Earlier this week, I promised you guys a year end edition of Foreclosure Watch, but when I sat down to work on it tonight, I kind of got distracted.

See, I started out looking up 2008 residential foreclosure sales month by month. A good start, right?  But then I got curious about whether those foreclosure sales followed the same seasonal highs and lows that non-foreclosure, or normal,  residential sales usually do, so I looked up the normal 2008 residential sales by month. And then I started wondering about how this year’s foreclosure sales compared to last year’s foreclosure sales, so I went back to the MLS and hunted those down. And finally,  I thought that if I was going to add the 2007 foreclosure sales, I might as well add the normal 2007 sales,  so I looked those up too.

After all of that hunting and gathering, it only seemed right to put all of my new-found information in a spreadsheet and graph it,  which led me to this -

The first thing I noticed is that 2008’s non-foreclosure, or normal, sales (the red line) are well below 2007’s normal sales (the blue line). Interesting — and definitely depressing– but not wholly unexpected.

But then I noticed two very interesting things -

1. Although normal residential sales have a pretty distinct seasonal pattern, the foreclosure sales stay more or less contant throughout the year and therefore appear to be unaffected by “high” and “low” selling seasons.

2. While  normal residential sales  were way down in ‘08 from ‘07, the 2008 foreclosure sales were consistently up (the green line) throughout the year versus 2007 (the yellow line).

Huh.

So then I asked myself a whole slew of questions, none of which I can really answer -

1. Why were the foreclosure sales so steady from month to month? Is it because these properties are being bought by investors who don’t care about summer vacation or school starting times?
2. Were there more foreclosure sales this year because there were more foreclosures in general or because there were more investors hoping to cash in on a down market?
3. If overall sales were down, why didn’t foreclosure sales follow the trend? Is it because people see foreclosure properties as “good deals”? Again, was it because of buyers hoping to buy low in a down market?

One part of my brain says that there were just more foreclosure listings, so therefore foreclosure sales were up. Duh.

Another part of my brain shouts at that first part of my brain that there were a lot more non-foreclosure listings too, but that didn’t make normal residential sales go up. Face.

Yet another part of my brain quietly reminds those other two parts that foreclosures probably simply don’t follow normal sales patterns because they are more attractive to all buyers, investors and non-investors alike. Hmmm.

The last part of my brain just wants to watch “Lost” and forget the whole thing. Aaahhh.

So now, if anyone has any thoughts or speculations on this curious little graph, or answers to any of my numerous questions I’d love to hear them. That’s what comments are for. And yes, my liberal arts educated mind sometimes misses obvious answers and conclusions.

Also, if  you would like a copy of the spreadsheet that this graph came from, give me a shout and I’d be more than happy to send it your way.

Note: I pulled all of this data from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtor’s MLS, therefore it is limited to properties that were listed in the MLS and does not include homes sold by owner. It also excludes condos and PUDS.

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!

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!

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!

What’s up Watchers? This week on Foreclosure Watch active, pending, and closed foreclosures are all down from last week.  And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially since active listings had been on a slow, but steady climb for several weeks.

There were only 13 new listings and those were fairly evenly distributed among 10 zips. 37909, 37917 and 37918 had two each, while 3849, 37871, 37912,37914, 37920, 37921, and 37932 had one each.  37914 is currently barely beating out 37917 for most new foreclosure listings with 63 since July.

There were 8 closed foreclosures - 2 each in 37849 and 37921, and 1 each in 37721, 37917, 37922, and 37931. 37921 joined the double digit club with 10 closed listings since I started keeping count in Sept and 37917 still seems to be everyone’s favorite foreclosure buying spot with 15 closed listings so far.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 12/03/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 182
Average Asking Price: $142,519
Median Asking Price: $103,300
Most Expensive New Listing: $182,500 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1800+ sq ft in Fountain City)
Least Expensive New Listing: $69,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1600+ sq ft Victorian in North Knox)

Notable New Listings:
North: $154,900 (3 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 1700+ sq ft in Powell)
South: $79,900 (3 BR, 2 BA 1100+ sq ft off of Sevierville Pike)
East: $79,250 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1900+ sq ft in Holston Hills area)
West: $113,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1700+ sq ft in West Hils Park)

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Current Pending Sales -113
Average Asking Price - $92,220
Median Asking Price - $74,900

Closed Sales November 26, 2008-December 02, 2008 - 8
Average Asking Price - $124,625
Average Sales Price - $119,669
Median Sales Price - $124,675
Average Days on Market -51

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 12/03/08 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 like green eggs and ham, not green eggs and 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!

