This past Thursday night I had the opportunity to go on a harbor tour/cruise of Portsmouth, New Hampshire along the harbor out to where it runs into the Atlantic Ocean.

Portsmouth New Hampshire harbor view

Portsmouth is a beautiful coastal city on the northern end of the New Hampshire seacoast. In the harbor view above you can see a new, waterfront condo project under construction and the white steeple of the Old North Church to the far right.

At only 17 miles long, the New Hampshire coastline is shorter than any other state that borders an ocean.

Memorial Bridge over the Piscataqua River connects Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine

Because Portsmouth is a working harbor with lots of large ship traffic in and out, two of the bridges over the river are drawbridges which raise every 30 minutes from 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM to accommodate harbor ship traffic. In this photo the middle section of the bridge is starting to lift.

Moran Tugboat & towing company tugboats

The Piscataqua River is the third-fastest tidal river in North America and also very narrow by modern shipping standards. Local river pilots take the helm of in and outbound commercial vessels and guide them safely through the channel. These two large tugboats are operated by Moran Towing & Tugboats. Because the Piscataqua flows so fast these tugs only operate at “slack tide”, roughly four hours a day.when the incoming tides temporarily balance the outgoing river currents. Check out this Portsmouth harbor cam to watch river traffic live. The images refreshes every 10 seconds.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was established in 1800

The Shipyard’s primary mission today is the overhaul, repair and modernization of Los Angeles-class submarines. The dry-docks have recently been enlarged and upgraded to accommodate the new and larger Virginia class submarine with the first due in for a tune up later this month.

USCG Cutter Campbell based at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

The Campbell regularly patrols the Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Maine south to the Caribbean Sea.

Portsmouth Naval Prison

This is Portsmouth Naval Prison which is curiously actually located in Kittery, Maine just across the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth. The prison has been closed and abandoned since the 1970s as too expensive to rebuild or to tear down. Scenes from the movie “The Last Detail,” starring Jack Nicholson were filmed there.

New Castle, New Hampshire the smallest city in NH

This is some of the waterfront of New Castle, the smallest city in New Hampshire and the only one located entirely on islands. New Castle is also home to a US Coast Guard station and the historic Wentworth by the Sea hotel.

Setting sun over Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

The green light at right is Portsmouth Light on the New Castle Coast Guard Station grounds.

Portsmouth light was originally established before the Revolutionary War when American was still a British Colony.

In 1946 the current lighthouse keeper’s wife Connie wrote a book titled not surprisingly “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife” and described the view from the top of Portsmouth Light. “I looked down forty feet to the little white scallops of incoming tide washing over the rocks, caressing each one lovingly. …We could look up the Piscataqua River to Portsmouth, with its gleaming white belfry of North Church, a landmark for sailors, silhouetted against the sky. …At the center of the harbor was Whaleback Lighthouse, and ten miles out to sea from that was the lighthouse on White Island, part of the Isles of Shoals. Both sent their beams across the water.”

Lighthouse keepers were or often became, a little ‘different’ from the rest of us. Imagine your job was taking care of Whaleback Lighthouse on an uninhabited, rocky small island day in and day out.

One lighthouse keeper was reported to use the top of his light to shoot passing ducks. He also had a small dingy that he used to row to shore occasionally where he would borrow a resident’s car to visit the local grocery store.

Whaleback Island lighthouse marks the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor

Whaleback Island is actually part of  a  jagged ledge known as Whaleback. This ledge is completely underwater at high tide and is a continuation of the southern portion of Gerrish Island in Maine.  The little dots you see in the water are buoys for lobster traps.

Whaleback Island at twilight as a light fog starts rolling in.

By the way, this is a working light house; the reason it appears dark in the photos is that the light only flashes on and off every few seconds but trust me, you do not have any problem seeing it when its light flashes. Whaleback light gives 2 white flashes every 10 seconds and during foggy weather, 2 blasts on its foghorn every 10 seconds. Click here to hear the Whaleback Light fog horn. It’s not too loud so it won’t blast you out of your seat.

Portsmouth Harbor at night is a beautiful sight too.

We got back to the dock around 10:00 PM after a great tour of Portsmouth Harbor. If you ever in the area I recommend a harbor tour as a ‘must do’ part of your visit.

Have you tried this great Google tool yet? Google Trends Labs lets you search, find, and compare keyword search terms with others to see which ones are being searched for most.

Here’s an example from my area comparing: “Knoxville Real Estate”, “Knoxville TN Real Estate” and “Knoxville Homes For Sale”

Google chart comparing keywords

The blue line above represents Google searches within the US for the keywords, “Knoxville Real Estate” which form the baseline at 1.00

The red line is for “Knoxville TN Real Estate which scored 0.45 or less than half the top keywords rank.

Last is the term, “Knoxville Homes For Sale” which is the keyword set the salesman below told me was the top search term for my area and it ranked 0.39

These results are for searches done within the United States for the year 2009. You can ask Google Trends Labs for most any combination of areas and time periods. Since I believe most of my searches originate in the US that was what I was most interested in.

