Homes Around Nashville

Listing at Spence Enclave

2010-06-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

Seller to help with closing costs! Leaving the refrigerator and other appliances. This home is a must see!

What buyers are looking for, and what sellers can do to attract them!

2010-03-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

What Sellers Can Do To Attract Buyers This Spring

The local real estate market is buzzing with activity. Spring is in the air. Right now is one of the busiest times for home sales. This year the tax credits for first-time home buyers ($8,000) and repeat buyers ($6,500) have brought out buyers intending to sign purchase contracts by April 30, 2010. Also, affordably low interest rates have increased buying power. That's why well-positioned properties are moving quickly.

If you've been waiting to put your home on the market, or are thinking about selling, now is the time. In this market, to bring serious buyers into your home, you need to be prepared. Here are some key points to remember if you want to take advantage of today's housing market.

Buyers Know Price
There is no beating around the bush. Buyers are savvy and know the price points in our local market. If your home is in the buyer's price range -- and priced correctly for its location, amenities and condition -- your home will attract attention. If it's not priced right, buyers will notice immediately and move on. Additionally, not pricing correctly could help sell your home's competition faster. Rely on us, your real estate professionals, to help you arrive at the optimum price that will get your home sold quickly for the best price.

Move-In Condition
Stage your home to look magazine-perfect and your home will draw buyers in. Take the time to declutter, organize and tastefully set up each room. Comparison shoppers will reward you with interest and offers. Your hard work also will be on display in online photos that entice buyers to drop their mouse and take an in-person look at your home. A well-maintained home will showcase itself in online property sites and will help us get it sold.

Flexibility
First-time buyers often have few constraints on their offer, because they don't have a home to sell. Be flexible to allow any serious buyer to settle/close on your home earlier or later than you anticipated, if the right offer comes up. Your flexibility could mean the difference between a sale and no sale. We will help you negotiate the best terms to keep your buyer interested.

Extra Incentive
You've got the right price, your home is in great condition and staged to sell. You've got the flexibility to accept pretty much any move-in date. Now what? If there is a buyer who has visited two times, but hasn't made an offer, one innovative strategy is to consider approaching the buyer with a reverse offer -- an offer to buy your property that originates from you, the seller. The technique can get negotiations and counteroffers started in the right situation. In this case, you may want to throw in a sweetener such as the swing set in the backyard or the patio furniture.

Maybe you have another item of value that you don't want to move that could help sway the buyer to purchase your home. If you don't want to give an item, perhaps you can offer a specific amount to be credited at closing without lowering the selling price. Consult with us for the best strategy to win over a buyer for your home.

Timing Is Everything
The time is right for selling your home, and buyers are out there shopping. Interest rates are near historical lows and tax incentives like we've never seen are available to first-time and move-up buyers. (As a seller you can benefit too if you sign a contract to buy your next home before April 30, 2010 and close by June 30.) If you are interested in a personal consultation to see what your home is worth, please give us a call. We'd love to meet with you and discuss your home.

Tennessee ranks No. 5 for business climate - Nashville Business Journal:

2009-11-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

Tennessee ranks No. 5 for business climate - Nashville Business Journal:

Nashville home sales climb first time in three years - Nashville Business Journal:

2009-11-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

Nashville home sales climb first time in three years - Nashville Business Journal:

June New Home Sales Rise 11 percent

2009-07-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

June new home sales rise 11 percent

By ALAN ZIBEL

WASHINGTON – New home sales in June posted the fastest increase in more than eight years as buyers took advantage of bargain prices, low interest rates and a federal tax credit for first-time homeowners.

While home prices are still falling, the figures released Monday were another sign the housing market is finally bouncing back. Earlier this month, the government reported that new home construction rose to the highest level since last fall. And data out last week showed home resales rose almost 4 percent in June, the third straight monthly increase.

"The worst of the housing recession ... is now behind us," said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities. "We're turning the corner toward increased activity in housing."

New home sales rose 11 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, from an upwardly revised May rate of 346,000, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

Shares of big homebuilders soared on the news, with Beazer Homes USA up by more than 13 percent and Hovnanian Enterprises rising 8 percent in afternoon trading. But with home prices still falling, these companies won't be making much money anytime soon.

The median sales price of $206,200 was down 12 percent from $234,300 a year earlier and off nearly 6 percent from $219,000 in May.

In addition to lower prices, buyers are rushing to tax advantage of a federal tax credit that covers 10 percent of the home price or up to $8,000 for first-time buyers. Home sales need to be completed by the end of November for buyers to take advantage.

"The window of opportunity is closing," said Bernard Markstein, senior economist for the National Association of Home Builders.

June's results were the strongest sales pace since November 2008 and exceeded the forecasts of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who expected a pace of 360,000 units. The last time sales rose so dramatically was in December 2000.

There were 281,000 new homes for sale at the end of June, down more than 4 percent from May. At the current sales pace, that represents 8.8 months of supply — the lowest level since October 2007. If that number falls to just over 6 months, analysts say, builders will feel more comfortable ramping up construction.

Fallout from the housing crisis has played a central role in the U.S. recession, now the longest since World War II. Foreclosures have spiked, homebuilders have slashed construction, and financial companies have lost billions.

But it will still be a while before homebuilders turn into an engine for the economic recovery. Construction levels are still weak because builders still have too many unsold homes sitting vacant.

Realtors See Better Times Really Close/Already Here

2009-07-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

6 months from now...

Current chart....

Realtors See Better Times Really Close/Already Here

From NAR: http://www.realtor.org/research/economists_outlook/commentaries/rci_hilights0509

The table shows a recovery in confidence about both the current market and the expected outlook in recent months. A score of less than 50 indicates relatively poor market conditions; the current score of 33.5 for Single Family homes is clearly reflective of current market conditions, and the score of 45 shows continued concern in terms of the market outlook. However, overall confidence for the single family market outlook is improving. Increases in confidence are also apparent for townhouses and condos, but to a significantly lesser degree. The data in graph form are portrayed below. The reason for a weak condo market outlook appears to be due to stringent requirements for condo loans.

First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

2009-05-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

FAQ's about the $8,000 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit.

Here are some answers:

What is the definition of a first-time home buyer? You are considered a first-time homebuyer if:- You purchased your main home located in the United States after April 8, 2008, and before December 1, 2009.- You (and your spouse if married) did not own any other main home during the 3-year period ending on the date of purchase.

Do I have to pay the homebuyer tax credit back? How much is the credit for? $7,500 or $8,000?It depends. For homes purchased in 2008, the $7,500 credit (or 10% of purchase price, if less) operates much like an interest-free loan. You generally can repay it equal installments over a 15-year period unless you move out or sell the home earlier than that. The maximum credit is reduced to $3,750 for married individuals filing separately.

For homes purchased in 2009, you must repay the $8,000 credit (or 10% of purchase price, if less) only if the home ceases to be your main home within the 36-month period beginning on the purchase date. The maximum credit is reduced to $4,000 for married individuals filing separately.

What is the definition of main home? Does a condo count? How about an RV? Your main home is the one you live in most of the time. It can be a house, houseboat, housetrailer, cooperative apartment, condominium, or other type of residence.

What if I don’t owe or pay any income taxes? This is a refundable tax credit, which means that even if you don’t owe any taxes, you will receive the credit amount via check or other means. For example, if before this credit you had a tax liability of $5,000 and withheld $4,000, you would owe the IRS $1,000. If you qualify and claim a $8,000 tax credit, you would now receive $7,000.

What are the income restrictions? The amount of the credit begins to gradually phase out for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is more than $75,000, or $150,000 for joint filers. It is completely phased out when your AGI is $90,000, or $170,000 for joint filers.
Can I just buy a home from a relative and pocket the $8,000?You don’t qualify for the tax credit if you bought the house from a “related person.” According to the IRS, a related person includes:
Your spouse, ancestors (parents, grandparents, etc.), or lineal descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.).

A corporation in which you directly or indirectly own more than 50% in value of the outstanding stock of the corporation.

A partnership in which you directly or indirectly own more than 50% of the capital interest or profits interest.

How do they determine the purchase date as applied to the cutoff dates? If you bought an existing home, the date of purchase is your closing date, not the day that you sign a purchase contract or enter escrow. If you constructed a new home, you are treated as having purchased it on the date you first occupied it. (Seems like some wiggle-room here.)

What IRS Form Do I Have To Fill Out? Can I File For 2008 or 2009 Tax Years? That would be the new revised version of IRS Form 5405 (where most of this information is from), which you fill out and attach to Form 1040. Any updated tax preparation software should be able to handle this. If you already bought your house in 2009, you can file either on your 2008 or 2009 tax returns. (Why not get it now?)

What if two unmarried people buy a house together? If two or more unmarried individuals buy a main home, they can allocate the credit among the individual owners using any “reasonable” method. The total amount allocated cannot exceed the smaller of $7,500 ($8,000 if you purchased your home in 2009) or 10% of the purchase price. A “reasonable” method is any method that does not allocate all or a part of the credit to a co-owner who is not eligible to claim that part of the credit.

I am not a U.S. citizen. Can I still claim the tax credit? If you are a resident alien according to IRS Pub 519 and satisfy all the other requirements, then yes you can claim the credit. Nonresident aliens are not eligible.

New Listing! Lake Chateau, Hermitage

2009-04-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

CHECK OUT OUR NEW LISTING AT 127 LAKE CHATEAU! LISTED AT $139,900, THIS 2 BR/2 BA HOME HAS TONS OF UPGRADES. CALL US TODAY FOR DETAILS AND TO SCHEDULE A SHOWING!

BILL AND CYNDY BERKLEY

615-376-4500

Nashville Top Relocation

2008-09-13T11:40:00.001-07:00

Nashville Climbs to the Top of America’s Hottest Cities

Expansion Management, a monthly business magazine for executives of companies actively looking for a place to expand or relocate their facilities within the next one to three years, has released its 7th annual "America's 50 Hottest Cities" ranking, to be published in its upcoming January 2005 issue.

Topping this year's list is the Nashville metro area, followed by Atlanta, Kansas City, Charlotte and Indianapolis. Rounding out the Top 10 are Phoenix, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Dallas-Fort Worth and Jacksonville.

Last year, Atlanta was ranked No. 1 and Nashville was ranked No. 2.

Texas has five metros on the list, while South Carolina had four cities. Five states — Alabama, Florida, New York, Virginia and Tennessee — each had three cities.

“Unlike the other rankings we do each year, which are based upon hard economic and demographic data, the Hot Cities poll attempts to measure the perceptions of professional site location consultants, whose business it is to help companies select the best locations for future facility expansions,” said Bill King, chief editor of Expansion Management.

In order to find out which are today's hottest cities for business expansion, Expansion Management surveyed more than 80 of the industry's most prominent site location consultants in order to find out which cities their clients find most attractive when it comes to actually selecting an expansion or relocation site — and why these cities are more appealing than the others.

The consultants, whose identities remain confidential, were asked to list their top city choices for relocating and expanding manufacturing companies, taking into consideration such factors as the business climate, work force quality, operating costs, incentive programs, and the ease of working with local political and economic development officials.

"Some cities are well-prepared to attract and retain businesses," said Ken Krizner, managing editor of Expansion Management. "They have logistical advantages, a high quality of life, available work force, and a favorable tax and political climate. These 50 Hottest Cities have a built-in advantage when companies look to site a new manufacturing or distribution facility, or headquarters operation."

Expansion Management is mailed to more than 45,000 CEOs, vice presidents, directors and other officers of companies that have indicated they are considering expanding into new geographic areas.

Expansion Management is a monthly magazine published by Penton Media (www.penton.com), a diversified business-to-business media company that provides high-quality content and integrated marketing solutions to several industries, including: economic development/government/compliance; enterprise IT/business technology; aviation; design/engineering; electronics; food/retail; hospitality; manufacturing; mechanical systems/construction; health/nutrition and natural and organic products; and supply chain. Founded in 1892, Penton produces market-focused magazines, trade shows, conferences and online media, and provides a broad range of custom media and direct marketing solutions for business-to-business customers worldwide.

America’s 50 Hottest Cities (2005):

1. Nashville, Tenn.
2. Atlanta, Ga.
3. Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.
4. Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C. (tie)
Indianapolis, Ind. (tie)
6. Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.
7. Albuquerque, N.M.
8. Oklahoma City, Okla.
9. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
10. Jacksonville, Fla.
11. San Antonio, Texas
12. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.
13. Richmond-Petersburg, Va.
14. Knoxville, Tenn.
15. Birmingham, Ala.
16. Memphis, Tenn.-Ark.-Miss.
17. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.
18. Colorado Springs, Colo.
19. Tulsa, Okla.
20. Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, Va.-N.C. 21. Columbia, S.C.
22. Tucson, Ariz.
23. Pittsburgh, Pa.
24. Reno, Nev.
25. Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, S.C.
26. Des Moines, Iowa (tie)
Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah (tie)
28. Hattiesburg, Miss.
29. Chicago, Ill. (tie)
Roanoke, Va. (tie)
31. Huntsville, Ala.
32. Longview-Marshall, Texas
33. Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.
34. Houston, Texas
35. Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, Ohio
36. Augusta-Aiken, Ga.-S.C.
37. Richland-Kennewick-Pasco, Wash.
38. Montgomery, Ala.
39. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.
40. Baltimore, Md.
41. Charleston-North Charleston, S.C.
42. Syracuse, N.Y.
43. Austin-San Marcos, Texas
44. Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y. (tie)
Sumter, S.C. (tie)
46. Omaha, Neb.-Iowa
47. Lexington, Ky.
48. Little Rock-North Little Rock, Ark.
49. Miami-Dade, Fla.
50. Rochester, N.Y.

NEW LISTING IN THE HEART OF GREEN HILLS!

2008-08-30T12:44:00.001-07:00

GIVE US A CALL TODAY TO SEE THIS BEAUTIFUL CONDO IN THE HEART OF GREEN HILLS! WALKING DISTANCE TO THE NEW HILL CENTER AND OTHER SHOPPING, FOOD AND FUN! THIS CONDO FEATURES FABULOUS UPGRADES INCLUDING GRANITE, HARDWOODS AND A PRIVATE PATIO.

Welcome to Your New Home!

2008-07-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

First Offer

2008-06-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Evaluating the First Offer

Your dining room table is the scene of high drama. Your home has been listed for sale for six weeks, and finally, the first offer has come in. You are meeting with the agents, and are very excited until they mention the price--it is a lot less than you expected.

Before you feel offended, however, remember that the first offer is often just the beginning of a negotiating process. Your agent can help you weigh the good and bad points, evaluating the price in relationship to the terms or conditions of the sale. Sometimes an offer with a low price can look quite attractive once you understand all of the terms.

If you are willing to make some compromises, the buyers may accept a counter offer that will give you more money. A lower price from highly qualified buyers may be better than one from people who may have difficulties with financing. Keep in mind that your first negotiated price is often your best price!

Location, Location, Location

2008-06-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

The Benefits of a Good Location

One primary and irreplaceable feature that influences a home's appeal is its location. Desirable homes are often situated in beautiful geographical settings, with convenient access to jobs, shops and transportation. In preferred locations, homes hold their value over time, even as real estate markets in other, less popular vicinities show evidence of abating.

Some of the most valuable and exquisite homes in America are located in areas that are associated with breathtaking views, fresh air, and enjoyable leisure activities. In such locations, property values tend to remain at a premium because of the fact that there is only a limited amount of precious land, and there is easy access to the pleasures and necessities of life. Existing homes that are well maintained and situated in exceptional natural surroundings often sell very quickly, because people eager to move into the area keep an eye on the listings. There is always competition for homes where the local supply does not accommodate the public demand.

Give us a call today if we can help you find that PERFECT location.

The Homes Around Nashville Team

Realty Executives Fine Homes

615-376-4500

615-566-3712

Curb appeal

2008-06-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Curb Appeal Takes Starring Role in Competitive Market Updating Windows and Doors is a Must in a House Exterior Makeover

(ARA) – Real estate may be about location, location, location, but it's also about looks. Curb appeal is taking on a bigger role in today's housing market. With the number of available homes for sale growing each day, buyers can afford to be choosy and consider only houses that show well from the street. That means sellers now have just a few seconds to make a first impression, capture interest and draw buyers inside.

Confirming just how important curb appeal is to hooking new owners, JELD-WEN, a leading window and door manufacturer, discovered in a recent survey of real estate agents that 82 percent have had potential buyers decline to look at the interior of a home based on the exterior appearance.

“In today's competitive market, buyers want upgrades, like windows and doors, that create visual appeal,” says Elizabeth Souders, product marketing manager for JELD-WEN. “A home must present itself favorably in a quick snapshot. The real estate agent survey shows that without strong curb appeal, buyers might not even consider looking inside the home.”

Upgrading curb appeal is proving to be a good investment when selling a home. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), window and door projects mostly pay for themselves at closing. Typically, homeowners can expect between an 81 to 88 percent return on window upgrades, the NAR said.

Top Five Curb Appeal Tips

In addition to obvious touches like a new coat of paint or fixing cracks in the pavement, updating windows and doors is an ideal first step in boosting a home's image. Whether owners are listing a home for sale, or simply want to increase their home's stature in the neighborhood, JELD-WEN suggests these five tips to increasing curb appeal:

Stay true to style: Upgrades should fit in with a home's architectural style. For example, JELD-WEN says contemporary homes call for windows and doors with clean lines and simple profiles, while traditional homes such as Craftsmans or Colonials are better matched with windows and doors featuring appropriate divided lite designs.

Add details: Custom features are a great way to achieve one-of-a-kind looks that stand out. Adding a doorknocker, speakeasy, decorative glass or metal accents to an upgraded front door can give an Old World home a heightened level of charm to catch a buyer's eye. New house numbers and porch lights also provide a fresh look for entry areas.

Remember the garage: The most prominent exterior feature in many homes is the garage door, so this upgrade goes a long way toward elevating curb appeal. JELD-WEN is seeing many homeowners ordering garage doors complete with window inserts, metal accents and hardware to match the main entry door for a coordinated appearance.

Dress the yard: Make sure the house is the first thing potential buyers see, not overgrown hedges or dead grass. Hire a gardener to spruce up the landscaping and add colorful touches like seasonal flowers, decorative rocks or bubbly water fountains. Shaping bushes and curving lawn borders can shake up a tired front yard.

