Reporting on Atlanta real estate for a New York-based network is a lot of fun.

In my earpiece, I hear the anchors, producers and audio technicians at our Midtown Manhattan headquarters marvel at what $225-thousand will buy you down here — charming houses that would cost a fortune up there.

Today, we’re checking in with Realtor Joshua Keen of RealSource Brokers, as we have throughout the year, to see how economic trends are affecting him. Click here to watch our live/on the scene interview.

Joshua says he’s seen business pick up by 50 percent over the past 45 days. Eighty percent of his clientele these days are first time buyers. He says much of this is being driven by the first time homebuyer tax credit which expires Nov. 30.

Joshua says the Average sales price in town remains steady at… $225-thousand.

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Long lines outside the Jefferson County Courthouse.

When we arrived at the Jefferson County Courthouse in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, a long line of residents stretched down the front steps and along a sidewalk. Many of these people were simply waiting to renew their vehicle tags.

“You’ve got people 60, 70 and 80 (years old) and they have to stand up for four and five hours,” said Timothy Stanfield, a Birmingham resident.

The long lines are symptomatic of a budget crisis that has prompted Jefferson County to close satellite government offices in outlying areas and lay off well over a quarter of its workforce.

Although Jefferson County has been in the national spotlight recently for its difficulties paying off $4 billion in sewer bonds, commissioners say the mass-layoffs stem from an unrelated financial crisis: loss of tax revenue.

Earlier this year, a judge struck down Jefferson County’s occupational tax — a half percent levy on the earnings of people who work in the county (excluding certain professionals, such as barbers, who already pay county licensing fees). That tax had generated approximately $75 million in annual revenue.

State lawmakers from the area are proposing a new occupational tax that would affect every worker in the county — no exceptions — thereby surpassing the previous tax in the amount of revenue generated.

The local sheriff is asking for something even more dramatic.

After losing a legal battle to protect his budget from the Jefferson County Commission’s fiscal ax, Sheriff Mike Hale sent a request to Alabama Governor Bob Riley, asking him to consider sending state funds — or the National Guard.

“I need force multipliers” Hale said. “I need the National Guard to partner with my deputies to make sure communities and neighborhoods are safe.”

According to the Sheriff, the $4 million budget cut slated for his office could result in layoffs of as many as 300 of his 700 employees.

Hale insists public safety is crucial. But so are many other public services, according to Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Carnes.

“It’s no good if we’ve got law enforcement (and) we don’t have a coroner to say, ‘This person was murdered,’ and a D.A.” to try the suspected killer, he said.

As for the people waiting for vehicle tags, we saw one man emerge from the courthouse with his renewed license plate — nearly 9 hours after he arrived.

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For those of you who like your glass half-full, this just in from the National Association of Realtors:

Existing home sales rose in April with strong buyer activity in lower price ranges.

Now the half-empty part: The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Index shows a 19.1 percent decline in average home prices nationwide in the first quarter of 2009 versus the same period last year. Statistics from March lead Standard and Poor’s to conclude:

We see no evidence that a recovery in home prices has begun.

Out of 20 major metropolitan areas surveyed by S&P/Case-Shiller, Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco suffered the most significant decreases in housing prices over the past year — posting losses of 36, 31.2 and 30.1 percent respectively. Click on the video below to watch my report for FOX Business Network.

Joshua Keen, an agent with RealSource Brokers in Atlanta (where housing prices dropped 15.7 percent over the past year) predicts prices won’t drop much further. But he says even after the real estate sector recovers, the market will be very different from the years before the proverbial bubble burst. Keep Reading …

Big Brother or Robocop? American motorists have a love-hate relationship with red light cameras.

You have been warned.

Your own opinion, likely, depends on whether you’ve ever been inconvenienced by red light runners, or whether you’ve ever received a traffic citation in the mail, along with a photo of your car.

While manufacturers report a surge in red light camera orders nationwide, some states impose restrictions on their use.

Complaints from motorists have prompted the Mississippi legislature to ban red light cameras altogether starting Oct. 1, 2009.

In Georgia, state law requires municipalities to pay a flat fee to the private companies that monitor the cameras, instead of sharing revenue from traffic fines. The intent is to reduce the financial incentive for companies to boost the number of violations the devices spot.

But shifting the total cost to local governments has its own pitfalls. Revenue from red light cameras decreases over time as motorists become more cautious around monitored intersections — a mixed blessing for municipalities trying to balance public safety with tight budgets.

“Because of the economic situation, we really can’t afford to do something that doesn’t pay for itself,” says Phil McLemore, city administrator of Duluth, GA.

The Atlanta suburb is phasing out its red light camera program, which has been in place at several busy intersections for the past three years.

The cameras brought the city more than $1 million in revenue during the program’s first year. But McLemore says improved driving habits and a new state law increasing the duration of yellow lights have drastically reduced the number of violations. Keep Reading …

Would you take a pay cut to save a co-worker’s job? That’s what public school officials are asking educators to do in Fayette County, GA.

A combination of state budget cuts and lower property tax revenue has created an anticipated $1.8 million budget deficit for the school system in this Atlanta suburb.

This week, school board members proposed asking the district’s 3-thousand employees (including teachers, janitors — even the school superintendent) to “return” a 2.5 percent pay raise approved last year. School officials say the voluntary salary cuts would balance the budget and protect jobs.

But the proposal has upset some teachers, who say the district would be better off trimming the budget in other places. This morning, I interviewed Georgia Association of Educators President Jeff Hubbard following his appearance on Fox & Friends. (Click on the video to watch).

In light of the opposition, voluntary pay cuts may be unlikely to happen any time soon. School officials say they will drop the proposal unless it receives unanimous support from all school employees.

District officials are sending surveys to employees, asking them to rate a series of potential solutions in order of preference. Fayette County Schools spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach explains the situation in further detail in the video below.

The final video version of this story aired on Special Report w/ Bret Baier. Click on the video below to watch.

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