Home & living

This week’s Courier Herald column:

This week we’re going to dive deeper into Georgia’s challenge of providing workforce housing. While it’s not a new problem, the recent public remarks by Governor Brian Kemp and the state’s economist Dr. Jeffrey Dorfman have directly tied the lack of available and affordable housing as a hindrance not only to Georgia’s population growth, but also to the state’s economic growth.

The term “workforce housing” begins as a loaded term with its own political connotations, many of which have negative perceptions.  The rising cost of housing – both rental and owner occupied – cuts across many socioeconomic categories.  The challenges are unique to many different groups, and transcend the state’s disparate geographic areas.

That last paragraph is the sanitized way of saying that too many people hear terms like “workforce housing” and “affordable housing” as code words for “poor,” “urban,” “subsidized,” “minorities,” and “renters.”  To be more impolite and blunt, many people resist solving these problems in their communities because they want the people in these groups to live…anywhere else. 

Housing solutions for Georgians that fit in the above categories are a real problem.  The focus here isn’t meant to sidestep the underlying issues with housing for people within these groups, but to indicate that the problem is much more broad, and affects many more Georgians than are normally associated – even stigmatized – with the need for affordable housing options. 

• Explore Addington Place of Brunswick
• Fun Things for Seniors to Do in Brunswick, GA
• A Look at Assisted Living Programming Offered at Addington Place
• Explore Addington Place of Brunswick
• See What Life at Addington Place of Brunswick Is Life

Assisted Living, Memory Care and short-term care are provided at Addington Place in Brunswick, GA, in a beautiful waterfront town in southeast Georgia. Residents get nutritious home-cooked meals, housekeeping and laundry services, extensive safety features, access to personalized wellness care plans and on-site amenities that bring joy to each day.

With a full calendar of daily programming designed to help residents connect, contribute, feel, grow, move and reflect, residents always feel right at home at Addington Place assisted living in Brunswick, GA. Here’s what residents at Addington Place can look forward to, both in the Brunswick area and at the residence.

Explore Addington Place of Brunswick

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Herschel Walker’s most recent scandal (we know, it’s hard to keep track) is actually an old one. Going all the way back to his campaign announcement last year, it’s been reported that Walker actually didn’t live in Georgia, the state he wants to represent in the US Senate—at least not on a full-time basis.

He owns a house in suburban Dallas that he and his current wife occupied for years and where Walker receives a homestead tax exemption which is reserved for a person’s primary residence. His wife, Julie Blanchard, wasn’t registered to vote in Texas and didn’t vote in Georgia between 2008 and 2020, when she mailed in an absentee ballot…from Texas. That’s not necessarily illegal under Georgia law, which says pretty much that you have to vote where you live and that if you move away and intend to live elsewhere, your Georgia voter registration is no longer valid (a fact I know well since having moved from Atlanta to Pittsburgh five years ago).

But Walker has always had an ace-in-the-hole to use for plausible deniability: he still owns a house in Georgia. A campaign finance report from last year values ​​that house at between $20,000 and $500,000. As long as that house exists, Walker can rebut his critics—including those who want him investigated for living outside the state he hopes to represent—with the fact that plenty of people own houses in more than one state. It’d be easy for him to satisfy federal law by moving back to his Georgia abode before it took the oath of office, assuming he beats Sen. Raphael Warnock in their runoff next week.

Now, a new report pokes a hole in that idea with receipts that, until recently, Walker’s Georgia home was occupied by renters who paid Walker and his wife thousands.

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No doubt now, the brakes are engaged: the metro Atlanta housing market has continued to slow, as higher mortgage rates depress prices and sales.

The median sale price in October $379,455, a slight decline from the month before, and a nearly 8% drop since June, according to the Georgia Multiple Listing Service, which tracks sales in a 12-county area centered on the city of Atlanta.

“There have been four straight months of price declines,” said John Ryan, the group’s chief marketing officer. “Historically, we usually see a seasonal decline, but the decline is accelerated from what we’ve seen in the past.”

That median price is still 7.5% higher than a year earlier, but a year ago, prices were rising at yearly clip of 20%.

The slowdown in Atlanta area home sales and decline in prices comes as the Federal Reserve has hiked its benchmark interest rates to tame inflation.

About 4,800 homes were sold in the region, down 16% from September, Ryan said.

“We have seen a steady decline in the market,” he said. “The activity has definitely slowed down.”

