On Monday, state climatologist David Stooksbury said that an usually wet March “has brought major drought relief to North Georgia.

Except for the Lake Lanier and Lake Hartwell basins, “the remainder of north Georgia is drought-free,” Stooksbury said.

The Weather Service has recorded 7.12 inches of rain so far this month at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a surplus of 1.89 inches. For the year, the city’s official rain gauge has tallied 13.70 inches of rain, only 1.24 inches below normal.

With additional rain since his announcement, we’re well on our way to recovery from this terrible drought we’ve had.

The first part of the weekend should be nice, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s on Saturday, followed by a 40 percent chance of rain on Sunday.

Not great news for my open house this weekend - but I’ll take it for the rain we need!

I was talking with an agent in my office yesterday who has several buyers in the $75-$125k price range.  She was expressing frustration that she has made up to 10 offers for each buyer and is losing out due to multiple offers and bidding wars.  This has been going on for a while on the properties that have been priced under market.  But it seems to be more and more frequent in these lower price ranges. 

As these lower price ranges loosen up (in part due to first time buyers and investors getting off the fence - tax credits, impending rising rates, media touting that the bottom may be near or behind us), these sellers will be able to move up to the next price range and the log jam will loosen up from the bottom up. 

If you’ve been on the fence about buying your first place or making an investment in real estate, the time to call me is NOW!  Let’s not get caught up in frustrating multiple offer situations and bidding wars - get your deal before everyone catches on that the deals out there are amazing.

The 5th annual SweetWater 420 Festival has added a variety of kid-friendly activities to the two-day festival celebrating Earth Day on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19 in Atlanta, Georgia. From kid’s yoga classes and circus camp to exploring the world of recycling with Recycle Michael and his friends, there will be plenty to do for kids throughout the weekend.

SweetWater 420 Festival has also joined forces with Candler Park’s Mary Lin Elementary. Kids can participate in an all day Moon Bounce at the festival both Saturday and Sunday for just $5 a day. All the proceeds will be donated to Mary Lin Elementary’s Bricks Campaign that raises funds to repair and reshape the landscape around its playground, which is suffering from major erosion and drainage issues. Mary Lin Elementary will also give festival goers the opportunity to help pave the way to a refurbished playground with the purchase of a $45 brick. Each brick can be personalized and will be installed as part of the playground’s new landscaping. For information or to purchase a brick online visit www.marylinelementary.com/shop.

The SweetWater 420 Festival will be held Saturday, April 18 from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday, April 19 from 12:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Atlanta’s historic Candler Park. Free admission for live music, food, and eco-oriented activities and educational experiences. Festival goers 21+ and with a valid ID can purchase a $5 wristband to responsibly enjoy SweetWater beer and wine. A portion of proceeds from wristband sales are donated to Candler Park Neighborhood Organization, to make improvements to Candler Park.

In an effort to limit the impact the festival has on the neighborhood and to fulfill SweetWater 420 Fest’s environmental mission, festival organizers encourage everyone to do their part and take MARTA. The festival is conveniently located just two blocks from the Candler Park MARTA station.

Visit www.sweetwater420fest.com for additional information, performer lineup, updates, and directions.

Look forward to seeing you there!

57 listings went pending in North Fulton county last week (areas 13 & 14 in fmls).  Want to know what it takes to sell in this market?  Here are the sellers who won in the last 7 days.  These listings are in the best condition and at the right price to attract a buyer in this market.  Want to know what that price is for YOUR home?  Want help getting your listing in the BEST condition?  CALL ME TODAY!  404-936-8382

I’ve been posting to this blog on my site at www.carriequalters.com for a while now.  

• This blog is intended to be about real estate and Atlanta lifestyle.
• It’s also intended to be a window into my life as a busy realtor & give transparency to my business.
• I hope that it demonstrates my business mantra & mission: that I have the Smarts to get the job done, the Creativitiy to think outside the box and always FUN.  
• I want the url to be memorable (and not too long) and representative of me and my business.  

Sales in San Diego up

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20090309_condotrends.htm

There are a handful of states that had notorious real estate bubbles… Nevada, California, Florida, Virginia come to mind.  Check this out - according to NAR, here are the states that actually had a positive year to year increase in sales for 4th Quarter 2008

States with 2008 Q4 increase in home sales

Not predicting any kind of immediate recovery out of this thing, but could the states that led us into this buyer’s housing market be about to pull us out of it?  Interesting…

**And I used a post with “green states” for St. Patrick’s day.  Erin go braugh everyone!**

I’ve definitely noticed an increase in traffic on Realtor.com in the last couple of weeks.  It’s springtime, there are buyer incentives & I feel the confidence picking up.  We’re not going to get out of this immediately, but these little signs are good news! 

Here is a graphic showing weekly hits on one of my real listings on Realtor.com.  I’ve seen similar trends on my other listings & the agents I network with are reporting similar results.

Number of showings by week

I haven’t done a bad mls photo post in a while.  Maybe they’re getting so common that they don’t shock me as much anymore.  But here’s a good one.  Is there even a house in there?

Some of the big Atlanta builders are buying lots, getting ready to build. 

http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2009/03/09/story5.html?ana=e_du