Happy Wednesday, Watchers! In this week’s installment of Knoxville Foreclosure Watch, active foreclosure listings were down by one, pending foreclosure listings stayed exactly the same (which is way high) and closings were up by 2. Judging by the number of pendings we keep having, I’m guessing the closing numbers are going to be pretty high by next week once we can count in all of the end of the month closings. Just a somewhat-educated guess.

In new foreclosure news, 37918 had a whopping 5 new foreclosure listings this week, which brings it to 42 total for the year. That means it’s still 16 away from 37917 which still has the most new foreclosures so far with 58. Other zips with more than one new foreclosure listings included 37912, 37914, and 37921.

There were 9 closed listings this week with 2 each in 37721 and 37921. Meanwhile, 37914, 37915, 37919, 37923, and 37931 all had one each. And 37917 and 37918 are still tied for first place with 21 closed foreclosure listings each so far this year.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 4/29/09 *

Current On-Market Listings - 200
Average Asking Price: $132,600
Median Asking Price: $79,900
Most Expensive New Listing: $270,000 (5 BR, 3.5 BA, 2700+ sq ft in Halls)
Least Expensive New Listing: $24,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1200+ sq ft in East Knox)

Notable New Listings:

North: $78,000 (3 BR, 1.5 BA, 1900 sq ft near St. Mary’s)

South: No new south listings!

East: $69,000 (4 BR, 1 BA, 2200+ sq ft off Asheville Hwy)

West: $208,500 (4 BR, 2.5 BA, 2300+ sq ft off Northshore)

dklj;lskj;dlk

Current Pending Sales -144
Average Asking Price – $101,929
Median Asking Price – $82,450

Closed Sales April 22, 2009- April 28, 2009 - 9
Average Asking Price – $88,856
Average Sales Price – $88,083
Median Sales Price – $68,600
Average Days on Market – 83

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 04/29/09 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. Just say no to 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!

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

This week Neighborhood of the Week heads to the north side of town to revisit a neighborhood that’s steeped in history: Old North Knoxville.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Old North Knoxville is a historic neighborhood just north of downtown and 4th & Gill. Built from the 1880s to the 1940s, the neighborhood is roughly bounded by Central Street and Woodland Avenue to the west of Broadway, and Cecil Avenue, Sixth Avenue, and Glenwood Avenue to the east of Broadway.

Like 4th & Gill and Island Home, Old North Knoxville was originally one of Knoxville’s streetcar suburbs. From the Old North Knoxville, Inc. website:

Old North Knoxville was developed as a streetcar suburb between the 1880’s and the 1940’s. Streetcar suburbs had a strong pedestrian orientation. Most people walked to their homes from the street car stop. The automobile did not have a major influence on Knoxville until the 1920’s, so there are few driveways or garages in the neighborhood. Some carriage houses remain behind the oldest houses, but most people did not own a horse and carriage. They depended on the streetcars for transportation and used the neighborhood sidewalks to reach the streetcar lines.

North Knoxville was incorporated on January 16, 1889. Larger than the current Old North Knoxville neighborhood (several original subdivisions make up the current Old North Knoxville Historic District), it was a desirable residential area and grew rapidly. North Knoxville provided a water supply, improved streets, fire protection, a city hall, and a school for approximately 100 students. Electric lights were installed in 1899 and a city sewer system was planned but not built due to annexation in 1897.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Architecturally, Old North Knoxville is very diverse:

Late 19th century styles found in the neighborhood include: Queen Anne, Queen Anne Cottage, Eastlake, Shotgun, and Folk Victorian. Early 20th century architecture include: Craftsman and Bungalow, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Dutch Colonial Revival, Neoclassical, American Four Square, Minimal Traditional, and French Eclectic.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

The neighborhood was made a historic district in 1922 and restoration and renovations have been ongoing since that time. Old North Knoxville, Inc. and Knox Heritage have both worked to save homes in the district which would otherwise have been demolished.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Geographically, Old North Knoxville is very convenient to downtown and UT and is easily accessible via I-40, I-275, and I-640.

