Knoxville Tennessee Real Estate Blog

If you have had your Knoxville, Tennessee area house on the market for more than 6 months and it has not sold yet, YOU have a problem.

Based on my 30+ years of home selling experience in the Knoxville real estate market, 1 or more of the reasons below is why you still own your house and not a new, happy homeowner.

1. You got an offer something in the past and turned it down. Statistically I’ve found that the first offer you get is usually the best one you’re going to get based on current market conditions. Sure you could have gotten more 2 years ago and you may get more 2-4 years from now but since your house is for sale now I’m assuming you want to sell now.
2. It’s overpriced. Knoxville buyers read the news just like you do. Right now the stock market is in the tank, mortgage loans are tougher to get, and consumer confidence is lower than usual. Aggressive pricing is necessary to sell in the “right now” present market. Check your price and ask yourself if you would buy your house for your price today? If the answer is no then the solution is obvious, lower your price.
3. You’re not listening. To the market, to your Realtor, to buyers. Sometimes you have issues with your house that are cheap fixes. If your house needs painting, paint it. You get about a 5 to 1 return for every dollar spent on painting. If your carpet is worn and you can’t afford to replace it, call a carpet store, get an estimate, and offer to write a check at closing for new carpet. Buyers are willing to pay premium prices for houses in good repair.
4. You’ve been for sale too long. Knoxville houses, like all merchandise for sale, get stale after a time. Buyers that are shopping ask what’s wrong with a house that’s been on the market 6 months or longer. Better to price correctly up front and sell faster if even for a little less. Add up what continuing to own your house and have to put your moving plans on hold will cost. You’ll usually find you’re better off to go ahead and get it sold now so you and your family can move on with their lives.
5. Too much “stuff”. Your house is too cluttered with your stuff and furniture for potential buyers to imagine what their things would look like. Pack up trophys, family photos, collections, and excess furniture. Rent a storage building or POD if necessary but get it out of the house and out of a buyer’s sight so they can see the space. Some fresh towels in the baths, bare kitchen counters so buyers can see work space, and things like that go a long way to attracting buyers.
6. Put yourself in a buyer’s shoes. Buyers are constantly bombarded by the media about declining home prices, foreclosures, stocks going down, gas prices going up, and other negative news. No wonder they’re nervous about becoming obligated to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt by buying your house. Make it better than the competition, offer some financial incentives for them, and make it irresistible to them.
7. Don’t expect buyers to fix your deferred maintenance and decorating items. One of the cold hard facts of home ownership in Knoxville, Tennessee as well as most everywhere else, is that there is ongoing maintenance and decorating that needs to be done periodically. Roofs have to be replaced, landscaping needs to be trimmed and maintained, dated decor needs freshening. While buyers are willing to pay a premium for a house that’s in “Move In” condition, they often demand a deep discount if they have to do a lot of things you should have been doing over the years.
8. What caused you to buy your house? Is it close to a popular Knox County school, shopping, in a great area. Whatever the reason most buyers will likely be attracted to the same things, make sure they know about them in your advertising.

If you’re thinking of spiffing up your Knoxville area house to make it sell faster, or if you’re a new Knoxville area homeowner I can give you a 10% off coupon from Lowe’s that is good for any one purchase up to a maximum of $10,000! That mean if you spend 10,000 bucks at Lowe’s you get $1,000 off, $1,000, you get $100 off. No cost and no obligation, just call me at (865) 693-3232 or email me for the free Lowe’s coupon.

This great, free 10% off coupon is ONLY available from Realtors that are participating in Lowe’s Realtor Benefits program.

My Lowe’s “Inside Out”, free monthly e-newsletter is full of great advice too. No cost, no obligation, just send an email and say “Sign me up Jim.”

• Monthly tips on selling, buying and moving
• Education about innovative products and projects around the home that yield the highest return
• Important home maintenance tips
• Periodic project starters that will include links to Lowe’s how-to videos and special savings at Lowe’s stores

Visit KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com and click “Sellers” for lots of good fix up tips to make your house more appealing to potential buyers and get it sold faster for a higher price.

Fall is great in east Tennessee with all the trees showing their spectacular yellows, reds, and orange colors. The air is cooler and more crisp, the smell of wood smoke and burning leaves is in the air. It’s also a perfect time for a little backpacking in the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Park service photo from Bullhead Gap showing late October color and hoarfrost on the mountain in the background.

So this past weekend some of my fellow Realtors and a couple of other friends hiked into the backcountry along the Meig’s Mountain trail to campsite # 20. It’s about a 3 1/2 mile hike in from Elkmont, a popular front country campground.

