A new article in Business First first cites energy efficiency as being "a critical factor" when assessing a homes affordability. The Louisville nonprofit group’s 2008 report notes that the average Louisville gas bill has risen to $134.78 in August 2008 from $38.56 in August 1998. “Louisville and our metro area no longer have the low energy costs of the past decades, yet we live with the legacy of housing construction that relied on low energy costs,” said Cathy Hinko, coalition executive director. “Most of the homes in Louisville were built before insulation b

Did you hear the news? "We're #1! We're #1!" That's the cry coming from PNC as they essentially doubled in size after the purchase of failing National City become final. National City was one of many middle tier institutions who hurt their financial viability by going after risky loans. Now they're paying the ultimate price. Here are the numbers. The National City deal would make PNC the fifth-largest U.S. bank by deposits, $180 billion, and fourth-biggest by branches, roughly 2,700. National City, which entered Kentucky about 20 years ago through acquisitions, has been the sta

Great gig if you can find it. Stephanie Mattingly must have been quite excited when HGTV contacted her to audition for one of their TV shows—"My House Is Worth What?" I have no idea why it took so long for them to pick Louisville. The producers try to show homes in different parts of the country, and Louisville was "one of those cities that we've always wanted to come to," Falcon said. "We were very happy to finally get there." [link] According to the article, the show starts airing today on Insight cable Channel 51.

I read an interesting story on the WSJ today called, Housing Blogs Throw Stones. It seems that many are taking out their real estate frustrations by going online and blasting away at other people's houses... verbally, of course. That's the thing about the Internet; without accountability, many fall victim to their baser instincts. On the other hand, there are those who are using these housing blogs to promote their own property in the hopes that others believe the anonymous posters are sincere. Ahh... life in the digital age.

Forecasting is always a tricky business. From the stock market to fantasy football, the future is, by definition, uncertain. But that doesn't mean we can't throw some data into our logic blender and see what comes out, does it? Earlier this year, Money magazine posted their take on real estate in 2009. But before we go there, let's look at what they said about 2008. In an article published April 11 2007, here's what Money projected for real estate in Louisville, Kentucky for 2008. According to Louisville's MLS system, the median sales price for 2008 so far is $135,900. Compare t

Louisville, Kentucky generally has mild winters but that doesn't mean we should not take advantage of every opportunity to save money on our heating bills. You never know when we'll have another massive snow storm like we had this past year. David, over at My Two Dollars, has a great post that gives us 10 tips to save money this winter. I've posted his first five below and you can also read the entire article on his site. 1. Install a programmable thermostat. You don’t need to heat your house to 70 degrees if no one is home all day, so set it to heat up the house right befor

Home to Homearama in 2006, Beech Spring Farm is another grand, east end neighborhood that caters to homeowners with exquisite tastes. The subdivision is located off Barbour Ln. near Brownsboro Farm, just down Highway 22 from Springhurst and Norton Commons, east of Prospect. This is a great place to consider if you're looking for high-end homes built within the past five years in a neighborhood located inside the Gene Snyder Expressway, so that you're close to shopping, restaurants and transportation. Read More » This post is one in an ongoing series of spotlights on the

Results vary in September as most are down but for a few regions, such as Area 6, which were up big. We can still take some solace in the fact that Louisville is doing better than most of the country. If you have any questions, please contact me. September 2008 AREA SALES AVERAGE DoM 0 Central Downtown District 0 $0 0 1 Downtwn/Old&WestLouisville/Shively 91 $51,212 73 2 Butchertown/Highlands/Germantwn 54 $164,655 55 3 Brownsboro/StMatthews 53 $201,011 69 4 Pleasure Rdg/Valley Station 47 $105,141 9