Real Estate News

Number of Active Listings: 822
Number of sales during this period: 12
Average Sales Price: $151,154
Percentage of Asking Price Obtained: 99.4%
The Average Time on the Market: 176 days
Time needed sell current inventory at current rate: 68.5 weeks or 16 months

Homes sold in Effingham County this week are:



Number of Active Listings: 887
Number of sales during this period: 30
Average Sales Price: $209,012
Percentage of Asking Price Obtained: 97.7%
The Average Time on the Market: 102 days
Time needed sell current inventory at current rate: 29.6 weeks or 6.9 months

Homes Sold in Chatham County (Pooler, Port Wentworth, Garden City, and parts of Bloomingdale and Savannah Real Estate):

Technorati Tags: Bloomingdale, Port Wentworth, Savannah GA, Southside

It’s no secret that homes are sitting on the market longer and there are more of them to choose from. You’ve decluttered, cleaned, and prepared your home. Your agent or you researched comparables. You priced your home competitively. But even after all that, you still haven’t had any luck.

What’s going on? Buyers have more choices.

What can you do? Home staging seems to be a hot trend lately.

Can it help? In some cases it can. I know I was reluctant to believe that simply either rearranging your own things or having other things brought in would help. My grandmother was getting her home ready for the market and decided to get a home stager. She had the stager rearrange her stuff for $50/hr. It took 2 hours. Her home went on the market 3 days ago and is under contract. A friend’s home has been on the market since the end of April and has no offers yet. Both homes are priced well. In fact, my friend’s home is below market value and my grandmother’s is right at. So, was it the staging that helped my grandmother? It’s hard to say for sure. I know she was sure impressed with the outcome and so were the buyers.

What should you do? It can’t hurt to look into something. Why not give a stager a call and find out what it would cost to stage your home. In today’s market, you don’t know what will make that buyer want your home over all the others. If you can do a little extra to your home for not a lot of money, it might be a good idea to try it.

Chatham County has schools throughout that offer specialty programs. Each school specializes in a specific academic area. It allows children of similar interests to come together. So not only do they get the basics, they are challenged in an area that interests them.

Elementary Schools:

Bartow Elementary School specializes in Advanced Learning. It is also now home of the Math, Technology, and Design Academy. To find out more about this school, see School Matters.

Bloomingdale Elementary School specializes in the fine and performing arts. To find out more about Bloomingdale, go to School Matters.

Butler Elementary School specializes in Microsociety and Communications Technology. Students create their own society complete with businesses. This allows students insight into becoming entrepreneurs. For more information on this school, see School Matters.

Ellis Elementary School has the Montessori Magnet Program. Children learn using the Montessori method where the teacher is just a facilitator. Children will challenge themselves in the right environment is the key to the method. There are multi age classes and parent-teacher conferences replace report cards. For more information, see School Matters.

Gadsden Elementary School specializes in the fine and performing arts. For more information, please see School Matters.

Heard Elementary School specializes in Advanced Learning. It is a Distinguished Title 1 school. For more information, see School Matters.

Marshpoint Elementary School is an accelerated school with an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. It is 2007 School of Excellence. For more information, see School Matters.

J.G. Smith Elementary School specializes in the traditional teaching methods. Emphasis is placed on communication between parents and teachers. They also offer Latin as a foreign language. For more information, see School Matters.

Spencer Elementary School specializes in engineering. It’s the first elementary school to focus on engineering, science, and technology. Student have the chance to explore things like robotics and rockets. For more information on this school, see School Matters.

Thunderbolt Elementary School specializes in Marine Science. Being close to the Wilmington River, students can learn about marine science, oceanography, and ecology. They place a strong emphasis on Science and Math to do so. For more information, see School Matters.

Technorati Tags: Bloomingdale, Savannah GA, Thunderbolt

Summer time is a great time to move, if you have children. So, it’s never too early to start looking at schools. Once you’ve found a school you like, you can move on to housing. In addition to these local schools, Chatham County has magnet schools that specialize in different areas that anyone can apply to get into. Also, the school year will change this year. The kids will begin school in September instead of August. And if you are new to the area, the children will wear uniforms to school. The colors and types are based on each individual school.

Elementary Schools: (All schools have Gifted Education Programs for identified students)

Bloomingdale Elementary is located on East Main Street in Bloomingdale. This is a magnet school that focuses on fine and performing arts. Bloomingdale is situated over Chatham and Effingham Counties. The principal is Mr. John King and the phone number is (912) 748-3680. For more information about this school and how it ranks, check out the website School Matters.

Garden City Elementary is located on Kessler Avenue, is home of the Knights, and is a Title One Distinguished School. Garden City is the closest city in West Chatham to downtown Savannah
It has accelerated reading, brain-based education, quiz bowl, quick-think-a-thon programs along with a reading and math marathon. The principal is Mrs. Andrea Williams and the phone number is (912) 965-6820. School Matters has great information and rankings on this school.

Pooler Elementary is home of the Bulldogs and is located on Holly Avenue . The school is located almost centrally in the older Gleason Heights subdivision. It has many activities to offer such as Pooler Idol, Fun Day, Spirit Day, etc. The principal is Mrs. Caroline Gordon-Jelks and the phone number is (912) 748-3625. For more information on this school, go to School Matters.

