Last year I wrote a Louisville Kentucky Real Estate Review of 2008 focused primarily on home values. This year, I thought I'd do something a little more fun. I took some time to look through all the big stories of 2009, with an eye on Louisville real estate to see which ones have had the biggest impact. Below you'll see my conclusions. Have a differing opinion? I'd love to hear from you! #1 Home Buyer Tax Credits Get Extended into 2010 This is most certainly the biggest news of the year. Here at LouisvilleHomesBlog.com, I've created the Home Buying Tax Credit FAQ to help answer any que

All good things must come to an end. That's how the saying goes anyway. Today this concept applies to our 40-year, low mortgage interest rates. I've published this chart before, but it bears a repeat visit. Since 1974, interest rates have not been lower than they were in 2009. Many experts believe that rates will rise in 2010. America's #1 Mortgage Broker posted about this on ActiveRain just this week. He believes rates will rise to 6% by March. Here is his reasoning: Mortgage rates have been steadily climbing, from a low of 4.5% around November 27, 2009 to above 5% on December 22,

Of course, real estate agents in Louisville are going to try and project a positive image to our city's housing market. But the numbers don't lie. Last month’s home sales were 67 percent above November 2008. Lisa Stephenson says the high sales mark the continuation of a trend that began in summer. “The last five months of 2009, we say increased sales over 2008,” she says. “So we’ve seen a really great 5 months. That started in July. June was about the same as last year.” [link] Most of this is credited to the tax credits and entry-level portion of our market.

Today, our Louisville weather brings us a crisp 20 degrees on our thermometers. That's chilly! Homeowners should (if they haven't already) give some thought to the heat that could be escaping their homes. Saving 15% on that new sweater for Aunt Sharon is great but if you're paying an extra 15% on your LG&E bill because of heat escaping through cracks in your house, it's all for naught. It seems many look to our government for guidance far too often as some are actually calling for a "cash for caulkers" program. From today's Wall St. Journal: Such unsexy-sounding home improvements can be

For the past 30 years, Hunting Creek has been the standard of luxury homes and condos in Prospect. New neighborhoods, like nearby Sutherland, have come and surpassed it. With the addition of the Hunting Creek Estates section, the battle is on again. There are some amazing homes in this neighborhood! While the two-story traditional is very common to Louisville and can be found in most every neighborhood in the city, the difference here is the setting. Hunting Creek Estates has huge lots and in most cases these lots are incredible. Read More » This post is one in an ongoing series of spot

Back in November I posted the helpful chart from NAR that outlines the changes to the home buyer tax credit that was extended by the Obama administration. And while that's good, it still doesn't address all the questions that people have regarding buying a new Louisville home. So I'm going to try and do my best to answer those questions, FAQ-style. [This information is accurate to the best of my knowledge but is not warranted.] Who is eligible to get the housing tax credits? Previously, the tax credit was only available to first-time homebuyers but now current homeowners may also be e

Just a quick post to let you know that we're up to 39 of Louisville's best neighborhoods over on my real estate Web site. When I add another one next week, that will make 40 neighborhoods spotlighted in 3 years. I'm not always the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but building Best Louisville Neighborhoods was a very good idea. I receive more compliments on it than anything else that I've built online. I'd love to hear your thoughts as well!

There is a lot of great real estate information on Forbe's site. Today we'll look at America's Fastest-Recovering Cities. Louisville comes in at 37th, ahead of Indianapolis (44), Columbus (47), Cincinnati (55), Memphis (69) and Dayton (89) but behind Nashville (19) and Knoxville (32). Lexington did not make the list. Louisville's Sales Rate Rank is 3rd, which is incredible, while our Gross Metropolitan Product is 85th and really drags down our overall ranking. It's also interesting to see that foreclosures in Louisville are only a small percentage of overall sales. Visit their full

Possibly in reaction to a strong October, November numbers were, as expected, down. Following yearly trends, December should also be down as well, but according to many experts, 2010 should show some positive growth. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. November 2009 AREA SALES AVERAGE DoM 0 Central Downtown District 6 $286,000 184 1 Downtwn/Old&WestLouisville/Shively 61 $59,669 71 2 Butchertown/Highlands/Germantwn 79 $178,683 54 3 Brownsboro/StMatthews 52 $198,109 80

I love lists! Can you tell? Some of LHB's most popular posts are from my Top 10 Lists articles. Today, I'm talking about a recently releases Forbes.com list of Best Bang-For-The-Buck Cities for 2009. Of interest to real estate enthusiasts is the full rankings which shows Louisville's strong suit to be low real estate taxes. Forbes puts us at 17th best in the country in that category. Future job forecasts looks pretty good too at 21. Our current unemployment numbers, however, aren't as promising with a ranking of 66. The list only includes the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas.