Leslie Edwards Blog by Leslie Edwards

Sarah Palin for Vice President

It was a surprise to most of us that John McCain named the Governor of Alaska, former Mayor of Wassila and former beauty queen, Sarah Palin, as his running mate. I wanted to know more about her so I read some blogs and found that there has been a Sarah Palin for Vice President movement for months. I emailed my real estate agent friend, Kristan Cole, who happens to live in Wassila and is also a former Alaska beauty queen, to ask her about Governor Palin. Kristan responded that Palin was "the real deal". This morning Kristan was interviewed on CBS and is being interviewed by NBC, the New York Times and others. I was not aware that Kristan and Sarah Palin have known eachother since the 4th grade and were in fact, good friends. I hope everyone spends the time to get to know who this person is and will see that this is a totally new type of person for this job. My enthusiam for the political process is renewed ..(read more)

Redistribution of Wealth

Besides my father, no one has ever supported me. I have worked very hard to take care of myself and my family and I am proud of my success. Politicians keep talking about taking more and more money from the fortunate to give to programs for the less fortunate, which feels a lot like hard work and success being ..(read more)

Buy and Bail, A new trend

For the past few years adjustable rate mortgages, 103% mortgages, interest only and other no down payment financing options, coupled with artificially high appraisals and prices have resulted in many homeowners being upside down in their homes. They owe much more to the bank than the home can sell ..(read more)

Real Estate Update Jan 1 through July 31, 2008

The South Metro Atlanta real estate market update for Fayette, Coweta, Henry and Clayton Counties: In Fayette County, there are currently 1476 single family homes for sale with an average list price of $410,559 and an average of 134 days on the market. Since January 1, 2008, 722 homes sold, average sale price of $305,053 and 104 days on the market. During the same period, 715 homes expired unsold, averaging $378,358 and 202 days on the market. What this means: About 50% of the homes on the market since Jan 1, sold and 50% did not sell. Both the average list price of homes for sale now and homes that expired unsold are substantially higher than the average sale price of the homes that actually sold. In Coweta County, there are 1812 homes for sale, 1075 sold with an average sale price of $205,260, since January 1 and 1040 expired unsold. 51% sold and 49% did not. The average number of days on the market for the homes that sold is 120. In Henry ..(read more)

Guard Your Metal

As long as I have been selling real estate, I never, until late last year, heard of people stealing metal to sell to the recyclers. I have had air conditioners stolen and wiring and copper pipes stripped from homes I was selling. Late last year I was marketing a foreclosed property on 5 acres with a huge, way bigger than the house, metal outbuilding. One day the man who had the property under contract called in a panic because he bought the property because of the huge building and demanded to know why was it being torn down? We contacted the police who went over there and arrested three men who were attempting to dismantle the entire building to sell the metal to scrap metal dealers. I saw this article about copper and it reminded me about that transaction and that I should warn homeowners about this new trend in crime. Remember to guard your metal. Copper Is Like Gold These Days

With copper at more than $4 per pound, ..(read more)

Is Any Press Good Press?

I saw Dar Thompson, owner of World Gym, in a Stein Mart, PTC, the other day and he mentioned seeing me in The Citizen FREE Speech section. This is where anyone can write about anything or anyone anonymously. Mostly people say negative things about local politicians but, on June 25th, someone wanted to say something negative about me. So, I went online and found this: “Smart” car drivers may not be so smart. I saw a smart car being driven on Hwy. 54 this morning. The car had a local Realtor’s name painted all over it for advertising. The only problem was that the driver did not appear to be that smart. The driver was actually eating out of a bowl while driving through Peachtree City. Not sure that was such a smart idea. It's hilarious and it's true. I was eating, as I often do, on the way to the gym very early in the morning, What I was not doing is swerving into the other lane, talking on my cell phone, ..(read more)

Closed Captioning For The Hearing Impaired

Sometimes I mute the TV and listen through the surround sound only. When muted, the closed captioning starts moving across the bottom of the screen. I can hear the words and read them at the same time. What I have noticed is that the words on the closed captioning are not what is being said on the TV. I suspect the majority of hearing impaired people using closed captioning have no idea what is going on in those TV programs. The captioning will use entirely different words, miss entire sentences and will often stop before the ending. Try It. It would take a speed reader to be able to keep up with the rapidly scrolling words. Although I am a pretty fast reader, I cannot keep up with the words running across the screen, especially if I am trying to actually watch the show at the same time. I would love to hear from someone who uses closed captioning. Random Thoughts Would love to hear your comments. If you don't ..(read more)

