September has come and gone and now that it’s safely behind us, it’s time to take a look at the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors’ Home Sales Report numbers to see what went down in the Knoxville area housing market in the month that was.

Now, if you’re not sitting down, I want you to go ahead and do so. Why? Because for the first time in a long, long, long, long, very long time, there’s honest to goodnesss GOOD news in the breakdown this month! Not only were sales up, but sales prices were also up for some price ranges. Up! As Josh Flory reported last week:

Total sales of single-family, MLS-listed homes and condos added up to 993 units in September, compared to 931 units in September of 2008. That was the first year-over-year increase in the MLS numbers since June of 2006.

OK, now you can get up out of your seat and do your happy dance. I’ll wait.

Done? OK. Just so you understand why I’m so excited about this, here’s a visual aid to show you where we’ve been over the last few years.

See how every single year is slowly going down, down, down in terms of closed units? Now see that little gray line at the bottom? That’s 2009. Kind of sad for most of the year huh? Now look at how it crossed up over the little green line, aka 2008. THAT’S what I’m talking about.

Yes, it’s a small victory. And yes, it’s most likely due to the infamous $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. And no, I don’t know if this upward trend will continue after the end of November when the tax credit is set to expire. But my guess – and my broker’s guess as well – is that we will see continue to see healthy sales numbers into October and November as a result of that tax credit. Hey, I’ll take what I can get.

And just in case you’re curious, here are charts showing both active listings and months of inventory by month from 2005 to the present:

As you can see, active listings have been mostly down this year over last year, probably because many sellers chose not to list their homes during this market. However, active listings  have risen slightly over the past two months. A possible sign of increased seller confidence in the market? You decide.

Here, you can see that inventory started spiking around  August 2008 and after rising quite sharply, has more or less been dropping steadily all year. And yes, that’s a good thing .

Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m getting ready to break down the September 2009 Home Sales Report, using the word “up”  more than I’ve ever gotten to in a while. And you know I’m lovin’ that.

 Here’s all that good news -

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
Sep  ’08 – $88,600
Sep  ’09 – $96,100

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
Sep  ’08 – $78,000
Sep  ’09 – $80,700

Average sales price for 3 BR homes is up.
Sep  ’08 – $154,900
Sep  ’09 – $156,800

Median sales price for 4+ BR homes is up.
Sep  ’08 – $216,000
Sep  ’09 – $219,000

Average condo sales price is up.
Sep  ’08 – $162,700
Sep  ’09 – $168,300

  And yes, there’s also some not so good news. Just not as much:

Median sales price for 3 BR homes is down.
Sep  ’08 – $142,500
Sep  ’09 – $139,000

Median condo sales price is down.
Sep  ’08 – $147,400
Sep  ’09 – $139,900

 —

…while FHA loans were once again up.
Sep  ’08 – 208
Sep  ’09 – 259

And here’s the “Condo owners say sell, house owners say maybe later” news-

The number of new residential listings was down ...
Sep  ’08 – 2,553
Sep  ’09 – 2,401

…and the number of new condo listings was up.
Sep  ‘08 – 255
Sep  ’09 – 271

 And finally, there’s the “Honey, let’s just get this thing sold” news-

1. Knoxville residential and condo sales, while not rock hard, are showing some signs of firming. Think chilled butter as opposed to room temperature butter.
2.  The promise of getting an $8,0000 check after the closing coupled with still historic low interest rates is definitely pushing some first time buyers into the market and creating a rise in demand – and pricing – in smaller homes.
3. A good percentage of those first timers are going FHA either by choice or by necessity.
4. The continued trend in reduced listing prices tells me that sellers are getting serious about selling.
5. Larger, more expensive homes continue to suffer, partially due to an inventory glut, a lack of higher end buyers, and, let’s face it, lack of a higher end tax credit.
6.  Did you hear that? That was the sound of agents all over Knoxville breathing a collective sigh of relief. Aaahhh.

If you’re interested in looking at both reports yourself, here is ‘08 and here is ‘09. Enjoy and please feel free to share your thoughts and observations.

© 2009 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

This week we’re heading out Choto way to take a look a neighborhood with lots of cool homes you can’t afford: Mallard Bay

Located way on out Northshore Drive off Choto Rd, Mallard Bay is a fairly new subdivision with a lot of pretty large homes, some of which  have very nice lake views and others still that have very nice lake frontage. And if you’re not one of the lucky ones living on the water, don’t give up your ski boat just yet: Mallard Bay has its very own boat ramp available for resident use.

© 2009 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Homes in Mallard Bay are all fairly new – about 5 yrs old and less – and new construction is still ongoing, with several new, completed homes currently available. Home styles tend toward the traditional with a little bit of the currently popular French country flair throw in the mix: think rustic looking shutters and hardward and lots of mixed brick and stone.

© 2009 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Luxury features are the rule rather than the exception in Mallard Bay home and include such goodies as pools, waterfalls, steam rooms, saunas, and nice, big media rooms.  

