A Quick Look at Suwanee, Georgia

There are a variety of opportunities in the Atlanta real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

 We are extremely excited for our chance to review several cities in the Gwinnett County area and give you some tidbits and information about them that we hope you will find useful. Today's city is Suwanee, Georgia. 

Some of you may have heard of Suwanee, and some of you may not have, but we are here to say that Suwanee is one of the best places in the world to live in our opinion. Suwanee was originally founded by the Shawnee Tribe in 1838. 

Suwanee is a beautiful city. It has over 500 miles of parks, including a beautiful park in the town center. There are farmers markets every Tuesday and Saturday, and if you get up early enough, you can be enveloped in the smell of fresh honeysuckle down by the Suwanee Creek. 

Another great feature of Suwanee is its school system. They have several schools with ratings in the 8-10 range, including North Gwinnett, Lambert, Peachtree Ridge, Collins Hill, and North U. Some of the top schools in the state are right in Suwanee. 

If you have any questions about Suwanee, or about any other area in Gwinnett County, please give us a call. We would love to answer them. 

What is Great about 3904 Lost Oak Drive?

There are a variety of opportunities in the Atlanta real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

We are here today at one of our newest listings, in Buford, Georgia. We are mere with Mr. and Mrs. Moon, who have just put this beautiful home up for sale. 

The home they are selling is a spacious 5 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom house with a full basement and a level, private backyard sitting on half an acre. 

For the Moons, their favorite parts about the home are the spacious bedrooms, especially in the secondary bedroom and the upgraded counter tops. Mrs. Moon says that the thing she will miss most about the house is the beautiful sun room that puts you up close and personal with nature.

In relation to the city of Buford, this home is right near everything. It is close to downtown, the community center, multiple parks, and the Mill Creek school district. The neighborhood that the home is situated in is nice and quiet, with lots of shopping and restaurants. 

If you have any questions about this listing, or would like to see some more of the great homes we have got on the market right now, watch our latest video!

How Can You Get a Competitive Edge When Buying?

There are a variety of opportunities in the Atlanta real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

We currently have an extreme seller's market here in Atlanta. Because of this, many buyers who have gone out and written an offer end up losing or getting outbid. Today, we have two tips to make sure this doesn't happen to you:

1. Get pre-approved: This is not the same as getting pre-qualified, which simply means a lender has looked at your credit and your income, and says you qualify for a loan. Pre-approval means you've turned in many more documents, such as tax returns and pay stubs, and are on more solid financial ground. It will make you look much more favorable than your competitors.
2. Send a personal letter: It's never a bad idea to send a personal touch letter to the seller. This will make you more relatable, as the letter can explain your circumstances and reasons for wanting the house. We've seen this work many times in the past.

These are two simple ways to ensure your offer gets accepted in a competitive market. Under these conditions, it's best to take extra steps to set yourself apart from the competition.

 If you would like help navigating this unfriendly seller's market, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We'll do what it takes to get your offer accepted so you don't miss out on your dream home!

What Does the Zillow and Trulia Merger Mean for You?

There are a variety of opportunities in the Atlanta real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

As you've probably heard, Zillow has acquired Trulia for $3.5 billion. But what does this mean for you as a home buyer or seller?

While we think that these sites are great tools that certainly have a place in real estate, they can often make the buying and selling process a lot more difficult than it needs to be. They simply don't have the information you need to get the most out of your real estate experience.

We've had buyers come to us wanting to see a home only to find out that the home is under contract or no long available. On the selling side, we've had people who are discouraged from selling because the estimate they recieved from these online sites was so low. The truth is, Zillow and Trulia lack access to the necessary resources to put a true value on a home.

If you want accurate and up-to-date real estate information, you are best off working with a local real estate professional here in the Atlanta area. We have access to the resources you need to make your buying and selling experience a walk in the park. Give us a call or shoot us an email - we would love to guide you through the entire process!

What do You Have to do to Get Qualified?

There are a variety of opportunities in the Atlanta real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

When starting to search for a new home, an important step is meeting with a mortgage lender. They will be able to get you pre-approved for a loan so you know what kind of home you can afford. How do these lenders determine that figure? There are 4 basic things that they look for. They are:

1. Credit Score

 The first thing a lender will check is your credit score. Typically, you will need a score above 600.

2. Debt-to-Income Ratio

 The more debt you have compared to your income, the less money you will be able to afford for your loan. 

3. Income

 They will take a closer look at your income to determine if you make enough money to afford payments on the loan. 

4. Down Payment

 Finally, lenders will look at the size of the down payment you plan to put down. There are a number of options out there for how much you can put down, in both conventional and FHA arenas. You can choose how much you want to put down, but regardless of the final number, you will still need some cash in order to purchase a home.

 If you have any questions about getting pre-approved or about anything real estate related, give us a call or send us a quick email. We will give you the answers you need.

How we helped Shannon sell her home with our vast knowledge and experience

"It was a great experience. Todd has some background experience as a home inspector so it really reassured us that he was able to go through prior to us listing it and let us know if there was anything that needed to be taken care of. Knowing that it was already checked out by him made us all that more confident to list it and that we would get what we were asking for."

How we helped Margie buy a home by understanding her needed

"We worked with Lori from Todd Lemoine’s team and she had a very good understanding of our needs. She knew what we wanted and what neighborhood we wanted to live in. She really worked above and beyond the normal hours of what most real estate agents would do and we really appreciated it."

How we helped Dianne with her real estate needs by always helping with anything she needed

"I had an awesome experience with Todd Lemoine, in fact I sold my house in 6 days with 2 cash offers. Even when I needed help working on my kitchen, he came over and fixed my garbage disposal so I didn’t have to call a plumber. Whenever I hear somebody is selling their home, I refer them to Todd. He was an all-around great guy to work with and I can’t say enough good things about him!"

How we helped Gerald sell his home with our knowledge about the sale process

"Todd was just instrumental in helping me get a lot of things done. It wasn’t easy because of all the offers and counter offers but he kept with it and we really appreciated it. He’s very knowledgeable about what’s going on and he really persevered through the sale."

Atlanta Real Estate Market Update Summer 2014

There are a variety of opportunities in the Atlanta real estate market for both buyers and sellers. If you're a prospective buyer click here for a full home search, or if you're considering placing your home on the market, get a free home value report, right here.

In Atlanta, the real estate market is dependent on a number of variables. Inventory, interest rates, and prices all play a part in determining the type of market we have. We want to answer a simple question today: What kind of market are we in?

Simply put, we are in a seller's market. What do I mean by this? Right now we have low inventory on our homes and without a shortage of buyers, the competition to get these few homes is heating up.More competition between buyers means you can get more money out of your home than you normally would. We have been trending towards a seller's market over the last few years, and are seeing the benefits of this now! This is a fantastic opportunity for you if you are thinking about selling your home.

As for buyers, while we are not in what I would technically call a buyer's market, there are still  advantages to buying at this time. Our interest rates are historically low. If you were hesitant about buying due to high interest rates, now is the time to pull the trigger because they are only going to go up from here.

If you have any questions feel free to give us a call at (404) 310-9992 or e-mail at lemoineteam@gmail.com. Don't hesitate to contact us today and remember, Lemoine Knows Homes!