Knoxville Tennessee Real Estate Blog

This past weekend was Jordan, my oldest grandaughter’s birthday; she turned 16. Of course 16 is one of those “milestone” birthdays, a sort of junior coming of age, so a big party was in order.

Fortunately my daughter and her family live in a small town in west Tennessee with a very nice community center so they rented it for the birthday party. We had a DJ, a local rap group called “GMC”, and lots of party goers.

Here’s the DJ setting up before the party got under way.

This is Jordan the birthday girl with proud grandpa.

Jordan's birthday cake before it was devoured.

backdrop for the luau birthday party

Here are some of the party goers dancing.

This is a clip from our rappers, GMC and company.

The party went on unti midnight and everyone went home tired but happy. I believe we had around 80 kids at the height of the party and around 25 parents who sat around outside and talked where the noise level was more bearable.

Happy birthday Jordan Elizabeth, I hope you have many, many more. Love, Grandpa.

June is almost over and historically June, July, and August are the 3 most active sales months in the real estate market. Most families with children try to time their move during this time so they don’t have to force their childrent to potentially change schools in mid-year. Also moving in the summer is more pleasant than moving during the dead of winter.

So how did Knox County and Knoxville do last week sales wise? I counted 157 real estate transfers in the Knoxville News-Sentinel sunday; here’s the price breakdown.

Knox County Register of Deeds real estate transfers

In the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (MLS) this morning I also count a whopping 5,224 single family homes and condos for sale in Knox County!

5,224 houses for sale and 157 were fortunate enough to sell last week. Those kind of numbers help put the following graph in prespective; the absorption rates or how many months supply of houses are for sale in all price ranges.

True to form, the lower the numbers above (units sold) the higher the numbers below (time to sell).

Knox County Register of Deeds real estate transfers

Zero homes listed for over one million dollars sold correlates with the 43.8 months supply of those homes shown above. 37 sales of homes listed between $100,000 to $150,000 resulted in ‘only’ a 6 months supply of that price range.

The lower priced market is typically driven by first time home-buyers and that appears to still be the case in Knoxville, Farragut, and Knox County in general.

The $8,000 federal tax credit,  lowest mortgage interest rates ever and the huge selection of homes for sale are driving that market and causing first time buyers to see an opportunity too good to pass up.

Here’s this week’s bonus. If you have a house you’re trying to sell or thinking of selling here are 9 things you need to do to make your home stand out and appeal to potential buyers and none of them have anything to do with pricing.

1. Curb appeal, curb appeal, curb appeal! I can’t emphasize this one enough. Buyers have to be attracted to your home to want to see it. I’ve had lots of buyers say: “Let’s pass this one buy.” when we’ve pulled up to a home that was not attractive from the street.
2. Bright, shiny, and inviting entry. Once you get buyers out of the car and walking up to your front door, you want to continue to set a good tone for your showing. Make sure your front entry is spotless, sweep away the cobwebs over your door, clean front door, paint if necessary, bright, shiny new door hardware if necessary, a new light fixture if the old one is rusty. All these things go a long way towards keeping the mood for showing positive.
3. PAINT! Biggest selling bang for your buck possible. Neutral paint is the word of the day, no bright or funky colors. A fresh, uniform coat of paint throughout your house if needed will bring a faster sale and more dollars in your pocket.
4. Your kitchen. Lots of Realtors and buyers say the kitchen is what caused the sale. De-clutter your counter tops, cabinets, pantries, and storage space so buyers can see it.
5. DEEP CLEANING! It’s gotta be not just spotless but “white glove” inspection clean. No grease on kitchen appliances, bathrooms including tubs, showers, and sinks spotless and clean smelling, all light fixtures wiped down or washed including  the bulbs, clean the blades on your ceiling fans, cobwebs from along ceilings and underneath. In fact it will likely pay you to hire a professional house cleaner to do the job for you.
6. Straighten up,  “lean out” and neaten all your storage areas especially your closets. Don’t forget the fresh paint here too.
7. 7. Let the sunshine in. All blinds and shades should be open for showing even in the evenings. Of course your windows need to be included in the deep cleaning too.
8. Get a pre-sale home inspection. This will alert you to potential problem areas you might not be aware of and let you fix or repair them at your leisure and also prevent a buyer from using some minor issue as a negotiating tool.
9. No funky odors or smells. This one is tough because you live there every day and some odors might not be apparent to you. Ask a friend, neighbor, or real estate professional to give your home the “smell test” to see if there might be something there you’re not picking up on. Don’t get carried away with scents to mask odors; too much is almost as bad as the odors you’re trying to cover up. Get rid of the cause of the odor.

