Knoxville Tennessee Real Estate Blog

And to think it was right under everyone’s noses all along; hiding in plain sight just across the Tennessee River in South Knoxville.

Knoxville skyline from the south bank of the Tennessee River

Dubbed “The South Waterfront” development area, this roughly 3 mile long & 750 acre stretch of land along the south side of the Tennessee River faces downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee’s main campus.

At UT home football games the University brings in floating boat docks and it’s not unusual to see 150-200 boats of all sizes tied up as their owners attend the game in our 107,000 seat Neyland Stadium which is literally just across the street from the river.

Downtown Knoxville is a very hot real estate market now with lots of old retail and office buildings being remodeled and converted into lofts, apartments, condos, and upscale retail space.

“Amy Gibson, 40, a senior researcher at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, is one of those downtown homeowners. Mrs. Gibson and her husband, John, 39, a software engineer, recently bought a two-bedroom 1,040-square-foot unit in the Holston, a former bank building that is under renovation to become a luxury condominium.

“It’s cool; it’s fun; it’s the place to be,” she said of the downtown area.

Mrs. Gibson said she was surprised, however, at the $259,000 price of her condo, which was close to the same price she would pay for a 2,500- to 3,000-square-foot home in a Knoxville suburb.”

Nearly 2,000 Knoxvillians now call downtown home and lest you think that’s a small number, the downtown population in year 2000 was around 600.

The South Waterfront development is projected to top out with 1,000 residential units, 30,000 square feet of upscale retail space & restaurants, 320,000 square feet of office space, and 100 marina boat slips. Not a bad project for a location that just across the river from downtown and a 5-10 minute commute to the city and UT in most any direction you want to go.

If you’re looking to move to Knoxville and have an interest in homes & condos for sale, you can see all of our listings for sale at www.KnoxvilleMLS.com.

Please call or email me with any Knoxville area real estate questions.

Just south of downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee, the largest undeveloped tract of land close in and suitable for a large housing project has become available.

1000 Cherokee Trail is a 98 acre (+ or -) parcel located within two miles of Downtown Knoxville, The University of Tennessee, and the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

In the lower left of the photo above is a current condo project that will be around 300 units when completed. These 2,3 & 4 bedroom units are sold out in phase one at a price range of $150,000 to just over $200,000. At a density of 4.5 to 5 units per acre 1000 Cherokee Trail could support between 450 to 500 units.

The nearby University, the hospital, and Downtown Knoxville can supply the demand. Student condos have become a hot market again and an upscale project like this could easily be slanted to appeal to a multi-generational market of students, hospital employees, new physicians doing their residency, as well as downtown workers wanting the convenience of close proximity as well as the opportunity to bike or even walk to work avoiding a long automobile commute.

The City of Knoxville and the Tennessee is current adding an ‘outrigger’ bridge onto the existing bridge across the Tennessee River on Route 129, Alcoa Highway. Alcoa Highway is the gateway to the UT campus and it’s hospital. This add-on bridge lane will be exclusively for pedistrian and bike traffic; a natural for the student market.

Priced at $3,000,000 that’s around the $30,000 an acre range; definitely in the budget range for an upscale project of this magnitude.

In the above photo Downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee Campus is on the left, just across the Tennessee River. The UT Memorial Medical Center is just out of the photo at the bottom left. The current condo project is in the foreground with the 98 acre 1000 Cherokee Trail tract just above it and slightly to the right.

No less than the New York Times recently ran a great article describing the upcoming development potential along and near the South Knoxville waterfront.

So you’ve finally found that Knoxville area dream home you’ve been looking for so long and now you’ve applied at your local bank for a mortgage.

All of a sudden you’re deluged with phone calls and mail offering the proverbial “better deal” for your mortgage.

What gives and how did someone is San Francisco, California find out you’re buying a home in Knoxville, Tennessee?

You’ve just became a “trigger lead”; a mostly unknown little secret the credit bureaus don’t publicize (and for good reason)

It’s not a scam, but rather a legitimate, if questionable, business tactic the big 3 credit bureaus use to generate addition revenue; it works like this.

