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What a difference a few months and peak selling season make in the trends! Here’s a look at 2^nd Quarter 2015 data for several of Decatur’s direct neighbors. Our analysis of Q1 2015 can be found here.

The spring market delivered improvements over Q1 in all categories – the total number of homes sold doubled or tripled, days on market decreased, average sales price increased, and sales price to list price increased for the most part across all neighboring areas. Avondale Estates saw the most dramatic change over Q1 with triple the number of homes sold, days on market cut in half, a 4% gain in SP/LP, and a 41% rise in average sales price versus Q1.

The number of homes sold increased for all neighborhoods during the spring selling season. Of the adjoining neighborhoods, Druid Hills leads the pack with just over half the number sold in Decatur. Kirkwood comes in right behind Druid Hills, swapping places from Q1. Avondale, East Lake, and Medlock Park were nearly equal, hovering around 30 sales in Q2.

East Lake, Kirkwood and Medlock Park homes boasted the shortest time on the market at 31 days and just edging out Decatur at 36 days. Avondale Estates homes were on the market a bit longer, selling in approximately 1½ months. Homes in Druid Hills took the longest to sell averaging just less than 2 months, which is not unexpected since homes at the higher price points typically take longer to sell.

Sales Price to List Price remained strong in all neighboring areas. Kirkwood came in with the highest SP/LP at 99.5% and took over the top spot from East Lake in Q1. Medlock Park tied Decatur for the #2 spot at 98.8%.

Druid Hills held onto the highest average sales price, but only saw a 7% increase over Q1. Decatur posted the 2^nd highest average sales price and increased approximately 15% over Q1. Avondale ranked 3^rd in average sales price and had the biggest jump increasing 41% over Q1. Kirkwood and East Lake were 4^th and 5^th with 12% and 14% increases over Q1 respectively. Medlock Park rounded out the group hovering just above $250,000 and was the only neighborhood to show a drop over Q1 of approximately 3%.
The 3^rd Quarter numbers are likely to be interesting, since they combine the final two months of peak selling season with back to school.

Click over to our website to search for homes currently for sale.

Photo courtesy of Avondale Estates website

 

 

Daryl writes in…

Found this sweet dog Friday, Feb. 6 at appx. 5:15pm on Oakdale Road in Druid Hills (30307)

• Male

• No collar or chip

• Good disposition

• obedient – sits on command

• Appears well cared for, 45 lbs. and about 4 years old

• Breed: Lab mix

• Seeking owner or adoption before we turn him over to the county

• call 404-217-8823

There’s been a lot of news coverage and discussion about annexation around DeKalb over the past year, with Decatur finally approving their own annexation Master Plan this month.

But what’s the real likelihood that the Georgia Legislature will actually take up the issue of dealing with DeKalb’s many newly proposed and expanded cities?

As Decaturish laid out in a post last week, there are still many unanswered questions.

But the one we’ve heard will be nearly impossible to be resolved by the January legislative session regards the potential Atlanta annexation of Druid Hills, which  would not only move over 1600 students into APS but would also include taking possession of two DeKalb County Elementary Schools – Fernbank Elementary and Briar Vista Elementary – along with Druid Hills High School.

I ran across this quote from District 86 State Rep. Michele Henson in a Neighbor Newspaper article a few days back that reiterated this point again…

“How do we address this issue with our school systems as far as who is going to go where, what schools will or won’t be in DeKalb anymore and so forth?” [Rep. Hensen] said. “This is a major issue and is not a decision to be made in the next two months because we’re not at the place yet where we understand what it means for our county.”

DeKalb County Schools recently released a report that details the impact and complexities of an Atlanta annexation on DeKalb County Schools.

Read the rest of this entry »

OK, so there are a lot of moving pieces in the ongoing annexation saga, especially in the neighborhoods to Decatur’s north.  We’re pregnant with updates, so here are many of them all in one place.

Medlock

The Medlock Area Neighborhood Association just released the first results of an ongoing survey that shows residents who took the survey most preferred to be added to the city of Decatur (66%) vs. being added to the city of Briarcliff (60%) or the City of Atlanta (~45%).

