Spring can be the most popular time of the year to sell a home. In the midst of spring cleaning and a fresh start, it’s common for people to begin thinking about buying a new home. For sellers, this means an influx of excited buyers, but it also means there are more homes hitting the market. The Dunwoody and Sandy Springs neighborhoods are very competitive markets for finding a home so it can be advantageous to list sooner rather than later.
If you’re considering selling a home this spring, here is some advice to prepare yourself for a success.
What to Do When Preparing to Sell Your Home
One of the most important factors of any home listing is the way it looks online. Great homes are showcased through excellent marketing, high-definition photography, and 3D virtual tours. You can also help prepare your home for re-sale by choosing a top-rated Realtor who specializes in your area.
Here are few recommended items to help your home stand out from the competition:
Taking care of minor repairs
Neutralize paint colors
Replace old carpet
Clean and declutter your home
Pressure wash the driveway
Add fresh mulch or pine straw to your landscaping
It’s amazing what fresh paint and repairing nicks, scratches, and all the “little” things can do before a house hits the market. Sellers who put in the effort to make these small repairs and pay attention to the details that buyers are sure to notice, are apt to be rewarded more with offers, a higher sales price, and a quicker home sale.
Staging a Home for Better Showings
Ideally, a home should be staged for potential buyers, so they can see everything the property has to offer. Staging should be thought out so that the result matches the style of the home and the needs of the local market. A top local Realtor should be able to offer staging assistance;
For instance, if you have a spacious four-bedroom home and most buyers in the area tend to be empty nesters, staging the bedrooms as a great master suite, a guest room, and a functional home office would make more sense than staging kids’ rooms or a nursery.
Sellers should understand the comparable homes in the neighborhood and be certain that the home staging showcases its best features — especially those that nearby homes don’t have. For instance, natural light should be emphasized, as well as a large yard, extra storage, and so on.
Using Market Conditions to Your Favor
Spring is a great time of year to sell your home but hire a trusted and experience Realtor to have you navigate the market.
At Karen Cannon Realtors, we specialize in home selling in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and North Atlanta and offer a team approach to help our clients reach their goals. We know that when it comes to selling a home, you need a professional, experienced team by your side. In 2020, we sold 124 homes. Over 10% of our sales were sold prior to listing because of the deep connections in the communities we provide.
Our homes sell on average in 25 days and at 99% of list price, that means our homes sell in half the time of other sales! Get in touch with a reliable, professional Realtor like Karen Cannon for tips, advice, and help with the next step of your home ownership journey.
Contact us today to have us help you navigate the market and sell your home for top dollar and in record time.
Dunwoody is a growing community just north of the perimeter in North Atlanta. It’s close proximity to I-285 and 400, make it a perfect location for young families who may have a commuter. In addition to its location, Dunwoody offers many preschools, great elementary schools, new parks and community events. Whether you are thinking of starting a family or looking to move to a family-friendly community, take time to discover Dunwoody.
Commute
There are a lot of companies based in the perimeter area either in Dunwoody or Sandy Springs. Employers like IHG, State Farm, APEX Systems, Convergent Outsourcing, UPS, Newell Rubbermaid, First Data and Centene. To maintain sanity and quality of life, experts suggest trying to live close to work whenever possible. Atlanta’s traffic is ranked as some of the worst in the world. Living in Dunwoody means a few miles to I-285 or 400, two MARTA stations, or a few side-streets.
Preschool and Elementary Schools
Dunwoody has A LOT of preschools. Dunwoody Baptist Preschool, Montessori School of Dunwoody, Kingswood UMC Preschool, Dunwoody United Methodist Preschool, the Weinstein School, Dunwoody Christian Academy, North Atlanta Preschool, Dunwoody Prep, Kindercare, and Primrose to name a few. If you are looking for a community that takes early education seriously, look no further than Dunwoody. The Dunwoody cluster of DeKalb County Schools has 6 public elementary schools: Austin Elementary, Vanderlyn Elementary, Kingsley Elementary, Dunwoody Elementary, Chesnut Elementary and Hightower Elementary. An experienced Realtor can offer insight as to the niche accolades that make each school special and the right fit for you.
