Knoxville Tennessee Real Estate Blog

Image by Kitty Sonnenschein via Flickr

If you still have Thanksgiving turkey left over here are 2 quick and easy recipes to deliciously get rid of it.

One of my favorites I fixed last night.

Grilled Turkey Rubens, serves 2

4 slices rye bread

1/2 cup sauerkraut

2 slices of Swiss cheese

1,000 island dressing

turkey

Butter or apply spread to outside of rye bread, place one slice butter side down in skillet.

layer on some turkey, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing.

Butter other side of bread and place on top with butter side facing up.

Grilled until toasted on one side, turn over and toast other side.

Enjoy, grilled turkey Rubens are delicious especially with a crisp pickle and some chips.

Crunchy Turkey Salad, serves 2

coarsely chop cooked turkey, from 1/2 cup to 1 cup

Mix in a coarsely chopped tart apple like Granny Smith

Throw in a handful of nuts, pecan or walnuts work best.

Fold in some low fat mayo to taste.

You can either use this on a sandwich, by itself, or put a big spoon on top of some torn salad greens.

Both the Reuben and turkey salad recipes are very easy to prepare and both are very tasty.

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www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is another great recipe to help you find a new home, no mixing, stirring, or cooking necessary.

Earlier this month, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) released the results of their annual consumer survey: the 2008 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers!

Among the findings:

• Satisfaction with real estate agents is very high among buyers. (that’s good news.) Nearly nine out of ten buyers would definitely or probably either use their agent again or recommend that agent to others.

• Sixty-one percent of home buyers are married couples. Single women account for the next largest share of buyers – 20 percent.
• First-time home buyers accounted for a larger market share of home purchases compared to the past FIVE surveys. The share of first-time buyers rose to 41 percent from 39 percent of transactions in last year’s survey and 36 percent in 2006.
• The “typical” first-time home buyer was 30 years old – slightly younger than the typical age reported in 2007. The median income of first-time buyers was $60,600.
• While married couple households account for 49 percent of all first-time buyers, single females represent a quarter of first-time purchasers.
• The typical first-time buyer purchased a home costing $165,000 and plans to stay in that home for 10 years, up from seven years in 2007.
• The typical repeat buyer was 47 years old, earned $88,200, purchased a home costing $236,000 and plans to stay in that home for 10 years.
• 87 percent of buyers used the Internet in their home search, while 85 percent used a real estate agent. Home searchers also relied on yard signs (62 percent), open houses (48 percent) and print or newspaper ads (47 percent).
• Slightly more than one third of buyers cited their real estate agent as the source of information on the home they ultimately purchased. Thirty-two percent cited the Internet. Indeed, buyers most commonly start their search process online and then contact a real estate agent!
• More than 80 percent of home buyers purchased their property through a real estate professional. One in ten buyers purchased their homes directly through a builder or builder’s agent.
• Because agents often are chosen based on a referral, or were used in a previous transaction, two-thirds of buyers contacted only one real estate agent in the search process. Nearly three out of ten buyers cited honesty and trustworthiness as the most important factor in choosing an agent. More than two out of ten said that the reputation of an agent was an important factor. One or the other of these two factors was considered most important for half of home buyers.

Married couples still remain the largest buying demographic with single females remaining firmly in second place.
More information here.

www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is a great place to look for (and sell) a home in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area.

Please call or email with any questions or comments.

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Image via Wikipedia

Kingston Pike, circa 1910

This past week saw the following real estate transactions recorded at the     Knox County Tennessee Registrar of Deeds office.

Sales over $1,000,000                  there were none

$500,000 to $1,000,000                                   4

$300,000 to $500,000                                      5

$200,000 to $300,000                                     17
$150,000 to $200,000                                     16

$50,000 to $100,000                                       19

Under $50,000                                                18

Total deeds recorded                                        79

That’s a pretty dramatic drop in the past weeks closings and dovetails with the increase in average days on the market (DOM) to 108 from September’s 105 days and August’s 97 DOM.

