Archive for February, 2010
As The Supply Of New Knoxville Homes Grows, So Does The Opportunity For A “Good Deal”
February 25th, 2010 categories: Existing Home Sales, Home Price Index, Housing Starts, Market Trends, Mortgage Rates, New Home Sales, Sellers, Statistics
Knoxville New Home Buyers Don’t Miss Your Best Buying Opportunity Ever
The housing recovery showed particular weakness in the Knoxville New Homes Sales category last month — good news for Knoxville TN homebuyers in in the Knoxville Real Estate Market and around the country.
A “new home” is a home for which there’s no previous owner.
New Home Sales fell 11 percent from the month prior and posted the fewest units sold in a month since 1963 — the year the government first started tracking New Home Sales data.
Right now, there are roughly 234,000 new homes for sale nationwide and, at the current sales pace, it would take 9.1 months to sell them all. This is nearly 2 months longer than at October 2009’s pace.
The reasons for the spike in supply are varied:
- The original home buyer tax credit expired in November
- Weather conditions were awful in most of the country in January
- Weak employment and consumer confidence continue to hinder big ticket sales
Now, these might be less-than-optimal developments for the economy as a whole, but for buyers of new homes, it’s a welcome turn of events. Home prices are based on supply and demand, after all.
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December 2009 Case-Shiller Data Shows Battered Markets In Bona Fide Recovery
February 24th, 2010 categories: Buyers, Case-Shiller Index, General, Market Trends, Sellers, Statistics
Using data compiled in December, Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Tuesday. The report shows home prices down just 2.5% on an annual basis, a figure much lower than the 8.7% annual drop reported after Q3.
According to Case-Shiller representatives, the housing market is “in better shape than it was this time last year”, but some of the summer’s momentum has been lost. 15 of 20 tracked markets declined in value between November and December 2009.
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note the 5 markets that didn’t decline — Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego. Each of these metro regions were among the hardest hit nationwide when home prices first broke. Now, they’re leading the pack in price recovery.
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How You Can Get The Most Accurate, Real-Time Mortgage Rate Quotes Available
February 23rd, 2010 categories: Buyers, Market Trends, Mortgage Rates
You can’t get your mortgage rates from the newspaper. Last week proved it. Again.
Friday morning, headlines in Tennessee and around the country read that mortgage rates were down 0.04 percent, on average, since the week prior.
A sampling of said headlines includes:
- US Mortgage Rates Drop For 2nd Straight Week (Reuters)
- Mortgage Rates On 30-year US Loans Fall To 4.93% (Business Week)
- 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Falls Farther Below 5% (Marketwatch)
The story behind the headline was sourced from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, am industry-wide mortgage rate poll of more than 100 lenders. The PMMS has reported mortgage rate data to markets since 1971 and is the largest of its kind.
Unfortunately, Knoxville rate shoppers can’t rely on it.
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How To Replace Your HVAC Air Filter
February 22nd, 2010 categories: General, Home How To
If you are challenged like I am around the house. I’m always looking for little tips on “How TO” do easy things like replacing and air filter.
Replacing a home’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) air filter is one way to keep the unit’s motor running right. It’s an oft-forgotten part of keeping a well-run home. And, it’s simple, too.
In the two-minute video above, you’ll learn how to replace an air filter from start-to-finish. There’s no need for tools and no need for experience — the job is about as basic as home maintenance jobs come.
Air filters should be changed at least quarterly but it’s okay to change on a monthly rotation, too — especially if your home has shedding pets, or is under construction or repair. Just remember that not all air filters are created equal.
In this famous video, we see how $0.99 filters can fail to get the job done. Spending $10-15 for a filter that works is a better idea.
Save money by buying in bulk.
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Housing Starts Soar To 6-Month High In January… Or Do They?
February 19th, 2010 categories: Buyers, Housing Starts, Market Trends, Statistics
Sometimes, headlines for housing can be misleading and this week gave us a terrific example.
On Wednesday, the Commerce Department released its Housing Starts data for January 2010. The data showed starts at a 6-month high.
A “Housing Start” is a privately-owned home on which construction has started.
Headlines on the Housing Starts story included:
- U.S. Housing Starts Hit 6-Month High (Reuters)
- U.S. Economy Receives Home Building Boost (Shepparton)
- Housing Starts Post Sharp Rebound (ABC)
Based to the headlines, the housing market looks poised for rapid growth through the Spring Market.
