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Louisville Real Estate News

Dec 30, 2008 News

I started collecting some news links when the site went down so here they are en masse.

• Mortgage rates at 37-year low
  Some folks are going to be kicking themselves when the rates rise and they didn’t take advantage of them.
• Local home sales drop in November
  November was a terrible month for sales. As a whole, 2008 is going to be down as much as 20-30% in total number of properties sold. Please check Louisville Homes Blog for a report on those numbers in January.
• Home bargains can still be found in Louisville
  This shouldn’t be surprising news to anyone watching the market these days.

Tags: home sales, interest rates, Louisville Homes Blog, Louisville Kentucky

Back from the Hack

Dec 29, 2008 News

Well… thanks to my good friend James, we’ve got all the previous Louisville Homes Blog posts back into a new database and are ready to tackle all of Louisville’s 2009 real estate news with a clean slate!

As a precaution I changed my password for this site to something so amazingly crazy, there’s no way a hacker would guess it. I trust you folks, so here it is… please don’t tell anyone.

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In all seriousness, this is a wake-up call for me to update to the newest WordPress each time it comes out. That and backing up my files more than once a year. (Who does that?)

Anyway, we’re back up and ready to go!

Tags: Louisville Homes Blog

Winterize Your Louisville Home

Dec 16, 2008 Home Improvement

I’m certainly no home improvement specialist myself, but I understand the value to prospective buyers of having a property in tip-top shape.

Heading into winter (heck… it’s been frosty here in Louisville for a month now!) here is some great advice that will help you winterize your home, save money and keep your #1 investment in the best possible shape.

Furnace Maintenance

Most of the time, homeowners should hire experts to perform maintenance updates or modfy their HVAC systems. But there are some tasks that any property owner can do. I’ll leave it to you to decide which of these you feel confident tackling.

1. Clean/Repair Air Ducts

It’s not a difficult concept, but cleaning out the air ducts requires the correct equipment. If you have access to a high-powered vacuum, maybe you’re up for the job. Along the way, if you notice any gaps or openings in the ducts, use the appropriate sealant on the gap and then wrap it from the outside.

2. Clean Furnace

This one can be a bit tricker. Make sure to refer to your owner’s manual on the proper ways to perform maintenance on your system. It will usually involve cleaning dust out of several locations, clean/replace any internal filters and lubricating specific moving parts.

3. Replace Main Air Filters

This should be a task you conduct on a regular basis but even still it’s very important. Replacing the air filter in your system regularly will not only improve your home’s air quality but will also extend the life of the overall HVAC system.

Winterize the Rest of Your Home

The following items all deserve some attention heading into winter and cold weather.

Exterior Doors and Windows

Check the caulking around all exterior doors and windows to make sure there is no way for your (expensive) hot air to escape to the outside. Depending on what kind of windows you currently have, it may also be a good idea to install storm windows to increase the amount of insulation in these areas.

Hot Water Heater

Make sure your hot water heater is properly insulated. Home improvement stores will have various options for you if yours isn’t currently wrapped. Heating water is one of the most energy intensive tasks your home undertakes.

Various Items

If you have exposed pipes in the basement, you might want to insulate them before they may become sealed off due to any projects that might hide them, i.e. finishing the basement. Fireplaces are also prime culprits for letting heated air escape your home. Whether your fireplace uses natural gas or is wood burning will determine how you insulate any air gaps you find.

These are just a few of the ways you can help winterize your Louisville home this year. I sincerely hope you have a great Holiday Season this year!

Tags: Home Improvement, winterize

Expert Predicts Major Improvement for Housing in 2009

Dec 12, 2008 News

Now, for every Alexis McGee, there are two or three critics who think that we haven’t seen the bottom of this housing downtrend. Who is Alexis McGee you ask? She’s the president of ForeclosureS.com who has access to a great deal of real estate data and she predicts a major rebound for housing in 2008.

“Recovery is underway. Affordable is back in the housing market,” says Alexis McGee, real estate expert, educator, and president of ForeclosureS.com. “In 2009, housing will not only recover, but we’ll see buyers leap into this market in droves, depleting our housing oversupply, and actually put higher price pressures on the market.”

That’s pretty optimistic but I can’t disagree. If you look at the main reasons why families make the move they are:

• Mortage Rates: Currently at or near historical lows.
• Property Prices: Today lower thanks to two years of price reductions nationally.
• Housing Choices: In most markets inventory is way up!

For some, there are also tax credits from the government, who is making a concerted effort to kick-start our economy. To be fair, there are some negatives like consumer debt and uncertainty in job market going forward.

For McGee, some of her viewpoint must be colored by the foreclosure numbers.

The latest U.S. Foreclosure Index numbers show November REO filings in the state down to 15,978 in November, down 6.55% from October and off nearly 50% from September.

When foreclosure numbers are tapering off, that has to be seen as another positive.

Here in Louisville, Kentucky our situation is similar in nature but far less severe in amount. Our home prices never spiked as high as, let’s say San Diego, so Louisville is not going to fall by 35.6% like their market has been doing recently.

I don’t know about you, but for a real estate professional like myself, it’s certainly nice to hear a national expert speak positively about where Louisville’s housing market is going to go next year.

