Knoxville Tennessee home buying legalities

Posted by Jim Lee, REALTOR® @ 10:49 am, February 26th, 2007  

If you’re considering buying a home in the greater Knoxville Tennessee area (or anywhere in Tennessee for that matter), there are some legal requirements imposed on all Tennessee real estate licensees by our real estate commission.

The first requirement is that all Tennessee real estate licensees MUST (this is not an option) disclose their agency status at the first “substantive contact” with a prospective consumer of real estate services. The default status is called facilitator which is a non agency status.

You can read all about what a Tennessee licensee’s duties to you are here.

That means if you call and just ask the price or location of a house, that’s probably not a “substantive contact” and does not require any sort of disclosures; but if you meet with a licensee and talk about buying a particular house that would probably qualify as “substantive contact”.

Before this disclosure of agency status takes places all Tennessee real estate licensees MUST obey the following: EVERY REAL ESTATE LICENSEE SHALL MAINTAIN THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANY INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM YOU BY THE LICENSEE PRIOR TO THE LICENSEE’S DISCLOSURE TO YOU OR A WRITTEN AGENCY OR SUBAGENCY AGREEMENT TO REPRESENT ANYONE IN A TRANSACTION TO WHICH YOU MAY BE A PARTY, EXCEPT FOR ADVERSE FACTS REQUIRED TO BE DISCLOSED UNDER TENNESSEE LAW.”

Unless you have a signed & written agency agreement where you actually hire a Tennessee real estate licensee to be your agent in a transaction their status is most likely the default status in Tennessee which is a non-agency status called facilitator.

Additionally not all Tennessee licensees are REALTORS®

A REALTOR® is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to their strict Code of Ethics .

For the very best representation, buying or selling your next Knoxville area home make sure your Tennessee real estate licensee, is not only a REALTOR® but also YOUR agent in order to get the very best representation.

* IMPORTANT * A disclosure of agency form is not an agency agreement. An agency agreement spells out the terms of your agent’s employment by your and must be signed by both you and your agent.

A “Confirmation of Agency” form, which is a disclosure form, IS NOT an agency agreement.

Please call or email me with any agency or real estate questions.

See all of Knoxville’s Realtor listings at KnoxvilleHomecenter.com

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“lockbumping”…….is your Knoxville home secure?

Posted by Jim Lee, REALTOR® @ 9:57 am, February 24th, 2007  

The latest technique used by burglars and thieves wanting into your home is called “lock bumping”.

Using ordinary house keys with a special cut; almost anyone can open your door locks and be inside your house in less than 2 minutes.

Watch this YouTube video to see how easy it is and how to prevent the bad guys from using it on your door.

Trust me when I say I’m not giving any crooks ideas with this post; it’s their job to know stuff like this.

Hopefully by seeing this you can take some simple steps to make your Knoxville area home more secure for you and your family.

To buy or sell a Knoxville, Tennessee area home visit my website for all the area’s Realtor listings plus tips & advice on how to get your home sold quickly.


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“Staging” your Knoxville TN home to sell quickly

Posted by Jim Lee, REALTOR® @ 11:05 am, February 22nd, 2007  

A relatively new buzzword in the real estate business is “staging” a home.

Staging simply means arranging your home to show in its best light. This goes beyond simple ‘clean up, fix up’ and often involves rearranging or replacing items in the house and on the walls, some new paint, some new decor items, and whatever else it takes to make you home appear bigger, brighter, cleaner, warmer, more loved, and, most of all, entice your prospective buyers to want to buy your home above all the other for sale.

The absolute worst single mistake a seller can make is overpricing their home relative to comparable homes for sale. Buyers look at other homes before they make their buying decision; unless your home stands out in their minds in at least one area you’re just one of the crowd.

But, if your home is not only priced competitively compared to others, AND staged to appeal to the broadest base of buyers you have a huge edge on the rest of your competition (other home sellers).

Here’s a couple of easy staging tips to make your Knoxville area home stand out from the others.

  1. Curb appeal: you have to attract buyer’s attention from the street and make them think, “Wow, that’s a great looking home, I want to see the rest.” A big splash of color goes a long way here. It can be a simple as buying a couple of large flower pots and creating an attractive & eye catching focal point with a birdbath, gazing ball, or even a colorful birdhouse. Of course a neat, well trimmed lawn is a must as well.
  2. A Great Kitchen: kitchens are the number 1 selling room in most houses. Get everything except one or two items off your countertops to create the illusion of more space, make sure everything is sparkling clean to the eye and to the touch. Don’t forget the windows, floors, ceiling, and cabinets (hint, a rubdown with orange oil will restore the luster to tired cabinets).

Here’s before and after shots of an inexpensive kitchen remodel that will result in a faster sale of this home for top dollar.

Before, the kitchen was dated with lots of ‘stuff’ setting on the old counter tops.

staged kitchen before jim lee realtor

Compare the photo above to this ‘after’ shot. Which would you want to buy? I think the answer is obvious.

kitchen after jim lee knoxville tn realtor

If you’re thinking of selling your Knoxville area home I offer staging consultations as part of my real estate services.

Usually I can suggest a few inexpensive things that will make your home show better, appeal more, and sell faster than the rest.

Here’s a link to some great ‘before’ & ‘after’ shots to give you some insight into what staging is all about.

In today’s highly competative Knoxville, Tennessee real estate market hiring a real estate broker experienced in staging your home will get you a long way towards a faster sale for more money.