Windhollow Park source: Atlanta Parent Magazine
Dunwoody Parks and Recreation
It’s truly amazing the amount of acreage (180 to be specific) that Dunwoody has devoted to outdoor recreation. Brook Run Park is the largest park in not only Dunwoody, but the region at 110 acres and is ranked among the best in Atlanta. It includes a large children’s playground, 2-mile loop multi-use trail, skate park, dog park, community garden, event pavillions, baseball fields and general purpose rec fields coming soon. Dunwoody Park is attached to the Dunwoody Nature Center and “includes a significant nature preserve with hiking trails, Wildcat Creek, a playground in the woods, and nature classrooms.” Plus six other new or updated parks including The Dunwoody Trailway. This multi-use trail which connects across three distinctive parks in the City of Dunwoody: Brook Run Park, Pernoshal Park and Georgetown Park. Equipped with bicycle repair stations, the trail then leads to more outdoor adventures within Georgetown Park, a perfect place for a game of bocce, a relaxing stop at a pavilion or a newly built children’s playground furnished with comfortable shade awnings. In April 2019, the new pedestrian bridge over the north fork of Nancy Creek was completed. The 145-foot bridge connects Dunwoody’s Georgetown Community with Perimeter Center. Future plans for the trail incorporate connections to other parks in the city.” The Nature Center and Donaldson-Bannister Farms also host fantastic summer camps and school break camps for school aged children.
Dunwoody 4th of July source: Atlanta Parent Magazine
Celebrations
The Dunwoody Fourth of July Parade is hosted by the Dunwoody Homeowners Association and the Dunwoody Reporter. 2,500 participants walk or ride in the 2-mile stretch that brings in close to 32,000 spectators. It is the largest Independance Day parade in Georgia. It includes floats, bands, cheerleaders, animals, veterans, antique cars, etc. and it ends with the Boy Scout’s BBQ lunch. The Dunwoody Homeowners Association also hosts the annual Light Up Dunwoody Festivities. Santa sits outside of the Cheek-Spruill Farmhouse and the evening ends with the lighting of the Christmas Tree and Menorah. Bands, dancers, performers, balloon artists and cookie decorating makes it a favorite family tradition. Dunwoody has numerous trunk-n-treat events put on by churches and at Brook Run Food Truck Thursday the week of Halloween. The Dunwoody Police Department hosts numerous community engaging events that foster a sense of community. Everything from Coffee with A Cop, Pizza with the Police, car seat safety checks, cpr classes and national night out.
When You’re Ready to Move
If Dunwoody sounds like the place for you, call Karen Cannon Realtors. We are one of Atlanta’s top producing Realtor teams and have strong ties to the community. One of our experienced agents can listen to your priorities and assess the perfect area and home for your unique real estate situation. We find out about homes for sale before anyone else, and make sure that our clients see them first. The homes we list sell faster and for a higher percentage of the listing price than those listed with other local agents. Check out our Dunwoody homes for sale now! We have the skill to get the job done, and the heart to make sure it’s done right.
How much is my home worth? Before you move, it’s the first question you have to ask. There are numerous real estate value estimators online, but Zillow’s is by far the most popular. While surfing homes on Zillow.com, home values are assessed to the dollar. This can be very misleading. If you are committed to starting online, start by collecting data from numerous sites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia to see the differences in estimates.
Taxes
Professionals agree that online home estimators have advanced in the last 5 years and are useful as a ballpark pricing tool. They are not comparable to value estimates made by professional real estate agents. In addition to public data on the sale of property in that area, “the Zestimate also takes into account actual property taxes paid, exceptions to tax assessments, and other publicly available property tax data. Tax assessor’s property values can be inaccurate. The tax assessor’s database might have a mistake related to a property’s basic information. This causes the assessed value to be too high or too low.” For instance, a finished basement or exterior improvement.
