Oconee, GA; 1 of 7 U.S. Counties w/Career Opportunities in addition to Life Style

Posted on May 10, 2009 by hankbailey

Small town areas can be both relaxing and comfortable places to live. They also can be great spots to operate a business. Using ZoomProspector.com, a business relocation specialist, in my research I found 7 Counties in the U.S. with fewer than 50,000 people, which have a favorable business environment, and a highly-educated labor force. ZoomProspector.com also takes into account the aesthetic appeal of the area, salary levels, and local dining and attractions.

In this study, in addition to population, I narrowed down cities in the U.S. based upon job growth rates (2000-2008), unemployment rates, and median age. In regards to labor force, I asked ZoomProspector.com to allow for counties with a labor force of at least 33% having a bachelor’s degree, 80% a high school diploma or higher, and 50% of the labor pool being considered “white collar.” Finally this list was narrowed down again for towns having Universities in the town or within 50 miles, commute time of less than 20 minutes, an airport in the city or within 50 miles, and finally travel time to the nearest interstate within 15 miles.

The following, according ZoomProspector.com, are the 7 U.S. counties that offer great places to work, operate a small business, and offer plenty of career opportunity beyond just being a great place to live;

1. Oconee, GA

2. Blaine, ID

3. Teller, CO

4. Summit, UT

5. Kendall, TX

6. Goochland, VA

7. Poquoson, VA

Oconee County Georgia had the youngest median age at 35.8 years. It had the most Universities in town, or within 50 miles (32), and Airports (17) in town or within 50 miles as compared to the other counties in search results. Oconee County also had the second highest job growth rate at 37.7%, and the third highest percentage of inhabitants who have at least a Bachelor’s degree showing a highly educated work force.

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Oconee (West) County Homes Sales and Market Trends

As hard as I try, the homes that I see selling in the Athens area are not the $300,000 McMansions or even the cottages decked out in all the refinements of life, but all too often homes that sell are for the most part homes that are priced below $200,000.

In Oconee this seems to be slightly different due to the building up of the county during years of economic boom. There is not that much new for less than $200,000 and many buyers I work with still seems to gravitate toward new(er) homes.

For example, let's pick on West Oconee for a moment, based upon the year ending July '09, we saw 57 percent of all home sales over $200,000. Now if you bumped your price point to $250,000+, these home sales accounted for 38 percent of homes sold, and $300,000+ accounted for 26 percent of homes sold in the West end of the county.

How does this compare to the same time frame through July '08? A year ago sales at $200,000+ accounted for 68 percent of all homes sold in West Oconee. At $300,000+ we saw 36 percent of all homes sold in West Oconee.

Average sales figures are down. We see a reduction of the numbers of homes sold by 55 percent over the same period a year ago. This means of course that average Days on Market are up considerably (256 from 219).

If you break down Days on Market and price range of homes sold you find the following;

$200,000 230 DOM
$250,000 193 DOM
$300,000 356 DOM
$400,000 393 DOM
$500,000 530 DOM

What was the easiest sale in West Oconee in the past year? A four bedroom home priced between $250,000-$299,900 sold in "just" 193 days. The hardest sale would be a three bedroom home priced between $300,000-$399,900. None sold.

All in all, if you are a home seller, have patience because "if priced right" your home will sell. It is just a matter of when.

Watkinsville, Oconee County, GA Real Estate Market and Trends

Oconee Statistics YTD 2009 (153 listings)
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$64,900	$1,550,000	$303,434	$259,900	$46,425,378
Selling Price	$51,750	$1,502,208	$279,949	$237,000	$42,832,217
List/Sold(%)	57.21%	113.02%	93.15%	94.38%	--
Price/SqFt ($)	$0.00	$201.14	$64.50	$75.51	--
Days on Market	29	1170	218	155	--

Oconee Statistics YTD 2008 (218 listings)
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$64,900	$1,150,000	$339,877	$299,900	$74,093,276
Selling Price	$66,000	$1,000,000	$323,342	$285,000	$70,488,655
List/Sold(%)	76.94%	108.43%	95.43%	96.00%	--
Price/SqFt ($)	$0.00	$189.10	$47.38	$0.00	--
Days on Market	1	1511	224	170.5	--

Well the correction we were all waiting for has now gone through a Town near you. Officially speaking, Oconee County, GA has not been hit nearly as hard as many other areas of the nation.

