Sneak Peek: North Central Village

A few weeks ago I had a chance to take a tour of North Central Village, a new development of affordable, urban condos at the corner of Broadway and Central, just north of downtown. Lucky for you, I took my camera.

























































Prices range from $85,000 to $165,000 and size ranges from around 400 sq ft to just over 1000 sq ft. Amenities include keyless entry to building and units, deeded and secured parking, and wi-fi throughout the building.

Given the $200+ per sq ft it costs to buy downtown, I think it's very cool to see units not too far from the city center that are this affordable.

April Home Sales Report

I tried to get this out on time, I really did. And then Franken-deal rose from the dead and I had to go into my secret laboratory to try to keep it alive long enough to reach the closing table. Add mad scientist to my every growing job description. So, as usual, some other folks have already given you the rundown, but that's no reason not to look at the April Home Sales Report numbers the AAKT way.

Let's start with the good news:

Average condo sales price is up.

April '07 - $161,000

April '08 - $164.3

Median condo sales price is up
April '07- $139,900
April '08- $142,900

Now for the not so great, but not so totally unexpected news:

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is down.
April '07 - $104,000
April '08 - $90,900

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is down.

April '07 - $82,000

April '08 - $79,200

Average sales price for 3 BR homes is down.
April '07 - $168,300
April '08 - $163,600

Median sales price for 3 BR homes is down.

April '07 - $152,000

April '08 - $149,000

Average sales price for 4+ BR homes is down.

April '07 - $327,000

April '08 - $283,700

Median sales price for homes with 4 or more bedrooms is down.
April '07 - $274,400
April '08 - $240,000

Total number of single family unit sales is down.

April '07 - 1416

April '08 - 1144

Total number of condo unit sales is down.

April '07 - 157

April '08 - 147

Days on market is up.

April '07 - 85

April '08 - 100

And here's the "FHA may not be the new sub-prime, but it sure is curiously popular" news:

Number of FHA loans is way, way up.
April '07- 47
April '08- 162

Finally, here's my totally unscientific analysis:

1. The Knoxville condo market would probably survive a nuclear attack and still manage to show decent appreciation.

2. Residential sales are still soft*.

3. The upper price bracket homes are taking the hardest hit.

4. As conventional loan qualifications continue to tighten up, more and more buyers are going FHA.

5. Knoxville buyers are getting some totally sweet deals this spring.

*No need to freak out. Lower average sales price and lower median sales price do not necessarily mean that your personal home has depreciated.

February Home Sales Report

Better late than never - the February Home Sales Report numbers from KAARMLS are up. Let's start with the good news first:

Average condo sales price is up.

Feb '07 - $164,300

Feb '08 - $169,500

Average sales price for homes with 4 or more bedrooms is up.

Feb '07 - $293,700

Feb '08 - $303,000

Now for the not so good news -

Average sales price for 3 BR homes is down.

Feb '07 - $182,700

Feb '08 - $155,000

Median sales price for 3 BR homes is down.

Feb '07 - $141,600

Feb '08 - $145,000

Median sales price for homes with 4 or more bedrooms is down.
Feb '07 - $249,300
Feb '08 - $240,000

Total number of single family unit sales is down.

Feb '07 - 1,160

Feb '08 - 902

Days on market is up.

Feb '07 - 94

Feb '08 - 100

And finally, here's the "sellers are either in total denial or are eternal optimists" news:

Average listing price for new listings is up.

Feb '07 - $246,100

Feb '08 - $264,600

So, here's my not so scientific analysis:

1. The condo market is still chugging right along.

2. Residential sales are still soft*.

3. Sellers think it's still 2005.

*Please keep in mind that lower average sales price and lower median sales price do not necessarily mean that your personal home has depreciated.

Property Virgins

For me, watching home buying shows on cable when I get home from a long day of listing appointments, house showing, and contract negotiations, is probably the very last thing I want to do. Who wants to watch work after work? So when one of my clients, a first time home buyer, started talking about a show called "Property Virgins" a few nights ago, it was the first I had heard of it.

