Like I'll Have Another out of the gate at The Derby, so was our start to the 2012 real estate year. Then came March. Watching the numbers come in for the month, many of us felt like tearing up our losing tickets. But after March's lackluster performance, we now see April coming on strong! 752 homes sold in Jefferson County during the month of April 2012, which was a 13% increase over the previous year's tally of 664. There are currently just 3,760 single family homes on the market in all of Jefferson County, the lowest it's been in some time. If you're considering the sale of

Even while signs of a real estate recovery are rising up across the nation, we're still a ways off from the high watermark of 2005 when Louisville saw 33% more homes sold than were sold last year. That's quite a drop! Updating your Louisville home's front door is consistently the best home improvement project you can undertake. In years past, it even garnered more than a 100% return on investment. When homeowners are not moving into new homes, they are updating their current homes. According to Remodeling Futures Program at Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, home remodeli

Reports from CoreLogic come out each and every month. I don't always publish the results because it's quite dry and without regular context it's often hard to decipher. The other side of the story is that it presents a credible source that affirms the messages I'm communicating to my readers on LouisvilleHomesBlog.com. So for that reason, I publish the results from time to time. The biggest take-away is that Louisville real estate trails the national trends, primarily in time and scale. We're anywhere from 1-3 years behind what happens nationally. More importantly, when the nation falls

5/3/2012 - April was a strong month for both home sales and improving values here in Louisville, KY. Almost all of the monthly tracked MLS areas, saw signs of life. As you can see from the housing market charts below, it's easy to see at a glance how each area is performing. Looking for comments or questions from you. Thanks for visiting LouisvilleHomesBlog.com! Below you'll find our monthly reports for the following Louisville housing markets. These charts display Louisville home sales and Louisville median home values with a trend-line. This Louisville real estate area map defines th

Is your home a debt, an investment or both? A lot of people refer to debt and mortgage in the same breath when they discuss their Louisville house mortgage. This is kind of amusing when you think about it because a mortgage is a debt with a breath of investment in it. Can it really be referred to as a debt when it is a rock solid investment opportunity as well? Listing Your Debts When you are making a budget and you need to list all your debts, your Louisville house mortgage gets put down as part of the debts. When it is time to list your investments it may not be added. Why? Is it

It takes a different kind of person to be an entreprenuer. Despite an 8% average decease in the South, Kentucky's entrepreneurship rates increased 27th in 2011.The hot news this month comes again on the business front. Back in February we saw Louisville Brings a Lot to the Table with Healthy Business Climate. Looks like we're learning something entreprenuers already knew. From the Kauffman Foundation comes: Kentucky is once again being recognized as a leading state in an important economic development measure. The state tied for the eighth-highest number of new start-up companies in

After a hot start to the year, March came back to Earth. With 620 homes sold in Jefferson County during March 2012, we were one shy of the 2011 total and a few hundred behind the high year of 2006 when 976 homes were sold during the month. With the amazing start we had with January and February I want to curb my enthusiasm and say the March was merely a correction to our trending of an overall better year. With the way my phone is ringing, I would have to say that April should beat last year's 664 homes sold. As inventory decreases, home sellers have a greater opportunity to sell with le

These duplex properties in Clifton gave the owner the opportunity to live on one side and rent out the other. Clifton is a tradition-rich part of Louisville with a broad range of home sizes and shapes. More than a century has past when the first homes were built here, yet we still see a homes merely a decade old filling in a space between its elder siblings. From homes under $100k that likely need some work, to elegant charmers over $300k, Clifton has them all. This Louisville neighborhood is similar in style to The Highlands and also has some of Louisville's best restaurants and loca

4/4/2012 - Big month in a few areas, particularly Areas 7, 8, 20 and 21. To generalize the month, sales were about on par with March 2011 and home prices were mixed depending on area. No big real estate recovery, not just yet. Below you'll find our monthly reports for the following Louisville housing markets. These charts display Louisville home sales and Louisville median home values with a trend-line. This Louisville real estate area map defines the MLS areas. Monthly Reports: Period Ending March 2012 After looking at the data, it appears to me that some of it was entered for the

Now that it’s officially Spring and the weather is starting to bring us all out of hibernation, it may be a good time to put your house on the market if you have been considering it. Also coming out of hibernation are the ants and bugs, which can completely turn off a prospective buyer if noticed in your home. Don’t let ants and other bugs be the ones to move into your home, they're a sure turn-off to potential home buyers. Follow these simple and easy tips before putting your house on the market to ensure you won’t have a bug problem. Expert Tips to Keep Bugs Out Put awa

