Nadeyah,

Yes, absolutely - we've been in a declining market since June 2006. Certain submarkets are in freefall, still.

Certain submarkets are more stable, and these have better real estate fundamentals than the others - better schools, less crime, better lifestyle amenities, etc.

If you are "buying in Ansley Park' then lets just look at what's up in Ansley Park in the past 12 months for single family properties...in 2008, there were 23 sales. The lowest priced sale was a $440,000 3/2 on Flagler. The highest priced sale was a $1.25 Million 4/2/2 on Westminster. The average SOLD price in 2008 was $990,793.

There were 6 SOLD properties in Ansley Park since January 1, 2009 - on average, they took 48 days to sell, and the average sales price was $952,000.

I would say that Ansley Park is relatively stable, just like other Intown neighborhoods with good Elementary schools, lower crime and great lifestyle choices like parks and restaurants nearby.

However, with 72 withdrawn or expired listings since January 1, 2008 there is more sales failure than success.

If you have time, check out the web reference - an April 30 article - which features a link to the most recent Smart Numbers letter for Atlanta.

While you are on my site, check out this article that describes the broad gap between what sellers expect and what buyers are actually getting - http://intowninsider.com/2009/03/intown-atlanta-seller-perce…

I believe that over the next two decades, the most conservative approach is to assume that your properties will not rise in value - the benefits of owning real estate usually outweigh renting and making a landlord rich, but being speculative about "rising prices' is a sucker's bet.

Anyone else who is pumping sunshine about the future of real estate should study spending trends and demographics and get more realistically grounded.

If you are interested in further study, start here: http://www.hsdent.com/real-estate-investing-where-to-buy/

The good news is that Georgia, and particularly Intown Atlanta, will benefit from stable domestic migration and a popularity with younger people that will keep the city growing - growing demand will keep our real estate market much healthier than 90% of the rest of the country in the 21st century.

Good Afternoon Nadeyah,

Home prices have been falling throughout Metro Atlanta and the surrounding areas for some time. Of course, some areas have seen sharper declines then other areas. The best way I can answer your question is to know a specific area of interest. We in the real estate business have many tools at our use ie. Competitive Market Analysis, Broker Metrics, Chart Master, FMLS, Mls and the list goes on. I would be more then happy to put together a report for you showing the specifics of a certain area, location, subdivision etc.
for you. To learn more about me as a realtor go to my website at http://www.rickpaynesold.com. Especially, preview my cover page " About Me " and the other information on my site.

I look forward to servicing your real estate needs in the future. Please contact me a t 678-427-5512 or email me at repayne7@bellsouth.net.

Best Regards,

Rick Payne
Keller Williams Realty

That's a pretty generic question. I am seeing some areas stabilize in some price ranges. If you could be more specific on what area of Atlanta metro you are asking about, I could give you a better answer to the question.

Hadeyah - yes, they are still going down a bit, but seeming to test the bottom right about now. Call me for more details. If you want to see some homes, now is the time to buy as they will probably not be going down much longer.

Ed Francell
Prudential Georgia Realty
770-633-7576