Market Algorithm
One of the major issues we see within Dunwoody and Sandy Springs real estate market is the issue Zillow has with turnover. The more homes sell in a particular area in a period of time, the more data Zillow has on estimated value. Families in our area tend to retain their homes and thus the cost at purchase is very different than selling.
Home Upgrades
Many homeowners choose to make upgrades on their current homes. This is generally overlooked by Zillow unless the upgrade requires a permit. Once that permit is issued and passed along to the tax assessor, it will then be a factor of the “Zestimate.” It is important to research which home improvement investments have the greatest return on investment. An experienced Realtor will be able to offer insight as to which renovations will make your home more appealing.
Get a Complete Value
Zillow.com is a great tool for allowing potential buyers or sellers an idea of what and where they need to be looking. If you are more serious, the only way to get an accurate answer is to contact a real estate agent. Five homes built in the same year in the same area code, can be priced differently based on a number of factors. In addition to factoring in home improvements and similar home values, they can weigh in school districts, potential growth, taxes and neighborhood trends to assess the value of your unique home. When you are ready to get an estimate on your home, call Karen Cannon Realtors. Our real estate team has also been recognized as a Top 5% for Team Volume. Every agent on the KCR team has been chosen for his or her professionalism, industry knowledge, and connection to the community. This recognition reinforces the fact that we have one of the most accomplished teams in town.
Known for award-winning restaurants and world-class shopping, Dunwoody is also rich in culture and a hotspot for business. It’s known as one of Atlanta’s most desirable suburbs due to the variety of activities available.
Superior Shopping Perimeter Mall is located in the heart of Dunwoody and contains more than 1.5 million square feet of the hottest stores, including Von Maur, Dillard’s, Macy’s and Nordstrom. It offers some of the best shopping around Atlanta.
You’ll find locally owned boutiques mixed with well-known favorites at Dunwoody Village Shopping Center. It’s home to more than 40 stores, including Marlow’s Tavern, Village Burger, Starbucks, Brusters’ Ice Cream, Pure Bare, Carbonara Trattoria and Karen Cannon, Realtors.
Orchard Park Shopping Center is a large, service-oriented center anchored by one of the top 10 Kroger stores in the Atlanta area. You’ll also find Lauderhill’s Jewelry, Los Rancheros Restaurant and Jett Ferry Dental Group.
A well-positioned strip center with a strong daytime population, Williamsburg at Dunwoody Shopping Center is home to Verizon, Jersey Mike’s, Atlantis Natural Foods, East 48th Street Deli, Orange Theory Fitness and Jett Ferry Cleaners.
Mt. Vernon Shopping Center is an attractive center located behind the historic Dunwoody Farmhouse. Here you’ll find Sprouts Farmers Market, Chase Bank and CVS.
Accessible Outdoor Space Dunwoody is home to 7 public parks and more than 170 miles of green space. The city’s signature park is Brook Run, a 103-acre park containing walking trails, a children’s play area and a Veterans Memorial.
Brook Run is home to the Dunwoody Farmer’s Market every Saturday from May to October. Here you can find organic olive oils, jams, crepes, baked goods and desserts, alongside fresh, seasonal produce, free-range meats and cheeses. The market also hosts kids’ activities, wellness seminars and composting and gardening instruction.
Brook Run Dog Park is two wooded acres available for off-leash play. The dog park is entirely fenced and is maintained by volunteers on regularly scheduled clean up days.
Dunwoody Community Garden at Brook Run Park grows organic food and fosters community. Twenty-percent of the produce grown there is donated to charity.
The largest skate park in the metro Atlanta area, Brook Run Skate Park covers 27,000 square feet and has a variety of skate terrain for various skill levels. It was designed to accommodate entry-level skaters, as well as more advanced “street skaters.”
Located inside Brook Run Park, Treetop Quest is an obstacle and zip-lining course with 52 obstacles and 12 zip-lines in 4 courses. There is also a low ropes course for kids, and a Net Trampoline, the first of it’s kind in Georgia.
