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Vice President and Managing Broker Kelly Stephens with Engel & Völkers Real Estate joins the Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio podcast to reveal favored metro Atlanta locations with a particular focus on North Fulton, as well as popular trends in the buying market. Stephens joins host Carol Morgan on the All About Real Estate segment and shares that luxury is not a price point.
Selling Atlanta real estate since 1998, Stephens has seen many changes through the years. In 2016, Stephens joined Shirley Gary at her Engel & Völkers franchise and currently runs the Alpharetta location next to the award-winning Avalon development and the Buckhead location in the heart of Buckhead at Peachtree and Piedmont.
Stephens said, “We have a great team…We have both a general brokerage division and a new homes division. I’m always excited by the expansion and growth we’ve seen.”
A forty-plus-year-old global company headquartered in New York, Engel & Völkers offers an expansive reach to fit every client’s lifestyle, specializing in premier real estate and luxury second homes. The company has also experienced fantastic success in its expanding yachting division.
A market unlike anything she has seen in her 26 years of experience, Stephens shared that the exciting and everchanging market also presents interesting challenges. From different contract nuances and sellers remaining in their homes up to 60 days after closing to buyers paying the difference between the appraisal price and the contracted offer and not including contingencies for due-diligence inspections, the current market is an interesting one to navigate.
Stephens said, “You’ve got to try and protect the clients even though they want it so badly. We are here to help guide them through it because it is definitely a different market than I think anybody has seen.”
One significant market change seen by Stephens is the lack of builders participating in their local MLS, resulting in 30% fewer listings being seen online. To find out where the inventory actually is, Engel & Völkers contacts builders directly to discover what they are selling.
Year to date, FMLS Atlanta listings are off by 1,000 homes compared to last year’s numbers, but this can be explained by the 30% gap in builder listings. While there may be less building inventory present in MLS listings, Millennial buyers have exponentially increased the market’s buyer presence.
In normal circumstances, around 30% of the market identifies as cash buyers. In the current market, cash buyers have grown by 20%, a significant jump compared to previous years. This negatively impacts borrowers as the security of cash buyers is traditionally preferred by sellers.
Stephens appreciates how their preferred lender New American Funding solves this potential problem. To close the gap between borrowers and cash buyers, New American Funding offers clients its Buyer Accepted Program to help them compete in today’s market. Engel & Völkers recently announced its partnership with the nationally recognized loan originator, setting their clients up for success in this competitive market.
“We wanted to be able to offer [the Buyer Accepted program] to our buyers. [New American Funding] will go in, prequalify you, buy that home for you with a cash offer and then sell it to you within 60 days.”
Tune in to the full interview above for more information or visit www.EVAtlanta.com.
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Georgia Residential Mortgage Licensee, License #22564. NMLS ID #6606. Subject to borrower and property qualifications. Not all applicants will qualify. New American Funding and Engel & Völkers are not associated. Click here to view the terms and conditions of products mentioned during the show. Corporate office 14511 Myford Rd., Suite 100, Tustin, CA 92780. Phone: (800) 450-2010. (June/2022)
New American Funding is a family-owned mortgage lender with a servicing portfolio of over 216,000+ loans for $56.8 billion, 171 branches and about 4,500+ employees. The company offers several niche loan products and has made Inc. 5000’s list of Fastest-Growing Companies in America seven times. For more information, call 678-898-3540 or visit https://branch.newamericanfunding.com/Atlanta.
The Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio “All About Real Estate” segment, presented by Denim Marketing, highlights the movers and shakers in the Atlanta real estate industry – the home builders, developers, Realtors and suppliers working to provide the American dream for Atlantans. For more information on how you can be featured as a guest, contact Denim Marketing at 770-383-3360 or fill out the Atlanta Real Estate Forum contact form. Subscribe to the Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio podcast on iTunes, and if you like this week’s show, be sure to rate it.