Anyone else taking advantage of their yard and doing some airgun plinking? I have a 55 yard HFT range set up in my yard. Would be nice to find some other people into it.

I have a gen 2 Marauder I picked up a while ago for $200. I have always held onto because I felt like I got it for a steal, and I really like the trigger, but I just got a Prospect on a whim and I really like the regulator. I get a lot more shots out of it and they chrono within like 5 fps of each other. At 50 yards its more consistent than my Marauder. So the question is, do I put money into the Marauder or sell it an buy something (like maybe an AvengeX or Airacuda Max) I only target shoot and plink, I dont really hunt, but we have a decent amount of land and I can shoot out to about 100 yards so would also kind of like to see how far I can stretch it.

30005 MARKET INTELLIGENCE | JON ROBBINS, CENTURY 21 CONNECT

Should you finish the basement before you sell? I ran the numbers on two years of closed sales.

Last week we took at look at how much value a pool adds. After that I got a request to take a look at what value does a finished basement add. This was a great question, and one that does come up when discussing home improvements. Finishing a basement can get crazy expensive, and nobody can tell you if you will ever get that money back.

So I pulled the closed sales in 30005 over the past 24 months and ran a multiple linear regression in Minitab. I went through 206 of the 572 sold listings by hand, about 36% of everything that closed, and recorded sale price, square footage by area, basement type, bedrooms, baths, and year built from each full listing. The model separates the house into three kinds of space, above-grade living area, finished basement area, and unfinished basement area, so we can compare what each one contributes per square foot.

Finished Space Pays. Unfinished Space Does Not.

Finished basement space is worth roughly $189 per square foot. Unfinished basement space adds about $34 per square foot, and that number is not statistically significant, which means the market is treating raw unfinished space as close to worthless beyond the structure that is already there. The gap between the two is around $155 per square foot. That is the premium buyers in 30005 are paying specifically for finished space.

Type of Space	Value per Square Foot
Above-grade living area	$214.58
Finished basement	$188.71
Unfinished basement	$33.68 (not significant)

What This Means in Dollars

The average finished basement in this dataset is about 1,597 square feet. Finishing that space versus leaving it raw works out to roughly $247,000 in additional sale price. Holding everything else equal generates the $155 per square foot premium spread across a typical basement footprint.

You have to weigh it against what the finish job actually costs you, but it also reframes the question. The market is rewarding finished basement space in this price tier, and it is essentially ignoring unfinished space. If you are sitting on a large unfinished basement and thinking about selling, that is worth a serious conversation before you list.

Basement Space Holds Most of Its Value

One thing that surprised people I have shown this to arond the office is that finished basement space captures about 88% of the value of above-grade living space. So a finished square foot downstairs is not worth half of a square foot upstairs, the way a lot of folks assume. It is worth most of it.

My take on this is that the discount is real, it is just smaller than the common wisdom suggests.

Almost Nobody Sells a Raw Basement Here

Here is a finding hiding in the data that is interesting on its own. In 30005's price range, virtually no homes with a full basement sell with it completely unfinished. Out of everything I looked at, the closest thing to an unfinished comparison group was 18 homes with partial or mixed basements.

That tells you something about buyer expectations at this level. At these prices, a finished basement is closer to standard and a fully raw basement stands out, not in a good way.

Basement Type	Homes	Avg Sale Price	Avg Above-Grade Sqft
Finished	159	$1,248,265	3,974
No basement or crawl space	23	$1,196,870	3,786
Partial or mixed	15	$1,174,733	4,212

A Word on What the Model Can and Cannot Do

The model explains about 58% of the variation in sale price. That is a normal for this kind of home-price analysis, but it means roughly 42% of what moves price is coming from things the model does not capture: lot size, exact location within the ZIP, condition, upgrades, finish quality, school assignment, and so on. The per-square-foot figures are reliable for understanding direction and market averages. They are not a substitute for a real valuation on your specific house.

The model also carries meaningful uncertainty at the level of any single home. The range in this data set was quite high, so treat these numbers as a map of how the market behaves, not as an appraisal of your address or actionable information on any particular property.

One more note for the data-minded. The model shows a negative coefficient on bedroom count, as it holds square footage constant, so adding bedrooms to a fixed-size home just means smaller rooms, and that is a previously seen pattern in this kind of pricing model that we covered last week.

Thinking about selling in Alpharetta or Johns Creek?