Murphy Candler Park spans 135 acres, and offers walking tails, a lake, a swimming pool, sports fields and a picnic area.
The Dunwoody Nature Center is a can’t-miss interactive playground in the open woods, featuring hammocks, tree swings and bubbling brook. Every summer the Center hosts the Annual Butterfly Festival. Three huge tents are set up and filled with hundreds of free-roaming butterflies for visitors to observe.
Dunwoody is also home to Big Trees Forest Preserve, a 30-acre scenic preserve with trails and streams winding through it.
The Arts Abound
Established in 1975, The Spruill Center for the Arts is a private, non-profit organization that offers classes, exhibits and outreach programs for seniors, youth and those with special needs. For more than 40 years, the Center has been providing arts enrichment to the greater Atlanta community.
The Spruill Education Center (inside the Center for the Arts) provides more than 800 visual arts classes annually to more than 5,000 students of all ages and ability levels. Disciplines taught include ceramics, decorative arts, drawing, fiber arts, glass, jewelry, mixed media, mosaics, painting, photography and sculpture.
The Spruill Gallery (inside the Center for the Arts) hosts several exhibitions each year in a variety of mediums, including the Holiday Artists Market. The gallery is also home to one of Dunwoody’s landmarks, the popular EVERYTHING WILL BE OK mural.
Dunwoody’s favorite non-profit theatrical group, The Stage Door Players, puts on quirky shows that allow audience members to participate in the production. The group puts on a full season of six shows, and is currently in its 36th season.
Family Friendly Fun 4th of July Parade
The annual parade, sponsored by the Dunwoody Homeowners Association and the Dunwoody Crier Newspaper, is one of the biggest events in town. Thousands of Dunwoody residents turn out to watch the marching bands, floats, clowns, animal units and local celebrities. Local organizations, businesses, churches, schools and individuals build floats, decorate cars, dress in costumes, ride bikes, pull kids in wagons, play music and wave flags as they march through town. The Dunwoody July Fourth parade is the largest in the state of Georgia. In years past, the parade has attracted more than 2,500 participants and 32,000 spectators!
Lemonade Days
The Lemonade Days Festival takes place in Brook Run Park in April. It’s the largest annual fundraising event for the Dunwoody Preservation Trust and all proceeds from the festival are used within the community for historic preservation and education. The event features more than 30 full-scale carnival rides, inflatables, a petting zoo and more than 20 food and beverage vendors. There’s also a 5K run, and three days of center stage performances, including the popular Dunwoody Idol contest. This is a signature Dunwoody event that is not to be missed.
Dunwoody Art Festival
This Mother’s Day Arts Festival is the largest festival in Dunwoody and takes place at the Dunwoody Village. The festival attracts top artists from across the country to showcase their works for purchase. Each year, more than 60,000 people attend to check out the amazing handmade jewelry, sculpture, painting, homemade soaps, baked goods and home décor. The event was named “Best New Event of 2010” by the Southeast Festivals and Events Association.
Tap Into Georgia Beer Festival
This rain or shine event features beers from across the state of Georgia. More than 25 local breweries are included – some well known and others smaller craft brewers. The festival is held at Brook Run Park and residents bring lawn chairs to take advantage of this outdoor party!
Dunwoody has a strong sense of community and lots of activities for residents and visitors alike. The big city of Atlanta is just 10 miles away, but many find they never need to make the trip. Dunwoody has all the amenities, in a true neighborhood setting.
Dunwoody has a population of about 48,000 people, and is known for it’s ethnic and cultural diversity. The median age in the community is 37, with many young couples moving to the area to start and grow families. While Dunwoody is known for it’s shopping and dining, the city also has 7 major parks and more than 170 acres of green space. Just 10 miles outside of Atlanta, Dunwoody residents experience the small town lifestyle while still remaining ‘inside the Perimeter’ and close to Atlanta.
