Buy this terrific north Knoxville home and get up to $8,000 in tax credits to help.

It’s now official, President Obama signed an extension of the existing $8,000 homebuyers tax credit into law yesterday (Friday, Nov. 6th).

The new law extends the existing tax credit for Knoxville area buyers who have not owned a home that was their principal residence in the past three years and adds some new criteria and qualifying homebuyers.

The $8,000 credit was scheduled to lapse on December 1st, 2009 but will now be in effect through the end of June. Homebuyers must sign a contract before April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010.

The income limits have been raised; Single buyers can now earn up to $125,000 and still get the full credit while a married couple can earn $225,000.

The bill also made more Knoxville, TN homeowners eligible to claim the credit on their taxes. First-time buyers — those who have not owned a home in the past three years — still qualify for an $8,000 rebate. But now people who want to trade up can also qualify. Those who have owned and occupied a residence for at least five years out of the past eight can claim a $6,500 tax credit if they close on a purchase by the end of June.

Some real estate industry experts weigh in on the extension:

“This bill will shift demand from the second half of 2010 into the first half,” said Pat Newport, a real estate analyst with IHS Global Research. “As a result, home sales and prices will get a boost in the first half of 2010, with payback in the second.”

“That’s not a bad thing, according to Bill Kilmer, vice president of advocacy for the National Association of Home Builders. It’s important to stabilize real estate markets quickly to help bring the economy out of its tailspin.”

The National Association of Realtors’ chief economist has this to say about the extension:

“The industry thought the credit would provide a ripple effect, with sales to first timers triggering as many three additional “move-up” sales.”

That did not happen, according to Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

“It did not have the chain reaction impact it was supposed to,” he said. “Instead, many first-timers turned to vacant, foreclosed or other distressed properties the sellers of which were unlikely to be move-up buyers.”

So, the tax credit helped prop up the low end of the market without having much impact on the rest of the spectrum. Expanding the benefit to existing homeowners should boost those segments. That should produce additional benefits, according to Yun.

“Preventing further price decline or even nudging prices up a bit stabilizes housing wealth, which makes homeowners more comfortable in their spending,” said Yun. “They’re more likely to go out to the stores or buy a new car. That provides a boost to the overall economy.”

So let’s get busy Knoxville and Farragut homebuyers, it’s not that long until April 30th. Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com today and pick out your favorite Knoxville area homes to go look at.

Call or email me with any questions of comments. (865) 693-3232

Knoxville and Farragut Tennessee homes for sale

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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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Image by Random Things Entering My Field of Vision via FlickrThese ‘secrets’ are also usually just as valid in Houston, Las Angeles, Miami, and Scranton as they are in Knoxville, Tennessee.

1. Be on the lookout for “REDUCED” or “PRICE REDUCED” signs.  In my 30 years experience in the Knoxville market I’ve found that if a seller will come down once, they will come down again and often more than than.
2. Look for “Fixer Uppers“. Watch for ad words like: “fixer-upper,” “potential,” “value in land,” “investment property,” “tender loving care,” “contractor’s special” and “as-is.”. These are often signs of a seller unwilling (or unable) to make an investment to fix up their property so it will sell faster. You can be their savior and take their problem off their hands; often at a greatly discounted price.
3. Look for homes that a seller has owned for 10 years or more. Why? Because in a longer time period a seller has typically built up a substantial amount of equity in a home and maybe even paid off their mortgage. A $10 or 20,000 price reduction to someone like this is much easier to swallow than someone who bought last year with a 100% loan (100% loans are another story for another posting).
4. Look for homes that a seller has owned for less than 2 years. Whoa, you just said in #3 above that 10 years was the magic number. That’s still true and it is. However, there have been lots of people that wanted to get in to the house “flipping” game in the past few years. Not all of them have been successful selling and are often willing to get that house payment off their hands at a good price for you.
5. Look for houses that have been on the market for 4 months or longer. This is something easily determined by merely looking at the bottom of each listing brief where DOM stands for “days on market“. Lots of DOM can mean big DOLLARS in savings for you. You also need to have your Realtor search the property histories for listings you’re interested in. One of the favorite tricks listings agents use is to either let a listing expire or withdraw it and put it right back in again as new to start the DOM counter all over at zero.

To help guide you through the ins and outs of home buying you need your own team on your side.The ‘quarterback’ of that team is your Realtor and ideally a Realtor who has earned the Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR®) designation from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The (ABR®) designation is the  benchmark of excellence in buyer representation. This coveted designation is awarded to real estate practitioners by the Real Estate BUYER’S AGENT Council (REBAC) of the National Association of REALTORS® who meet the specified educational and practical experience criteria.

As always, www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is the “go to” website for greater Knoxville area homes, condos, land, and multi-family homes.

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Now that Knoxville gas prices have passed the $3.50 a gallon mark, the huge increases are a frequent subject of conversation (not to mention other words not printable here ;-0).

One way to escape paying the higher gas prices is simply to walk more to destinations. Lots of parts of Knoxville are not particularly “walker friendly” but many are.

Besides being a very healthful exercise, walking is also a great way to get places, especially if they’re nearby. Besides the wonderful fresh air and exercise you get walking, it’s a great way to meet your neighbors and others. I very rarely run into an unfriendly walker, most will wave to you, smile, and speak.

Don Anderson, one of my fellow Realtors, during a recent hike we enjoyed in the Great Smoky Mountains; hiking is a great walking activity.

Here’s a great website I located that lets you calculate your home or neighborhood’s “walk score“.