If you have an unfinished basement and you are weighing whether to finish it before you list, that decision is worth running the numbers on for your specific home. I work North Atlanta full-time and bring 30 years of New York real estate experience to every deal. Reach out and I will tell you where your house actually stands.

WINDWARD MARKET INTELLIGENCE  |  JON ROBBINS, CENTURY 21 CONNECT

What Is a Pool Actually Worth in Windward?

I ran the numbers on 556 closed sales. The answer is more complicated than it seems at first glance.

Everyone has an opinion about pools. Sellers think they're worth a fortune. Some buyers don't want the maintenance. Most Agents quote a number in the ballpark of 50k and move on. What's harder to find is actual data.

So I ran a multiple linear regression on 556 closed sales in ZIP code 30005 over the past 24 months. The model controls for square footage, bathrooms, bedrooms, and year built, which lets you strip out all the noise and see what a pool specifically contributes to sale price. Here's what came out.

The Range: $100,000 to $230,000

The raw price gap between pool homes and non-pool homes in 30005 is $649,000. That sounds enormous, and it is, but it's almost entirely a size story. Pool homes in Windward average 5,810 square feet. Non-pool homes average 3,835. Of course the pool homes cost more.

Once the model accounts for size, age, and bathrooms, the adjusted pool premium comes out to $230,500. That's what the market is paying for the pool itself, separate from everything else about the house.

A straight comps analysis, looking at similar homes sold with and without pools, puts the median premium closer to $100,000 to $120,000. The spread between those two figures is meaningful. It tells you that pool value is not a fixed number. It moves with the home.

Measure	Pool Premium
Raw price gap (pool vs. no pool)	$649,190 — size-driven, not the real number
Regression-adjusted premium	$230,501
Median individual premium (comps analysis)	~$100,000 to $120,000

Where You Land Depends on Your Price Tier

At the lower end of Windward pricing, roughly $800K to $1.1M, a pool tends to add $75,000 to $125,000. Buyers at that level are more sensitive to what the pool will cost them in upkeep, and they factor that into what they're willing to pay.

Above $1.5M, the math changes. A pool at that price point is not an add-on. It's part of what buyers are expecting when they spend that kind of money. Pair it with a covered patio, summer kitchen, or spa, and you're no longer selling a pool. You're selling an outdoor living environment, and the premium reflects that.

What the Rest of the Model Shows

The regression covered all the major value drivers in 30005, not just pools. A few worth paying attention to:

Feature	Value Impact
Square footage	+$159 per sq ft
Full bathroom	+$85,495
Half bathroom	+$87,732
Year built	+$4,333 per year newer
Additional bedroom*	-$53,900

* Holding square footage constant. More on this below.

On Bedrooms: More Is Not Always Better

The negative bedroom number is the one that catches people off guard. How can an extra bedroom hurt value?

The answer is in how the model works. It holds square footage constant. So what it's really measuring is: given a fixed amount of space, what happens when you divide it into more rooms? Smaller rooms. Less flow. Buyers notice, and they pay less for it.

The takeaway is practical. If you're thinking about converting a bonus room or office into a bedroom to bump your count from four to five, think twice. You'll likely give up more in appeal than you gain in perceived value. In this market, square footage drives price. Bedroom count is secondary.

The Remodeling ROI Baseline

Every year newer is worth about $4,333 in sale price, all else equal. That means a 2005-built home commands roughly $43,000 more than an identical 1995-built home, just on the basis of age.

That number gives you a working baseline for renovation ROI. A kitchen or bathroom update that makes a 20-year-old home feel current can move the needle in ways that a fresh coat of paint simply cannot. The market in 30005 pays for modernity. If your renovation resets buyer perception of when the house was built, that has real value.

One Limitation Worth Noting

The MLS records pools as a binary field: yes or no. A tired rectangle with a cracked liner and a pump that's on its last legs counts the same as a resort-style pool with a waterfall, spa, and travertine decking. They are not the same thing, and the regression can't see the difference.

The $100,000 to $230,000 range captures the market average for what a pool contributes. Where a specific pool lands within that range depends on its condition, its design, and how well the surrounding outdoor space is put together. A well-done outdoor living environment will be at the top of that range. A pool that needs work will be at the bottom, or below it.

Thinking about buying or selling in Windward?

I work in North Atlanta full-time and I bring 40 years of New York real estate experience to every deal. If you want to know what your home is actually worth in this market, or whether a specific feature like a pool changes your position, reach out.