Sandy Springs Youth Basketball League

Sandy Springs Youth Basketball League

The city of Sandy Springs Recreation and Parks Department is very excited to introduce the first ever city- wide youth basketball league. They are working with four local Elementary schools as host sites for practices and games. Games may also be played at Sandy Springs Middle school.

Registration for the youth basketball program is open, through December for Boys and Girls 2-3-4-5 grades.

Practices begin in early January. It is the Sandy Springs Recreation and Parks Departments goal to provide recreational programs for the children of Sandy Springs at a minimal cost, and to be all inclusive.

There are several ways to registration for youth basketball and other programs offered by the Department:

1. Online at www.activenet.active.com/sandyspringsga/

2. In person at the Hammond Park offices located at 705 Hammond Dr. Sandy Springs, Ga. 30328.

Cost for youth basketball is $25. Scholarships are also available upon request

There are more athletic programs in the works for the children of Sandy Springs that include soccer, lacrosse, wrestling, kickball, volleyball and a super summer sports camp in early June. We’ll keep you up-to-date future youth athletic opportunities.

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Widening Roswell Road Bridge on Sandy Springs Agenda

With the start of 2010 right around the corner, Eva Galambos is working hard to continue her vision for the city of Sandy Springs. Having received 84% of the vote in the November election, it’s pretty clear that the Sandy Springs residents are excited about her leading us into the future.

Her past four years have been spent getting the city of Sandy Springs up and running. During her first stint in office, the city launched a unique outsourcing model for local government that is quickly being adopted by other cities, tripled police protection and started road and sidewalk improvements.

The biggest issues that Mayor Eva Galombos campaigned on was to widen the Roswell Road bridge over I-285 (something that is desperately needed); to cut the surcharge residents and businesses pay for water service; and begin redeveloping downtown. These items now make up the agenda for the city.

The city is in talks with the state about widening the Roswell Road bridge. Galambos wants the state to pay for it, too.

And Sandy Springs is in the early stages of a lawsuit with Atlanta, in a bid to cut the 21 percent water surcharge that officials estimate costs users $6 million to $7 million a year.

As for revitalizing the downtown area north of the Perimeter, Galambos wants to get property owners in the area on board before any plans, and payment ideas, are hatched.

The revitalization effort alone could take all four years of this term, which officially begins January 1st.

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Keller Williams Most Recognizable Brand for 2009

The 2010 Swanepoel TRENDS Report, scheduled for publication on February 8th, 2010, details the Top 20 largest real estate brands based on agent count as of December 2009, inclusive of recent changes and acquisitions up and including that date.

In addition, RealSure, the publishers of the Swanepoel TRENDS Report and the Swanepoel SOCIAL MEDIA Report, decided that it would be interesting to compare agent count rankings with the perception and recognizability of franchise brands by the industry itself.

On December 3rd a nationwide online survey was launched to determine the “Most Recognizable Franchise Brand in Real Estate.”

In the end an astonishing 11,355 agents voted, casting just over 390,000 votes for 33 different real estate franchise brands making this — according to knowledge — the largest survey of its kind in the industry.

The Top 10 real estate franchises, most recognized by the real estate industry as quality national brands are:

1. Keller Williams Realty
2. Coldwell Banker Real Estate
3. RE/MAX International
4. Century 21 Real Estate
5. Prudential Real Estate
6. Sotheby’s International Realty
7. EXIT Realty
8. ERA Real Estate
9. Weichert Real Estate Affiliates
10. Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate

The brands that made it to the Top 5 were to be expected and are also the five largest real estate franchises in the country. The Top 5 also comfortably attracted more votes than the second five on the list, strongly pointing to the industry’s own internal belief that these are the top five brands that agents would like to work for.

Keller Williams Realty’s surprising #1 ranking was most likely due to the strong, above average online and social media presence of their agents and the fact that during 2009 KW surpassed RE/MAX in agent count according to a widely published REAL Trends survey. Click here to read the article in it’s entirety.

Contact us today to learn about the benefits of working with Keller Williams Realty for all of your Sandy Springs real estate needs.