Coordinate color: Color, when done right, sells. Doors and windows give homeowners ideal opportunities to infuse color into their curb appeal without having to paint.

Current Real Estate Rates

2008-05-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

Real estate rates up overnight
30-year fixed rate at 5.85%; 10-year Treasury yield at 3.92%

Long-term mortgage interest rates increased Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 3.92 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.85 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate gained to 5.42 percent. Meanwhile, the 1-year adjustable rate increased to 5.9 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield edged up to 4.64 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.

In other economic news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 68.72 points, or 0.55 percent, finishing at 12,548.35. The Nasdaq rose 36.57 points, or 1.5 percent, closing at 2,481.24.

Nashville Real estate /rates

2008-05-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Long-term mortgage interest rates increased Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 3.81 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.74 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate gained to 5.31 percent. Meanwhile, the 1-year adjustable rate fell to 5.87 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield edged up to 4.54 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.
In other economic news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 227.49 points, or 1.77 percent, finishing at 12,601.19. The Nasdaq lost 43.99 points, or 1.77 percent, closing at 2,492.26.

Now is a great time to buy real estate in Nashville, TN. If you have any questions regarding the Nashville real estate market, please give a call at 615-376-4500 or send us an email at jennifer@homesaroundnashville.com.

Costly Home Seller mistakes to AVOID

2008-05-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

To maximize your sale profit, here are the key costly home seller mistakes to avoid:

1 – DON'T HAVE A STRONG REASON FOR SELLING. As experienced real estate sales agents know, the most difficult home sellers are those who are not highly motivated to sell. Their attitude is, "I'll sell my home if I can get my price and terms."

These homes are often overpriced, wasting the time of the sellers and local realty agents. After a few weeks, local realty agents and their buyers quickly learn about these non-motivated sellers and avoid showing those residences.

But motivated sellers usually have strong sales reasons, such as moving to a retirement home, job relocation, birth or death in the family, purchase of another house or condo, divorce, unemployment, pending foreclosure, illness, or other strong reason to sell.

To avoid wasting time, savvy home buyers and their realty agents often ask, "Why is the seller selling?" If there is no strong motivation signal, such as a realistic asking price, buyers and agents won't even look at the home.

2 – SPEND CONSIDERABLE TIME AND MONEY RENOVATING YOUR HOME BEFORE SELLING. Another costly mistake of many home sellers is to make major home renovations shortly before selling. Such expenditures are usually a waste of money, rarely returning even $1 in increased market value for each $1 spent on improvements.

To illustrate, if your kitchen and bathrooms are outdated, spending thousands of dollars to bring them up to today's "model home" standards often results in little or no increased market value. Worse, the inconvenience of remodeling your kitchen and bathrooms is an experience most homeowners dread.
The only time it pays to renovate kitchens and bathrooms occurs if you plan to stay in your home at least five years to enjoy the improvements.

A far more profitable alternative is to thoroughly paint and fix-up your home to prepare it for sale. Paint is, by far, the most profitable improvement, often adding thousands of dollars to market value for a small expenditure of a few hundred dollars. Additional profitable but inexpensive home improvements include new carpets and flooring, new light fixtures, complete cleaning and repairing, and minor landscaping improvements.

3 – FAIL TO HAVE YOUR HOME PROFESSIONALLY INSPECTED BEFORE PUTTING IT ON THE MARKET.

The third costly mistake that most home sellers make is failing to have their residences professionally inspected before putting it on the market for sale.

The first inspection should be by a professional home inspector. The cost of about $350 is money well spent. Be sure to accompany your inspector to discuss any defects discovered. Home sellers often decide not to repair defects but disclose them to buyers and give a repair credit, if necessary.

Personally, I prefer home inspectors who belong to the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), primarily because of their tough membership requirements such as experience, examinations, and continuing education. Local ASHI members can be found at http://www.ashi.org/ or phone 1-800-743-2744.

Your professional home inspector will also recommend additional or required pre-sale inspections, such as for termites, radon, building code compliance and energy efficiency. By having these pre-sale inspections, sellers can decide whether (1) to make recommended repairs, (2) give the buyer a repair credit (such as for part of the cost of a new roof), or (3) disclose the defect in writing, but let the buyer fix it.

4 – TRY TO SELL YOUR HOME ALONE WITHOUT FIRST INTERVIEWING AT LEAST THREE SUCCESSFUL LOCAL REAL ESTATE AGENTS.

The fourth major mistake many home sellers make is advertising their home "for sale by owner" (FSBO), called a "fizzbo," before interviewing at least three successful realty agents who sell homes in the vicinity.

Each agent's listing presentation should include explaining all the locally required home sale contracts and disclosures, as well as a comparative market analysis (CMA) form. The valuable CMA shows recent sales prices of comparable nearby homes, asking prices of similar neighborhood homes listed for sale (your competition), and asking prices of recently expired (usually overpriced) listings.

The agents you interview won't mind spending an hour or two showing you their listing presentation, such as explaining access to the local multiple listing service (MLS) and the Internet, even if you tell them you are considering selling your home alone to save the sales commission.

The reason is most FSBO sellers fail and, within 30 to 60 days, decide to list with a professional agent. Savvy agents who were already interviewed know they are likely to get the listing.

Approximately 80 percent of homes are sold with the help of a realty agent. Of the other 20 percent, many are sales to relatives and friends who don't require a professional agent's marketing services.

5 – OVERPRICE OR UNDERPRICE YOUR HOME. The fifth costly mistake many home sellers make is (a) pricing their home too high (most FSBOs do this), or (b) under pricing their home, leaving thousands of profit dollars on the table.

However, as a smart home seller who carefully prepared to maximize your sale profit, you won't make that error. By interviewing at least three successful local real estate agents, and comparing their CMAs and each agent's expert opinion of your home's market value, you will correctly set the asking price.

Some home sellers think a better alternative to determine the market value of their home is to obtain a professional appraisal report, usually costing at least $300.

While this approach can be valuable, especially if the home is unique without nearby recent comparable home sales, most appraisers work on past recorded sales price information rather than current up-to-date sales price trends. The result can be an inaccurate too conservative or too optimistic home market value appraisal.
SUMMARY: A successful home sale involves doing the right things right, such as preparing your home for sale by cleaning, painting, and repairing, and avoiding the five most costly mistakes explained above.

Nashville Inventory in March

2008-04-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

HOME SALES DECREASE; PRICES RISE IN MARCH

There were 2,227 home closings reported for the month of March, according to figures provided by the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors®. This represents a decrease of 28.7 percent from the 3,126 closings reported for the same period last year.

Numbers for the first quarter were 5,763 closings, down 27.8 percent from the 7,990 closings during the first quarter of 2007. "The number of closings is down significantly compared to last year, but the fact that home prices are rising is a good sign that the Greater Nashville market remains stable even in this time of market transition," said Mandy Wachtler, 2008 President of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.

"In some parts of the country, both closings and prices are down by significant percentages. When you take that into consideration, the real estate market in Greater Nashville is doing better than many cities and regions. And, there continues to be a lot of showing activity, which may result in more closings soon."

There were 2,308 sales pending at the end of March, compared with 3,218 sales that were pending at the same time last year. The median residential price during March was $178,388 and for a condominium it was $160,573. That compares with median residential and condominium prices at this time last year of $173,400 and $153,400 respectively. The average number of days on the market for a single-family residence was 80 days. Inventory at the end of March was 22,730. That compares with an inventory of 19,091 at the end of March 2007. Current inventory of properties by category, compared to the same time last year, is:

"The increase in inventory means that buyers will have more meaningful choices. That can be a positive factor as we move into spring and early summer, when typically more people are out shopping for homes," Wachtler said. "Sellers will want to make sure their home is in the best possible condition and priced correctly.

In a changing market,the professional support and counsel provided by a Realtor is increasingly valuable to those considering buying, selling or leasing property.

The Greater Nashville Association of Realtors® is one of Middle Tennessee's largest professional trade associations and serves as the primary voice for Nashville-area property owners and real estate professionals. REALTOR® is a registered trademark which March be used only by real estate professionals who are members of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics.

Green Homes

2008-04-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

It's Easy Living Green

(ARA) - Everywhere you turn, there's something "green" - whether it's a commercial for a hybrid car or a reminder to pick up reusable bags at the local grocery store. The green movement is under way and concerned Americans are looking for ways to do their part to reduce energy use and pollution, and preserve natural resources.

Whether by changing their daily routines like biking to work instead of driving, or taking up a new hobby like planting trees in the community park, more and more Americans are going green. One aspect of the multifaceted greening of America is the building and buying of "green" or eco-friendly homes.

According to a recent survey conducted for McGraw-Hill Research and Analytics, consumers list environmental concerns among the top three reasons to purchase a green home, along with lower operating costs and health benefits for occupants. Across the country, homebuilders and homebuyers are realizing the benefits of green building and living, from reduced construction waste to better indoor air quality. Homes planned by green developers can also reduce utility bills by more than 50 percent, minimize pollution and demands on infrastructure, and provide greater environmental protection.

"It's amazing how small steps can add up to big results," says Fred Maas, president and CEO of Black Mountain Ranch LLC, the developer of Del Sur - a new green 1,800-acre master-planned residential community in San Diego, Calif. "For example, tankless water heaters are as much as 50 percent more efficient than conventional water heaters - and heating hot water is second only to heating and cooling in terms of residential energy use. If every household in the United States converted to high-efficiency, tankless water heaters, America could save the equivalent of 300 million barrels of oil a year and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by up to 150 million tons."

Similarly, replacing just one light bulb in each American home with an efficient compact fluorescent bulb could save enough energy to light more than three million homes for an entire year. This could save more than $600 million in annual energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to removing more than 800,000 cars from America's roads.

Residents of the Del Sur community are learning firsthand the advantages of green home features. Del Sur used its unique size and buying power - 2,500 market-rate homes and 469 low- and moderate-income homes - to negotiate lower prices for solar, tankless hot water and weather-based irrigation systems, making these energy-saving, environmentally-friendly features more affordable for homebuyers.

"All things being equal, homebuyers want to go green, but they don't want to pay a fortune to do so - and they shouldn't have to. Our vision of sustainability is to integrate a core set of 'attainable' green elements into our homes that do their part for the environment and increase value and savings for the consumer," says Maas. By providing homebuyers with green features at lower costs, homebuilders can help to reduce the nation's carbon footprint and preserve the environment without putting all of the burden on the homeowner. By taking advantage of available tax credits and incentives, it is possible to equip homes with solar photovoltaic technology to generate electricity at a reasonable cost, greatly reducing homeowners' electric bills.

"Our homeowners with solar power can draw power from the grid at night and make the meter spin backwards during the day," says Maas. "Some have cut their electric bills to nearly zero. When homeowners realize the savings, they really get a kick out of showing their new energy bills to neighbors and friends in the community.”

"When I see American families living the Southern California lifestyle in 3,000-plus-square-foot homes with gourmet kitchens and all the latest appliances - and their monthly electric bill is close to zero - I know there's no barrier to America going green," says Maas. "We're doing it here in San Diego and I think that, community-by-community, the entire nation can go green.”

FHA Loan Limits

2008-03-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

FHA loan limits have increased from $226,100 to $432,500 in the Nashville MSA area. These increased loan limits are good through December 31, 2008.

Other news:

Mortgage bond prices opened higher Friday morning erasing some of the losses seen yesterday afternoon. Rates are finding support from weak economic news released at the open. In news released this morning, the unemployment rate stood at 4.8% and non-farm payrolls, fell 63k. Analysts expected unemployment to stand at 5.0% and for the creation of 25k jobs. The lower reading on the non-farm payrolls number has traders hopeful inflation may be contained.

2008-02-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

Boomers buy 1-story homes, but not the old cracker boxes
By NANCY MUELLER
For The Tennessean

There's a new housing product showing up in some neighborhoods: single-story homes designed to fulfill the needs of baby boomers.

These homes bear no resemblance to the low-profile, one-story ranches that many of the boomers grew up in during the '50s and '60s.

These new homes for empty-nesters are stylish and plush, with an emphasis on European-influenced architectural flourishes and open floor plans.

Fixtures, cabinets and flooring materials are high quality. This new version of one-level living also nearly always includes a second-story bonus room, so that most of these homes are technically 1½ stories tall.

Tennessee Valley Homes is one of the builders of this product. It has built one- and 1½-story homes in several Williamson County neighborhoods, including King's Chapel, Avalon, Tollgate Village, Glenellen and the Woodlands at Copperstone, said sales agent Rachel Work.

"We sold three one-stories in Copperstone this summer," she said while showing the builder's two-story Copperstone model home on Amethyst Lane. "We sell out of one-stories very quickly."

Next door is one of the company's unsold single-story homes. Although it may have been designed with downsizing in mind, at 3,885 square feet, it isn't all that small. And there's certainly nothing low-scale about the $679,900 asking price, either.

The kitchen has Viking Signature appliances, custom cabinetry and granite countertops. The master and secondary baths also have granite countertops. The upstairs bonus room, the only room on the second level, features a custom wet bar and a powder room.

Large footprint is costly

These homes are more expensive to build because they require, proportionally, more foundation, which can make the price per square foot higher.

Work said, however, that boomer buyers do not necessarily want to lose too much square footage when they downsize. They just want all of their bedrooms on one floor.

And they care about the exterior appearance of their new homes, eschewing anything that appears too squatty.

"I talked to one lady who wanted all of the bedrooms on one floor, but she wanted it to look like a two-story," Work said.

In Glenellen, under development in southeast Brentwood, Tennessee Valley Homes has built eight homes. Five have sold, and three of those feature all first-floor bedrooms. They were all snapped up by baby boomers with no children living at home, Work said.

"The other two were looking for one-story and ended up with two-story houses that have two bedrooms on the main level," she said. "They were baby boomers, too."

Demand is growing

Upscale homes for empty- nest baby boomers will constitute 8 to 10 percent of the national housing market over the next 18 years, market forecaster Edsel Charles said.

Charles' MarketGraphics Research Group, which is based in Franklin but makes market forecasts for clients in 20 states, has isolated the desires of empty-nesters moving from homes of at least 5,000 square feet and seeking a new home with a yard, as opposed to a townhouse or condo.

In the Nashville area alone, that translates into a probable need for 800 to 1,100 new, upscale empty nests per year, starting in 2008, Charles says.

PRIVATE MORTGAGE INSURANCE

2008-02-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

What Is PMI?

PMI is extra insurance that lenders require from most homebuyers who obtain loans that are more than 80 percent of their new home's value. In other words, buyers with less than a 20 percent down payment are normally required to pay PMI.

Benefits of PMI

PMI plays an important role in the mortgage industry by protecting a lender against loss if a borrower defaults on a loan and by enabling borrowers with less cash to have greater access to homeownership. With this type of insurance, it is possible for you to buy a home with as little as a 3 percent to 5 percent down payment. This means that you can buy a home sooner without waiting years to accumulate a large down payment.

New PMI Requirements

A new federal law, The Homeowner's Protection Act (HPA) of 1998, requires lenders or servicers to provide certain disclosures concerning PMI for loans secured by the consumer's primary residence obtained on or after July 29, 1999. The HPA also contains disclosure provisions for mortgage loans that closed before July 29, 1999. In addition, the HPA includes provisions for borrower-requested cancellation and automatic termination of PMI.

Why a Change in PMI Requirements?

In the past, most lenders honored consumers' requests to drop PMI coverage if their loan balance was paid down to 80 percent of the property value and they had a good payment history. However, consumers were responsible for requesting cancellation and many consumers were not aware of this possibility. Consumers had to keep track of their loan balance to know if they had enough equity and they had to request that the lender discontinue requiring PMI coverage. In many cases, people failed to make this request even after they became eligible, and they paid unnecessary premiums ranging from $250 to $1,200 per year for several years. With the new law, both consumers and lenders share responsibility for how long PMI coverage is required.

The Homeowner's Protection Act (HPA) of 1998

What Loans Are Covered?

Generally, the HPA applies to residential mortgage transactions obtained on or after July 29, 1999, but it also has requirements for loans obtained before that date. This new law does not cover VA and FHA government-guaranteed loans. In addition, the new law has different requirements for loans classified as "high-risk." Although the HPA does not provide the standards for what constitutes a "high risk" loan, it permits Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to issue guidance for mortgages that conform to secondary market loan limits. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are corporations chartered by Congress to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership. As of January 1, 2000, mortgages in amounts of $252,700 or less are considered conforming loans. For non-conforming mortgages, the lender may designate mortgage loans as "high risk."

What Is a Residential Mortgage Transaction?

There are four requirements for a transaction to be considered a residential mortgage transaction: (1) a mortgage or deed of trust must be created or retained; (2) the property securing the loan must be a single-family dwelling; (3) the single-family dwelling must be the primary residence of the borrower; and (4) the purpose of the transaction must be to finance the acquisition, initial construction, or refinancing of that dwelling.
How Do You Cancel or Terminate PMI?

Cancellation

Under HPA, you have the right to request cancellation of PMI when you pay down your mortgage to the point that it equals 80 percent of the original purchase price or appraised value of your home at the time the loan was obtained, whichever is less. You also need a good payment history, meaning that you have not been 30 days late with your mortgage payment within a year of your request, or 60 days late within two years. Your lender may require evidence that the value of the property has not declined below its original value and that the property does not have a second mortgage, such as a home equity loan.

Automatic Termination

Under HPA, mortgage lenders or servicers must automatically cancel PMI coverage on most loans, once you pay down your mortgage to 78 percent of the value if you are current on your loan. If the loan is delinquent on the date of automatic termination, the lender must terminate the coverage as soon thereafter as the loan becomes current. Lenders must terminate the coverage within 30 days of cancellation or the automatic termination date, and are not permitted to require PMI premiums after this date. Any unearned premiums must be returned to you within 45 days of the cancellation or termination date.

For high risk loans, mortgage lenders or servicers are required to automatically cancel PMI coverage once the mortgage is paid down to 77 percent of the original value of the property, provided you are current on your loan.

Final Termination

Under HPA, if PMI has not been canceled or otherwise terminated, coverage must be removed when the loan reaches the midpoint of the amortization period. On a 30-year loan with 360 monthly payments, for example, the chronological midpoint would occur after 180 payments. This provision also requires that the borrower must be current on the payments required by the terms of the mortgage. Final termination must occur within 30 days of this date.