GAY MARRIAGE

The California Supreme Court rule this week that same sex couples are entitled to marry. While those in favor of the ruling are rejoicing across the country in hopes acceptance will spread across the country, some very vocal opponents to the ruling are making themselves heard on television, in papers, on the internet and on talk radio. This is a tricky subject for me to comment on but I really do have strong opinions about the subject. As a product of the 60's, I have been blessed to know and appreciate people from all walks of life and I am often embarrassed by the way we Americans treat people who are different from us. The main thing I have learned over the years is that when you know someone personally, they stop being black, foreign, gay or whatever makes them different from me. I stop seeing differences and see only the person. What I don't understand about the gay marriage issue is why do people care so much if a gay couple gets ..(read more)

Scary But True

A friend sent this to me the other day without an acknowledgment of the source so I don't know who wrote this, but thought is was well worth passing on. A Modern Parable.

A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motor) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order; American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second ..(read more)

Clayton County Foreclosures

According to the news this morning, one in every ten homes in Clayton County is currently in default. That statistic makes it very hard for owner occupants to sell their homes when the foreclosures in their neighborhoods continue to push prices down. It is happening in all price ranges and the only homeowners who are immune to the fall in value are the ones who are not trying to sell. The market will move back up over time but it will take some time for the market to absorb all of the homes for sale right now in Clayton County. As always, the people who survive severe shifts in the market hang in there longer. Don't panic sell if you on't have to move. If you want to move, but don't have to move,you will have to decide how much equity are you willing to lose to move now. If you are a buyer, this is the best buyer's market in years and buyers should be buying. The rate is very low compared to not so long ago when rates were in the ..(read more)

Clayton County Market Update January 1 -April 30, 2008

There are currently 3318 active single family residential properties in Clayton County listed for sale in Georgia MLS. The average list price is $144,762 and the average number of days on the market is 133. In the past twelve months 3161 listings sold with an average of 109 days on the market and an average sales price of $113,012 . That sounds like a lot of home sales in the past year. However, during the same 12 months, 5110 homes expired unsold after an average of 180 days on the market and an average list price of $150,056. 38% SOLD and 62% Expired UNSOLD. One clear explanation is that the difference in the list prices of the homes that did not sell and the homes that did sell is $37,044 which indicates that the majority of the unsold homes were overpriced. From January 1 through April 30, 2008, there were 991 homes sold with an average sales price of $97,502 a drop of $15,510 from the 12 month average. 1530 homes expired unsold ..(read more)

Who Says Real Estate Is Not Selling?

As of today, May 13, 2008, I have closed 22 properties with an additional 3 properties scheduled to close by the end of this month. While I have sold more in past years, my current sales numbers are more than 10 times the average real estate agent's sales. I think there are good reasons why this is true. Sellers and Buyers who might have used their new, part-time or unproductive real estate agent relative, friend, church member, neighbor, etc. are choosing experience over friendship and family loyalty in this challenging market. After 30 years as a full-time, successful REALTOR, I have learned to adapt to constantly shifting market conditions. We have systems in place to provide consistently exceptional service to our clients regardless of market conditions.. The current reality is that there are at least twice as many sellers than buyers so the job is to attract and capture buyers. Studies show that buyers ..(read more)

Public Pens

Another flu season has passed and again I did not get the flu. Although I have never had a flu shot, it is my personal decision and I am not recommending that anyone else do the same. One of the things I do to avoid contamination from germs is to carry my own pen at all times. I do not share public pens, at the grocery checkout, signing for credit cards or anywhere else.. Be conscious the next time you have an opportunity to sign something with a pen provided by a cashier, waiter etc. The pens are touched by several people everyday and never disinfected. There is a 100% chance that someone who used the pen that day will share some germs with other users. Stay healthy and call me for all of your real estate needs. As a professional, fulltime REALTOR for 30 years, I have worked through many challenging markets and this one is no different. In the first quarter of 2008 my closed sales were over ten times more than the average ..(read more)

Coweta County Real Estate Market Update 1st Quarter 2008

Comparing the first quarter of 2007 with the first quarter of 2008 Coweta County 2007 2008 #Homes Sold 608 ..(read more)

NOT INTERESTED

Several times a year, people I know contact me to "share a new business" that will add to my income. I have watched other real estate agents get caught in the trap of trying to sell other products and services to add an additional stream of income. I know agents who have sold Amway, Herbal Products, pots and pans, security systems, prepaid legal, accelerated mortgage payoff programs, makeup and more. Most of them are multi-level, meaning each participant has to recruit more participants to make money. I decided years ago that I sell one product and one product only: Real Estate I believe it would be a disservice to my clients if I spent time trying to sell other products and recuiting others for my downline. It would dilute my effectiveness as a real estate professional and I am not willing to do that. The agents who get involved don't get rich from them and lose real estate production while working their ..(read more)