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]