Trulia’s new toy, Trulia Snapshot, is the coolest, most gorgeous real estate search toy tool I have ever seen.

You simply have to give it a whirl to know what I mean. If you like pretty, shiny things, go play with the Knoxville listings and come back and let me know what you think.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have finally reached a settlement over the display of Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings on Virtual Office Websites (VOWs). Whew! That’s a lot of acronyms for saying that online only brokerages that don’t exist in the brick and mortar world can put MLS listings on their sites.

A lot of people are saying this is the end of real estate as we know it and things are going to seriously start changing in the real estate marketplace.

Um, except that during the 3 years it took NAR and the DOJ to reach this settlement, a lot has already seriously changed in the real estate market, especially when it comes to transparency and online information. From The Real Estate Bloggers:

The opening of the MLS systems to online and virtual real estate companies has long been over. The bigger battle will be the viability of maintaining an expensive MLS in the age of Trulias and Zillows.

Think about it, the lawsuit was to force the brokerages to allow online real estate agents to post their homes. Now we have the major real estate firms signing deals with Zillow to post their listings directly bypassing these online agents.

So essentially the National Association of Realtors has spent their dues not on developing better systems to grow the business of their members, but to fight for the right to have the monopoly on buggy whips.

Ouch.

Hey, NAR? Can I have my last three years worth of dues back now? I have a $60 tank of gas to buy to drive clients around who found a bunch of homes to look at on Trulia last night. Thanks.

2 bloggers
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Home Sweet Home

It may be two more days until the weekend, but the wait is over for this week’s installment of Foreclosure Watch. This week, on-market and pending listings are down, while closings have more than doubled. Hey, have you guys been out there buying these things without me?

Also, this week: pretty new charts, one of which tracks the list price vs. sales price of the closed foreclosures. Enjoy!

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 5/28/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 160 ?
Average Asking Price: $131,504 ?
Median Asking Price: $89,450 ?
Most Expensive New Listing: $229,900 (4 BR, 2 BA, 2700+ sq ft art & craft style home off of Alcoa Highway)
Least Expensive New Listing: $24,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 1100+ sq ft, 100+ year old home in East Knoxville)

Notable New Listings:
North: 3 BR, 2 BA, 1500+ sq ft off of Whittle Springs
East: 4 BR, 2 BA, 1800+ sq ft turn of the century home on E. Fifth Ave.
West: 4 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 1800+ sq ft in Gulf Park

Current Pending Sales -92 ?
Average Asking Price - $84,416 ?
Median Asking Price - $67,400 ?

Closed Sales May 21, 2008-May 27, 2008 - 17?
Average Asking Price - $140,391?
Average Sales Price - $126,776 ?
Median Sales Price - $108,900 ?
Average Days on Market - 63 ?

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 5/28/08 for Knox County single family residential properties only, and does not include condos or PUDS.

As always, if you have any questions about any of these properties, feel free to drop me a line.

If you’d like to receive new foreclosure listings automatically, just send me an email with “Foreclosure List” in the subject line, and I’ll do the rest.

Get in with the Knoxville real estate in-crowd - subscribe to All Around KTown today!

OK, I’ve shared some websites with you before that I thought were pretty cool. And at the time I shared them, they were. But that was before @Admore tipped me off to PolicyMap.

PolicyMap is a brand new monster research tool that you really have to play with to believe. According to the developers:

… [PolicyMap] combines sophisticated technology and the best analytical tools to deliver a new level of accessibility to data. And we mean all kinds of data – more than 4,000 indicators related to demographics, real estate markets, money and income, education, crime and more.

They’re not kidding about that data, either. PolicyMap provides you with information you find on sites like Zipskinny and Zilpy and then some - everything from residential energy consumption to campaign contributions by geographical area. You can search by state, county, city, or even by congressional and school districts. In addition, PolicyMap has tons more crime statistics for the Knox County area than SpotCrime.

And that’s not all. PolicyMap doesn’t just give you data, it goes even further by allowing you to create your own layered “heat maps,” tables and reports from the data it provides. Now that’s cool.

Unfortunately, there is a “but” in all of this: some of the information on the site is for subscribers only, and subscriptions don’t come cheap - $2,000 per year for the standard package alone. Ouch.

But even without that extra level of data, PolicyMap is a still an awesome resource that I’ve only scratched the surface of here. Go check it out for yourself, and then come back here and let me know what cool stuff you find. Happy hunting!

So far, Neighborhood of the Week has been all around K-Town, from the north to the south and the east to the west. But there’s one place NOTW hasn’t yet stepped foot in: Farragut. This week it’s time to remedy that by taking a look at Concord Hills.

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. 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.

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

Here’s Concord Hills by the numbers -

Concord Hills*

Current On-Market Listings - 15
Average Asking Price: $445,447
Median Asking Price: $424,900
Most Expensive: $874,900 (5 BR, 6 1/2 BA, 7000+ sq ft)
Least Expensive: $274,900 (4 BR, 4 BA, 3700+ sq ft)

Current Pending Sales -2
Average Asking Price: $279,900
Median Asking Price: NA

Closed Sales - Q1 2007 - 2
Average Asking Price - $349,900
Average Sales Price - $342,900
Median Sales Price - NA
Average Days on Market - 87

Closed Sales - Q1 2008 - 1
Average Asking Price - $419,900
Average Sales Price - $415,000
Median Sales Price - NA
Average Days on Market - 97

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 5/26/08 does not include adjacent subdivisions, condos, PUDS, or multi-family units.

