Knoxville Tennessee Real Estate Blog

October……..in east Tennessee the air is turning crisp and cool, the leaves are starting to turn to their fall colors, and real estate sales are in the air.

So what does the first week in October bring to Knoxville real estate news?

It looks like the average number of sales is still average; we had 152 closed real estate transactions reported by the Knox County Register of Deeds, here’s the price points breakdown:

Knox County, TN real estate transactions recorded

And as usual the lower pric points continue to dominate the sales figures. 35 in the $100,000 to $150,000 price ranges was the top number with 2 in the over $1,000,000 price range.

And if you compare an average week of sales to the absorption rates (how long it takes houses to sell) you’ll see the price point points above go hand in hand with sales.

Knoxville, TN home sales by price points and months to sell

And the year to date sales figures compared to the past 4 years

Knoxville real estate sales year to date compared to past years.

So which way are Knoxville area sales headed? My guess is down for few months until January-February 2010 when they have historically started their seasonal climb to the peaks in May-June.

Even though sales this year around 50% less than 2005-6 the sales trend still mirrors the peak years sales; there is just far fewer sales.

The $8,000 federal tax credit expires at the end of November this year and I believe that carrot has accounted for about 20-30% of our sales this year. If buyers want to have a chance of collecting that eight thousand bucks they need to plan on having a house under contract in the next 1-2 weeks. After there your odds of closing before the end of November are going to go way down.

There is talk and much action from real estate entities like the National Association of Realtors to extend the credit to keep sales going but what’s going to happen there is anybody’s guess.

Bottom line, if you want to buy a house, now is a great time if you have a stable job and can qualify for a mortgage. Interest rates are in the low 5 to high 4% range, you still might be able to collect $8,000 in tax credits if you buy soon, and there is a huge selection of homes for sale.

KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is a great place to start you search as well as find school information, and lots of other Knoxville area information.

Please call or comment with any questions.

Knoxville, TN real estate

The Oak Ridge Farmer’s Market opened this morning at 8:00 am across from Jackson Square in Oak Ridge. My wife is a regular during the season so we were first in line this morning when the buying began promptly at 8:00. Nothing is allowed to be sold before then for some reason.

grand opening day at the Oak Ridge TN Farmer's Market.

The Oak Ridge market is open Saturdays at 8:00 am and Wednesday afternoons at 3:30 until they sell out which happens typically in a couple of hours.

Tuesdays and Fridays most of the same farmers move over to Knoxville for one or both of the Knoxville Farmer’s Market in the parking lot of the Laurel Avenue Church of Christ on Kingston Pike across from the main entrance to Sequoyah Hills.

This is Shirley, she was Tennessee Beekeeper of the year recently.

Shirley is one of my wife’s favorites; she always has a smile and a kind word not to mention some pretty awesome honey from her beehives. I love the Sourwood honey when it gets harvested in late spring.

In the early season there are lots of annuals, perennials, and herbs for sale.

Sheep's milk cheese is not only delicious but it's much easier to digest than cow milk cheeses.

Even though it’s early, local farms are producing green onions, spinach, lettuce, green garlic, red and white onions, turnips, radishes and asparagus along with potted herbs and flowers of all sorts.

This smiling farmer had lots of flowers for sale.

We also buy free range eggs here along with grass-fed meats including smoked sausage, bacon, free-range turkey and chicken. Unfortinately the baked goods lady wasn’t here today but she has delicious breads, muffins, and other home baked goodies.

And across the street in the Jackson Square parking lot there was some toe tapping music from this trio.

Musicians entertain the Farmer's Market crowd in the early morning hours.

Here's Shirley the beekeeper loading what looks like some fresh green onions into a customer's bag.

Now that the market is open we’ll be making the Saturday morning trek over to Oak Ridge to buy some delicious fresh produce, honey, and other locally produced goods. One of the requirements for selling at this farmer’s market is that you actually have to be the farmer that produced it in order to sell it. The farmer’s market association makes the rounds to ensure that only local farmers that produce what they sell are allowed to participate.

If you’re around Knoxvill or Oak Ridge during farmer’s market hours stop on by and pick up a few things to take home. Once you do you’ll be hooked on the quality and freshness of the goods plus you’re supporting local farmers; a good deal for all.

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An amazing Christmas light show is going on just off the Watt Road exit in West Knoxville. Shadrack Water Sports and RV has turned their entire lot into a Christmas wonderland with over 250,000 lights,10,000+ feet of network cable to control the show, and 30,000 feet of power cords.

Visitors can drive through and enjoy the show or park for a few minutes to hear the music synchronized to all the lights.

This huge undertaking began this past August and required over 500 hours of computer programming to pull it all together.

It was worth it all. This is the most amazing display of Christmas lights set to music I’ve seen. Imagine Knoxville’s Boomsday fireworks show without the noise and a Christmas theme and you’ve nailed it

This song is “Christmas with a Capital C” by Go Fish

And the finale is an old favorite “Silent Night” by Mannheim Steamroller

Great Christmas entertainment for the whole family. The Christmas light show is open 6-10 p.m. weekdays, 6-11 p.m. weekends past New Year’s. Admission is $10,00 per carload during the week and $12.00 on weekends. They said over 2,000 cars have toured the grounds and watched the light show since it opened in mid November.

Fun for all the some of the proceeds go to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.

If you’re in Knoxville take I 40 & 75 west to the Watt Road Exit, turn right on Watt Road then almost immediately left on a frontage road parallelling the interstate. There are plenty of signs and you can’t miss seeing all the lights.

Don’t miss it.

Image via WikipediaMost every fall we take one of the annual color cruises on nearby Norris Lake. Operated and narrated by a ranger from Norris Dam State Park, these cruises take you places you can only access by boat.

A local friends of the park group donated this nifty pontoon boat they use for the cruises.

the good ship Eleanor

This past Friday was a rainy, overcast, blustery fall day in east Tennessee but the fall colors were ready to view so off we went with our ranger/guide Lucinda and two other hardy souls from nearby Knoxville.

The colors were not at peak just yet but were very beautiful never the less. Some of the Maple trees were showing their usual spectacular red colors.

the Tennessee Valley Authority routinely drops the water levels of most all their lakes in the fall to make room for spring rains and flood control downstream. Norris lakes level routinely is dropped around 20 feet but since it is such a deep lake the average water depth is still around 75 feet.

Norris Dam was completed around 1936 and impounds the Powell and Clinch Rivers to form Norris Lake with almost 800 miles of shoreline. It’s a very popular attraction for visitors from all over.

On other cruises we have seen lots of wildlife from Bald Eagles, deer, ducks, and more, but this trip we only saw two mallards passing over and one lonely Belted Kingfisher on the bank.

It was very peaceful on the lake, we only saw one other boat with a lone fisherman trying his luck.

Now is a great time to be looking for a home in the greater Knoxville area so you can enjoy places like Norris Dam State Park and Knoxvilles many other family friendly attractions. Knoxville Home Center is a great place to look for that new home.

If your Knoxville or Farragut Tennessee home is on the market for sale and not selling here’s some things you can do to change that and help it to sell quickly.

• Check your home’s curb appeal. Go out your front door, walk across the street, and take a hard look at the view potential buyers see when they drive by. Are your lawn and shrubs neatly trimmed? A touch of seasonal flowers visible? Garage doors down and all bikes, big wheels, and toys put away? The first thing buyers have to do to buy your house is be attracted to it. Good curb appeal sets the stage for a positive visit. You might also check any online photos, especially the first one people see.
• Check your price. What have similar homes to yours sold for in the past few months? What price range are pending sales of homes similar to yours in? Hows your market absorption rate right now? This is a very strange market we’re in all across the country and you need to know what the situation is locally; in your town, in your area, in your neighborhood. Make sure your house is priced competitively.
• Have your home professionally “staged” inside. Staging is part art form, part science. Successful staging is much more than interior decorating; it’s literally setting a stage to make your home look like a model home. Declutter and put away personal “stuff” that detract buyers from looking at the actual house. Refresh tired and outdated paint colors. ‘Lean out’ over crowded rooms and consider renting a storage locker to store excess furniture and large possessions that take up floor space.
• Instead of dropping the price, consider offering some incentives for potential buyers. Paying some or all of their closing costs is a tried and true inducement. Try and think of some unusual incentives such as paying their moving expenses. What buyer wouldn’t be attracted to the notion of not having to lift a finger on moving in day but rather directing free movers where to locate their heavy furniture.
• Offer an incentive to local Realtors. Money works well. . Adding 1% to the fee a buyer’s agent can earn is a small portion of your sales price but it can attract more agents to push your house to their buyers. Let’s face it, money is a powerful motivator.