© 2009 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Mallard Bay is easily accessible via Northshore Drive, I-40, I-140, and Kingston Pike.

So if you’re looking for something new and near the water with upgrades galore, why not check out Mallard Bay.

© 2009 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

Here’s Mallard Bay by the numbers-

Mallard Bay*

Current On-Market Listings – 15
Average Asking Price: $975,873
Average Square Footage: 4875
Most Expensive: $2,499,999 (5 BR, 6.5 BA, 8100+ sq ft lakefront home w/ 2 kitchens, media room & library)
Least Expensive: $488,900 (4 BR, 3.5 BA, 3100+ sq ft w/ lake views)
Middle of the Road: $899,900 (4 BR, 4.5 BA, 4300 sq ft w/ sauna)

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

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2009 – 1
List Price – $475,000
Sales Price – $460,000
Details - 4 BR, 3.5 BA, 3200+ sq ft
Days on Market – 135

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2008 – 1
List Price – $1,250,000
Sales Price – $1,100,000
Details - 5 BR, 5.5 BA, 5900+ sq ft with no lake frontage
Days on Market – 81

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 10/26/09 for Mallard Bay proper, and does not include adjacent subdivisions, condos or PUDS.

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 Mallard Bay Listings” or “New Mallard Bay Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Spam is a trick, not a treat.

Is there a neighborhood you’d like to see here next week? Let me know in the comments.

photo credit: ms.Tea

The weekly poll is getting excited about getting some candy. Go vote and wish it a Happy Halloween!

This week’s topic is about  Halloween trick or treaters and whether or not you’re going to be handing out candy to them this year. We live in a great trick or treating neighborhood – lots of homes that are easy to walk to – so leaving our light on means a pretty serious time and candy commitment. And I’ll be honest, some years we have other things to do and just can’t be there. However, we still always try to leave some of the sweet stuff out on the porch and hope the kiddos will go by the honor system. Yeah, right.

So what about you? Will you be leaving your light on for trick or treaters this year or will you take a chance on getting some tricks played on you in order to spend the night – and the candy money – somewhere else? Cast your vote and let me know.

You can always get the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market with all treats and no tricks –  just sign up to receive regular updates from All Around KTown in a feed reader or by email today!

This week we’re heading to Bearden to revisit a little neighborhood with a lot of charm: Forest Heights. Forest Heights is actually comprised of four individual subdivisions: Forest Hills, Forest Heights, Highland Hills and Highland Hills Addition.

Located just off of Sutherland Avenue, Forest Heights Forest Heights is a very picturesque area and definitely worth checking out if you like older homes and the convenience of a close-in West location but aren’t crazy about Sequoyah Hills.

The Forest Heights Neighborhood Homeowner’s Association Website gives a brief overview of the history of the area:

The heavily wooded, hilly neighborhood now called Forest Heights has been a stable, attractive, and desirable residential area for over seventy years…

…Although the earliest homes of the area are from the 1920s and 1930s, most of the building is of the post World War II period. The residents of this neighborhood were and are a diverse group of people who have found the location, the natural beauty and the friendliness of their neighbors an enticement to move here, to raise their families, and often to remain and welcome their grown children back as new homeowners in the neighborhood.

As Knoxville grew, especially towards the west, and as the Interstate 40/75 was completed, Forest Heights had to adjust to the new conditions. The quiet neighborhood was bisected by still narrow Forest Heights Drive which had to bear almost constant heavy traffic to and from the Interstate overpass. To preserve the neighborhood the Forest Heights Neighborhood Association was formed in 1973. With dogged and determined courage the FHNHA successfully fought to keep the overpass down when it was demolished to allow the expansion of the Interstate in April 2001.

Homestyles in the neightborhood range from cottage to Tudor and most have some amount of stone accent.

The neighborhood itself is also very walkable. Once you get down the hill to Sutherland Avenue, it’s a short walk to the post office, the grocery store, Panera Bread and several other businesses located in the Mercedes Place shopping center.

So if you’re looking for something with charm that’s not too far west and very walkable, look no further than Forest Heights.

Here’s Forest Heights by the numbers-

Forest Heights*

Current On-Market Listings – 6
Average Asking Price: $356,000
Average Square Footage: 2234
Most Expensive: $625,000 (4 BR, 3.5 BA, 3400+ sq ft built in 1932)
Least Expensive: $199,000 (3 BR, 2 BA, 2000+ sq ft built in 1952)
Middle of the Road: $324,000 (4 BR, 2.5 BA, 2000+ sq ft built in 1950)

Current Pending Sales – 2
Average Asking Price: $175,000
Median Asking Price: NA

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2009 – 1
List Price – $399,500
Sales Price – $350,000
Details - 4 BR, 2 BA, 2600+ sq ft, built in 1948
Days on Market – 76

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2008 – 1
List Price – $210,000
Sales Price – $207,000
Details - 3 BR, 1 BA, 1400 sq ft, built in 1950
Days on Market – 26

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 10/19/09 for Forest Heights, Forest Hills, Highland Hills & Highland Hills Addition, and does not include adjacent subdivisions, condos or PUDS.