If you want a home in a historic neighborhood with lots of sidewalks and trees, a strong sense of community and a commitment to preservation, Old North Knoxville might be just what you’re looking for.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Here’s Old North Knoxville by the numbers -

Old North Knoxville*

Current On-Market Listings - 11
Average Asking Price: $199,745
Median Asking Price: $215,000
Most Expensive: $299,900 (4 BR, 3 BA, 4100+ sq ft built in 1920)
Least Expensive: $99,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1100+ sq ft built in 1899)

Current Pending Sales -1
Asking Price: $99,900
Details: 4 BR, 1 BA, 1800+ sq ft, built in 1908

Closed Sales – 1st Quarter 2009 – 2
Average Asking Price – $148,950
Average Sales Price – $140,000
Median Sales Price – NA
Average Days on Market – 73

Closed Sales – 1st Quarter 2008 – 9
Average Asking Price – $124,600
Average Sales Price – $115,500
Median Sales Price – $112,50
Average Days on Market – 77

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 04/27/09 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.

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 Old North Knoxville Listings” or “New North Knoxville Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. No spam or sales pitches, I super pinkie-swear promise.

I’m always on the lookout for places to highlight in Neighborhood of the Week, so let me know if there’s a community you’d like to see featured here sometime soon.

The weekly poll is done house hunting and is all ready for your right clicking voting pleasure.

This week’s poll question has to do with house hunting and how long it took you to find your last home. I’m working with a lot of buyers right now and while some of them have found their new homes in less than a week, others are still looking after several months. Sometimes the time frame depends on how fast someone needs to move, but sometimes folks just know what they want and they either find it quickly or they don’t.

So what about you? How long did you look before you found your last home? Did you look far and wide before finding the perfect place or did strike gold quickly? Cast your vote and let me know.

You don’t have to search long to find the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market – just subscribe to All Around KTown by RSS or email today!

If you have a suggestion for future Weekly Poll questions, let me know about it.

photo credit: iheartlinen

Well, hey there, Watchers! Glad you could make it back. This week on Knoxville Foreclosure Watch, active foreclosure listings were down, closed foreclosure listings stayed the same and pending foreclosure listings were up. Way up. In fact they were the highest they’ve ever been since I started watching them about a year ago.

So what’s the deal, you ask? My guess is that super low rates + good sized foreclosure inventory + a nice big tax credit = a pretty darn good deal for buyers. And I could be wrong, but I don’t think it’s just investors out there. I think regular old home buyers are looking to foreclosed properties to get what they think will be the best possible deal in an already hoppin’ buyers market.  But that’s just me guessin’.

Moving on…

In new foreclosure news, 37923 was the winner for most new listings with 4. Other zips with more than one new foreclosure listings included 37914, 37917, 37921, 37922, and 37938. Care to guess which zip is still in the lead with 57 new foreclosure listings so far this year? If you guessed 37917, give yourself a hand.

In closed listing news, only one zip had more than one and that was 37914. Other zips with closed listings this week included 37849, 37915, 37917, 37918, and 37920. And 37917 and 37918 are still tied for first place with 21 closed foreclosure listings each so far this year.

