High-rise Residential Condos in Atlanta

Lately, Real Estate has taken a happy turn in Greater Atlanta area. With all the hypes of ‘buyers’ market’, ‘foreclosures galore’, and numerous excellent properties in desirable areas sitting for months, make one to believe that there is a ‘glut of homes’ unable to sell fast. Billboards showing over 105,000 homes for sale, in Atlanta, and pundits mentioning numerous foreclosures allover the town, makes life difficult for sellers and their realtors.

But there has been a boom of construction, of numerous new residential subdivisions, Especially towhomes, as well as of office condominiums all around Greater Atlanta, and these properties are selling fast at (higher) prices unheard of before. Between 2000 and 2006, over 900,000 people moved to Atlanta, more than any other city in the United States. In addition, Atlanta is the third city, after New York and Los Angeles, to host the headquarters of maximum number of Fortune 500 companies. Lack of natural barriers like mountain and ocean, has made Atlanta to grow far and wide, and the expansion has no end in sight.

Recently, downtown, midtown, Buckhead and Vinings have seen the construction of multi-story, high-rise residential condo towers, which are selling fast at Manhattan (NY) and Beverly Hills (CA) prices. The demand for luxury homes in Atlanta has been more than in NY and CA in the last few years. In addition to several country clubs with million dollar homes and golf courses, in the suburbia, it is time that people own a second home in downtown, to participate in various entertainment and sports activities in the city of Atlanta. Braves stadium, Phillip Arena, Aquarium, Coca Cola museum, Olympic Park, CNN, World Congress Center, Georgia Dome, Apparel Mart, proposed Air Museum, Piedmont Park, Botanical Garden, High Museum, Symphony Orchestra and Civic Center are some of the attractions that people in suburbs visit in the weekends.

The traffic situation in Atlanta is getting worse day by day. More roads are needed. MARTA and the buses are not capable enough to carry people around. Thus there has been a trend that people who work and play in downtown, also live in downtown. Plenty of High-rise condo towers are thus being developed in several parts of the town, that attract buyers and investors from suburbs, as well as from larger metropolitan areas like New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Houston and Miami.

I will try to enumerate a few of these buildings, that we know in and out and recommend our prospects and buyers, to consider purchasing one or more units in there, since the prices escalate upwards very fast, and the sellers/developers are not willing to negotiate on the price due to high demand for their properties. Most of these buildings/towers have not broken the grounds yet, and are not slated to be completed before the end of 2009 and 2010 or even later, hence their units are still being sold at lower pre-construction prices, and include attractive pricing and incentives. All these facilities have swimming pool, concierge service, guard controlled entrances, valet parking, gym, conference center, guest suites, few upscale shops for the residents and numerous places to go, in addition to work/offices, in walking distances. Plenty of restaurant, shops and entertainment will be available near by.

AQUARIUS, by Tuscany Corporation, across the street from GA Aquarium, at the corner of Luckie and Ivan Allen streets, a green building with wind turbines and solar panels to generate energy for residents, and deep underground state of the art parking, being sold for $300K (for one bed unit) through $2.5 million for a penthouse. It will be 35 stories high and will have a total of 120 residential units.

TERMINUS 10, in Buckhead, by Cousins properties, at the corner of Piedmont and Peachtree Streets, close to Grand Hyatt , Tower Place and Lenox Mall, in the financial district. Prices begin at $296K for a studio through $ 3.5 million for a Penthouse, with 32 stories having over 200 units.

THE ATLANTIC, by Novare Group, on 17th street in midtown, close to the Atlantic Station., and IKEA. It will have 37 stories and over 200 residences, with hotels, shops, restaurants, and lake around to keep a family busy for hours and days. Prices begin from $350K for a one bed room unit through $2 million for a Penthouse.

SKYLINE at LINDBERG, by MLC, at the corner of Piedmont and Sydney Marcus, across from Lindberg Marta Station/Headquarters, and GA 400 as well as I-85.Prices begin at $190K for one bed room units through $1.2 million for a Penthouse, and is being built by MLC of Chicago.

MEZZO, by Tivoli Properties, is in between midtown and Buckhead, close to Peachtree Battle Street, on Peachtree Street, with 94 units over 25 floors, ranging from $350K for one bed units through $2 million for a Penthouse.

