Caroline Peck Holt is a Realtor with The Vawter Group of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty.
Every week, we ask an Atlanta real estate professional for their thoughts on the top trends in Atlanta real estate.
This week, we talked with Caroline Peck Holt, a Realtor with The Vawter Group of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty. Born and raised in Brookhaven in Atlanta, Caroline is a graduate of The University of Mississippi, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in marketing communications. Hailing from a family of real estate professionals (her father is a broker who worked with Jenny Pruitt, her grandfather a former homebuilder/developer Atlanta), Caroline brings numerous experiences to her real estate business.
Atlanta Agent (AA): What have you impressions been of the Atlanta marketplace, this year?
Caroline Peck Holt (CPH): Initially, there was a small amount of inventory at the start of the year, but business seems to be picking up now. Homes seem to be selling more quickly, but that has presented new challenges. It’s definitely been a struggle to find certain places in a specific price range and area.
As far as what’s driving the market activity, the economy is getting better in Atlanta, and people are seeing home sales and rising prices; that’s very encouraging for people to see, and helps them recognize that things are finally getting better.
AA: You mentioned the challenge of finding the right home for your client; what other challenges do you see, as the fall market takes shape?
CPH: The inventory situation should become better. From what I can see, it seems that the supply of homes is increasing. It’s hard to say for sure, but my instinct is that things will not only continue to improve, but that it will inspire more people to list their homes, as a result.
Now, looking forward, the fall market is better for buyers than sellers. Winter, though, is definitely slow, and it has to do a lot with the cold weather; people do not want to get out, but when the weather improves, it motivates people.
AA: What are some of the approaches that you take when marketing your listings to homebuyers?
CPH: What I’ve really found to be helpful is marketing the listing I have in the area that I’m in. I have two different high-rise condo listings right now, for instance, and I’ve sent out brochures to the whole building and competition buildings; that’s been really helpful, because people don’t realize how the neighbors in that building may want to upgrade or downgrade.
In fact, I showed one of those listings to a woman in the building. She had lived there for some time, but she always wanted more square footage, and she wouldn’t have even known about the listing had I had sent out those brochures. There’s a certain niche of people who want to live in a high-rise, so it just makes sense to market to those people.