Weather was perfect this past weekend; bright blue, clear fall skies, sunshine, and temperatures ranging from 40s at night into the mid 70s during the day.

Three campers went in Friday but I came in on Saturday morning. They were already set up and had a nice campfire going.

This is one of the benefits to living near the Smoky Mountains. That horizontal blue object in the background is my hammock; I spent lots of time both Saturday and Sunday in it.

We had a big surprise around noon Saturday. We heard some voices coming down the trail and discovered it was the Smoky Mountain Llama treks bringing in a group on one of their outings.

It seemed to me the Llama trek folks were much smarter than we were because they had their trusty Llamas carrying their packs.

The trekkers unpacked at the adjacent campsite to us, set up their folding tables and chairs, and had a feast in the woods. They generously gave us their leftover shirimp cocktails, being good neighbors we took it.

In addition to the Llamas there was lots of native wildlife; we saw deer, heard lots of owls at night, and saw a coyote strolling down the trail beside our campsite. He seemed to be oblivious to our presence. He came back trough about 30 minutes later headed back up the trail. We whistled and hollered at him, he turned once to look but kept on at the same pace. Couldn’t get a picture either time.

It was a great weekend for all, good to get away from computers and cell phones periodically and just do some serious relaxing and have fun.

www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is a great place to find a new home if you would like to live in the Knoxville area of east Tennessee.

For potential, first time Knoxville area homebuyers, there is now a $7,500 tax credit available to help you get into a home.

But don’t delay, it’s only good until July 1, 2009 and then it goes away.

The new tax credit can help you own a great new home like this one.
The credit (which is actually a no interest loan because you have to repay it) works like this.

If you buy a new or resale Knoxville area home before the cutoff date of 2009 you can claim the credit on the federal income tax return you file two years from the closing date, i.e. if you close on say, January 1 of 2009 yog get to claim the credit on your 2011 tax return.

And there’s also good news even if you’ve owned a home in the past. The IRS defines a “first time homebuyer” as one who has not owned a home at anytime in the past 3 years. For married couples that includes both you and your spouse.

There’s also an income limit. Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

Well, that all sounds great but how does a $7,500 credit in 2 years help me buy a house today?

Easy, it can work like this.  If you believe you will qualify for the credit you can simply reduce your withholding amount or your quarterly tax payments and save the difference to use for your down payment and closing costs.

With most FHA insured loans the seller is permitted to make a contribution toward a buyer’s closing costs up to 3% of the purchase price. This is typically almost enough to pay for them so a new home buyer would only have to then come up with the 3% down payment in cash and there’s another new bill in Congress that will bring back gifts to buyers for that amount.

Knoxville Home Center is a great place to pick out a new home.

Beginning January 1st of 2009 the current 2 out of 5 tax rule will change.

Currently if you’ve lived in your Knoxville or Farragut, Tennessee home as your principal residence for any 2, doesn’t have to be consecutive years, just cumulative, of the previous 5 years you can exclude up to $500,000 of gain if married filing jointly and $250,000 if single.

The new rule is that if you used the property first as something other than a principal residence (such as a vacation home or investment), that you must pro-rate the gain so that some is taxable and some is tax free.

If you have a Knox County property that has experienced a gain in value, talk to your CPA before January 2009. There are actions you can take now to preserve the full tax free gain exclusion.

www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is a great place to look for a new home and get valuable buying & selling tips.

This past Saturday, September 27th, was my church’s annual community carnival where we invite all the local folks to come by our church for an exciting and free afternoon of family fun.

This year I believe was our biggest event ever. Everything is FREE! We had a giant blow up slide, moon walk, pony rides, a cake walk, bingo, games, door prizes, and the Knox County Sheriff’s Department joined in by landing one of their helicopters in the back yard along with the bomb squads robot. We served 600 hot dogs,  and countless numbers of soft drinks, roasted peanuts, popcorn and cotton candy along with other treats.

I’m co-chairman of our kitchen committee so I was pretty busy all afternoon fixing hot dogs but the times I went out for a break and to see what was going on outside it looked like a pretty huge crowd. I’m not too good at estimating crowd sizes but I would guess there were well over a thousand people in attendance.

This is the Knox County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad robot who investigates suspicious packages and suspected bomb threats. Thank goodness he doesn’t get much use. Good to know he’s available when needed though.

These are the lines for cotton candy, soft drinks, and popcorn; they stayed very busy all afternoon.

Our church does this free annual event as part of our community outreach ministry.