TRUMP TOWERS ATLANTA, by Donald Trump Organization, NY, on 15th street in midtown, close to High Museum of Arts and Colony Square, is selling for $520K for a one bed unit through $1.5 million for a 2 bed unit, where Penthouses may be sold for $3 million through $5 million. Its two separate towers will have 47 and 38 stories with a total of 535 residences.

Most of these towers have the same set of attorneys, builders, architects and marketing organizations working for them, but all of them work in isolation, and are generally not aware of what kind of residences the others are selling. We, thus, took the time to contact each of them, and generated arrangements to sell any of the units in any of the buildings as Listing-, Selling- or Co-Op Agents, at the best negotiated prices, and guide prospects and buyers with relevant information and contracting paperwork through our offices.

Financial Planning

Financial Planning (FP) is both an Art as well as a Science. Several things are discussed and executed, in this area, based on emotions, feelings and beliefs. While others are decided based on hard facts of taxation, law, and financial expediency. Financial Planners
(FPs) practice very specific and individual styles of financial planning, which is as unique as the planners themselves. A Stock-Broker approaches the matter as ‘money management’ and invests the funds (with obvious risks) for higher gains. An Insurance-Agent is generally interested in setting up insurance plans to avoid future economic losses, and to avoid financial risks. But comprehensive financial planning (FP) goes much further beyond these narrow scopes of ‘money management’ and ‘insurance’. In
my opinion, the financial planning should be done with the following two aspects in mind
Risk Management, and 2. Investments.
Risk Management, obviously financial, consists of placing mostly insurance policies in force, where an individual or a corporation (business) transfers the risk of financial loss
to an insurer (Insurance Company), through payment of relatively smaller premiums, in comparison to the potential bigger, catastrophic economic disadvantages.
The following types of insurances should be planned to avoid losses : Disability-, Accident/Sickness-, Long term care-, Life-, Medical, dental, vision-, and property/casualty insurance.
Disability Insurance is also called income protection or dignity insurance. Due to sudden accident and illness, one can loose a job or reduce his/her ability to conduct a business,
resulting into financial loss, hence an insurance policy should be in place to compensate
at the time of such need. It normally covers the active, working life (from age 18 through age 65 or beyond). But a Long Term Care policy covers normally in older times (age 66 through death) against incapacitation or inability to conduct one’s living affairs like eating, transferring from/to bed, toileting and bathing, eventually paying for the expenses of nursing home or home healthcare services.
Medical insurance, including those for accidents, dental and vision-care, covers against sickness and for maintenance of good health for a productive life.
Life Insurance generally covers against premature death, in the form of temporary
plans (called term policies). This can be coupled with an element of investment, in the form of universal-, whole-, or endowment-policies to manage retirement expenses, and or long term care needs, including in stock market indices.
Property and casualty insurances are used to protect automobiles (boats, planes etc), homes, buildings and other structures. They also include coverage for liability, professional malpractice and numerous other things. For example, the ‘wrist’ of tennis star, Ivan Lendl, and ‘throat’ of famous Indian singer, Lata Mangeshkar, were insured for a specific sum, by Lloyd’s of London, against failing to perform.
Investments, require the generation of funds for immediate and/or future use by prudent
money management, through small periodic and/or lump sum contributions. This could be done for a comfortable retirement, education planning for children/grandchildren, for charity through foundations for specific causes, general savings for future use, and for immediate and future expenses of any kind, including transferring wealth to the heirs and future generations.
This brings into picture the borrowing for home purchase (residential mortgage) or commercial building(s), equipments, for hiring employees and facilities to live properly and conduct a business. It also results into repaying the loans in timely manner and at
profitable rates. This will require the services of a stcok-broker to invest funds in markets
through the purchase of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, REITs, ETFs, and the likes of these, domestically and internationally. A mortgage broker (may be a lender or a bank), should be consulted to make smart decisions about loans and their repayments. An accountant (CPA) should be consulted for tax matters, resulting into favorable tax planning, both for individual and corporate situations. An attorney is needed to set up wills, trusts and other power of attorney documents, for proper conduct of one’s affairs, financial or otherwise, in less painful ways, when one is alive and active and when one is gone and has to relinquish the control of things.
A competent Financial Planner, should be aware of the scope and workings of a stock-broker, insurance-agent, realtor, mortgage-broker, attorney and accountant, and should have access to all these separate ‘hats’, and be able to generate a team of professionals to conduct the practice of ‘financial planning’ effectively.