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 Forest Heights Listings” or “New Forest Heights Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. I seriously will not send you any unsolicited emails. Word.

Is there a neighborhood you’d like to see here next week? Let me know in the comments.

photo credit: Mr.Tea

The weekly poll is trying to rake the yard. Why don’t you go lend it a leaf blower?

This week’s topic is about  fall leaves and more specifically, what you do with the ones that fall into your yard.  I live in a nice, old neighborhood and like a lot of older Knoxville neighborhoods, we have a lot of nice, big old trees, which means we also have a whole mess of leaves to deal with one way or another. Some of my neighbors prefer the power method of leaf taming, using their blowers to make their piles, while others prefer the old fashioned way and rake their leaves into submission. Still others do nothing at all, and just let Mother Nature run her our course.

So what about you? Do you like do you get a workout with a rake or are you more of a power tool kind of person? Or maybe you’re fine to just leave your leaves where they lie?  Cast your vote and let me know.

This week Neighborhood of the Week  heads out east to revisit a neighborhood that’s a a must for both hisotoric home and golf lovers alike : Holston Hills.

Located off Ashville Highway just 5 miles east of downtown and the University of Tennessee campus, Holston Hills is a great place to live if you like greenery and architectural diversity. Built from the 1920s to the 1960s, Holston Hills has an eclectic mix of pre-stock crash estate homes, post-crash stone cottages, and post-war ranchers. Lots tend to be on the large side, and there is no shortage of old, large trees and rolling hills.

© 2008 Robert Stockdale Photography, All Rights Reserved.

The Knox Heritage website has some nice info on the history of Holston Hills:

One of the best-kept secrets in Knoxville, Holston Hills is named for the river that borders the neighborhood on the south and east . . . Holston Hills dates from the mid-1920s, when part of the neighborhood was developed in connection with the establishment of the Holston Hills Country Club. A group of Knoxville area businessmen who wanted Knoxville to have a top-caliber golf course formed a corporation called Holston Hills, Inc. in 1926 and purchased the 180-acre McDonald farm along the Holston River. The Country Club was built and memberships to the club cost $1,000, including a free home site. The club house was designed by Knoxville architect Charles Barber of Barber & McMurry in 1927 and the golf course was designed and laid out by Donald Ross in 1928. Ross is regarded as among the finest golf course architects in the world.

Many opulent homes were built during the 1920s, but following the stock market crash of 1929 smaller cottage-style homes were built, many of stone and brick. The depression and World War II stopped further housing development, but in the post-war housing boom a number of ranch-style homes were built around the traditional 2-story stone and brick homes of the original development. Holston Hills was included in a major annexation into the city of Knoxville in 1962, which took 12,871 residents.

Take a look at the Knox Heritage website, which includes the full brochure from the ‘05 Trolley Tour of Holston Hills, from which the above information was taken. The brochure has more detailed information on individual homes in Holston Hills, and could easily be used to recreate that tour in your own vehicle one fine spring afternoon.

And just in case you’re curious, yes, The Holston Hills Country Club is still alive and well today, and in addition to golf, features tennis and swimming.

Holston Hills is easily accessible via I-40 and Asheville highway and is an easy commute to both downtown and UT campus.

Here’s Holston Hills by the numbers -

Holston Hills*

Current On-Market Listings -20
Average Asking Price: $200,070
Median Asking Price: $199,900
Average Square Footage: 2123

Most Expensive Listing: $374,900 (4 BR, 2.5 BA, 3100+ sq ft new construction)

Least Expensive Listing: $109,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1900+ sq ft, built in ‘38)

Middle of the Road: $199,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1800 sq ft built in 1950)

Current Pending Sales -1
Asking Price: $127,400
Details: 3 BR, 2.5 BA, 2700+ sq ft built in 1950

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2009 – 8

Average Asking Price – $193,550
Average Sales Price – $177,125
Median Sales Price – $165,000
Average Days on Market – 215

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2008 – 9

Average Asking Price – $185,044
Average Sales Price – $174,922
Median Sales Price – $169,900
Average Days on Market – 80

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 10/12/09 for Holston Hills proper, and does not include adjacent subdivisions, condos or PUDS.

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 Holston Hills” or “New Holston Hills Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Spam? Fuhgettaboutit.

I’m always open for ideas for Neighborhood of the Week, so if you know of a great spot that I’ve missed, by all means let me know and you might just see it featured here soon.

The weekly poll is trying to decide what part of Knoxville to live in. Why don’t you go vote and give it some advice?

This week’s topic is about  Knoxville and what part of it you call home. I asked this question way back when I first started this blog because I was curious about where my readers reside. But that was well over a year and a half ago and curiousity has gotten the better of me again.

So tell me, what part of K-Town do you call home? North? South? East? West? Downtown? Or are you living somewhere just beyond – or even well beyond – the borders of Volunteer Country? Cast your vote and let me know.