Today in all prices ranges there are 11, 579 total active listing in the Knoxville Area Assocation of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

If you’re in the market for a home there is plenty of mortgage money available at area lenders at very attractive, fixed rates.

This charming home closed in the mid $70,000 price range.

Whittington Creek, closed at $455,000………….

This beautiful Powell area home closed at $192,500 with a collection of Christmas trees in front

Since the coming week is Thanksgiving followed by the Christmas shopping frenzy, we typically see a little more slowdown in the residential real estate market but homes are bought and sold every day in Knoxville and it’s not too late to surprise your family with a new home for Christmas.

www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is the place to go and I would be delighted to be your Realtor of choice and help you with your home Christmas shopping.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

If you are you’re in good company.

Currently the Knoxville Area Association of Realtor’s Multiple Listing System (MLS) has 11,576 active residential listings and 1,743 condos which have all been for sale an average time of 108 days. That’s a very clear sign to me that we’re in a strong buyer’s market.
In the month of October there were 874 closed sales but there were also 2,106 new residential listings plus another 228 condos.

I’m not going to do the math but it’s pretty plain that only about 1 out of every 15 listings sold in October.

As a seller you’re goal is to be that 1 out of 15 that got an invitation to the closing table.

Because I’m in the Knoxville area real estate market on a daily basis I see lots of sellers with houses that are grossly overpriced for various reasons.

Reasons like:

• “We really need the money.” Sorry, but buyers don’t care. If you want to sell now you need to have your house priced aggressively and in tip top shape to attract buyers that want to buy now.
  
• “We can always reduce the price later.” Later is often too ‘later’. Buyers are looking to buy now and they’re buying that 1 in 15 house that they feel gives them the most bang for their buck. Buyers pass overpriced houses by and usually don’t come back.
• “We’ll just try it at this price for a few weeks and see what happens.” Buyer activity for a new listing is typically highest while it’s still new on the market. After it has set a while buyers start passing it by because it’s stale. Usually a price reduction (a significant price reduction) is what you need to do to invite them back to take another look. Better to price it right from the start and get it sold.
• “Buyers can always make an offer if they think our price is too high.” Sounds reasonable but buyers tend to look in certain price points and if you’re so high that you’re out of their price range they’re not even going to look at your house much less make an offer.

Here’s a link back to a posting I wrote a few months ago with 4 quick ways to make your Knoxville area house sell. Not guaranteed to work but it will get you a lot closer to that closing table than you are now.

If your house or condo is currently listed with a Knoxville area Realtor ask them to take you on a CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) field trip to take a look at your competition. Choose 2 or 3 houses similar to yours currently for sale and go visit them to see how yours compares.

Then get a list of what similar houses to yours have sold for in the past 2-3 months; 6 months ago doesn’t count anymore, that’s ancient history. You need to know what is going on with sales now. Have your Realtor call the listing agents for the house that just sold and ask them what they feel made it happen.
Remember, with only 1 out of 15 listings selling last month and average market times at 108 days, your listing needs to stand head and shoulders above the crowd to attract buyers.

You can take a look at current homes for sale at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see how yours stacks up to the competition.

I’m available to answer any questions you may have by phone, email, or I’ll be glad to come visit you to talk about getting your house sold.

Image via WikipediaThe Knox Country Registrar of Deeds office recorded the following real estate transactions in Knox County this past week.

More than $1,000,000:   1

$1,000,000 to $500,000:   6

$300,000 to $500,000:  15

$200,000 to $300,000:   36

$150,000 to $200,000:   32

$100,000 to $150,000:   42

$50,000 to $100,000:   29

Under $50,000:  15

Total Knox County property transfers for the week of November 16th:  176

Knox County Registrar of Deeds Sherry Witt notes that the first half of November has produced 284 property transfers so far, compared to 273 during the same time period in October.

Historically November is one of the slowest months for real estate activity so that would make the increase a very positive sign for Knoxville and Knox County real estate sales.

Below are some examples of what your money can buy in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area now.

