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Georgia residents can begin Airbnb’ing their properties again on May 1 after Gov. Brian Kemp said a statewide ban on short-term home rentals will be allowed to expire on April 30.

Kemp had instituted the suspension of short-term rentals beginning April 9 to combat the coronavirus outbreak. It applies to home rentals of 30 days or less, with exceptions for hotels, motels, campgrounds, commercial leasing and rentals intended as the lessee’s primary place of residence.

Kemp said the suspension will be allowed to expire as scheduled at 11:59 p.m. on April 30 without a renewal. He wrote that the decision is “based on favorable data and stakeholder input.”

A statewide shelter-in-place order is also scheduled to expire on April 30 unless Kemp extends it. His pandemic emergency powers currently run through May 30.

The post Gov. Kemp won’t renew short-term rentals ban after April 30 appeared first on Atlanta INtown Paper.

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Governor Brian P. Kemp announced that Amazon will further expand its Georgia presence with a new fulfillment center planned in Appling, Georgia. The new, multi-level operations facility will feature innovative Amazon robotics technology and create 800 new, full-time jobs.

“Amazon’s continued investments in Georgia are a testament to all that our state can offer, including the logistics and top-notch workforce needed for their growing global business,” said Governor Kemp. “I could not be more proud to welcome them to the Central Savannah River Area, and I am excited for the hardworking Georgians who will benefit from this new operation.”

“We are proud to continue our investment in Georgia with great jobs and a new, state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Columbia County to serve our customers across the state,” said Robert Packett, regional director of Amazon operations. “The Peach State and its incredible workforce have been vital to our ability to provide great selection, competitive prices and the Prime services we know our customers love. We are excited to create 800 new full-time jobs, with industry leading pay and benefits on day one, in the community.”

Amazon employees at the Appling location at White Oak Business Park will work alongside Amazon’s innovative robotics technology to pick, pack, and ship smaller customer orders, such as books, toys, and small household goods.

“Amazon’s announcement represents the single-largest project announcement ever in Columbia County, both for job creation and capital investment. We are thankful and excited to welcome Amazon and the jobs they are bringing to our community and White Oak Business Park at I-20,” said Columbia County Board of Commissioners Chairman Doug Duncan. “I commend the effort and support of Governor Kemp, the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Development Authority of Columbia County, and Columbia County’s staff. Thank you Amazon, for selecting Columbia County.”

Amazon currently employs more than 3,500 full-time employees in Georgia and has existing operations facilities in Jefferson, Braselton, Lithia Springs, East Point, Kennesaw, Macon, and Union City. The company expects to add an additional 1,000 jobs at its new fulfillment center in Stone Mountain and 500 new jobs at its Newnan fulfillment center, which was announced in January. The company also has two Prime Now Hubs and one Tech Hub in Atlanta, and several Whole Foods store locations across the state.

“Amazon jobs are great jobs with great benefits,” said Packett. “On top of our industry-leading $15 minimum wage, the company offers full-time employees comprehensive benefits including full medical, vision, and dental insurance, and 401(k) with 50% company match, all starting on day one. All associates go through hours of safety training and have access to continuing education opportunities through Amazon’s Career Choice program, in which the company will pre-pay up to 95% of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.”

Since 2010, Amazon has invested more than $3.6 billion in Georgia through its local fulfillment center and cloud infrastructure, research facilities, and compensation to thousands of employees. Amazon’s investments in Georgia contributed an additional $1.2 billion into the economy, and using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the company estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 5,000 indirect jobs on top of Amazon’s 3,500 direct hires.

Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) Assistant Director Hank Evans represented the Global Commerce Division on this competitive project in partnership with Georgia EMC and the Development Authority of Columbia County.

“This is exciting news for our state, and we thank Amazon for their continued investment in Georgia,” said GDEcD Commissioner Pat Wilson. “Especially now, during COVID-19, we are proud of our team’s hard work to continuously meet the needs of world-renowned companies like Amazon. We are also grateful for our economic development partners in Columbia County and the region, who again have shown their strong commitment throughout this project.”

People’s experience with the financial services industry lags behind the experience they receive elsewhere, and the shortcomings are even more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research from MMR LIVE shows.
 