Any newcomers to the Knoxville/Powell area are invited to visit with us for worship services and we would love to talk with you about becoming a member and joining our church family.

You’ll find Beaver Creek a warm, friendly church whose mission is to:

• Glorify God in word and deed
• Witness near and far to God’s love in Jesus Christ
• Lead others to faith in Jesus Christ and discipleship in the church
• Help one another grow in faith and experience Christian fellowship
• Support one another in the stages of life
• Cooperate with others in common concerns

God bless.

Before examining the latest Knoxville area real estate sales data I want to touch briefly on some misconceptions potential buyers may have about the local market.

There is an overload of negative economic news floating around out there and a lot of it is tied directly to the housing market.

Unfortunately the media tends to focus on markets that have been hit the hardest because their numbers make the most attention grabbing headlines.

But simply because the southern California and Florida real estate markets are in the dumps doesn’t mean the same is true in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Buyers need to look at their own personal situations which is much more relevant to them than whatever they’re reading or hearing from the news.

If buyers live in an area like Knoxville with good economic vitality, buying a home now, or trading up, is no more risky now than it was five years ago.

Consider the median Knoxville sales price graph above. Median price is simply the middle price meaning half the sales were above the median or middle price, and half were below.

Here’s the hard numbers back to 2005.

In August of 2008 our median sales price for a 3 bedroom home in Knoxville was $149,000 and the average sales price was $167,400.  Total single family units closed was 1,140.

August 2007 the median 3 bedroom home in Knoxville sold for $158,000 (remember, 1/2 above, 1/2 below) and average sales price was $176,600. Total units sold was 1,727

In 2006 the median was $149,000 with an average price of $167,000. Total units was 1,798.

Back in 2005, Knoxville’s median price was $137,000 for a typical 3 bedroom home, the average was $153,700 and total units sold was 1,873.

Media types looking for bad news to report could calculate from these figures that August 2008 sales versus August 2007 have dropped 33.8% which they have.

But as the average sales price per square foot above shows, Knoxville prices have continued their slow, steady climb which is one of the factors that makes buying a Knoxville area home a good investment. And, unlike stocks and bonds, it’s an investment you can live in with your family.

For most buyers personally, if you have a job and fairly good credit, buying a new home or trading up to a larger one is no more risky right now than it was five years or so ago.

Interest rates are once again below 6% for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, there is a very plentiful supply of homes for sale, and all my buyers so far this year have been very, very happy with their new home purchase.

Give me a call at (865) 693-3232 or email Jim@JimLee.com and let’s talk about how you can own your own Knoxville area home.

Visit my website at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to view all the Knoxville area homes for sale.

Here’s my latest listing; a beautiful, next to new, 3 or 4 bedroom home in the Gibbs area of east Knox County.

Enjoy the down-home values of this delightful 3 or 4 bedroom, 2+ bath, two story in fine condition enhanced by mountain view. Lovely details in this welcoming residence include hardwood flooring, a rocking chair front porch, and a cozy fireplace. A very comfortable lifestyle and next to new!

Relax in front of your cozy fireplace while winter winds whistle outside.

Large, eat in kitchen with center island and pantry. Glowing hardwood flooring through the main level.

This beautiful home is priced $5,000 below a 2007 appraisal and is move in ready for you and your family for $199,700.

See more beautiful Knoxville area homes at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com

It’s almost fall in east Tennessee (official start date, September 22nd) but the fall feeling is already in the air; cool mornings, leaves starting to show color, and of course football has already started.

Fall in east Tennessee is always cool with lots of fun things to do. Looking most any direction in the great Knoxville area will bring you to some colorful scenery. This photo below is the Obed Scenic River in the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area near Knoxville. A great tubing spot.

Up north of Knoxville at Norris Dam State Park you can take a color cruise on Norris Lake from October 18th through the 30th. 4 one hour trips a day with a ranger who narrates. We’ve been before and it’s a great trip to 6 bucks a person.

Next Saturday, September 13th, there’s a free wildflower hike at the University of Tennessee Arboretum between Knoxville and Oak Ridge (901 S. Illinois Avenue, Highway 62). Naturalist Kris Light will lead and narrate.

For the more adventurous, the local Sierra Club chapter will sponsor an overnight hike over in the Cataloochee Valley section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It starts at the Palmer Creek Trailhead and along the Balsam Mountain Trail to the Laurel Gap Trail Shelter. Return the next day along the Mount Sterling Ridge, Pretty Hollow, and the Palmer Creek Trails.