Mortgage rates, while nowhere near historical highs, have more than doubled in the past year, rising from around 3% to about 7%. Those hikes are leading to lower prices by discouraging spending.

And it is sure working in housing — virtually all the signals are flashing red.

Georgian style home architecture holds a significant place in US design. Since its arrival in the 18th century, the Georgian style exists today. Many of the original homes have been steeped in history and have influenced architecture for generations.
Among residential architecture, the number of historic homes is increasing. Some houses might not fit in the Georgian category, but if you look closer, you’ll discover key features. 
Classic Georgian Style Home Architecture
Join us as we explore some of the finest examples of Georgian home architecture. With each example, we’ll show you why the architectural style is respected to this today.
Latin House, Risley

Brick construction is a highlight of Georgian architecture. With red brick, white trim and window frames offer unique curb appeal. The exterior colors are a throwback to 18th century American home styles.
Whitemarsh Island

Designed by Historical Concepts, this new Georgian home is on Whitemarsh Island, located off the coast of Georgia. The homes do not look like they were built in the 19th century, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a new one. 
Shanks House

You want to sell your Atlanta house, and you want to get top dollar.

Excellent!

But “What do I need to do to sell my house in Atlanta“?

Here are some tips on how to get your home ready to sell if you’re looking for top dollar that the market will bear:

*NOTE: These instructions are if you’re looking to get full retail value for your house sale.  However, if you don’t want to do the things below… or don’t have the time or money to do the things below… you can still sell your Atlanta house fast for a fair value in a win-win sale that’ll save you time and expense.

1) Clean, clean and clean. Even vacant houses get dusty and dirty, so keep it up! Nothing short of gleaming perfection will impress buyers. If you’re not a total clean freak, hire someone who is to help you out until you sell.

If you’re a slob, consider finding somewhere else to live while you show your house. Maybe you can bribe your cleanest friend to trade houses with you? Seriously, keeping everything immaculate really helps buyers feel comfortable in your space. Nothing stops people faster from buying faster than feeling grossed out.

2) Cultivate a cohesive, neutral style. You don’t have to paint everything off-white. In fact, some subtle colors can really help change the perception of spaces – for example, a soft yellow will help brighten up a dark kitchen, while a deep dark blue or green will help a bright bedroom to feel like a calm place to sleep (but be careful, dark colors will also make rooms feel small).

Divorce can be devastating. It’s heartbreaking when parents lose custody of their children. Spouses end up having to pay agonizing amounts of financial support.

If you want to protect your rights, not wrongfully lose custody, and not get raked over the coals financially, learn about divorce loans and other ways of divorce financing or find ways to avoid this unpleasant procedure. Free consultations are first come first serve. We always run out of slots. Make sure you get yours locked in now.

The Best Georgia Aquarium Thanksgiving

Planning a staycation in the state? Then these tiny homes in Georgia should be added to your bucket list. The movement towards smaller and more ecologically friendly vacation spaces is a real trend; these Airbnb listings show the huge appeal.
Just because these homes are small, doesn’t mean they don’t have everything packed into the space that you need. In fact, some of them are even better equipped than a larger house. Given their size, they are also all in super interesting locations and are way more affordable.
It’s time to think a little different about your next vacation and look into booking a tiny home. An experience you won’t forget in a hurry…
Tiny Homes In Texas
1. Little Red Roof – Clayton
The Little Red Roof is located just minutes from downtown Clayton and close to stores, hiking trails, Tallulah Gorge and Lake Burton. This brand new tiny house has all the must-haves for a home away from home. Sit back and enjoy the trees from the front or go around back and say hello to Kasper the “old man” horse.
Small but mighty! This tiny home does NOT feel tiny in the slightest and has lots of outdoor seating.
The house will set you back about $90 a night and sleeps 4 people.

A row of heritage-listed townhouses in central London is now home to the Inhabit hotel, which Holland Harvey has designed to have relaxed, Scandi-inspired interiors.

The 88-room Inhabit hotel, which takes over six heritage-listed Georgian townhouses, had previously contained a labyrinth of rooms which were conventionally divided into front- and back-of-house.

East London-based practice Holland Harvey has now overhauled the building – which previously functioned as a hotel – to have a less strict layout, spurring guests to venture outside of their rooms and wander throughout the communal areas.

“By fundamentally rethinking the way in which the hotel could operate, we were able to reconfigure the building to create legible, open-plan spaces for guests to enjoy which are heritage-led and sympathetic to the original layout,” the practice told Dezeen.