Well, the world’s still here, so that means another week of Foreclosure Watch. This week active listings are continuing their ever upward trend, pendings are down even lower than last week, and closings are down as well.  Are these numbers an indication of things to come? Will we be seeing more foreclosures on the market and less of them being bought? Only time & Foreclosure Watch will tell.

In new listing news, 37914 had the most with a whopping 8 new listings. Other zips that contributed more than one new listings this week were 37912, 37917, 37918, 37920, 37924 and 37938.

There were only four closed listings and they came from zip codes 37849, 37914,37918, 37934.

Now for the breakdown:

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 10/01/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 174
Average Asking Price: $132,807
Median Asking Price: $94,500
Most Expensive New Listing: $395,500 (5 BR, 3 1/2 BA, 2800+ sq ft, 1 yr old home in Farragut)
Least Expensive New Listing: $19,570 (2 BR, 1 BA, 800+ sq ft in East Knoxville off Magnolia)

Notable New Listings:
North: $39,900 (2 BR, 2 BA, 1500+ sq ft in Lincoln Park)
South: $114,000 (3 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 1200+ sq ft off of Chapman Highway)
East: $79,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1300+ sq ft renovated bungalow on Parkview)
West: $215,000 (3 BR, 3 1/2 BA, 2600+ sq ft in Hidden Glen)

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Current Pending Sales -89
Average Asking Price - $86,029
Median Asking Price - $69,900

Closed Sales October 01, 2008-October 07, 2008 - 4
Average Asking Price - $99,275
Average Sales Price - $96,065
Median Sales Price - $88,750
Average Days on Market -44

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 10/08/08 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 hate spam just as much as the next guy.

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, brave Watchers. Some people might have their heads buried in the sand this week as the markets took a turn for the worse, but we have a duty to keep our eye on these foreclosures. So, let’s get to it.

This week active listings are up a good bit, pendings are down below 100 for the first time since July, and closings are slightly up, with average days on market down. Incidentally, the number of active listings has gone steadily up over the past month, starting with 142 at the end of August and ending with the current 171. Interesting, no?

In new listing news, 37914 and 37917 were tied for the most new listings with 4 each, and yes, 37917 is still the leader of the pack with 46. Other zips that contributed more than one new listings this week were 37912, 37918, and 37919.  And 37919 joined the double digit club with 10 new foreclosure listings so far.

In closed listing news, 37917 had the most with 3,  while 37918 and 37921 tied for second place with 2 each.

Now for the breakdown:

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 10/01/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 171
Average Asking Price: $130,271
Median Asking Price: $90,000
Most Expensive New Listing: $354,500 (4 BR, 4 BA, 4000+ sq ft on 2+ acres on Tazewell Pike)
Least Expensive New Listing: $19,900 (3 BR, 1 1/2 BA, 1400+ sq ft on Washington Ave)

Notable New Listings:
North: $69,900 (3 BR, 2 BA 1300+ sq ft on Washington Pike)
South: $107,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1900+ sq ft off of John Sevier)
East: $37,500 (2 BR, 1 BA, 800 + sq ft off of Holston Dr)
West: $105,000 (2 BR, 3 BA, 1700+ sq ft fixer upper off of Wright’s Ferry)

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Current Pending Sales -99
Average Asking Price - $87,455
Median Asking Price - $64,900

Closed Sales September 24, 2008-September 30, 2008 - 13
Average Asking Price - $71,019
Average Sales Price - $67,665
Median Sales Price - $66,000
Average Days on Market -41

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 10/01/08 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. If you trust me to watch your foreclosures, you can trust me not to spam you.

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!

You still with me, Watchers? I know it’s strange times out there right now, but the weirder the economy gets, the more of these foreclosures there are probably going to be to watch. And since we may all actually own a stake in them soon, I’d say watching them is now more important than ever. Agreed? Then let’s get to it.

In this week’s episode of Foreclosure Watch, active listings are up, while pendings and closings are slightly down.

In new listing news, 37918 had the most new listings with 4, but 37917 is still well in the lead with 42 since I began keeping track in mid July. Other zips that contributed more than one new listings this week were 37914, 37917, and 37919. Yeah, West Knoxvillians get foreclosed on too. One zip code, 37938, joined the double digit club with 10 new foreclosure listings so far (insert obligatory “Halls has it” joke here).

In closed listing news, 37915 and 37917 both had 2, while 37913, 37918, 37921, 37922 and 37924 each had one.

