Lying Real Estate Sites/Agents (Atlanta, Roswell: for sale, HOA fees, townhomes)

[equinox63]

Don't you hate when real estate sites and agents lie about a property's location? I've been trying to physically find these homes for the longest based on the maps on several real estate sites.

433 Carter Ave Se Atlanta GA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #4262979 - Realtor.com®

425 Carter Ave Atlanta GA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #2994189 - Realtor.com®

493 Carter Ave Se Atlanta GA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #4232441 - Realtor.com®

The first red flag was when I noticed that the property was in the McNair school District. I thought that was 30316, so eventually just googled the address myself only to find that the properties billed as "East Lake, Atlanta, GA. 30317" are actually not in the City of Atlanta at all, but are in the 30032 zip code and are south of the East Lake Golf Course. This, in of itself, is not a problem, but I find it a little disheartening that agents feel the need to mislead the people to sell a property.

Of course, there are the flyers for homes on the eastern edges of Kirkwood billed as "Decatur, GA. 30317"

And then there was the agent that told me over the phone that a home east of Candler St. near Dearborn Park is "in the heart of Oakhurst"

Is it just me, or do you come across this type of thing often. It would seem more property would get sold if they just told the truth so the customer would not feel like the wool is being pulled over their eyes. After all, for a family without children, (or who plan to send their kids to private school) would the places on Carter Ave really be that bad?

[ATL_II_DMV]

That is true, many sites lie about housing location/school districts.

This site is usually on point with listings:

jodisuguitan.com

[oakhurstlauren]

Drives me completely nuts, and I am an agent. However, those listings are actually in East Lake on the border, I think they jut have the schools wrong. Why one would want to put McNair instead of East Lake is beyond me. I have seen odd instances where the city of atlanta school zone actually have a Decatur address (on the Kirkwood/Oakhurst border). This would seem to possibly be the same issue here. If you search APS for those addresses they are actually East Lake Elementary (for Carter St 30317)
I've even seen agents say things like this home is on the border of Decatur, so you can pick if you want to go to Decatur City or Fernbank!! Dude no, no you can't. It's either in the city limits or it isn't. Sadly, the buyer or their agent if they have one is expected to do their own due diligence on school districts. I always double check the school districts if there is even the slightest uncertainty.
Most of the time, agents just go by what the seller tells them and do not fact check, it's easy to verify school zones and there really is no excuse for getting it wrong.

[SW30303]

Not being thorough is probably a more apt description on sales listings than outright lying. I have seen all kinds of erroneous information unfortunately in the MLS.

[testa50]

In the real estate word, Ralph McGill is the "heart of Midtown"

[koko339]

Originally Posted by testa50

In the real estate word, Ralph McGill is the "heart of Midtown"

So true! City of Decatur and Midtown seem to be the most commonly abused areas when it comes to real estate listings.

[IntownHomes247]

Those addresses are in the Olmsted East Lake development which is just outside the City of Atlanta limits in DeKalb county and they actually are zoned for the McNair cluster. They are part of East Lake, they're just not the part that's north of the golf course.

FYI, you can figure out school zoning using these resources:

For APS: Atlanta Public Schools

For DeKalb: School Locator :: Transportation :: DeKalb County Schools

And it's almost always a good idea to double check the school zoning on a house -- agents don't always know the right school, and they usually don't check it themselves but simply use an earlier listing and take whatever that says as fact.

Yes, there are plenty of agents who will list a subdivision/neighborhood that's better known when they are nearby. Generally it's because the actual subdivision in which they are located is not well known and so they are afraid (not without justification) that buyers won't find their listing at all. Then there are also many sellers who list with an agent who simply isn't familiar with that part of town and doesn't have any clue where individual neighborhood boundaries are (or even what adjoining neighborhoods there are). This makes me crazy. When someone lists an intown house with their friend from Roswell who is an agent. They think they're doing the right thing because they are more comfortable with someone they know, when in fact they are shooting themselves in the foot by listing with an agent who doesn't know anything about their part of town and won't be easily available to take care of doing all the things that need to be done during the listing (like showing potential buyers).

[roxyrn]

Sometimes the closest school listed is not the one your children would be attending. You have to do your homework and double check everything in order to avoid any surprises. My neighborhood does not go to the closest elementary school. Also, HOA fees are often quoted incorrectly on listing sheets.

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by IntownHomes247

Those addresses are in the Olmsted East Lake development which is just outside the City of Atlanta limits in DeKalb county and they actually are zoned for the McNair cluster. They are part of East Lake, they're just not the part that's north of the golf course.
.

How can they be part of East Lake if they are not in the city of atlanta? The zip is 30032.

[IntownHomes247]

Carter Avenue cuts across the boundary between 30317 and 30032 -- so some addresses on the street are one zip code (and inside the city limits) and others are in the other (and outside the city limits). There are pluses and minuses to each. Depending on whether you more highly value APS or DeKalb schools (bit of a toss-up at the moment with all the scandals and mismanagement), that can be a significant factor. Of course, if you're in unincorporated DeKalb, you'll also pay lower property taxes than the neighbors across the line in City of Atlanta.

The East Lake neighborhood is one of the oldest in the Atlanta area and was originally located well outside the city limits. East Lake was even incorporated as a town in 1908. So whether a street is inside the city limits or not isn't really that relevant at least relative to neighborhood identity Here are a couple of links to neighborhood history resources:

ELNCA | East Lake History | East Lake's Birth: 1890 to 1895
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Lake_(Atlanta)

While I believe Glenwood is technically the southern edge of the neighborhood, the Olmsted East Lake project is generally classified as East Lake (primarily because it was a very nice development adjacent to the golf course and also because the developers put "East Lake" in the name even though the Olmsted web site says that it's in "East Atlanta" -- which, of course, would make people think it's in the "East Atlanta" neighborhood near East Atlanta Village -- which it's not). This is definitely one of those instances where homes are going to be classified in the most well-known neighborhood by real estate agents (in this case East Lake) regardless of whether it officially lies within the boundaries or not -- the sellers would fire them if they even attempted to call it anything else. There is no other neighborhood name that would appropriately convey either the location or type of development.

Olmsted at East Lake, Upscale Craftsman Neighborhood in East Atlanta