As we near year's end, thoughts of planning fill many minds here in Louisville. How did we do this year? Will next year be better or worse? How should we change our financial plan? Chris Otts had a piece in the CJ yesterday titled Time to rethink finances? He brings up the idea that gold isn't the only way to hedge investments against the stock market. Planners say clients have been asking about investing in gold because of fears about inflation, given the government's unprecedented borrowing to intervene in financial markets. “Gold is simply a fear investment at this point,” Gil

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy Not necessarily Louisville real estate, but it's great to see Dan Phillips take discarded materials and building useful homes.

Saw this article in the CJ citing the reason for the increased number of Louisville home sales in October. First-time buyers taking advantage of a special tax credit gave sales of existing homes their biggest surge in a decade, raising hopes for a turnaround in the housing market and pleasing Wall Street. Looking specifically at Louisville the increase was substantial. The Greater Louisville Association of Realtors recently reported that its members sold 1,210 homes in October, a 26 percent increase over a year earlier. The median price for homes sold by GLAR members was $133,500, als

A month or two ago a gentleman asked if I was available for an interview. He wrote for Personal Real Estate Investor and was working on an article about real estate investing here in Louisville, KY. At first, I didn't know if I should accept. For starters, I'm not personally a real estate investor and secondly, the vast majority of my clients aren't either. In the end, I decided to answer his questions to the best of my ability and leave the writing up to them. I received my copy of the magazine the other day and was please how it turned out. For Louisville real estate investors, th

Forest Springs (along with Forest Springs North) is a great neighborhood in Louisville's east end off LaGrange Road just outside of the Gene Snyder Expressway, near Rock Springs, Woodmont and Fox Run. Homes here are reasonably priced while still being part of a great community with tennis courts, pool and clubhouse. This subdivision has some beautiful homes and is located in a great part of town where a lot of new development is taking place. Read More » This post is one in an ongoing series of spotlights on the Best Louisville Neighborhoods. If you have a neighborhood that you think des

This article was written by Adrienne Carlson with permission for LouisvilleHomesBlog.com to publish so that you can be better informed in all of your housing decisions here in Louisville, Kentucky. Adrienne regularly writes on the topic of construction management degrees and welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: drienne.carlson83@yahoo.com. According to the FBI, a house, apartment, or condominium is burglarized once every 15 seconds. This results in thousands per hour and untold millions in stolen goods, not to mention the rise in insurance premiums. Don’t be part of

This article was written expressly for LouisvilleHomesBlog.com by Jay Welker with Allgeier Air so that you can be better informed in all of your housing decisions here in Louisville, Kentucky. The movement of homeowners to "go green" by utilizing geothermal heating and cooling is becoming ever more common. However, there is still a large part of the population who doesn’t even know where to begin when it comes to tackling the concept of geothermal. So let’s lay some ground work, peel back the layers of this 21st century question of “To go Geo or not to go Geo?” and see if it is rig

Now that it's law, I thought this information deserved its own post. If you have any questions about how this might apply to buying your next Louisville home, please don't hesitate to contact me. FEATURE Jan 1 – November 30, 2009 Rules as enacted February 2009 December 1 – April 30, 2010 Rules as enacted November 2009 First-time Buyer – Amount of Credit $8000 ($4000 married filing separate) $8000 ($4000 married filing separate) First-time Buyer – Definition for Eligibility May not have had an interest in a principal residence for 3 years prior to purchas

News out of Washington: First-time homebuyers have been getting tax credits of up to $8,000 since January as part of the economic stimulus package. But with that program scheduled to expire at the end of November, the Senate voted 98-0 Wednesday to extend and expand the tax credit to include buyers who already own homes. The House is expected to vote on the bill Thursday. [link] If this passes the House, then all American have the opportunity to get tax credits in 2010. The real estate industry has been pushing to extend and expand the housing tax credit. About 1.4 million first-time

There is a lot of confusion about what constitutes a bedroom in real estate. There are many opinions and even proper definitions. Let's tackle them one at a time. Building Codes Every principality has official building codes. These codes go into great detail and are what inspectors use to verify certification. This is especially important for new construction as the home occupancy certification is needed before the home buyers can legally move in. In all cases, the local building codes are the most authoritative answer as to what constitutes an official bedroom. The following is the of

In all but one of the Jefferson County areas home sales were up in October. That goes against seasonal trends where activity tapers off as we head into the Holidays. Average home sale prices were generally up as well, compared to September. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. October 2009 AREA SALES AVERAGE DoM 0 Central Downtown District 8 $201,431 85 1 Downtwn/Old&WestLouisville/Shively 79 $42,525 57 2 Butchertown/Highlands/Germantwn 84 $181,561 71 3 Brownsboro/StMatthews 7