As changes in the housing market give us pause for reflection and concern, I’d like to begin each monthly article by sharing statistics for the housing market in Fayette County just to keep you up to speed. The data is supplied by our multiple listing service from September 30th to October 31st for single family residences.

Total active listings – 1152

Average days on the market – 111

Median price - $389,321.00

Average price of homes sold - $297,500.00

9% went “under contract” and 13% were sold.

As we will have just completed an election, I felt it was appropriate to focus this article on making you aware of some of the ways that the government regulates and controls real estate.

Are you aware that it is both the right of both state and federal government, public corporations, public utilities and public service corporations to take private property for what is deemed necessary public use for just compensation paid to the owner? This is known as “eminent domain”.

There is no private property exempt from this exercise of government power. They can take all or a portion of your property to create “green space, parks, roads, public buildings, etc” for the good of the community. If you have recently traveled Hwy. 74 south of Hwy. 54 in Peachtree City you will see eminent domain in action as they are removing trees to widen the highway to four lanes and many homes on the east side of Hwy. 74 are exposed as never before.

Last year, Realtors® across Georgia fought hard to implement tighter controls on eminent domain, giving increased protection to you, the property owner. Our campaign worked and Governor Sonny Perdue signed a strong bill to help curb misuse of eminent domain.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has recently stepped up efforts in the area of enforcement of Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (known as RESPA). RESPA prohibits a real estate broker or agent from receiving a “thing of value” for referring business to a settlement service provider (SSP) such as a mortgage banker, mortgage broker, title company or title agent. Truth in lending laws, the credit protection act and other federal laws, implemented by the Federal Reserve Board, are in place to protect the consumers against mortgage fraud.

Mortgage interest rates are set by the Federal Reserve System. Tom Stevens, the National Association of Realtors President spends a great deal of time in Washington as an advocate for stabilizing mortgage rates.

The Fayette County Board of REALTORS® has an active Governmental Affairs Committee who works to monitor community issues affecting real property. Many of our members are also involved in this same committee at the state level. They volunteer their time to keep all of us up to date on pending issues that affect real property so as a large voice we can fight for you.
Please remember that when you are considering buying or selling real estate that you use a professional REALTOR® who is held to a higher standard by a strict Code of Ethics.

The Fayette county Board of REALTORS® is one of nearly 1,600 local boards and associations of Realtors® nationwide that comprise the National Association of Realtors®. As the nation's largest trade association, NAR is "The Voice for Real Estate," representing more than 1,300,000 members involved in all aspects of the real estate industry.

By Sue Monson
President of the Fayette County Board of Realtors

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