-This is a transcript from Go Gaddis Radio to listen to the episode click here-> https://on.soundcloud.com/CAh2A
You're listening to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio right here on AM 920, The Answer. In this segment of the show, in our neighborhood spotlight, we're featuring Argonne Forest in Atlanta. And are there predictions for Georgia to have a damp? And wet, which I believe are the same. Upcoming winter, and what are six home improvements that pay off at the time of resale?
You're listening to Go Gaddis Radio, Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio, where our goal is to help you, as a listener, learn everything you should learn about selling or buying homes before you have to make any of those important decisions. For many of us, buying our home or an investment property is one of the biggest financial decisions that we will make of our lives, and we certainly do not want to make mistakes.
Remember, we want to connect with you, and it is very easy and simple to connect with us. Go to gogaddisradio.com, G O G A D D I S radio. com. You can submit questions that we'll answer on air, or we're happy to answer questions Thanks. Well, you can tell us any thoughts or things that are on your mind. You can challenge things we've said, uh, just because we say it on the show, doesn't make it right.
We, we want it to be right. We're trying to make it right, but it doesn't mean it is right because we don't have a corner on everything. Right. You can share your ideas with us, which we absolutely love. Um, I continue to get comments about the difference in Korean and granite countertops and the usability.
And I will tell you, people love the appearance of the granite countertops, but when somebody is a Korean fan or a Korean fan, um, they are rabbit about it. And so I get comments all the time, people telling me how much better Korean countertops are. And by the way, that could very well be the case for them.
I just don't think it helps with resale value for you to have Corian countertops instead of granite. If you don't know the difference in Corian countertops and granite, be happy to explain it on another show. Corian is like an extruded plastic, like a cultured marble countertop and granite is naturally a natural stone.
Um, you also can request. That we do some additional research on your specific neighborhood over the last few years to help you understand as a home seller in the neighborhood Whether or not you might have a particular advantage when it comes to selling your home Be good to know and you can also subscribe to our podcast.
We're available on every major podcasting platform And why would you want to do that? Well in many shows We reference something from a prior show and we'll also give you the episode Uh, the podcast episode that, that prior subject was featured in. We did it recently with a story about a home that was listed on Zillow for a dollar, and we ultimately gave you the final sales price of the home, which was in the 50, 000 range or something like that a week or two later, and you were able to go back and listen to the beginning of the story, and then you were able to listen to the end of the story.
So I think everybody should be a podcast subscriber. Again, go get us radio. com. G O G A D D I S radio. com. This every, every week we pick one specific Metro Atlanta neighborhood to call out critical changes to help you as a homeowner in the neighborhood understand whether or not you might have a particular advantage.
This week's show we are featuring Argon Forest, and let me tell you where Argon Forest is. If you are. In Atlanta, you take I 75 North to the Northside Drive, Highway 41 exit, turn right, and the neighborhood is on the right. You use Arden Road to enter. It's in a spectacular area of metro Atlanta. It's absolutely beautiful.
Between West Paces Ferry, Northside, Tuxedo Park, Pete Street Hills, Cross Creek. It's just a beautiful area. I had some landscaping clients down there when I was a teenager, and I just love that area. And talk about a quick commute to be able to work in Midtown, a quick commute to be able to work downtown, a quick commute to be able to work in Buckhead.
It's all easy from there. Argonne Forest in Atlanta is a 19... 50s era neighborhood built on the grounds of a 100 100 plus acre estate. It's bordered by Arden Road, Northside Drive and West Paces Ferry Road. The governor's mansion on West Paces Ferry Road is directly across the street. from this neighborhood.
It is named after the Argonne Forest in northeast France, which was the site of an intense World World War One military action. Many of the original ranch style homes remain. However, lots of new builds and renovations have taken place over the years. It has good access to I 75 with easy commuting to midtown, downtown, close to all that Buckhead.
And Midtown have to offers less than 10 minutes from Tanyard Creek Park and a belt and a beltline access point is 10 minutes to the Atlanta History Center, the Swan House, as well as the Bobby Jones golf course, 15 minutes to Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square and the new Slow Mo Institute Children's Museum.
And it's 20 minutes to the Atlanta Botanical Garden and Piedmont Park. So it is very, very convenient. Let's take a look at what's happened. in the neighborhood over the last three years. Again, we're talking Argonne Forest, a neighborhood built on a hundred acres, got about 185 homes in the neighborhood.
