Real Estate News

Number of Residential Listings Currently: 911
Number of sales during this period: 66
Average Sales Price: $199,741
Percentage of Asking Price Obtained: 90.9%
The Average Time on the Market: 156 days
Number of Months to Sell Current Listings: 13.8 months

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

Technorati Tags: Chatham County, Chatham County Monthly Market Report, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Savannah

For information on “soft market” policies, please read It’s here…now…what does it mean?

Tybee Island is now under the “soft market” policy. This means that the maximum loan to value will be decreased by 5% in this area. If you were looking to buy in the Tybee Island area and were pre approved for a 95% loan to value mortgage, you will now be required to put down an extra 5%. So your 95% mortgage loan to value is now 90%.

The term “soft market” applies to a declining market area. Usually, there are many homes for sale in the area and the homes have a longer stay on the market. Basically, you lose buying power and your down payment goes up.

Also, the downtown area is beginning to be considered a “soft market”. Homes that have been on the market for over 6 months are being seen as such.

Of course, this isn’t good news for home buyers or sellers. Sellers will now have to make sure their home is priced accordingly. No one wants to put an offer in, start the due diligence period, and then find out it didn’t appraise. Buyers now have to have more money down and can borrow less. But the positive side is that homes will be affordable and only truly qualified buyers will be looking!

Technorati Tags: downtown, Savannah, soft market policy, Tybee Island

Number of Residential Listings Currently: 886
Number of sales during this period: 65
Average Sales Price: $195,411
Percentage of Asking Price Obtained: 96.6%
The Average Time on the Market: 127 days
Number of Months to Sell Current Listings: 13.63 months

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

Technorati Tags: Chatham County Monthly Market Report, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Savannah

I tried to compile a list of the most interesting local shops in the Savannah area. This is by no means, all of them. I hope you enjoy these. I have placed links to the ones with websites.
                                                                                 

Near the River: Shops along Bay and River Streets.

Basket, Bears, and T’s…Oh My!

Bridgette’s Boutique

River Street Market Place

The Christmas Shop on the River

Helen’s Lucky Bamboo Designs

Simply Savannah

Factor’s Cottage
                                                                                   

Near the Beach:

Turtle Dragon

Southern Heritage Marketing
           
                                                                       
Somewhere Between:

Arts and Crafts Emporium

Baskets of Savannah

Elegant Gifts

La Villa

Nourish

One Fish Two Fish - Trust me, it’s not what you might expect!

Sanders Country Store

Savannah Fine Linens

Southeast Imports

The Christmas Shop

The Cottage Shop

The Treasure Chest

Theleis Gift Services

Time after Time

The Paris Market & Brocante

The Tea Room

The Village Craftsmen

Savannah Accents

Things Remembered

Urban Cargo

La Paperie

Nature’s Treasures

Number Four Eleven

Scents and Gifts Over Georgia

Magnolia’s of Savannah

Tuesday Morning

Tinder Box

Earthbound Trading Company

Grand Harbour Import Company

Technorati Tags: Local Shops, Savannah

Click on the name of a county below to see a list of public schools organized by city or zip code.

Bryan County Public Schools

Chatham County Public Schools

Effingham County Public Schools

To get more information on these and all Georgia Public Schools, see the Georgia Department of Education. On the right hand side, you will see a school locator. From there you can access school report cards and other information.

Technorati Tags: Bloomingdale, Chatham County, Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Public Schools, Savannah

February 22nd : 7:30 pm at the Skidway Island Presbyterian Church on the Diamond Causeway, The Presidio Saxophone Quartet will perform. Call 912-598-0151 for more information.

February 23rd : 8 am at Forsyth Park near the Mansion, the Historic Foundation’s walk/run will be held. There will be a 10k run or a 5k walk/run. Call 912-233-7787 for more information or register online.

                             8:30 am at the Messiah Lutheran Church on Westridge Road, the Humane Society will hold it’s Dog Lover’s Walk. Call 912-354-9515, ext. 114 or find out more about the Dog Lover’s Walk online.                    

                             9:30 am - 11:30 am at the North Beach of Tybee Island, come meet some of the birds that stop by the Georgia Coast each spring while strolling along the beach.

                             8 pm - midnight at the Prince Hall Masons on East Broad Street, there will be a Stepper’s Ball. The theme will be “Steppin in a Strawberry with a Touch of Chocolate”. Call 912-920-1684; 355-0105; 748-2676 for more information.

February 24th : There will be a Jazz Brunch at the Aqua Star Restaurant on the Westin Savannah Harbor. Reservations are required. Call 912-201-2085 for more information or a reservation.

                              5 pm at the Four Points by Sheraton Historic Savannah on Bryan Street, The Coastal Jazz Association All-Star Concert and Meeting will be held. Call 912-675-5419 for more information or vist Coastal-Jazz.

Technorati Tags: Beach, Birds, Dog Lover's, Events, Humane Society, Jazz, Savannah, Walk, Weekend

On Saturday, February 2nd, the very first Savannah Book Festival will be held. There will be 30 authors presentations in Savannah between 10 am and 4 pm. The festival will be located in Telfair, Franklin, and surrounding areas. There will also be family activities in the City Market. Children will enjoy book readings, meeting a local children’s book author, and meeting a singer/songwriter. In addition, there will be a Critters-to-go petting zoo, Valentine’s Day crafts and activities, cupcake decorating, a fire truck and a police car.

The adults will have 5 venues to choose from. There will be Fiction, History and Biography, Lifestyle, Songwriting and Poetry, and Contemporary Issues. During these times, the Authors will give a presentation. Immediately following the presentations, they will sign books.

If you are free on Friday, February 1st at 5:30 pm, there will be a key note address by Terry Kay in the Lucas Theatre. Everything is free and open to the public, so come on out and join in the first Savannah Book Festival. They have a map available for the event and some hotels for out of town guests coming to the festival.

Technorati Tags: Book Festival, City Market, Franklin, hotels, map, Savannah, Savannah GA, Telfair

No place on Earth celebrates St. Patrick’s Day like Savannah. And because of that, people come from all over to participate. The more people that come, the more safety becomes a concern. So, there have been some changes and some proposed changes to this year’s festivities. The most notable is that instead of a March 17th celebration, St. Patrick’s Day will be celebrated on Friday, March 14th.  An edict from a Bishop decreed that celebrations on the Monday of the holy week should not be allowed. So, the festivities were moved up. This is a benefit to people coming to the city to celebrate. They will have the weekend to celebrate.

Barricades were used last year to block in two of the most populated squares. Since they worked so well, more barricades will be used this year. Also, spectators are not allowed to set up tables, tents, or bring out their coolers until 6 am the day of the parade. And the New York Fire Department firefighters will not be marching in this years parade. However, some will still attend. There were a few altercation last year with beads being thrown to spectators and drinking while marching. They will be allowed to march in next year’s parade.

There have also been several proposed changes such as limiting the number of people to the parade. In addition, a permit may be required for viewing from public squares. The idea is to charge $25 for a 20 foot by 20 foot spot in the squares. This will ideally reduced the number of people in a square, thus reducing the chance of arguments between spectators.

Locals have voiced their concerns over the loss of tradition that may occur with these changes. More barricades, will make kissing the marching men harder. And reserving a square in the square will likely lead to a families’ loss of their usual spot. While the changes are just ways to improve safety, one hopes that tradition is not lost. Tradition is what makes us proud and brings people together.

Technorati Tags: changes, March 14, Savannah, Savannah GA, St. Patrick's Day