Al Qaida... Hamas... Taliban... Hezbollah...  No, it's none of those, but there is a real estate terrorists cell operating in Newton County and several other counties in Georgia, according to the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution."

Cells of the domestic terrorist group "sovereign citizens" (listed on the FBI's domestic terrorist list) are "stealing" homes across the U.S.  Locally, investigators have tied them to at least 19 property thefts in Newton,  DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Spalding and Richmond counties.

The "sovereign citizens" group believe they are immune to state and federal laws, and assert -among other things - that banks can't own land and that any home owned by a bank - including hundreds in Newton County, and thousands across Georgia - is free for the taking.  So they simply forge a bogus quitclaim deed, have a locksmith change locks on the foreclosed home of their choice, and move in.

Banks that own the foreclosed homes being usurped by the "sovereign citizens" are unaware of the deed changes.  Generally, they have so many foreclosed properties, it's hard to keep track of all of them.

The FBI says the "sovereign citizens" is a sect of anti-government extremists involved in various criminal behavior, but whose crime of choice is paper terrorism and attempting to disrupt the U.S. economy.  They create their own drivers' licenses, have multiple identities, don't pay taxes, file lawsuits and liens against police, government officials, and anyone else who questions them.  They don't believe in the U.S. or our laws... until they're arrested.  "Then they want a lawyer," says Lt. Joe Fagan, commander of DeKalb Police's North Precinct.

According to the "AJC," the FBI says the national "sovereign citizens" movement has been around for decades, and has ties to the Nuwaubians, a black supremacist group that started near Augusta.  Nationally, "sovereign citizens," which originated as a white supremacist group, have been connected to multiple insurance fraud and tax evasions scams,  and some violent crimes, including the shooting deaths of two police officers this past May in Arkansas.

The investigation of the "sovereign citizen" terrorist group stealing homes started in May when a DeKalb County real estate agent called local police to report that someone was having the locks changed on a $1 million home he was selling on Windsor Parkway in Atlanta.

Newton County, Georgia, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta, has more foreclosures than any other county in the State. But, after several months of the foreclosure flood subsiding in the county, the waters are on the rise again.

For the first seven months of this year, foreclosures in Covington and Newton County were down by 29.3% over the same period in 2009.  The number of pages of foreclosure notices in "The Covington News" each week were consistently running around 25 to 30 pages.  But last week, there were over 50 pages of notices, and indication that our real estate market crisis is far from over.

Other indicators of the soft market here include:

• An 8.1-month supply of homes currently on the market
• Average time to sell is 143 days on the market
• Average Sales Price down 14.8% in July, and
• Of 775 homes sold in the county during the past six months, 528 (or 68%) sold for under $100,000.

If you're in the market for a home, it's a great time to buy.  If you want to sell your present home... not so good.

Our market will improve, but it's not likely until unemployment rates go down and the national economy improves substantially.  By my latest estimation, we're likely to continue with current market conditions for the next 1.5 to 2 years.