Housing Search (Ideal: school, to live, prices)

[tiyakhambadkone]

Congratulations hereticiam!

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by hereticiam

Thanks for sharing all the resources I can leverage to keep my kids busy. I don't know how full some of these camps are but they look awesome to me.

We were closely looking at both Atlanta and Dallas. One of the reasons why I like Atlanta over Dallas was its excellent swim/tennis communities. It is too bad we were unable to find a home of our liking in any of the swim/tennis communities. I could not spend 1.2-1.4 for dated homes with small yards in St. Marlo or 1.1 to 1.3 for dated homes with small yards in Laurel Springs. This month only 1 home in Windermere was listed. We made the appointment on the very first day but it was sold even before we could see it.

The home we are buying is in Balmoral Community which is not too far from Windermere.

I already looked into purchasing a membership at Windermere but that is not possible.
We will see if other options exist. As long as it is not too far from where we live we will explore other membership options.

When I purchased my home in MN in mid-2000's at the time I had friends in Atlanta who told me that homes are less expensive in Atlanta. I spent 900K on my home in the mid-2000s. It was built but a smaller builder and the build quality was excellent. We had Brazillian cherry floors, sold core cherry doors, cherry cabinets, Brazilian hardwood IPE deck, we had 3 Home Theaters, it had Crestron audio distribution with speakers in 11 rooms, two full kitchens, and modern lighting. The problem is that we bought at the top of the market and paid too much. The home prices went down and when we sold this year barely broke even. As I was looking for homes in Atlanta in the price range of 1-1.3 million the build quality was lower than my current home. Initially, this was a surprise. When I looked a bit closer the reason was the housing prices went up significantly in Atlanta in the past 5-7 years. So if I wanted to buy a home with a similar build quality as mine I would have had to pay between 1.5-1.8 million.

The home I am buying was built in 2011 and was purchased for 482K. They added a pool in 2016. Now the same home is 1.2 million. Obviously, a 482K home cannot compare in build quality with the 900K home I purchased in mid-2000s. The home has engineered wood floors. We plan to replace them. We will redo the kitchen and build a nice outdoor kitchen. Our new home already has beautiful outdoors and that was the primary reason to move south I am fine with paying more and getting lesser build quality. I should have moved here in 2006. I could have lived in the Manor in Milton for a 900K home and it would be over 2 million now :-)

Sharing all this detail so others who are in a similar situation can learn from my experience.

Thank you all for your suggestions they will go a long way in getting settled and making new friends.

Congratulations! May you enjoy it in good health.

[hereticiam]

Today we closed on our home in Cumming.
We will move in the latter part of May.

I have deleted all the real estate apps on my phone. Unsubscribed to home notifications.
I have 15 hours a week available for other activities :-)

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by hereticiam

Today we closed on our home in Cumming.
We will move in the latter part of May.

I have deleted all the real estate apps on my phone. Unsubscribed to home notifications.
I have 15 hours a week available for other activities :-)

Welcome to Atlanta! Here's wishing you many years of happiness and success in your new city.

[stup123]

Originally Posted by hereticiam

Thanks for sharing all the resources I can leverage to keep my kids busy. I don't know how full some of these camps are but they look awesome to me.

We were closely looking at both Atlanta and Dallas. One of the reasons why I like Atlanta over Dallas was its excellent swim/tennis communities. It is too bad we were unable to find a home of our liking in any of the swim/tennis communities. I could not spend 1.2-1.4 for dated homes with small yards in St. Marlo or 1.1 to 1.3 for dated homes with small yards in Laurel Springs. This month only 1 home in Windermere was listed. We made the appointment on the very first day but it was sold even before we could see it.

The home we are buying is in Balmoral Community which is not too far from Windermere.

I already looked into purchasing a membership at Windermere but that is not possible.
We will see if other options exist. As long as it is not too far from where we live we will explore other membership options.

When I purchased my home in MN in mid-2000's at the time I had friends in Atlanta who told me that homes are less expensive in Atlanta. I spent 900K on my home in the mid-2000s. It was built but a smaller builder and the build quality was excellent. We had Brazillian cherry floors, sold core cherry doors, cherry cabinets, Brazilian hardwood IPE deck, we had 3 Home Theaters, it had Crestron audio distribution with speakers in 11 rooms, two full kitchens, and modern lighting. The problem is that we bought at the top of the market and paid too much. The home prices went down and when we sold this year barely broke even. As I was looking for homes in Atlanta in the price range of 1-1.3 million the build quality was lower than my current home. Initially, this was a surprise. When I looked a bit closer the reason was the housing prices went up significantly in Atlanta in the past 5-7 years. So if I wanted to buy a home with a similar build quality as mine I would have had to pay between 1.5-1.8 million.

The home I am buying was built in 2011 and was purchased for 482K. They added a pool in 2016. Now the same home is 1.2 million. Obviously, a 482K home cannot compare in build quality with the 900K home I purchased in mid-2000s. The home has engineered wood floors. We plan to replace them. We will redo the kitchen and build a nice outdoor kitchen. Our new home already has beautiful outdoors and that was the primary reason to move south I am fine with paying more and getting lesser build quality. I should have moved here in 2006. I could have lived in the Manor in Milton for a 900K home and it would be over 2 million now :-)

Sharing all this detail so others who are in a similar situation can learn from my experience.

