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

Happy Holidays, Watchers. This week on Knoxville Foreclosure Watch, there was a slew of new listings – 35 to be exact – but active listings were only slightly up, pendings held steady and closed listings were up by one. This is either because a) some actives expired and weren’t relisted or b) some of the new listings were actually relisted expired listings. Does your head hurt yet, ’cause mine does.

Of those 35 new listings, a whopping 8 were in 37917 and 37914 wasn’t far behind with 5. Other zips with more than 1 new listing included 37806, 37918, 37920, 37921 and 37931. 37721 and 37923 both made the double digit club with 10 each, and 37914 is still barely in the lead over 37917 for most new listings since I started keeping count in July.

There were 10 closed foreclosure listings last week: 4 in 37914, 3 in 37920, 2 in 37921 and 1 in 37912. 37917 is still Knoxville’s favorite foreclosue buying spot with 15 closed listings since September.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 12/17/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 185
Average Asking Price: $136,026
Median Asking Price: $101,800
Most Expensive New Listing: $399,900 (5 BR, 4 1/2 BA, approx 5100 sq ft in Gibbs)
Least Expensive New Listing: $9,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1000+ sq ft off of Magnolia)

Notable New Listings:
North: $169,900 (5 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 4100+ sq ft Victorian on Lutrell in 4th & Gill)
South: $76,000 (3 BR, 1 full bath, 2 half bath, 2900+ sq ft 103 year old home on Woodlawn)
East: $56,900 (4 BR, 2 BA, 2400+ sq ft Victorian on E 5th Avenue)
West: $289,900 (5 BR, 3 1/2 BA, 3500+ sq ft in Walnut Grove in Farragut)

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Current Pending Sales -114
Average Asking Price – $92,854
Median Asking Price – $79,375

Closed Sales December 10, 2008-December 16, 2008 - 10
Average Asking Price – $53,340
Average Sales Price – $51,080
Median Sales Price – $45,000
Average Days on Market -29

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 12/17/08 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. I don’t send fruit cake or spam during the holiday season.

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 revisits the western edge of downtown to take another look at a small community with a big history: historic Mechanicsville.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Not only does old Mechanicsville have a colorful history, it also contains perhaps the largest collection of 19th century architecture in Knoxville. From the Knox Heritage website:

The area of present day Mechanicsville which contains the most intact number of historic structures was developed initially as Deaderick’s Addition, J.W. Swann’s Addition, and Moses Fairview Addition. This area contains the larger Queen Anne and Italianate houses built for factory owners and area businessmen, and the smaller cottages of factory workmen…

Mechanicsville derives its name from the large number of factories that developed just outside its boundaries during the late 18th and early 20th centuries. It was settled around 1880. By 1883, Mechanicsville had a population of over 2,000. Most residents of the Mechanicsville worked in the factories and mills that surrounded the neighborhood. Mechanicsville, with its railroad and water source (Second Creek), quickly became the center for industrial activity in Knoxville…

One of the first industries to locate in Mechanicsville was the Knoxville Iron Company, incorporated in 1868 … The Knoxville Iron Company manufactured bar iron, nails, and railroad spikes, as well as ornamental iron. Ornamental iron fences and trim on houses in Mechanicsville are probably products of the Knoxville Iron Company.

Other industries in Mechanicsville included Knoxville Brewing Company, Knox Standard Handle, W.H. Evans & Son (suppliers of Italian marble), The Pottery and Pipe Works, Knoxville Box & Keg Factory, a railroad turntable factory, a broom factory, a soap factory, Cudley Planning Mill and Knoxville Car & Wheel…

In addition, the Mechanicsville area is home to Knoxville College, founded in 1875.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Knox Heritage has even more on the history of the area, as well as an online tour. If you’re more
interested in architecture, Restore Knoxville has a great write up on the neighborhood’s many architectural styles.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

The Mechanicsvile area is still very much in transition, and while some of the homes have been restored to their former glory, others are still waiting for urban renewal to come their way.  Since homes are priced according to the level of restoration they’ve undergone,  expect prices to be somewhat disparate.

So, if you’re looking for an emerging area close to downtown and rich in history and architecture, and don’t mind the possibility of some sweat equity, definitely check out historic Mechanicsville.

Note: While there is newer construction near the older part of Mechanicsville, for the purposes of this NOTW I’m only going to be looking at the small area that most people consider to be the “historic” section of Mechanicsville.

Here’s historic Mechanicsville by the numbers -

Mechanicsville*

Current On-Market Listings – 1
Asking Price: $34,500
Details: 1 BR, 1 BA, 700+ sq ft updated Victorian cottage

Current Pending Sales - 1
Asking Price: $259,900
Details: 3 BR, 2 BA, 2500+ sq ft completely restored from 1889)

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2008 – 2
Average Asking Price – $53,200
Average Sales Price – $39,500
Average Square Ft- 1822
Average Days on Market -40

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2007- 0
Average Asking Price – NA
Average Sales Price – NA
Median Sales Price – NA
Average Days on Market – NA

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 12/15/08 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 Mechanicsville Listings” or “New Mechanicsville Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Nobody wants Spam for Christmas.

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 in the comments.

The weekly poll is over there eating dinner on the sofa in front of the TV again. Tell it not to sit so close or it will ruin its eyes.

This week’s topic is something a lot of us may be using for the first time in a long time this time of year – the dining room. Some people have a formal one and some people don’t, but almost all of us have a dining area where we can sit down and eat a nice meal. But is that really where we’re eating? I know our dining room sees very little dining action, but then again, I do tend to work some crazy hours.

So I’m curious: do you eat at your dining room table every night or do you only use it for special occasions? Or does your dining room get used for just about everything -  office/play area/impromptu storage area – other than eating? Cast your vote and let me know.

You may wait for special occasions to use your dining room, but you can  get the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market every single day – just subscribe to All Around KTown by RSS or email today!

photo credit: Tostie14

Welcome back, Watchers. This week on Knoxville Foreclosure Watch, active listings stayed the same while pending and closed listings were both only ever so slightly up. In other words, no big whoop.

In new listing news, 37918 had the most with 4. Other zips with more than 1 new listing included  37914, 37918, and 37921, each with 3 each.  37914 still has the dubious honor of having the most new foreclosure listings since I started keeping count in July.

As for closed foreclosure listings, there were 9 in 9 separate zips: 37721, 37909, 37912, 37918, 37919, 37921, 37924, 37934, and 37938. 37917 is still Knoxville’s preferred place to get a foreclosure deal with 15 closed listings since September.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 12/10/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 182
Average Asking Price: $140,302
Median Asking Price: $99,646
Most Expensive New Listing: $285,900 (5 BR, 4 BA, 3800+ sq ft in Deane Hill)
Least Expensive New Listing: $24,000 (2 BR, 1 BA, 1100+ sq ft off Asheville Hwy)

Notable New Listings:
North: $89,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1400+ sq ft off of Merchants)
South: $50,000 (2 BR, 1 BA, 1000+ sq ft off of Martin Mill Pike)
East: $39,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 2200+ sq ft 109 yr old home on W Fifth Ave)
West: $89,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1000+ sq ft in Karns)

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Current Pending Sales -114
Average Asking Price – $89,337
Median Asking Price – $74,900

Closed Sales December 03, 2008-December 09, 2008 - 9
Average Asking Price – $192,917
Average Sales Price – $178,013
Median Sales Price – $143,000
Average Days on Market -63

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 12/10/08 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. Friends don’t let friends send spam.

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!