You can find lots selling tips as well as get a free copy of my 52 page e-book titled “450 Ideas To Help Your Home Sell Faster” at www. KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com or just send a blank email to [email protected]

It seems every time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV these days you’re bombarded with news like “housing crisis”, “financial crisis”, “mortgage crisis”, “foreclosure crisis”, or “pick your crisis”.

The result of all these crises or in layman’s terms, a great big mess is that it has created one of the strongest buyer markets in history. A buyer’s market is defined as a period where the supply of homes is greater than the demand. A buyer’s market means there are lots of homes for sale and not that many buyers.

With underwriter’s guidelines becoming more strict and tighter than ever it’s also becoming harder for even very well qualified buyers to qualify for a loan.

For instance both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who buy or insure almost 60% of the secondary mortgage market in the US, will only underwrite a loan on a brand new condo where the percentage of owner-occupants is over 70%! The former guideline was 51%. This rule alone is making new condo developments very tough to sell.

Closer to home in Knox County there is a huge number of homes for sale. Today, June 26th for example, there are 4,161 residential listings in all price ranges with an additional 1,068 condos. That’s a total of 5,229 homes for sale.

Months of inventory at current sales levels in Knox County, Tennessee.

Sellers who want to sell now have a choice. Either sell your house now in the current market at the market price or wait until the market improves (assuming it will improve at some future date) IF you can wait and don’t need or have to sell now.

There are some things you can do to put the odds of selling at the best price in your favor. You can get more in depth tips and guides from the “Sellers” and “Free Stuff” section of my website, www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com but here’s the 25 words of less version.

1. Face the new reality; it’s a buyer’s market.
2. Price it right! In a buyer’s market it doesn’t matter what you or your Realtor think it’s worth, the only thing that does matter is what a buyer is willing to pay.
3. Research the local market and see which houses are selling and just as important, which ones are not. You’ll usually find that the ones selling are not only price right but are in ‘move in’ condition with no repairs needed and little if any cosmetic touch ups needed either.
4. Have an effective Internet strategy. According to National Association of Realtors latest study of Home Buyers and Sellers in 2008, over 84% of all home buyers began their home search on the Internet. Evidence of my Internet effectiveness in selling homes is provided by the fact you’re reading this information; please give me a call if you’re thinking of selling.
5. Make sure your house makes a great first impression, that ‘curb appeal’ and ‘shows great’ thing in action. More tips and a free, 52 page eBook titled “450 Ideas to Make Your Home Seller Faster”, yours for the asking at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter or just send me at email to [email protected] and I’ll get one back to you right away.
6. Be flexible. Often buyers will ‘try you out’ with a low ball offer just to see what your reaction will be. Don’t take that as a sign you’re going to have to “give away the farm” to sell. Just counter back at a price you can live with and put the ball back in their court. As Michael Corleone said in that now famous “Godfather” movie: “It’s not personal, it’s just business.”

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We’re past the mid point for June of 2009 so it’s a good time to take a look at recent Knoxville and Knox County real estate sales to see where we are compared to past months and years.

First the weekly Knox County real estate transfers provided by the Knox County Register of Deeds office and published each Sunday in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Knox County Register of Deeds real estate transfers for the week of June 21st

Not much new here, 122 total transfers recorded in the past week with the $100,000 to $250ish price ranges continuing to be where the action is. I also noticed several transfers from entities like First Century Bank, Bank of New York, Fannie Mae, Deutsche Bank, Citicorp, and others which makes me believe these were most likely foreclosures that were sold.