So, imagine my sense of deja vu when I was reading today's posts over at fivecentnickel and saw this:

"I was watching the show Property Virgins for the first time the other night, and I was shocked at what I heard on that show. Let me give you a rundown…
The buyer was a single woman who wanted the best quality in a house, but didn’t want to spend a lot of money. She knew exactly what she wanted and how much she wanted to pay, and she wasn’t willing to budge much on either issue.

The property expert seemed nice enough, and she was a saint for dealing with the opinionated buyer, but halfway through the show, she said something that stopped me cold. She had just shown the buyer a home that was brand new and had everything the buyer wanted. The problem? It was $40,000 more than the buyer wanted to pay.
The ensuing conversation went something like this. These aren’t exact quotes, but you’ll get the idea.

Expert: The price on this property is $240,000.

Buyer: What? I definitely can’t afford that!

Expert: That’s about $1700 a month, not including insurance and HOA fees.

Buyer: The insurance and HOA fees are extra? I really can’t afford that. This is what I want, but I’m not paying that price.

Expert: Well, there is another option. We can do a 35 year loan and bring your payments down to $1500 a month.

Buyer: That’s just so much money! I can’t take on that much debt! (I was cheering for her at this point).

Expert, talking privately to the camera: She’s only thinking about the big number here. She can easily afford the monthly payment. That’s what she should be looking at… Whether or not she can afford the monthly payment."

The writer of this post, Lynae from Being Frugal, is absolutely right to be horrified. Most of my first time buyers aren't looking anywhere near the price range described above and even then, I know that as little as $5,000 or $10,000 can put them over the edge. If you're working with a buyer's agent (and hopefully you are) and you feel your agent is pushing you to view or buy properties that are out of your financial comfort zone, you might want to first confront your agent. Be very clear about how much you have been approved for by your lender and/or what you are comfortable borrowing. Just because you qualify for $200,000 doesn't mean you have to buy that much house on your first time out. If, after talking to your agent, you feel like you are still not being heard, it may be time to find a new agent.

And what about "only thinking about the big number"? What else are you supposed to think about? That's why they call it the bottom line, fool. It is absolutely essential to consider HOA fees and property taxes when calculating the monthly payment for a property.

Take property tax. In Knoxville, for example, if your new $100,000 home is only in the county, and you're taxes are roughly $600 per year, that's $50 per month added to your payment. But if your home is in the city as well as the county, you're going to have roughly double that amount, meaning you're going to be adding roughly $100 per month to your payment.

HOA fees , especially for condos, vary widely in our area and what you get for that money also varies widely. I've recently been looking in the $100,000 range with the above-mentioned first time buyer, and HOA fees for those properties range from $50 per month to almost $200 per month. Paying an extra $200 per month, in addition to the property taxes, on a $100,000 home is a pretty big pill to swallow.

As I've said before, a home is one of the biggest investments of your life, so ask as many questions as you need to up front. And educate yourself. The rest of Lynae's post brings up some very good points for first-time homebuyers to ponder before they buy.

As for me, I'm going to continue to watch all of my CSI-like forensics shows after work and let all the forensics people watch the home buying shows.

First Time Homebuyers, Think For Yourselves! fivecentnickel.com

Knoxville Condo Prices Strong

Knoxville has always had a great condo market, thanks to an abundance of empty nesters, relocating retirees, and UT students. Now, the latest quarterly survey by the National Association of Realtors (R) shows that our condo market is still going strong:

"The strongest condo price increases were in Bismarck, N.D., where the fourth quarter price of $125,000 rose 20.8 percent from a year earlier,followed by the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area of Louisiana, at $173,300,up 17.8 percent, and Knoxville, Tenn., where the median condo price of$160,800 rose 10.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006. "

Chalk that up on the "What bubble?" side of the real estate market debate.

Type rest of the post here