I just found this over at Agent Genius. It’s only about 3 minutes long, it’s amusing and it’s a absolutely dead-on regarding what sellers need to do and consider when putting their homes on the market. Enjoy!

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

This week Neighborhood of the Week heads to Farragut to revisit a great not-so-little swim and tennis community: Concord Hills.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Concord Hills is a large, established community located just off of Concord Road in Farragut and is very convenient to I-40 at either Lovell Road or Campbell Station.

One of the best features of the neighborhood, besides the great homes, large lots, well manicured lawns, and numerous trees, is the community recreation association. This association includes a newly remodeled pool and tennis courts, as well as community swim and tennis teams.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Concord Hills also has a very active homeowners association, and their website lists numerous neighborhood activities that take place in the community throughout the year.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Most of the homes in Concord Hills were built in the 1970s and 80s and include  a lot of very traditional two stories and ranchers with a smaller number of contemporary style homes sprinkled throughout.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

So if you’re looking to live in Farragut and want a very well-kept, conveniently located, established neighborhood with swimming and tennis and a strong sense of community, Concord Hills might just be right up your alley.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Here’s Concord Hills by the numbers -

Concord Hills*

Current On-Market Listings - 9
Average Asking Price: $363,144
Median Asking Price: $359,900
Average Square Footage:  4404

Most Expensive: $459,900 (5 BR, 4 BA, 4900+ sq ft two-story traditional)
Least Expensive: $269,900 (4 BR, 3 BA, 3600+ sq ft basement ranch)

Current Pending Sales -1
Asking Price: $342,000
Details: 4 BR, 3 BA, 3100+ sq ft foreclosure

Closed Sales - 4th Quarter 2007 - 4
Average Asking Price - $341,700
Average Sales Price - $335,225
Median Sales Price - $348,000
Average Days on Market - 59

Closed Sales - 4th Quarter 2008 - 5
Average Asking Price - $347,160
Average Sales Price - $324,400
Median Sales Price - $335,000
Average Days on Market -80

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 1/5/08 does not include adjacent subdivisions, condos, PUDS, or multi-family units.

As always, if you want any more information about any of these properties, or if you’d like to check one of them out in person, just give me a shout.

If you would like to receive a full list of properties for sale in this neighborhood, or if you would like to be notified of new listings, send me an email with either “Current Concord Hills Listings” or “New Concord Hills Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. My job description includes many things, but “spammer” is not one of them.

I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting places to feature on NOTW. If you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear all about it.

The weekly poll is having a neighborhood get together - stop by and mingle a little.

This week’s poll topic is about something all of have - neighbors. They might not be close to you or with you, but there’s usually no getting around living around other people. Some people are great friends with their neighbors while others could hardly pick theirs out of a line-up.

So what about you? Are you best buds with the people next door or are you still trying to remember their names? Cast your vote and let me know.

You may not know your neighbors very well, but  you can get to know the Knoxville real estate scene inside and out - subscribe to All Around KTown by RSS or email today!

photo credit: Spooky Momma

Earlier this week, I promised you guys a year end edition of Foreclosure Watch, but when I sat down to work on it tonight, I kind of got distracted.

See, I started out looking up 2008 residential foreclosure sales month by month. A good start, right?  But then I got curious about whether those foreclosure sales followed the same seasonal highs and lows that non-foreclosure, or normal,  residential sales usually do, so I looked up the normal 2008 residential sales by month. And then I started wondering about how this year’s foreclosure sales compared to last year’s foreclosure sales, so I went back to the MLS and hunted those down. And finally,  I thought that if I was going to add the 2007 foreclosure sales, I might as well add the normal 2007 sales,  so I looked those up too.

After all of that hunting and gathering, it only seemed right to put all of my new-found information in a spreadsheet and graph it,  which led me to this -

The first thing I noticed is that 2008’s non-foreclosure, or normal, sales (the red line) are well below 2007’s normal sales (the blue line). Interesting — and definitely depressing– but not wholly unexpected.

But then I noticed two very interesting things -

1. Although normal residential sales have a pretty distinct seasonal pattern, the foreclosure sales stay more or less contant throughout the year and therefore appear to be unaffected by “high” and “low” selling seasons.

2. While  normal residential sales  were way down in ‘08 from ‘07, the 2008 foreclosure sales were consistently up (the green line) throughout the year versus 2007 (the yellow line).

Huh.

So then I asked myself a whole slew of questions, none of which I can really answer -

1. Why were the foreclosure sales so steady from month to month? Is it because these properties are being bought by investors who don’t care about summer vacation or school starting times?
2. Were there more foreclosure sales this year because there were more foreclosures in general or because there were more investors hoping to cash in on a down market?
3. If overall sales were down, why didn’t foreclosure sales follow the trend? Is it because people see foreclosure properties as “good deals”? Again, was it because of buyers hoping to buy low in a down market?

One part of my brain says that there were just more foreclosure listings, so therefore foreclosure sales were up. Duh.