What Disclosures Does the HPA Require?

For Loans Obtained on or after July 29, 1999

The HPA establishes three different times when a lender or servicer must notify a consumer of his or her rights. Those times are at loan closing, annually, and upon cancellation or termination of PMI.

The content of these disclosures varies depending on whether: (1) PMI is "borrower-paid PMI" or "lender-paid PMI," (2) the loan is classified as a "fixed rate mortgage" or "adjustable rate mortgage," or (3) the loan is designated as "high risk" or not.

At loan closing, lenders are required to disclose all of the following to borrowers:

The right to request cancellation of PMI and the date on which this request may be made.

The requirement that PMI be automatically terminated and the date on which this will occur.

Any exemptions to the right to cancellation or automatic termination.
A written initial amortization schedule (fixed-rate loans only).
Annually, your mortgage loan servicer must send borrowers a written statement that discloses:

The right to cancel or terminate PMI.

An address and telephone number to contact the loan servicer to determine when PMI may be canceled.

When the PMI coverage is canceled or terminated, a notification must be sent to the consumer stating that:

PMI has been terminated, and the borrower no longer has PMI coverage.
No further PMI premiums are due.
The obligation for providing notice of cancellation or termination is with the servicer of the mortgage.

An annual statement must be sent to consumers whose mortgages were obtained before July 29, 1999. This statement should explain that under certain circumstances PMI may be canceled (such as with consent of the mortgagee). It should also provide an address and telephone number to contact the loan servicer to determine whether PMI may be canceled.
The HPA's cancellation and automatic termination rules do not apply to loans made before July 29, 1999.

Although parts of the new law apply only to loans obtained on or after July 29, 1999, many lenders report that they plan to follow the HPA's requirements for both new and existing loans. Making a call to your mortgage loan servicer will help you understand exactly how the law applies to you and your mortgage.

What If Your Home Value Has Increased?

When making mortgage payments, most of the payments during the first few years are finance charges. Therefore, it can take 10 to 15 years to pay down a loan to reach 80 percent of the loan value. If the home prices in your area are rising quickly, your property value may increase so that you can reach the 80 percent mark a lot faster. Your property value could also increase due to home improvements that you make to your home.

If you think your home value has increased, you may be able to cancel PMI on your mortgage. Although the new law does not require a mortgage servicer to consider the current property value, you should contact them to see if they are willing to do so. Also, be sure to ask what documentation may be required to demonstrate the higher property value.

2008-02-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

Life Expectancy of Home Components

One way to prepare for the costs of owning a home beyond the mortgage payment, insurance and taxes, is to know the expected life expectancy of your home's components.

Such knowledge doesn't supersede the use of a home inspector when buying a home, new or old, but it can help you develop a savings plan so you are prepared for the inevitable. Sooner or later you'll have to repair or replace many of your home's parts -- inside and out.

Knowledge of components' life expectancies is what homeowner associations use, in part, to build a reserve fund designed to spread, over time, the cost of the inevitable.

When the roof goes, the appliances conk out, or the paint begins to fade, it's a lot easier to come up with the cash if you've already got some socked away for just this kind of rainy day.

Last year, the National Association of Home Builders, along with the Bank of America developed the "NAHB/BoA Home Equity Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components" to help you take the guess work out of preparing for the worst.

The report suggests you use the timelines as a general guideline. Local weather conditions, use habits, regular maintenance -- or the lack of it -- can all affect the life expectancy of many components.

Personal tastes for contemporary upgrades, remodeling needs and other factors may also dictate replacing parts before their useful life time is up.

In any event based on a comprehensive telephone survey of manufacturers, trade associations and researchers NAHB developed information about the longevity of housing components.

From the foundation to the rooftop, here's a quick look at how long, on a national average, some of the most common home components are expected to last.

Foundations. Poured concrete block footings and slab foundations should last a lifetime, 80 to 100 years or more provided they were quality built. The foundation termite proofing, 12 years, provided the chemical barriers remain intact.

Properly installed waterproofing with bituminous coating should last 10 years.

Flooring. Natural wood flooring has a life expectancy of 100 years or more with proper care. Marble, slate, and granite, likewise, but again, only with proper maintenance. Vinyl floors wear out in 50 years, linoleum about 25 years, and carpet between 8 and 10 years, tops.
Electrical system. In the electrical system, copper plated wiring, copper clad aluminum, and bare copper wiring are expected to last a lifetime, whereas electrical accessories and lighting controls are expected to fail not much longer than 10 years.

Outside materials. Outside materials typically last a lifetime. Brick, vinyl, engineered wood, stone (both natural and manufactured), and fiber cement typically last as long the house exists. Exterior wood shutters get 20 years, well maintained gutters, 50 if they are copper, 20 years if they are aluminum. Copper downspouts last longest, 100 years or more, while aluminum ones give out after 30 years.

Doors. Exterior fiberglass, steel and wood doors will last as long as the house exists, while vinyl and screen doors have a life expectancy of 20 and 40 years, respectively. Closet doors are expected to last a lifetime, and French doors have an average life of 30 to 50 years.

Windows. Wooden windows last longer than aluminum ones -- 30 years compared to only 15 or 20.

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems require a religious regimen of maintenance. Still, most components give up within 25 years. Furnaces break down in 15 to 20 years, heat pumps 16 years, and air conditioning units 10 to 15 years. Tankless water heaters can go for 20 years or more, but electric or gas water heaters only 10 years. Thermostats have a 35-year lifespan but are often replaced for more efficient models.

Appliances. Appliances' life expectancies depend largely on how much they are used, but they are typically replaced long before they are done. One must keep up with the Joneses. Among major appliances, gas ranges live15 years, dryers and refrigerators die at 13, compactors, dishwashers and microwave ovens might last until they are 9 years.

Roofing. The life of a roof is largely dependant upon local weather conditions, proper building and design, material quality, and adequate maintenance. Slate, copper, and clay/concrete roofs have the longest life expectancy, 50 years or more. Wood shake roofs, go for 30 years, fiber cement shingles last 25 years, asphalt shingles give up at 20.

Keep that Heating Bill Lower

2008-02-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

Seven Tips to Slash Soaring Home Heating Bills

(ARA) - Consumers will likely pay record prices to heat their homes this winter, up an average of 10.5 percent from last winter, says NEADA, a group of state energy aid officials. Now is the time to give your home a “check-up.” Here are seven tips from the Comfort Institute to make your home an energy sipper instead of a gas guzzler.

Ask your HVAC contractor to test your duct system for air leaks. Many assume that windows and doors are the major cause of a home's energy wasting air leaks. But according to recent research by the Department of Energy (DOE), gaps, joints and disconnections in the typical home's duct system are much more significant. The DOE states that the typical duct system loses 25 to 40 percent of the energy put out by the central furnace or heat pump. Authorities recommend sealing ducts with a brushed on fiber-reinforced elastomeric sealant. Duct tape usually dries out and fails. It turns out duct tape is great for many things, but sealing ducts isn't one of them.

Ask your contractor to perform an Infiltrometer “blower door” test. The blower door is a computerized instrument originally invented by the Department of Energy. It pinpoints where your home's worst air leaks are, such as duct leaks, and also measures how leaky the overall house is.

Most homes have the equivalent of an open window in combined air leaks. Many heating contractors offer an Infiltrometer test as part of a “Home & Duct Performance Checkup” that also checks insulation levels and overall duct performance.

Have your heating system cleaned and tuned. A pre-season tune up is a great investment. It reduces the chances of breakdowns on cold winter nights, improves safety and more than pays for itself through more energy efficient operation. For a free report: “How to Identify a Good Heating and Cooling Contractor,” go to http://www.comfortinstitute.org/.
Replace your furnace or heat pump air filter (or clean it if it is an electronic unit). Most systems need this done every month to ensure safe and efficient operation. Keep forgetting to do it? Ask your contractor for an extended surface area central air filter that only needs to be replaced once a year. It also does a far better job of keeping your equipment and the air in your home clean.

Close your fireplace damper. Did you remember to close it last time you used the fireplace? Shut it now or waste precious warm air all winter long.

Install a programmable set-back thermostat. Turning down the thermostat eight degrees for eight hours a day will save 8 percent on home heating costs. An easy way to take advantage of these savings is to lower the thermostat temperature while away from home or sleeping. Ask your heating contractor about new models which are much easier to program.

Consider replacing your old furnace or heat pump. Just like a car, heating and cooling equipment doesn't last forever. Is your system more than 12 years old? Planning to stay in your home more than a few years?

Many authorities recommend replacing it before it fails permanently. New units can pay for themselves over time as they are up to twice as energy efficient. However, government and utility research has found that over 90 percent of newly installed high efficiency systems have energy wasting mistakes. Today's new equipment is drastically compromised if it is hooked up to bad ducts.

Do some homework before talking to contractors. For more information, visit http://www.energystar.gov/ and http://www.comfortinstitute.org/. Print out the free Comfort Institute report “Tips and Secrets to Buying A New Heating and Cooling System.”

Courtesy of ARAcontent

MORTGAGE RATES

2008-01-29T10:15:00.000-08:00

AVERAGE MORTGAGE RATES AS OF 1/29/2008

Loan Type Today Last Week
30 Year Fixed 5.45% 5.42%

15 Year Fixed 4.94% 4.93%

1 Year ARM 5.12% 5.29%

30 Year Fixed Jumbo 6.56% 6.46%

5/1 ARM 5.05% 5.12%

3/1 ARM 4.98% 5.08%

Pricing Your Home To Sell

2008-01-19T10:47:00.000-08:00

8 tips for pricing your home
article by Cheryl Allebrand

In many cases, making a smart deal and getting the best price comes down to studying your market and being an educated seller.

"You've got to know more than you would have if you'd sold a year ago," says William Poorvu, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and author of the upcoming book "Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth." "If you want to protect yourself, you have to become knowledgeable."

8 factors to keep in mind as you prepare to sell:

1. Recognize that housing markets are local.
2. Analyze who is buying and selling in your market.
3. Ask the professionals.
4. Know what your house is worth.
5. Consider strategic pricing.
6. Rebate your "commission."
7. Evaluate whether you really have to sell now.
8. Assess the market where you plan to buy.

1. Recognize that housing markets are local.
Home prices are like the weather -- very different in different areas.

In many markets, home prices have actually gone up from last year, says Dick Gaylord, president of the National Association of Realtors.

In addition, demand will change depending on the price range and even the neighborhood. What you need to know: What's the demand for a house like yours in your area?

"You have to look at what's being sold and at what price," says Poorvu. "That's important."

Look at comparables for similar houses. Study prices and sales for one year ago, six months ago, three months ago and current numbers, says Gaylord.

What are the trends? Are prices going up or down -- and by how much? How many days are homes staying on the market? If they are on the market longer, how much of that could be seasonal? In many areas, spring and summer are the busy seasons.

Pay special attention to "the delta between the list price and the sales price," says Ron Phipps, broker with Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I. That is, look for a meaningful relationship between list price and sales price. Perhaps most homes are selling for 5 percent less than the list price.

"An agent who works the market will be in the best position" to find "the tipping point between nice, attractive and interesting -- and being sold," Phipps says. You want to find the point between, "Hey, that's interesting," and "It's too good to pass up."

If you're not using a real estate agent, it's especially important to use the Internet, visit open houses in your area and study home sales in your Sunday paper, says Greg Healy, vice president of operations for ForSaleByOwner.com.

But you also need to realize that the paperwork alone only tells part of the story. While sales and prices are public, many times seller concessions are not.

2. Analyze who is buying and selling in your market.
What's your competition? Who are the buyers, and why are they shopping?

Do you live in an area like Phoenix, "a growing market with people coming in," says Poorvu. Or are you living in an area that doesn't attract a lot of new residents, where many shoppers are "bottom fishers" who don't have to buy but are "looking to pick up a bargain," he says.

Are you competing against a flood of new houses from builders eager to sell, or are you selling a newer home in an area where most of the housing stock is older?
3. Ask the professionals.
Don't ignore the elephant in the living room. When you interview real estate agents, ask about the market conditions for your area and price range.

Specifically, ask about the "absorption rate" says Phipps. What that means: In the current conditions with the current inventory, how long would it take the market to absorb or sell, all the houses on the market?

If the supply is much larger than the demand, ask potential agents how they would "price to offset that inventory," he says.

4. Know what your house is worth.
Talk to a handful of agents. Get an appraisal from a certified professional appraiser. Look at your comparables. Taken together, that information will give you a pretty good idea of what your home is currently worth.

5. Consider strategic pricing.
Here's how it works: If prices in your area are dropping 1 percent each month, and you want to sell within the next three months, you take 3 percent off your price right off the bat, says Phipps. So if you were going to put your home on the market for $400,000, you set the price at roughly $388,000.

The upside: You'll have the competitive edge over the guy who's dropping his price every month, without the air of desperation. Plus, in a market where prices are falling, you'll make more money if you sell quickly.

The downside: Predicting the market is a tough call, even for the pros. And it's really difficult to raise the price if your market starts to rebound, Phipps says.

6. Rebate your 'commission.'
If you're selling it yourself and need to move quickly, consider subtracting half of what would have been the commission from the sales price, says Healy. The standard commission is about 6 percent, so if you subtract 3 percent, your $300,000 house would go on the market for $291,000, he says.

Listing a home for "$9,000 to $10,000 under that value should create higher interest," especially if it's new to the market, says Healy.

The downside: If the house doesn't sell and you end up hiring an agent, you'll need to cover the commission, which may mean raising your sales price or taking a smaller profit.

7. Evaluate whether you really have to sell now.
If you want to get the best possible price for your home and the local market is tanking, "see if you can delay the sale," says Poorvu. Otherwise, in a lot of markets, sellers have "to be willing to accept a pretty good haircut over what they thought their home was worth last year," he says.

The downside of waiting: The market could decline or your circumstances could change to the point that you might need to sell quickly.

But for situations where the move is optional (or you might be able to rent the property until your local market improves), waiting is a solid option.

Just because you've already planted that "for sale" sign doesn't mean you can't change your mind if you're not seeing the interest you anticipated.

"If you know there are no sales or sales are decreasing, and you have the opportunity," taking it off the market is a decent solution, says Healy. "I think we're seeing a lot of that."

8. Assess the market where you plan to buy.
If you're selling one house and buying another, look at the market where you plan to move. Says Poorvu, "It might be that, with the housing there, it's a great time to buy."

Rates drop again...

2008-01-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

Real estate rates drop for 5th night

30-year fixed rate at 5.55%; 10-year Treasury yield at 3.78%
Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Long-term mortgage interest rates continued to fall Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 3.78 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.55 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate slid to 5.06 percent. The 1-year adjustable rate, however, was up at 5.34 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield slipped to 4.31 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.

In other economic news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 238.42 points, or 1.86 percent, finishing at 12,589.07. The Nasdaq lost 58.95 points, or 2.36 percent, closing at 2,440.51.

Price reductions

2008-01-02T19:22:00.000-08:00

HOME SELLER TIP: The best time to make a price reduction is as soon as you discover that your home is priced too high for the market. Waiting too long to lower the price can cost money in the long run if the market is moving lower. Reducing too little, too late can lead to a series of further reductions and ultimately to a lower selling price. Ideally, you should avoid such an unpleasant downward spiral.

The goal is to sell without having to reduce the price. To do this, you must accept current market conditions. You also need to recognize that no matter how wonderful you think your home is a buyer will find fault with it.

To be a successful seller in this market -- and to some extent in any market -- requires separating pride of ownership in the property from the task as hand, which is to sell for the highest price possible. It's not easy for most sellers to put their emotional feelings about their home on ice. It helps to stop thinking of the property as "home" and to start looking at it as a commodity you want to sell.

Before listing a property for sale, sellers should seriously consider their motivation. Successful sellers in today's more difficult marketplaces have a compelling need to sell. They don't simply want to sell if someone will make it worth their while. Many of today's prospective home buyers have a wait-and-see attitude about the market. They are looking, but it will take a fabulous home offered at a great price before they'll commit to buy.

Sellers should also check out the temperature of the local market. Residential real estate is a localized business. Even if you live in a city where prices are down, that might not be the case in your neighborhood. The supply of homes for sale and demand for housing are critical variables, as is the local employment picture.

There is a common theme to the listings that sell well now. These listings look great, are in good condition, don't have incurable defects and are priced right for the market.

Being realistic about what to expect is half the battle.

2007-12-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

US braces for baby boom retirement wave

The first of the vast US baby boom generation goes into retirement in January, setting off a demographic tidal wave with wide-ranging economic, political and social implications.

Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, born on January 1, 1946, is acknowledged as the nation's first baby boomer and the first to apply for social security benefits, for which she will be eligible in 2008.

The New Jersey grandmother is the first of an estimated 80 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, a generation that led a social revolution in the 1960s and changed the fabric of most facets of society.
The cost for government-funded social security and medical care for the boomers leaves a funding gap of between 40 and 76 trillion dollars for next 75 years, according to various estimates.

"America is facing a demographic juggernaut," says Brent Green, a marketing consultant and author, in his "Boomers" blog.

"An unprecedented number will soon be entering the retirement stage of life. One-third of the population will be over 50 by 2010. One in five will be over 65 by 2010."

Leonard Steinhorn, an American University professor and author of "The Greater Generation: In Defense of the Baby Boom Legacy," says the generation often wrongly maligned as latte-sipping Yuppies has transformed most of American society.

He wrote that boomers have led or sustained most of "the great citizen movements that have advanced American values and freedoms -- the environmental movement, the consumer movement, the women's movement, the civil rights movement, the diversity movement, the human rights movement, the openness in government movement."

He told AFP he expects this transformation to continue as boomers age. "It's not going to be a generation that's going to go off to the golf courses and do nothing."

He said boomers will push politics to a more progressive bent even though that has not yet happened because the more conservative over-60 generation still carries much weight in the electorate.

"Once younger voters begin to replace them, the socially conservative vote will dwindle," he said.

The generation is a ripe target for marketing of everything from travel to real estate to computer games for keeping minds fit.

"In the whole way we think about aging and the way companies develop products, we have traditionally been a country of the young," said David Baxter, senior vice president at Age Wave, a California-based research and consulting company focused on the over-50 population.

