Congratulations to the Duffy Realty team for 8 great years of real estate! We signed on and helped our 15,000th client this week and tomorrow we are celebrating our 8th Anniversary of being in business here in Atlanta. We certainly could not have done it without the hard work and dedication of many, many truly gifted people. Job well done team! And thank you to all our clients for your business, we wouldn’t be here without you!

If you would like to become our client please give us a call:

Sellers call 678-366-7846

Buyers call 678-892-1186

Click here to Check out what these Clients are Raving about with BUYING a Home using Duffy Realty of Atlanta. Get PAID to find your Next Georgia Home!

Article from: Thursday, December 18, 2008,
The Business Journal of Milwaukee – by Bryant Ruiz Switzky Baltimore Business Journal

Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages interest rates fell to their lowest level on record, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market survey released Thursday.

The national average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was 5.19 percent for the week ending Dec. 18, the lowest level since McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) began the survey in 1971.

Rates were down from last week when it averaged 5.47 percent. A year ago, the mortgages averaged 6.14 percent.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.92 percent, down from 5.2 percent last week and 5.79 percent a year ago.

The 15-year rates have not been lower since April 1, 2004, when they averaged 4.84 percent.

“The decline [in 30-year fixed-rate mortgages] was supported by the Federal Reserve announcement on December 16th, when it cut the federal funds target to a record low and stated it stood ready to expand its purchases of mortgage-related assets as conditions warrant,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist in a statement.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.60 percent this week, down from last week when it averaged 5.82 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.90 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.94 percent this week, down from last week when it averaged 5.09 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.51 percent.

If you are ready to buy, don’t forget about our Buyer CASH Bonus – www.DuffyRealtyofAtlanta.com

Find Home Buyers Tips and other Real Estate Resources HERE

Buying a home means that you have to get into the home to see it, right? Most buyers can not make a decision to buy a home until they have a deep understanding about what they are buying, the area they are buying in and what the home will mean to them. This means seeing homes with their agent, through open houses or via lock boxes, or having the listing agent let them into the home.

However, most buyers are confused about what this education process will cost them when they start to work with an agent. Real estate commission is almost always paid by the seller. The buyer usually pays nothing. For a seller to be in the MLS, the system where agents find homes and buyers find homes to see and buy, the seller must offer the buyer’s agent a commission. This is the caveat to be in the MLS because the MLS is a co-operative service to notify agents of houses that are on the market. When you, as a buyer, look online at any website, you are looking at the MLS. You are just viewing a watered down version with will less information on the listing profile and fewer search fields than what an agent will see,

There are some exceptions to the fact that almost all sellers pay the commission – please be aware:

Exception 1 – You have signed a buyer’s agency with an agent and the seller is only offer say 2% commission to the buyer’s agent (this could be any number) and your agreement with your agent states that no matter what, the commission that they get 3%. You will be expected to cover the gap and pay the extra 1% commission.

Exception 2 – You buy a for-sale-by-owner. Not all for-sale-by-owners will honor a buyer’s agent commission. Normally, sellers will announce the willingness to pay a buyer’s agent commission by stating, verbally or through a sign rider, that “agents are protected”.

Those are the only two exceptions that I can think of?

The Real Estate Law Protects Your Interest

So, keeping the two exceptions in mind, let’s talk about what the real estate law says about your rights. You see the real estate law is written to protect the person that pays the commission to any agent. Since the seller is paying the commission, you did not get the right to have representation. I know, you are saying now, “No, my agent was by my side the whole time.” Well, they may have been by your side, but they were representing the seller, UNLESS, you signed a document in writing that stated that they represented you with confidentiality. This is called a buyer’s brokerage engagement in most states. And since this buyer representation is FREE in most cases, it is the best deal in real estate.

So, the bottom line is, see houses for free, be protected by hiring an agent in writing, and if you are in Atlanta, take part in the additional bonus of having an expert represent you in writing an offer, negotiating the contract and get cash at closing too! Duffy Realty offers a Buyer Cash Bonus of at least $500.00 up to HALF the BUYER’S AGENT COMMISSION to be paid at closing. You will get all of our tools, an expert agent, a clear understanding of your rights and the seller’s rights and like I said above, a BUYER CASH BONUS check 5 days after closing and all at NO COST to the buyer client.

For more details, go to www.DuffyRealtyofAtlanta.com or call 678-892-1186.

Phil Gentry of Duffy Realty hands out and Buyer Cash Bonus to his friend & client…

If you are jealous, contact us now to get your Buyer Cash Bonus check.

Contact Duffy Realty of Atlanta or Phil Gentry directly.

In this video you will see another Duffy home buyer who discovers that money does grow on trees. Thanks to Sherry Hoger, a great buyer’s agent on the Duffy Realty team, Sherry’s clients are several thousand dollars richer and they enjoyed the process.

If you decide that you want a money tree of your own, please visit my website here for the details. We gave 323 buyers cash bonuses in 2007 after they found their dream home and closed the deal.

Why Home Buyers Should Understand the Importance of Interest Rate Drops

by Ki Gray www.brokeragentnews.com

Real Estate buyers are usually highly focused on the purchase price of a property. This is a legitimate concern. The purchase price is one of the most important considerations in a real estate transaction. But at the same time home buyers too frequently treat interest rates as a secondary concern. Many buyers will stress over $300 or $400 in negotiations over purchase price. But when told that interest rates dropped half a point, home buyers will often respond with a shrug.

This is frequently because it is easy to understand the difference between paying 200k and 195k for a house. But it’s harder to appreciate the difference between an interest rate of 6.5% and 6.0% for a house. But interest rates can have a large influence on mortgage payments. Using a mortgage calculator first let’s look at the difference between the mortgage on a 200k and the mortgage on a 195k house assuming a 6.5 percent interest rate.
Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, that is right. Phillipe’s buyer helped Phillipe find the house for him and he reaped over $7,000 of Phillipe’s commission. All part of the THANK YOU that you get when you buy a home with Duffy Realty protecting your interest.

View other canceled checks of other lucky buyers here.