Knoxville Tennessee Real Estate Blog

Before examining the latest Knoxville area real estate sales data I want to touch briefly on some misconceptions potential buyers may have about the local market.

There is an overload of negative economic news floating around out there and a lot of it is tied directly to the housing market.

Unfortunately the media tends to focus on markets that have been hit the hardest because their numbers make the most attention grabbing headlines.

But simply because the southern California and Florida real estate markets are in the dumps doesn’t mean the same is true in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Buyers need to look at their own personal situations which is much more relevant to them than whatever they’re reading or hearing from the news.

If buyers live in an area like Knoxville with good economic vitality, buying a home now, or trading up, is no more risky now than it was five years ago.

Consider the median Knoxville sales price graph above. Median price is simply the middle price meaning half the sales were above the median or middle price, and half were below.

Here’s the hard numbers back to 2005.

In August of 2008 our median sales price for a 3 bedroom home in Knoxville was $149,000 and the average sales price was $167,400.  Total single family units closed was 1,140.

August 2007 the median 3 bedroom home in Knoxville sold for $158,000 (remember, 1/2 above, 1/2 below) and average sales price was $176,600. Total units sold was 1,727

In 2006 the median was $149,000 with an average price of $167,000. Total units was 1,798.

Back in 2005, Knoxville’s median price was $137,000 for a typical 3 bedroom home, the average was $153,700 and total units sold was 1,873.

Media types looking for bad news to report could calculate from these figures that August 2008 sales versus August 2007 have dropped 33.8% which they have.

But as the average sales price per square foot above shows, Knoxville prices have continued their slow, steady climb which is one of the factors that makes buying a Knoxville area home a good investment. And, unlike stocks and bonds, it’s an investment you can live in with your family.

For most buyers personally, if you have a job and fairly good credit, buying a new home or trading up to a larger one is no more risky right now than it was five years or so ago.

Interest rates are once again below 6% for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, there is a very plentiful supply of homes for sale, and all my buyers so far this year have been very, very happy with their new home purchase.

Give me a call at (865) 693-3232 or email [email protected] and let’s talk about how you can own your own Knoxville area home.

Visit my website at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to view all the Knoxville area homes for sale.

Here’s my latest listing; a beautiful, next to new, 3 or 4 bedroom home in the Gibbs area of east Knox County.

Enjoy the down-home values of this delightful 3 or 4 bedroom, 2+ bath, two story in fine condition enhanced by mountain view. Lovely details in this welcoming residence include hardwood flooring, a rocking chair front porch, and a cozy fireplace. A very comfortable lifestyle and next to new!

Relax in front of your cozy fireplace while winter winds whistle outside.

Large, eat in kitchen with center island and pantry. Glowing hardwood flooring through the main level.

This beautiful home is priced $5,000 below a 2007 appraisal and is move in ready for you and your family for $199,700.

See more beautiful Knoxville area homes at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com

Here’s a great investment opportunity for the parents of a student or anyone looking for a modestly priced real estate investment opportunity.

This Sutherland Avenue duplex at 3720 Cate Avenue is currently fully rented, bringing in a gross monthly rental of $1,080 and is priced on only $88,500!

The upstairs unit has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and is leased for 6 months at $625.00 per month while the 1 bedroom, 1 bath downstairs unit is rented month to month for $455.00. MLS number 629816

The University of Tennessee campus is less than 2 miles east and can be reached by car or by bike on the Third Creek  Greenway/Bike Path.

Upstairs was recently re-painted and the hardwood flooring refinished.

CLICK HERE for a VisualTour of this listing.

Call or email me to arrange a convenient time for you to see this terrific investment opportunity or home for your student that will partially pay for itself.
Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com for a virtual tour of this “Featured Home” and search all other Knoxville Realtor listings of single family homes, condos, and investment properties.

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The week of August 10th showed a total of 281 closed real estate transactions in the Knox County Registrar of Deed’s office.

This new construction home in Farragut closed at $$286,000
$1,000,000+                   5 closed sales

$500,000-$1,000,000     15

$300,000-$500,000        35

$200,000-$300,000        50

$150,000-$200,000        58

$100,000-$150,000        55

$50,000  -$100,000        38

Under $50,000               25

Total                            281

This new home in Hardin Valley sold for $1,480,000………

This Fountain City home with spectacular views  closed at $800,000

This 3 bedroom, 2 bath west Knoxville home was totally refurbished and closed at $150,000

There are some outstanding housing buys in all price ranges available now along with very attractive interest rates.

Visit KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com and pick out one for you and your family.

Please call (865) 693-3232 or email with any Knoxville area real estate questions.

Congress has passed H.R. 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and President Bush is expected to sign it soon.

One of the immediate provisions is a $7,500 TAX CREDIT for homebuyers that have not owned a home that was their principal residence in the past 3 years.

To qualify, buyers must actually close on the sale of the home on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009.

And, unlike some tax credits, this $7,500 must be repaid at the rate of $500 per month over the next 15 years so it’s actually more of an interest free loan than an actual credit.

Both new and resale houses and condos qualify as long as the homebuyers use it for their principal residence and they have not owned a house in the past 3 years.

The National Association of Home Builders have some great FAQs on their website

Please give me a call or email for the details and to get started picking out your new Knoxville area home.

Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see all Knoxville TN area Realtor listings for sale.

This beautiful Farragut home sold for $749,900

Each Sunday in the Knoxville New Sentinel’s real estate section they print a list of property transfers from the previous week as recorded in the Knox County Register of Deed’s office.

Elegant brick two story closed at $357,500

I noticed this Sunday, July 13th, there was almost 3 pages of real estate transfers totaling 144 sales in Knox County alone. This would not include Maryville, Oak Ridge, or anything in Loudon county or the surrounding area.
The breakdown went like this:

• $500,000 to $1,000,000  12 closed sales
• $300,000 to $500,000     10
• $200,000 to $300,000     19
• $150,000 to $200,000     22 sales
• $100,000 to $150,000     35
• $50,000 to   $100,000     25
• $0         to   $50,000       21

Closed this past week for $218,000

This cute Cape Cod closed for $125,000

This budget priced 3 bedroom home sold for $82,500

To find a great home for you and your family pay a visit to www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see all the greater Knoxville area homes for sale; there’s one there for you.

The figures from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors June home sales are out and the news remains positive for the Knoxville area.

This beautiful Farragut home with pool sold for $499,900.

The median home price increased a little over January of this year from January’s $144,000 to a June figure of $145,000.

The average sales price increased from $161,800 in January to $162,900 in June.

This 4 bedroom home was listed for $159,900 and will close this month

The average days on market (time to sell a Knoxville home) dropped 10 days from 105 in January to 95 days in June.

This Farragut basement rancher had four bedrooms and sold for $155,000

The biggest jump was in the January over June sales volume. In January we sold 783 residential homes and condos. In June that number jumped to to 1,176 which is a 50% increase in Knoxville area homes actually sold and closed.

With the year half over now our home sales totals are 5,376 closed sales through June of 2008.

This totally refurbished 4 bedroom home in the Cedar Bluff Road area sold for $184,500

And here’s some more good news; there’s still 6 months left in this year if you want to get on the bandwagon with 5,376 of your fellow Knoxvillians and buy a new home, www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com would be my recommendation for a place to start.

This impressive home in Whittington Creek was a good buy at $500,000.

About 15 miles east of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee in the rural little community of Corryton is the Oakes Daylily Farm, home to the annual Daylily Festival.

Yesterday my lovely wife Charlotte and I went for a visit. It was not our first visit, we’ve been several times to see the spectacular display of around 40 acres of blooming, beautiful Daylilies.

Here’s a few photos:

This is the view you’re greeting with at the parking lot

The black curved tents in the background are the Hosta barns. Oakes has about 50 different varieties of these shade loving plants in addition to their thousands of different varieties of Daylilies.

The Oakes crew also know how to show visitors a good time. This is my lovely wife Charlotte posing with the Daylilies. Just across the lake is a big wagon load of visitors being given a tour of the Oakes Daylily Farm. You have to see this place in person to appreciate the acres and acres of beautiful, blooming flowers. 

Of course no trip to the Daylily Festival would be complete without buying a few. This year I chose Prairie Sunburst, the yellow one on top, and Red Volunteer on the bottom. 

View from across the lake. They have a wonderful arched bridge and gazebo overlooking the lake. 

Here’s a closeup of the Red Volunteer Daylilies still growing. 

Oakes is nationally famous for their Daylilies and have grown and/or developed over 4,000 varieties.

The gazebo makes a great frame for this lake photo.
If you’re ever in Knoxville, Tennessee around the end of June be sure and put a visit to the Oakes Daylily Farm on your itinerary, it’s well worth the visit.

I also noticed a few houses for sale near the Oakes Farm so if you would like to live near there, visit Knoxville Home Center.com and pick out a few for us to visit.

A recent article in Money magazine lists 5 new rules for today’s homebuyers. After reading the article I found that I agree with all 5 of them.

New rule 1: DO NOT try to time the bottom of this market. We may be there or close already or not. In any instance it’s very unlikely you’ll hit it at the exact bottom. Case in point; several years ago my wife and I decided to refinance our former home in west Knoxville because mortgage rates were falling. I had 5 different mortgage bankers and myself watching the market trying to figure out where the bottom was.

When I thought we had arrived we pulled the trigger and refinanced……………only to watch the rates go down another half a percentage point before they started back up again. Oops…my bad…….or was it? We refinanced our 30 year mortgage with a new 15 year note and still lowered our payment about 10 bucks a month IN ADDITION TO knocking 15 years of payments out of our budget. Personally I would not call that a bad thing even if we didn’t hit the exact bottom.

New rule 2: Mortgage rates are very attractive right now. Here’s what the mortgage experts say; “The 30-year, now at 6.1%, will likely reach mid-6% by December and 7% in 2009, says Celia Chen of Moody’s Economy.com.” If you’re in the market for a new home in Knoxville or Farragut Tennessee soon, now is the time to get looking a buy. On a $200,000 house a 1% difference in the mortgage rate you can get today versus what you could be paying next year is at least $130.00. A $130 a month savings over the life of a 30 year mortgage is close to $50,000!

New rule 3: Rates on jumbo mortgages. Jumbo loans, those over $417,000 now average 7.2% and the experts say they’re unlikely to drop much this year. However, a new law lets Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae buy loans as large as $729,750 in 71 high priced area. Unless Congress extends this law it expires at the end of this year.

New rule 4: Don’t buy cheap, buy quality. Quality neighborhoods, quality school districts, and quality homes. You’re not just buying a house, you’re buying a home where you and your family will be living 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A lot of new neighborhoods that have popped up recently are likely to have lots of owners with risky loans and little equity; a dangerous combination. Buy in a quality Knoxville or Farragut neighborhood with quality schools even if you don’t have school aged children. Like any other investments, quality tends to hold or increase it’s value when other investments fall. In addition to the investment factor you also get to live in your home and everyone needs a place to live. Knoxville and Farragut have lots of quality neighborhoods with quality homes for sale.

New rule 5: Make sure your Realtor has your best interests at heart. The real estate game often has a built in conflict of interest since the seller typically pays a commission to his listing agent which is shared by the buyer’s agent. These days sellers are offering cash bonuses and other incentives to buyer’s agent to entice them to steer buyers their way. Make sure your agent isn’t steering you to a house that is better for him than you. Agree up front on what he will be paid, typically 3% of the selling price, and that any extra credits or incentives go to you as a credit towards your closing costs or an additional discount off the price. In Tennessee a buyer agency agreement between you and your Realtor will spell out the terms and conditions of your purchase.

Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see the many great homes for sale in the Knoxville & Farragut areas. When you get ready to go looking at some please call or email me to help you buy one at the best price and terms.

Jim Lee, Accredited Buyers Representative (ABR)

email Jim

I get inquiries often from buyers who find the cost of buying a home to be a bit overwhelming.

But after we sit down and I lay out the benefits of actually owning a Knoxville home of your own versus continuing to rent one they almost always see the financial and other intangible benefits of buying now.

Here’s how you can do your own analysis.

Currently our average sales price in the Knoxville, Tennessee area is around $165,000 for a typical 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with a 2 car garage. A home like this would typically rent for $800-1,000 a month.

In this market I can usually negotiate seller paid closing costs into a sale so your cash to get into a new home would be $0; that’s right, you can still get $0 down mortgages at affordable rates in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Here are the numbers for a 5 year, buy vs. rent scenario.

When you combine the tax benefits of owning a home, the annual appreciation in value, plus the investment benefits, it almost always makes more sense to buy than continue to rent.

Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to find some great choices in homes to buy then let’s get started buying you a Knoxville home of your own instead of renting and helping your landlord buy the home or apartment you’re in now.