About Knoxville's Fountain City

Every since it was called PhotoShare many years ago, I've been a huge fan of www.VisualTour and their virtual tour products.

Now they've made a good thing even better by adding a new "Link Builder" feature that let's you create big variety of custom links AND as a bonus, very impressive ads specifically designed for CraigsList.

Here's how it works. Step 1 of course it to log into your Visual Tour account and select a listing you want a tour for. After that it's pretty much all downhill as you follow the easy steps.

First, choose what type of link you want.

I chose "This tour" for a specified tour only.

Next choose "Where would you like to place this link?

I'm choosing "My website" and clicking "Next". Your next choice is "How would you like the link to appear?"

I'm selecting the large graphic with the large house photo and clicking "Next". The next choice is: "How would you like your tour branded?" Which means how much of your contact info do you want on the virtual tour itself. Some MLS's are sticky about contact info appearing on a virtual tour.

I'm selecting the first option, "Full branding" because I like me best. ;) click "Next"

"Would you like the link to open in a new window?"

Yep, I do want a new window, and click "Next"

And this is what the finished product will look like. You can easily paste this code into your blog, website, or most anywhere else you want

And the copied code creates the finished link below. Clicking it will open up the virtual tour for that property.

Total time to create one of these custom links, about 1 minute. Cost of unlimited Visual Tour virtual tours, $29.95 per month for UNLIMITED tours.WOW factor for you; PRICELESS!

I use mine for lots of other things like emailing photos to out of town customers, clients, their spouses, etc., which they can then email on to their friends with my smiling face alongside their house. Also neighborhoods, points of interest in your town, you name it. Create all the virtual tours you want to only $29.95 a month.

Should I buy a home in Knoxville, Tennessee now? A question lots of potential buyers are asking themselves now.

So what’s the answer? The answer depends a lot on you and the reasons you’re thinking of buying.

Generally if you plan to live in any home you buy in Knoxville for at least the next 3 years now might be a good time for you to buy for the following three reasons:

1. You may be eligible for a new federal tax credit of up to $8,000 that is only available this year for home purchased and closed before December 1st. After that this credit goes away. You can also collect that credit this year even if you’ve already filed your 2008 return by filing an amended return (form 1040X) or you can wait until next year and collect it on your 2009 return.
   Here’s how that $8,000 tax credit works. First of all it’s a credit and not a deduction like mortgage interest is.

   A tax credit results in a full $8,000 deduction from your taxable income whereas an $8,000 tax deduction would only result in a percentage savings based on what tax bracket you happen to fall into. For example if you’re in the 25% bracket you would only be able to claim 25% of $8,000 or $2,000. And this tax credit is fully refundable which means if your tax liability is less than $8,000 the IRS will refund to you the difference in cash.

   Here’s some information from the IRS website that explains more.

2. Interest rates are at their lowest point ever; you should be able to get a fixed interest rate under 5%. Right now in Knoxville $729 dollars is the average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment. at 4.5% interest, $729 is the principal and interest payment on a $143,800 home mortgage.

Rental rates for 1 & 2 bedroom Apartments in Knoxville, Tennessee

If you buy a Knox County home for, let’s say $150,000 at 4.75% interest and pay the minimum 3 1/2% down that FHA financing requires, your principal interest payment on your $144,750 loan will be $755.08. If rates were 7% that payment would jump to $963.03 and at 9% be $1,164.69. Most Knoxville area renters now are paying at least $750 or more in monthly rent so why not be working towards owning your own home plus getting $8,000 from the IRS to help you buy it.

3. There is a huge selection of homes for sale and sellers are motivated to either discount their price, help with your closing costs or in some cases do both. I’ve had buyer clients get some great deals this year and in fact have a closing today where a seller is paying $6,000 towards my buyer’s closing costs. Had a sale last month and a very motivated seller not only cut the sale price $7,000 and paid another $7,000 towards my buyer’s closing costs, they also threw in the very nice living room furniture.

Today in Knox County alone there are 2,710 single family homes priced between $50,000 to a maximum of $300,000 and 982 condos that meet the same criteria.

That’s over 3600 choices for you in those price ranges and all locations.

That’s also a bunch of sellers that want to sell. KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is a great source that has all the Realtor listings in the greater Knoxville and surrounding areas.

Here’s just a few of the great buys you can get right now in the Knox County and Knoxville areas.