Visit my website, www.KnoxvilleMLS.com and click the “Selling” link for lots of quick, easy, staging tips and tricks you can do yourself.

Knoxville Tennessee Sales Figures for January 2007

Posted by Jim Lee, REALTOR® @ 8:46 am, February 16th, 2007  

January’s sales stats were just released yesterday for the greater Knoxville Tennessee area. They show a total of 841 single family homes closed and 117 condos for a total of 958 units sold.

See all of Knoxville’s January 2007 sales stats here.

Time on the market was 91 days average; up a few days.

That means if you’re selling a Knoxville house or condo right now you need to make sure it’s in tip top condition, priced right, and marked by an aggressive real estate broker who has the knowledge, experience, and tools to get the job done for you.

I would like to interview for the job as your Realtor of choice if you’re buying or selling a Knoxville, Tennessee area home.

You can view all of Knoxville’s Realtor listings for sale with no registration on my website KnoxvilleMLS.com. Lots of free home fix up tips there too to make your home show better, sell faster, and net you more money.

Get a free copy of my 52 page eBook title “450 Ways to Make Your Home Sell Faster”, just click on this link and ask; I’ll get your free copy on it’s way right away.

Give me a call or email today and let’s get started.

Visit my flagship website KnoxvilleMLS.com and let’s make your home a “Featured Home” and get it seen by more Internet buyers all around the United States and the world.

Knoxville TN real estate investing 101….

Posted by Jim Lee, REALTOR® @ 2:15 pm, February 14th, 2007  

It seems real estate is always a popular topic for discussion and when you watch one of those late night TV shows promising real estate riches with no effort, no money, and no credit on your part it becomes tempting to pick up the phone and dial that 1-800 number.

However having been in the real estate business in Knoxville, Tennessee for almost 29 years now I’ve seen firsthand when something looks too good to be true it usually is. There are no free lunches in real estate.

But with some planning, some searching, and some effort on your part (and mine) it is possible to find undervalued properties or properties needing some rehab or often only cosmetic work (typically paint and/carpet), buy them at a discount, rehab them, and either sell for a profit or make a rental out of it.

Below are before and after photos of one project an investor and I did last year.

This house is located on northwest Knoxville on Palmwood Drive; this is before:

Palmwood Drive, Knoxville, Tn before

We bought this house in it’s present condition for $71,000

And this is after our rehab, pretty much from top to bottom.

palmwood drive knoxville tennessee after rehab

We sold it for $130,900 in just under 3 months counting rehab time.

That’s just one example of projects I’ve been involved in either with an investor or by myself.

If you’re interested in actually buying homes and reselling them for a profit I can help; call me before you dial that 1-800 number at 3:00 AM and buy a course that can’t hold your hand and advise you how to make money.

www.KnoxvilleMLS.com

Jim Lee, REALTOR®

Save taxes by selling your Knoxville, TN home

Posted by Jim Lee, REALTOR® @ 11:57 am, February 14th, 2007  

April 17th (because of where April 15th falls you get two extra days to file) is right around the corner and federal income taxes are due on that date.

Tax time usually puts “how much do I have to pay?” and “how can I save some money?” at the forefront of our minds.

If you own a home in the Knoxville, Tennessee area and are searching for some tax breaks, selling your home is still one of the greatest tax breaks going thanks to the “Homeowner Gain Exclusion” law passed by Congress 10 years ago.

If you’re married and own a home you’ve lived in for at least 2 of the past 5 years you can sell that home (married taxpayers filing a joint return) and not pay any federal income taxes on the first $500,000 of capital gain.

Capital gain is the difference between what you bought it for originally and what you sold it for.

Single taxpayers can exclude up to $250,000 of gain.

But what if you own an upper bracket home and your gain is over $500,000?

It’s still a good deal for you to sell because you get the benefit of the first $500,000 being tax free and gains above that number are taxed at the long term capital gains rate of 15%.

So let’s say you have a gain of $700,000 when you sell; the first $500,000 is tax free and you pay 15% of the remaining $200,000 profit or a total tax of $30,000 on a $700,000 profit………….not bad.

There are some other options too if you for example, might want to keep your present residence and make a rental out of it.

You can form a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) for a few hundred dollars, refinance to pull some equity out, sell your current home to your LLC,  rent it out, you still own it, and you then get to depreciate it over the next 27.5 years even though it may be appreciating in value (and likely will).

If you own a home in the greater Knoxville area and want to talk about some options you may have please give me a call and we’ll arrange a convenient time to sit down and talk about how you can have your cake….er, your home, still own it, buy another home, and save a ton of money in taxes.

* As a practicing real estate broker I do not give legal or tax planning advice but I know lots of very competent people who do. Together we can form a team to help you meet your finanical goals.

KnoxvilleMLS.com

 

Great Knoxville Tennessee listing is ‘move in’ ready for new family.

Posted by Jim Lee, REALTOR® @ 1:36 pm, February 9th, 2007  

Here’s your key to happiness! Charming 3 bedroom, 2 bath Cape Cod has master on the main level, new carpet & paint throughout, a new gas Heat & air system, PLUS a 1 year buyer’s warranty to protect you against unexpected repair expenses.

knoxville tn jim lee realtor

See a virtual tour   here and at Realtor.com

Bargain priced at only $129,900, call owner/agent Jim Lee today at 865-693-3232 for your private viewing.

View all of Knoxville’s homes for sale at KnoxvilleMLS.com