For those who think that Smyrna doesn't warrant the million dollar price tag, I'd like to call attention to the sale of a $1.3 million home in Cash Farms recently. Of course that isn't the only million dollar home to sell in Smyrna, but it certainly is nice to hear in these times. More good news is that we had 90 sales in Smyrna in January and February and that is more than a 20 percent increase in the number of sales from last year at the same time. The National Association of Realtors indicates that homes sales have risen nearly 13 percent over the past six months, and the trend is clearly upward. In addition to that, inventory is down!

Most agents in Atlanta know that Smyrna is my little corner of the world so oftentimes I get calls from agents outside of our market area with questions about  all sorts of things. Everything from schools to churches to length of commutes, but one question that has been missing from the equation until lately is "are you listing anything for x price range with this criteria?" You can well imagine that we had plenty of inventory for a long time and no one had to look very far to find anything that their little heart desired - and more. That is not the case now. Agents are looking for good inventory for their buyers. I'M looking for good inventory for my buyers. 

Builders are building again and new construction is going under contract. Condo complexes that were ghost towns are selling. Multiple contracts on foreclosures are commonplace and it's becoming more common on properties in desirable neighborhoods with little or no inventory. I'm not excited when I can't make a deal for my buyers because the property got sold before we had the chance to move on it, but I do like the signs of the recovering market.

Don't get me wrong - it will be a while before we see such huge increases in prices that we won't be underwater anymore, but at least we're going in the right direction. And a million dollar sale in Smyrna is just the way to get it going.