About Sevier County, TN

I was asked a question from a customer recently that I had not considered, 'can I still get a loan?' I say I had not considered it because I had taken it for granted that everyone knew that loans were still readily available to customers who have good credit and a downpayment (around 5% for these folks).

These are rational people who have heard about a credit crunch and believed, as I now think many do, that home loans are difficult to acquire. After our conversation they promptly bought a house with no lender issues what-so-ever.

Reminds me of the old saying about assuming (haha).

Short sales are not the best way to transfer property but lately it's become the method of choice for some buyers and distressed sellers. Many of our customers are confused about short sales (we joking call them long sales in our office because a few banks can take weeks to make a decision) and shy away from them. I, however, feel short sales represent a much more attractive option for buyers and sellers. I'll list a few reasons why I feel this way:

• For rental properties, which is most of our market here, the homes are still furnished and have not been damaged by the removal of furniture, appliances and sometimes pool tables and hot tubs.
• The rental stream has not been interrupted by the foreclosure process so future bookings still exist.
• The seller doesn't have a foreclosure to contend with on their credit.
• Often the buyer gets the property at or below what the bank would later list it at. It's true that banks do not want property.... they want money.

While it is unfortunate that some owners of property find themselves in a tough spot, I'm glad we can be there to help them stave off foreclosure with the tools that are made available.

I suppose I'm an eternal optimist. I do think the best of people more often than not. I have to admit I was really excited when one of my agents was asked to do an interview for the local ABC affiliate.

The story was supposed to be about how some absentee property owners here in the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge areas were taking the rental income from their overnight rental properties and using it to pay their mortgages on their primary residences (lots of them are in Florida). Thus, creating a situation where mortages on their second homes/investment properties here are going into foreclosure or short sale and creating opportunities for the savvy investor. A complicated story I suppose.

The report ended up highlighting the foreclosure/short sale portion of the story. Leaving out what I think most of the interview was about, the investor deals. I know editorial freedom is always going to be part of a news story (I've submitted my share of articles to the newspaper to barely recognize them when they were printed) but I had high hopes, perhaps too high, that this story would end on an uplifting note. Primarily, that our properties here have an inherent value that is not entirely determined by outside forces due to the rental income they produce.

It's an amazing time to be in the real estate business. I know everyone bemoans the fact that sales are down but I just can't help but be in awe of the deals some of our investors are getting. One, who shall remain nameless, says 'It's like a garage sale for the wealthy.' It may sound callous but that attitude is pervasive with many of our cash buyers right now and even though they're getting deals they are also helping distressed sellers and our local economy.

Here in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee the rental properties and the income they generate are a crucial part of our economy. Particularly, the real estate industry in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

So far this year the bad economic news hasn't affected our rentals much. The looming crisis for our best rental season, the Fall leaves changing color, is a shortage of gas in several major southern cities. We have plenty of gas to go around here but it seems that many of our visitors from such gas starved areas as Atlanta, Nashville, and MIami are having a tough time making the choice to place their families in the car or mini-van for a vacation.

I fully expect the fear of travel to quickly subside once the gas stations in those cities have full tanks again. Hopefully, in the meantime a few travelers will go home and tell everyone, "they have gas in East Tennessee."