At a recent meeting with Former Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver and State Senate candidate Elena Parent, the message sent to regarding Decatur’s disinterest in annexing Medlock was “it ain’t over”, do not accept defeat today.”  They continued…

City of Decatur is likely to get commercial areas but there is an unspoken rule that commercial annexations should also include residents

We would need Representative Rahn Mayo to write legislation to propose that our neighborhood be annexed to City of Decatur. Even if the legislation is approved and a referendum is mandated, the Decatur Commission could still say no.

Druid Hills

Over to the west in Druid Hills, the main annexation effort continues to focus on Atlanta.  The Civic Association recently released a map, using the current Briar Vista and Fernbank Elementary School boundaries as the first proposed boundaries of a Druid Hills annexation into Atlanta.  See map below (courtesy of Druid Hill Civic Assoication website).

The Civic Association has also provided a tax analysis of the potential changes if incorporated into Atlanta.  In regards to Emory, the site says they continue to monitor the situation and hope the process remains open so they can evaluate their options.

Clairemont Heights

Between Medlock and Druid Hills sits Clairemont Heights, which has been relatively silent on annexation preference up until now.  However, this past week the Clairmont Heights Civic Association blog noted that some residents of the neighborhood had recently filed a petition with the city of Decatur requesting annexation.  The petition claims the support of “at least 68% of homes” in Clairmont Heights, though some discussion on the Association’s Facebook page about how widely the petition was circulated.

At the same time, Clairmont Heights current President noted recently that Druid Hills’ latest annexation map (above) incorporated some of Clairmont Heights in their annexation plan.

Of note, if Clairmont were to incorporate into Decatur, it would eliminate an Atlanta annexation from Medlock’s array of choices, since it would have no way of being congruent to the Atlanta city limit.

Interesting article up on the AJC.  Here’s how it gets started…

Some neighborhoods in unincorporated DeKalb County near Emory University are unlikely to be annexed by the city of Atlanta, said county schools superintendent Michael Thurmond.

Fielding questions after giving a speech about the state of the school system Tuesday, Thurmond told a crowd at Georgia Perimeter College in Clarkston that he’d inquired about the annexation interest of the Druid Hills Civic Association.

Not a lot of new info in this WABE article, but it does point out that both Druid Hills and the Medlock neighborhoods have been sort of stranded in the larger cityhood conversation and they very quickly need to figure out where they want to go.

We need to act rather than be acted upon,” says Justin Critz of the Druid Hills Civic Association. He says the group is asking its 4,400 homeowners and renters to pay attention to what is going on in the cityhood debate. Critz says the association is gathering information and putting it out to residents.

That is also happening in Medlock Park, a neighborhood with some 1300 homes near the Decatur city line. Lynn Ganim, acting president of the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association, says, “We have no clue what sort of power we have or what could happen to us, but we want to make sure that people are educated about options.”

The rush for cityhood continues.  From the AJC…

Residents in the Druid Hills neighborhood, one of the oldest and wealthiest communities in the Atlanta area, will soon consider a key question about their future: Should they stay or go?

In coming months, residents will decide whether to remain part of unincorporated DeKalb County or join the city of Atlanta.

The Druid Hills area, which includes Emory University and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, has the potential to change Atlanta’s tax base, educational system, racial makeup and political landscape if it’s annexed.

About 4,500 Druid Hills households will be mailed informational materials about their options in the next two or three weeks. Later this fall, they’ll be asked to complete surveys about their preference, said Anne Wallace, chairwoman of the Druid Hills Civic Association 2014 Citizens Survey Committee.

And for those of you wondering whether Decatur is any part of this conversation, there’s this…

Some Druid Hills residents have suggested that their neighborhood become a city, join the proposed city of Briarcliff-Lakeside or become part of the city of Decatur.

None of those options appears likely, in large part because Emory University has expressed concerns about joining a new city that could divide its campus. As for Decatur, the city school system is already at its capacity and its government doesn’t want to add more residential properties.