Affordable Farragut one level with large yard for only $149,900.

East Knox County home is brand spanking new and only $189,900

One of the nicest and most convenient areas of Farragut and only $239,900

Search all of Knoxville’s Realtor listing at KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com and let’s pick you out one soon.

If you have ever had any aspirations to own your own home, NOW is the time. Economic factors have all came together to create the proverbial “perfect storm” in the home buying market.

Here's what's going on right now and how it will benefit you as a new home buyer.

1. First, the nation’s financial crisis has driven mortgage interest rates to their lowest levels ever; currently you get fixed rates below 5% all over Knoxville.
2. A glut of houses has increased inventories of both new and resale homes providing a huge selection to choose from. Currently just in Knox County there are almost 2,000 homes for sale priced under $200,000
3. The federal government, in an effort to stimulate the economy is providing up to $8,000 as a fully refundable tax credit to encourage you to buy a home.
4. The State of Tennessee’s “Tennessee Housing Development Authority” (THDA for short) has a no interest loan program to give you up front to use for a down payment, up to 3 1/2% of the purchase price of your new home which coincidentally happens to be the minimum down payment required for FHA (Federal Housing Authority) financing. So you can borrow your 3 1/2 % down payment at 0% interest and repay it from your $8,000 tax credit.
5. Because of the number of houses for sale I’m usually able to negotiate with a seller to pay most or all of your closing costs to get you into a new home with no cash out of your pocket.

Here’s a few examples of what is on the market today. And like the story above says, they’re starting to move so now would be a great time to get in the home buying game.

This charming home, complete with red door, is located in Knoxville's "Norman Rockwell" neighborhood of Fountain city and is priced at only $124,900.

This attractive north Knoxville home has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a two car garage; it's priced at $159,900.

And yes, you can still find houses in west Knoxville for under $200,000. Here’s just a couple

This home is located in the Town of Farragut, has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a two car garage, it's only $154,900.

This home is in "move in today" condition in west Knoxville and it can be yours for $154,900.

So there you have it; world class interest rates, lots of credits and homes to choose from, time to get moving.

My number is (865) 693-3232, answered 24 hours a day (just not always me. ;-)) and my my email is Jim@JimLee.com. Let’s get started today and have you in a new home with payments probably less than what you may be paying now for rent.

www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com is where you can see all of the greater Knoxville area’s homes for sale. Pick out a few and lets go look at them soon.

The chart below represent the February average sales price of 3 bedroom homes in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area for the past 10 years.

As you can see average sales prices started accelerating in 2003 building to a peak in 2007. In February of 2007 that represented a total of 645 3 beroom homes sold and closed.

In February 2009 we had a total of 342 3 bedroom homes sold, or 46.9% fewer than 2007.

It appears the average days on market (that's time from listing to closing) has risen pretty steeply since last February as well rising from 100 days in February of 2008 to 120 days this just past February.

After reviewing these numbers it appears that if you have a home in the Knoxville area you need to sell, there are 3 things you probably need to do to ensure your house stands out from the crowd and attracts a serious buyer:

1. Aggressive pricing, priced at or lower than comparable sales in the past 3 months.
   
2. "Move in" condition; replace worn carpeting or offer an allowance, fresh paint, replace dated lighting fixtures, and a thorough and deep cleaning to make it spotless.
   
3. Buyer incentives, typically offering to pay some of buyer's buying costs. Figure on 3 to 6% of the sale price for incentives.

2008 was quite a year for knoxtours.net. Our virtual tour sales went down a bit. I'm sure the credit crunch, the plunge of the Stock Market, and the collapse in housing values all contributed, but there's also the Knoxville real estate market where virtual home tours isn't yet the widely chosen choice for property marketing. I've been able to expand my photography to bring in a few extra dollars. I've taken on antique portrait photography; I'm gone most weekends, and who I'm photographing isn't always the most cooperative. Ever tried photographing small children? It's a discipline where I'm forced to be creative. When I shoot, each time its got to be different. I have a routine when I go in to shoot a property; A certain way to ensure I don't miss anything! I make sure that the shot I'm about to take and deliver to my client is my best, I take that second look, I at least try to find that different angle. These days, these conditions we're all working under, we have to provide that extra something. We have to make what we do special.

Knoxtours.net wants to wish all the dealers and everyone at Real Tour Vision the very best in the new year.

Mike O'Neill