The Atlanta Closing Attorney's Perspective

According to a recent press release, nearly one third of adults would consider burying a statue of Saint Joseph in the yard if it would help sell their home in today's market. While the act of burying a Saint's statue in order to promote the sale of a home can easy be viewed as mere superstition,...

From CNN: The number of homes under contract to be sold rose unexpectedly in April as buyers go bargain hunting, according to a report released Monday. Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) rose to 88.2 in April, up 6.3% from March's reading of 83 and the highes...

Recently, in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution: The suggestion is offered at the beginning or tacked onto the end of ads for resale homes and is even being used to lure buyers into new neighborhoods from intown to the suburbs: "Rent to own. Will consider lease-purchase." Individual sellers see...

From CNN: Banks say they want to help troubled homeowners, but they are delaying deals that could save everyone - including the lenders themselves - a lot of time and money. Lenders are taking much longer than necessary to approve short sales, according to Duane LeGate, of House Buyers Network, a...

From the Wall Street Journal: In the first quarter, the Case-Shiller indexes showed home prices across the country fell 14% from a year earlier, representing the largest drop in the 20-year history of the indexes. From the fourth quarter, prices fell 6.7%. "The steep downturn in residential real ...

Existing home sales are down to another record low, from the New York Times: Sales of previously owned homes, which make up the bulk of the housing market, dipped 1 percent in April, to an annual rate of 4.89 million, the second consecutive month that sales have declined. That figure represents a...

At times, it's easy to get broadsided by all of the negative news in the real estate industry. Increasing foreclosures, homeowners under water, home prices falling: everything points to an industry in free-fall. Well, not everything. One of the obvious effects of plummeting home prices is that ho...

From CNN: Single-family home prices dropped 7.7% in the first quarter in the largest year-over-year decline since the National Association of Realtors began reporting prices in 1982. The median sales price fell to $196,300, down 4.8% compared with the last three months of 2007. Lawrence Yun, the ...

Condo developer roundup from this weekend's AJC Homefinder: Tribute Lofts: Up to $22,222 in incentives; Central City Condos: "Foreclosed Yesterday. For You Today." Discounts of $77,100 on two-bedroom units; Atlantic Station: Up to $50,000 off; Viewpoint: Up to $75,000 off on selected homes; Twelv...

From CNN:The number of homes under contract for sale fell in March, hitting a record low for the second consecutive month, according to a report released Wednesday.The National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index fell to 83 in March, down 1% from a downwardly revised reading o...