The findings are included in the forthcoming ExperienceBuilt™ Brand Index from Atlanta-based MMR LIVE. The Index looked at how brands delivered against MMR LIVE’s Eight Principles of Experience Design.
 
The findings are supported by new research from parent company MMR Research Associates, which found the COVID-19 pandemic is hastening a shift toward digital banking, one that is likely to continue after the outbreak subsides. The research also found that roughly two-thirds of consumers expect to increase their reliance on digital banking following the pandemic.
 
“The survey data clearly shows more people are willing to go digital with their banking experiences,” said Patricia Houston, Founder and COO of MMR LIVE, an experience design group. “They just needed the extra push to do so, and COVID-19 gave them that reason. Moving forward, banks should look at how they can expand and enhance their digital offerings without sacrificing the customer experience.”
 
While some branch visits have continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority have involved ATM transactions rather than interactions with bank tellers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the use of digital banking has increased during COVID-19, along with monitoring accounts for fraud.
 
Even during COVID-19-imposed restrictions, 24 percent of respondents to the survey said they have visited a bank and used the ATM (including 33 percent of those who usually visit a bank). Furthermore, 14 percent said they visited a bank and interacted with a representative or a teller (including 23 percent of those who ordinarily visit a bank).
 
But, the survey of 1,004 total respondents found a clear shift to digital banking during the outbreak. More than four in 10 (41 percent) of those who typically visit or call a bank said they have used their bank’s website or its mobile app.
 
The survey also found 33 percent of those who usually visit a bank plan to use manual online bill pay during the pandemic, while 29 percent said they plan to use online check deposits. Additionally, 24 percent said they will take advantage of online chat functionality to talk with a bank representative, while 20 percent will use a digital offering to submit documents for verification.
 
After the pandemic subsides, nearly one in three customers (30 percent) who regularly visit a bank plan to use online options to manually pay bills, while almost half (49 percent) plan to use online offerings to check account balances. Just one-third of respondents who typically visit a bank say they foresee no change in their banking habits.
 
“Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the shift toward digital banking was widely documented as younger customers were changing the parameters of the traditional banking-customer relationship,” Houston said. “New generations, in particular, are driving meaningful service innovations that put customers in the driver’s seat of their own banking experience.”

For more information, visit MMR.LIVE.

David Pollack was a three-time All-American standout on defense for the University of Georgia and is currently an analysist for ESPN.  That’s the network where we used to watch sporting events before we became stuck in the present.

Pollack has always been a motivational leader, even during the time when his NFL career was cut short due to injury.  He’s now using his platform for an “Every Day Counts” challenge, which began years ago asking his followers to run, jog, or walk a mile every day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day.

The point is to do a minimal amount of exercise each day.  There are three holidays in the original time period, but every day means every day.  There are no excuses.

I decided I would adapt this approach a little over a year ago to my own exercise.  I was out of shape, had gained way too much weight over a three-year period after tweaking my knees during my last commitment to fitness. 

A bad diet, a lot of excuses, and empty pledges to start back “next week” turned days into weeks, weeks into years, and inertia into pounds.  My habit was to rest, and I remained at rest.

On April 5^th 2019 I decided I would go to the gym.  In addition, I decided that I would do at least 30 minutes of exercise for thirty days.  There would be no excuses.

The important thing about committing to anything over thirty to forty days is that it establishes a habit.  A rule of thumb I’ve always observed is that it takes three weeks to turn practice into habit, whether intentionally or not.

It’s a bit harder if it is something you don’t want to do.  I don’t like to exercise, but I do like to eat.  A lot.  Life is often a series of tradeoffs. Exercise, especially at my age and with my family medical history, is the ticket to good eating.

A couple of weeks into my new habit I saw the opportunity to take a spur of the moment 10-hour drive to Miami.  I got up at 5am to hit the gym before I departed.  On the way home, I found an aquatic center that allowed day guests so that I could squeeze in some lap swimming.

Thirty days came and went, as did forty.  I had fulfilled the commitment to myself and to exercise, but I had no reason to stop.  So I kept going.

