Alpharetta Real Estate Homes for Sale

A reader left a comment recently that I’d like to respond to:  The reader was bemoaning the amount of clear cutting going on in Alpharetta, calling out greedy developers and equating Alpharetta to the "New Jersey of the South." 

I’d say that Alpharetta is more like New Jersey because of the number of people who have relocated here from "The North" than because it physically looks like New Jersey - and I’m told there are some beautiful places in New Jersey… ;->

I’m not going to take the bait for the whole "greed is good" vs. "clear cutting is bad" religious battle here, but the reader did point out one interesting thing:  He noted that commercial development continues despite the number "Space Available" signs he sees.  In fact, today as I drove through Crabapple, I saw three commercial for rent signs, a going out of business sign and a "new office condos coming sign."

The reader’s observation led me to wonder just what the commercial vacancy rate is and how it is trending.  Thanks to the City of Alpharetta’s Economic Development Office, I can report the following:

Alpharetta has about a 15% vacancy rate for Class A office space.  This is down from about 30% in 2004.  In 2001, Class A vacancy was as low as 12%.

Class B space is a different story in Alpharetta.  Currently, the Class B vacancy rate is about 30%, but that number includes office condos, which the City only recently started including in that number.

The end of year numbers for the Atlanta Metro Area are not available yet, but Alpharetta expects to have the second or third lowest vacancy rates in the Atlanta area. 

Bottom Line:  People want to live in Alpharetta and the employment base of Atlanta is clearly moving north chasing the workforce.  Office space along the GA-400 corridor is extremely desirable. 

Regarding retail space, maybe this was the direction the comment was aimed.  There is a 12% retail vacancy in Alpharetta.  The City expects this to increase due to new projects being completed and many small retailers struggling.

I, too, wonder if we need any more "strip malls" … even the ones that are all dressed up with pretty facades.  Just how many dry cleaners, tanning salons and franchises de jour do we need? 

Indeed, it seems that the strip mall and the franchise combine to create the perfect suburban storm, that leaves an aftermath I refer to as "Generica".  Heck, we could go to New Jersey for that, huh?  I think that is the cord the comment meant to strike.  I just don’t think the perpetrator is the "greedy developer."

The perpetrators are the retailers, the oil companies, the automobile manufacturers, the politicians at every level, the tax code, the people managing your 401(k), the unions, the truck drivers, the media companies…where do you want me to stop? … the realtors, the lawyers, the bankers?

Everyone has a finger in the pie.  This is how a free market economy works where trees (and open space) have no votes and your clothes are never too clean to have one more dry cleaners to pass on the way home.

This also helps understand why Milton,, northwestern Alpharetta, northern Roswell and even the eastern parts of Cherokee County, are such treasured places to live.  There is no commercial activity to speak of in Milton, although I suppose you could argue that raising cattle is a commercial activity. 

Yes, there is now a "resort model" Publix at Birmingham Crossroads.  But no way would you ever accuse Milton of being Generica.  And this is why people defend the current status quo in Milton and resist commercialization with all their fiber. 

Can Milton preserve its unique niche in the housing market?  Can it prosper as an almost entirely residential city without the support of a commercial tax base?  Frankly, I’d rather be Greenwich, Connecticut than anywhere in New Jersey, if you are drawing parallels to the North!  But that is just me ;->

Not just "on sale", but "really on sale."  Williamscraft, the builder of Crabapple Crossroads has reduced prices by $40,000 t0 $150,000 across all their communities.  In Crabapple Crossroads, the reductions are from $40,000 to $95,000 for a 4 bedroom and 3 bath house with no basement.  The advertised price is $459,900.

Crabapple Crossroads is the Lew Oliver designed neighborhood with the seven three storey "brownstones" at the entrance and the design made to feel like a village.  The homes mostly have front porches and are closely set to the street with sidewalks.  The idea is to get people out of their homes and develop more of a community feel.  It is possible to walk to diner and to some of the best public schools in North Fulton: Crabapple Crossing, Northwestern Middle and Milton High School.

However, even given this innovative community design, the Crabapple location and the good schools, Crabapple Crossroads has struggled.  To date, only seven homes have sold and there are currently thirty-three homes for sale. 