Port Wentworth Elementary is located on South Coastal Highway and is a Title One Distinguished School. The principal is Dr. Deborah Jones and the phone number is (912) 965-6742. For more information on this school, go to School Matters.

West Chatham Elementary is located on Pine Barren Road. It is located in Pooler, Georgia as well. In fact, it is approximately 10 minutes away from Pooler Elementary on the other side of highway 80. The principal is Ms. Susan Creech and the phone number is (912) 748-3601. For more information on this school, go to School Matters.

Middle Schools:

Mercer Middle School is located on Rommel Avenue in Garden City. It is a Georgia Lighthouse School to Watch. They have Advance Programs in Spanish, Language Arts, Geometry, and Algebra. They also offer after school programs. The principal is Ms. Gloria Dukes and the phone number is (912) 965-6700. For more information on this school, go to School Matters.

West Chatham Middle School is located on Pine Barren next to the elementary school and home of the Wildcats. They offer an after school program for students that need assistance in reading. The principal is Mrs. Kerry Coursey and the phone number is (912) 748-3651. For more information on this school, go to Public School Review.

High School:

Groves High School is located Wheathill Road in Garden City and home of the fighting Scottish Rebels. They have an International Baccalaureate Program that offers Advanced Placement Courses in Language, Literature, US History, European History, Biology, Spanish, German, and Calculus A/B. The principal is Mr. Cecil Cobb and the phone number is (912) 965-2520. For more information on this school, go to School Matters.

Also, there will be a new elementary and middle school built off Benton Boulevard. The school board will be redistricting next year for all the new communities and taking into account the new schools.

Technorati Tags: Bloomingdale, Port Wentworth, Savannah GA

Number of Active Listings: 849
Number of sales during this period: 14
Average Sales Price: $195,386
Percentage of Asking Price Obtained: 98.78%
The Average Time on the Market: 132 days
Time needed sell current inventory at current rate: 60.64 weeks or 14.15 months

Home sold in Effingham County:

Number of Active Listings: 872
Number of sales during this period: 14
Average Sales Price: $281,901
Percentage of Asking Price Obtained: 97.93%
The Average Time on the Market: 102 days
Time needed sell current inventory at current rate: 62.3 weeks or 14.53 months

Homes Sold in Chatham County (Pooler, Port Wentworth, Garden City, and parts of Bloomingdale and Savannah Real Estate):

Technorati Tags: Bloomingdale, Port Wentworth, Savannah GA

One of the hardest parts of being a real estate agent is walking into a home on a listing presentation. I spend hours and hours searching the MLS and newspapers for recently sold homes that match the general description given to me by the sellers. In general, I get the square footage of the home, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, and size of the garage. To confirm information and get as much detail as possible, I go to the county tax site.

After compiling all data, I organize by updates and features. This allows me to have some general pricing data in mind. So when you show me through your home, the features and updates you have will allow me to get a better idea of a general price. Keep in mind, this is only a general price. Once I have seen your home, a more thorough market analysis can be done to narrow down the appropriate price for you home.

Unfortunately, we are in an area where there are new subdivisions being built. The new home prices start to figure into the seller’s ideal of market price for their home. Remember, a new home usually allows the buyer to pick out colors, appliances, cabinetry, etc. Your home may be decorated to your liking, but not to someone else. If you want to place a new home price on your home, you better be willing to redecorate for the buyers. Older homes have charm and on generally bigger lots. So if your home and a new home are priced the same, the buyers will most likely choose the new home. After all, they can decorate to their liking and everything is new.

Everyone has heard about the housing market. It is true that things have slowed down here. Even more reason to truly look at recent comparable sales so that your home is priced right. There is an abundance of homes for sale. For example in all of Chatham County, there are over 3800 listings available right now. If we sold 5 houses a day, it would take almost 26 months to sell all the available listings. With so much competition, price and appearance become very important. The number of days on the market has also risen. So before one sells, many more have listed.

The point is that may be there has been a failure to communicate here. May be, just may be we have not gotten the true nature of the market across. It could also be that it doesn’t matter what the market is like. If someone tells them they can get $x for their home, they believe it. To all the homes out there that have expired and relisted (may be even several times), isn’t the truth much better than fiction. Do you really want to list your home too high, only to reduce the price until it sells? By doing so, you may have lost money and you certainly wasted more time.

So, the hardest part of being a real estate agent is going into a home and telling them the truth. So as for promises and guarantees, you will get the best service and the complete truth. If you are ready to get your home sold, you need someone that will tell you how it is and not how you want it to be. If you are looking for more information on selling your home, feel free to check out my monthly and weekly reports online. If you have any questions, need more information, or would like assistance, feel free to contact me anytime. You always come first!

Number of Active Listings: 857
Number of sales during this period: 11
Average Sales Price: $201,623
Percentage of Asking Price Obtained: 97%
The Average Time on the Market: 135 days
Time needed sell current inventory at current rate: 77.91 weeks or 18.2 months

Homes Sold in Effingham County:

Number of Active Listings: 858
Number of sales during this period: 8
Average Sales Price: $304,558
Percentage of Asking Price Obtained: 96.75%
The Average Time on the Market: 97 days
Time needed sell current inventory at current rate: 107.25 weeks or 25.025 months

Homes Sold in Chatham County (Pooler, Port Wentworth, Garden City, and parts of Bloomingdale and Savannah Real Estate):

Technorati Tags: Bloomingdale, Port Wentworth, Savannah GA