Thank you all for your suggestions they will go a long way in getting settled and making new friends.

hello neighbor

What was the reason ?Is Windermere closed for outsiders?

[hereticiam]

Originally Posted by stup123

hello neighbor

What was the reason ?Is Windermere closed for outsiders?

There were not too many homes for sale in Windermere. Some that were on sale had very small lots and were dated. We can update an older home but we cannot make the lot size bigger.
There was this one home that looked good to us. It was coming into the market on Thursday.
We tried to get a viewing on Thursday. We were told that there were no appointments available so we made an appointment on Friday. The home went pending on Thursday night.

We ended up buying in Balmoral community that is located next to Windermere and we love it.

[likealady]

We just started looking in similar areas about 2 weeks ago (won’t need to move until next yr, and really only entertaining the idea right now). Nearly every home is pending after only a couple days. We are from the Bay Area so we’re well versed in the bidding war nonsense, but I did not expect this in GA. We looked casually a couple years ago and prices were still somewhat affordable. I’ve seen some homes double in price in that time. Wtf is going on? Panic buying? Does the demand cool in the fall?

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by likealady

We just started looking in similar areas about 2 weeks ago (won’t need to move until next yr, and really only entertaining the idea right now). Nearly every home is pending after only a couple days. We are from the Bay Area so we’re well versed in the bidding war nonsense, but I did not expect this in GA. We looked casually a couple years ago and prices were still somewhat affordable. I’ve seen some homes double in price in that time. Wtf is going on? Panic buying? Does the demand cool in the fall?

If you’re talking about the North metro Atlanta housing market, it’s not panic buying going on but is just simply at least some of the same type of highly robust population growth that is affecting larger metropolitan areas across much of the western and southern parts of the country outside of California.

Much like the major metropolitan regions in Texas (Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio), much of the recent binge of home buying in the North metro Atlanta housing market has been fueled by California residents looking to escape extremely high housing and living costs in metro regions like the Bay Area and Southern California.

Though in addition to throngs of California transplants descending on the area, the North metro Atlanta housing market (including in hot North Atlanta suburban areas like North Fulton County/Forsyth County and East Cobb) experiences constant pressure from large numbers of people relocating into the area from the Northeastern U.S., the Midwestern U.S., and other parts of the Southern U.S.

The suburban North Atlanta housing market (particularly in North Fulton and Forsyth counties) also has become a leading (if not the leading) relocation destination for Asian families with children. Forsyth County reportedly has the fastest growing Asian population in the entire country right now.

The stunning growth of the affluent North Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta into a major regional and national suburban hub for tech industry activity over the past decade (Midtown Atlanta has become a major regional and national urban hub for tech industry activity over the past decade) has also helped to fuel much of the noticeably elevated home buying activity in the highest-demand Atlanta suburbs north of the I-285 Perimeter.

(Much of the stunning growth of the tech sector in Alpharetta has been fueled by companies moving noticeable chunks of their operations there from Silicon Valley.)

Though it’s not necessarily at the insane levels that it was between spring 2020 and early 2022, home buying remains at very high levels in high-demand areas like North Fulton, Forsyth and East Cobb counties.

Particularly since the start of the pandemic, there doesn’t seem to be much pullback in demand in the fall and winter seasons anymore in those high-demand areas like there might have been in past years and decades. There’s just too much demand for housing in those areas right now and seemingly probably will be for the foreseeable future.

[Go Blue 99]

Originally Posted by likealady

We just started looking in similar areas about 2 weeks ago (won’t need to move until next yr, and really only entertaining the idea right now). Nearly every home is pending after only a couple days. We are from the Bay Area so we’re well versed in the bidding war nonsense, but I did not expect this in GA. We looked casually a couple years ago and prices were still somewhat affordable. I’ve seen some homes double in price in that time. Wtf is going on? Panic buying? Does the demand cool in the fall?

What price range are you looking in? I have noticed a distinct slowdown in our area (Alpharetta/Milton) in homes in the $1.1M-$1.5M range. For example, there is a $1.3M home in Hearthstone that is still active after 3 weeks. There is a $1.35M home in Ruths Farm that is still active after 6 weeks. Another one in Gramercy for $1.2M.

Normally, listings in these neighborhoods are under contract in the first weekend with multiple offers (for example just 3-4 months ago).

[likealady]

Originally Posted by Go Blue 99

What price range are you looking in? I have noticed a distinct slowdown in our area (Alpharetta/Milton) in homes in the $1.1M-$1.5M range. For example, there is a $1.3M home in Hearthstone that is still active after 3 weeks. There is a $1.35M home in Ruths Farm that is still active after 6 weeks. Another one in Gramercy for $1.2M.

Normally, listings in these neighborhoods are under contract in the first weekend with multiple offers (for example just 3-4 months ago).

We already have a home in the Bay Area that we would want to keep, so that limits our budget. Ideally I wouldn't want to go above 800k. That seemed reasonable until the last couple years. It doesn't have to be completely updated but I'm also not subjecting my family to years of renovation to get a home liveable.

I'm originally from the South so hearing you all rattle off million dollar prices like it's normal is just mind boggling. Most of America is not making the money to afford that. Those are Bay Area prices, albeit you get more for your money, but still.