Cathy Glass, Realtor® Knoxville Tennessee

Woodland Subdivision in Oak Ridge, Tennessee is an interesting mix of original homes and highly remodeled homes. You can get a home in every price point in there.

Currently, there are 12 houses for sale with an average list price of $103,668 and an average square footage of 1453. The average days on market is 117. The prices range from $58,900 to $159,000. The price per square foot ranges from $48 to $103. Most of the houses are ranch style.

Since July 1, 2009, 5 houses have closed. (Note: I only used houses that were listed on the MLS and the agent listed the subdivision as Woodland.) The average list price was$110,640 and the average closing price was $106,360. The price per square footage ranged from $58 to $95. The average days on market of the sold houses was 51.

Woodland is next to the new subdivision, Willow Place, an attractive Charleston type neighborhood. Many of the houses in the older Woodland neighborhood are being fixed up to fit in with that neighborhood.

Let me know if you need to sell a Woodland home or if you would like to look at one that is for sale. Cathy Glass, Realty Executives Associates, 865-693-3232

Devanshire Subdivision in Knoxville, Tennessee is off of Lovell Road, near Pellissippi Parkway. The subdivision is about 13 years old and is still building new houses. These are what most people would probably consider affordable.

Since June 30, 2009, the average sale price is $116,083 with the average price per square foot at $91.55. The average days on market since June 30, 2006 has been 60 days. The highest priced house to sell was $133,400 and the lowest was $85,000. The sales include one foreclosure. The age of the house ranged from 13 years old to 2 years old.

Conservatively speaking, the lot sizes are around 40X100, but many are larger than that. The HOA fees are around $50 per month that includes lawn service, pool access and trash pick up.

Let me know if you want to see any houses in Devanshire; I easily make an appointment. Cathy Glass, Realty Executives Associates, 865-693-3232

Is Your Customer Service This Great?

The first thing I said when I got home was, "I am never going anywhere else except Donny Hitch for body work on my car!"

This week I have had several customer service experiences. Four were horrible, and two were very pleasant and have won my customer loyalty. The most outstanding one, I must pass along to you. My question is, what could we do for our client that is comparable?

I had to get body repair on my car this week, and I used a company recommended by my insurance agency, Donny Hitch, Oak Ridge, TN. I had never heard of him, but I just wanted to get the work done. I determined to use him, as long as his estimate seemed reasonable. I walked in without an appointment, and within 5 minutes he looked at the car. Less than ten minutes he had my estimate ready, and I said I wanted him to do the work. They made all the arrangements for Enterprise Car Rental to be there on my scheduled day to pick me up and get a rental car. They estimated that the work would be done by Wednesday afternoon.

On Monday, I dropped off the car for the repairs. As before, there was nothing particularly spectacular. They just did their job efficiently with friendly faces. I got a call about 12 p.m. on Wednesday that the work would be done at 4 p.m. When I arrived, I briefly looked at the car and could tell the work was great, which was what I had hoped. They could have stopped there, and I would have been a satisfied customer.

They gave me the key and the paperwork, "Oh, and by the way, there is a lifetime warranty for that paint job," said the friendly but professional receptionist. I was totally shocked by that, since any other place has only warranted paint for one year.

As we continued to deal with the paperwork, the receptionist started giving me instructions about how to care for the car to protect the paint job. "You shouldn't wax it for three months, but in three months we give your car a free wax. We clean your car and wax it and check to make sure the job still looks all right." Would you like to go ahead and schedule it?" I did; I was so please. They were booked solid until the end of January. I picked a day, and I was off.

When I got to my car, it looked to me as though the carpets had been vacuumed and the windows cleaned. A tag was hanging from my rear view mirror that had tips about how to take care of the paint job. And I had a paper rug under my feet. Still reeling from the lifetime warranty and the free wax job, something else kept catching my eye. Hanging on my light knob was a "thank you" bag with a bottle of matching paint. I was forever hooked as one of their clients.

I want my clients to feel the way I felt when they are through with me. What are some great things we do as real estate agents to create the same customer loyalty?

Knoxville Area Home Sales

using statistics from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors®

Provided by Cathy Glass, Realtor®

Realty Executives Associates, 865-693-3232

Average Price and Number of Homes Sold (does not include condos)

As you can see, in the first quarter of this year, the price of a home in the Knoxville area dropped 21% from the first quarter 2008 and is 2.2% lower than the fourth quarter of 2008. The number of home sales in the first quarter of 2009 was 29% less than the number in the same time period in 2008. It was also 16.5% lower than sales in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Average Price and Number of Homes Sold, including condos

If condos are included, the average sale price of a house or condo was 20% less in the first quarter of 2009 than it was in the first quarter of 2008. It also represents an 8% drop from the fourth quarter of 2008. The number of sales in the first quarter of 2009 were down 32% from the first quarter in 2008 and 17% from the fourth quarter of 2008.

2009 Housing Market Prediction

SuccessfulHomeSales.net

According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Knoxville home prices fell a mere .5% (one half percent) in October compared to 10.4% across the country. The article said it was a slight improvement over September.

I wrote about the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, third quarter. My numbers showed that there are some "hot" selling houses in Oak Ridge.

There was another good article about home sales in the Sentinel today. It explains the poor numbers for the whole housing market in 2008. It may not be a big surprise that the housing market was worse in 2008 than we knew and, in some cases, the worse in 18 years.

What this means for you if you are selling right now is that if the house prices are going down, which for the most part they are, in order to sell right now, you may have to price your house ahead of the market. Ahead of the market means below the "market price," which might be that lowest price your real estate agent mentioned in their CMA. Some agents recommend pricing 10% below the market price. The really good news is that you may make up this amount, or make more, when you buy your new house at a discount.

Another news item that will affect home prices is that the rules for appraisers are about to get even stricter. I will be on the lookout, but I could not find an article about this online; it was just announced this week. This will mean your house will have to compare in price strictly with very recent sales, close proximity, and the market trend (meaning if it's going down, your price may have to be down.)

More good news, though, is the constantly dropping interest rates. Who would have ever dreamed 30 years ago that you could lock in a mortgage rate of 4%? Will they go lower? I have heard a rumor that they may reach 3%!

Well, the prediction articles were hard to find, except in foreign countries, and they decided to quit predicting for now. But, hopefully you have some good, current information to help you make some decisions based on your particular situation. Be wise. Get plenty of professional advice. Listen to your gut. Write down your goals. Review your track record.