If you have been following along on our Georgia Home Buying Guide then you know each post is a small step in the buying process.  Here’s what I think is the biggest step of all, creating your budget.

If you’ve been out looking at homes recently then you know that there’s not as much inventory as you migh think.  We have 25% less homes to choose from then we did 2 years ago!  Most homes under the median price range are getting multiple offers.  So for Lawrenceville, that’s around $150K, while Suwanee is closer to $220K.

A few tips if you are a first time home buyer and want that tax credit:

• Yes, you can get your check now, you must amend your taxes after your purchase.
• No, you can’t use it as a down payment.
• There is a Georgia Tax Credit as well!
• You can also use downpayment assistance and grants in conjunction with getting your tax credit.

It’s not uncommon in our market to make offers at list price or above on homes that are obviously a good deal.  There’s competition on all of the best deals so it’s a good idea to have a backup home ready.

At the time of this writing, unless the home says “SHORT SALE APPROVED” then it probably needs to come off the table.  It’s unlikely that a new short sale home for sale will be ready to close in time for the credit.

Gwinnett County and its 15 cities agree on a mutual millage rate for assessing property taxes meaning property owners are a bit closer to receiving their 2009 tax bills.The county had proposed charging city residents more in property taxes than those in unincorporated areas, something that drew fire from its cities.  Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Timothy Hamil didn’t like it either and both sides quickly worked to reach a mutual agreement of 11.19 mills for all, slightly higher than the county’s 2008 millage rate of 10.97.

“They should have done it three months ago.  We’ve always contended that what they did was unconstitutional and illegal and I think they just wanted to have a judge slap them down,” says Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer.

But Judge Hamil says he’s not so sure he’ll go along with the higher millage rate and has asked the county to provide scenarios on how much revenue a higher millage rate would bring in using either 2008 or 2009 assessed property values. He may also decide to go with last year’s millage rate and property values.

Chief Assistant County Attorney Van Stephens tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish that the higher millage rate is revenue neutral.

“The assessed values of property in the county went down slightly and this millage rate is an adjustment upward to come to the same revenue we had in 2008,” he says.

Commissioners will meet this afternoon to formally approve the new millage rate. Hamil says he’ll make his decision whether to accept it or not by weeks end.

That means the Tax Commissioner’s office can soon get to work on processing tax bills.

“We just need about 25 days to run all the calculations and get the bills printed and out.  So hopefully they’ll be out on or before September 15th,” says Tax Commissioner Kathryn Meyer.

She says that means the first installment could be due October 15th and the second on November 15th.  Normally bills would be issued in July and the first installments would be due September 15th.

It’s good news not only for the county and its cities, but for the Gwinnett Board of Education which would be out of money by October.

Georgia will uphold its original approval for an open heart surgery program at Gwinnett Medical Center.

The final administrative decision, which was issued by the Commissioner of the Department of Community Health, reaffirms the department’s earlier certificate of need (CON) approval and overturns a contrary decision in the ongoing appeals brought by Emory and Piedmont hospitals.

After a review of all of the evidence from the various administrative proceedings, the commissioner reinstated the original approval saying, “It is hereby ordered that the May 18, 2009 decision of the Hearing Officer is reversed and the original decision of the Department to award a CON to GMC is reinstated.”

Further appeals are possible, as the CON process permits Emory and Piedmont to seek court review within 30 days of the commissioner’s final decision. Barring judicial appeals by Emory and Piedmont, GMC will immediately begin the planning process for offering open heart services.

This is outstanding news, Gwinnett Medical is such a resource to have in the North East and in the heart of Lawrenceville.  Lawrenceville being one of the hardest hit real estate markets is now getting some good commercial news!

I really enjoyed answering this question and thought I would share it here:

What is the difference between an agency disclosure statement for the buyer and a buyer broker agreement?

Confused in Atlanta,

A Buyer Broker agreement is an agreement for the agent to represent you and your best interest as a CLIENT. They can get data and interpret the market and make certain inferences based on their experience. Bottomline, they are a hired gun to protect you, just like an attorney in a court room.

A disclosure statement of any kind is simply that, a statement. A disclosure could be, “the agent represents the seller and not the buyer” or “the agent is representing no one, and this is just a transaction” or even, “the agent has brown hair.”

These are all disclosures.

Typically, a disclosure is something that need to be told to you because it could possibly harm you, but not always. In the case of inspections and buyer brokerage, I require my clients to sign a disclosures that says, “I’m aware of the benefits of an inspection and representation by a totally awesome realtor like Joshua, and I have declined their services. I also understand by declining those services I will not be receiving the same high level service or knowledge about the home. I also ate glue as a child.”

For a while I’ve neglected this blog in favor of my Brutal Honesty blog on the Jarvis Team website.

With the recent upgrades on this blog and the fact that many of you are having your first experience with me, I’ll be making more updates.

With that in mind please check out my other sites:

• Atlanta Short Sale Listings
• Short Sales Atlanta
• For Real Estate Professional: ActiveRain Blog
• Joshua Jarvis on Trulia

Also, please connect with me on these social networking sites:

• @JarvisTeam on Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Please visit http://www.gahomesdigest.com/blog for the OFFICIAL Jarvis Team Blog, knowns as Brutal Honesty.

I grabbed this off a press release but it’s true. If you’ve ever been to the Village at Deaton Creek in Hoschton, GA, you’ll know why people are flocking there.

Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) is pleased to announce that Metrostudy has named the Village at Deaton Creek by Del Webb Metro Atlanta’s top selling community for 2007 in its fourth quarter report for 2007. Metrostudy is a housing market research firm that is the leading provider of real estate and related market information in the country. Metrostudy provides primary and secondary market information to the housing and related industries nationwide.

Del Webb attributes its successful year to three key factors - the reputation as the nation’s leader in active adult lifestyle communities for more than 47 years, the large base of baby boomer households in Atlanta, and the community’s entire $10 million amenity package being fully functional.

Atlanta is in line with national trends that point to baby boomers as the fastest growing population and household segments. According to the US Census Bureau, there are over 530,000 households in the Atlanta market that are 55 and over. That is nearly 30% of all households in the Atlanta area. “We see a majority of our customers coming from the Atlanta area. Baby Boomers are one of the largest groups in the market, and they have significant buying power,” says Cooper. This group also represents the largest growing segment in the market - by 2011, it will account for nearly 700,000 households. In fact, one in five metro Atlanta residents will be 60 or older by 2030.

The 35,000 square foot Club at Deaton Creek amenity center opened its doors in the summer of 2007, and the final phase of Village at Deaton Creek’s amenities opened on schedule in December, just a year from the first homeowners moving in. Cooper notes, “The lifestyle is in full swing, so customers can envision themselves living in the community.” Situated in Hoschton, near Chateau Élan, Village at Deaton Creek offers a full-time lifestyle director, 35,000 square foot clubhouse, miles of walking trails, a tennis complex, bocce ball courts, a dog park, and softball.

Cooper adds, “Being only 40 miles north of Atlanta, we offer our customers the opportunity to downsize and stay close to their family and friends, plus immediate access to a highly social and highly amenitized lifestyle.”