About Knoxville's Farragut

Luxury Homes in Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee is one of those places that is difficult to leave once you’ve had a taste of the good life. Ask one of the many alumni from the University of Tennessee Knoxville who stayed in town post-graduation; it’s the perfect place to discover luxury homes and lay down roots! 



The city is divided into the downtown area, and from there, North Knoxville, South Knoxville, East Knoxville, and West Knoxville. While there aren’t necessarily that many luxury homes in the downtown area, the Old City and Gay Street offer a nice mix of residential and commercial properties. For those specifically searching for luxury homes in Knoxville, there are a variety of great neighborhoods from which buyers can choose in the four areas outside downtown.



Knoxville’s downtown continues to develop. It’s a great place for residents to take in live music, or visit some of the many attractions, including the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and Market Square. There are movie theaters, restaurants and bars, and outdoor concert venues. West Knoxville has continued to grow adding a large shopping area Turkey Creek, the largest Kroger Marketplace Grocery ever built, a new Acadamey Sports and soon to come Costco, makes west Knoxville the hottest area and the perfect location for home buyers to search for luxury homes. 



One of the most beautiful areas for buyers interested in gorgeous luxury homes is Bridgemore in Farragut. A great West Knoxville neighborhood for buyers interested in luxury homes to look is Whittington Creek just off Northshore Drive and Pellissippi Parkway. The West Knox and Farragut communites are located just off I-40/I-75. There, residents can leave their luxury homes for the conveniences of retail stores and restaurants nearby.

Many communities offer conveniences near luxury homes such as neighborhood pools, clubhouses, golf, not to mention the ease of access to Knoxville/Farragut Greenway that offers walking, running, and biking paths throughout Knox county.

Once you have pinpointed the luxury homes and communities in Knoxville, Tennessee where you’re interested in purchasing your dream home, I do hope you’ll be in contact. I’d love to help you sort through the variety of luxury homes along with other home options in the area and help you determine which unique area of our city is the best place for you.

Yes, it's true, the FSBO (For Sale By Owner) famed in song and story is now one of a vanishing species on the American landscape. Well, have you seen many FSBO signs lately?

According to the NAR 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, FSBO sales declined to less than 1 in 10 transactions in 2010 (around 9% of all sales), down from 1 in 7 in 2004.

AND in almost 50% of the successful transactions the seller knew the buyer beforehand; sort of one of those "If you ever want to sell this house I'll buy it" sort of sales.

In the difficult markets of the past few years we've been called on more and more to assist sellers in getting the job done.

Resort areas, rural areas, and central cities tended to have the highest percentage of FSBO sales with suburban FSBO sales being only 6% of the market.

FSBO sellers tended to be younger and have lower median incomes than sellers than hired an agent to get the job done.

A high share of FSBO sellers are single males so single female Realtors can now have another place to meet guys, just go up and knock on a FSBO door and see who shows up. ;)

I've been wondering a lot lately why I'm not seeing as many FSBO signs around as I remember in days past. Now that I've read the latest survey of home buyers and sellers I know the answer; they're a vanishing breed.

Can you handle the truth? Well too bad here it goes anyway. There is no PERFECT time to sell your house. In the end, if you are expecting another child the baby will eventually need his/her own room. If you have been brought in on Monday morning and told you don’t have a job then the following weekend you may be painting your olive green bedroom with a neutral taupe so the house will show well.

So then for the remainder of this inaugural blog I am going to just ramble in REALTOR® speak and lose my global management experiences and opinions about global economic conditions. There will be time in future blogs for me to poison you with my diatribes about my unfortunate clientele. I will do you a favor, however, introduce you to my very impatient side which I hope you come to appreciate. This is where I love to get to the bottom line very quickly. “Concise and crisp” I used to tell my staff. “That’s the way to win me over.” One powerpoint page and no more than five bullets.

1. Plan ahead- Don’t wait until the last minute to be familiar with what the statistics say are the buyer’s favorite colors. Paint that bedroom this weekend. That Monday morning meeting with the HR Director could be here before you know it.
2. Stay informed- There is no excuse for being ignorant about what houses are selling for in the last six months in your neighborhood. And, if I might editorialize here. When the economy is “in the can” buyers couldn’t give a rat’s backside about whether your house is all brick or brick and vinyl. They’re just not going to pay an average of $1 a brick for the difference.
3. Season’s Greetings- Kind of catchy isn’t it. Winter- horrible, concentrate on shopping, cooking and parties, Spring- not so great until the first flower blooms, Summer- Great until late when the drought hits, Fall particularly early is best if you don’t wait until the yard is full of leaves.
4. Seller’s Markets are Rare- I am SO sick of hearing well it’s just a buyer’s market. Keep in mind and I have statistics to prove it, only on rare occasions is it ever a seller’s market. I promised not to drag out the tissues for my poor clientele this issues and so I won’t but our last big boom for seller’s was 2005. Oh my gosh, did the REALTOR® family take some exotic trips with their winnings that year. Actually, it was just a perfect storm for salaries, optimism, interest rates and a real glut of buyers. The unfortunate problem (no tissues) is that they largely come about because of economic conditions. Those that need to sell at the lowest point in the cycle can rarely wait it out.

Become a Best Seller. Take care.

Steve
The Real Estate Professor

Tennessee is a state with lots of scenic beauty and lots of outdoor recreational activities.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has created an awesome lake and river system for boaters, fishermen, and all sort of water sports. East Tennessee, the part I live in, is home to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with over 900 miles of hiking trails, campgrounds, and beautiful mountain scenery.

Another little known and used part of Tennessee outdoors is the huge amount of state park, scenic areas, and protected natural areas dotted all over.