 Mouse Creek Falls in the Cataloochee Valley section of GSMNP

The Smoky Mountain Hiking Club will coordinate these hikes:

• September 20th, Mt. Leconte via Rainbow Falls and Bull Head Trails
• September 24th, Laurel Snow Pocket Wilderness
• September 27th, Mouse Creek Falls (pictured above) and Brakeshoe Springs (easy hike)
• September 28th, Rowans Creek

October 18-19 is Fall Colors Weekend at Fall Creek Falls State park featuring bike tours, guided tours of the park, and slide shows.  For the adventerous October 25th is Wild Foods Day and filed trips will identify and show you how to prepare wild meats and breads.

Right here in Knoxville, Ijams Nature Center in south Knoxville is always a cool place to visit and take the entire family. Some of their fall activities include:

• Organic gardening basics at 7:00 pm, September 16th.
• Nature program for pre-schoolers at 10:00 am September 18th & 20th.
• Fish program for pre-schoolers 10:00 am September 25th & 27th, along with several other pre-schooler programs.
• And of course Ijams has great walking trails to just enjoy the wildlife and scenery

River Sports Outfitters will sponsor some greenway bike rides on Tuesdays and Thurdays. Free and open to all levels of riders (the local greenways are all pretty level). Bring your own bike or rentals are available for 10 bucks.

That’s only a sampling of the many fun and educational things to do this fall in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area. Fall is a great time of year to be in east Tennessee whether you live here or just come for a visit.

Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see some great Knoxville area homes for sale just in case you’re in the market.

Here’s a great investment opportunity for the parents of a student or anyone looking for a modestly priced real estate investment opportunity.

This Sutherland Avenue duplex at 3720 Cate Avenue is currently fully rented, bringing in a gross monthly rental of $1,080 and is priced on only $88,500!

The upstairs unit has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and is leased for 6 months at $625.00 per month while the 1 bedroom, 1 bath downstairs unit is rented month to month for $455.00. MLS number 629816

The University of Tennessee campus is less than 2 miles east and can be reached by car or by bike on the Third Creek  Greenway/Bike Path.

Upstairs was recently re-painted and the hardwood flooring refinished.

CLICK HERE for a VisualTour of this listing.

Call or email me to arrange a convenient time for you to see this terrific investment opportunity or home for your student that will partially pay for itself.
Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com for a virtual tour of this “Featured Home” and search all other Knoxville Realtor listings of single family homes, condos, and investment properties.

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and likely sell much faster for a better price.

Studies have shown that homes in better condition than their competition sell over 50% faster and for almost 7% more money than competing homes in the same areas and price ranges.

Here’s Quick Way Number 1: Get rid of some of your “stuff”. Rooms overcrowded with furniture, books, magazines, bric a brac, and generally too much stuff, look much smaller than they actually are. Pack up the stuff you’re not using on a day to day basis like photos, mementoes, trophies, art, statues, etc., and get them out of the room. Buyers will overlook stacks of packed boxes because they know you’re moving. Buyers will not overlook a room so full of stuff they can’t more around or see themselves living there.

Quick Way Number 2: Give your house a thorough and deep cleaning from the top to the bottom! Everything must shine and be in good repair. Dust areas that don’t get routine housecleaning attention like baseboards, crown molding, upper corners where walls meet the ceiling including light fixtures and ceiling fans. If walls are too soiled to wipe off a fresh coat of paint is a cheap fix and brings you much more dollar return than the cost of the paint. Buyer like fresh, clean houses in good repair. the less they feel they have to do when they buy a house they more they’re generally willing to pay for it.

Compare the two photos below. The room with the dirty floor, walls, and bare light bulb hanging down is still for sale after a price reduction. Not surprisingly the room below that is in sale pending after only a short time on the market.

Quick Way Number 3: Arrange your furniture like a model home with only one or two large pieces in most rooms and only the bare minimum accessory pieces such as end tables and lamps. Sparsely furnished rooms appear larger because buyers can see more of the room.

Quick way number 4: Consider bringing in a professional to “stage” your home. Staging is not interior decorating or design. Staging is depersonalizing your home, detailing, decluttering, and giving it a “model home” appearance so prospective buyers can see themselves living there. Statistically, staged homes can be demonstrated to sell for almost 7% more with 50% less marketing time than non stated houses!

As an Accredited Property Image Consultant I have taken special training to stage homes. Contrast the two rooms before; the top one is before I staged this room and below it is after.

Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter to see some more tips on how to prepare your home to sell more quickly for more money.

Please call or email with questions or for a free staging or marketing consultation. I offer my staging services at no additional cost to my seller clients.