Introducing to Curbed Atlanta The Brokerbabble Glossary, where we take a word or a turn of phrase that seems to show up in an unreasonable number of listings and decipher its true meaning. If you have any ideas for us, send them to the tipline.
Today's word: starter home.
The accuracy, uniformity and dependability of the copy that accompanies the photos and raw data of real estate listings has earned it the name "broker babble" in the Curbed canon. In celebration of a week focused on first-time homebuyers, today we examine what one broker has deemed a "starter home" in Peachtree Park. Generally speaking, we think of starter homes as perfectly-acceptable (if not necessarily grand) abodes suitable for a young adult with limited resources and needs to match. And though the definition of a "starter home" is known to vary significantly with socio-economic strata, this place on Darlington Circle is a marvel of semantic flexibility. Though the current home is described to have been "well maintained," the absence of any interior photos and the questionable state of the exterior paint job don't necessarily support the statement. At the same time, the price of $650,000 is said to include 3 lots, which to us screams "you should tear this house down and build an enormous new one in its place." And about that price...while a $650,000 tear-down is certainly within the range of a wildly successful young entrepreneur or heir-about-town, calling this place a "starter home" would seem a stretch for even the most out-of-touch moneybags that we know. The brokers have babbled.