"If you look at the hottest products, companies think the youth market is the most important."

Baxter said marketers are still using "the myth that older consumers are stuck in their brands and not very interesting consumers. But it's the mature consumer who has all the money."

Americans aged 50 and over have a collective one trillion dollars in disposable income and control 67 percent of the US wealth, according to the over-50 social networking website Eons.

Members of the baby boom generation are big users of technology and the Internet. A Pew Internet Life Project report showed two-thirds of those between 50 and 58 had Internet access as of 2004, similar to the number of 28- to 39-year-olds.

Many are gravitating to social networking sites, especially those geared to their generation with names like TeeBeeDee and BoomerCafe.

About half of Americans will buy new homes after retirement, and many will continue to work in some capacity or become involved in social activism.

Michael Falcon, head of the retirement group at Merrill Lynch, says the nation must prepare for a "new model" for retirement.

"Multiple generations report cycling in and out of work and pursuing a new career in later life as the retirement ideal," he said in a 2006 report. "Companies need to be aware of this new concept of retirement."

A Merrill Lynch survey found 71 percent of adults surveyed plan to work in some capacity after their formal "retirement."

Carol Orsborn, a public relations executive who writes a "Boomer Blog," said the generation appears to be pursuing its dreams rather than dropping out to a quiet retirement.

"If we were hippies in the 1960s and 1970s and yuppies in the 1980s and 1990s, what are we now?" she wrote.

"At an age where expectations that our generation pull back, instead of 're-tiring' we are 're-upping' for another tour of duty in life. We are changing careers, finally getting around to taking risks with our dreams, advancing into new psychological and spiritual terrain, not only new to us as individuals, but for society as a whole. We are, in fact, Re-uppies."
On the economic side, some fear the "silver tsunami" will drain the country of its wealth, but Baxter says the United States has some advantages.

"It's true that everything in our society is built on the idea of continued growth, it's kind of a giant Ponzi scheme with every generation prior to this one having given birth to a larger generation," he said.

The problems are even more acute in some European countries and Japan which face a similar demographic time bomb. But Baxter said "the US is cushioned to some extent by a more liberal immigration policy" and because "there is more flexibility in our workforce. It's illegal to have mandatory reitirement and that's not the case in most countries."

Curb appeal projects return most value for homeowners

2007-12-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

Curb appeal projects return most value for homeowners
Remodeling report details most profitable home projects

A home's curb appeal is at the top of most profitable remodeling projects, according to a report out this week that details remodeling costs versus value.

Every penny counts for homeowners and home sellers in a slumping housing market and those looking to remodel will consider the return on value of specific projects.
Three of the four projects with the highest national percentage of costs recouped this year were exterior upgrades, according to the report produced by Hanley Wood LLC in cooperation with Realtor Magazine.

The most profitable project on the national level was upscale siding replacement, recouping 88 percent of costs upon resale. Wood deck additions and wood window replacements also returned more than 80 percent of costs, at 85 percent and 81 percent, respectively. On a national average, the only interior project to return more than 80 percent of remodeling costs this year was a minor kitchen remodel, returning 83 percent of project costs at resale.

The 2007 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report compares construction costs with resale values for 29 midrange and upscale remodeling projects comprising additions, remodels and replacements in 60 markets across the country. Data are provided for nine U.S. regions, following the divisions established by the U.S. Census Bureau. (See www.costvsvalue.com.)

Four new projects were added this year: the aforementioned wood deck addition, a back-up power generator, and both a midrange and upscale garage addition.
Nationally, the back-up power generator only returned 58 percent of the investment on resale, although the return was highest in the West South Central region, which comprises Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, at 68 percent.

Buyers in the Pacific region of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington value their garages: The midrange garage addition returned nearly 70 percent nationally but 88 percent in this region, while the upscale garage addition returned approximately 65 percent nationally but 78 percent in this area.

Homeowners in the Pacific region could also expect to see some of the highest percentages of remodeling expenses returned at resale, with 13 of the 29 projects returning 90 percent or higher of project costs.

Homeowners in the East North Central region of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin might expect some of the lowest returns; only one project -- upscale fiber cement siding -- returned more than 80 percent upon resale (82 percent of costs recouped), while nine projects returned less than 60 percent of project costs.

The least profitable projects were a back-up power generator, sunroom addition, and home office remodel. The back-up power generator returned the lowest percentage of initial cost in the East North Central, New England (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont), Pacific, and West North Central (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota) regions.

Sunrooms are least popular in the East South Central (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee), Mountain (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming), and West South Central regions.

Home office remodels return the lowest percentage of project costs in the Middle Atlantic (New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) and South Atlantic (Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia) regions.

Real Estate Articles from Inman News

REAL ESTATE RATES

2007-11-29T12:31:00.000-08:00

Overnight real estate rates lower

30-year fixed rate at 5.79%; 10-year Treasury yield at 4.03%

Long-term mortgage interest rates dropped further Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 4.03 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.79 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate fell to 5.35 percent. The 1-year adjustable stayed at 5.52 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield was up at 4.43 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.

In other economic news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 331.01 points, or 2.55 percent, finishing at 13,289.45. The Nasdaq climbed 82.11 points, or 3.18 percent, closing at 2,662.91.

Mortgage Shopping

2007-11-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

SHOPPING FOR A MORTGAGE THIS CHRISTMAS

Shopping around for a home loan or mortgage will help you to get the best financing deal. A mortgage--whether it’s a home purchase, a refinancing, or a home equity loan--is a product, just like a car, so the price and terms may be negotiable. You’ll want to compare all the costs involved in obtaining a mortgage. Shopping, comparing, and negotiating may save you thousands of dollars.

Obtain Information from Several Lenders

Home loans are available from several types of lenders--thrift institutions, commercial banks, mortgage companies, and credit unions. Different lenders may quote you different prices, so you should contact several lenders to make sure you’re getting the best price. You can also get a home loan through a mortgage broker. Brokers arrange transactions rather than lending money directly; in other words, they find a lender for you. A broker’s access to several lenders can mean a wider selection of loan products and terms from which you can choose. Brokers will generally contact several lenders regarding your application, but they are not obligated to find the best deal for you unless they have contracted with you to act as your agent. Consequently, you should consider contacting more than one broker, just as you should with banks or thrift institutions.

Whether you are dealing with a lender or a broker may not always be clear. Some financial institutions operate as both lenders and brokers. And most brokers’ advertisements do not use the word "broker." Therefore, be sure to ask whether a broker is involved. This information is important because brokers are usually paid a fee for their services that may be separate from and in addition to the lender’s origination or other fees. A broker’s compensation may be in the form of "points" paid at closing or as an add-on to your interest rate, or both. You should ask each broker you work with how he or she will be compensated so that you can compare the different fees. Be prepared to negotiate with the brokers as well as the lenders.

Obtain All Important Cost Information

Be sure to get information about mortgages from several lenders or brokers. Know how much of a down payment you can afford, and find out all the costs involved in the loan. Knowing just the amount of the monthly payment or the interest rate is not enough. Ask for information about the same loan amount, loan term, and type of loan so that you can compare the information. The following information is important to get from each lender and broker:

Rates
Ask each lender and broker for a list of its current mortgage interest rates and whether the rates being quoted are the lowest for that day or week.

Ask whether the rate is fixed or adjustable. Keep in mind that when interest rates for adjustable-rate loans go up, generally so does the monthly payment.

If the rate quoted is for an adjustable-rate loan, ask how your rate and loan payment will vary, including whether your loan payment will be reduced when rates go down.

Ask about the loan’s annual percentage rate (APR). The APR takes into account not only the interest rate but also points, broker fees, and certain other credit charges that you may be required to pay, expressed as a yearly rate.

Points

Points are fees paid to the lender or broker for the loan and are often linked to the interest rate; usually the more points you pay, the lower the rate.

Check your local newspaper for information about rates and points currently being offered.
Ask for points to be quoted to you as a dollar amount--rather than just as the number of points--so that you will actually know how much you will have to pay.

Fees

A home loan often involves many fees, such as loan origination or underwriting fees, broker fees, and transaction, settlement, and closing costs. Every lender or broker should be able to give you an estimate of its fees. Many of these fees are negotiable. Some fees are paid when you apply for a loan (such as application and appraisal fees), and others are paid at closing. In some cases, you can borrow the money needed to pay these fees, but doing so will increase your loan amount and total costs. "No cost" loans are sometimes available, but they usually involve higher rates.

Ask what each fee includes. Several items may be lumped into one fee.

Ask for an explanation of any fee you do not understand. Some common fees associated with a home loan closing are listed on the Mortgage Shopping Worksheet in this brochure.

Down Payments and Private Mortgage Insurance

Some lenders require 20 percent of the home’s purchase price as a down payment. However, many lenders now offer loans that require less than 20 percent down--sometimes as little as 5 percent on conventional loans. If a 20 percent down payment is not made, lenders usually require the home buyer to purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI) to protect the lender in case the home buyer fails to pay. When government-assisted programs such as FHA (Federal Housing Administration), VA (Veterans Administration), or Rural Development Services are available, the down payment requirements may be substantially smaller.

Ask about the lender’s requirements for a down payment, including what you need to do to verify that funds for your down payment are available.

Ask your lender about special programs it may offer. If PMI is required for your loan,
Ask what the total cost of the insurance will be.

Ask how much your monthly payment will be when including the PMI premium.
Ask how long you will be required to carry PMI.

Obtain the Best Deal That You Can

Once you know what each lender has to offer, negotiate for the best deal that you can. On any given day, lenders and brokers may offer different prices for the same loan terms to different consumers, even if those consumers have the same loan qualifications. The most likely reason for this difference in price is that loan officers and brokers are often allowed to keep some or all of this difference as extra compensation. Generally, the difference between the lowest available price for a loan product and any higher price that the borrower agrees to pay is an overage.

When overages occur, they are built into the prices quoted to consumers. They can occur in both fixed and variable-rate loans and can be in the form of points, fees, or the interest rate. Whether quoted to you by a loan officer or a broker, the price of any loan may contain overages.

Have the lender or broker write down all the costs associated with the loan. Then ask if the lender or broker will waive or reduce one or more of its fees or agree to a lower rate or fewer points. You’ll want to make sure that the lender or broker is not agreeing to lower one fee while raising another or to lower the rate while raising points. There’s no harm in asking lenders or brokers if they can give better terms than the original ones they quoted or than those you have found elsewhere.

Once you are satisfied with the terms you have negotiated, you may want to obtain a written lock-in from the lender or broker. The lock-in should include the rate that you have agreed upon, the period the lock-in lasts, and the number of points to be paid. A fee may be charged for locking in the loan rate. This fee may be refundable at closing. Lock-ins can protect you from rate increases while your loan is being processed; if rates fall, however, you could end up with a less favorable rate. Should that happen, try to negotiate a compromise with the lender or broker.

Remember: Shop, Compare, Negotiate

When buying a home, remember to shop around, to compare costs and terms, and to negotiate for the best deal. Your local newspaper and the Internet are good places to start shopping for a loan. You can usually find information both on interest rates and on points for several lenders. Since rates and points can change daily, you’ll want to check your newspaper often when shopping for a home loan. But the newspaper does not list the fees, so be sure to ask the lenders about them.

Fair Lending Is Required by Law

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits lenders from discriminating against credit applicants in any aspect of a credit transaction on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, whether all or part of the applicant’s income comes from a public assistance program, or whether the applicant has in good faith exercised a right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in residential real estate transactions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

Under these laws, a consumer cannot be refused a loan based on these characteristics nor be charged more for a loan or offered less favorable terms based on such characteristics.

Credit Problems? Still Shop, Compare, and Negotiate

Don’t assume that minor credit problems or difficulties stemming from unique circumstances, such as illness or temporary loss of income, will limit your loan choices to only high-cost lenders. If your credit report contains negative information that is accurate, but there are good reasons for trusting you to repay a loan, be sure to explain your situation to the lender or broker. If your credit problems cannot be explained, you will probably have to pay more than borrowers who have good credit histories. But don’t assume that the only way to get credit is to pay a high price. Ask how your past credit history affects the price of your loan and what you would need to do to get a better price. Take the time to shop around and negotiate the best deal that you can.

Whether you have credit problems or not, it’s a good idea to review your credit report for accuracy and completeness before you apply for a loan. To order a copy of your credit report, contact: Equifax: (800) 685-1111 TransUnion: (800) 888-4213 Experian: (888) 397-3742
Glossary

Adjustable-rate loans, also known as variable-rate loans, usually offer a lower initial interest rate than fixed-rate loans. The interest rate fluctuates over the life of the loan based on market conditions, but the loan agreement generally sets maximum and minimum rates. When interest rates rise, generally so do your loan payments; and when interest rates fall, your monthly payments may be lowered.

Annual percentage rate (APR) is the cost of credit expressed as a yearly rate. The APR includes the interest rate, points, broker fees, and certain other credit charges that the borrower is required to pay.

Conventional loans are mortgage loans other than those insured or guaranteed by a government agency such as the FHA (Federal Housing Administration), the VA (Veterans Administration), or the Rural Development Services (formerly know as Farmers Home Administration, or FmHA).

Escrow is the holding of money or documents by a neutral third party prior to closing. It can also be an account held by the lender (or servicer) into which a homeowner pays money for taxes and insurance.

Fixed-rate loans generally have repayment terms of 15, 20, or 30 years. Both the interest rate and the monthly payments (for principal and interest) stay the same during the life of the loan.
The interest rate is the cost of borrowing money expressed as a percentage rate. Interest rates can change because of market conditions.

Loan origination fees are fees charged by the lender for processing the loan and are often expressed as a percentage of the loan amount.

Lock-in refers to a written agreement guaranteeing a home buyer a specific interest rate on a home loan provided that the loan is closed within a certain period of time, such as 60 or 90 days. Often the agreement also specifies the number of points to be paid at closing.

A mortgage is a document signed by a borrower when a home loan is made that gives the lender a right to take possession of the property if the borrower fails to pay off the loan.

Overages are the difference between the lowest available price and any higher price that the home buyer agrees to pay for the loan. Loan officers and brokers are often allowed to keep some or all of this difference as extra compensation.

Points are fees paid to the lender for the loan. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount. Points are usually paid in cash at closing. In some cases, the money needed to pay points can be borrowed, but doing so will increase the loan amount and the total costs.

Private mortgage insurance (PMI) protects the lender against a loss if a borrower defaults on the loan. It is usually required for loans in which the down payment is less than 20 percent of the sales price or, in a refinancing, when the amount financed is greater than 80 percent of the appraised value.

Thrift institution is a general term for savings banks and savings and loan associations.

Transaction, settlement, or closing costs may include application fees; title examination, abstract of title, title insurance, and property survey fees; fees for preparing deeds, mortgages, and settlement documents; attorneys’ fees; recording fees; and notary, appraisal, and credit report fees. Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the borrower receives a good faith estimate of closing costs at the time of application or within three days of application. The good faith estimate lists each expected cost either as an amount or a range.

For more info check out http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/mortgage/mortb_1.htm

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM HOMES AROUND NASHVILLE

2007-11-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

We at Homes Around Nashville with Realty Executives Fine Homes are very thankful for our loyal client base. Thank you for choosing our website for your home search needs.

We wish you a bright start to the holiday season...

…

Lenox Village

2007-11-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

Lenox Village will offer 'one-stop' living

Center to feature shopping, dining and living choices

By SUZANNE NORMAND BLACKWOOD
Staff Writer

Lenox Village is about to begin work on its new lifestyle center, offering more opportunities for people to work, play and shop where they live.

David McGowan, president of Lenox Village LLC, said the lifestyle center would feature a coffee shop, a bookstore, a clothing boutique and a couple of family-style restaurants. Restaurants will be the anchor tenants, he said.

McGowan said lifestyle centers, so called because they are designed to "cater to the lifestyles of the area," generally feature small shops and have easy access with no indoor hallways like shopping malls. They also include a mix of residential and office space.

Local examples include the Hill Center in Green Hills to The Avenue in Murfreesboro, new shopping centers.

Shops will be smaller

McGowan said the project is being referred to as "The Village Lifestyle Center," which means it will have smaller retailers and neighborhood shops.

The 400,000-square-foot center would feature 40,000 square feet of office/retail space as well as 273 condos. Residents will share a clubroom, conference room, lobby and elevators, and they will have a private movie theater.

Residents and business owners will have private courtyards. And each restaurant will have a patio and outdoor seating.

"We'll have parking along the outside of the building," McGowan said. There will also be a 504-car garage, part of which will be underground.
"We're trying to do everything we can to reduce the surface parking," McGowan said. But, he said, wherever they park, "People (will) have a very short walk."

A park near the lifestyle center will include lighting and sidewalks. "It will be set up so we can have public events, seasonal events," McGowan said.

Old-style design
A buzzword in mixed-use development these days has been "new urbanism," which Lenox Village has strived to accomplish at the development off Nolensville Road in south Davidson County.

But the concept is not really that new, McGowan said. "It's building communities like they were before World War II," he said.

Such developments include a mix of housing types with multiple price points. They "hit different buyer profiles," ranging from young singles to young couples to empty nesters to the elderly.

These communities also include a mix of retail and office space, with occupants ranging from doctors' offices and insurance agents to hair stylists, day spas and bookstores.

The office/retail is also within walking distance. This is for the purpose of building a sense of community, as well as respecting people's busy schedules, McGowan said.

"Everyone's time is precious now with kids and sports," he said.

Demographics play role
Construction of The Village Lifestyle Center is expected to be completed by the middle of next year. Lenox Village has three other commercial buildings in its overall plan. The Regent Building is expected to be completed the middle of next year. The Park View and The Village Shops have occupants and have space available for sale or lease.

A small pocket of retail/office space also exists called The Shoppes on Sunnywood.

McGowan said Lenox Village targets a certain retail/office mix based on the area's demographics. The average family income at Lenox Village is about $90,000, he said, while the average family income within a five-mile radius is about $73,000.

Prathima Bandi, who owns Community Cleaners, purchased space at Lenox Village because she and her husband, Sudhir, saw it as an investment.

"The area is growing right now," she said. Within Lenox Village alone, 3,000 homes are expected to be built when the development is completed.

