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The figures for 2008 won't be out for a couple of weeks yet but I believe they will show about a 30% drop in sales volume for the Knoxville, Tennessee area. However values seem to be holding up pretty well (either that or we have some extremely stubbon sellers here).

I see some good buys but no half price sales anywhere around here that I can find.

Here a link to my blog with the sales figures for the first week of 2009 as reported by our registrar of deed's office.

Jim Lee, CRS, ABR, GRI, ACRE, NAR Certified e-PRO Trainer
*****************************************************************
Visit my blog: www.KnoxvilleTennesseeRealEstateBlog.com
Realty Executives Associates, Knoxville, Tennessee
See all Knoxville area Realtor listings at: www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com
(865) 693-3232, My Personal Toll Free # 1-800-662-2488 ext. 163
mailto:Jim@JimLee.com

Great. What time do want to start?
 

Valerie Rosenblum
F.C.Tucker NWI Realtors
219-241-3585
Valerie@ValerieRosenblum.com
www.ValerieRosenblum.com
 

-----Original Message-----
 

From: "Jim Lee" <RealTalk@RealTown.com>
Subj: RealTalk: What's going on right now in your area? ID00DH75
Date: Tue Jan 6, 2009 11:09 am
Size: 7K
To: "Valerie" <valerie@valerierosenblum.com>
 

Having trouble viewing this message? Please visit: http://www.realtown.com/community/RealTalk/view/00DH75
 

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Survey What's going on right now in your area? Jim Lee Licensed Real Estate Agent Knoxville, TN
Jan 06, 2009
The figures for 2008 wont be out for a couple of weeks yet but I believe they will show about a 30% drop in sales volume for the Knoxville, Tennessee area. However values seem to be holding up pretty well (either that or we have some extremely stubbon sellers here).
I see some good buys but no half price sales anywhere around here that I can find.
Here a link to my blog with the sales figures for the first week of 2009 as reported by our registrar of deeds office.
Jim Lee, CRS, ABR, GRI, ACRE, NAR Certified e-PRO Trainer ***************************************************************** Visit my blog: www.KnoxvilleTennesseeRealEstateBlog.com Realty Executives Associates, Knoxville, Tennessee See all Knoxville area Realtor listings at: www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com (865) 693-3232, My Personal Toll Free # 1-800-662-2488 ext. 163 mailto:Jim@JimLee.com
 

Hi, Jim! Thanks for the report from Knoxville; I'm a native of Morristown. My dream is to sell there in the summer and here in the Tampa Bay area the rest of the year.

I'm in a bedroom community north of Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater and we have seen a lot of foreclosures. It's brought values down 40 percent, even higher in some outlying areas. Just as the boom spread east and north of the beach areas, like the tide it is receding and those forced to sell on the fringes are hit hard. Investors dumped their flips early into the foreclosure market; followed by those who were planning to re-adjust their ARMS and found their house wasn't worth the mortgage anymore. Then came those who pulled too much equity, employees in the housing industry, even some fellow sales associates.

The result, however, is finally affordable prices -- if you can get a loan! The phone started to ring last Monday almost as heavy as in the old days and I'm practically busy. January is typically our best month ("Honey, I am NOT going to spend another winter up here") and there is talk of recovery in the air already. If you ever wanted a home in Florida.... I've sent ecards of my listings to Realtors in Mtown and they say the price/sq ft is less than what they are seeing!

Keep us posted and Go Vols!

Tish Osborne, GRI, ePro, GREEN
Prudential Tropical Realty
Port Richey, FL 34668
Cell: 727-505-7589
Office: 727-849-9400
Fax: 727-841-9866
mail to: posborne@prutropical.com
Web: http://www.FlRealEstateTish.com
Check out my blog! http://www.realtown.com/posborne/blog
 

I;m trying to understand this statement from Jim Lee, CRS, ABR, GRI, ACRE, NAR Certified e-PRO Trainer

"The figures for 2008 wont be out for a couple of weeks yet but I believe they will show about a 30% drop in sales volume for the Knoxville, Tennessee area. However values seem to be holding up pretty well (either that or we have some extremely stubbon sellers here).
I see some good buys but no half price sales anywhere around here that I can find.
Here a link to my blog with the sales figures for the first week of 2009 as reported by our registrar of deeds office".
 