I found this tool by accident while looking for most used keywords for real estate in my area. I had one of “those salesmen” call me several times trying to sell the proverbial “latest and greatest” keyword oriented website. Looks like Google’s results above doesn’t support his story.

Here’s what Google says about their new tool:

“1. How does Google Trends work? Google Trends analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time.

We then show you a graph with the results – our Search Volume Index graph. Located beneath the Search Volume Index graph is our News reference volume graph. This graph shows you the number of times your topic appeared in Google News stories.

When Google Trends detects a spike in the volume of news stories for a particular search term, it labels the graph and displays the headline of an automatically selected Google News story written near the time of that spike.

Currently, only English-language headlines are displayed, but we hope to support non-English headlines in the future. Below the search and news volume graphs, Trends displays the top regions, cities, and languages in which people searched for the first search term you entered.”

Pretty cool stuff from our friends at Google.

BTW, here’s a pretty cool website to search for Knoxville area homes if you’re looking or thinking: www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com

Over this past weekend,  I wrote an offer on one of my listings which is going to be a short sale. I thought it would be interesting to keep an online journal of the process to see how it shakes out and if the lender will approve this price.

Today is Tuesday, March 30th, 2010, I have just faxed to the lender (who shall remain nameless) all the documentation they requested. As of today they have asked for:

1. A HUD 1 closing statement detailing all the charges and net proceeds to seller/lender.
2. The Purchase & Sale Agreement
3. A copy of my listing agreement with my seller
4. The listing history of this property (it’s been listed twice before at higher prices).
5. A hardship letter from my sellers explaining why they’re unable to pay their mortgage.
6. I also sent another copy of a letter signed by my sellers authorizing the lender to talk to me about their loan.

So the short sale process is underway. I’ll keep this post updated as we move through the process.

UPDATE: April 6,2010 Called lender for update and status.

Lender: “We don’t have your authorization form to talk with you about this short sale.”

Me: “Yes you do, I’ve faxed it to you twice now and a third time when I submitted this package on March 30th. Happy to send it again if you like.”

Lender: “Oh wait, here it is. OK, what do you want to know?”

Me: “Offer status”

Lender: “In 3 to 5 business days you will receive a call from the negotiator that’s has been assigned to this transaction. They will take it from there.”

Me: “OK, thank you, I’ll look forward to hearing from someone by next week.

So 8 days later that’s where we are. Stay tuned for the next update.

UPDATE: April 13, 2010, Realtor called and said she had been asked by lender to furnish them BPO (Broker’s Price Opinion). I told her to go ahead into the property.

UPDATE: April 16, 2010. I called lender to follow up on negotiator not contacting me in  “3 to 5 business days” like I was told last time I called. 

Lender: “Don’t know who told you that but blah, blah, blah.” We did get the BPO back and I am sending it right now to the RMV (Reconciliation Market Value) department. Once they complete their analysis you can call back and talk to the negotiator”

Me: “OK, that’s nice, when should I call back?”

Lender:  “Call back next Tuesday.”

OK, so we’re now waiting for next Tuesday to call back and talk with the negotiator. Stay tuned for the next installment.

UPDATE: April 21, 2010 Negotiator called me today and said short sale was approved subject to several conditions. All minor and acceptable subject to “management approval” from negotiator’s boss, we’re going to closing. So, not too bad for short sale approved.

I believe the lender is taking about a $30,000 hit on this sale so it’s not a huge loss for them and certainly more than they would net if they foreclosed and had to start from scratch marketing this property.

Now to see how fast I can get this one closed; stay tuned for update.

FINAL UPDATE: June 9, 2010 Today was closing day so it’s finally done. I didn’t do any updates in May because there wasn’t really anything related to the short sale going on. The new buyer’s lender was processing his loan and all the stuff related to a ‘normal’ transaction.

We did have to ask for and receive a 2 week extension on our short sale approval because of the time frame in getting the new buyers loan approved. I called Gus, our bank short sale contact and he granted the extension on the spot.

The original contract date is March 30th and we closed June 9th so about 70 days total from start to finish. The whole process went pretty smoothly:

• The original lender took about a $30,000 hit letting the sale go through for that much less than the mortgage balance. However who knows how long it would have taken to foreclose and what they could have sold for.
• The sellers salvaged some of their credit and can rebuild it quicker than a foreclosure.
• The new buyer got a pretty good deal on the house and their lender now has a new, paying loan on the books.
• And I got paid for doing my job; listing and selling houses.
• A win, win, win, win for all.

Please call or email if you have a Knoxville property you’re thinking of selling.

Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see all of Knoxvilles  Realtor listings for sale.

Vidalia® onions are in lots of stores now so it’s time to get cooking. These super sweet onions can only be legally called “Vidalia” when grown in a 20 county area of Georgia with the town of Vidalia being roughly in the center. Vidalia, Georgia is roughly located about 90 miles east of Savannah, GA

The Vidalia Onion was named Georgia’s official vegetable in 1990; but enough history, let’s talk about eating them.