Finishing the basement of your Louisville home is a less expensive way to add additional living space. Just make sure you do it the right way. As of this writing, there are 6,326 active listings for Single-Family Homes in Louisville, according to our MLS. Of those, 3,717 (58%) have basements. If your home currently has an unfinished basement, I'm sure you've thought about the prospect of finishing it and adding to your home's usable space, right? Before you do, please consider these Top 5 factors when finishing your Louisville basement. 1) Will The Basement Be a Rental Unit? Unli

Home prices near bottom, mortgage rates historically low, number of distressed properties on decline, all signs that the housing recession is ending.National experts are starting to proclaim that the housing crisis will end this year and that 2013 should see healthy improvement. Who, you ask? How about Barron's cover story Ready to Rebound. The piece covers a good number of data points but the one that speaks loudest to my ears is new construction. Home builders put it all on the line and wouldn't do so without cause. (Many Louisville home builders are out of business thanks to this

Wow! Two months in a row of superior home sales activity for Louisville. Is this a welcomed relief or what? The 535 homes sold in February are the most going all the way back to 2008, when the housing recession first hit—604 homes sold during the month of February, 2008. This is very positive news for home sellers but for bargain hunters, your time is growing short! This Louisville real estate market report covers the monthly home sales for the past six years in Jefferson County (Louisville, KY) and is published monthly. It can also be found under Housing Reports for Jefferson

Leaving a vacant home in Louisville up for sale can be very costly but it doesn't have to be. You will still have to pay your taxes, mortgage payments and other expenses. Generally speaking, it is always best to avoid selling a vacant property whenever possible. In the interest of full disclosure, here are some of the added expenses you can expect when selling your vacant Louisville home. 1. Homeowners insurance You will have to let your insurance company know that the home will be left vacant. This will increase the premiums and you may have to pay up to double the cost to keep the h

I was very interested in the results when I began writing "So how much do Louisville real estate agents make?" last year. It had long been my belief that the majority of sales were garnered by a small handful of real estate agents. Running the numbers again this year for 2011, I saw similar results. Keep in mind that these charts show sales volume, not salary. If an agent sold five, $1 million homes that would be $5 million in sales. (That would also be an outstanding year!) But, determining their salary would require estimation. Let see how this year’s tally concluded. These num

It seems ironic that the Home & Garden Show was packed after last week's severe weather, but this year's event seemed more crowded than ever, and there seemed to be more booths as well. In addition to taking in the usual replacement windows, sunrooms, and UK/UofL handbags, I did have a chance to talk with some friends in the flooring industry about the latest trends. There are a multitude of decorative tiles that can be used in a variety of ways, such as this one from Mees Tile and Marble. My first stop was Mees Tile and Marble, where a gorgeous decorative tile medallion caught my eye.

3/5/2012 - We saw a few huge improvements in home sales during February 2012, most notably Areas 2 & 3. Transactions are on the upswing! That's music to many home seller's ears. The counter is that many are further reducing their home's asking price to make these deals happen. We can see it in the change in average home sold values compared to 12 months ago. Even still, this does appear to be a positive situation for the Louisville housing market. Below you'll find our monthly reports for the following Louisville housing markets. These charts display Louisville home sales and Louisville

Great infographic from Active Rain, the largest real estate social network. There's no real local tie in this piece to Louisville but it's interesting to note the interest in rental property investment, which is something that Louisville has very few. Rental rates shall continue to increase in 2012. (click for high resolution image) Here's a link to the entire post that has a great deal of useful info, as well, although it's not in graphic format.

Saving for your Louisville dream home should be just like saving for any other big purchase. Start putting money aside each day. Be proactive!Whenever the time comes to start saving for a holiday it's time to pull out the piggy. Everybody pulls together to scrape up the hidden dimes and nickels from the deep dark depths of the chesterfield. Somebody finds a lone nickel and the cheers start. Is this madness? No this is complete sanity! You see, our family vacation has not been missed yet. Every year it is a new adventure to find money that seemingly isn't there for a luxury and put it to

Affordable housing plays a strong role in how companies view a city's attractiveness.Moving a company headquarters or manufacturing plant is a major decision. Executives weigh the pros and cons across a myriad of factors before arriving at the best choice. State tax codes, amount of skilled/non-skilled labor, proximity to strategic partners, geographic location — each plays a strong role. Let’s see how Louisville stacks up to the competition, and we’ll gain some insight as to why a growing number of high-powered, national companies are choosing Louisville for their company head