Louis Belote

Want to actually make money in the real estate market?? I am currently expanding my base of potential, qualified investors. As a result of this real estate market we have experienced over the last 2+ years, there are some excellent opportunities to purchase homes at wholesale prices and resell them at "market value". I am not talking about short sales. There are a lot of home owners who are in real need to sell, or just want to get out from under their mortgage commitment. Another group of home owners have attempted to sell their homes in this market, and it has not sold for one reason or another. Many of these home owners are starting to be worn down by the process and just want "out". In either case, cash buyers in this market have the potential to be real winners. Let me give you a real life, personal experience I had a while back...I went to an auction in the Green Hills area where a house had a designated "reserve". The "reserve" means the seller had a previously determine "minimum price" that they were willing to accept for the home at auction. The "reserve" is not known to potential bidders at the time of the auction. I arrived at the auction strictly as an interested spectator. When the bidding started to slow, it became apparent to me that the potential sales price was well below market value. The price was below the predetermined "reserve" as well. After the bidding was over and the auctioneer consulted with the seller, I bought the property for $577,500. We closed that sale in 20 days. As a Realtor®, I turned around and put the house right back on the "open" market. 80 days later, I found a buyer and closed a sale on it for $740,000! That is a gross profit of over $162,000! I cannot say this happens every the time, but by working with an experienced Realtor®, potential, excellent returns of investing in today's market are still available. You have to be realistic and analyze each and every situation to make sure it is a good investment. I prefer to work with Cash buyers/investors because they always get the best deals and end up with the best return on investment. Many Realtors® market this ability to help investors make money in this market, but I have actually done it MYSELF with MY ability to get money! If you want more information, or want to talk about being on my list of potential investors, give me a call direclty at (615) 804-9999, or CLICK HERE to Contact Me.

Louis@LouisBelote.com
www.WilliamsonCountyRealEstate.com
www.DavidsonCountyRealEstate.com

The first weekend in May brought areas of Williamson and Davidson Counties over 13 inches of rain and tremendous flooding. The most significantly affected areas were parts of Williamson County and the Bellevue area in western Davidson County/Nashville along the Harpeth and Little Harpeth Rivers, and along the Cumberland River in the Downtown Nashville business district, and the Opryland, Opry House, and Opry Mills area. The devastation, as seen in person, is truly hard to believe. Many homes and businesses had well over 10 feet of water standing in them causing incredible damage. The water rose so fast that many people never had a chance to get anything out of their homes. As a result, homeowners have begun cleaning up by throwing away almost everything they owned. As I drove through the River Plantation neighborhood in Bellevue for example, there are 10 feet tall piles of the remains of homeowner's homes and personal property piled at the roadway for blocks waiting for removal by the city. Many of those homeowners are retired and on fixed incomes and have suffered devastating losses. FEMA maxes out their relief funds at $29,000 per household, and in many cases, that is nowhere near the cost of rebuilding many of these properties. The effort by local people to help the flood ravaged areas has been nothing short of incredible. Many high-profile members of the local music community banded together immediately to pitch in to help those affected as well as have performed for benefits to raise money for the local Community Foundation that supports those impacted. There have been at least two televised benefits that have each raised well in excess of $1,000,000 in a matter of a few hours! This area has not waited for the federal government to show up and be the ones to spear head the cleanup effort. The local community banded together immediately, even on the day the flooding was happening, to help the homeowners that were affected. As local residents, we have been proud of the way the community has responded and handled this situation in a proactive manner despite the lack of national attention it deserves and other simialr tragedies have received. This is an area of INDEPENDENT people that were the most affected. They do not sit around and wait for government assistance. They are motivated people who have worked, many of them, their entire lives, to be able to retire comfortably only to be hit by this tragedy. They are not used to being dependent on others to get by, but thankfully they live in a place where people's nature is to pitch in to help others in need! Let's hope the recovery is as quick as possible and these deserving people are able to resume their normal lives soon!

