Looking Out From the Garage

Those of us that live in the Atlanta Metro area are all pretty familiar with Buckhead.  And I have lived here for a little over 22 years... but I have a connection that goes back WAY before that. 

I lost my father in 1997, and he never lived here... but he did visit Buckhead... LONG ago.  He visited me several times after I moved to Atlanta in 1989, but when he was still a kid, he was passing through Buckhead with a few teammates.  He was a student at the Columbia Military Academy in Columbia, TN, and on the Rifle Team.  They had just completed a competition in South GA, and were passing through on the way back to school.  It would have been around 1946... and my father would have been around the tender age of 14. 

The driver of the car stopped in Buckhead for a short break.  While he was out of the car, my father made a quick run into one of the local bars (yes, there were bars there then, too...) and bought a beer.  He was in his Military Academy uniform, and the bartender probably assumed that he was a soldier...

So my dad had his first beer in Buckhead. 

True to his nature, we drove down to Buckhead one day... probably around 1995 or so... and he was able to show me the exact place that they were parked, as well as the bar where he got the beer.  It wasn't a bar then, and now it doesn't even exist as a building, but we found an old picture... and he was right on point. 

Oddly, my dad was never really a beer drinker.  He joked that if he'd bought a 6-pack at that time, it might have been a lifetime supply. 

Image by lane.bailey via Flickr

I have been pulling Gwinnett County Real Estate Market Data, and I'm not done with it yet.  But, I have been seeing a few things.

• Listings are down markedly from where they would normally be.  This can be either a positive or negative, depending on your outlook.
  • On the Plus Side, fewer listings means that Absorption Rates are better.  There is less inventory to get sold... it tilts the table back toward sellers.  It has been largely tilted toward buyers for quite a while.
  • On the Minus Side, it shows that there is pessimism in the market on the side of sellers.  They aren't confident about the market.  That lack of confidence has carried over to buyers... sales are also slowing.
• Sales are down... like I just mentioned.  Even though Absorption Rates make the market look better... the sales just aren't there.
• Results are mixed.  There are a few cities that are doing well... and there are a few price segments that are doing quite well.  Others are VERY weak.

Related articles

• Norcross, GA, Market Report, April 2011 (lanebailey.com)
• Buford, GA, Market Report, April 2011 (lanebailey.com)
• Lawrenceville, GA Market Report, April 2011 (lanebailey.com)
• Sugar Hill, GA, Market Report, April 2011 (lanebailey.com)
• Let's take a break from Market Reports in Gwinnett County, GA (lanebailey.com)

Image by lane.bailey via Flickr

Kind of odd that for a "Wayback" post I would talk about an upcoming car show...  But the show happens around the first Saturday in May each year... and so THIS Saturday is the day.

Smokerise Baptist Church is having their 11th Annual Smokerise Car Show on Saturday from 9am until 3pm.  Registration runs from 9am until Noon... so there might be a few cars that don't show up until late.  Judging runs from Noon until 3pm.

And check out this link for pictures from last year's show.  There were some pretty cool rides on hand... and that was with showers threatening all day.

BTW, the other car show mentioned in that post, Mud4Blood, will be on May 28th.  That one promises to rock, too...

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Dear Builder,

I've NEVER had a buyer client tell me that they thought the garage was too big.  Granted, most of my buyers are "car people", so the deck is a bit stacked, but not all of them are.  In fact, I've had clients with little interest in cars... and they still wanted a garage that was just a little bigger.

You see, lots of people use their garages for a lot of different things.  Many of my clients like to build cars or weld something back together in their garage, but others just want to be able to fit two cars and their riding lawnmower.  Some people might want to move the cars out and build a nice piece of furniture.  Others need a place to store their camping equipment while they are back in civilization.

Of course, square footage is valuable, especially as margins are squeezed, but homes with more generous garages might also sell a bit quicker.  And that helps the margin, too.  Turning over inventory faster lowers carrying costs.  And while we're at it, can we have a couple more outlets in the garage?  I've seen too many garages lately that only had one outlet (aside from the one for the garage door opener).  One.  Even my 40 year old house has four outlets...