So I guess we are to assume that a 30% drop in VOLUME means that nobody is interested in purchasing Real Estate? Trish claims a 40% drop in the Tampa Bay area. So what does this mean to all of us? Does this mean that consumers won't pay the price stubborn sellers refuse to accept or does this mean that lenders won't take the cheap offers buyers still can't afford? What would cause everybody to be so dispondant about cutting such a bargain of a deal? I just read in a Snooze paper article the other day (Tampa Tribune) "the average home in Tampa Bay sold for $233k in 2005, that same average home sold for $136k TODAY! Wow that's almost half the price in less than 4 years of homeownership! Isn't that a bargain for somebody? So why are the consumers so reluctant to take such a deal when the statistics are right there in black and white? Seems to me if property selling at $233k just a few short years ago, is selling for almost half price today, that a lot of consumers are missing out on the deal of the Century? So I guess if the consumer decides to hold out the only alternative is for the prices to drop, RIGHT? How much of a correction can we stand this time around? Is it going to take more non-representation or mitigation to get the consumer to come to terms with all these bargains? Maybe we need some more strong armed litigation to get everybody to comply? But for some (((unknown))) reason I get the since that nobody knows what anything is worth anymore. What do we professionals (BPOs) have to show for comps? NOTHING! What do the Internet gurus (BPOs) have to show, or should I say Zillow, House Values, Google etc. etc.)? NOTHING! Why can't people just get along and be happy? It seems as if the misery has come upon us (((unawares)))! How can that be? With all the information and education at that scroll of a mouse and we can't figure this out?? Maybe it's a lending problem, maybe it's a little misdirection on the part of all those experts that seem to know better? But how could that be with interest rates at bargain basement rates? When was the last time we had a 30 year mortgage for less than 5%? Try 1970 when that same average home selling today sold for less than $30k!!! So why is the since of urgency at an all time low? Maybe things are not selling, but I bet my RE license that there is a whole lot of REFINANCING going on. But how does refinancing help the recovery? REFINANCING doesn't jump start a credit poor economy. It just massges what the affordable can afford. We have a lot of displacement which means a lot of BAD CREDIT WORTHY consumers out there and no place to go! Maybe the new guy on the block can throw more MONEY at the problem, it worked for FDR why not OBAMA? What we need are more Government jobs more contributions to pay for it and a whole lot of INFLATION of the Money Supply. More hope more change and everything remains the same. Maybe we misplaced our hope for change. I'll take my God and Gun you can keep your change! This economy looks more like a Cold Freeze and less like a Global Warming issue! Just the other day the Power Company got their all new and imporved rate hike of 25%. Maybe we should all start a drip email campaign to those folks for bargains! With all this money floating around out there a billion here a trillion there somebody has to have some affordable credit to dig a deeper hole. Right??

Hi Tish I agree that forclosures are taking stock and there are approximately 100 forclosures a month now. With low interest rates and investor interest January is gearing up in Sacramento for sales. Also short sales seem to be really gearing up and there is an immense amount of interest from investors. REPP REALTY Steve Repp-S R E S 2322 Butano Drive, Suite 109 Sacramento, California, 95825 (916) 216-2054 Cellular (916) 452-2054 Office http://www.califoriagoldrealestate.com

This is a great forum. In Southwest Louisiana, the story hasn't been as dreary as an apparent reward for having to go through all of the recent hurricanes. After Rita and Katrina a few years ago, the remaining inventory had a healthy jump in closing prices. I say healthy because it wasn't a market-defying jump. Sales prices went up roughly 15%. In the few years since, sales prices have slowly decreased to be back on the steady 3-4% growth pace of the years prior to the storms. The unique aspects of the Southern Louisiana recovery economy have allowed us to weather (pardon the pun) the current downturn fairly well. This also completes my last assignment for my EPro certification. I wish you all well in 2009!

Adam M Benoit

Flavin Realty, Administrator

MailTo:abenoit@flavinrealty.com

Since Las Vegas is so high in forclosures, a lot of agents are trying to become reo listing agents. I was on the fence about buying this product that gives you a list of reo banks that handle assets and bpo's. Has anyone heard of this product? Is it worth the money?

Hi Jim,

Thank for starting this timely discussion. In Jacksonville, FL. we are getting mixed signals. November was the worst month of the year, but Decmebre had a 20% increase in closed deals. ALso, December 2008 had the same number of closings as December 2007. Maybe the bleeding is stopping, but until it is consistent over several months, I am not going to get excited. To me the problem is still simple, nobody wants to get on a sinking ship. As long as prices continue to decline, selling will be hard. Only the obvious deals are selling. Also contributing is most people lost any equity in their current home that they needed to buy a home, and now that you actually need money to put down on a home, this creates a double whammy for potential move up customers. I have not looked at all my closings for 2008, but off hand, I think 90%+ were first time buyers, or people who did not have a home to sell because they have been renting for a few years. I think first time buyers and true investors (not speculators) are going to be the best bet for 2009, and then hopefully the market will be shifting upwards in 2010.