SOARING AT THE SOVEREIGN

 

Ah, Buckhead!  The hustle and bustle, the bars and restaurants, the buildings old, new and yet-to-be-builts.  Who of us has not dreamed of one day living in the shiny towers that overlook our most affluent and vibrant city center?  If you’re in the market for a shiny highrise, or a more sedate townhome, we are putting together a rundown of some of them for your consideration.  This will take several weeks (we have a lot of them!) so if your favorite isn’t featured this week, stay tuned!

This week, SOVEREIGN – at 3344 Peachtree Road, built in 2008.  The condominiums occupy the 28th through the 50th floors.

This is my personal favorite of the shiny new highrises.  I love the exterior architecture – the “slice” of building that cuts through and the curves that add interest.  The building was designed by the Atlanta architectural firm Smallwood Reynolds Stewart Stewart & Associates.

Smallwood Reynolds also designed other iconic Atlanta condo buildings:

Buckhead Grand (just around the corner from Sovereign), The Brookwood (the Midtown side of Buckhead), The Aberdeen (in Vinings), Aqua (in Midtown) and The Atlantic (rentals at Atlantic Station that will likely one day be converted to condos).

But of those buildings, I think Sovereign is their best work, and they have won many awards for the design.  And Sovereign does things right inside as well – the condos are roomy and have the best outdoor spaces I have seen in a condo highrise.  They are like an outdoor living room; much larger than in other buildings.  The outdoor terraces are cut INTO the building (rather than extending out) and are quite big, so here you can have an outdoor fireplace and even a grill on your terrace, where in other buildings you cannot due to city codes.  I also like that the kitchens are all very open.

The floorplans vary – there are seventeen in all, but the kitchens all open to the main living space and there is always a separate dining room.

There are only 82 homes in this elegant and upscale building.  At 665 feet tall, it is the tallest residential building anywhere in Georgia (and the 9th tallest building, counting commercial buildings, in Atlanta).  The décor is classic modern.  The building is also an OFFICE building, but the offices are completely separate, and the condos have their own elevators.  What the condos and offices DO share is the Buckhead Club – a private club featuring meeting, dining and fitness facilities.  If you live in the Sovereign, the fitness facilities are yours to use 24/7 as part of your HOA.  To use the Buckhead Club, you have to buy a membership to the tune of about $1500/year.

But while your HOA does not cover membership in the Buckhead Club, it does cover several private clubrooms (including one where each resident has their own mini wine locker) that you can use.  There is also a saltwater pool, 24 hour security, catering kitchen and a guest room (like a hotel room – where your guest can stay for $125/night).  The amenities are on the 28th and 29th floors.

Some considerations if you plan to live here – there are several of what may be “extras” at extra cost that are worth considering.  Retractable blinds, for instance, to cover those floor to ceiling windows when you want to, and you’d probably like the blinds in the bedrooms to be blackout blinds.  This will cost in the neighborhood of $15,000-$30,000 for an entire unit.  Also, since the terraces are unique in being ABLE to grill or have a fireplace, it’s worth doing that – it’s like adding an extra room to your condo.

Sovereign is hard to miss because of its distinctive exterior architecture.

It is on Peachtree just south of Phipps and Lenox Malls, just North of Piedmont, and across Peachtree from the Atlanta Financial Center.

The Sovereign units are still being sold new, by the developer – and listings range in price from $890,000 to $2,475,000, and there have been reported sales up to $5,000,000.  Homeowner’s association dues are approximately fifty-eight cents a square foot and the square footage ranges from 1500 to 10,000 square feet per unit.

THE APPRAISAL PROBLEM

You have probably heard this by now, but the Atlanta market, in most areas, is rapidly becoming a SELLER’S market again! We have more buyers than we have good, well-priced inventory, and as a consequence listings that are in good condition and well-priced are going quickly, sometimes with multiple bids.

Sounds great for sellers, and it is – but there is also a catch.

Almost every final purchase contract contains an appraisal contingency. The appraisal contingency states that the property must appraise at or above the contract price. If the property does NOT appraise, the buyer presents the appraisal to the seller, and the seller has the opportunity to agree to pay at the reduced appraisal price. If the seller does not agree to that, the buyer may terminate.