Although this is a new business, Bandi said her husband had a dry-cleaning business in Chicago years ago. She feels confident they chose the best spot for attracting a strong customer base.

"We thought it would be a good place for us to start off," she said.

PENNINGTON VILLAS

2007-11-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

UNDER CONSTRUCTION NOW!

PHASE 3 of PENNINGTON VILLAS!

GIVE US A CALL TODAY FOR YOUR PERSONAL VIEWING OF THESE LOVELY VILLAS.

Bill Berkley, ABR, CRS, Broker
Cynthia S. Berkley, AFFL. Broker
Homes Around Nashville Group
REALTY EXECUTIVES FINE HOMES
Direct Line: (615)-847-1169
Main Ofc: (615)-376-4500
Toll Free (888)-656-1169
FAX Line: (615)-847-2351
E-Mail: BILL@HomesAroundNashville.com
Website: www.HomesAroundNashville.com

Tollgate Village

2007-11-07T15:02:00.000-08:00

Tollgate Village opens townhouse sales
Carbine & Associates last week began selling townhouses in its Tollgate Village development in Williamson County.

The Franklin-based developer is building 39 townhouses in the Thompson's Station subdivision, which also includes single-family homes, condos and commercial space. Prices for the townhouses start at about $280,000, said Amy Hornsby, head of sales.

The units come in two- or three-bedroom floor plans, ranging from 1,900 square feet to 2,450 square feet. Each townhouse comes with a courtyard and a two-car garage.

Construction began earlier this fall and is expected to be completed in December.

News

2007-10-18T11:12:00.001-07:00

Fire Destroys Home, But Not Agent’s Mission to Find the Family a New One

RISMEDIA, Oct. 18, 2007-One door to a home closes and another opens. Such is the case of Ellen Mulvihill who recently watched her New Jersey Shore house burn down. But, she is getting the keys to a new home thanks to the efforts by a group of caring people. The generous support is especially heartfelt because Mulvihill has both hands full with her 13-year-old autistic son who became disoriented due to the loss and requires 24/7 care.

The wheels to find a new home for Mulvihill went into motion when William Dillon, a sales associate at Diane Turton, Realtors’ Brick office and former lieutenant in the Hillside Police Department, heard the bad news from another sales associate at the real estate firm. Deborah Frick of the Manahawkin office knows Mulvihill and put out a call for help throughout her company. Responding to the emergency, Mr. Dillon began by speaking with many of his friends including, Joseph Signore, the founder of Brick Township-based Wheels 4 Charity Foundation, about Ms. Mulvihill’s plight.

Together Dillon and Signore went to Modern Homes Inc., a Toms River-based modular homebuilder. Working with the Kelli Cisek at the homebuilder, the group procured a house for Mulvihill from Penn Lyon Homes, which is one of the largest modular home manufacturers in the USA. Located in Pennsylvania, Penn Lyon Homes (www.pennlyon.com) will also transport the modular house to Mulvihill’s lot and a small army of volunteer design and building professionals as well as craftsmen will be needed to finish the house.

The completed dwelling will have about 2,300 square feet of space and be valued at $260,000.

“Modern Homes and our firm have much in common because we understand the value of giving back to the communities we serve,” said Diane Turton, owner and broker of record of Diane Turton, Realtors. “On this project, we are working with one of the best in the business and partnering with true professionals makes all the difference in the world. In fact, we both know how important a home is to a family and that is what makes our partnership a natural.”

While a home for Mulvihill is in the works, she still needs furniture, painting and much more. The group has been working to locate businesses, plumbers and electricians to chip in their time and expertise. So far, Lowe’s and Home Depot have come aboard to donate all appliances and furnishings. In addition, the Township of Barnegat has agreed to assist with this project and has streamlined the process of obtaining the permits that are needed to complete a variety of work.

Nevertheless, a call to action has been put out to the general public with a goal to open the door to Mulvihill’s new home by Christmas. The group is seeking help from demolition firms, debris removers, engineers to produce a plot plan, masons for the foundation and an architect. Anyone interested in helping can visit the Wheels 4 Charity Foundation Web site at http://wheels4charity.com/volunteer-form.

For more information, visit http://www.dianeturton.com/.

What A Realtor Can Do For You

2007-10-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

What a REALTOR® Can Do for You

The REALTOR® you work with could be one of your most valuable resources. Unlike many real estate agents who are simply licensed by their state to do business, REALTORS® have taken additional steps to become members of the local board of REALTORS® and have agreed to act under and adhere to a strict Code of Ethics. Plus...

A REALTOR® can help you determine how much home you can afford. Often a REALTOR® can suggest ways to accrue the down payment and explain alternative financing methods.
A REALTOR®, in addition to knowing the local money market, also can tell you what personal and financial data to bring with you when you apply for a loan.
A REALTOR® is already familiar with current real estate values, taxes, utility costs, municipal services and facilities, and may be aware of local zoning changes that could affect your decision to buy.
A REALTOR® can usually research your housing needs in advance through a Multiple Listing Service--even if you are relocating from another city.
A REALTOR® can show you only those homes best suited to your needs--size, style, features, location, accessibility to schools, transportation, shopping and other personal preferences.
A REALTOR® often can suggest simple, imaginative changes that make a home more suitable for you and improve its utility and value.
A REALTOR® is sensitive to the importance you place on this major commitment you are about to make. Look for a real estate professional to facilitate negotiation of a win-win agreement that will satisfy both you and the seller.

auction

2007-10-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Let the Home Auction Bidder Beware

By Margaret Price

NEW YORK -- If you're hoping to grab a good house potentially at a great price, you might want to beat a path to your county's courthouse.

In today's dour housing market, amid the vast number of properties in foreclosure, more people are converging on courthouses or other places where such properties are auctioned. And if they've got the sharp eye and tenacity of homeowner Nancy Levin, they might dig up a gem.

When Mrs. Levin's family needed to relocate within Michigan, she took on the task of researching properties for sale. Eventually, she found a lovely three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot home adjacent to a golf course in tony Bloomfield Hills, Mich. But because the mortgages on the home were in default, Levin eventually had to buy the house at a foreclosure auction about 18 months ago.

The process was far from simple. Among the array of issues, Levin encountered frequent postponements of the auction date, requiring her to keep an eye on the ever-changing schedule of this sale. When the auction finally occurred, Levin was duly rewarded. As the only bidder on the house, she landed the property for its opening auction price, plus $1. All in all, the sale price was about $120,000 less than the home's appraised value, creating what Levin dubs "an amazing deal."

But to some observers, the Levins were exceptionally fortunate. Foreclosed homes sold at auctions, a tragedy for previous owners, present a golden opportunity to others. They are also potential mine fields for the unwary.

About 40 percent of properties with a mortgage in default end up at foreclosure auctions, experts say. And if bidders haven't done their research on a property, they could find themselves landing a house riddled with problems.

For one thing, foreclosed properties may have been neglected, and the public often will have had little or no chance to inspect a property closely before the auction. Moreover, the property could contain liens for such things as unpaid taxes and association fees, some of which the buyer may have to pay. Moreover, there could be a redemption period after the foreclosure sale to be aware of. In the many states where this period exists, borrowers can redeem their property, which was sold at the foreclosure auction, by paying the amount it sold for at the auction, plus interest.

There are other financial pressures involved. Buyers need to bring cash or a cashier's check with them to a foreclosure auction. That's because winning bidders must make down payments immediately after the auction. In fact, some states require winning bidders to pay the full sales amount the same day as the auction.

And these days, the process increasingly involves a disconcerting twist: Many properties may be worth less than the value of their outstanding mortgage.

In recent years, many homeowners obtained adjustable rate mortgages at very favorable terms. But when their mortgage rates adjusted upward, they were hit with higher payments, sometimes beyond their ability to pay. As the housing market soured, some homeowners have been unable to sell their property before the bank foreclosed.

If such properties end up on the auction block, their opening bid could be close to, or even higher than, the assessed value of the home. At the same time, many bidders are professional investors who will pass on homes where they don't foresee a profit.

Options to buy don't end with foreclosure auction

"Banks have a duty to bid as much as they are owed" on an outstanding mortgage, says Ryan Slack, chief executive of PropertyShark.com, an online real estate research company in New York City. "But investors don't want to buy a property unless it's [priced] at a discount," he adds.

Indeed, at a July 13 foreclosure auction at the Queens County, N.Y., Supreme Court building, only four of the 18 properties auctioned that day attracted any bids from the public. The rest, observers said, ended up in the hands of their mortgage lender.

But the ability to obtain troubled properties doesn't end there: Some time after the lender takes title to foreclosed properties, a new selling phase typically begins. That's when banks try to shed unwanted properties - typically by selling them through a real estate agent or by offering them at a second auction.

These post-foreclosure auctions are attractive to lenders, experts say, because they can unload their mounting stocks of properties on a specific date.

Thus, "you're seeing [post-foreclosure auctions] of 20 to 30 properties at a time, held at conference centers or hotels," says Rick Sharga, marketing vice president at RealtyTrac Inc., a real estate information company in Irvine, Calif. "In the past, [such lenders] didn't have enough inventory" to hold such events.

For example, the Real Estate Disposition Corp. (REDC), a real estate auction company in Irvine, held three post-foreclosure auctions for almost 300 properties in May. These auctions, taking place in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Riverside, Calif., drew some 4,000 people, all told, reports Michael Schack, senior vice president at REDC.

To critics, such mega-auctions are bad news for buyers, who often end up paying market or above-market prices for properties. But to Mr. Schack, these events don't necessarily spark excessive bidding wars.

As some close observers note, many attendees at both foreclosure and post-foreclosure auctions are onlookers with no plans to bid. And to Schack, those who do bid often have a strategy: "They set a top price in their mind before bidding. They don't want to go overboard on that, because they are there to get a deal."

Proponents of post-foreclosure auctions see them as safer venues for bidders than the foreclosure auctions that preceded them. That's because you're buying from a lender at a post-foreclosure auction. (At a foreclosure auction, you're buying from the official who conducts the auction.)

Auctioneer Tommy Williams, chairman and cofounder of Williams & Williams, a real estate auction company in Tulsa, Okla., lists several other advantages: Buyers get a clean, unencumbered title; they are given the opportunity to inspect the property before the auction; and they partake in a bidding set by market forces and competition rather than one in which the value of the property is based upon the size of the outstanding mortgage.

Some investors still prefer to snag deals early

For his part, though, professional investor Les Lazarus likes to land deals before they disappear. Thus, he prefers initial foreclosure auctions.

"It's like first come, first served," holds the investor from Franklin, Tenn. "First, there's the foreclosure auction." Then, once the bank takes possession of the property - if it isn't sold to a member of the public at the foreclosure auction - the bank will likely try to sell it on their own or through a real estate agent.

Then, if the property is still not sold, they'll take it to an auction. He says, "It's awfully hard to see something squeeze through all those steps and still be a good deal."

Nonetheless, observers agree on at least one key point: Participants, particularly at foreclosure auctions, need to do as much research as possible on properties before showing up to bid. And, before jumping into the fray, they need to have observed several prior sales to see how the process works.

"We seldom recommend that someone buy at their first foreclosure auction," says Mr. Sharga. "Or, if they do, they should work with a real estate professional to minimize the risk."

Before you bid, prepare

Participating in foreclosure auctions can be risky. So if you're thinking of buying a property at a foreclosure auction, attorney Scott Tross offers several tips to make the process safer and easier. Mr. Tross, a partner in the firm of Herrick, Feinstein LLP, wrote "New Jersey Foreclosure Law and Practice," published in 2001 by New Jersey Law Journal Books.

Tross suggests:

1. To find available properties, check the "legal" section of the classified ads in local newspapers. Some Internet sites, such as PropertyShark.com and RealtyTrac.com, also have listings.

2. Since you're unlikely to be able to inspect a property before a foreclosure auction, drive by it and observe it from the street.

3. Before a property is scheduled for a foreclosure auction, do a title search on it, which will reveal any existing liens on the property. As a rule of thumb, the buyer will have to pay all senior liens (those placed on the property before the lien being foreclosed upon at the auction). Senior liens may include the first mortgage on the property as well as any unpaid real estate taxes.

Junior liens (those placed on the property after the lien being foreclosed upon) will usually be extinguished by the sale and won't need to be repaid.

4. If you plan to bid on a property, bring cash or, preferably, a cashier's check. The amount must be enough to cover the down payment on the property, unless your state requires that the full sale price be paid immediately. Down payments run about 10 to 20 percent of the sale price.

5. Go to the auction knowing how high you will bid. Don't exceed that amount.

6. In many states, after you pay the down payment, you'll have a period of time - perhaps 30 days - to pay the remainder. Once you've paid in full, you'll receive the deed from the official who conducted the auction, and you'll own the property. That's the time to buy title insurance, which ensures that you'll get a clean, unencumbered title. (Note: If you don't pay on time, the property will be reauctioned, and you may lose your down payment.)

NEW LISTING IN BRANDYWINE FARMS

2007-10-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

2007-10-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

Keeping Your Earnest Money Safe

When you make an offer on a house, it is accompanied by an earnest money check. Earnest money is intended to demonstrate that you are "in earnest" about purchasing the property. The earnest money check is made out to the listing company. What happens to this check?

The party holding the check acts as an escrow agent until you go into closing. At that time you will receive credit for the amount of your check against the down payment and closing costs. Real estate brokers are required by law to keep escrow funds in a special account. These funds cannot be used to pay any other expenses associated with the sale. If you don't complete the transaction, the purchase contract determines the disposition of your earnest money funds. Be sure to review this part of your contract with the real estate agent.

If you are in default on your agreement, the funds may go to the sellers, so be sure that you understand the deadlines in order to avoid breach of contract and forfeiture of your deposit. If you have any questions, be sure to ask your real estate agent for advice.

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2007-09-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

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pricing of your home

2007-08-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

When Your Selling Price is too High, Beware!
What Happens Behind the Scenes

If you start out with too high a price on your home, you may have just added to your stress level -- and selling a home is stressful enough. There will be a lot of "behind the scenes" action taking place that you don’t know about.

Contrary to popular opinion, the listing agent does not usually attempt to sell your home directly to a homebuyer. That would be inefficient.

Listing agents market and promote your home to the hordes of other local agents who do work with homebuyers, dramatically increasing your personal sales force. During the first couple of weeks your home should be a flurry of activity with buyer’s agents coming to preview your home so they can sell it to their clients.

If the price is right.

If you and your agent have overpriced, fewer agents will preview your home. After all, they are Realtors, and it is their job to know local market conditions and home values. If your house is dramatically above market, why waste time? Their time is better spent previewing homes that are priced realistically.

Economy is stable reports show

2007-08-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Data suggests economy is sound
By Joanne Morrison

Falling gasoline costs held U.S. consumer prices nearly in check in July and industrial output rose, according to data that suggested the economy was sound despite credit fears in financial markets.

Other reports on Wednesday showed a slight dip in New York state manufacturing activity this month and a decline in the amount of capital flowing into the United States in June.

Analysts said the latest data, combined with reports earlier this week showing solid retail sales and a shrinking trade deficit, point to an economy that is doing pretty well.

"Things don't look that bad. There is no evidence yet in the data that the economy is on the cusp of losing steam," said Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Still, a gauge of home builder sentiment from the National Association of Home builders hit its lowest since January 1991, suggesting a housing slump had a ways to run.

"Builders realize that issues related to mortgage credit cost and availability have become more acute, filtering some prospective buyers out of the market and prompting others to delay their decision to purchase a new home," said NAHB President Brian Catalde, a home builder from El Segundo, California.

The bulk of Wednesday's data was close to expectations on Wall Street and financial markets focused more on the fear credit would evaporate as problems in the subprime mortgage market widen than the economy's health.

Throughout the day, stocks teetered between gains and losses, while prices for U.S. government bonds were mixed.

Central banks around the globe have pumped money in the financial system over the past week in an effort to keep credit flowing.

Financial markets now expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to lower interest rates at its next meeting on September 18, if not before, to buffer the economy as credit becomes more scare.

Many economists, however, do not expect the central bank to act that quickly.

"To me, the risk remains the economy not inflation, but I doubt the Fed will change course before the September 18th meeting without an even more major deterioration in financial conditions," said Joel Naroff, president and chief economist of Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.

CONSUMER PRICES UP LESS THAN EXPECTED

The Consumer Price Index, a key inflation gauge, rose just 0.1 percent last month as gasoline prices fell 1.7 percent, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a rise of 0.2 percent.

So-called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent, matching forecasts. Year-over-year, the core CPI held steady at 2.2 percent for a third straight month.

The Fed said last week that inflation remained its predominant concern, although it acknowledged that a wobbly housing market had led to tightening credit terms for some households and businesses.

"The July CPI readings don't make it any harder or easier for the Fed to cut interest rates," said Richard Huber, economist at A.G. Edwards and Sons in St. Louis. "The trade deficit data we got yesterday will drive GDP numbers for the second quarter higher, which will allow the Fed to say that it's still focused on inflation."

INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT UP

Industrial output rose 0.3 percent in July as automotive-related production surged 2.6 percent, offsetting a big decline in utility output, a Federal Reserve report showed.

Manufacturing output rose 0.6 percent.

"Low inventory levels, strong export demand, and ongoing moderate economic growth at home have allowed the manufacturing sector to shake off the depressing effects of the housing downturn," said Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI.

Separately, the U.S. Treasury said net overall capital inflows into the United States dropped to $58.8 billion in June from May's revised inflow of $107.3 billion, hurt by a plunge in net purchases of U.S. securities by private investors.

June's net overall capital inflow barely covered the U.S. trade deficit for the month of $58.1 billion.

In another report, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said manufacturing in New York State factories slowed in August. The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell modestly to 25.06 from 26.46 in July.

(Additional reporting by Julie Haviv, Ellen Freilich and Emily Kaiser in New York, and Patrick Rucker, Nancy Waitz and David Lawder in Washington)

2007-07-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

As Midstate apartment market tightens, rents increaseOccupancy rate soars; developers focus on condos

By CHAS SISK

Housing isn't cheap. Just ask Middle Tennessee's renters.

Rents in the Nashville area have jumped 5 percent since the winter of 2005 and are on pace to rise another 5 percent by spring, according to the latest figures from the Greater Nashville Apartment Association.