Tags: 2009, Alexis McGee, Foreclosures.com

Best Louisville Neighborhoods: Saratoga Woods

Dec 11, 2008 Neighborhoods

Saratoga Woods is another great neighborhood in the southern portion of Louisville’s East End. Just down the road from Stone Lakes, Saratoga Woods has a similar feel with lots of rolling hills and a good variety of homes at just a bit lower price point. This neighborhood began in the early 1990s and quickly built out the subdivision. In some respects it’s like the Polo Fields with the hills and age of homes but closer in towards Jeffersontown. If you’re looking for a home in the $225k-$325k range, be sure to check out any homes for sale in Saratoga Woods. Read More »

Tags: best louisville neighborhoods, homes for sale, louisville ky, Saratoga Woods, tre pryor

Best Louisville Neighborhoods: Owl Creek

Dec 10, 2008 Neighborhoods

Owl Creek is an established and prestigeous neighborhood in the heart of Louisville’s East End. This subdivision, located off Dorsey Ln. in Middletown was started about 20 years ago and contains some wonderful, large homes in a scenic setting.

With home values from the upper $200’s to almost $400k, there are some great values in this subdivision. Similar to some properties in nearby Hurstbourne or The Woods of St. Thomas, Owl Creek has a great deal of appeal. Read More »

Tags: best louisville neighborhoods, homes for sale, louisville ky, Owl Creek, tre pryor

Louisville Weathers the Housing Crunch; Beats Cincinnati, Indianapolis

Dec 9, 2008 Residential, Trends/Statistics

My thanks to a reader who thoughtfully sent this in. The Wall St. Journal does certain things very well. One of them is their “handy-dandy” charts. The other is their in-depth analysis. This time with Shrinking Prices, Rising Delinquencies, they only batted .500. This was due in large part to the chart not working properly.

That’s OK, we’ll forgive them because this piece wasn’t hidden behind a subscriber log-in.

So how did we do? Since the housing market peak in the 4th quarter of 2005, the median home price in Louisville, Kentucky is up 3.2%! Now, this isn’t the 4-5% annual appreciation we’re used to seeing in our city but in a housing recession that many are calling the worst of 50 years, I’ll take it!

It’s always helpful to compare data from Louisville with other cities of similar size in our geographic region.

Relative to price at U.S. housing market peak (%)

Nashville, Tennessee 106.6
Knoxville, Tennessee 105.1
Louisville, Kentucky 103.2
Cincinnati, Ohio 99.9
Evansville, Indiana 98.2
Columbus, Ohio 97.8
Indianapolis, Indiana 97.1
Memphis, Tennessee 95.4

Turns out Louisville performs better than some, worse than others.

Louisville’s delinquency rate of 3.30 is less than the national average of 3.86 and the rate of that change also trails the national average, which is a good thing.

Should I Buy?

I’m not going to say that everyone should be buying real estate this year. It’s a complicated decision with many variables. But what I do know is that depending on your personal situation, now is a great time for families looking to move up in overall home value. In this housing market, those families will realize a substantial financial benefit. Here’s why:

“The amount you will likely lose in the sale of your current home will be more than surpassed by the amount you save on the purchase of a more expensive home.”

When you couple that fact with interest rates, assuming you can qualify, which are towards the bottom end of historical lows, making this kind of move in our market is a wise decision.

However, if your personal situation says you need to downsize or make a lateral move, then from a financial perspective, this is not the best time for you to make a move.

Tags: Kentucky, Louisville, median home value, real estate, Wall St. Journal

November 2008 Home Sales in Louisville, KY

Dec 2, 2008 Trends/Statistics

The number of sales is down this month, as expected. Each year as we head into the Holiday season activity dies down then starts back up (slowly) after the New Year. But it’s surprising to see prices up in most of the areas. In particular, Areas 7 and 8 saw solid increases and North Oldham went from an average value of $269,452 to $342,139.

Now, averages fluctuate more erratically when the sample size is low so we can’t put too much stock in these numbers. But it is interesting to see these value increases given the overall downward trend for the year. If you have any questions, please contact me.

November 2008

AREA	SALES	AVERAGE	DoM
0 Central Downtown District	7	$125,400	53
1 Downtwn/Old&WestLouisville/Shively	70	$37,355	69
2 Butchertown/Highlands/Germantwn	31	$182,980	50
3 Brownsboro/StMatthews	31	$285,642	79
4 Pleasure Rdg/Valley Station	37	$92,336	63
5 Auburndale/Fairdale/Iroquois Park	48	$99,268	66
6 Buechel/Highview/Okolona/FernCreek	88	$116,346	78
7 FernCrk/Hikes Point/Jeffersontown	57	$175,456	62
8 Hurstbourne/Middletwn/Anchrg	43	$280,655	99
9 Anchrg/Lyndn/Prospct/UpRvrRd	47	$253,565	72
11 Bullitt Co.	53	$147,775	105
19 Spencer Co.	8	$152,791	140
20 Oldham Co. – North	18	$342,139	114
21 Oldham Co. – South	20	$214,305	69
30 Shelby Co.	15	$147,765	90

Source: MetroSearch, Inc. Values are not warranted by LHB.

Tags: data, home sales, Kentucky, Louisville