Whenever you apply for a mortgage your lender typically buys a copy of your credit report from Experian, EquiFax, and TransUnion, the “Big 3″ credit bureaus in the U.S..

Amazingly your lender’s legitimate request for your credit history ‘triggers’ an alert to all three credit bureaus that you’re a “hot lead” looking for buy a home or refinance an existing (same thing with some insurance policies).

The credit bureaus know this is valuable information to people in the mortgage and insurance business so they sell your information to them and almost instantly your phone starts ringing and your mailbox starts overflowing with unsolicited offers offering the proverbial “better deal” than you have.

“Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies are permitted to include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make firm offers of credit or insurance that are not initiated by you.”

This practice has been going on for about two years now and not surprisingly, has raised a lot of controversy with consumers. After all, who wants to be barraged (and further confused) with multiple offers for essentially the same loan you’ve already applied for?

There is some relief already available but you have to take a proactive step to make it happen. It’s possible to opt out of unsolicited offers like these and keep yourself from becoming a “trigger lead”.

Just go to this website, fill out the short form, and you can opt yourself out of these annoying solicitations for either a 5 year period of time or permanently.

If you’re thinking of buying a home in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee (or anywhere else for that matter), take a proactive step and save yourself a lot of phone calls and junk mail by opting out of this credit bureau ‘benefit’ and say: “I don’t want to be a “trigger lead”".

Now visit my website, www.KnoxvilleMLS.com and learn more about our wonderful east Tennessee area and look at some beautiful Knoxville area homes, land, and condos for sale.

Please call or email with any questions.

So when is a modular home not a mobile home?

According to a recent Tennessee Supreme Court decision they’re pretty vastly different.

Williams v. Fox, (Tenn., March 15, 2007)

“The Tennessee Supreme Court held that unlike a mobile home or house trailer, a modular home is not built on a permanent chassis, and for that reason, it is not able to be readily moved to another location once installed or erected. Moreover, while mobile homes are titled as vehicles, modular homes are not. Once delivered and erected on the property, they become part of the property as a permanent improvement to the real estate similar to a “site built” home.”

In the Fox case cited above the area’s restrictions only mentioned mobile home; they did not specifically reference modular homes. Apparently the developer just lumped them all together.

Our legal eagles say that if modular homes had been specifically excluded then that restriction would likely have been upheld.

This ruling only serves to differentiate between mobile homes and modular homes.

One of the best tax savings deals going has to be the exclusion of gains on the sale of your principal residence.

The IRS regulations say that if you sell the home you have lived in for any 2 of the past 5 years then any gain (gain is the difference between what you paid for the house and what you sold it for) up to $500,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly and $250,000 for single filers is tax free.

In real world terms if you bought a house, say 6 years ago for $200,000 and you sell it today for $300,000. The difference between what you paid and what you sold for is $100,000.

If you have lived in that home for at least any 2 of the past 5 years your $100,000 profit is tax free (from federal income taxes).

Of course you should consult with a qualified tax professional for the best tax advice but it helps to know some questions to ask.

A loophole I was unaware of in the home sales exclusion that under certain circumstances you can still qualify for a portion of the maximum tax free gain if you’ve lived in your home as little as one year. Those circumstances are:

• Death
• Disability
• Multiple Births from the same pregnancy
• Change in employment
• Change in self employment

If you meet the qualifying circumstances married taxpayer could still qualify for up to $250,000 and single folks up to $125,000 of tax free gain.

If you’re thinking of selling your Knoxville, Tennessee home please give me a call and let’s get started not only geting your home sold for the best price but saving some tax dollars for you.

Visit my website, www.KnoxvilleMLS.com for great tips on how to prepare your home to sell faster for more money.

The Knoxville Area Association of REALTORS® recently released their 1st Quarter 2007 sales report.

You can access the report here

Compare it to the 1st quarter of 2006

And the 1st quarter of 2005

The good news is this for home sellers. 1st quarter 2007 sales was 3,386 total single family homes & condos sold. This compares pretty favorably to 3,675 sold during the same time period in 2006 and 3,236 during the 1st quarter of 2005.