The average apartment in the Nashville area now costs $736 a month, up nearly $30 from last summer's rates, and apartment managers are having little trouble finding renters at the higher prices.

Since spring, the occupancy rate in the region's 60,000-unit apartment market has risen above 94 percent, one of the highest rates since a late-1990s building splurge sent vacancies soaring.

Investors and analysts say it's uncertain whether Nashville's apartment complexes have become so full that a round of new construction is inevitable. Developers of multifamily buildings continue to be enamored of condominium projects, which offer a better return on investment than apartments, though for considerably more risk.

"They're going to do condos instead of apartments until the market crashes," said Kent Burns, president of Freeman Webb Investments Inc., a Nashville firm that owns 30 apartment complexes in Middle Tennessee.

The occupancy rate has risen nearly a percentage point since spring and is approaching the 95 percent threshold, the point at which apartment managers say they generally have too few units available to meet demand.

Options are fewer

The high occupancy rate leaves new tenants with fewer options. Mike Rose, a retired mortgage broker who moved into the Lakeshore Apartments complex in Hendersonville recently, said he had little trouble choosing where to live, but he didn't have many choices as to the type of unit.

"I don't think there's a shortage," Rose said. "But you're not going to find four, five, six, eight apartments in a complex."

Those who stay in their apartments may also feel the pinch. Rents are up in every Middle Tennessee submarket except the Wilson County cities of Mt. Juliet and Lebanon.

In most areas, the increases are relatively modest, no more than $30 or so. But in a few neighborhoods, rents have exploded.

Along Nolensville Road, the average rent for an apartment has jumped $60 to $653 a unit since last winter. In Smyrna and La Vergne, rents are up $72 to $680.

And in downtown and midtown Nashville, rents have rocketed up $175 to $1,121.

Condos affect market

One cause of that rise has been developers' eagerness to build condominiums. Some complexes, such as the Blair House apartments on Chesterfield Avenue, have been razed to make way for new projects.

Condo construction has also indirectly deterred new projects, investors and brokers said. Prices for land in high-density neighborhoods are high, and multifamily developers have tended to choose the quick return of condo construction to recoup their investments over the slower returns of building apartments and collecting rents.

Those condos may soon have another impact on the apartment market. Over the next year, more than 1,000 condos in the downtown alone will be delivered to owners.

Those units could suppress demand for apartments, as people move out of rental housing and into condos. Or it could inflate the supply, as investors attempt to rent out units until they are able to resell them.

"I think there's a possibility of competition," said Charlie Biter, president of Nashville-based Continental Property Management LLC.

Apartments may return

As occupancy rates and rents climb higher, the odds increase that Nashville developers will turn their sights again to apartment construction.

One sign that may soon occur can be found in the Stahlman office building. Last summer, a joint venture between two local development companies reopened the 100-year-old tower on Third Avenue North as a 142-unit apartment building.

Occupancy there now approaches 90 percent, with most units leasing for $900 to $1,500, said Bert Mathews, president of The Mathews Co., a partner in the project.

Already two of Nashville's most prominent multifamily developers — Crosland LLC and Bristol Development Group — are planning to build apartments next. Both have major condo projects in the Gulch under construction, and both are now planning to build 150-unit apartment buildings in that same area.

"It's doing way better," said Steve Massey, a broker in the multifamily investment practice at CB Richard Ellis. "Now the market's getting tight."

HAPPY 4th OF JULY

2007-06-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

The Great American Cookout
Throw the Ultimate July 4th Party

Every year North Americans head outdoors to celebrate summer and Independence Day. Now I know you don't want to be outdone by the neighbors, so I've put together some of the best information for you to make the most out of your summer entertaining. I must emphasize that the secret to a successful cookout is in the planning. Whether you will be grilling hamburgers, steaks, chicken or fish or maybe smoking ribs or brisket you need to know more than just the secrets to barbecuing & grilling. This is why I have put together this list of great resources to help you out.

Entertaining and Party Organizing

The first part of throwing a successful summertime bash is knowing how to cook for a crowd. If you happen to be a woman, don't be put off by the idea of grilling. Grillin' for Gals is a great guide to get you going. Remember to you are planning more than a meal, it's a party.

When cooking for a large gathering make sure you prepare something for everyone. Throw on a couple of Hot Dogs for the kids while you are grilling the rest. In fact, try getting the kids fed first to alleviate their hunger for summer foods.

Cooking and Recipes

When putting together a meal decide the best way to prepare the dishes quickly and easily. Kebabs are a great main dish because you can cook everything at once. You don't have to stick to the basics. Try a grilled meal with a Chinese, Italian, French or Mexican style.

Start off with some great appetizers for the grill or other appetizers.
If you want tradition then you need a good recipe for Potato Salad, Cole Slaw or Barbecue Beans.
If you or some of your guests are vegetarians you can still do some 4th of July entertaining, only vegetarian style. Vegetarian grilling can be more than just veggie burgers, but you will be a success if you make them from scratch.

Remember to cool things off with some Frozen Delights or go the extra mile with Italian ice cream. There is a lot you can do with desserts like a nice dish of dirt or a margarita pie.

Drinks

When it comes to serving iced tea don't forget the iced tea, or even the iced coffee. Coordinate your drinks with the meal and the season. A slightly chilled wine will go great with grilled foods. There are also a lot of cool, refreshing summer cocktails you can choose from. You might even what to check out some patriotic drinks for this July 4th. Of course no great cookout is complete without beef. What you need to make this even particularly patriotic is a good selection of beers. Colleen Graham has just what you need to stock your cooler.

No matter what you plan for this summer's entertaining I know a good place to find everything you need.

2007-06-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

Young Professionals

2007-06-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

Best Cities For Young Professionals
Matt Woolsey

Head to the Big Apple, and your chances of getting the corner office might not be as far off as you think.

That's because New York City tops our list as the No. 1 city for young professionals.

That likely comes as a shock to, well, no one. Many of America's best companies, as determined by Forbes rankings of the best 400 big businesses and best 200 small businesses, including financial giant Goldman Sachs (nyse: GS - news - people ) and media conglomerate News Corp. (nyse: NWS - news - people ) are in New York. Throw in New York's bars, clubs and world-class dining, and you get a city teaming with young professionals.

San Francisco clocked in at No. 2 and Atlanta at No. 3. Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston and Seattle filled spots four through seven, and Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Denver closed out the top 10.

Behind The Numbers Our list was compiled by tracking where the graduates of top universities across the country ended up 10 years after commencement; where the best business opportunities exist; which cities had the most young and unmarried people; and which cities paid young professionals the best.

To see where graduates of elite schools chose to pursue their careers, we looked at Class of 1997 alumni location data from six elite universities across the country--Harvard, Princeton, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern and Rice. The data indicated where graduates have settled 10 years later, and where their professional lives have matured.

We then excluded alumni that remained close to school. Harvard grads in Massachusetts--nixed; Dukies who stayed in North Carolina--gone; Stanford Cardinals roosting in California--tossed. The goal: to determine which cities offer such strong opportunities for young professionals that they're willing to pick up and move across the country for them.

Some cities are bigger than others, of course. So we adjusted where elite grads ended up against overall population size to measure the respective concentrations of young professionals. This allowed smaller cities such as Portland and Austin to compete equally with heavyweights such as New York and Los Angeles.

Then we stirred the locations of prized jobs into the mix. Each year, Forbes selects America's 400 best big businesses and 200 best small businesses. We used the locations of those 600 companies to determine which cities had the best professional opportunities for the under-35 set.

Money is important too. To figure out how far yearly income will go, we measured cities' variations in starting salary using data from New York-based Mercer Human Resource Consulting and adjusted it for cost of living with our own Forbes index; the idea being that the more greenhorn grads a city can attract with a decent salary to cost of living ratio, the more likely they'll stay and develop in that area.

Of course, even the most driven young professionals need to let off steam. With that in mind, the final metric was measured which cities had the highest share of never-married people in their 20s and 30s. Never married is an important qualifier. For example, of the 40 largest cities, Salt Lake City has the third-highest population share of people ages 25 to 34, but its standing as No. 27 in the never-married category really puts a damper on the nightlife.

The bottom 10 cities were brought down by a variety of causes. Salary to cost of living submarined Miami, Norfolk, Va., and San Antonio. The inability to attract top grads and top companies hurt Detroit and Las Vegas, and all our measurements converged on Tampa, Fla., beating it down to last place on our list.

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Nashville West shopping

2007-06-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

Nashville West developers bet big on Charlotte PikeShopping center to house more than 20 stores

By CHAS SISK, The Tennessean

Even their own wives couldn't believe what developers Mark McDonald and William Oldacre were proposing.

An up-market shopping center on the western end of Charlotte Pike? It was too much to believe.

"They said, 'You're out of your minds. No one will go to Charlotte to shop,' " McDonald recalled. "And I said, 'You will go. It's more convenient than Green Hills.' "

McDonald, Oldacre and partner Thomas Newton are betting big that they can reshape the perceptions of people such as their spouses: affluent men and women who live in Nashville's upscale neighborhoods of Belle Meade, Green Hills and Hillwood.

Late last year, the developers' $135 million Nashville West shopping center opened on a 100-acre expanse between Interstate 40 and Charlotte Pike, bringing major national retailers to a street that historically has tended to attract few businesses larger than independent grocery stores, fast-food restaurants and small car lots.

With this project, Newton Oldacre McDonald believes it can turn the western end of Charlotte Pike into a retail center capable of challenging established trading posts in Green Hills and Cool Springs. And to make it possible, they're pouring millions of dollars into road improvements, landscaping and an expanded public park.

The investment signals a trend that is just beginning to take hold in Nashville: Developers are beginning to believe that they can build successful new shopping centers, at least partially, from the remains of old, failing ones.

Others may follow

Nashville West's fate could point the way for others interested in turning around similar outposts among Nashville's aging shopping corridors.

"It's having a great impact, and it's only going to get better as they add stores, the park," said Metro Councilman Billy Walls, whose district includes Nashville West and the surrounding neighborhood.

"It (the site) had no future. No one was even looking at that until these developers came and said, 'We're proposing this.' "

McDonald and Oldacre said they had been eyeing the property since the late 1980s. Then the property was partially occupied by the Hillwood Plaza shopping center, a strip mall anchored by Wal-Mart. That center began to slide in 1998, when Wal-Mart relocated to another shopping center farther west on Charlotte Pike.

But Newton Oldacre McDonald did not decide to take a chance until three years ago, when H.G. Hill Realty readied plans for the $70 million Hill Center at Green Hills, a 48,000-square-foot shopping center on the site of an old grocery store.

That project convinced them that a redevelopment project could work, Oldacre said.

20 stores planned

The first Nashville West store, Costco, opened in November. It has since been followed by a Target, Dick's Sporting Goods and Best Buy, among others.

Plans call for building more than 20 stores with a total of 700,000 square feet of retail space, the equivalent of 16 acres under roof.
Newtown Oldacre McDonald also envisions building six to 10 restaurants, 50,000 square feet of out-parcel space, condos and a renovated Metro park.

According to the firm's research, more than one in five households within a 10-minute drive of Nashville West earn $100,000 a year or more. That's nearly twice the ratio found in Davidson County as a whole.

Newton Oldacre McDonald believes that many of these people shop in either the increasingly crowded retail center along Hillsboro Pike in Green Hills or trek to the area around CoolSprings Galleria in Franklin.

Nashville West is one-fifth of the distance to Cool Springs for Belle Meade residents and gets far less traffic than Green Hills.

"There are no large (undeveloped) tracts of land to develop, so what you can do is take an existing site and market to the demographics," said Brian Forrester, an agent with The Shopping Center Group in Nashville. "You've got to be creative. … This is a creative project."

Landscaping costs $3 M

To lure upscale shoppers to Nashville West, Newton Oldacre McDonald strived to create a shopping experience that exceeds that of the typical shopping center. The firm spent $3 million on landscaping, including restoring and extending a 19th-century stone wall to give the center a unique look.

The firm is spending $2 million on improvements to Metro's H.G. Hill Park. Those plans include building a 4-acre park that will remain under Metro control but will be maintained by the tenants of Nashville West.

Another advantage to the location: It's not as likely to have many competitors. Shopping centers in Nashville's suburbs frequently have to fend off competitors located across the street.

But Nashville West is tucked into a fairly developed area, with the hilly topography reducing the chances that another center will enter the market soon. That means that any competitor would also have to redevelop, likely at a considerable expense.

"We don't believe there's another site like this," McDonald said.
"If there is one, we can't imagine what it is."

How Much is To Much?

2007-06-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

The 60-storey house for just one family

This 60-storey house is for just one family.
India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is planning a palace in the heart of Mumbai with helipad, health club, hanging gardens and six floors of car parking.

His wife, mother and three children will live there with him, looked after by 600 live-in staff.
Construction has already started on what will eventually be a 175m tower and planners are aiming to complete it in September 2008.

Earlier this year, Forbes rated Mr Ambani as the richest resident Indian with a net worth of US$20.1 billion.

He came 14th in Forbes' 2007 worldwide rankings.

Currently he is chairman of petroleum major Reliance Industries Ltd, India's largest private sector company

The building, already worth £500 million, could start a rush on skyscrapers.

THE DAILY MAIL

housing market

2007-05-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

US HOUSING MARKET

Live in Seattle? If you own your home, chances are you're celebrating.

That's because the city's median home price in the first quarter of this year hit $380,200, an increase of 12.3% from a year earlier, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Median home prices in the Pacific Northwest as a whole soared; in Portland, Ore., prices jumped 8.9%, and in Salem, Ore., they grew 15.6%.

Southern metros also boasted gains. In San Antonio, prices went up 11.2%, and Austin, Tex., prices climbed 5.4%. Charlotte, N.C., and Raleigh, N.C., rose 6.4% and 6.3%, and Richmond, Va., and Norfolk, Va., improved 6.2% and 5.9%.

"What we're seeing now are the areas which still have a strong economy, but didn't have the overheated prices [during the housing boom], are the ones holding on strong now," says Kermit Baker, a senior research fellow at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

In the Northeast, the New York City metropolitan area turned in a steady 1% growth rate, and smaller metros like Albany, N.Y.; Trenton, N.J.; and Allentown Pa.--which improved by 6.3%, 7.1% and 5.8% respectively--helped overcome Boston's continuing slump to lift the Northeast to a 1.2% overall price growth, making it the only region in the black.
Now the bad news.

Cloudy Skies Median home prices in Florida are down, according to NAR: Tampa by 2%, and Sarasota, Palm Bay and Daytona by an average of 9%. Overall, Florida prices plunged 25%, making the Sunshine State not so sunny. Miami, however, which had been hamstrung early in the housing downturn, improved by 2%. The rally may be tenuous however, as 23% of Miami housing loans are subprime, according to First American LoanPerformance, a mortgage data provider.

"We've had 30 subprime lenders go under, which leads to a tightening of credit," says Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a New York-based real estate appraisal and consultancy firm of lenders nationwide. "That adds one more barrier to transactions, something that couldn't have come at a more delicate time for the housing market. On a national level, there are a lot of markets which are going to have some problems."

The Gulf Coast, where home prices had roared back at a double-digit clip the year following Hurricane Katrina, is one such market. Biloxi, Miss., grew by 15.7%, and Baton Rouge, La., by 9.7%, but the subprime hammer came down on New Orleans, where a 20% delinquency rate on subprime loans contributed to an 11% drop in home values, the NAR reports.

Worse News To Come? For many markets, things may get worse before they get better. Nationwide, prices fell by 6.6%, a number that makes sense at this point in the housing cycle, experts say.

"When housing prices slip, nothing really changes until you try to sell, which is what we've had happen in the last couple of months," says Miller. "I don't think the housing slowdown has fully hit the national economy yet."

Overexpansion was a problem for most metro areas. Homeowner vacancy rates stood at 2.8% in the first quarter of this year, a statistically significant rise from the 2.1% rate a year ago and the 1.7% average between 1995 and 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Those high inventory numbers flatten prices and make new development less lucrative.
"It's becoming more difficult to put together financing for new development projects," says Miller. "That'll actually provide some constraint on supply, but that's a couple years down the road. You figure the lead on new development is probably two years, so it's going to be a couple years before units stop coming off the conveyor belt."

Moving forward, there is concern surrounding the strength of the national macro economy. In the first quarter of 2007, growth came in at a disappointing 1.3%--hampered by 4% inflation--but the Federal Reserve predicts growth between 2.5% and 3% for the remainder of 2007.

"We do have a massive inventory correction, which will happen a lot easier and a lot less painfully if it continues to happen during an economic expansion," says Baker. "The fear is now that even though the direct housing hit was absorbed, the indirect hit could be serious too. We're into that now, but it doesn't look like it's enough to throw the economy into recession."
Some might disagree. Fears about the ripple effect of the housing market have traders particularly bearish.

The S&P/Case-Shiller housing futures market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (nyse: CME - news - people ) is based on repeat sales of homes across 10 markets ranging from Boston to San Diego. There, traders are betting on a 4.5% decline from now until next year.

"There's a limitation to the futures market, because it only trades one year forward," says Fritz Siebel, a broker with Traditional Financial Services, the largest trader of housing futures. "For 2007 to 2008, the market doesn't look good, but it doesn't mean there's not a bottom around the corner."

Source: Matt Woolsey, Forbes.com

Buyer's agency

2007-05-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

Making an attractive home-purchase offer

Buyer's agent can be an invaluable tool

It's easy to assume that negotiating is adversarial. You, the buyer, are on one side -- the side that wants to buy a property for the lowest price possible. The opposition on the other side is the seller who wants to sell for the highest price possible. You're locked in a tug of war to see which side will win.

It's more productive to look at a negotiation as a problem-solving process. You and the seller may have different ideas about what price the property should sell for. However, you're united in a common goal of consummating a deal. The challenge is to resolve your differences through a process of give and take until you either reach your common goal, or decide to go your separate ways.

Of course, you have to arrive at a mutually agreeable selling price for a sale to go through. Sometimes this will happen quickly; sometimes it's a drawn-out process that can last over days or even weeks.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP: Patience can be your ally. Sometimes rushing the process can quicken its demise. In fact, you may be better off waiting before starting the process if you think that the asking price is too high.