My 8,000-mile road trip from last summer? A lot of municipal aquatic centers, hotel gyms, and an occasional jog outside were checked off. Every day.

I’ve been members of three different gyms over the last year, and am still trying to find one that works for me.  But even on the days I didn’t want to go, I found a way to get at least 30 minutes of cardio in.

Quarantine closed the gyms?  No excuses.  I’ve taken up jogging again, often having to have a long talk with my knees about their responsibilities to hold up their end of this bargain.

Rainy days?  No excuses.  With an Apple watch keeping me honest, I can jog a 5K inside my house without the aid of exercise equipment, exceeding my exercise minute minimum and hitting my burned calories goal daily.

As of this writing I’m 389 days into this habit that is now a borderline obsession.  There’s 50 pounds less of me as a result.  The conversation with my doctor at my last physical was actually civil.

We’re now well beyond three weeks into our Great Timeout, and a lot of us have established new habits.  Some are likely good, some are not.

Things are not as we would like them right now, but each day is a gift for us to choose how to use it.  The shock of this pandemic has mostly worn off.  We now question when we will be able to move forward.

While the example here is about exercise, it’s really about making conscious decisions to move forward, and committing to a plan to do that – with no excuses.  If you’ve found yourself creeping into bad habits, or just burning each day waiting for something to change, then do a self-assessment.

We each get the same 24 hours.  You have to decide what points you want to put on your scoreboard. Every day counts.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and the National Retail Federation (NRF) released a Blueprint for Shopping Safe today outlining a phased-in approach to reopening retail. The plan urges governors to issue uniform, statewide protocols for retailers to adopt as they reopen stores and work to keep employees and customers safe.

“As conversations turn to the reopening of the economy, retailers are uniquely situated to provide input, because we’ve been on both sides of the stay at home orders,” said Brian Dodge, RILA president. “Groceries, pharmacies and other retailers that have remained open have implemented practices and protocols that are keeping employees and communities safe. The Blueprint released today builds off those successful operating practices. Our goal is for the safe reopen of retail, and we want everyone, policymakers, employees and our customers to know that the industry is ready to Shop Safe.”

“Retailers’ number one priority is customer safety, employee safety, and store and facility environment safety,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Since the onset of the pandemic, retailers have been following the guidance of CDC and other public health experts and are taking additional measures to keep their employees and customers safe.”

The Blueprint was developed in accordance with CDC guidelines and benchmarking by leading retailers with a focus on ensuring the health and wellness of employees and customers. Retailers have been learning from each other throughout this crisis, sharing leading practices and protocols to keep stores clean and sanitized, and keeping customers and employees as safe as possible.

The Blueprint details three phases for reopening retail:

Phase 1 – Allow E-commerce, Contactless Curbside Pickup & In-Home Delivery

Phase 2 – Re-Open Stores to the Public, with Social Distancing Protocols & Reduced Occupancy

Phase 3 – Establish Protection, Then Lift All Restrictions

“Consistent guidelines – without overburdensome regulatory schemes – across all levels of government is critical,” Shay said. “As an industry, we are committed to working with the Administration, Congressional and state leaders, and the professional medical community to help all families Shop Safe.”

“As governors and state health departments evaluate conditions, we want them to have confidence that retailers are adopting the social distancing, hygiene, and sanitization practices necessary to keep customers, employees, and the entire community safe,” said Dodge.  

Kelly Stephens, managing broker of Engel & Völkers Buckhead Atlanta and Engel & Völkers Atlanta North Fulton, has tracked residential real estate contracts signed in the 11-county Greater Atlanta area this January-April and compared those numbers to the same timeframe last year, along with the number of reported COVID-19 cases in metro Atlanta January – April.  She used data from the First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS) and the Georgia Department of Health to create the attached chart.

Not surprisingly, real estate contracts dropped as the COVID-19 cases rose, beginning in week 10 (March 1-7) when the Georgia COVID-19 cases totaled 22.  Until around March 8, signed contracts for 2020 were ahead of the same time period in 2019.  However, Stephens points out some positive news.  First, the residential real estate market has remained quite strong in metro Atlanta and this April’s numbers should only fall around 15% from last year’s figures.  She has tracked contracts signed, not just homes listed.  She also notes that as the COVID-19 numbers began to fall around April 5, signed contracts increased about a week later, around April 12.  She believes this increase is due to consumer confidence in the gradual re-opening of the economy and the expected lifting of the shelter at home guidelines soon, based on President Trump’s remarks the week of April 12.