And yes, those are different charts than the ones you normally see here.  At the suggestion of a longtime FW fan, I’m experimenting with different ways to chart this information that will make it easier to read and digest. Let me know what you think in the comments.  Also, if you have any suggestions for better ways to display FW stats, I would love to hear them. Remember, I didn’t learn a lot about chart makin’ when I got that liberal arts degree.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 4/22/09 *

Current On-Market Listings - 201
Average Asking Price: $118,527
Median Asking Price: $79,900
Most Expensive New Listing: $299,900 (5 BR, 2 full BA, 3 half BA, 3100+ sq ft off Northshore)
Least Expensive New Listing: $22,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1200+ sq ft off Asheville Hwy)

Notable New Listings:

North: $45,000 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1200+ sq ft near St. Mary’s)

South: $124,900 (4 BR, 3.5 BA, 2500+ sq ft off Chapman Hwy)

East: $109,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1200+ sq ft in Carter)

West: $156,000 (3 BR, 2.5 BA, 2600+ sq ft in Gulf Park)

dklj;lskj;dlk

Current Pending Sales -144
Average Asking Price – $110,844
Median Asking Price – $95,450

Closed Sales April 15, 2009- April 21, 2009 - 7
Average Asking Price – $49,329
Average Sales Price – $48,400
Median Sales Price – $41,501
Average Days on Market – 52

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 04/22/09 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. This is an anti-spam zone.

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!

It’s just past the middle of the month and you know what that means – it’s Home Sales Report time!

March is typically the height of the Spring selling season, but as you’ll see, things were still down quite a bit from this time last year. Bummer.

However, good news may be on the horizon: I’m hearing a lot of buzz from agents all over town that business is starting to pick up and I, for one, am absolutely slammed working with first time home buyers who are taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit and killer rates. And I know that showings of listings at my office are way up from last month and we already have more pending sales for this month than the last.

And while that may not be hard evidence of a market turnaround, after months and months of hearing nothing but moaning and wailing from agents, I’ll take any positivity about the Knoxville real estate market that I can get.   We’ll just have to wait until this time next month to see if there’s possibly a light at the end of this housing slump tunnel.

But that will be then and this is still now, so, without further ado, allow me to break down the March home sale numbers the only way I know how, AAKT style. Enjoy!

Let’s start with just a little bit of good  news -

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
Mar ‘08 – $84,600
Mar ‘09 – $92,100

And one day – hopefully not to long from now – we’ll have more good news than that, but for now let’s look at the not-so-good news -

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is (slightly) down.
Mar ‘08 – $70,000
Mar ‘09 – $69,000

Average sales price for 3 BR homes is (way) down.
Mar ‘08 – $158,800
Mar ‘09 – $145,400

Median sales price for 3 BR homes is down.
Mar ‘08 – $143,000
Mar ‘09 – $134,000

Conventional loans were once again way down…
Mar ‘08 – 692
Mar ‘09 – 346

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

This week Neighborhood of the Week goes just behind West Town Mall to visit a neighborhood that as almost as many hills as it has split foyers: Kingston Woods.

Bordered by Gleason Rd to the north, Morrell Rd to the east, Westland Dr to the South and Gallaher View to the west, Kingston Woods is actually made up of 4 legal subdivisions: Kingston Woods, Kingston Hills, Kingston Park, and West Oak.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

The neighborhood was mostly built during the 60s and 70s and you guys know by now that that means: lot of ranchers and split foyers and in the case of Kingston Woods, lots of tri-levels. And although most of the homes are older, there is the occasional newer home built on a fill-in lot.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

The Kingston Woods Neighborhood Association is a voluntary HOA that works hard to keep the community nice and safe. Residents recently lobbied for and were successful in implementing a traffic calming plan to slow down cut through drivers. Traffic calming measures include speed humps, medians and roundabouts.

The area is great for walkers and runners as there are lots and lots of low traffic streets with plenty of hills to keep your heart pumping.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Kingston Woods is centrally located in West Knoxville and is a short drive to Bearden, Rocky Hill, and I-40. It’s also just about a mile away from Bearden High School. And if you don’t mind braving the above-mentioned hills, it’s easily within walking distance to West Town Mall.

So if you’re looking for a home in an older, well kept neighborhood that’s both affordable and convenient,  you might want to check out Kingston Woods.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Special thanks to AAKT’s resident photographer, Robert Stockdale, for the great shots of Westmoreland. If you would like to learn more about Robert’s work, please visit his website.