Another part of my brain shouts at that first part of my brain that there were a lot more non-foreclosure listings too, but that didn’t make normal residential sales go up. Face.

Yet another part of my brain quietly reminds those other two parts that foreclosures probably simply don’t follow normal sales patterns because they are more attractive to all buyers, investors and non-investors alike. Hmmm.

The last part of my brain just wants to watch “Lost” and forget the whole thing. Aaahhh.

So now, if anyone has any thoughts or speculations on this curious little graph, or answers to any of my numerous questions I’d love to hear them. That’s what comments are for. And yes, my liberal arts educated mind sometimes misses obvious answers and conclusions.

Also, if  you would like a copy of the spreadsheet that this graph came from, give me a shout and I’d be more than happy to send it your way.

Note: I pulled all of this data from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtor’s MLS, therefore it is limited to properties that were listed in the MLS and does not include homes sold by owner. It also excludes condos and PUDS.

Happy New Year, Watchers and welcome to your regularly scheduled installment of Foreclosure Watch! Later this week, I’m going to do an overview of 2008 Knoxville foreclosure sales, but since FW took last week off, right now it’s time to get back to the regular weekly watch.

As we close out 2008, active foreclosure listings are up and pending and closed foreclosure listings are down. While we never quite topped 200 active residential foreclosure listings during any week since I started this mad endeavor, we got as close as we ever have this week, with 197. And even though we’ve had a few weeks of active listings  going down, one look at the FW chart shows that blue line has more or less been making a steady climb since about September, meaning there have been more and more foreclosures on the market in K-Town.

We’ll just have to keep on watching to see if that little line will continue it’s climb in 2009.

Another trend I noticed last week and this week concerns pricing. It seems a few listing agents are starting to price some of these foreclosures well below market in hopes of creating bidding wars - just take a look at a few of this week’s notable new listings to get an idea of how low I’m talking about. And from what I’ve seen, it looks like it’s working.  But will these multiple offers drive final contract prices up around or above market? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

In new listing news, 37914 was the clear frontrunner with 8 with 37918 coming in 2nd with 5. 37849, 37917, and 37931 had two new foreclosure listings each, while 37924 and 37934 had one each.

We have two weeks’ worth of closed listing news.  For the week of 12/17-12/23, there were 14 total closings, with two each in 37914, 37917, 37918, and 27920. For the week of 12/24-12/30, there were 7 listed foreclosure closings, with two each in 37917 and 37918. 37871 had it’s first closing that week since I started keeping track in September.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 12/31/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 197
Average Asking Price: $135,390
Median Asking Price: $109,000
Most Expensive New Listing: $220,000 (6 BR, 4 BA, 3700+ sq ft off of Solway in Hardin Valley)
Least Expensive New Listing: $39,900 (3 BR, 1 1/2 BA, 900+ sq ft on Cecil in North Knox)

Notable New Listings:
North: $174,900 (5 BR, 3 1/2 BA, 4500+ sq ft on 4+ acres in Fountain City) *
South: $172,900 (4 BR, 3 BA, approx 2500+ sq ft home in Rolling Hills)
East: $79,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1300+ sq ft on Parkview)
West: $217,900 (5 BR, 5 BA, 6100+ sq ft in Fox Den in Farragut)

*Bidding is still open, but home already has multiple offers

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Current Pending Sales -100
Average Asking Price - $88,093
Median Asking Price - $72,000

Closed Sales December 17, 2008-December 23, 2008 - 14
Average Asking Price - $103,443
Average Sales Price - $101,031
Median Sales Price - $78,500
Average Days on Market - 34
Closed Sales December 24, 2008-December 30, 2008 - 7
Average Asking Price - $85,200
Average Sales Price - $81,543
Median Sales Price - $69,900
Average Days on Market -69

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 12/31/08 for Knox County single family residential properties only, and does not include condos or PUDS.

As always, if you need more information on any of these properties, just drop me a line.

If you’d like to receive new foreclosure listings automatically, send me an email with “Foreclosure List” in the subject line, and I’ll do the rest. Spam is for sandwiches, not inboxes.

Why take the chance of ever missing out on Foreclosure Watch? Make sure you get all your foreclosure goodness every week by subscribing to All Around K-Town today, either by RSS or email!

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

This week Neighborhood of the Week heads out to West Knoxville to a charming, older neighborhood with some seriously steep hills: Echo Valley.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Located just west of Gallaher View and just east of Ebenezer, and bounded by Gleason Drive to the north Westland Dr to the south, Echo Valley is an affordable West Knox neighborhood that has been built out over three decades. If you come in via Westland Drive, you will be in the newer part of the neighborhood, where most of the homes built in 1980s and 1990s are located. As you go up the (rather steep) hill towards Gleason, you start to see the 1970s portion of the neighborhood, complete with the requisite basement ranchers, tri-levels, and split foyers.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Being an older community, Echo Valley has tons of mature trees and lots of gorgeous foliage come springtime. It also has another advantage of older neighborhoods - roomier lot sizes, especially for the homes built in the 70s.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

So if you’re looking for an affordable and conveniently located home in West Knoxville, complete with lots of mature trees, you might want to check out Echo Valley.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Special thanks to AAKT’s in-house photographer, Robert Stockdale. Without him, NOTW would be just a bunch of boring old words. Find out more about Robert’s work here.

Here’s  Echo Valley by the numbers -

Echo Valley*

Current On-Market Listings - 2
Average Asking Price: $195,000
Average Square Footage: 2104
Most Expensive: $210,000 (3 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 2100+ sq ft built in 1987)
Least Expensive: $180,000 (3 BR, 2 BA, 2000+ sq ft built in 1988)

Current Pending Sales - 0
Average Asking Price: NA
Median Asking Price: NA

Closed Sales - 3rd Quarter 2008 - 5
Average Asking Price - $165,220
Average Sales Price - $163,600
Average Square Ft- 1827
Average Days on Market -34

Closed Sales - 3rd Quarter 2007- 1
Asking Price - $142,000
Sales Price - $142,500
Square Footage - 2322
Average Days on Market - 1

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 12/29/08 does not include condos, PUDS, adjacent neighborhoods or multi-family units.

As always, if you want any more information about any of these properties, or if you’d like to check one of them out in person, just give me a shout.

If you would like to receive a full list of properties for sale in this neighborhood, or if you would like to be notified of new listings, send me an email with either “Current Echo Valley Listings” or “New Echo Valley Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Ix-nay on the am-spay.

I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting places to feature on NOTW. If you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear about it.

The weekly poll is all ready to count down to the new year. Go over there and help it out.

This week’s poll topic is about the new year and what you think it holds for the Knoxville real estate market. It’s no secret that 2008 wasn’t the best year ever for K-Town home sales. But  judging from recent comments about those sales numbers, opinions vary about the extent of the damage and how much longer it will be before things turn around out there.

So what do you think? Will 2009 be a better year for housing here in K-Town or have we only seen the beginning of this roller coaster ride? Or maybe you just don’t think things are that bad to begin with? Cast your vote and let me know.

Make a new year’s resolution to always stay up to date on the Knoxville real estate scene - subscribe to All Around KTown by RSS or email today!

photo credit: duplamox

I’m out of town for the holidays and since I have limited computer and internet access, All Around KTown will be taking a brief winter vacation this week. 

But don’t despair! There’s plenty of good stuff to dig through in my absence. Why not check out some of the previous editions of Neighborhood of the Week , Foreclosure Watch, and the Home Sales Report? You might even head over to Knoxify to take a look at all of our neighborhood guides. They’re pretty nifty.

And if that’s still not enough to satisfy your Knoxville real estate cravings, go ahead and get ready for the 2009 real estate season by learning about why you should use  and how to find a buyer agent, negotiating in a buyer’s market, and making low ball offers. After reading all of that, you’ll be way ahead of the curve when it’s finally time to come out of winter hibernation and start your house hunting.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and I’ll see you next week!

  photo credit: ydhsu

The weekly poll is hanging its stocking by the chimney with care, in hopes that you and your voting soon will be there. Get to it!

It’s only 4 days until Christmas and this week’s topic is all about a certain Saint Nick and what real estate wish you would ask him to grant you if you could. Considering the November Home Sales Report numbers that just came out, I know I wouldn’t mind asking him to take us back to the real estate market of 2005.

So what about you? Would you ask for a kitchen remodel? Money to buy a new place? Or how about a ready to move-in cash buyer for your home that’s been on the market for 6 months? Cast your vote and let me know.

This year, give yourself the gift that keeps on giving  -  subscribe to All Around KTown by RSS or email today to get the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market !

photo credit: SpacePotato

It’s the middle of December, which means the Knoxville Area Association of Realtor’s numbers are finally out for Knoxville’s November home sales. And trust me, I wish I had some Christmas cheer to spread, but I keep  reaching into this Home Sales Report stocking and all I’m pulling out is coal.

In case you’ve already forgotten all about November 2008, let me refresh your memory: Barack Obama won the presidential election; Germany & Japan officially went into recession; the US announced another rescue package, this time for Citigroup; and the Federal Reserve announced it would inject another $800 billion into the US economy to try to stabilize our flailing financial system. It was basically more fun than a barell full of monkeys. Very over-leveraged, cash poor, soon to be foreclosed on monkeys.

So, how did the Knoxville real estate market fare through all of that doom and gloom? Well, not too great. So, sit back, relax, and let me break it to you gently - All Around KTown style.

You know I like to start with the good news first -

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
Nov ‘07 - $80,500
Nov ‘08 - $87,000

2008 is almost over.

Now for the not-so-good news:

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is (way) down.
Nov ‘07 - $99,200
Nov ‘08 - $85,900