The following original recipe I created not only involves a great tasting onion but a legendary Tennessee product as well, Jack Daniel’s famous Black Label, sour mash bourbon whiskey. Don’t worry, using Jack to cook with won’t make anyone tipsy, the alcohol evaporates during the cooking process just leaving that wonderful sweet smell and taste of sour mash bourbon which greatly complements both the Vidalia onions and the chicken.

The following is for 4 servings; easy to fix the same for 2 people and refrigerate the extra portions for another meal, it reheats very well.

You’ll need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Vidalia onions, peeled and julienned
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 Cup of Jack Daniels
• 2 tablespoons of Lawry’s seasoning sale (or equivalent)
• 4 slices of Swiss cheese

In a large saute pan melt the butter over medium heat, add the julienned onions and cook until they are translucent, add the chicken breasts, Jack Daniels, and seasoning salt. Cover and cook about 20-30 minutes until chicken breasts are done.

Remove chicken breasts to plate and reduce the liquid in the pan until it begins to thicken. Lay one slice of Swiss cheese on top of each chicken breast and spoon hot onions and liquid onto to melt cheese.

Serve hot with most any vegetable. If you have a large enough bottle of Jack Daniels you can also have a drink before or with dinner.

Bon Appetit.

PS, just in case you need a kitchen to prepare this delicious recipe in, I suggest a visit to www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to pick one out.

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This beautiful home is delightful clear through, 4 BR, 3.5 baths, and over 3,300 square feet. $249,500. A “Featured Home” on www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com

It’s now May the 9th and the ‘first time’ home buyer $8,000 tax credit has expired. Those that had an accepted real estate contract dated before April 30th still have 60 days to get their transaction closed and still be able to apply for the credit so I believe we’ll see residual benefits for the next couple of months before it runs its course (some military personnel may also qualify for up to a 1 year extension; call or write for more information).

The question in the minds of Realtors, mortgage bankers, homesellers, and others now becomes what’s going to happen to the market now?

I personally believe the tax credit was driving as much as 20 to 30% of the lower price range market. If that proves true we should see a dip in sales in those price ranges.

Here’s today’s figures from the Knox County Register of Deeds on local real estate transfers that were recorded last week.

I count a record high 219 transactions with the $100,000 to $150,000 price range being about 25% of that total. That price range is where the bulk of the tax credit driven buyers have been.

Right now in the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors MLS there are 884 homes in Knox County for sale between 100K to 150K. You can probably add another 10% or so for the For Sale By Owner and auction market so in round numbers that would be about 970 homes for sale. 54 sold and closed last week leaving about another 920 still for sale in addition to new listings that come on the market every day. I’m going to be watching this price range very closely in the coming weeks to see what happens.

Current Knox County Realtor Listings

Have a question about real estate in the greater Knoxville, TN area? Please ask; there are no dumb questions, just ones you need answers to. Please feel free to call or email any questions to: [email protected] or call 865-693-3232

Time for an update since the first quarter statistics for 2010 are now available. Let’s see how we did and which direction Knoxville area sales and home prices are headed.

First of all April is almost over now and that is the end of the $8,000 tax credit for lots of homebuyers. I believe this incentive has been driving between 30-40% of our market for the past several months. It will be very interesting to see what the trend is for the 2nd quarter of this year after it expires.

Local weekly sales dropped a little this week compared to last week. The Knox County Register of Deeds reported 159 transactions for the week of April 18th compared to 188 the past week of April 11th.

Week of April 11th, 2010

Week of April 18th, 2010

As both graphs indicate, the lower price ranges remain where the action is; from $100,000 to $200,000 with sharp dropoffs once you pass the $300,000 threshold.

And here’s the first quarter of 2010 compared to past first quarter figures. Still nowhere close to where we were a few years ago but a modest increase from last year’s first quarter.

1st quarter of 2010 compared to past 1st quarters

260 more homes sold in the first quarter of 2010 versus 2009 but still a whopping 43.3% lower than the peak year of 2006.

Lack of jobs growth remains an issue for the house market. According to the US Department of Labor’s latest stats,  in March the number of unemployed was little changed at 15 million and the unemployment rate remained at 9.7%.

Economists want to believe the economy has turned the corner but housing remains the bellweather indicator to confirm that belief and it isn’t showing broad and/or sustained growth just yet.

“Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke called housing a “critical” challenge to the economy. “We have yet to see evidence of a sustained recovery in the housing market,” Bernanke said in a speech on April 7.”

It will be an interesting next few weeks and whichever direction we head is likely an indicator of the the housing market direction for the remainder of this year.

On the plus side for buyers there remains a large supply of homes to choose from. Currently in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area you can view 11,763 great houses and condos for sale at www.KnoxvilleHomeSearcher.com and I will be happy to help you become the owner of one.

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