Here’s Kingston Woods by the numbers -

Kingston Woods*

Current On-Market Listings – 10
Average Asking Price: $173,330
Median Asking Price: $161,950

Average square footage: 1744

Most Expensive: $239,900 (4 BR, 3 BA, 2700+ sq ft split foyer)

Least Expensive: $145,000 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1700+ sq ft basement ranch)

Middle of the Road: $189,900 (3 BR, 1 full BA,  2 half BA, 1900+ sq ft tri-level)

Current Pending Sales - 2
Average Asking Price – $154,900
Median Asking Price – NA

Closed Sales – 1st Quarter 2009- 5
Average Asking Price – $156,920
Average Sales Price – $150,240
Median Sales Price – $137,900
Days on Market -47

Closed Sales – 1st Quarter 2008- 4
Average Asking Price – $197,200
Average Sales Price – $192,725
Median Sales Price – $171,000
Days on Market – 140

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 04/20/08 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 Kingston Woods Listings” or “New Kingston Woods Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Spam is just lame.

Think your neighborhood has what it takes to be a NOTW? Let me know about it and you might just see it here in the coming weeks.

The weekly poll is over there in its usual place – it’s not moving any time soon.

This week’s poll question has to do with houses and how many you’ve owned. I’m personally on number 3 and I’m not even 40 yet. Meanwhile,I talked to someone this weekend who’s well past 40 who’s only on number 2 and not planning on going on to number 3 any time soon.

So what about you? How many homes have you owned and lived in? Are you the kind of person who only likes to move once every decade or do you have trouble staying in the same place more than a year? Cast your vote and let me know.

No matter where you move to, you can always get the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market – just subscribe to All Around KTown by RSS or email today!

If you have a suggestion for future Weekly Poll questions, let me know about it.

photo credit: this lucid moment

I’ve been curious about the progress of the new Brownlow Lofts for a while and was excited when I got to take a little tour of them last week. The Lofts are in the 96-year-old  Brownlow Elementary School at 1305 Luttrell St in 4th and Gill and prices currently range from $103,900 for a 600+ sq ft 1 BR, 1 BA to $225,000 for a 1100+ sq ft 2 BR, 2 BA.

The project has been very slow to get off the ground, but there was a lot of construction activity when I was there, and while the units aren’t finished yet, you can see from the pictures that some are well on their way.

As always if you have any questions or would like more information on the lofts, just give me a shout.

Happy Tax Day, Watchers! This week Foreclosure Watch celebrates its 1 year anniversary and oh what a year it’s been!

To give you an idea of how the foreclosure market how grown in the past 365 days, here are the stats from this week last year vs this year:

Active Foreclosure Listings
April 16, 2008: 158
April 15, 2009: 209

Pending Foreclosure Listings
April 16, 2008: 91
April 15, 2009: 130

Closed Foreclosure Listings
April 16, 2008: 7
April 15, 2009: 12

I’d say that’s a pretty big jump for both active and pending listings: about 32% & 43% respectively. And yes, those active foreclosure and pending foreclosure numbers for this week are, indeed, new FW highs. What a way to celebrate a birthday.

You can see from the ol’ FW chart that active foreclosure listings have been going up and up and up since about last September, while the pending listings didn’t really start picking up steam until October or November. And although it’s hard to tell on this chart, closed listings just started edging up ever so slightly around mid to late February.

Keep in mind that all of this is completely unscientific – remember, I was a liberal arts major. But, if I do say so myself, it’s been a fun way to  gauge what’s going on in a not so fun housing market. Thanks for playing along!

Now, back to what we’re here for-

There were 27 new foreclosure listings last week and 37914 was the clear winner with 6. Other zips with more than one new listing included 37917, 37920, 37921, 37924, 37934, and 37938.  37917 is still in first place for the most new foreclosure listings this year with a grand total of 55.

