Cobb Real Estate Blog

Bankrate just released their 2007 study of closing costs for all 50 states.

Closing costs can be divided into three categories.
Closing costs:
• Origination fees charged by the lender.
• Title and settlement fees charged by third parties.
• Taxes and prepaid items such as homeowners insurance, association fees and prorated interest.

Bankrate’s survey includes lenders’ origination fees and title and settlement fees, and not taxes or prepaid items. The survey was conducted in June.

The average closing costs in America is $2,736. Georgia came in at 31st on the list at $2,655.

1. Greening Your Storage
2. Turning down the house
   

   a single off-switch for your whole house, to power down all of those nonessential appliances that suck electricity while you’re at work or out on the town.

3. SOLAR POWERED MOUSE - The Sole Mio
   

   The latest gadget to be turned into a solar powered device is the PC Mouse, thanks to the Researchers at the Delft University of Technology.

4. CASTLE HOUSE SKYSCRAPER Makes its Own Electricity!
   

   Castle House, a new residential tower project designed by Hamiltons of London
   and located at Elephant and Castle in South London, not only advertises itself as an eco-machine, but will generate its
   own power on site through a series of wind turbines and a heat and power plant.

5. Make Your Pool Energy-Efficient And Save Money
6. X-SEED 4000: World’s tallest tower will house 1 million people
7. Grant Park resident gets OK for wind turbine - A local Atlanta gem for you…
   

   A 45-foot wind turbine could be erected in Grant Park on Wednesday morning, after neighbors opposing the device lost their appeal at a city board hearing.

As you know, I’ve been harping a lot on the new restaurants and retailers in West Village in Smyrna. I’m just really impressed with the way things are shaping up over there, and you all know how I feel about Blue Moon Pizza.

I’d like to thank Dina, who is the Director of Marketing over at Monte Hewett Homes, for sending me a bunch of photos of the buildings in West Village. These go very well with my construction pictures I snapped back in December. Dina sent me many pictures (I’ll share the rest with you later), but these first few are of the retail shops near the Atlanta Road entrance.

Technorati Tags: West Village, Smyrna, Blue Moon Pizza, Monte Hewett Homes

Trying to decide whether to take I-75 or Cobb Parkway down to the city can cause headaches in morning traffic. Well, I can’t make traffic any easier on you commuters, but I can tell you about a new phone service that will give you traffic information to help with your driving decisions. And best of all, it’s free.

On Wednesday, the state began Georgia 511 — a free phone service that provides traffic and travel information to commuters 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Callers connect to the system by dialing 5-1-1 from any landline or mobile phone. Callers can get statewide traffic conditions, route-specific information and details on road or lane closures due to construction, incidents or weather. Estimated travel times are available for major roads within metro Atlanta. And connections are available to transit providers, major airports, rideshare organizations, tourism information and 511 systems in neighboring states.

I am going to start a weekly post with some interesting “green links” that I find throughout the week. Enjoy!!!

• Creating a “green” baby nursery
• Mesquite: It’s a Floor Wax and a Dessert Topping
• GREEN YOUR APPLIANCES! Refrigerators
• SOLAR DECATHLON: Solar house design competition
• Helpful Tips For Saving Electricity At Home
• Air-Seal Your Home And Save Energy

For those of you road warriors out there, this news will surely be enjoyed. At some point in time, next year, Kennesaw will be going WiFi.

The initial access points will be City Hall, the train depot, the community center, the 33-acre Adams Park and the soon-to-open Swift-Cantrell Park.

The only scary issue I had with this whole thing is the fact that the article states that “The service will be free initially.” I don’t want free initially, I want free forever. I want to drive around aimlessly with my laptop and always have an excellent signal, and I want it free. I want to surf on my Blackberry using WiFi, and I want it free. I don’t want it free “initially”, I want it free… just free.

But in all seriousness, this is great news for Kennesaw. Let’s see if more Cobb County cities can follow suit.

Technorati Tags: WiFi, Kennesaw, Cobb County

Back in May I spoke about Riverwood, the mixed use development just “ITP” on Cobb Parkway. I found some artist renderings of what the project will look like. Enjoy!

Here’s what the whole Riverwood site will look like.

Here’s a commercial portion of Riverwood.

This is the hotel portion of Riverwood.

Technorati Tags: Riverwood, mixed use development, Cobb Parkway

Some of the retailers and restaurants have recently opened in Smyrna’s, West Village. You can now shop, have a drink or eat at Five Guys Burgers, McCray’s Tavern, Starbucks Coffee, Je Belle’s formal boutique, Nora’s Place with fine arts and crafts, Palo’s Shoe Gallery, Pashmere Ladies Boutique and Blue Moon Pizza.

Now, I just had lunch at Blue Moon Pizza and let me tell you how much I enjoyed it. We ordered two Specialty Moons (Do I really need to explain this one?) to share. We tried the Santa Fe Chicken and the Luna. Both were great, but the Luna was fabulous. I highly recommend it.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna, West Village, Five Guys Burgers, McCray’s Tavern, Starbucks Coffee, Je Belle’s formal boutique, Nora’s Place, Palo’s Shoe Gallery, Pashmere Ladies Boutique, Blue Moon Pizza

There is a new subdivision in Powder Springs called Springbrook Estates. There will be 196 homes in this neighborhood when all is completed and they are priced starting at the $240’s. Some of the homes can be as big as nearly 3,900 square feet. That’s a nice, big house for the price.

Springbrook Estates is located just a mile off the Silver Comet Trail (directions below) and has the following amenities:

• Clubhouse
• Pool
• Multi-purpose fields
• Nature Trails
• Playground
• Tennis Courts

Please call me or use the contact page to reach me with any questions about Springbrook Estates or other Powder Springs real estate questions.

Directions to Springbrook Estates:
I-285 West to I-20 West (exit 10B). Take Thornton Road (Exit 44)and turn right. Thornton Road will become C.H. James Parkway (Hwy 278). Turn right on Oglesby Road. Turn left on Lewis Road. Springbrook Estates will be on your left and right.

Technorati Tags: Powder Springs, Springbrook Estates, Silver Comet Trail, Powder Springs real estate

A few weeks back Kairos Development Corporation broke ground on the highly anticipated mixed use development in Vinings called Avignon at Vinings. The pricing has changed a bit (info below) since I last spoke about this Cobb County mixed use development, as well as some of the amenities have been announced.

A Kairos Development “Live Life Community,” Avignon at Vinings will offer residents a full amenity package including a pool; wellness center and a clubhouse with a caterer’s kitchen; and resident wine cellar with lockers and a tasting room. Lovely topography invites homeowners to relax and unwind at outdoor gathering spaces with scenic views of the City of Atlanta.

*** Updated Avignon at Vinings pricing ***
The 25 condos will start in the $400’s
The 85 Townhomes will start in the $750’s
The 25 villas (Single Family Homes) will start in the $1.2’s

Thanks to the Atlanta Daybook for the quote from Kairos concerning the amenities.

Technorati Tags: Kairos Development Corporation, mixed use development, Avignon at Vinings, Cobb County