This beautiful, brand new, 2,500 square foot home is priced at $245,900

The good news for home buyers is that your investment in a Knoxville home is likely to continue to appreciate in value. 1st qtr 2007 average price for a 3 bedroom home was $165,400 compared to $156,900 in 1st qtr 2006 and $146,200 in the same time period for 2005.

Further proof positive that Knoxville is not experiencing any sort of housing bubble and prices continue to escalate modestly as sales stay relatively static.

If you’re thinking of buying a Knoxville area home NOW is a great time. The benchmark 30 year fixed rate mortgages are just under 6% and there is a great selection of homes for sale. But like the figures show, don’t wait too long or your dream home could cost thousands of dollars more than you can buy for today.

2,000 square foot, 3 bedroom Cape Cod for only $199,900

Visit my website, www.KnoxvilleMLS.com to view all our Knoxville area Realtor listings currently for sale, including Farragut, Oak Ridge, and Maryville, and then give me a call to help you buy one.

 

To relieve an overcrowding problem in the Knox County School system a new high school is under construction in the western end of Hardin Valley in the west Knoxville area.

A somewhat controversial re-zoning plan was recently approved by the Knox County School Board by a 5-4 vote with the commissioners in the most affected zones voting no.

I remember similar controversies in the past few years when A. L. Lotts Elementary came online and before that a minor rezoning around West High School. In the end after all the dust had settled students quickly adjusted to life in their new schools and parents adjusted too, just not as quickly.

I suspect it will the be same for the new Hardin Valley High School which is scheduled to open in the Fall term of 2008.

Students from Farragut, Karns, Powell, West, and Bearden High Schools will be most affected by the rezoning

Sallee Reynolds has been chosen as the Hardin Valley Principal and she’s already hard at work assembling a staff and getting ready for their inagural year in 2008.

Sallee Reynolds, Principal, Hardin Valley High

She seems well qualified: “Reynolds has been an educator since 1981 when she joined the Knoxville Catholic High School faculty as a mathematics teacher. She joined Knox County Schools in 1989 as a math teacher at West High School. She was an assistant principal and Central High School from 2001 to 2003, and she became the principal at West High in 2004.”
 

I wish Ms Reynolds and her new high school well; I’m confident the new school with be a credit to Knoxville as are the rest of the Knox County schools.

Hard to believe it’s already the first week of May; this year is passing by very quickly.

The Knoxville area weather has been a little quirky the past few weeks like the Spring weather tends to do around here. We had a late cold snap about 4 weeks ago that damaged a lot of blooming flowers, shrubs, and trees including our famous Knoxville Dogwoods.

The annual Dogwood Arts Festival was great again this year. It’s billed as one of the largest civic celebrations in North America and commerates the blooming of the Dogwood Flowers along with local art.

My wife Charlotte and I moved into our new home a few weeks ago. We now live in the West Hills neighborhood on the west side of Knoxville near the West Town Mall. It’s a great house, all brick, 3 bedroom, 2 baths, side entry garage, big, level yard, and a world class covered back porch we’re considering screening in.

We bought this one without selling our former home with the help of a bridge loan. We’re paying interest only on the bridge loan until I can get the former house refurbished and ready to sell.

It’s almost ready. We remodeled the kitchen last year with new cabinets, quartz countertops, new lighting, and a hardwood floor. Just finished having inside repainted, new carpet throughout, new lighting all over, and new vinyl in the bathrooms along with new fixtures.

Before putting it on the market I’m going to have a pre-inspection by a home inspector and correct any issues he may discover, get an appraisal to ensure aggressive pricing, provide a home warranty, and a higher than average commission to buyer’s agents; in short all the things I advise my seller clients to do.

My goal is to have it on the market by mid-May and it’s looking good so far.

UPDATE: our former home sold for full price, second day on the market to the first person that looked at it.

Proof positive you need to follow your Realtor’s sound advice when selling.

If you’re looking for a new home in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area including Farragut, Maryville, Oak Ridge, or Loudon County you can view all the Realtor listings on my website at www.KnoxvilleMLS.com

Please call with any real estate questions or to get a complimentary package of Knoxville information for newcomers.

My personal Toll Free number is 1-800-662-2488, extension 163 or you can use the nifty “Click Here” feature on the top left of my website, it calls any number you designate and my cell phone at the same time.