Here are a few of Dunwoody’s most desirable areas.
Dunwoody Village
This is the heart of historic Dunwoody, with Colonial Williamsburg architecture and a true sense of place. The community centers around the Dunwoody Village Shopping Center, which was built in the 1970s and gave the district its name. The shopping center set the tone for the unique architectural identity of the area, and all other construction since then has followed suit. Dunwoody Village is home to the iconic Dunwoody Farmhouse. Originally built in 1906, the restored farmhouse is home to many community events and a landmark in the area.
Perimeter Center
This community formed around the Perimeter Mall when it was built in 1971. The mall was built at the intersection of two major highways, GA 400 and I-285, and the surrounding neighborhood spans the Fulton county line into Sandy Springs. The construction of the mall spurred the development of major office, residential and commercial development in the area, which is also accessible via the Dunwoody Transit Station for the MARTA public transit system. Perimeter Center is one of metro Atlanta’s largest job centers, employing hundreds of thousands of people. State Farm recently built a regional headquarters here, and more development of condos, shops and restaurants is planned to encourage the ‘live, work, play’ lifestyle in the Perimeter area.
Georgetown
The Georgetown area developed in the early 1960s and is a walkable area with lots of ‘live, work, play’ options. Both single-family residential subdivisions and a retail district are located here. Overdevelopment in Georgetown was one of the main reasons for the push to incorporate the city of Dunwoody. This area is located near I-285, bordering the city of Chamblee.
The Branches
This popular swim and tennis neighborhood is located between Mount Vernon Road and Spalding Drive. Part of the neighborhood is in Dunwoody, and part of it is in Sandy Springs. Residents here can enjoy the Branches club, situated on six wooded acres with creeks. The club includes a clubhouse, two outdoor pavilions, a swimming pool, tennis courts and a playground.
Wyntercreek
The Wyntercreek subdivision boasts Colonial Williamsburg style brick and wood homes, shaded by mature leafy green oaks, magnolias and dogwoods. Just a 10-minute walk from shopping, dining and retail, this 30-year-old neighborhood is a favorite with those looking for close-in living without the hassles of a long commute. Wyntercreek is an active neighborhood with a Swim & Tennis Club, and lots of parties and social gatherings.
Redfield
One of Dunwoody’s most desirable neighborhoods, Redfield is a community for all ages. This is a pedestrian friendly area within walking distance to restaurants, grocery stores, banks and other services. The neighborhood also has a Swim & Tennis club.
Winters Chapel
This district is named after Winters Chapel, which has been a fixture in town since the 1870s. Winters Chapel is also the name of the main road through the area, which was an important 19th century route connecting Decatur and Roswell. This district is a prime location for light commercial and retail development. It’s also home to two large parks connected by sidewalks. One is a ¾ mile long linear park running along the Twin Lakes water reservoir that is popular with runners. The other, Windwood Hollow Park, offers tennis courts, a children’s play area, a picnic pavilion and a walking trail. Winters Chapel is located along Dunwoody’s border with the city of Peachtree Corners.
Tilly
The Tilly area is home to Georgia State University’s Perimeter College campus, and to Dunwoody’s signature Park – Brook Run. Brook Run offers wooded walking trails, a children’s ply area, a dog park, a Veterans Memorial, and a community garden.
Dunwoody offers residents big-city convenience and amenities, without the big-city price tag. It’s a place of ease and livability, with a strong sense of community and culture. It’s no wonder that this area is one of the most coveted in metro Atlanta.
At Karen Cannon, Realtors, we are local real estate experts for Dunwoody, Sandy Springs and North Atlanta. We live, work and play here, and our agents are hand-picked for their connections in the community. Our clients know about homes coming on the market before anyone else. And our highly effective marketing program allows us to shorten the number of days on the market. We’ve even put homes under contract sight unseen!
If you are thinking about selling your home, or are interested in moving into Dunwoody, Sandy Springs or the surrounding areas, call us at 770-352-9658.