For the first time in years, we are in a market where some home sellers -- typically those who bought recently -- won't be able to sell their home for a profit. But, they may need to test the market to be sure.

If this is the case, the best negotiating strategy may be to offer nothing until the sellers are close to reducing their asking price. There can be a benefit to making an offer just before a price reduction is made. If you wait until the price is lowered, you could end up paying a higher price if other buyers suddenly become interested.

In order to make sure you know that the sellers are contemplating reducing the price, ask your real estate agent to talk to the sellers' agent and make sure that the sellers are made aware of your interest. Don't be bashful about the fact that you are interested, but not at the current price. This way, you may receive a call when the sellers decide they'd like to see an offer from you.

When you make an offer and there's no competition from other buyers, your initial offer price should leave you room to move up in price. But, it should not be so low that it's insulting to the seller. Otherwise he or she might not respond at all. An offer that's much lower than the market would give the seller the impression that you can't afford more, so there's no point in issuing a counteroffer.

Buyers often think that if they start too high initially, they'll end up paying too much. Your initial offer price should be good enough to entice the seller into a dialogue. It's a price to get the ball rolling. From there, you can move up in small increments, if necessary.

Don't get so caught up in negotiating the price that you overlook other opportunities for consensus building. Most good negotiations have a sense of fairness about them. During the process of your negotiation, you and your agent should brainstorm all the possible ways that you can accommodate the sellers.

Do they need a quick close? If so, they might be willing to give more on price for a speedy close. However, you might want to hold up offering this information at the beginning of the dialogue. That way, you have something more of value that you can offer the sellers in exchange for a further price concession.

THE CLOSING: When you get close on price, offering to split the difference can put a seal on the deal.

By Dian Hymer, Inman News

Active-adult communities

2007-05-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Active-adult communities sell a dream

Older baby boomers find new ways to live, learn

By JULIE B. HAIRSTON

One of the attractions on a recent day at Seasons at Laurel Canyon was an exhibition tennis match.

Donna and Curtis Finney are swept up in a social whirl where "everybody wants to meet everybody, and everybody loves everybody," said Curtis, 59.

With hundreds of retirees and early baby boomers now moving into metro Atlanta's new active-adult communities and even more communities like them on the drawing board, a new blueprint for life after 55 is taking shape.

Active-adult communities are suburban subdivisions whose residents must be 55 or older. Typically, these developments contain such home designs as master suites on main floors, and optional services, such as housekeeping and lawn maintenance, that appeal to people who want to spend less time with taxing chores. These communities also offer coordinated leisure activities geared to social interaction and physical fitness.

The prototypical active-adult buyer is swapping decades of equity and savings to realize pent-up dreams. With life expectancy increasing and baby boomers set to enjoy a healthier retirement span than any previous generation — not to mention the largest intergenerational transfer of inherited wealth — developers are probing their habits and appealing to their preferences to capture housing and leisure dollars.

"What we try to do is create a lifestyle," said Bob Rademacher, Atlanta division executive for Levitt & Sons, the developer of Seasons. "It's how you're going to live. Once you've decided that [lifestyle] fits you, we can find you a house."

The first phase of Pulte/Del Webb's the Village at Deaton Creek in Hall County is 80 percent sold in 12 months and, despite a slumping market for other types of housing, sales remain brisk.
According to real estate database Metrostudy, Deaton Creek was the top-selling active-adult community in a metro Atlanta market that currently contains a 5.2-month supply of unsold new homes. More than half those homes fall into the same price range as the homes in the Village at Deaton Creek.

Jan Cooper, vice president of operations in Georgia for Pulte/Del Webb, the nation's largest builder of active-adult communities, said the Village is experiencing 25 to 30 closings per month.
"It's doing what we anticipated it would do," Cooper said. "We based a lot of our demand on the local population."

As with the Village at Deaton Creek, Pulte/Del Webb's Sun City will kick off its sales with a series of "lifestyle seminars" at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, May 24-26.

Currently, the company's lead bank contains 11,000 names, said David Vitek, president of Pulte/Del Webb's south Georgia division. Sales at Deaton Creek were launched with lifestyle seminars at nearby Château Élan last year.

Plans also are under way for a third Pulte/Del Webb active-adult community in Greensboro, east of Atlanta on Lake Oconee.

The national home sales slowdown has affected active-adult sales slightly, but that segment is feeling less of the pinch than other sectors of Pulte's market, said Dave Schreiner, national vice president for active-adult business development at Pulte/Del Webb.

"Interest in our [active-adult] communities, judged by the level of traffic and lead generation, has stayed very high, and we're not seeing any signs of interest waning," Schreiner said.
Florida 'halfbacks'

Cooper said a majority of the Village's residents moved from other parts of the Atlanta area.
A few of the new residents are retirees from the Snow Belt and a few are "halfbacks," people who retired to Florida but came back a little farther north to escape high housing prices, skyrocketing insurance costs and hostile weather.

The Finneys, who previously lived in Gwinnett County, considered retiring to a Del Webb community in Florida but changed their minds when they learned of the plans for Deaton Creek.
Their decision was confirmed while they were visiting friends near Orlando in February, when a line of tornadoes devastated the community where they were staying.

"Atlanta and the Southeast generally are a very bright spot for us right now," Schreiner said.
Rademacher of Levitt & Sons said the new active-adult strategy is to bring these lifestyle communities closer to the urban centers where retirees spent their careers and family life, maintaining established connections. Earlier lifestyle developments concentrated around resort areas, but now companies like Levitt and Del Webb are bringing the resort sensibility within easy reach.
"Now, it's around the corner and it's local," Rademacher said.

Same stage of life

Uniformly, the new residents of metro Atlanta's active-adult communities said they were attracted to their developments by the prospect of spending time with people at the same stage of life. That sort of self-selection is common.

But how they're spending that time is changing previous images of grizzled geezers in rocking chairs. Contemporary retirees are more likely to rock with their guitars or climb over rocks with rappelling gear.

Cooper said more than 20 interest clubs have already formed among the residents of the Village at Deaton Creek, including a singles club.

The Village's line dancing club is already rehearsing for a performance at the grand opening of the community's clubhouse later this year.

Jim and Nancy Davidson are recent additions to the Village, having moved from their home in Lawrenceville at the end of March. The Davidsons have friends who live happily in Del Webb communities in other parts of the country, and they decided several years ago that the active-adult concept suited their vision of how to live after retirement.

"We knew this is what we wanted. It was just a matter of where to do it," said Nancy.

So far, Jim, 65, and Nancy, 61, have joined the Village book club, walking club and a bunco card group. They attend luncheons and the endless variety of community seasonal celebrations, such as the upcoming Cinco de Mayo party on Saturday.

And they are looking forward to the clubhouse opening, when even more activity opportunities will open up.

"The activities are almost unlimited," Nancy said. "If they don't have it, just ask and they'll start it for you."

In addition to the outdoor leisure pool and the indoor lap pool, the clubhouse will contain 8,000 square feet of space devoted to fitness including yoga and tai chi as well as a billiard room.
The full-time activities director is coordinating group trips to Braves games and the Georgia Aquarium. Plans for a residents group tour of Australia next year are under way.

Quick friendships

Pulte/Del Webb's Vitek is directing the development of Georgia's first Sun City community in Spalding County. The 3,400-homesite community — roughly half the size of the mammoth Sun City Anthem near Las Vegas — will include a 38,000-square-foot amenity center, a championship golf course and a softball field.

At other Sun City communities, Vitek said, the well-drilled softball teams "are so competitive that they end up playing in the local leagues."

For the new residents of Seasons at Laurel Canyon, a Levitt & Sons community near Canton, community life started in the sales office, long before the moving vans arrived.
Judy and Charlie Dollar, formerly Cobb County residents, encountered a number of their future neighbors as they worked out the details of their new houses. "By the time we moved in, it was like old home week," said Judy, 66.

Bruce Morgan, 60, moved to Seasons from Athens after his daughter graduated from the University of Georgia.

"I loved Athens, but [the neighborhood] was a much younger group of people," Morgan said. Finding companions for social activities was difficult during the day, or even on weeknights when parents were helping kids with homework.

But Seasons has put him into a whole swirl of activity he can join according to his own schedule and preferences.

He started with tennis lessons, even though he's never played seriously before.
"It's like we're 13 years old again and starting all over," Morgan said.

Condo development

2007-04-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

West End Park attracts condo developers

By NANCY DEVILLE

The condo craze has hit Nashville, and West End Park has become a real estate hot spot. There are about nine projects under construction or just completed throughout the neighborhood that borders the western side of Centennial Park.

Scott Troxel, sales agent for the D5 Lofts on Parthenon Avenue, said one reason the area attracts developers is because the zoning allows for higher density.

"It's not just the zoning, but also the location," he said. "Being that close to Vanderbilt and West End is fantastic."

But some neighbors fear that as rooftops increase, storm water issues and drainage problems will increase.

"There are some positives with money being invested and older homes being replaced," said resident David Medovich. "But there is also increased construction traffic and the impact to the sewer system."

Eddie Montgomery, developer of The West Leigh and the Rise at West End, both on Parthenon Avenue, said it had not been hard for developers to stay within guidelines.

"We've not had any problems working with the neighbors and Planning Commission," he said.

2007-04-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

“Curb appeal is your home's one chance to make a good first impression.”

First impressions are often lasting impressions--particularly when a home buyer looks at a property. If a home doesn't look good from the outside, chances are potential buyers will never walk through the door. Well-maintained grass, trees, shrubs and flower beds are just the beginning. Plant some blooming flowers.

Give your front door a fresh coat of paint and a new doormat. Make sure the doorbell works! Keep toys, bicycles, hoses, etc. out of sight. If you have an asphalt driveway, put a fresh coat of sealer on it. Create a solid, well-cared-for look and buyer traffic will follow.

Riverfront development

2007-04-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Developer still wants to design riverfront site.

Struever Bros. gathering public's ideas.

By MICHAEL CASS, The Tennessean

The developer that was hoping to build around a downtown ballpark said it remains committed to the area and will prepare designs to integrate into a broader riverfront plan.

Baltimore-based Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse was planning to develop $200 million of hotels, condominiums, shops and offices next to a stadium for the Nashville Sounds on the former Nashville Thermal Transfer Plant site.

But the two haven't been getting along, and they must complete land deals with Metro by April 15. The Metro Council has denied a request for a six-month extension.

Michael Hayes, Struever Bros.' Nashville development director, said the company was looking at the site with a fresh eye and paying attention to the public's comments. He said the developer had heard people talk about a music venue, playing fields, a bigger greenway and a marina.

"We're looking at all those things," Hayes said in a telephone interview. "We hope the plan we pull together is as, if not more, captivating than the last one. We really have an opportunity to start from scratch here."

Hayes said Struever Bros. would include a park or green space and might shift some of the buildings on the site.

He called Struever Bros. "one of the pre-eminent waterfront developers in the country" with experience in Baltimore's Inner Harbor and other cities.

Purcell's administration said Wednesday that the Sounds were in default of their agreement. Both the baseball team and the developer are expected to make new proposals, though Struever Bros. said it would keep trying to work things out with the Sounds by the deadline.

Growth of Nashville

2007-04-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

Nashville's Growth

The Nashville area is now home to nearly 1.5 million peopleCensus report shows a growth rate of 11% in last 6 years.

The Nashville area has grown roughly 11 percent since 2000, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.

That growth rate puts the Nashville area — Davidson County and 13 surrounding counties — in a class with Des Moines; Portland, Ore.; Denver; and Springfield, Mo., according to Census estimates released today.

The Nashville Metro area is home to an estimated 1.5 million people.

— LEE ANN O'NEAL, The Tennessean

2007-04-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Board votes to adopt Metro school uniforms

Policy will begin with next school year.

By JAIME SARRIO - The Tennessean

Metro school officials won't face much more opposition to a new school uniform policy, if the history of Memphis city schools is any indicator.

The Metro school board voted Tuesday night to adopt a "standard school attire" policy, beginning with the next school year, requiring the district's 74,000 students to wear collared shirts and khaki, navy or black pants, skirts, shorts or jumpers. Several people spoke against the proposal.

Memphis faced similar opposition before launching a school-uniform policy in 2002, said Wanda Halbert, a school board commissioner there who advocated uniforms. After uniforms were approved, the naysayers quieted down.

"A lot of the people who didn't like it, they were OK with it once we instituted the policy," Halbert said. "The children looked good, and the focus wasn't on what they were wearing. A lot of students started liking it after a while. They thought they looked good in their uniforms."

Before she voted for the policy, Halbert got a lot of calls opposing uniforms, including some from her own children.

More than 30 people spoke at Tuesday's meeting, and about half favored uniforms.

The board voted 7-2 to approve the measure.

Is Bigger, Better?

2007-04-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

Homes and appliances supersized for a reason
Behind America's obsession with big
By Arrol Gellner

Inman News

America is a big country, and we think big. We've always been enormously proud of our very biggest things, whether they're works of nature such as the Grand Canyon or manmade ones like the Empire State Building. Bigness is a defining quality of our nation.

But not everything that's big is necessarily great. Sometimes, in fact, big is simply silly, like the blundering inability of a Hummer to fit in a regular parking space. Or the way kids nowadays walk around gulping soda from plastic bottles the size of scuba tanks. Or the way baby carriages -- which used to be nimble, lightweight things just slightly larger than a baby -- are now more like baby-market SUVs, with gigantic rubber tires, huge molded plastic panels, and even cupholders. Yes, in today's America, even things for itty-bitty babies have to be big, big, big.

Needless to say, bigness has hit housing in, well, a big way. Not only are American homes now nearly twice the size of their postwar counterparts, but they have more of everything: more bedrooms, more bathrooms, bigger windows, taller ceilings, more garage doors.

The things inside our homes are getting bigger too, as a trip to an appliance store will quickly confirm. Like those colossal baby carriages, appliances are being pumped up to SUV-like proportions.

Many washing machines and dryers, for example, are now raised up on huge pedestals for "convenience," not to mention being slathered with enough fake chrome to shame a Lincoln Navigator owner.

The typical wall oven, which used to be made in a modest standard width of 24 inches, has been incrementally larded up to 27 inches and now 30 inches. Presumably, this is necessary because turkeys are now 25 percent larger. And where single ovens were once widely thought to be up to most baking tasks -- my father is still happy with his, and he's a professional baker -- nowadays double ovens are considered de rigeur.

After the demise of the huge old ranges of the postwar era, stoves shrank to a longtime standard width of 30 inches. Now they're growing again -- to 3 feet wide, 4 feet wide, and more. At the top of the heap is a $36,000 French-made residential range that's 5 1/2 feet wide. It's not much smaller than a pipe organ, and just about as complicated.

Refrigerator makers, to their credit, have finally reduced the depth of their products to match that of a typical kitchen counter. On the other hand, the other dimensions have grown completely out of proportion to this adjustment. From a common size of perhaps 32 inches wide by 66 inches high, refrigerators have ballooned into swaggering giants boasting television screens and Internet connections, and measuring 3 feet or 4 feet wide and 6 feet and even 7 feet high.

One has to wonder what's behind this trend. Turkeys haven't really grown by 25 percent, and neither have Americans. Our families are smaller, so we cook less food, not more. Today's appliances are more efficient, so we should be able to make them smaller, not larger.

The answer to this riddle is, I think, deceptively simple. Domestic appliance makers have gotten wise to what Detroit has known for decades: Selling little things makes little profits, while selling big things makes profits that are really, really -- well, you know the word.

responding to low offers

2007-04-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

SELLERS: Responding to Low Offers

The beginning of negotiations is usually the end of many months of hard work for the buyer or seller. The work ahead requires skill in order to maintain a strong position.Sellers can lose their advantage if they do not counter an offer that a buyer has made.

Even if the opening offer is beneath what the seller feels is reasonable, it is advisable for the seller to respond with a slight reduction from the asking price. The most important component in negotiating is good communication.The best way to handle a low offer is to counter it with definite terms that are favorable to the seller. A counter offer has two advantages:
1) it keeps the buyer interested, and 2) it moves the negotiation forward and gives the buyer the opportunity to submit another offer that the seller is more likely to prefer.

2007-03-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Pros and cons of condominium living

Owning a condo is quite different from owning a house. Make sure the condo lifestyle is for you before buying.

Considering buying a condominium? Be warned: owning a condominium is quite different from owning a single-family home and comes with its own particularities. Before you jump into the condo market with both feet, you should make sure that the condominium lifestyle is right for you. The benefits and drawbacks of condo living need to be weighed against your own criteria. Is security more important to you than distance from your neighbors? Are you comfortable with community living? Here is a list of the basic pros and cons of condo living to help you make your decision.

Pros and Cons

Location: There is often a high concentration of condominiums in downtown locations where land is at a premium. If you want to be in the heart of the city, a condominium may be a good choice.

"Box of air": When you buy a condo, you do not own the land beneath the building, you simply share an interest in it. Instead, you own the space between the walls of your unit, and share ownership of the common areas with other owners.

Security: Having neighbors around makes it a lot easier to lock up and leave for a vacation or an extended period of time. Also, condominium buildings often have security features, be they buzzers or a guard service. This is particularly helpful if this is your second home, and you are only there for part of the year.

Community living: Shared walls and common areas mean that you are more likely to hear your neighbors or run into them more often. Also, as part of the homeowner’s association, you will have to coordinate with neighbors to come to decisions regarding the common areas.

Low maintenance: No more backaches from mowing the lawn or shoveling snow. Condo living means someone else takes care of the plumbing problems or roof maintenance for you. There may be some cases -- if it’s your fault -- where you will have to pay.

Fees: Monthly condo fees go toward maintenance and repair of the common areas. There are occasionally additional assessment fees to handle larger repair jobs. Your fees may also be paying for amenities, such as a swimming pool, that you may not use.

Affordability: While condominiums have a wide price range, the lower range is often within the budget of first-time buyers and singles who may find single-family houses unaffordable.
Resale: Condominiums are more sensitive to trends in the real estate market than single-family homes. If the market takes a downturn, condos are usually the first to suffer and the last to recover.

Amenities: Most condominium developments offer a range of amenities in the common areas. This means that you may have access to a swimming pool, gym or tennis courts that you would not be able to afford on your own.

Rules: Condos are governed by a set of rules called Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs). This can include restrictions on noise levels, pet ownership, renovations, and even what kind of curtains you can put in your windows.