And if we look at the last few years in 2021, the average sales price of a home in the neighborhood was 1. 515 million, 13 homes sold. They took an average of 24 days. From listing to contract, it ranged from a low price of 740,000 up to a high price of 3.4 million in 2022. Prices increased at the tune of $230,000 to an average of 1.75, 2,000,007 homes sold.
took on average three days from listing to contract. List prices, excuse me, sales prices range from 1, 095, 000 up to 3. 2 million. Houses in 2022 sold for 4. 2 percent more than they were listed for. Year to date in 2023, only two homes have sold. So the numbers I'm going to give you are going to show that prices values have gone down, but with only two sales that may or may not be the case.
But the average sales price for the two homes that sold in an average of 42 days from listing the contract was 1. 422 million. There are 185 ish homes in the neighborhood. There is, there are three homes currently listed for sale. They range from a low of 1, 025, 000 to a high of 2. 2 million. 795, 000 with an average list price of 1.
705 million. There are 7. 2 months worth of inventory available in the neighborhood, which means according to our standard way of looking at months of inventory, that means it is a buyer's market. I'm not saying you could go to that neighborhood and get a good deal on any of the three homes, but maybe one of the three homes might be a little bit more motivated, or two of the three homes might be a little bit more motivated for whatever reason.
Maybe a relocation or, uh, you know, heaven forbid, a death in the family or something like that. And somebody is a little bit more motivated, but 7. 2 months worth of inventory means, hey, worth going and take a look at homes in this neighborhood if you're in the 1. 7 million dollar. Budget range. The average value of a home in the neighborhood in 2011 was $613,600, which means homeowner equity for those 185 homeowners has increased $210 million since 2011.
So in 12 years, homeowner equity has increased $210 million. That is really, really exciting. If you're the type of parent that doesn't want to monkey around with your kid's education or the school's effect on home values, you need a school chimp report. It's the most comprehensive rating, ranking site for public high schools in metro Atlanta.
And it also gives you all of the demographic information you're looking for. I don't mean somebody's race, I mean, you know, the educational attainment. How many years parents went to school, household income, percentage of... Homeowner occupied homes versus rental homes. Go to go gaddis radio. com. Click on school champ, put in a little information.
It'll spit a report out for you. If you're looking for homes for sale, you might need to switch where you're searching and start, start searching. Sure. MLS. com S U R E M L S. com pull listings from both listing services. So there is way more of a chance of you finding what you're looking for. Got an article that says, you might be surprised to hear the predictions about Georgia's damp and wet upcoming winter.
I thought damp and wet were the same thing. This is from the Georgia Farm, Farmers Almanac. September 14, 2023, the Farmers Far, Far, easy for me to say. The Farmers Almanac recently released its 2023 2024 winter predictions for Georgia. Are you all ready for the season? I don't know about you, but I'm a fan of the cold and I'm ready to be done with the dog days of summer.
Last year's winter was unseasonably warm and they're saying that this year's winter they'll be more like a traditional winter. Chilly temperatures, lots of snow, sleet, and ice. I don't know about you, but I'm not stocked up and prepared for winter, so we might have some prepping to do for our, uh, damp and wet winter, according to the Farmers Almanac of Georgia.
A listener wrote in, saying, We've been in our home for decades and are planning to retire and downsize. Do you have any suggestions that would help us maximize our profits? Yes. Number one, curb appeal. Number two, kitchens. Number three, bass. Now, that's not my... Complete list, but that is where you want to focus your money.
It is all about curb appeal. That home needs to look young and fresh and well cared for when somebody drives up to it from the exterior. And then you need to make sure that the kitchen is in good shape, reasonably good shape. Now, an article from the, from the, from AARP, the American Association of Retired People, I think it is.
It says exterior upgrades are most important, then minor kitchen upgrades, then fresh coats of paint, which should be done everywhere, upgrading your flooring, staging your home, and greening your heating and cooling. I will tell you in the state of Georgia, I'm not sure that I agree that greening your heating and cooling will make any difference in your sales price, but certainly anything aesthetic, countertops, floors.
Kitchens, master bathrooms, secondary bathrooms, the color of the bedrooms or any wall paint anywhere, uh, is very important. You want, uh, cooler tones. You want grays and beiges, or what they call greige, uh, and not some kind of, some warm tone. So you want something that has, uh, More blue in it than has red in it.
Um, in fact, the two colors that we recommend quite often are agreeable gray and accessible beige. I'll say that one more time. Agreeable gray and accessible beige. Thank you for joining us for another week's edition of go get us real estate radio. We'll be back same time, same channel next week. Talk to you then Atlanta.
Have a great week.