Gobble, gobble, Watchers and welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of Foreclosure Watch. Since Thanksgiving is as much about giving thanks as it is about filling your belly with turkey, I’d like to take a moment before I get down to business to thank all of you who stop by each and every week to help me keep an eye on these bank owned properties. Seriously, you guys are the best!

Now let’s talk turkey. This week active listings continue what seems like their ever upward climb, while pendings are slightly down and closings are up by one.

In new listing news, 37918 was the winner this week with 4 new ones. Zips with more than one new lising included 37721, 37849, 37912, 37920 and 37921. 37914 is still the new foreclosure champ with 62 so far since July,  but 37917 is breathing down its neck with 60.

There were 10 closed foreclosure listings last week with 2 each in 37917 and 37931 and 1 each in 37912, 37914, 37918, 37919, 37931, and 37938.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 11/26/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 189
Average Asking Price: $138,611
Median Asking Price: $99,900
Most Expensive New Listing: $439,900 (5 BR, 3 1/2 BA, 4100+ sq ft in Wellsley Park)
Least Expensive New Listing: $25,000 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1200+ sq ft in South Knox)

Notable New Listings:
North: $153,900 (3 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 2000+ sq ft in Halls)
South: $98,900 (3 BR, 1 1/2 BA, 1100+ sq ft in Lake Forest)
East: $104,500 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1500+ sq ft in Carter)
West: $179,900 (5 BR, 3 BA, 2500+ sq ft in Karns)

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Current Pending Sales -116
Average Asking Price - $93,752
Median Asking Price - $74,900

Closed Sales November 19, 2008-November 25, 2008 - 10
Average Asking Price - $108,880
Average Sales Price - $104,115
Median Sales Price - $96,500
Average Days on Market -75

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 11/26/08 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. There’s no spam served at my Thanksgiving table.

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!

Happy Hump Day, Watchers! This week I’m mixing things up a little bit and putting the Foreclosure Watch chart at the top of the post, because I want you to take a close look at those little blue and red lines on it -

You see, that blue line represents the active foreclosure listings and it’s been on a more or less steady climb since September. The red line is pending listings and it started its own ascent in October.  And that little orange line, the closings, is pretty much holding steady.

Now, the rising active and pending listings I maybe understand. Those rising lines roughly coincide with the Great Economic Meltdown of 2008. I can see some cause and effect there. But here’s what I don’t get:  if pendings are going up, shouldn’t it logically follow that closings should be going up too? Is it possible some of those pending sales are falling apart before they reach the closing table due to financing or inspection or both? Or are they just taking a really long time to close, causing a delay in the upward movement of closed listings? There was a little bit of bump up in closings this week, but we’ll have to keep watching to see if that’s going to be a trend or not.

At any rate, if any of you have any thoughts or observations on any of those little colorful lines, I’d love to hear them in the comments. Now back to the regular stuff -

In new listing news, 37920 had the most with 5 new ones last week. Other zips with more than one new listing included 37914, 37917, 37921, 37922, 37923, 37924, 37931, and 37934.  37914 is still in the lead with 61 new listings since I started keeping track in July, and 37934 joined the double digit club with 10 new listings so far.

There were 9 closed listings: two in 37721 and one each in 37909, 37912, 37914, 37917, 37918, 37920, and 37921. : 37917 has had the most closings since I started keeping tally in September, with a total so far of 12.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 11/19/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 183
Average Asking Price: $140,591
Median Asking Price: $99,900
Most Expensive New Listing: $498,000 (4 BR, 4 BA, 4200+ sq ft in Brixworth in Farragut)
Least Expensive New Listing: $16,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 800+ sq ft off of Heiskell Ave)

Notable New Listings:
North: $332,500 (4 BR, 4 BA, 4000+ sq ft on 2.5 acres in Fountain City)
South: $240,000 (3 BR, 2 BA, 2400+ sq ft in Lakemoor Hills)
East: $169,900 (4 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 1600+ sq ft cape cod in Carter)
West: $149,900 (3 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 1600+ sq ft in The Colonies)

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Current Pending Sales -122
Average Asking Price - $97,380
Median Asking Price - $84,450

Closed Sales November 12, 2008-November 18, 2008 - 9
Average Asking Price - $93,078
Average Sales Price - $85,308
Median Sales Price - $39,000
Average Days on Market -93

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 11/19/08 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’s not part of the deal.