The Knoxville Area Association of Realtors (KAAR) also released their sales figures for May of 2009 and not much changed there either except that total sales were up but that’s a seasonal issue which happens every year. Sales are historically lower in January and rise in numbers towards the spring and summer selling season.

For example total sales units for just passed May of 2009 were 928 compared to 498 in January. However May sales in 2008 were 1,250, 2007 were 1,666, and 2006 were 1,911, so this May’s sales were lower than May of 2006 by a whopping 48.5% and still 25.7% lower than May of 2008!

Average and median prices for the year have stayed about the same. Average 3 bedroom prices were 154.5 in May of this year and 152.8 in January, only a 1.1% difference which is statistically meaningless. Median pricing for the typical Knoxville area 3 bedroom home was 138 in January of 09 and that rose to 143.5 in May or 3.8%.

Average and median Knoxville area 3 bedroom home prices

Bottom line for the Knoxville area again is that it’s a great time for buyers and not as great as it has been for sellers. Big numbers of homes on the market and small numbers actually selling.

Today there are 12,280 active residential listings in all price ranges and all areas and 1,816 condos including the 2,702 new listings added in May. 928 closed sales in May.

www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is a great real estate resource for both buyers and sellers alike. Buyers can search all the Knoxville area listings with no registration required and sellers can find great selling tips as well as get a free copy of my 52 page eBook titled “450 Ideas To Help Your Home Sell Faster”. Just send a blank email to [email protected] and my autoresponder will send it back to you right away.

Have a real estate question? Please feel free to call or email me your real estate questions for prompt and objective reply. No cost or obligation for this service.

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The first full week of June turned out to be a fizzle for real estate transfers recorded at the Knox County Register of Deeds office, dropping to just 50 recorded transfers from a high of 187 back on April 12 of 2009.

In fact I believe 50 is the worst week we’ve had thus far in 2009.

Knoxville real estate transfers for the past week

Here’s what some past weeks have looked like so far in 2009:

Knoxville weekly real estate deeds recorded at the Knox County Register of Deeds

Knoxville Recently Sold Homes

Historically May and June have both been pretty strong sales months so just what the heck is happening now.

I believe the main factors depressing our market and sale is an overwhelming lack of consumer confidence towards buying big ticket items like houses, a continuing climb in unemployment numbers, and unfortunately, plunging home values driven by distressed sales (foreclosures & short sales) which now account for 45% of the market.

If someone in your neighbor or area sells their home in a distress sale that affects the values of all homes in that area.

Reuters news service said in a recent article: “Even when the economy begins to grow, analysts expect only a tepid recovery. Plunging home values and rising unemployment have forced consumers to cut spending, and households are expected to continue to rebuild savings for months to come.”

And to further kick the housing industry when it’s down, mortgage interest rates ROSE to their highest levels since December of 2008!

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. mortgage rates surged to their highest in almost six months in the latest week, despite government efforts to keep rates at low levels that will help the hard-hit housing market begin to recover.

Demand for home refinancing loans, which had been spurred by low mortgage rates, has dropped recently. Even lower rates, however, had been having limited impact on demand for loans to purchase homes.”

Spring is traditionally the peak home buying season so I don’t look for the sales numbers to improve any time soon.

On a brighter note it still is a very strong buyers market for those with good credit and good job prospects. The $8,000 (or 10% whichever is less) federal tax credit remains in effect until December 1st of 2009.

Our Tennessee Housing Development Authority (THDA) has in place a program that will let you borrow from them up to 3.5% of a home’s purchase price (which just happens to the the minimum down payment with FHA financing) and repay them at 0% until 2010 using your $8,000 tax credit.

You may find that you can now buy a house cheaper than your current rent. A fixed rate payment will never increase over the life of your loan unlike rent payments.

See all Knoxville area homes for sale including foreclosures and short sales at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com\

Give me a call or send an email and lets talk about the remaining benefits of home ownership and get you into a home of your own while conditions are so much in a buyer’s favor.

Here’s just a couple of the 5,140 houses and condos currently for sale in Knox County.

Attractive northeast Knoxville home priced at $179,900

West Knoxville and bargain priced at $149,900.

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