There were only 7 closed listings this week: 2 in 37918 and 1 each in 37909, 37912, 37914, 37922, and 37934.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 4/15/09 *

Current On-Market Listings - 209
Average Asking Price: $119,980
Median Asking Price: $79,900
Most Expensive New Listing: $489,000 (3 BR, 3.5 BA, 3000+ sq ft new const. in Farragut)
Least Expensive New Listing: $14,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 600+ sq ft in North Knox)

Notable New Listings:

North: $249,900 (3 BR, 2 .5 BA, 2700+ sq ft in Powell)

South: $83,500 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1200 sq ft off Alcoa Hwy)

East: $79,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1300+ sq ft on Parkview)

West: $164,900 (3 BR, 2 Full BA, 2 Half BA, 2300+ sq ft in Lovell Woods)

dklj;lskj;dlk

Current Pending Sales -130
Average Asking Price – $106,141
Median Asking Price – $93,950

Closed Sales April 08, 2009- April 14, 2009 - 7
Average Asking Price – $178,400
Average Sales Price – $168,159
Median Sales Price – $130,000
Average Days on Market – 50

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 04/15/09 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 free since 2008.

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 stays west but goes closer in toward West Town Mall to revisit a neighborhood that Knoxville mayor Bill Haslam calls home: Westmoreland.

Westmoreland actually consists of two main areas: Old Westmoreland and New Westmoreland.

Old Westmoreland is north of the eastern end of Westland. In other words, if you turn from Northshore on to Westland and turn right by the water wheel, you’re in Old Westmoreland.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

As its name implies, Old Westmoreland contains the oldest, and arguably some of the grandest, homes in the neighborhood. Though there are some newer homes and some new construction in Old Westmoreland, the majority of the homes were built from about the 1920s to the 1980s.

“New Westmoreland” lies to the south of Westland. The homes in that section are, you guessed it, newer, with most being between 15-20 years old.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Whether they’re new or old, homes in Westmoreland are large, with an average square footage of just above 4000. They are also mostly very traditional looking with some cottage style and Mediterranean influenced homes sprinkled throughout the older section. Homes tend to be on large lots and there are lots of mature trees everywhere.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Westmoreland is definitely in a great central location and is just minutes from Bearden, West Town, Rocky Hill, and I-40. It’s also just a stone’s throw away from Lake Shore Park, one of West Knoxville’s favorite walking/jogging spots.

So if you’re looking for a large, traditional home in an upscale, neighborhood that is full of mature trees and is also centrally located within west Knoxville, Westmoreland might be a great place for you to call home.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Special thanks to AAKT’s resident photographer, Robert Stockdale, for the great shots of Westmoreland. If you would like to learn more about Robert’s work, please visit his website.

Here’s Westmoreland by the numbers -

Westmoreland*

Current On-Market Listings – 25
Average Asking Price: $737,948
Median Asking Price: $579,900

Average square footage: 4580

Most Expensive: $2,250,000 (5 BR, 5 BA, 10,000+ sq ft estate)

Least Expensive: $300,000 (4 BR, 2 BA, 2900+ sq ft 2 story)

Middle of the Road: $799,000 (5 BR, 3.5 BA, 4200+ sq ft on 1+ acres)

Current Pending Sales - 3
Average Asking Price – $386,433
Median Asking Price – $389,900

Closed Sales – 1st Quarter 2009- 3
Average Asking Price – $848,300
Average Sales Price – $694,473
Median Sales Price – $484,210
Days on Market -130

Closed Sales – 1st Quarter 2008- 6
Average Asking Price – $622,967
Average Sales Price – $573,750
Median Sales Price – $415,000
Days on Market – 114

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 04/13/08 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 Westmoreland Listings” or “New Westmoreland Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. I won’t spam you. Scout’s honor.

Think your neighborhood has what it takes to be a NOTW? Let me know about it and you might just see it here in the coming weeks.