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Sandy Springs Christmas Tree Recycling

January 9, 2010
9:00 am	to	4:00 pm

Keep North Fulton Beautiful is sponsoring a Christmas Tree Recycling Event on Saturday, January 9, 2010, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Trees can be brought to the following locations:

Keep North Fulton Beautiful Recycling Center

470 Morgan Falls Road

Sandy Springs, GA 30350

The Home Depot

6400 Peachtree Dunwoody Road

Sandy Springs, GA 30328

For more information, contact Keep Sandy Springs Beautiful at 770-551-7766 or www.knfb.org.

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Should I Short Sale My Home?

That is a question that many financially strapped Sandy Springs homeowners are debating right now. Clearly, they’re finding it difficual to qualify for federally-sponsored mortgage assistance programs covered under the Making Home Affordable program.

Over 500,000 homeowners have qualified for a modification, with little over half actually agreeing to a temporary modification and just a little over 1,700 actually receiving permanent modifications.

Short sales have helped many homeowners in resolving their debt issues, but there are pros and cons to consider. Below are some of the most important questions to consider before deciding whether to short sale your Sandy Springs home or not…

1. Can you afford to keep your current home? This is relatively a simple question. Because if you can afford to keep your home, then why wouldn’t you? Depending on your specific situation, you may qualify for a loan modification. Is your hardship temporary? Are you struggling to make the payments today, but may be fine in just a couple monthsl? If your hardship is more of a permanent nature due to loss of job or disability, then a short sale may be something you need to consider.

It’s important to be brutally honest with yourself. I’ve had many clients who have pulled out all of their funds from retirement accounts to try and make their payments, but when those funds ran out, their option was to do a short sale. A little foresight goes a long way in protecting yourself.

2. Do you want to keep your current home? Whether from a change in marital status, children leaving home or moving back in, a job change or health related issues or other events, sometimes you may no longer want to keep your home. You’ll need to evaluate your present accomodations to make sure it is still a good fit before deciding whether to stay or sell.

3. Can you handle your other debt obligations? Short sales are often a great alternative to those seeking to avoid bankruptcy or foreclosure.

4. Do you owe more on the home than it is worth? With home prices declining and many teaser rates or interest only mortgages automatically adjusting, many homeowners now owe more than the current market value of their home. For some, we’re not just talking about tens of thousands, but into the six figures. It should be a priority to determine whether it is worth the long term cost of paying down a high mortgage or saving for retirement, college and other expenses for the family.

5. Are you unable to refinance or gain more favorable terms? Not only have home values dramatically declined in many parts of the country, but rising unemployment rates, tighter lending standards and higher debt to income ratios caused by re-setting interest rates on ARMS have resulted in the perfect storm in the lending world. Homeowners are increasingly unable to obtain favorable refinance terms. The biggest issues for most homeowners is that their home won’t appraise high enough for them to refinance without putting more money down.

6. Do you desire a relatively quick sale? Due to the decline in the economy and surplus of existing home sales, there is a large inventory of homes on the market. Those that really want to sell must price right and work aggressively to position their home for a quick sale. While a short sale isn’t “short” (typically 60-120 days), they are generally much faster than the current sales period for a regular MLS listing (6 to 12 months). Contact your Sandy Springs Realtor to understand the stats!

7. Do you want to avoid fixing the property in anticipation of a sale? Few things are worse than being forced to spend money in order to sell a property below the price you originally paid. Short sales are generally sold “as-is” which keeps you from spending more time and money necessary to put the property up for sale in the traditional manner.

Aaron Hofmann, a Certified Distressed Property Expert and a local Keller Williams Sandy Springs Realtor, is available for financially burdened homeowners to discuss their situation in confidence. Additionally, if you’d like to learn more about short sales, check out our Atlanta short sale resource.

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Sandy Springs Holiday Toy Drive

Sandy Springs’ four fire stations and police department headquarters are taking unwrapped toys for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite (CHOA) and the North Perimeter Optimists Club this holiday season. Donations may be made until December 21st at the following locations:

Sandy Springs Fire Station #1, 1425 Spalding Drive

Sandy Springs Fire Station #2, 139 Johnson Ferry Road

Sandy Springs Fire Station #3, 6025 Heards Road

Sandy Springs Fire Station #4, 4697 Wieuca Road

Sandy Springs Police Department Headquarters (9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.), 5995 Barfield Road.

CHOA serves patients from infants through 21 years of age. The toys will be delivered by our fire and police personnel to patients who are in Children’s Hospital of Atlanta during the holidays.

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