What’s The Opportunity for You in the Northwest Atlanta Housing Market in 2022

What’s The Opportunity for You in the Northwest Atlanta Housing Market in 2022

In this time of uncertainty with Covid and an unprecedented rise in property values for 10 years straight it is difficult to give accurate predictions but here we go ☺ Basically our SUPER HOT SELLERS Market will cool off but only by a few degrees. The chart below is for the entire United States and is compiled from information from the Mortgage Lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Realtors, Zelman, and HPES (PulseEconomics.) All 6 show houses appreciating in 2022. An Average of 5.1%!! These economists all see this trend of appreciation continuing through 2025. The number of homes sold in 2022 should also increase slightly from the 6.7 million that sold in 2021. Interest rates will increase in 2022 maybe up to 4.0%. Inventory is at Historic Lows. What does this mean to you as an owner of investment property?

1) Make sure you are charging the proper rent. We have had owners increase their rent by 10 to 15% and easily keep or find new tenants.

2) If you have equity in your investment property consider selling it and buying two or three new properties. This can leverage your wealth, reduce maintenance concerns, increase cash flow and reduce risk.

3) If you have the ability to buy another investment 2 to 9 years ago was the best time ever, the next best ever may prove to be in early 2022.

We would be honored to provide you a no-obligation analysis on your current property and show you how to build wealth in Northwest Atlanta.

An example to consider would be with an owner we assisted in buying a home built in the 1980’s for cash in Alpharetta for $330,000 in 2017. It is now worth $625,000. The rent increased significantly from $2200 to $3000. After all expenses the owner nets about $2300 a month. If they were to sell the home and buy three new construction homes at $300,000 each and put $200,000 down on each of them and carried a small mortgage of $100,000 the owners would now own $900,000 of real estate (if properties appreciate 20% over the next five years as projected they’d gain about $60,000 in additional appreciation.) The principal and interest payments would be $460 a month at 3.625% investor rates and total PITI and HOA and Management fee would be right at $1000 a month. These could rent easily for $2000 to $2100 a month. Leaving between $3000 and $3300 in cash flow each month. Since these are new homes maintenance and repairs should also be much less that those of a 40 year-old home.

Real Estate Stats and Thoughts

Our primary areas of service are below, and it continues to be an unusually strong sellers’ market. Average appreciation is now at 21.75% year over year, but the rate of appreciation is now slowing from the highs of 26% year over year for the past 4 years. Look for negative press spouting gloom and doom to highlight these numbers while ignoring the terrific opportunity that still exists to buy a property that will appreciate!

Number of sales in December of 2021 dropped significantly by over 30.1% (799 versus 1143) compared to December of 2020. Median Days On Market dropped from 10 days to 7 days! Active listings are at historic lows with about of a third of the normal December inventory.

Property Management Question of the Month

Why should I hire Northwest Atlanta Properties to manage my rental?

1) It will save you time. Let us handle the advertising, tenant screening, move-in’s, maintenance issues, and move outs. Studies show the average vacancy cost 3 weeks of time and approximately 30 hours for the landlord.

2) It will save you money. Yes we charge a fair fee for our services. But because we are able to work with economies of scale we can save you time and money on hiring contractors, overseeing work, collecting rent etc. In addition we know our rental markets and are able to increase rents appropriately. Recently we have seen rents rise 10% to 15%

3) It will save you worry and headaches. Simply put hiring us allows you to give up much of the worry about rents and dealing with tenants.

4) Experience. We have over 90 years experience in managing rental properties. We can solve “problems” quickly and cost-effectively because we’ve seen it all ☺

Trivia Contest – hit reply with your answer to be entered in a contest to win a $100 Visa Gift Card.

Q: What landmark sits at the corner of Highway 120 and U.S. 41 in Marietta?

A: The Waving Girl Statue.