This historic charmer in north Knoxville’s 4th & Gill neighborhood sold for $144,000

Attractive Powell home sold for $189,000

Terrific Karns area home with 5.4 acres closed at $244,000!

This stunning Farragut home sold for $420,000. How would you like to find this under your Christmas tree?

visit KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to pick a great home out for you and your family. Homes are still selling well in the greater Knoxville area and there are some great buys to be had.

Mortgage money is readily available with 15 to 30 year fixed rates ranging from 5.5 to 6.25%

Image via WikipYesterday at the National Association of Realtor’s (NAR) annual convention in Orlando, Florida, NAR proposed their own economic stimulus plan to get the nation’s economy moving again.

Not surprisingly it involves real estate, more specifically residential real estate.

Increasing home affordability and access to reasonably priced mortgage loans would help other business as well because each home sale drives the purchase of many other goods and services.

“New homeowners move into a home with energy and enthusiasm, spending money on everything from appliances, to furniture, window treatments, and rugs. New homeowners tend to want to make the home their own, and spend a great deal during the first two years in a new residence making improvements, from cosmetic changes such as a new coat of paint to major renovations such as room additions.”

I know that when we bought a new home in 2007 we spent quite a bit of money doing improvements. We:

• painted the interior
• Added insulation in the attic
• Rebuilt all the closet shelving with vinyl coated shelving systems
• refinished the hardwood floors
• remodeled both bathroom
• Replaced the single pane windows with new, insulated low-e glass
• bought new blinds for all windows
• did quite a bit of new landscaping
• Upgraded the electrical service

And each one of those purchases put several thousand dollars into Knoxville’s economy which enabled the local goods and service providers to pay their bills, buy their own consumer goods and services, and make capital investments to grow their business.

NAR’s 4 point proposal is as follows:

1. Extend for 2 years the current $7,500 tax credit for first time homebuyers, make it applicable to all buyers, and eliminate the repayment requirement.
2. Make permanent the temporary increase in FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits to $729,750 in high-cost areas. The limits are scheduled to roll back to $625,000 on Jan. 1.
3. Permanently block banks from engaging in real estate brokerage and management.
4. A temporary federal buy-down of mortgage rates to 4.5 percent or less. We feel mortgage interest rates are too high by roughly 200 basis points (100 basis points equals 1%) and the temporary buy down would encourage buyers currently sitting on the fence to go forward with their purchase.

With or without the stimulus proposal there are some great buys in resale and new homes all around the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area. Take a look at KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see for yourself.

Image by Old Shoe Woman via FlickrDoing a Google search this morning and I quickly became fascinated to discover there were so many live webcams displaying so many different topics, subjects, and places all over the world.

Here’s just a few.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming (and quite a few other places nearby)

Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee

More Great Smoky Mountains park from another direction and location

Purchase Knob, Great Smoky Mountains

Marco Island, Florida, a favorite with snowbirds.

Earthcam, tons of great web cams all over the world, you can look here for days.

All over, these cameras are all over the world too, not as well labeled as Earthcams

Times Square, New York City

Web cam central, another collection from all over

Cruise ship cam, part of web cam central but worthy of special mention. This is from the bridge of Princess Cruise Line ships all over the world, cool

Leonard’s Cam World, a little spotty but the ones that work are pretty cool

Interstate highways around Knoxville, Tennessee. Your city probably has one too.

National Zoo in Washington, D.C., just in case you get the urge to watch a Clouded Leopard or a naked Mole Rat

Web cams & chat, this one is a little…….odd for want of a better word.

Bonaire, An island in the Caribbean near Aruba………nice

The North Pole…….cold and snowy……Santa Claus is also nowhere in sight, I liked Bonaire much better

Nashville Realtor, Bonaire is still better.

For all you Elvis fans, here’s Graceland, no, the king does not appear (yet).

New Orleans, attend Mardi Gras without leaving home

Railcams, for train buffs

Maui, now you can see when the surf’s up.

If anyone finds more, put them in the remarks and I’ll add them and believe me it’s not hard.

Enjoy you fantasy trip.