This article was written by Richard Soto with permission for LouisvilleHomesBlog.com to publish so that you can be better informed in all of your housing decisions here in Louisville, Kentucky. Richard is a Dallas real estate broker with offices serving the Houston real estate and San Antonio real estate markets. Home staging can take your ordinary, ho-hum home and instantly make it feel larger, more spacious, warmer, brighter, more cheerful and more welcoming. It may be hard to believe that simple home staging can do all that, but it's true! Often times, it is as much about your fee

It appears that while home values were down more than expected for 2009 the number of sales increased over 2008. Keep in mind that the following data is from an AP story considering the country as a whole. Still, prices plunged by more than 12 percent last year - the sharpest fall since the Great Depression. The price drop for 2009 - to a median of $173,500 - showed the housing market remains too weak to help fuel a sustained economic recovery. Total sales for 2009 were nearly 5.2 million, up about 5 percent from 2008. As we wrote earlier this month about real estate in Louisville, Kentu

This Briar Hill home in Oldham County is Energy Star certified and it is currently for sale. I think it's safe to say that Green is the new Black and that's not likely to change. But many green products are very costly and their benefit to the environment is relatively small. So, how do we decide which ones make the most sense? Leigh A. Poltrock is an attorney in Pittsburgh who published a piece called Going Green Without Going Broke. It's directed at people thinking about incorporating green building practices and products into their new home. There's a myriad of government programs

The advertisement you see above is one that the National Association of Realtors in putting in a number of publications lately. Their intent is to make sure that people are aware that now is a good time for them to out house hunting. I don't have a problem with their intent but I believe their execution is very disappointing. As a real estate professional, I know the many reasons that now truly is a good time for certain consumers to be house shopping. Chief among them are, 1) the historically low interest rates, 2) the never before seen tax credits from the government, 3) the reduced h

Graymoor-Devondale is an unassuming neighborhood in an amazing part of town. Close to shopping, schools, the expressway and just minutes from Downtown, this neighborhood really does have it all. Just north of Lyndon, Graymoor-Devondale is the merger of two previously separate neighborhoods. Also nearby are the great subdivisions of Northfield and the Woods of St. Thomas. 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 deserves coverage, please contact us.

Forgot to post this earlier, but if you don't have anything going on this weekend, you might want to visit the Louisville Build, Renovate and Landscape Expo being held at the Convention Center. They'll have a large number of exhibits and experts on hand to answer any questions you might have. There's another, larger event taking place in March as well.

At the turn of every year, we like to look back and reflect on the year past. Here at Louisville Homes Blog, we're no different. But it's also important to look forward and see how to best take advantage on the real estate market for your own situation. Predicting the future is always a tricky task but there are some very bright minds at the National Association of Realtors (NAR) who make it their job to study the data. Now, this data isn't specific to Louisville, KY but we can still learn a few things from it. Here are some of the high points from a recently published NAR article. N

I've got another post on deck, but before we look forward I wanted to highlight some data I just found about Louisville's 3rd Quarter of 2009 in real estate. The first table shows total units for Greater Louisville, Region 3 of Kentucky. # SOLD 3Q 2009 # SOLD 3Q 2008 # SOLD % 3,519 2,993 17.57% As you can see, that's a pretty big jump; higher than many projected. Which brings us to the second table. Why was the increase that large? Probably because prices dropped so much. Median Price 3Q 2009 Median Price 3Q 2008 Median Price % $136,800 $

Are you looking for waterfront apartments in Louisville? Beware a Craigslist scam trying to prey on you. When in doubt, contact a professional.

Numbers are down for December, as expected, especially after a stronger than normal November. But maybe not as down as one might have guessed. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. December 2009 AREA SALES AVERAGE DoM 0 Central Downtown District 6 $135,721 25 1 Downtwn/Old&WestLouisville/Shively 74 $46,566 77 2 Butchertown/Highlands/Germantwn 68 $178,766 76 3 Brownsboro/StMatthews 37 $244,747 82 4 Pleasure Rdg/Valley Station 52 $102,138 67 5 Auburnda