Forsyth County real estate has greatly benefitted from one offshoot of “virtual” technology.   Just click on a listing’s “virtual tour” button and a progression of two-dimensional views of the listed property parade across your laptop or smartphone screen.

Those Forsyth County listing virtual tours are real estate’s first step toward “VR”—Virtual Reality.  VR is the more immersive version that allows viewers to move around within three-dimensional renderings of computer-generated environments.  A current example is the TV commercials depicting delighted VR goggle-wearers experiencing animated fictional worlds.  They demonstrate two things: 1) the people who don the goggles look as if they truly do feel as if they are surrounded by a mind-bendingly realistic version of reality; and 2) they also look as if they are disconnected from the actual world around them (as when they duck to get out of the way of something that doesn’t really exist).

As it relates to Forsyth County real estate, there is a slightly different emerging technology.  You might say that it’s half-way between today’s virtual tours and full virtual reality.  This is “AR”—Augmented Reality—which combines the real and virtual worlds. It allows consumers to superimpose computer-generated images into real life scenes.  Some applications are already popping up, with more on the way thanks to support from the latest operating system releases which allow software developers to dream up applications that take advantage of the possibilities.

IKEA is one company that has developed an application to project how any given furniture model would look in a customer’s own home environment. Customers need a copy of the company catalog and access to IKEA’s website.  Simply click on the sample item shown on the site, then position the catalog on the floor where the furniture would be placed.  Just point your smartphone at the scene and take the picture—the app recreates the scene with the IKEA piece in place, properly scaled with lighting and shadows correctly rendered!

My guess is that it certain that Forsyth County homeowners will soon have a lot of AR remodeling aids to help them visualize design choices.  One countertop manufacturer has already developed an application that shows exactly what different surface finishes would look like atop an existing counter.

House hunters will benefit, too. The Realtor.com web developers are working on “augmenting reality” in the same way that Hollywood adds subtitles to movies. Their “Street Peek” application will allow house hunters to walk down a street, point their smartphone (Android, at first) at a house, and watch a cartoon bubble pop up over its roof with text showing whether it is for sale, the listing price or most recent sale price, and other information drawn from the NAR database. For Forsyth County new home buyers choosing model home variations as well as for builders eager to show the potential of an unfinished space, the only current drawback is the difference between the look of the real thing and the computer-generated image. Count on that difference rapidly disappearing.

Whether you are buying or selling, I work to keep my clients informed about the coming advances in the tools affecting their Forsyth County real estate options. Call me!

We’re not quite there yet in terms of selling homes, but my listing clients benefit from the very of the best current technology provided now!  Click to see all of my Selling Strategies.

In order to make your home stand out, our team includes:

Professional Photographer (view example)
Professional Videographer and Professional Drone Operator (view example)
Professional Stager, if needed.

I would love to have the opportunity to work with you. Please feel free to call or text at your convenience.

This Cumming GA Real Estate blog is hosted by Gayle Barton of BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HomeServices Georgia Properties.

I specialize in Real Estate sales in the following Forsyth County, North Fulton County and East Cobb cities: Cumming, Suwanee, Johns Creek, Alpharetta, Duluth, Milton, and Roswell. Other areas are serviced by request.

Gayle Barton South Forsyth Real Estate | Cumming GA Real Estate
Gayle Barton Cumming GA Real Estate | South Forsyth Real Estate

It’s one of those Cumming, GA documents most of us stash in a safe, out-of-the-way place—somewhere in the furthest recesses of a linen closet or at the back of a bureau drawer. Renters do the same: they don’t actually read the thing, but they know they want to keep it somewhere where they hope they’ll never have to find it.

The document that they value and simultaneously avoid is their Cumming, GA homeowners or renter’s insurance policy—the thing they make sure to purchase and hope to forget. As much as I consider it my job to cater to my clients’ every wish, it is also a document that I’m afraid prompts me to risk violating that part of my job.

Sorry, everyone. You really should go find it and give it a read. Once a year, even.

The fact is, it’s certainly time for your Cumming, GA homeowners insurance policy’s annual checkup!

How do I know that you haven’t done that for at least a year? It’s because when your agent sent you this year’s policy renewal, you may have read the cover letter and the top page, but that’s when your eyes glazed over and you remembered you had something else to do right then. You stuffed it back in the envelope until later (which was when you stashed it in the safe place).

Unless you are the one-in-twenty who likes legal minutiae, you figure you’ll read it when you need it, which you fervently hope is never. I sincerely join you in that hope, but all the industry experts are deadly serious in recommending that you bite the bullet and review your policy at least once a year.

Why? Many reasons—here are just a few:

• Type of coverage. Is it ACV or Replacement cost? ACV stands for “actual cash value” which means depreciation is deducted in the event of loss.

• Liability limits. ‘Nuff said.

• Accurate inventory. As your possessions come and go, they need to be reflected in the policy. This is where over-insuring is most commonly spotted. Here’s the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ handy inventory worksheet.

• The amount of deductible in your Cumming, GA homeowners or renter’s policy is where you can reap significant savings…if you are willing to absorb more of the expense should a loss occur.

• If you have more than one type of insurance policy with the same company or are a long-term customer with few claims, you might qualify.

After your house insurance checkup, you should experience some degree of relief. After all, not only are you newly confident that you are accurately covered, but even better: now you don’t have to read the thing for another year!

My job is helping my Cumming, GA clients make the most of their real estate opportunities and decisions. Whenever you can use some help or advice, do give me a call!

 
This Cumming GA Real Estate blog is hosted by Gayle Barton of BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HomeServices Georgia Properties.

I specialize in Real Estate sales in the following Forsyth County, North Fulton County and East Cobb cities: Cumming, Suwanee, Johns Creek, Alpharetta, Duluth, Milton, and Roswell. Other areas are serviced by request.

Gayle Barton South Forsyth Real Estate | Cumming GA Real Estate
Gayle Barton Cumming GA Real Estate | South Forsyth Real Estate

The goal of owning your Cumming, GA home free and clear is usually thought of as the sunniest eventual outcome of the process that begins with buying your Cumming, GA house. The vision of the day when you make that last mortgage payment is an attractive one: whether in retirement or sooner, a “free rent” future has great appeal.

So when financial planners argue against the wisdom of paying off your mortgage, it makes for interesting reading. One such planner is Ric Edelman, whose article “11 Great Reasons to Carry a Big, Long Mortgage” presents a laundry list of the possible financial benefits. As one of the nations’ foremost financial advisers, Edelman also has a well-earned reputation for brash presentations (his PBS series made the most of that). And he really does list eleven reasons why “you should have as big a mortgage as you can get and never pay it off.”

Some of the reasons are fact-based—but not really pertinent. For instance, Reason #1 is that your mortgage doesn’t affect your home’s value. True: whether its value rises or falls depends largely on the current Cumming, GA market…but that isn’t a reason for or against carrying home loan debt.

The same is true for Reason #2, which is that a mortgage “won’t stop you from building equity…” The logic here is the same: even if you never paid down your home loan’s principal at all, if the expected market value rises (it’s “almost certain to grow in value over the next 20 years”), your equity would grow independently.

More convincing are the remaining nine reasons, leading off with Reason #3, “A mortgage is cheap money.” This will earn head nods from every financial analyst, and it’s doubly true with today’s incredibly low interest rates. It may only be useful to those who have ideas for places where the “cheap money” can produce juicy profits—but what financial planner can’t suggest a few?

The other reasons deal with:

• tax benefits

• the dwindling real cost of mortgage payments over time due to inflation

• the liquidity provided by refinancing (“selling without selling”)

• the wealth creation possibilities of money invested sooner rather than later

Each of these can be illustrated by graphs and charts (and believe me, they are).

Whether you are more of the less-owed-the-better mindset or Edelman’s big long mortgage school, one thing holds true in both cases: buying your Cumming, GA house is the necessary first step. I can be of immediate value in that department—call me to see what I mean!

This Cumming GA Real Estate blog is hosted by Gayle Barton of BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HomeServices Georgia Properties.

I specialize in Real Estate sales in the following Forsyth County, North Fulton County and East Cobb cities: Cumming, Suwanee, Johns Creek, Alpharetta, Duluth, Milton, and Roswell. Other areas are serviced by request.

Gayle Barton South Forsyth Real Estate | Cumming GA Real Estate
Gayle Barton Cumming GA Real Estate | South Forsyth Real Estate

When it comes to appraising and developing appropriate responses to offers on your Forsyth County, GA home, I’m there to offer counsel and guidance.  Even so, you are the ultimate decision maker.  Especially for Forsyth County, GA homeowners without previous selling experience, becoming familiar with some practical pointers for home selling negotiations is well worth doing.  Forsyth County, GA sellers can find one rich source at the National Association of Realtors^® web site.  Last year’s World Series finale undoubtedly inspired the title for a list of home selling negotiation pitfalls.  Published the morning of Houston’s Game 7 victory, it dealt with errors in home selling negotiations.  It was subtitled “Negotiation Hardball Fouls.”

Although the first “foul” was “starting a bidding war,” that was a slight overstatement.  Obviously, a bidding war is any Forsyth County, GA seller’s ideal situation.  What was spotlighted was how that situation could be mishandled.  One misstep is setting an offer deadline too far in the future because time-pressed buyers might disappear.  Another foul ball is passing up an already strong offer that might not reappear.

in that same vain, another home selling negotiation tactic that Forsyth County, GA sellers should think twice before adopting is being overly tough when responding to repair requests.  That’s similar to “being stubborn” about a host of other relatively minor points like setting the closing date, closing cost payment requests, and squabbling over inclusion list items.

A third tactic that might result in an expensive misfire: threatening to put the property back on the market.  The problem here isn’t only the stigma sometimes attached to the “put back on the market” tag.  It’s also the fact that interested buyers you’d expect to return might have moved on.

The valuable insight that underlies all of the NAR examples is a guiding principle I believe to be valid for all home selling negotiations.  When you are coming down the home stretch (or are in game 7 of the Series), evaluate every aspect of an offer as part of the whole transaction.  Individual details that might seem emotionally important lose their clout when viewed in relation to the whole.  In other words, as every major (and minor) league batting coach will tell you, if you want to make contact, keep your eye on the ball.

No matter how exciting it might be, any World Series Game 7 is only a game.  When it comes to selling your Forsyth County, GA home, it’s a much more meaningful exercise to the families it will affect for years to come.  I keep that in mind during every aspect of your Forsyth County, GA home’s sale, from the listing’s preparation to the final home selling negotiations. CALL ME!

 
This Cumming GA Real Estate blog is hosted by Gayle Barton of BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HomeServices Georgia Properties.

I specialize in Real Estate sales in the following Forsyth County, North Fulton County and East Cobb cities: Cumming, Suwanee, Johns Creek, Alpharetta, Duluth, Milton, and Roswell. Other areas are serviced by request.

Gayle Barton South Forsyth Real Estate | Cumming GA Real Estate
Gayle Barton Cumming GA Real Estate | South Forsyth Real Estate