I visited one I had never been to today; Stinging Fork Falls Natural Area near Spring City which is about 50 miles south of Knoxville.

Stinging Fork Creek cascades over rock formations.

This is a great place to visit if you want to get away from crowds and most everything else. We were there about 2 hours and did not see a single other person; just the sounds of birds, the wind, and the rushing water. When is the last time you have been outside your house and not seen another person for 2 hours?

If you love year round out door activities as much as I do, then maybe you need to come visit us in East Tennessee. We have plenty to do for all interests and all seasons.

You might even like it enough to want to move here permenently. Check our areas housing out here: www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com

It’s been listed for 90 days now and not even one showing. What’s the problem?

The number 1 reason I see for homes not selling is most often the price (this could also be reasons 2,3,4 and 5).

It’s a tough new market out there folks; mortgages are tough to get these days, buyers are taking MUCH longer to make decisions about which house to even make an offer on, and the economy is in a shambles with high unemployment.

Even if the recent comparable sales and price points in your area and neighborhood support your asking price your house could still be overpriced relative to the market right now because that’s the market buyers are buying in.

Just because you refinanced last year or even 6 months ago, and got an appraisal equal to or higher than your current asking price, the market right now may be lower than those figures.

Generally the higher up you go on asking price the longer the time on the market becomes. Because of the credit crunch especially on jumbo or non conforming loans (in the Knoxville area that would be a loan over $417,000), large mortgages are even tougher to get than say an FHA loan on a median priced 3 bedroom house in the Knoxville area.

The above graph shows that if your home is listed for sale for over 1 million dollars there is currently a 42 month supply of those homes at the current sales rates. Listed between $100,000 to $150,000 there is a 9 month supply of homes in that price point.

So what’s the answer? Have your agent update your market analysis. Take a look at homes that have sold in your neighborhood, your zip code, and similar homes in other parts of town. What is their list price to sale price ratio? Did those sellers make any concessions to the buyer, i.e. pay some of their closing costs, install new carpet, and any other inducements to get them to buy that house.

If they did maybe that’s something you should consider to get yours sold too but most often it’s the price.

Reason number 2: CONDITION Does your home show like a model home? Has it been “staged” to show in the best possible light to new buyers? Decluttered with overstuffed closets leaned out, excess ’stuff’ packed up and out of the way? CLEAN, with everything including windows, front door, kitchen and bathrooms squeaky clean? Visit my website, www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com and click the “Selling” link to get my 40 Free or inexpensive tips can make your home show better, sell faster, and put more money in your pocket at closing.

The better your house shows the more buyers are willing to pay and the quicker it usually sells.

Reason number 3: LOCATION Ok, if this is your problem immediately call Acme House Movers and………of course I’m just joking here but one of the cold hard facts of life are that some locations are more desirable than others and others are less desirable.

If you’re in a location buyers seem to perceive as less desirable for whatever reason the only cure for that condition is to reduce your asking price.

You may enjoy living next to the railroad tracks and look forward to that 100 car coal train that comes by at 3:00 AM every morning but trust me, the average buyer won’t share your passion for railroading that up close and personal.

Reason number 4: ACCESSIBILITY You can’t sell it if buyers can see it. Showings are often requested on short, or sometimes no notice. As a serious seller you need to make your best effort to keep your home in showable condition at all times. I’m continually amazed as I search through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) looking for homes for my buyer clients and find agent notes like: “24 hour notice to show, no exceptions”, “no lockbox, listing agent must be present for all showings” (so what if the listing agent is not available?, and this favorite, “DO NOT GO IN YARD, dogs will bite”

So if I have a buyer that wants to see your house in 2 hours you want them to wait until tomorrow, hope your agent can let us in, and run the risk of being attacked by your darling pit bulls? Guess what, that’s not happening, there are hundreds of other houses for sale that we can see on our schedule and buy today. Which of those options would be best for you Mr. Seller?

Reason number 5: YOUR AGENT Yep, this could be one of your problems.

Even though all Knoxville area Realtors pay the same amount of dues some of them are frankly just better at marketing homes than others. So the first thing you should do is review your agent’s written marketing plan of what they’re going to do to get your house sold. Oh, you asked for their written marketing plan and got that ‘deer in the headlights’ look. Ooops, that could be a problem.

National Association of Realtors statistics show that over 85% of current homebuyers started their home search on the Internet so how is your homes Internet marketing presence? Does it have a virtual tour? Is your home displayed on multiple websites like Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo, GoogleBase, BirdView, Vast, Homes.com, YouTube (yep, videos), and other websites including your agent’s personal website? If not that could be a problem.

Does your MLS and advertising descriptions paint a pleasing visual picture in a buyer’s mind or does it just say something like: “3 BR, 2 BA, darling, hurry, won’t last long”? Have you ever seen your homes MLS listing? If not that could be a problem.

Does your listing have a minimum of 20, well made and current photos of your house including the interior. Amazingly there are still photos in the Knoxville MLS of homes for sale with snow on the ground. When was our last snow? Buyers like to see lots of photos and if you don’t have them…….that could be a problem.

So here’ s the 5 reasons roundup:

1. Revisit your list price objectively and look at the most recent sales. If it’s not selling then adjust your price.
   
2. Go outside and walk through your house pretending you’re a buyer. Do you like what you see? Showroom condition is key.
   
3. Have a talk with your self about your homes location.
   
4. Make sure potential buyers can get in to see your home and feel safe and welcome while they’re there.
   
5. And finally, call your agent up and invite them over for a visit and review of what’s been done to market your house and what will be done in the future.

Visit KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com for lots of great selling tips, no charge, no obligation.

Please feel free to call, comment, or email any questions.