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Fulton County has extended early voting hours now through June 5 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

It is the second extension of early voting hours the county has made as pandemic precautions have caused long lines and other delays at polls. The county has urged voters to use mail-in ballots instead.

The early voting is for the June 9 primary and special election.

The Fulton County Department of Registration & Elections has also installed 20 drop boxes for absentee ballots, including the Auburn Avenue Research Library. To locate the closest drop box, voters can visit www.fultoncountyga.gov/absenteedropbox and view the list of locations or use the mapping tool to find the nearest location. Boxes will be locked at 7 p.m. on Election Day.

County and state officials are also encouraging voters to mail in their absentee ballots this week ahead of the June 9 primary. To be counted, absentee ballots must have arrived at the elections office by  7 p.m. on primary day.

For more information, visit https://www.fultoncountyga.gov/june9voterguide.

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Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has extended the curfew for a fourth night, June 2, ahead of planned protests in Downtown this evening. The curfew will go into effect at 9 p.m. and continue until sunrise on Wednesday, June 3.

Protests are expected this afternoon and evening at Centennial Olympic Park, the State Capitol and Municipal Court building, according to social media posts.

The Atlanta Police Department has made nearly 400 arrests since protests against the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police began on Friday night.

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Highlights from this housing report: Now could be a good time to buy a home in Seattle, Washington. Mortgage rates recently hit an all-time record low. Local home prices could dip later in 2020, but should rebound. Low inventory continues to be an issue for Seattle buyers. Is Now a Good Time to Buy in […]

The post Summer 2020: A Good Time to Buy a Home in Seattle? appeared first on MetroDepth.

The ultimate goal of every real estate investor is to make as much money as possible from rental properties. However, finding out how to do that is challenging for beginners…

It goes without saying, but the real estate game can be difficult. With this business comes the many different stages of investing, such as learning, finding, financing, analyzing, and running…

The most common barrier to investing in real estate is, as you might’ve expected, money. You’ll need money to make money with real estate rental properties. Many think that investing…

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced that six Atlanta Police Department officers will be charged in the excessive force case against two students who were brutally tased and dragged from their car on May 30.

Howard said Officers Ivory Streeter and Mark Gardner, who were terminated over the weekend, are each charged with aggravated assault in the case. Streeter faces an additional charge of pointing or aiming a gun at Messiah Young, the 22 -year-old Morehouse student who was driving the car.

In addition, Howard has also charged Officer Lonnie Hood with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of simple battery; Officer Willie Sauls with aggravated assault and criminal damage to property; Officer Armond Jones with aggravated assault and pointing or aiming a gun; and Officer Ronald Claud with criminal damage to property.

The incident was caught on video widely circulated on social media that showed officers using excessive force to arrest Young and his girlfriend, Spelman student Taniyah Pilgrim, 20, on International Boulevard near Centennial Olympic Park. Footage from one of the body cameras worn by an officer is available at this link, but be warned it is graphic.

In a June 1 press conference, Young’s attorney, Mawuli Davis, said he believed the couple was targeted because they were filming the George Floyd protests happening around them in Downtown after the curfew, which they didn’t know about.

Pilgrim said Officer Jones threatened to shoot them. “We felt like we were going to die in that car,” she said.

Pilgrim, who was not charged, said she sat for hours in a jail bus and was refused a protective mask to prevent spread of COVID-19 even when she told officers she had asthma. Young’s arm was broken and he required 20 stitches.

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Two Poncey-Highland institutions – Manuel’s Tavern and Briarcliff Plaza shopping center – have officially been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Manuel’s Tavern, which reopened its dining room on May 31 after being closed for months due to the COVID-19 outbreak, was established in 1956 by Manuel Maloof. The restaurant and bar has long been a hangout for politicians, journalists, and those in the “social realm” as the Atlanta Preservation Center said in its announcement of the honor.

The Manuel’s Tavern space occupies a circa 1922 commercial building with board and batten siding with ashlar granite pilasters along the North Highland facade. Interior historic features include plaster walls with wooden wainscoting, terrazzo floors, and beadboard ceiling.

Briarcliff Plaza, better known as the shopping center that houses the Plaza Theatre, was also added to the register, according to a media release from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Constructed in 1940, Briarcliff Plaza is comprised of two separate buildings, with the other capped by another local institution, Majestic Diner. Notable features of these buildings include historic Art Deco-style neon signage, and original decorative curved fluting with Streamline Moderne Fins, set into the marble panel parapet walls.

The National Register of Historic Places is the United State’s official list of historic buildings, structures, sites, objects, and districts worthy of preservation.