Clearly the issue has been price.  They say, "Price cures all ills," so Williamscraft has reduced prices.  Paying over $500,000 for a 4 bedroom home on a small lot with no basement was a hard sell when you could go up the road into Milton and find any number of larger homes on acre lots with basements for $500,000 - or less.  Admittedly they are older homes, but everything is a tradeoff.

With the price reductions, now you can buy a brand new 4 bedroom house in the mid $400’s at Crabapple Crossroads, which is more inline with the current resale market. 

One funny thing about these huge price reductions, though.  I was talking with a builder of million dollar homes recently.  We were discussing some of the huge price reductions on luxury homes in Milton and Alpharetta - and the one in Echelon, in particular.  This builder asked me, "Just home much profit do the buyers think builders have in these luxury homes?"  He was alluding to having to make a living himself. 

I was EXTREMELY curious to know exactly how much profit is built into a $2,000,000 home in someplace like Echelon or The Manor, but I wasn’t gauche enough to ask him for his profit and loss statements.  I will say, though, that when a builder like Williamscraft reduces prices 20% more or less across the board it gives the buying public the feeling that there was a lot of profit built in initially…assuming that Williamscraft is not taking a loss on these homes.

This market behavior, in turn, leads other buyers to get jaded and feel like they should be demanding more concessions from sellers…and the cycle perpetuates itself.  This is why, from an overall market perspective, it is so important to get the price right from the beginning.  Once you start reducing the price, you never get close to what you would have gotten because buyers smell that blood in the water.

You need your GPS not to find this house, but to navigate the inside once you get there.  There is so much square footage, so many rooms and so many hallways (and closets) that it lead my nine-year-old to comment:  Dad, can we buy this house?  It would be great to play tag and hide and go seek…no one would ever find you!

This foreclosure in prestigious Atlanta National (in the golf course section) is a foreclosure among foreclosures.  Truly, I don’t believe that you will find more high-end finished square footage for the dollar than this house.  And I guarantee that you will not find this floorplan anywhere else.  No one will say your house is cookie-cutter.

The house itself is over 6,000 square feet, although it feels more like 8,000.  That is probably because the ceilings are so high in so many rooms.  The exterior is four sides hardcoat stucco with a tile roof.  On the inside you have six bedrooms and a ton of bathrooms.  There is a mud-room / pantry / office that is the size of most kitchens and a room for most every other purpose too.

My favorite part is the grand two-story covered back porch overlooking the nice swimming pool - with diving board.  You don’t see diving boards much in this day of insurance claim fear.

$1.6 Million Dollar Price Reduction

The numbers  on this house are that it originally sold for $1.8M in 2002 when initially constructed.  It was put on the market by the owner at $2.4M a year ago and then gradually reduced in price to $1.65M as it didn’t sell.  The bank apparently took the property earlier this year and put it back on the market at an eye-popping $808,900.  That is 33% of the initial list price.  I’m not saying the house was ever going to sell for $2.4M, but it is DEFINITELY well worth $808,900 for that amount of space and character.

There are of course some negatives in the house.  The master is not huge and the kitchen could use a little spiffing up.  But there is a theatre in the basement, an elevator serving all three floors, a wet bar in the basement, and a five-car garage.  It is one of the few homes with a pool that I’ve seen recently that has a well thought out bathroom right off the patio with a toilet and shower for after pool use.

Did I also mention that there is an 900 sq. ft. au pair suite (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room) above the two-car detached garage, that, by the way has bays large enough for RV parking?

The question with this house is not whether it is a good value or not.  It is whether you like the style and funkiness of the house.  A client who I showed it to said it was actually too big.  Of course my son disagreed.  He said there were whole areas of the house that the kids could rule and grown ups would never have to come!

There is another good pre-foreclosure buy in Atlanta National (on the non-golf course side) at $699,000 with a full finished basement and level back yard.  Also, in Wood Valley, there is also a foreclosure listed at a crazy $599,900 on a great golf course view lot.  The house needs a good face lift though, and I’d think you could buy it at a significant discount.  By the way, here is a shameless self promotion:  I have a house on the second fairway listed for only $529,000 that is move-in ready and a great value, too.