Another reason the market has remained healthy, according to Stephens, is that the residential real estate industry was deemed an essential service, and quickly put new procedures and tools in place to allow buyers and sellers to safely conduct real estate transactions.  Online home sales information was already available, but real estate professionals augmented and strengthened online information, and buyers were advised to begin their home search virtually.  Sellers were advised how to best showcase their homes’ features via video, drone footage and professional photos.  Agents made sure the homes they represented were thoroughly disinfected before and after every showing, and often, turned lights on and off and opened doors for their clients to further safeguard the spreading of germs.  Contract signing can be done with social distancing and client-agent conversations are easy to accomplish by phone or teleconferencing.  The numbers show that buyers continue to feel confident as they look for homes and sellers feel confident putting their homes on the market.

Buying and selling real estate in the US housing market has been majorly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, real estate agents and brokers have to up their marketing game…

State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey admitted that Georgia did not meet all the federal guidelines for reopening businesses and restaurants during a press conference held by Gov. Brian Kemp at the Capitol this afternoon, April 27.

On April 16, the White House released a set of phased guidelines for governors to follow in  reopen businesses. A downward trajectory in the number of COVID-19 cases was at the top of the phase one list, which Georgia did not meet when Kemp announced businesses could begin reopening on April 24.

“We didn’t meet the full criteria, but we felt it was safe to move forward due to hospital capacity, increasing testing capacity, and ramping up contact tracing capacity,” Toomey said. “There also appeared to be a plateauing of cases.”

Toomey made the comment after Kemp had a combative back-and-forth with an NCB News reporter concerning the data he used to make his decision on reopening businesses – a move criticized twice by President Donald Trump last week.

Kemp downplayed Trump’s comments and took a page from the president’s playbook to criticize the media. “I agree with the president that the media is trying to divide us,” Kemp said. “I wish the media could could see and hear how good these calls are going between the [Trump] administration and governors – both Republican and Democrats. The level of communication governors have had with the administrations has been amazing.”

Kemp applauded Trump’s leadership and was grateful for his assistance. “It’s easy to get lost in a lot of noise, but I’ve been encouraged by the messages from small business owners who have been able to reopen,” Kemp said.

The governor said his order for businesses to reopen wasn’t a mandate, but an opportunity.

There are currently 942 fatalities and 23,773 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Georgia as of lunchtime today.  Kemp said 127,961 tests had been conducted statewide, and testing was ramping up thanks to partnerships with Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.

“We are 36 out of the 50 states in per capita testing, so we have to do more,” Kemp said.

Kemp once again encouraged Georgians to use the online screening site set up at AugustaHealth.org. Once screened by technicians, if a person shows symptoms they are referred to testing for COVID-19. The governor said 2,059 people had been screened online and 1,513 had been referred for testing.

Kemp also revealed that there are nine patients recovering from coronavirus at the surge field hospital opened at the Georgia World Congress Center in Downtown. He said the patients, who came from Grady, Emory and Wellstar hospitals, were moved to the field hospital to free up beds for other patient needs. Kemp said there were 1,023 critical care beds available across the state for COVID-19 patients and 1,800 ventilators ready for use if necessary.

Kemp said the shelter-in-place order would end April 30, but the medically fragile should continue to remain at home until May 13. He said he might extend that order for the medically fragile and would be closely watching the data.

The governor made no further announcements about when other closed businesses could reopen.

The post State health commissioner admits Georgia didn’t meet criteria for reopening businesses appeared first on Atlanta INtown Paper.

Key highlights from this report: Recent mortgage rate forecasts suggest that rates will remain low. Those predictions came from economists at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. One forecast predicted that rates could drop lower in 2021 than they are now. They’re currently hovering in the 3.3% range, for a 30-year loan. Such forecasts are the […]

The post Forecast: Mortgage Rates Could Drop Even Lower Toward 2021, Say Experts appeared first on HBI News.