Knoxville Tennessee Real Estate Blog

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.

The January 2008 sales figures are out for the greater Knoxville area Realtors.

It appears for the first full month of the year in Knoxville we have about a 23% drop in sales volume over the same time period in 2007.

Total volume was 783 closed units for January 08 versus 1,017 for January 07.

Apparently Knoxville & Farragut sellers are still not jumping out of windows though, the average sales price for a 3 bedroom home the only declined .3% or down to $161,800 versus $162,300 in January 2007.

With interest rates still hovering near a 4 year low it remains a good time to buy a new home. Lots of Knoxville area sellers are willing to negotiate and some good buys are out there.

Visit KnoxvilleMLS.com to take a look at the inventory; call me to go look at your favorites.

 

 

Knoxville, Tennessee - Monday morning, February the 25th, the Tennessee men’s basketball team is almost certain to rise to the number 1 ranking in the country.

This will be the first time ever that the UT men’s basketball team has been ranked number 1 in the country.They earned that spot by defeating the formerly number 1 ranked University of Memphis Tigers who were unbeaten in an unbelievable 47 straight home games. Tennessee’s 66-62 victory over Memphis was a thriller from beginning to end.Watched by a capacity crowd which included Priscilla Presley and Peyton Manning, Tennessee came out shooting and never looked back.I saw some online tickets for sale for $10,000! Believe me if I had a pair to that game and someone offered me 20 grand for them they would have a deal very quickly.

Unfortunately the Vols won’t get to bask in the glory very long; they face Vanderbilt this coming Tuesday night and the Commodores are riding a 17 game winning streak.

If you’ve bought a new home in the Knoxville, Oak Ridge, or Farragut Tennessee area recently you’ve learned about the various kinds of insurance you were required to buy.

The most common is homeowner’s insurance which protects the physical building and protects you from potential liability.

If you borrowed more than 80% of the purchase price for your new Knoxville home, your lender probably required you to buy private mortgage insurance to protect them in case you default.

And a third kind of insurance was lender’s title insurance to protect the lender in case of a title defect of some sort.

In Tennessee you were also likely offered the option to purchase an owner’s title insurance policy for yourself. Most buyers don’t realize that a lender’s title policy only covers the lender for the face amount of your mortgage; as your mortgage is paid down the coverage decreases as well.

An owner’s title policy protects your interest or equity in the property up to the amount of the purchase price.

When I’m representing you as the buyer of a new home in the greater Knoxville area I explain the benefits to you in buying this owner’s title policy.

Since it is co-issued with the lender’s policy you get the benefit of ‘piggy backing’ onto the lender’s policy and are typically able to buy this protection for only a few hundred dollars.

Here are some of the risks new homeowners could face that an owner’s title insurance policy will protect you against.

• Forgery and impersonation;
• Lack of competency, capacity or legal authority of a party;
• Deed not joined in by a necessary party (co-owner, heir, spouse, corporate officer, or business partner);
• Undisclosed (but recorded) prior mortgage or lien;
• Undisclosed (but recorded) easement or use restriction;
• Erroneous or inadequate legal descriptions;
• Lack of a right of access; and
• Deed not properly recorded.

If you still have questions about how you can best protect your new Knoxville, Oak Ridge, or Farragut home purchase please give me a call or email.

If you need to find a house I highly recommend a visit to www.KnoxvilleMLS.com to find the home of your dreams.

A new study just released says that 64% of Americans believe that now is a smart time to buy a home.

“Indeed, 65% of survey respondents agree that given the current supply of homes for sale and special incentives this is “truly a buyer’s market.” And, 39% believe that tentative buyers who are waiting for home prices to go lower risk “missing out on one of the greatest home-buying markets in recent history.””

This “Featured Home” was just reduced to $279,900 with 4 bedrooms, bonus room, main level office or guest bedroom, and lots of living space (2900 feet)

I could not agree more!

The greater Knoxville & Farragut areas have a great supply of both new and resale home, some builders are offering great incentives to stimulate sales, and interest rates are still at a very, very attractive level.

However, like the boom times of the recent past, this can’t last forever either.  

This surve is compiled from the responses of 548 adults nationwide, Jan. 4-7, 2008, between the ages of 25 to 72 with a minimum annual household income of $40,000.

Visit KnoxvilleMLS.com to see some great home buys and then contact me to go look at them.

And apparently not a minute too late if this recent article featuring Knox County government in the New York Times is any indicator.

“You would understand this desire if you had attended last week’s meeting of the Knox County Commission; that is, if you had the seven hours to spare. But since you probably weren’t there, and be thankful for that, here is a quick primer on local, uncivil civics so that you might appreciate the recent political clamor in this part of eastern Tennessee.”

Sad but unfortunately true, and it’s not recent it has been ongoing for too many years.

On a brighter note today is “Super Tuesday” when a big bunch of states, including Tennessee, hold their primary elections. A record voter turnout is predicted for Knoxville and Knox County. One of the best things our election commission has ever done was institute early voting; my wife and I voted last week with no crowds, no delays, just step up and cast your ballot.

The last paragraph of the NY Times story is especially meaningful. 

“Knox County of 2008 brings to mind the last scene of “Meet John Doe,” Frank Capra’s populist melodrama of 1941. The wiry newspaper editor turns to the just-thwarted political boss and, with great exclamation, says: “There you are, Norton, the people. Try and lick that!””

We’ll know if the people of Knoxville and Knox County spoke on Wednesday morning as well as what they said.

Personally I think we’re going to shout “ENOUGH!” very loudly.