5 Reasons to Buy a Home Now
Mar 19, 2009 Residential, Trends/Statistics
Please note that I didn’t say it’s a great time to sell? Homes are certainly being sold—almost 1,200 properties have sold in the first two months of the year here in Louisville—it’s just a tougher market to sell right now. The other side of the coin is that it’s a wonderful time to buy.
Don’t just take my word for it, here are Five Reasons to Buy a Home This Year from the experts at MarketWatch. I’ll bullet point the reasons below, but if you’re considering a move in 2009, you should read the whole piece.
1. Affordability is better than ever
2. You have a large inventory to choose from
3. Builders are offering big discounts
4. Mortgage rates are historically low
5. You can get a federal tax credit
Don’t discount #4 as no one knows what rates will do when the economy does rebound.
Tags: interest rates, MarketWatch
Foreclosures: Builders Lose, Consumers Win
Mar 12, 2009 Home Improvement, Residential
Just a quick post to bring this issue to your attention. I feel like half of my job is battling the largely negative news coming from almost every media outlet on a daily basis. Sure, you can speak to how foreclosures are hurting builders, like the Wall St. Journal does in this piece called Foreclosed Houses Haunt Home Builders. That’s certainly true.
Or, you could talk about how this phenomenon positively affects consumers, who now have a much greater selection, lower home prices and historically low rates.
It’s almost like the media wants our economy to continue to slide with how much they focus on the bad. If more consumers would wake up to the possibilities that exist in today’s housing market, these new transactions would only help to revive our country’s economic activity.
Ok, I’ll stop for today.
Tags: foreclosures, Wall St. Journal
Are Replacement Windows a Wise Home Improvement?
Mar 9, 2009 Home Improvement
Perhaps no home improvement project has more perceived value than installing replacement windows into your home. Is this a well-deserved perception? Like most things the answer is, “It depends.”
The first thing to do is analyze your current situation. How many windows does your house have? How old are they? How many panes of glass do they have?
It may be the case that your current windows, while not at peak performance levels by today’s standards, are still performing well.
According to Consumer Reports:
Replacement windows can save you between 10 and 25 percent per year on heating and cooling if you have single-paned windows.
But because the cost of replacing all the windows in your home can run anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 depending on the number, style and performance of the windows, it’ll often take many years just to recoup their cost.
If you do decide to buy new replacement windows, take into consideration what kind of windows homes in your neighborhood currently have. Vinyl windows are by far the most popular and generally cost a great deal less than clad wood windows. But if your home is located in a more upscale neighborhood, selecting the more attractive clad wood windows makes more sense.
Pella has a new line of fiberglass windows called Impervia that are designed to be more durable than vinyl windows but still be wholly maintenance free. These received a recommendation from Consumer Reports in their latest report.
If you have any questions about your home, feel free to contact me or your Realtor. I’ve also included some statistics from the National Association of Realtors 2008 Cost vs. Value Report below. You can see that replacement windows average between 76%-79% recoup cost nationally.
Tags: Consumer Reports, Home Improvement, Pella, replacement windows
Louisville Professor Gives Housing Market an ‘A’
Mar 9, 2009 News
The CJ published this article on Friday: Local economics expert: Louisville in good shape to ride out recession. I have to say, “Great job!” Not only is this expert’s opinion based in fact, it also is coming from someone outside the real estate market.
First Professor Paul Coomes talks about the strength of our local banks then goes on to clear up a misconception by showing that the bulk of foreclosures are not occurring with average families.
Even though local foreclosures are on the rise, Coomes says 50 to 70 percent belong to real estate investors who bought multiple properties and borrowed way too much. “What we found was that a majority of foreclosures in this market are not to single family homeowners.”
Obviously, the economy is not where we’d like it to be but the housing market in Louisville has little in common with cities most often cited by the mainstream media.
“I would give Louisville an A or A+ in a measure of home value and I think you can get a lot of home in Louisville for your money,” said Coomes.
I have to say, “I agree.”
Tags: Courier-Journal, Paul Coomes
Home Show Comes to Louisville March 6-8
Mar 4, 2009 News
If you don’t have anything to do this weekend you might consider heading out the Kentucky Expo Center for the Trane Appliances Home, Garden & Remodeling Show. They have a large number of exhibits with professionals from all walks of life that can help you with almost any home improvement project. Always a great time!
Tags: home show, louisville ky
February 2009 Home Sales in Louisville, KY
Mar 3, 2009 Trends/Statistics
Speaking plainly, more homes were sold faster in February than the previous month but at lower prices. If you haven’t read Louisville Kentucky Real Estate Review of 2008, I’d love to hear your feedback.
Like always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
February 2009
| AREA | SALES | AVERAGE | DoM |
| 0 Central Downtown District | 3  |
$29,833 |
105  |
| 1 Downtwn/Old&WestLouisville/Shively | 76 |
$36,478 |
78 |
| 2 Butchertown/Highlands/Germantwn | 41 |
$148,840 |
69 |
| 3 Brownsboro/StMatthews | 26 |
$227,448 |
88 |
| 4 Pleasure Rdg/Valley Station | 46 |
$79,446 |
80 |
| 5 Auburndale/Fairdale/Iroquois Park | 40 |
$88,717 |
68 |
| 6 Buechel/Highview/Okolona/FernCreek | 66 |
$124,574 |
60 |
| 7 FernCrk/Hikes Point/Jeffersontown | 63 |
$176,042 |
69 |
| 8 Hurstbourne/Middletwn/Anchrg | 49 |
$246,063 |
92 |
| 9 Anchrg/Lyndn/Prospct/UpRvrRd | 41 |
$268,834 |
92 |
| 11 Bullitt Co. | 44 |
$129,123 |
81 |
| 19 Spencer Co. | 5 |
$93,500 |
79 |
| 20 Oldham Co. – North | 21 |
$296,514 |
127 |
| 21 Oldham Co. – South | 19 |
$186,194 |
94 |
| 30 Shelby Co. | 28 |
$153,559 |
92 |
Source: MetroSearch, Inc. Values are not warranted by LHB.