Here is where we often get into a big problem. By definition, appraisals are backward looking. The appraiser looks at similar properties that have sold in the recent past within a certain geographic radius. Even when the market is rapidly improving, the appraiser is bound by the sales that took place in the past. So as you can see, prices cannot rebound suddenly and quickly; the appraisal process does not allow that. Prices must rise more slowly and steadily, as appraisals must build upon homes that have already sold. Good appraisers will also research other properties currently under contract and set to close, which is helpful; but cannot completely take into account a market where suddenly there are more buyers willing to pay more for houses.

To illustrate, good well-priced homes are selling with multiple bids within days of being put on the market (or even BEFORE we list them). The contract price is often higher than the home will appraise for, so buyers are even, in some instances, agreeing to pay extra cash to pay ABOVE appraised value. There is one listing where the buyer agreed to pay $75,000 OVER the appraised price; while that is more than most buyers would be willing to cover, there are others willing to pay more than the appraisal says the property is worth. 

And it’s not just home sellers who need to take this into consideration. Any homeowner who has a need to determine the current value of the property should take heed of this dynamic.  For instance, divorces. What this means is that if you are the divorcing party accepting a “payout” you may want to either wait some period of time before you agree to appraise the house for  the payout, bargain for a higher payout that might otherwise be negotiated, or provide in the settlement that there will be another appraisal in a year, having the party keeping the house pay you half of the increase in value in the home at that time.

If you are curious what your home might be worth in this market, here are some of the pertinent factors.  If you contact a Realtor, while they are not appraisers, they can pull comparable properties for you and give you an idea of what your property might be worth in this market:

• How many beds/baths?
• What type construction (brick, frame, vinyl or stucco?)
• What style (two story, ranch, split level?)
• What year was the house built?
• Any significant upgrades or renovations and if so, what year – and a short description of what was done.
• Parking – is there a garage or carport?  Two car?
• Square footage of the home and acreage of the lot.
• Neighborhood and school districts.

Armed with this information, a Realtor can help you determine whether or not your home is in a high demand area and poised to receive top dollar in this improving market. Just keep in mind that you should also have a strategy for handling the appraisal if it comes in lower than your contract price.

How do you know when the PRICE IS RIGHT?

What’s the “right price” when you’re selling your home? The longer your home sits on the market the less you’ll ultimately get for it, so you want to sell fast at top dollar; everyone does (and should). How can we do that? What’s the ultimate list price to accomplish your objective? It’s a little trickier in the current environment, where we are low on housing inventory and it’s turning into a seller’s market. It’s tempting to overprice. But the key is to determine what price will draw those eager buyers and still get you top dollar for your home. That’s where we step in.
First, remember that the list price should not be based on what you paid for the property, what you need to pay off the mortgage or what the price to rebuild the home would be today. What truly sets the right price is what a willing buyer is willing to pay RIGHT NOW and quickly, afraid that if they don’t buy it right away someone else will. So the right list price takes into account a number of factors, including what other homes are out there that you’ll be competing with, and what’s sold recently in your neighborhood.
We do a comparable market analysis (CMA) for your property to help find this value. The CMA will compare your property to similar properties in your area that have sold in the past 6 months. This analysis takes in to consideration size, condition and improvements. Then we take a look at what is currently out there – the homes you are competing against. Are you the best at the price you are asking? That is what we are striving for. You can see from the chart below that CONDITION is as much a factor as pricing. You want to be the home that’s in the best condition at the lowest price – and that’s how you get “chosen” by a buyer.

In order to steal buyers’ attention from all the other listings you have to be better than the rest at the price you’ve chosen. Listing your property as little as 10% above your determined market value will mean that that you will lose many potential buyers (according to the chart below, seventy percent!) who won’t even see your home because it’s overpriced.

The third and last step to price your property “right” is to take FULL advantage of the first 30 days that your property is on the market. Do not fall into the trap of “trying out” an above market price for a few days just to “see if it sells”. Many sellers make this mistake and end up selling below market value. Your listing attracts the most buyers when it first hits the market. All buyers are on the lookout for “Just Listed” properties every day. If your property is listed above market value from the start, it will be missed by all those potential buyers. After even the second week of listing, property showings begin to drop. So if you don’t have ANY showings the first two weeks, you are clearly overpriced and should drop immediately – it is already almost too late!

If you are ready to sell fast and get a great deal on your property call me today. I will provide you with a thorough CMA specialized for your unique property so we can determine the “right” price and sell fast.