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The Atlanta Police Department made 95 arrests on June 1 as the George Floyd protests entered a fourth day.

According to a report from APD, the majority of protestors cleared the streets without incident after the 9 p.m. curfew began. However, a group of protestors remained inside Centennial Olympic Park and refused to leave.

“A number of them threw rocks and discharged fireworks toward officers,” according to APD public affairs officer Sgt. John Chafee. “Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd and a number of arrests were made.”

Throughout the day, several large groups of protestors gathered at City Hall, the State Capitol, and Centennial Olympic Park Drive and Marietta Street. National Guard troops displayed a heavy presence in Downtown and cleared the streets at curfew.

“We have encountered several issues during the day including instances where protestors blocked traffic on several roadways and briefly entered onto the interstate,” Chafee said.

Social media video showed protesters dancing, holding sit-ins and lay-ins, and calling for justice for George Floyd, the Minnesota man killed by a police officer on Memorial Day.

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The current coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly everyone’s life and livelihood. From school closures to shopping restrictions and shortages to social distancing, 2020 is turning out differently than many expected. As the U.S. works to flatten the infection curve while slowly beginning the reopening process, one thing is clear. Home has never been more important.

As real estate is considered an essential business in many states, showings, contracts and closings have continued throughout the pandemic, albeit in creative new ways. Virtual showings, online meetings and signatures, and even virtual closings in some cases, are all part of adjusting to a social distancing society. For Mark Spain Real Estate, adapting has not been as challenging as some brokerages may be experiencing. The firm has been paperless for some time, already enlists the services of professional photography for its listings, hosts open houses at an owner’s request, but has never relied on open houses as the primary way to source buyers and has an agent team that is, for the most part, used to working remotely.

“Agents who heavily relied on in-person open houses to sell their homes are having to reinvent the sales process,” stated Mark Spain Real Estate President John Makarewicz. “We have not believed they are the best or primary way to sell a home for quite some time. Instead, we heavily invested in technology and online marketing.”

Makarewicz says Mark Spain Real Estate also relies on video or virtual tours for nearly all its listings. The timing for this could not be better, as potential homebuyers are relying on a large selection of professional photos and virtual tours to narrow down their options, all from the safety of their current residence. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) data, the percentage of buyers who purchase a home without ever seeing it in person was just 3.5 percent, pre-coronavirus. An NAR survey conducted in early May found this number had spiked to nearly 25 percent.

Additionally, Realtor.com reports that interest in listings with virtual tours has doubled. The number of listing views, saves and shares has also markedly increased in recent weeks.

While U.S. shelter-in-place guidelines first began in some parts of the country on March 16, Mark Spain Real Estate had an all-time record month in March for new listings. According to a first quarter recap on its blog (“Mark Spain 2020 First Quarter Successes and Growth”), its March listings growth was 100 percent over March the previous year and its closing rate was 31 percent higher, year-over-year. March closings were up 23 percent compared to pre-coronavirus rates, with average sales price up 1 percent over the prior year.

In monitoring this same information in April, closings were up 3 percent, compared to pre-COVID-19 and 12 percent, year-over-year. This time, however, the average sales price was up a whopping 15 percent over the prior year and 4 percent, pre-pandemic.

This stat would seem to support NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun’s assessment that home prices are still on 

the rise. This is, in part, due to an already existing inventory shortage, pre-coronavirus. Prices have continued to increase and bidding wars are occurring in some price points.

“For April, Mark Spain Real Estate’s number of new listings was up 10 percent over pre-COVID-19 rates,” summarized Makarewicz, who oversees offices in Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and Raleigh.

In comparison, Realtor.com’s Monthly Housing Trends Report mentioned newly listed homes dropped 44.1 percent nationally in April. In the South, specifically, the new listing rate decreased 31.4 percent for April, year-over-year.

Mark Spain Real Estate’s Guaranteed Offer program—in existence now for more than two years—is also a welcome option for some home sellers right now. This hassle-free model allows sellers a way to quickly sell a home without formally listing it.

“At the end of the day, it still boils down to having an amazing team of agents and staff to make all the various moving parts come together,” explained founder and CEO Mark Spain. “And customer service, coupled with ongoing training, have always been hallmarks of our company. Now, we are just using our expertise to serve others remotely.”

Spain also mentioned the firm is actively hiring real estate agents. The team’s growth, as of March 2020, was up 62 agents, or roughly 40 percent, year-over-year, with more positions to be filled. Interested agents should visit www.joinmarkspain.com to learn more.