The real story, though, is that although Housing Starts increased by close to 3 percent last month, the growth is mostly attributed to buildings with 5 or more units. This includes apartments and condominiums — a sector of the housing market that’s notoriously volatile.
If we isolate Housing Starts for single-family homes only, we see that starts grew by just 7,000 units last month and have failed to break a range since June 2009. January’s tally is slightly below the 8-month average.
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Knoxville Home Buyers Now Is The Time To Buy!!!
February 18th, 2010 categories: Buyers, FOMC Minutes, General, Home How To, Market Trends
Looks Like Those Low Interest Rates Are Heading North…..
Mortgage markets reeled Wednesday after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its January 26-27, 2010 meeting. Mortgage rates in Tennessee are now at their highest levels since the start of the year.
The Fed Minutes is a follow-up document, delivered 3 weeks after an official FOMC meeting. It’s a companion piece to the post-meeting press release, detailing the debates and discussions that shaped our central bankers’ policy decisions.
The Minutes is a terrific look into the Fed’s collective mind and, yesterday, Wall Street didn’t like what it saw. Specifically, the report disclosed that:
- The Fed plans to break support for mortgage markets after March 31, 2010
- Raising the Fed Funds Rate will be a key part of the Fed’s strategy to tighten monetary policy
- The fundamentals behind consumer spending strengthened modestly
Furthermore, the Fed Minutes said that there is a growing risk of “higher medium-term inflation”. Inflation, of course, is awful for mortgage rates.
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The Best And Worst Cities For Commuters (2010 Edition)
February 17th, 2010 categories: General, Statistics
According to the Census Bureau, 2.8 million people commute to work 90 minutes or more each day, in each direction.
Now, your daily commute may not be as long, but time spent in cars, trains and buses is time away from work and from family. Drive-time can affect a person’s Quality of Life and it’s one reason why Forbes Magazine’s Best and Worst Commutes is worth reviewing.
Measuring travel time, road congestion and travel delays in the 60 largest metropolitan areas, Forbes ranks city commutes from best-to-worst with Salt Lake City topping the list and Tampa-St. Petersburg finishing it.
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How To Remove Stickers And Adhesive-Based Price Tags From Just About Anything
February 16th, 2010 categories: General, Home How To
Sometimes, price tags just don’t want to unstick. No matter how hard you scrub and scrape, tacky residence stays behind. Turns out, getting “the stick” off your stickers isn’t so hard when you have the right tools.
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Check Out ROUXBARB In West Knoxville
February 15th, 2010 categories: General
I decided to plan a special night out for Valentines Day with Leslie. So I got on Yelp.com and starting doing some research on some different restaurants to try out. I came across ROUXBARB at 130 South Northshore in West Knoxville.
The menu has a variety that is just outstanding like Hunter’s Rabbit and Smoked Breast of Duck. They had a special the night Leslie and I went there Halibut with King Crab. It was highly recommended by our server so we had it and it was outstanding. Chef Bruce Bogartz is the chef and he does and outstanding job along with his staff. They really take the time to prepare the food and you can tell once you dine with them. One other thing we really liked about our experience there was being able to bring our favorite bottle of wine.
Last but not least is the desserts WOW what a way to finish off a great meal. We split a chocolate mousse to finish our meal off but there where lots of choices
If you are looking for a different dining experience that is truly amazing check out ROUXBARB I know we will be going back again because we truly did enjoy our dining experience there.
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Northshore Town Center chosen as site of elementary school in West Knoxville
February 12th, 2010 categories: Buyers, General, Market Trends, Sellers
Knox County School Board has chosen the Northshore Town Center as the new location for it’s elementary school in West Knoxville. Knox County Schools had been considering 3 different locations that I wrote about in a previous post
The vote was 7-1 with Cindy Buttry being the only no vote. Frankly I think she voted the right way. The other locations where off Choto and Northshore. From a Realtor’s perspective I think the locations off Choto and Northshore where better choices. I think this location is too close to A.L Lotts Elementary School They will move kids from A. L Lotts and Farragut Elementary. The future growth is happening out West Knox in the Farragut Area.
I don’t think it was the right location for the new elementary school but the Knox County School Board thinks different. How about you what do you think?
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