Posts with tag 'Coweta County'

You may have asked yourself this question before or you might be asking yourself right now. The answer to this question all depends on your current situation in life, finances, where you live and your future plans.

Let's start with your current situation. Are you single? Are you married and expecting children? A home may be the right choice if you are expecting children and need more living space or yard space. Maybe you are single but are looking to build some equity in your home and not just write a check to your landlord every month.

Another question to ask yourself is do you have the cash on hand needed for a down payment to purchase? Depending on your financial situation, you can expect to put down a minimum of three to five percent of the purchase price. There are 100% financing plans like a VA loan, if you are a veteran, and USDA, if you are purchasing a home in a qualified rural area. Contacting a local mortgage lender is a great first step. The lender can qu...

Click Here to Read More...

The local real estate market is cooling off. Properties are still being listed and sold, but the activity and sales numbers have dropped dramatically. I have noticed the decline in showing activity with new listings this summer. We are not seeing the number of showings that we saw earlier in the year and the years preceding that. In fact, sales in Coweta County from June 2022 to June 2023 were down over 18 percent per Georgia Multiple Listing Service (GAMLS). A seasonal and summer lull in real estate is common as people often go on vacations, but the lull seems more pronounced this summer.

Listing inventory is still a problem as well. There are not many options for buyers as they go looking for a home. A low supply of listings has kept real estate prices steady even though buyer demand has tailed off. New listings were down over 20 percent, from June 2022 to June 2023 per GAMLS. At the time that I am writing this, there are only 416 homes for sale in Coweta County per GAMLS....

Click Here to Read More...

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...

Click Here to Read More...

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...

Click Here to Read More...

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...

Click Here to Read More...