Now for the breakdown:

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 9/24/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 165
Average Asking Price: $133,972
Median Asking Price: $90,000
Most Expensive New Listing: $698,900 (5 BR, 6 1/2 BA, 7800+ sq ft on Cherokee Blvd)
Least Expensive New Listing: $17,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, approx 1000 sq ft in Mechanicsville)

Notable New Listings:
North: $89,000 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1200+ sq ft in Fountain City)
South: $84,900 (4 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 1700+ sq ft in Lake Forest)
Downtown: $44,000 (2 BR, 1 BA, 900+ sq ft in Old Mechanicsville)
West: $69,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 900+ sq ft off of Sutherland Ave.)

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Current Pending Sales -107
Average Asking Price - $96,699
Median Asking Price - $72,500

Closed Sales September 17, 2008-September 23, 2008 - 8
Average Asking Price - $61,663
Average Sales Price - $56,150
Median Sales Price - $38,450
Average Days on Market -54

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 9/24/08 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-a-lot is a Broadway musical, not something that will happen if you send me your email address.

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 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 - 24
Average Asking Price: $709,900
Median Asking Price: $612.200

Average square footage:4307

Most Expensive: $1,795,000 (5 BR, 4 full bath, 2 half bath, approx 7200 sq ft new construction)

Least Expensive: $394,500 (4 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 3600+ sq ft buit in 1987)

Middle of the Road: $599,900 (3 BR, 3 full bath, 2 half bath, 3900+ sq ft built in 1987)

Current Pending Sales - 1
Asking Price: $599,999

Closed Sales - Jan 2008 - June 30 2008- 10
Average Asking Price - $650,160
Average Sales Price - $605,885
Median Sales Price - $510,950
Days on Market -123

Closed Sales - Jan 2007 - June 30 2007- 13
Average Asking Price - $588,423
Average Sales Price - $576,915
Median Sales Price - $403,000
Days on Market - 77

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 9/22/08 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.

photo credit: pattie74_99

The Weekly Poll is up and ready and rarin’ to go. Go ahead and give it a good left clickin’.

This week’s topic is downtown condos. There are lots of new condos for sale in downtown KTown and lots more being built, but with an average cost of almost $250 per square foot and an average size of just under 1400 sq ft, they may not be affordable or practical for every buyer. So what about you? Would you live in downtown or is it too expensive? Or maybe it’s just not practical? Would it be your dream or your worst nightmare? Cast your vote and let me know.

And while a downtown loft might be a little out of your reach, you can always have the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market right at your fingertips - subscribe to All Around KTown in a feed reader or by email today!

It’s that special time of the month again. The time when we pause to reflect on the previous month’s real estate activity. My people call it Home Sales Report time. August Home Sales Report, to be exact.

August seems like a million years ago now, what with all the craziness that the financial markets have seen so far this month, but it was just a few short weeks ago that Fannie and Freddie were not government controlled entities, Merrill Lynch was not Bank of America and Lehman Brothers was not totally screwed.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll get to deal with the fallout of all of that fun stuff in the September Home Sales Report. Right now it’s time for the August Home Sales Report breakdown just the way you like it — All Around K-Town style.

I think we could all use the good news first:

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
August ‘07 - $95,500
August ‘08 - $98,100

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
August ‘07 - $80,000
August ‘08 - $85,000

And yeah, that’s about it for the good news. Now for the not so good news:

‘Sup, Watchers? In this week’s edition of Foreclosure Watch, active and pending listings stayed at exactly the same number as last week, and closings doubled.

In new listing news, 37917 once again had the most new listings with 5, and is still way in the lead. Other zips that contributed more than one new listings this week were 37914, 37920 and 37921. Meanwhile, 37721 had its first listing since I started keeping count and 37922 joined the double digit club with 10 new listings so far.

In closed listing news, 37914 was the winner with 3 closings, while 37917 came in 2nd with 2. Is it any coincidence that the two zips with the highest number of new foreclosure listings are also the two zips that have had the most closed sales in the last two weeks? I’m just sayin’.

In totally unrelated statistical anomaly news, 5 of this week’s 10 closed listings were on the market for exactly 8 days. Weird, right?

Now for the breakdown:

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 9/17/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 158
Average Asking Price: $131,248
Median Asking Price: $91,950
Most Expensive New Listing: $284,900 (4 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 3000+ sq ft in Cobble Stone Park)
Least Expensive New Listing: $19,900 (5 BR, 5 BA, 1700+ sq ft on E. 5th Ave in need of total rehab)

Notable New Listings:
North: $107,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1400+ sq ft in Cedar Chase in Halls)
South: $113,900 (3 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 2000+ sq ft in Arrowhead)
East: $57,900 (3 BR, 1 1/2 BA, 1400+ sq ft in Holston Hills)
West: $109,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 900+ sq ft in Devanshire off of Lovell Rd.)

