Don Gale Homes

    Many homebuyers are still running around listening to all the news looking for the best deal they can find.  The most for the least seems to be the American Dream.

     I find that very troubling when it comes to your home.  I grew up in an industrial northern city where a neighborhood was 300-500 homes, 3 floorplans 3 choices of brick and the only way you could tell your house was by the screen door.

    Atlanta offers a very different lifestyle.  Lots of bedrooms, square feet and features.  Where else in the country could you buy a 4-5 bedroom 2.5-3 bath home with a sodded yard, sprinkler systems, granite counters, custom trim, and custom tile baths all for just over 200K?

     After this slowdown and gas crunch, expect inflation to come back to the housing market with a vengeance.  Will we have the same opportunities 3 years from now?  Who knows?  Or will Atlanta become another market with 3 national builders controlling it's entire housing supply like most other major markets?

I have been asked twice in the last two weeks to evaluate the repair/finish/cost to finish properties currently being foreclosed by the bank.  One was a new home, partially finished the other a two to three year old resale.  Both were expensive homes in exclusive communities.

The new home showed signs of being neglected out in the weather.  Vandals had stripped HVAC lines.  Their were two major framing problems that would probably cost around 6-10000 to repair.  The Foundation was a mess, rough, leaking and improperly set for the grade. No sign of drains or waterproofing, water was leaking through all the walls.  The basement floor was heaved, cracked and shifting.

The resale had a longitudinal crack across the back of the garage about 18" above ground level.  The crack was the result of the brick on the main body of the home slipping greater than 1".  There was obviously no brick ledge to provide support on the brick wall and it pulled the other wall apart.

The asking price on both homes was high enough that if paid, the repairs would cost enough to make the investment full retail or better.  In the end, both homes would still contain long term problems.

Sometimes a deal is not a deal.  Know what you are buying.  There is  a reason that certain vehicles retain a greater percentage of their value.  The same is true with houses.  A good home can be a good find if you know where to look and what you are looking at.  You are financing for 30 years, it is a long-term investment and should be treated as such.