None, or even all, of these things are guaranteed to make your house sell but I think most would agree that the more you tilt the odds in your favor the better your chances of a sale become.

Visit Knoxville Home Center for 40 free tips to make your home sell faster and for more money. You can also request a free copy of my 52 page eBook titled “450 Ideas To Help Your Home Sell FASTER!”. Just click the “Free Stuff” link for this and more selling ideas.

I know foreclosure is an unpleasant topic but since Tennessee is number 11 nationwide in numbers of foreclosures, it certainly seems like a subject that merits some discussion.

If anyone is behind on their mortgage payments or have maybe received a foreclosure notice, you still have some legal options to solve, prolong, or even fix your financial difficulties.

Here are some ideas to consider:

1. Restructure your loan. With this option you try to negotiate with your lender to come up with a payment plan to get you caught up and possibly add any late fees and charges to your current loan to soften that burden for now.
2. Reinstatement. This is simply catching up all your late payments plus associated fees and charges. Since most people facing foreclosure in the first place are having financial problems this is not an option for most.
3. Refinance your existing loan. If you have a large amount of equity in your home it might be worthwhile to talk with your lender about refinancing your existing loan to get you caught up and hopefully make your payment a bit more bearable.
4. Sell your home. If your home is in salable condition, maybe selling now to avoid foreclosure and moving to something a bit more affordable until things get better could be a consideration.
5. Do a short sale. In a short sale your lender agrees to take less than the principal amount of your mortgage if you sell your house. Not surprisingly most lenders are not too excited about this option but since it costs them so much to foreclosure and they usually sell the homes at a loss, a sort sale would be something to run by them.
6. Give them the deed in lieu of foreclosure. This is actually a “friendly foreclosure” if there is such a thing. You simply sign the house over to the lender and give them the keys. The effect on your credit is the same a a bankruptcy but it could save you from bankruptcy which should always be the final option.
7. Bankruptcy. This is the most extreme solution and should only be undertaken with good legal guidance and under dire circumstances. This will not stop a foreclosure but merely slow it down for a few months. Trying to negotiate a short sale would be a better option than both this and giving a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

If you’re A Knoxville, Farragut, or Knox County resident and are having any difficulties making your mortgage payments or have maybe even received a notice of foreclosure I would be happy to sit down with you and go over all your options. No cost, no obligation.

Not surprisingly it’s the same people that were buying them last year; there’s just not as many this year.

Married couples still make up the overwhelming majority of the Knoxville area buying market and that group is trending toward younger, first time buyers.

No surprise there either. With interest rates so attractive right now many buyers are discovering they can buy a home and end up with a payment several hundred dollars less than they’re currently paying in rent.

Coming in second in buyers that buy are single women; a trend that has remained constant for the past several years. Single women buy about 20% of Knoxville’s homes.

Single guys aren’t doing that well; only 9% of the buyer group are the guys. One has to wonder if they’re spending their money on the single women.

Minorities are buying Knoxville area homes as well.

African-Americans make up 7 percent of the home-buying populace; Hispanics and Latinos are 6 percent, and Asians and Pacific Islanders are 5 percent.

With the recent chaos and resulting clampdowns in mortgage guidelines, investors are not in the market now in such large numbers as before. Also, low down payment loans and jumbo loans are getting tougher to qualify for.

If you’re a Knoxville couple, single, minority, or a combination, and you are looking for a new home, KnoxvilleMLS.com is a great place to begin your search.

I also have a free “Homebuyer’s Toolkit” published by the Real Estate Buyers Agents Council (REBAC) that I would be glad to give you. It’s packed full of valuable information for homebuyers such as:

Please call or email me with any real estate questions and to view any homes of interest.

As an “Accredited Buyer Representative” (ABR), I’m well qualified to represent you in your new home purchase and ensure you get the best house for your money.