This week, Neighborhood of the Week revisits one of West Knoxville’s oldest neighborhoods, which also happens to have a lot of Cool Homes You Can’t Afford in it: Sequoyah Hills.

Located off of Kingston Pike just a few miles west of the University of Tennessee campus, Sequoyah Hills sits in a bend of the Tennessee river and is known around town for its large, tree-lined main boulevard, its gorgeous lake views, its awesome parks, and its very expensive homes.

Sequoyah Hills proper dates back to around 1920 and the Kingston Pike Sequoyah Hills Association has a prettythorough history of the development of the area from that time to present.

Like many neighborhoods that are developed over several decades,  Sequoyah Hills is very architecturally diverse. Styles include everything from English Tudor, English Cottage, and American Colonial to fifites and sixties ranchers, contemporary Frank Lloyed Wright inspired homes, and newer traditional homes.

Much like Holston Hills to the east, construction of larger homes came to a halt at the start of the Great Depression and homes built during and after the war tended to be more modest cottage style homes, so home sizes – and prices -  are also quite diverse in the neighborhood.

Sequoyah Hills is home to the George Berber designed Sequoyah School (now a public K-5 school), the Sequoyah branch of the Knoxville public library, Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church, Blackbird Coffeehouse, Sequoyah Hills Park and the Sequoyah Greenway.

Sequoyah Hills is easily accessible via Kingston Pike and I-40 and is a 5-10 minute drive to downtown or UT campus.

So if you’re looking for a historic home in a fairly self-contained community on the west side of town and have a good bit of money to spend, Sequoyah Hills might be a good place to hang your hat.

Here’s Sequoyah Hills by the numbers -

Sequoyah Hills*

Current On-Market Listings – 44
Average Asking Price: $830,211
Median Asking Price: $661,500
Average Square Footage: 3825
Most Expensive Listing: $3,389,000 (6 BR, 4 BA, 3 half bath, 7700+ sq ft on 1.3 acres)*
Least Expensive Listing: $219,900 (4 BR, 2 BA, 1700+ sq ft Bruce McCarty Home)
Middle of the Road: $1,100,000 (5 BR, 4.5 BA, 4300+ sq ft Italian Renaissance home on Cherokee Blvd)

Interesting side note: Both the most expensive and  the least expensive homes were on the market the last time I covered Sequoyah Hills on NOTK, a little over a year ago. The most expensive is still listed at the same price, while the least expensive has had a $29,000 price reduction.

Current Pending Sales -1
Asking Price – $399,500
Details – 3 BR, 3 BA, 2200+ sq ft built in 1950

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2009 – 12
Average Sales Price – $416,792
Median Sales Price – $336,250
Average Days on Market -84

Closed Sales – 3rd Quarter 2008 – 9
Average Sales Price – $594,722
Median Sales Price – $398,000
Average Days on Market -133

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 11/24/08 for Sequoyah Hills proper, and 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 Sequoyah Hills Listings” or “New Sequoyah Hills Listings” in the subject line and I’ll take care of the rest. Spam is not where it’s at.

Have I missed your neighborhood? Let me know about it and you might just see it featured here in the coming weeks.

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.