Finding homes for sale in Atlanta just got easier. Using the latest mobile phone app from Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, you can search for homes for sale anywhere in Atlanta on a phone that offers wireless internet service or GPS capabilities. This means now you can search from your car, a coffee shop, and even as a passenger while in driving. Simply download the free application for your iPhone or Blackberry and within a minute or two, a GPS map will show your location and will list all the available homes in that specific area. As your location changes, so do the available homes. You can view multiple pictures, find out prices, square footage, interior and exterior features, number of bedrooms and baths, etc. You can even press a “Call to See” button and, while you’re being connected with the listing agent, the agent is simultaneously being sent an email with the information about the listing about which you are calling. All this information is available to you instantly, any time of day, with the touch of a button on your SmartPhone. Visit www.atlantafinehomes.com to download the app.
Metro Brokers has announced a long-term franchise agreement with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, doubling the national brand’s size and growing its reach into the state of Georgia. The Atlanta-based company, which operates 28 office locations with nearly 2,300 agents, will now operate under the name Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers. This is one of the largest franchising agreements in recent years within the real estate industry. In addition, Metro Brokers’ commercial real estate division will now operate as part of the Coldwell Banker Commercial franchise network. Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers will continue to operate under the direction of its president and CEO, Kevin Levent, who took the position in 1996 after two decades as one of Metro Brokers’ top sales associates. www.bhgrealestate.com
EpiCity, a provider of personal and professional real estate services, has added a component to its business model and is now in the business of buying, renovating and renting houses, with the occasional quick turn and sale. The company has launched its second private equity fund and in the past year has purchased more than 35 foreclosures. Its first $1,000,000 private equity fund purchased its goal of 20 houses. The average “all in cost” per house was about $51,000 with the first investment fund, and the second fund also looks at houses in the $75,000 and up range, in more neighborhoods than the first fund, for a more diversified portfolio. Rental projections average about $820 per month. www.EpiCity.com.
Atlanta builder Cablik Enterprises is using Georgia’s first on-site concrete crushing machine to recycle a home’s existing concrete into new concrete and stone for its redevelopment projects. Cablik Enterprises is using the machine for the first time at one of its projects in Sandy Springs, where the client hired them to demolish the existing structure and rebuild an upscale, modern home in its place. For more information, call (404) 627-1645.