The most important item to consider when selling your home in a market like we have now is...SETTING THE ASKING PRICE! Up unitl about 2007, local home prices have increased dramatically. In about late 2007, the market slowed and the changed from a Seller's market to a Buyer's market very quickly. As a result, homes were no longer appreciating at the rate of the past. Some homes had been appreciating as much as 8-10% per year for the previous 3-5 years creating some excellent equity for home owners. In today's market, a Buyer has a lot of choices when it comes to considering housing options. Home sellers need to be ready for a market they may have never experienced before. Home Sellers....look very closely at homes in your nearby area that have SOLD within the last 3-6 onths as a basis for your Asking Price. If you are fortunate enough to get a sales contract on your house after you list it for sale, an appraiser is going to review those same recent area sales in order to approve a Buyer's mortgage. If the appraiser feels the home is not worth the value on the sales contract, there is a good chance your sale will never close. This is becoming more and more of an issue in this market. It happens more frequently than we have ever seen before. Even if a buyer is ready, willing, and able to buy your home for an agreed upon price, an apprasier can kill your deal. As a Seller, consider your situation from another perspective. What if you sell your home for, let's say, $20,000 less than you think it is worth in the market. You immediatley become a very attractive Buyer to a home Seller. Since it is a significant Buyer's market right now and the inventory of homes for sale is high, there is a good chance that you can Buy a new home for at least $20,000 less than you would have in the past. Do the math...As a qualified Buyer, you could actually buy a house and have some immediate, additional equity in a market like this by just Selling your existing home for what it is really worth to a GOOD, QUALIFIED BUYER! If you want to talk more about this subject, the value of your home, or you are ready to sell, call us now at (615) 804-9999 or CONTACT US. We look forward to talking to YOU!!

www.WilliamsonCountyRealEstate.com
www.DavidsonCountyRealEstate.com

Single family residential home sales in March in Williamson County increased a whopping 40+% over the same month in 2009 from 152 to 219 closings according to figures released today from the Williamson County Association of Realtors. The median sales price, that level where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less, decreased a small 3%. The average number of days on the market increased by 8 days over March of last year.

CLICK HERE to view the entire Williamson County Association of Realtors Press Release.

These numbers show that the Williamson County market, while not at the incredbile sales pace of 2006 and 2007, remains much stronger than most around the country. This supports the fact that real estate is a LOCAL business mostly affected by the LOCAL economy and it's supply and demand. Many people have been misled by the media driven real estate numbers from Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and California, some of the hardest hit areas of the country because of their incredible level of home building, and over-building, between about 2002-2007.

With the height of the sales season for the local area between May and August coming up, prepare for the sales figures to continue to mainatin it's pace and possibly increase significantly. The Home Buyer tax credit ($8,000 for first time buyers and $6,500 for existing home owners) will increase local interest in April as well as improving and consistent local weather.

Get out there and buy a house!

Louis Belote
Keller Williams Realty
(175 Carothers Pkwy, SUite 110
Franklin, TN 37067
Phone: (615) 804-9999

www.WilliamsonCountyRealEstate.com
www.DavidsonCountyRealEstate.com

Have you seen the latest Google technology...Streetview^TM?? We now offer Streetview^TM, and it is some amazing online, visual technology that gives you new perspective when using our Home Search capabilities. Streetview^TM allows the "user" to "virtually" walk down a street and see adjoining homes/properties as well as see the streetscape as you progress through an area or neighborhood. It is so easy to use! Just click on the "Streetview" tab at the top of each property listing page, and your view of the street opens in a window as clear as a picture taken with a camera. By clicking your way in either direction down a street or through a neighborhood, you are shown a "real life" view of the area. You can stop at any point along your "stroll" and get a 360° view from anywhere along the way. Have you ever driven through a neighborhood looking at homes you may have seen in the MLS and seen a house that does not look anything like the picture you saw in the MLS...or have you wondered what adjoining properties look like? With Google's Streetview^TM at your fingertips, your "real" questions about a property or neighborhood are answered at the click of a mouse. No more need to print an MLS listing, get in your car, and drive to see exactly what an area looks like. Just use our Home Search feature and search by City, Neighborhood, Map, etc., and have the answers in just seconds. Just think about the time you will save, especially if you are relocating to the local area and do not know the neighborhoods well or you are relying on a Realtor's® guidance and opinions. This could enable you to establish your own opinion and save you a tremendous amount of time in your home search by possibly eliminating some properties from your consideration, or you may have a reason to ask more about a neighborhood or property for sale. The first time I saw and used it, I was hooked and HAD to have it. Now I offer it to you as a significant aid in your home search. It is incredibly rare that I have seen Streetview^TM available on real estate search sites, so this is a very unique opportunity to make your home search more detailed and allow our website to be more of a one-stop interactive tool to help you find your next home.
If you have any questions about Streetview^TM, feel free to Contact Us. We will be glad to help you with this amazing technology.

As always, visit us at the area's most popular Nashville and Williamson County website at www.WilliamsonCountyRealEstate.com or www.DavidsonCountyRealEstate.com.

Call us directly at (615) 804-9999 for more information.

Louis Belote
Licensed Broker, GRI, CRS, e-Pro, SFR
Keller Williams Realty