Related articles

• Photo Friday... What are YOUR Garage Needs? (lanebailey.com)
• Wayback Wednesday... The Builder Forgot to Add ___ (lanebailey.com)
• Wayback Wednesday... Make YOUR Garage Cool... (lanebailey.com)
• Some Cool Garage Homes in Gwinnett County, GA (lanebailey.com)

I have been busy over on my other blog, plugging away writing 6 posts a week... And I have been working on this series for about a year. There are only 3 more to go (L = Roman Numeral 50).  Come on over and see what I'm up to over there...

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I previously wrote about a diesel-electric RV... and the natural extension from that would be a diesel-electric semi.  After all, it is the power supply of trains.

Yep... diesel powered trains are actually hybrids, and they always have been.  The diesel engine powers a generator producing electricity.  At the axles, there are electric motors that provide the actual motive power.  The advantage is that the diesel engine can be tuned to run under a more specific RPM range... basically tuned for maximum efficiency.  Instead of the engine speeding up and slowing down with the speed of the truck, it only needs to react to the needs of the generator.

In the case of a semi, they already weigh a lot.  So, the addition of some battery packs wouldn't have as much of an impact.  And since the size (and weight) of the engine could be reduced, the generator package shouldn't add that much weight either.

It sure would be an interesting hybrid.  And since tractor-trailers spend all of their time on the road, often running well over a million miles, they should be able to actually pay back the increased cost of the hybrid system.  (Just guessing about that...)

It would be pretty cool, though.

Related articles

• 53 Cool Concepts... Part IL (lanebailey.com)

Image by epSos.de via Flickr

It's that time again.  Last week we got our tax valuation reassessed.  For us, it wasn't a bad thing and honestly, it hasn't been for the folks I have talked with.  Let me qualify that... for the amount of tax we pay, it wasn't a bad thing.

Two years ago, Gwinnett County re-assessed our home.  The jacked us up by about 12%, even though there was NO justification in the comps.  They got away with it because it wasn't worth the fight for us to carry on.  We disputed it a couple of levels, but eventually dropped it.

Oddly, this was almost exactly two months after the State of Georgia passed a law requiring the counties to consider foreclosures and short sales in the valuation process.  I think it might have been their "last hurrah" before having the valuations that were based in reality.

As mentioned, we got our valuation last week.  And it went down... way down.  in fact, it dropped by more than twice as much as it went up... we were down over 25%.  Good news for the house payment.  Bad news for the value of our house.  Bad news for Gwinnett county... the budget is not going to be happy with all of these lower valuations.

Related articles

• Wayback Wednesday... The Lilburn CID (lanebailey.com)
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It is a time honored tradition among car companies... and it makes a lot of financial sense.  Build cars with similar components.  If they can dive into the parts bin instead of designing a new piece from the ground up, they can save a lot of money.  Everything from floor architecture to minor switchgear may be shared among cars.

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A great example of this is with Chrysler.  The Charger, Magnum, 300 and Challenger all have the same underpinnings... suspensions, brakes, steering... and also (with a few exceptions) the same engine and transmission offerings.  In the case of the Charger, Magnum and 300, the front clips could be interchanged... although it wasn't a direct bolt-up.

And then there are cases like the Toyota MR2, where a common front wheel drive powertrain was relocated behind the driver to build a mid-engine, rear wheel drive car.

So... what can we do with that?

Ford has the Taurus SHO.  It is a higher powered version of a reasonably boring, but competent car.  There aren't that many front wheel drive 365hp powerplants floating around.

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Twenty years ago, Ford took the SHO powerplant and transplanted it into a Fiesta... the result was the SHOgun.  Nasty powerful and incredibly twitchy.  A wolf in econobox clothing.