As always, if you want any more information about any of these properties just give me a shout.

Is there a neighborhood you’d like to see here next week? Make a wish for it in the comments, and it might just come true.

Like most Sundays, I did an open house today. To get to this open house, I had to take Northshore Drive from Ebenezer to Concord Road, which meant I passed lots of people playing and having fun on the water. In a matter of moments my thoughts went from, “Hey! I want to play and have fun on the water, too,” to “I just need to buy a place on the water.”

Unfortunately my meandering thoughts do not always check in with my bank account.

While, it is occasionally possible to find a Knox County waterfront home for less than 7 figures, that is certainly not the rule. And anyway, if you’re going to dream, dream big, right?

So, in honor of Memorial Day, I thought I’d take you on a short tour of cool Lake front homes you can’t afford. Enjoy!

First stop is a brand new 4,900+ sq ft home lakefront home in a gated community right off of Westland. This year’s Parade Home winner, this home features lake views from nearly every room. List price is $1,939,000 - only $392 a square foot.

Next up is a 7600+ sq foot custom built home with 4 BR, 5 full baths, and 2 half baths. Features include century-old hardwoods, lakeside in-ground gunite pool, and a 4 car garage. List price is $2,700,000 - that’s right around $352 per sq ft.

Right around the corner off of Toole’s Bend is a 4 BR, 4 BA, 5000+ sq ft basement ranch on 1.5 acres. Features include an infinity pool with new pool house, boat house, and boat dock. List price is $2,400,000. For those of you keeping track at home, that’s $472 a sq ft.

Finally, we come to this 5 BR, 5 BA, 5900+ sq ft lake front home in Sequoyah Hills. Features include marble walled and floored bathrooms in every bedroom, gourmet kitchen with Thermador appliances, boat dock with lift, and jet ski dock with lift. List price is $1,575,000 - that’s a water front bargain at only $264 per sq ft.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour. As for me, as much as I love to dream of living on the water, for now I’m going to have to stick with something more in my price range , like a baby pool or a slip and slide in the backyard. Hey, you have to start somewhere, right?

Happy Memorial Day!

This week’s poll is ready for your voting enjoyment on the top left and this week’s topic is the state of the Knoxville housing market.

Nationally, some people say the housing bust is over and others say it’s not.

I don’t know about other places, but here in K-Town, I’ve been seeing a ton of activity in the real estate market over the last few months. Granted, it’s totally crazy activity (super low-ball offers, deals pieced together MacGyver style with little more than paper clips & chewing gum, financing that would fall over if you breathed hard on it, etc), but after the dead silence that was August - December, 2007, I’ll take any activity I can get my hands on.

What do you think? Is the Knoxville market chugging along like the little engine that could or is it seriously derailed?

Another question we real estate agents aren’t allowed to go anywhere near is “is this a safe neighborhood?” Sure, we know, and no, we can’t say anything. Lame. That’s why I was psyched when I saw a write up on TechCrunch about a website called SpotCrime.

Go to SpotCrime, select your city, and you’ll be shown an interactive Google map that will show you at a glance where crimes such as arson, assault and theft have occurred within a time period of your choosing. You can also search specific addresses to check out crime on a neighborhood level.

TechCrunch says that for most areas, SpotCrime gets 90% of its information from police reports, but only if that information is made public. From looking at the Knoxville map, it looks like Knoxville is one of the areas where they are only pulling information from local news stories. While this is better than nothing, I’d love to see a fully functional version for our town.

Yay, more numbers! If the April Home Sales Report wasn’t enough to satisfy your need for Knoxville real estate statistics, hopefully this week’s episode of Foreclosure Watch will do the trick. This week sees the number of on-market foreclosure listings take a pretty big jump, while median and average closed prices, as well as average days on market, take a plunge.

This week I’m also trying out another new feature - new & notable foreclosure listings by area: north, south, east and west. Let me know what you think.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 5/21/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 185 ?
Average Asking Price: $127,839 ?
Median Asking Price: $89,900 ?
Most Expensive New Listing: $759,000 (5 BR, 6 1/2 BA, 7800+ sq ft on Cherokee Blvd)
Least Expensive New Listing: $29,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 800+ sq ft in East Knoxville)

Notable New Listings:
North: 3 BR, 1 1/2 BA, 1400+ sq ft off of Whittle Springs
South: 3 BR, 2 BA, 2000+ sq ft off of Magazine
East: 3 BR, 2 BA, 2000+ sq ft in Holston Hills
West: 3 BR, 2 BA, approx 1500 sq ft with in-ground pool in Farragut

Current Pending Sales -102 ?
Average Asking Price - $94,428 ?
Median Asking Price - $76,225 ?

Closed Sales May 14, 2008-May 20, 2008 - 8?
Average Asking Price - $73,659 ?
Average Sales Price - $71,758 ?
Median Sales Price - $47,000 ?
Average Days on Market - 46 ?

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 5/20/08 for Knox County single family residential properties only, and does not include condos or PUDS.

As always, if you have any questions about any of these properties, feel free to drop me a line. If you’d like to receive new foreclosure listings automatically, just send me an email letting me know, and I’ll do the rest.

Keep up to date on the Knoxville real estate market and be inadvertently entertained at the same time - subscribe to All Around KTown today!