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Current Pending Sales -109
Average Asking Price - $96,182
Median Asking Price - $72,500

Closed Sales September 03, 2008-September 09, 2008 - 10
Average Asking Price - $65,455
Average Sales Price - $59,840
Median Sales Price - $47,450
Average Days on Market -24

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 9/17/08 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’m a Realtor, not a spammer.

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!

photo credit: swanksalot

This week’s poll is up and ready to go in its usual spot over there. You know the drill.

This week’s topic is money, and more specifically how much of the green stuff you spend on housing each month. We know from the current housing crisis that a lot of people have been living well beyond their housing budgets for the past few years, but what you don’t hear a lot about on the news is that a lot more of us live right at, if not below our means when it comes to putting a roof over our heads. So what about you? Are you stretched thin in your fancy digs? Saving money by living simply? Or maybe paying just what you can afford to live comfortably? Cast your vote - you apartment dwellers included - and let me know your situation.

Some people may be able to afford more house than others, but no one can afford to not know what’s going on in the Knoxville real estate market. Don’t get left in the dark - subscribe to All Around KTown in a feed reader or by email today!

Welcome back to my new semi-regular series, Price Range.  In the first installment of the series, we started at the very bottom of the pricing spectrum and looked at how much house you can get for less than $50,000 in K-Town. The short answer for those of you who missed it: not much.

In this edition, we’ll bump up our budget just a bit and look at what kinds of homes are on the market between $50,000 and $75,000 in Knoxville. As I write this, there are 161 homes for sale in that price range in Knox County. Their average square footage is 1094 and they have an average of 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.

Here’s a look at some homes currently on the market in that range in North, South, East and West Knox County. Enjoy!

North Knoxville

$51,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 700+ sq ft on Atlantic Avenue)

$62,000 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1400+ sq ft foreclosure on Whittle Springs)

$68,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 600+ sq ft remodeled home on Bernhurst in Ftn City)

$74,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, approx 1000 sq ft renovated home on Valley View)

South Knoxville

$59,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 800+ sq ft in Laurel Hills)

$65,000 (2 BR, 1 BA, 700+ sq ft on McClung)

$69,000 (1 BR, 1 BA, 900+ sq ft cottage on Island Home Ave)

$74,900 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1000+ sq ft off of South Haven)

East Knoxville

$52,570 (2 BR, 1 BA, 900+ sq ft in Sunset Park)

$61,400 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1400+ sq ft foreclosure in Carter)

$69,900 (3 BR, 1 BA 1300+ sq ft Craftsman cottage off of Magnolia)

$74,000 (3 BR, 1 BA, 1000+ sq ft cottage off of Washington Ave.)

West Knoxville

$54,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 900+ sq ft off of Sutherland Ave.)

$60,000 (2 BR, 1 BA 1800+ sq ft mobile home with acreage in pre-foreclosure in Karns)

$69,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 800+ sq ft off of Ball Camp)

$74,900 (2 BR, 1 BA, 900+ sq ft cottage in pre-foreclosure off Sutherland Ave.)

That’s all she wrote for this price range. Join me next time when I take you on a scenic tour of Knoxville homes for sale between $75,000-$100,000. And who knows - some of them might even have more than 1 bathroom!

photo credit: frwl

Coldwell Banker recently conducted a survey of brokers to try and find out what first-time buyers in the current market want in a home. Here are some of the highlights:

• Brokers say affordability is the  #1 concern for first-time buyers, although buyer expectations of what they can get for a certain price may be too high.
• First-timers want something in move-in condition - only 7% of brokers have first time buyers who are looking to purchase “fixer-uppers.”
• 71% of brokers say buyers are looking for larger homes now than they were 10 years ago.
• 46% of brokers say first-time buyers look at an average of 5-10 before making an offer.
• 41% of brokers say proximity to work is the #1 thing buyers are looking for in a home.

I’m currently working with four sets of first-time buyers and I have to say that a lot of this seems pretty dead-on to me. Well, except for only looking at 5-10 homes before making an offer. I’d say most of my people look at more like 10-20. Or more. OK, sometimes a lot more.

But what about you guys, the actual buyers? What was most important to you when you bought your first home? And if you’re still looking, what is it you’re looking for? And what you think about what you’re finding in the current Knoxville market?  Inquiring minds want to know!