For example, according to Trulia, in Watkinsville only 4.9 percent of homes on the market for sale are "distressed," meaning foreclosure resales, short sales, etc... In Gainesville, Macon, and Atlanta for example these rates climb to more than 40 percent.

Oconee Foreclosure Sales Statistics 2009 (24 listings)
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$64,900	$444,900	$205,725	$189,200	$4,937,400
Selling Price	$65,900	$375,000	$185,898	$175,000	$4,461,559
List/Sold(%)	57.21%	105.44%	93.80%	97.29%	--
Price/SqFt ($)	$0.00	$124.74	$56.59	$72.00	--
Days on Market	31	758	152	91	--

What you will note is that the myth that runs rampant regarding Oconee homes selling at steep discounts is a myth. For example, the high was a home listed at $444,900 and closed at $375,000. The median and average selling prices however were only $175,000 and $185,898 respectively. This tells me that most homes in Oconee are selling at a high percentage of List Price and most foreclosure resales, if you can find one in our market, don't exactly sell at a steep discount. Compare Price/SqFt dollars to justify this point.

Oconee County, GA Real Estate Trends and Market Stats

In this post I will be dealing with West Oconee, GA specifically. This area of the county includes Ashland, Bear Creek, Bogart, Cobblestone Park, Deerwood Estates, Lane Creek Plantation, Mallard Lakes, Oconee Crossing, Planter’s Ridge, Power Ridge, Rocky Branch Farms, The Georgia Club, and every other neighborhood that I didn’t mention in Bogart and Bishop, GA!

As part of my job I try and keep up with market trends for the area. One way that I feel I can accurately achieve this is through not only looking at a 12-month glimpse of residential home sales, but also looking at a month to month comparison of these sales taking into account a “rolling” 12-month perspective. What we see in our current West Oconee market is the following;

		West Oconee
Yr Ending	DOM	Average		Median		# sold
1-Jun-08	216	275,841		246,000		146
1-Jul-08	215	273,702		239,400		150
1-Aug-08	219	272,041		236,750		153
1-Sep-08	228	269,728		236,750		147
1-Oct-08	228	274,053		246,000		139
1-Nov-08	231	269,791		237,450		128
1-Dec-08	228	273,065		242,450		128
1-Jan-09	240	271,790		237,450		127
1-Feb-09	238	269,326		237,425		134
1-Mar-09	230	263,368		234,750		133
1-Apr-09	235	265,010		234,088		134
1-May-09	245	260,463		231,675		119
1-Jun-09	262	270,819		238,175		114

What this chart shows is that in each of the last 12 “twelve-month” periods (1-Jun-07 thru 1-Jun-08 and so on) we have had an increase in DOM (Days on Market) from 216 days to 262 days for the year ending June 1, 2009 and decreases in the “number” of homes sold by 22 percent.

Contrary however to the media’s press on the fabled “national real estate market,” in West Oconee, GA the average and median prices on homes sold has only dropped slightly less than 2 percent from year end 1-Jun-08 to 1-Jun-09. Again, this is not “just” a glimpse into the past year, but also a view into each successive 12-month period going back over a year. Home prices actually seem to be going “up” since the year ending March 1, 2009.

What we see however in West Oconee is “similar” to Watkinsville and Oconee overall, but better. Watkinsville has seen an increase in Days on Market from 184 days to 191. Numbers of residential home sales has decreased however by 42 percent. Prices also seem to be slightly up since the year end June 2008, but down since the year ending February 2009. Oconee County on the whole has seen a 10 percent increase in Days on Market and a 30 percent decrease in the numbers of homes sold. This mirrors Athens-Clarke pretty well.

Overall this defies the economics we learned in school. High inventory, high Days on Market, and reduced numbers of units sold should bring prices down. I guess this is something in which we can be thankful.

Finally, in the Greater Athens area foreclosures and pre-foreclosures, according to Trulia.com, make up “only” 8-10% of listings for sale. Compare this to 42% of Atlanta listings are distressed sales. This is in my belief why we don’t see such a drastic drop in prices in the Greater Athens area as opposed to Atlanta and other larger metro areas.

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years! If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today! On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!