What they really need to do is make a Ford GT for the rest of us.  Perhaps a 2 seat, mid engine car, maybe weighing under 2400lbs.  Back it up with a 6 or 7 speed transmission and a limited slip differential.  I would bet that it could stretch 30+mpg on the highway.  The Taurus weighs in at almost 4400lbs.  Dropping a ton and reducing the frontal area would rock the mileage, even with a sporty tune.  The Taurus SHO is rated for 25mpg on the highway.  The SHO kicks out around a 5.5sec 0-60 time and a 13sec 1/4 mile.  I would expect that a 2400lb mid-engine car with good traction could drop that time under 4sec for the 0-60 and 11.5sec for the 1/4.

Fun...

Related articles

• 2013 Ford Taurus SHO To Get Horsepower Bump? (ridelust.com)
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• 53 Cool Concept Cars... Part XXXVIII (lanebailey.com)

Cool Concept Cars on LaneBailey.com

Looking over the wares

Last summer, Lilburn, GA, began a weekly Farmer's Market every Friday from 4-8pm.  Booths were set up on Railroad Ave., next the the Police Station and City Park.  We made it out a few times with the kids to pick up some fresh treats... and see some neighbors.  One of the things that makes Lilburn seem like a small town is that we run into our childrens' schoolmates, fellow Cub Scout Parents, our neighbors and other folks we know in the community... seemingly everywhere.

It looks like the Lilburn Farmer's Market will be back again this year.  It should be starting around June 3rd.  That is just me guessing, though...

If you'd like to live in a community like this, I'd love to help you find the perfect home for you.  We have great people, great schools, and excellent access to all that the Atlanta area has to offer.

Related articles

• Lilburn, GA Market Report, December 2010 (gwinnettgarageguy.com)
• Flashback Friday... Where in the World is Lilburn? (gwinnettgarageguy.com)
• Photo Friday... Where in the World? (gwinnettgarageguy.com)

Lilburn Happenings on LaneBailey.com

I love watching the news... but when they talk about the real estate market, I cringe. I like to hear the national numbers, but I also know that they are just a framework for a smaller discussion. Yep... a smaller discussion.

It matters what the overall market is doing, but it's not nearly as important as what is happening in your neighborhood. It matters what is happening in Georgia, and the Atlanta Metro market, but not nearly as much as what is happening in your specific city. Real estate prices and demand react to specific local issues much more than to national trends. In fact, the national trend is just a compilation of local and hyper-local trends. What the national market does is create a headwind or a tailwind. That's about it.

Here locally, we look at things like...

• changing employment statistics
• companies relocating into or out of the area
• school performance and trends
• tax burdens
• quality of local governmental services
• proximity to recreation and entertainment
• ease of movement (commuting, shopping, etc)

As we see these things change, we see the market move in one direction or another. A prime example at the moment is the City of Atlanta schools issue. It is possible that the Atlanta City Schools could lose their accreditation. If that were to happen, it would drive down the price of most of the homes served by those schools. The price would be driven down because there would be a lack of demand on the part of buyers, combined with an increase in supply as sellers seek to move to districts without the same problems.

Gwinnett County has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Georgia, below the national average. But there is also a tremendous overhead of foreclosure action. We also have one of the highest performance school systems in the region... and reasonably low tax rates.

The market in Miami or Las Vegas doesn't have an effect on what is happening in Georiga, much less what is going on with real estate in Gwinnett County.

Explaining Market Reports on LaneBailey.com

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Two whole years ago...  Wow, time flies.

I wrote a post about the Top 10 Most Boring Cars.  It is one that got a lot of attention off of my blog.  I have had a few people comment to me personally about my choices.  I still don't know how someone can defend the Camry as being 'non-boring.'

That was a fun list to write.  I like writing car posts...  There are days that I think I would like to make this whole blog about cars and do my real estate writing elsewhere.  I've done a few car posts, and they have generally been popular.  My Top 10 Nastiest Vehicles You've Never Heard Of post has been one of the most read posts I've done.  I can count on it to get 30 or 40 hits a week now... even after three years.

I'd love to hear about cars you think are exceptionally cool... or cars you think are exceedingly boring.

Boring Cars on LaneBailey.com