I want to write more about these foreclosures, but time is short today.  Please feel free to call me to discuss on the phone if you want more details about these or any other foreclosures in the Alpharetta area.

MILTON - This sign cracks me up.  Just who do they think they are fooling?

The sign reads:  Only Two Left.  But it is pretty easy to see that there were only THREE to begin with!  Every time I see this sign my brain flip flops it and I read:  Only One Sold!  I think this sign does more harm than good.  What do you think?

The sales strategy of creating urgency, sometimes artificial urgency, is not new.  "While supplies last…"  "Offer good until midnight tonight…"  "If you call within the next five minutes, you’ll also receive…"  We’ve all heard them.

Anyone who drives up and down Birmingham Highway regularly knows that there have been "only two left" for about six months!  Where is the urgency in that?

The funny thing is that the two remaining houses are actually pretty darn nice.  They are just over priced is all.  That is why there are "only two left."  Duh.

Originally, one of the remaining houses was listed at $899,900 in March last year.  Then it was reduced to $849,000, still didn’t sell and the builder fired the realtor…go figure.  Builder hires a new realtor and lists the house at $914,000.  I don’t get it either.  Since then, the house has been reduced to $890,000 and now to $855,000. 

I’m not sure if the dog is wagging the tail here or vice versa, but unrealistic beliefs about the price make you do silly things with marketing, or at least transparent things that everyone knows don’t work.  It is not better than holding an open house for a property that is overpriced thinking that increased traffic is going to get it sold.  You can market an over priced property all day long and it is not going to sell until you get the price right - and you are going to look silly in the process.  Worse yet, you are probably not even going to get an offer.

If anyone wants to buy a quite nice brick home on Birmingham Highway for around $750,000, call me.  That is where this house should be priced.

There is a "Blue Light Special" being run until Saturday off of Francis Road in Milton.  The house pictured here is being auctioned by a bank after having been on the market for over a year.  The house is priced at $599,900 and you very well may be able to buy it for a lot less.

When this house was originally listed, the bank had it on the market for $699,900.  In the past, this house has sold for $977,000, although I sniff some mortgage fraud somewhere along the way.

That is all bygones now and the bank’s loss could be your gain.  This house is BIG.  It is in a small gated community of eight homes.  It is on a acre lot and it has a fenced back yard that backs up to The Trophy Club golf course.  It has a three-car garage and the basement is finished.  The house is really in pretty darn good condition for having set vacant for over a year.

I think this house is a steal at $600k, let alone what it might go for at auction.  I’ve had this house on my radar for a year and shown it to a number of clients, only to have them ultimately find something they like better.  But I still feel this house is a keeper and I’d buy it myself if I had the inclination to move.

However, time is running out on the house.  The bank, American Home Mortgage, is apparently at the end of their rope and the action is this Saturday in Atlanta.  Call me if you want more details.

Speaking of banks as owners of Alpharetta foreclosures, another good / big house that was bank owned finally sold in Fieldstone Farms off Freemanville Road. 

The house needed more work than the above house off Francis Road, but it is all brick with a giant unfinished basement.  The funny story about that house is that originally it was listed for $599,900.  I showed it a number of times during the summer and had a client actually make a verbal offer to the bank for $500 or $515k, I can’t remember which. 

My client told the bank that they could stop the repairs that they were making and he would finish it because the owner of the house had beat it up pretty badly when he moved out, including ripping the sink off the wall so that the water ran all over the house.

The bank told us "No Deal" and proceeded to market it throughout the summer and fall.  They eventually got a contract for around $550k, which fell through because the buyer became irritated with how the bank was behaving so he let the contract expire.  The bank later dropped the price to $539,000, got an offer of $470,000 and sold it for $479,000 in December.

They could have sold it to my client for $20,000 more, six months sooner without having to do half the repairs.

The banks better wizen up or they are going to make what is already a bad balance sheet look even worse.  And whether you are able to actually negotiate a sale on one of these foreclosure properties seems to depend more on which way the wind is blowing and careful financial analysis.

There are more foreclosures where those came from; contact me if you’d like more details.