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!

The weekly poll is ready and waiting for your vote. And you know it doesn’t like to be kept waiting.

This week’s topic is mortgage modification programs, several of which were announced this week. Citigoup’s program aims to not only halt 16,000 foreclosures that are currently in progress, but also looks to help homeowners who are in danger of defaulting but have not yet done so. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unveiled a plan that they say will help hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are currently past due on their mortgage payments by enabling them to receive more affordable loans.

So what do you think? Are these programs a good idea, not enough, or too little too late? Cast your vote and let me know.

You don’t need a fancy bailout plan to get the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market  - just subscribe to All Around KTown in a feed reader or by email today!

photo credit: respres

It’s that time again, Watchers. This week on Foreclosure Watch, active listings are up a good bit, while both pendings and closings are down. And not only were closings down this week, the average closed price was way down, thanks to all closings coming from homes listed under $100,000. Hmmmm.

In new listing news, 37918 & 37921 tied for the most new listings with 5 each. Other zips with more than one new listing included 37914, 37915, 37917, 37922, and 37931.  37931, incidentally, joined the double digit club with a total of 11 new listings since I started keeping count in July. 37914 maintains its first place position with 59 total new listings since mid-July.

There were only four closed listings: two in 37917 and one each in 37912 and 37918. : 37917 has had the most closings since I started keeping tally in September, with a total so far of 11.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 11/12/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 186
Average Asking Price: $138,565
Median Asking Price: $99,646
Most Expensive New Listing: $332,500 (4 BR, 4 BA, 4000+ sq ft on 2.5 acres in Gibbs)
Least Expensive New Listing: $24,900 (4 BR, 2 BA, 1400+ sq ft on Cecil in North Knox)

Notable New Listings:
North: $59,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1100+ sq ft cottage on Lawson)
South: No new south listings!
East: $39,900 (2 BR, 1 1/2 BA, 1100+ sq ft cottage off of Rutledge Pike)
West: $270,000 (3 BR, 3 BA, 2700+ sq ft home in Bayou Bend)

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Current Pending Sales -110
Average Asking Price - $90,871
Median Asking Price - $76,400

Closed Sales November 05, 2008-November 11, 2008 - 4
Average Asking Price - $45,975
Average Sales Price - $42,500
Median Sales Price - $40,500
Average Days on Market -70

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 11/12/08 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 a four letter word.

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!

Well, hey there Watchers. This week on Foreclosure Watch, active listings and closings are slightly down, while pendings are slightly up. In other words, not a whole lot of action, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, right?

In new listing news, 37914 pulled into first place with a whopping 6 news listings. Sorry, 37917, maybe you can reclaim your crown next week.  Other zips with more than one new listing included 37721 and 37912.

Last week there were 7 closed foreclosure listings from 7 different zip codes: 37721, 37914, 37918, 37919, 37921, 37922, and 37938. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s the first time that 37721, 37919 and 37938 have had closings since I started keeping track in September.

Now for the breakdown -

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 11/05/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 175
Average Asking Price: $143,949
Median Asking Price: $99,900
Most Expensive New Listing: $139,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1400+ sq ft in Cedar Bluff area)
Least Expensive New Listing: $29,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1100+ sq ft in East Knoxville)

Notable New Listings:
North: $95,000 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1700+ sq ft Craftsman bungalow on Inskip)
South: $71,000 (2 BR, 1 BA, approx 1000 sq ft cottage off of E. Moody)
East: $80,000 (4 BR, 2 BA, 1800+ sq ft on approx 1.3 acres off of Asheville Hwy)
West: $99,000 (2 BR, 1 BA, 900+ sq ft in Karns)

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Current Pending Sales -111
Average Asking Price - $81,270
Median Asking Price - $70,000

Closed Sales October 29, 2008-November 04, 2008 - 7
Average Asking Price - $137,214
Average Sales Price - $122,161
Median Sales Price - $81,000
Average Days on Market - 50

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 11/05/08 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? No ma’am.

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!