Worried about the real estate market? Well you probably should be.

But if you live in Decatur, you can breathe a little easier.

Despite a 19% drop in new home prices (a very volatile measure in an entirely built out area like Decatur – see orange line in the chart below), the steadier median resale price of existing homes in the city grew 6.57% in 2007 vs. 2006, according to the AJC’s Home Sale Report for 2007.

Only 14 other zip codes in the entire metro area had larger growth than that. (See the second chart on this page for that ranking) In DeKalb, only 30306 (Morningside) and 30324 (LaVista Park area) experienced larger growth.

Not too shabby. We must be doin’ something right.

Next Stop…Decatur has the photographic proof.

h/t: InDecatur

Realtor Barb Rowland sent along some info over the weekend that details who’s taking over the upper floors of the ol’ Trust Building.

Here’s the abbreviated version w/ available links…

1. Clinical psychologist Dr. John R. Lucy
2. Doherty, Duggan & Rouse Insurors
3. Two Friends Import Company
4. Premier Polygraph Services
5. Ringer Photography
6. The Nicholson Group – small business consulting
7. EyeFly Design – graphic design firm
8. A Change of Care – nurse consulting services

Quite an eclectic mix! They’ll have a Grand Opening this Friday, June 13th from 4-8p for those interested in wine, cheese and an open house of these new businesses.

Additionally, David (at InDecatur) got this response from Barb about the lovely stuccoed half-facade that veils the front of the building.

“The difficulty with renovation [besides it is very expensive] is the surprise of what is behind the stucco? From what we understand it is not Brick under most of it, but several types of surfaces and apparently quite a procedure and risk of taking the stucco off to examine. But at some point, hopefully in 2009 we will examine further and work toward a historical look.”

Hmm…are downtown business owners interested in making downtown a National Register Historic District? Then all qualified rehabilitation of historic structures (like the Trust Building) would be eligible for Sonny’s new, generous tax credit. We’re talking up to $300,000 here folks (25% of total project cost). All you have to do is register the district (write a nomination) and get your rehab signed off by the NPS. OK, so you gotta fight through a little government tape…but now it seems totally worth it.