the property that they are purchasing professionally inspected and request repairs and/or a credit from the seller by a certain date. The home inspection is typically completed during the due diligence period of a purchase and sale agreement.

Another popular contingency is the appraisal contingency. This allows the buyer time to have the property appraised by a neutral third...

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You may have noticed that mortgage rates are on the rise. We have seen rates increase from three percent to four percent, earlier this year, up to nearly eight percent now. Rising inflation is mostly responsible for this. The Federal Reserve, which is responsible for setting the interest rates that directly affect the mortgage rates, has been very clear on their stance with the housing market. Jerome Powell, who is The Federal Reserve Chair, has said the Federal Reserve is trying to "reset" the housing market after prices skyrocketed up to all-time highs in 2022. United States Home prices increased nearly 40 percent in only two years.

            We are now in a totally different housing market. The market has softened, and the market is more buyer friendly. The only problem is that mortgage rates are the highest they have been in nearly fifteen years. What can buyers do to combat this high cost of borrowing?

            You can "buy down" your...

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You may have noticed that the real estate market has changed dramatically recently. We saw the strong seller's market peak earlier this year. Homes were selling at all-time high prices with record demand from buyers. We were regularly seeing multiple offers over list price with cash buyers typically wining these competitive bidding wars. I received 23 offers on one listing and 21 on another. This has all changed.

With mortgage rates up from three percent and four percent to seven and eight percent, the market has really changed. The number of homes available for sale, which was a huge problem earlier this year, is slowly increasing but demand has cooled off. Many buyers have decided to wait to purchase until interest rates go down. These two developments, along with a historic inflation increase, have slowed down the real estate market considerably. Listings are taking much longer to sell, weeks and months instead of days. The number of showings has decreased considerably as...

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