Condominium association: Every unit owner is a member of the condo association, which also has an elected board. The association serves to enforce bylaws, handles maintenance and repair issues, and deals with disputes with developers or between unit owners.

Condominium association: Because the condo association is made up of homeowners rather than property-management professionals, the association may be weak and inefficient. Also, if you want to make renovations to your unit or rent your unit out, you may have to get approval from the condo association.

GIVE US A CALL TODAY IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THE BUYING OR SELLING OF A HOME!

THE HOMES AROUND NASHVILLE TEAM

615-376-4500

WWW.HOMESAROUNDNASHVILLE.COM

Staging your home to sell

2007-03-14T13:22:00.001-07:00

Want to sell your home quickly and for top dollar? "Staging" can help.

"Staging" is presenting your home in its best and most appealing light to the majority of home-buyers.

In theory, "staging" isn't hard or costly, but in reality, many homeowners find it difficult because it's often hard to see something objectively when we love it.

An easy way to see effectively "staged" homes is to visit decorated models. Decorating a model is expensive, but builders are willing to invest the cost because they understand just how well a "staged" home sells. You too can profit from this knowledge.

Basic Staging Rules
#1 - Clean. Your home must sparkle! To achieve this level is usually only feasible by hiring a cleaning crew. In fact, having a cleaning service return weekly while your house is for sale is probably a pretty good investment. Get your windows professionally cleaned inside and out too.

#2 - Fix. Got a dripping faucet or a cracked tile? These will send the wrong message to potential buyers. Getting them fixed before you put your house on the market is a smart idea.

#3 - Eliminate Clutter. The "50% Rule" requires that you eliminate the clutter in your home by at least half. This may be the hardest rule of all! We love our clutter - - it reflects our memories, hobbies, and values. But it doesn't sell homes! Clutter makes homes seem smaller and disorganized. (Have you ever noticed that the really expensive stores seem to have an expansive, clutter-free layout, while "cheap" stores are often a jumble of merchandise?) Even the ancient practice of Feng Shui has as a central focus the elimination of clutter.

#4 - Executive Neutral. Neutral colors sell. It's a fact. Try to convey an image of quality and neutrality. Potential buyers walking through your home want to imagine themselves as the owners. If you use styles or colors they would never select, you've just turned them off. Staying high-quality, but neutral is safest.

#5 - De-personalize. Remove objects that your potential buyers won't be able to identify with. For example, political and religious items may turn off whole groups of buyers, because they cannot "imagine" your home as their home. Buying a home is an emotional decision, and you want potential buyers to make an emotional connection with your home by being able to "see" themselves in it.

The Test.
Wondering if something is acceptable "staging"? Visit a model home to see if they do it. For example, can you leave your high-end, designer toaster out on your kitchen counter? Nope! You won't find a single toaster in the kitchens of model homes. Can you display an artsy topiary tree on your kitchen counter? Yes. Model homes do!

Some Specifics.
"Curb appeal." They say you can only make one "first impression," and people usually form their first impression within 30 seconds. What potential buyers see when they drive up to your house will be their first impression. This is a good place to spend a little extra time and money. Plant flowers, trim bushes, weed, pick up leaves, repaint your front door, replace tarnished house numbers or a dented mailbox, get a brand-new neutral doormat, park your old car somewhere else.

The entrance. The first glimpse inside your home should give potential buyers positive, uplifting feelings. Make your entryway as light and bright as possible. Leave all the lights in the house on. (Have you noticed that model homes do this?) Get rid of all area rugs. (Even authentic, high-quality carpets should normally be removed since they break up the expanse of floor space, making rooms look smaller.) Limit your cooking to very plain foods so odors don't linger. (No cabbage, garlic, or onions!) On the other hand, freshly baked chocolate chip cookie smells are just fine! (They evoke a homey feeling for almost everyone.)

Kitchen. Kitchens sell homes, so the importance of making your kitchen appealing can't be underestimated. Clean and de-clutter! Anything taking up counter or floor space must go (the only exception would be the types of designer touches seen in model homes). Anything displayed on the refrigerator must go. If your cabinets are old, consider resurfacing them. If your counter knobs are old or out-of-date, replacing them can be a relatively inexpensive "facelift." Get a woodtone touchup stick from your home supply store and fill in any nicks and scratches. Shelves and pantries must appear orderly and very spacious. Put those extra items in your newly rented storage unit or give them away!

Bathrooms. Again, clean and de-clutter! You absolutely must get rid of any mildew/mold. If you have a glass shower door, squeegee it after every shower. A mold-and-mildew remover and a soap scum remover can work wonders. Glass cleaning products do a good job of cleaning windows and mirrors (but be careful if you have brass fixtures since ammonia will cause these to pit). Do not display any personal toiletry items! Remove all deodorant, mouthwash, electric toothbrushes, etc. and put them in your cabinet. (Model homes never, ever display such items!) Pick up all bath mats/rugs. Keep your soap dishes pristine. If you have bars of hand soap, they should look new. Get a new set of high-quality, neutral, fluffy towels and display them. (Model homes always do this!)

Rest of the House. Clean, repair, de-clutter, and de-personalize! You're going for that Executive but neutral look, since almost everyone can "see themselves" in a home like that.

Remove those knickknacks!

Remove enough items from your closet so you can hang a garment without touching the garment next to it - - this could be difficult. (Extra and out-of-season clothes go to your newly rented storage unit.)

Remove area rugs

Remove throw blankets

Remove throw pillows (or replace with "designer" pillows)

If your houseplants are anemic, remove them. Replace with high-quality silk plants or healthy houseplants in brass, wicker, or plain ceramic containers.

Take a hard look at your carpets. Are they stained or worn? Replacing carpets is often an excellent investment because it gives your home that "new" look that everyone wants. (Buyers have notoriously poor imaginations, so replacing existing carpet with neutral carpet is usually a much better idea than offering a "carpet allowance.")

Leave all the lights on (No burned-out lightbulbs!)

Keep wastebaskets empty

If possible, send your pets to stay with family or friends. As much as we love our pets, they can be a major negative distraction to potential buyers.

Leave your home before potential buyers arrive

Summary
Once you accept the challenge that you're turning your home into a "model home" to sell at top dollar and in record time, you've won half the battle. You'll be well rewarded for your efforts!

Staging your home to sell

2007-03-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

Remove those knickknacks!
Remove enough items from your closet so you can hang a garment without touching the garment next to it - - this could be difficult. (Extra and out-of-season clothes go to your newly rented storage unit.)
Remove area rugs
Remove throw blankets
Remove throw pillows (or replace with "designer" pillows)
If your houseplants are anemic, remove them. Replace with high-quality silk plants or healthy houseplants in brass, wicker, or plain ceramic containers.
Take a hard look at your carpets. Are they stained or worn? Replacing carpets is often an excellent investment because it gives your home that "new" look that everyone wants. (Buyers have notoriously poor imaginations, so replacing existing carpet with neutral carpet is usually a much better idea than offering a "carpet allowance.")
Leave all the lights on (No burned-out lightbulbs!)
Keep wastebaskets empty
If possible, send your pets to stay with family or friends. As much as we love our pets, they can be a major negative distraction to potential buyers.
Leave your home before potential buyers arrive

Summary
Once you accept the challenge that you're turning your home into a "model home" to sell at top dollar and in record time, you've won half the battle. You'll be well rewarded for your efforts!

Hot Neighborhoods

2007-03-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

Next Hot American Neighborhoods
by Maya Roney

For price-sensitive buyers, we identify the areas in the U.S.'s largest cities that offer the best quality of life and investment potential.

"Up-and-coming," "gentrifying," "on the rise"—terms like these can be realtors' rhetoric or a red flag for homebuyers. But less-pricey city neighborhoods where home values have shot up in the past few years are worth scouring for deals, especially now that prices have dipped in many areas.

There's usually more behind their increase in value than just the overall increase in property values across the U.S. over the past five years. Factors such as schools, improved crime rates, high employment, and access to public transportation make these neighborhoods increasingly appealing to price-sensitive buyers.

BusinessWeek.com worked with online real estate service Zillow.com to come up with a list of the next hot neighborhoods in 10 of the country's biggest cities. Looking at Zillow's database of historical home valuations, we identified the neighborhood in each city that saw the most median home-value appreciation in the past five years, excluding neighborhoods where the median home value was currently above the median home value for the city.

The result: neighborhoods with both relatively affordable housing and a recent history of significant appreciation. Though identifying undervalued and undiscovered areas is far from an exact science, these neighborhoods have what it takes to become solid investments—and places to live. In spite of double-digit appreciation in the last few years, the areas' low home values (compared to the overall cities) suggest there's still room for considerable growth.

Downtown Deals
Several years back, the working-class immigrant neighborhood of Pico Union in downtown Los Angeles was one of the poorest parts of the city. The median home value in the fourth quarter of 2001 was $129,621, according to Zillow. Today, 500-square-foot condominiums are selling in the $300,000s, according to Stephen May, a real estate broker and condo specialist at L.A.'s Downtown Residential Realty. And that's the low end—$4 million penthouses aren't an unusual find in this rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.

"There's a boom going on downtown," says May. "Homes are now available in any price range." Of course, not everyone is benefiting from the rise in prices in Pico Union. The traditional low-income immigrant community, largely from El Salvador, is being forced out of the neighborhood by rising rents and the bulldozing of old buildings.

According to Zillow's estimates, home values in Pico Union have soared almost 300% in the past five years, to a median home value of $516,498. But in Los Angeles, where the median home value is nearly $600,000, Pico Union remains a steal for many buyers.

City centers are often good places to find value neighborhoods. They may have higher crime rates, but they have become increasingly appealing to affluent professionals looking for transportation hubs, pedestrian accessibility, and an urban social scene. Artists and so-called hipsters may also sacrifice a little space and safety for a cheaper home in a diverse and creative area.

Like downtown L.A., Denver's Civic Center neighborhood is seeing revitalization as the city cracks down on crime and spruces up the streets and sidewalks. Qwest Communications remains the top public employer in Denver. Strong local economies are fueling the growth of other city neighborhoods on our list—most notably in the Mission Bay part of San Francisco, where retailer Old Navy, which is owned by Gap, is headquartered.

Beckoning Boroughs
Good values exist in just about every city, if you know where to look. In notoriously expensive New York City, homebuyers can find a relative bargain in the community of Kingsbridge Heights in the Northwest Bronx, where the median home value is $442,544, compared to the city's $936,439.

Zillow estimates that the median home value was $99,546 in the fourth quarter of 2000.
Kingsbridge Heights has always been a middle-class neighborhood with decent schools, but some surrounding Bronx areas have a less-than-stellar reputation when it comes to crime and school systems. This may have shielded the area from buyers in the past, but the area's proximity to mass transit (you can easily hop on the 1, 4, and D subway lines to Manhattan) has turned it into a hot spot for Manhattan rent refugees.

"There seems to be a marked increase in Manhattanites starting a family [buying in Kingsbridge Heights]," says Brad Trebach, a realtor based in the neighboring community of Riverdale.

"They're looking for elbow room, a neighborhood with trees and grass." Given its proximity to 1,000-acre Van Cortland Park and the Jerome Park Reservoir, Kingsbridge Heights has plenty of space and greenery to offer.

Venturing to the fringe may also pay off in other cities, like Boston, where the neighborhood of Dorchester remains affordable even though home values there have increased nearly 60% in the last five years. The median home value is now $331,896, according to Zillow. Almost a separate city in itself, Dorchester is a large and diverse working-class community south of Boston's center, with many Irish and Southeast Asian immigrants, as well as a significant African American population. Residents enjoy riverfront amenities like beaches and boating, as well as the green space and recreational activities of 527-acre Franklin Park.

Focus on Possibility
The phrase "up-and-coming" can sometimes be code for a dangerous area, so it's important to make sure you're comfortable with the neighborhood and the potential risk it may pose to you as an investor.

Whether you're searching for the next hot spot or just trying to find a cheap and funky place to live, homebuyers in so-called up-and-coming areas should focus on four main factors, according to Thaddeus Wong, co-founder of @Properties, a Chicago-based brokerage specializing in emerging city neighborhoods.

First and foremost, consider the neighborhood's transportation infrastructure. Is it close to mass transit and highways? Is the transport fast and efficient? "In a developing neighborhood, the ease of getting in and out is crucial," says Wong. "We've seen the highest velocity of price increases in these areas."

A neighborhood's commercial infrastructure—whether it has space for restaurants and shops, heavily trafficked streets, and ample parking—is also important in determining the area's potential for success, Wong says. "You have to bring people in with art galleries and restaurants. That's how people become familiar with neighborhoods."

Neighborhood zoning laws also play a role, according to Wong. If the zoning is more flexible and for larger or more units, either residential or commercial, the area will gentrify more rapidly. The wild card, Wong explains, is local politics—some politicians don't want development, while others embrace it.

Everyone knows someone who bought a home in an undesirable neighborhood and got rich when the area got hip. But anyone buying in an area that hasn't seen any recent development is gambling. To play it safe, make sure the neighborhood has something going on before you take the plunge. "You don't want to be the first guy there," says Wong. "You're better off being the second or third one in."

Methodology
Zillow arrives at its home valuations, called Zestimates, using an algorithm that considers a range of publicly available data for all the homes in a given area (not just the homes sold). While this isn't an appraisal, Zillow says the majority of its Zestimates are within 10% of the selling price of a home.

Using Zillow's database of historical "Zindexes"—the median Zestimate in a given region—we identified the neighborhood in each city that saw the most home value appreciation in the past five years (six years in the case of New York City), excluding neighborhoods where the median home value was currently above the median home value for the city. Zillow identifies a neighborhood as a center point and homes within a 1-mile radius of that center point in a given city.

Buyer Representation

2007-03-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

What is a Buyer Representative?

A real estate buyer's representative represents the buyer who is purchasing property in a real estate transaction. Research by the National Association of REALTORS has shown that when a buyer's representative is used, the prospective buyer found a home one week faster and examined three more properties than consumers who did not use a buyer's representative.

The buyer's representative works for, and owes fiduciary responsibilities to, the real estate buyer and has buyer's best interests in mind throughout the entire real estate process. A buyer's representative will:

Evaluate the specific needs and wants of the buyer and locate properties that fit those specifications.

Assist the buyer in determining the amount that they can afford (pre-qualify), and show properties in that price range and locale.

Assist in viewing properties -- accompany the buyer on the showings, or preview the properties on behalf of the buyer to insure that the identified specifications are met.

Research the selected properties to identify any problems or issues to help the buyer make an informed decision prior to making an offer to purchase the property.

Advise the buyer on structuring an appropriate offer to purchase the selected property.

Present the offer to the seller's agent and the seller on the buyer's behalf.

Negotiate on behalf of the buyer to help obtain the identified property -- keeping the buyer's best interests in mind.

Assist in securing appropriate financing for the selected property.

Provide a list of potential qualified vendors (e.g. movers, attorneys, carpenters, etc.) if these services are needed.

Most importantly, fully-represent the buyer throughout the real estate transaction.

The Buyer Representation Agreement

It is important for the buyer to discuss the buyer's representative's compensation in the initial interview. In many cases it is recommended that the buyer and the buyer's representative agree to the terms of compensation prior to viewing properties, and sign a written agreement based on those terms. The agreement should spell out the responsibilities of both parties throughout the real estate process.

In some states, legislation has been enacted to protect the buyer to the point that, absent a written agreement, the buyer's representative represents the buyer throughout the real estate transaction. Consult your REALTOR for complete details when you begin the purchase process.

IT WOULD BE OUR PLEASURE TO REPRESENT YOU IN YOUR REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION. GIVE US A CALL AT 615-376-4500.

2007-03-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

Debating Between a Condo or a House

Which is right for you?

By Melissa Paul
A condo can offer a good location at a less expensive price.

Buying a home is one of the biggest and most important decisions you’ll ever make. Whether you are a first-time buyer, or a veteran homeowner looking to trade up or make a new start, you will inevitably be faced with a number of questions. Your answers will lead you to the home that’s right for you.

One of the most fundamental questions all homeowners face is whether to buy a condo or single family house. There are advantages and disadvantages of each and only you can know what’s right for you.

For Boston newlyweds Michelle and Kevin Millsom, 31 and 36, it was an easy decision. With high-powered financial careers and no children, they were drawn to the excitement of the city and wanted their fingers on the pulse. They bought a penthouse apartment with a breathtaking view of Boston’s famous esplanade and Charles River.

“We enjoy everything the city has to offer—the restaurants, theatre, outdoor concerts. We walk everywhere and find the easy access to the airport to be a plus since we travel frequently for work,” said Kevin. “When we have children, we may think about a house in the suburbs, but for now this is where we want to be.”

Houses generally offer a bit more privacy because they aren't attached to another unit.

Like all things, living in the heart of the city comes with tradeoffs. For the price of their two-bedroom/two-bath condo, they could buy a home three times the size, just a short 20-minute commute away. They share decision-making for their building with fourteen other tenants and pay pricey condo fees to cover the costs of insurance and upkeep. Their car sits idle most of the time in a $300 per month rented parking spot only to leave for short jaunts to the grocery store or visits to see family. But for Kevin and Michelle who want to spend their spare time out and about, the location and convenience can’t be beat.

On the other hand, Adriana Forte, 62, lives in a condo in the Boston suburb of Arlington and misses all that a single-family home has to offer. Six years ago, after her divorce, she bought a “condex,” (a two-family home with a shared wall) with the belief that managing a home would be too much for her alone. But it turned out to be the wrong decision for her. Now, she is desperately seeking a single-family house to call her own.

“It’s difficult to live with neighbors so close,” Forte said. “First there was the noise. My neighbors are night people, and every night they are just getting geared up when I’m trying to sleep. Then I found myself handling 100 percent of the finances and maintenance of the duplex—without compensation. I may as well be living in my own house!” Forte also misses the fresh air and private outdoor space. For her, maintaining a home and garden is pure enjoyment. The privacy is what she misses most.

What is most important to you? Give consideration to the following:

Location – Where do you want to be? Are there options for both condos and single-family houses in this area?

Privacy – Is it important to you to have complete privacy or do you find close neighbors to be a comfort?

Responsibility – Do you need total control over decisions affecting your home or are you attracted to the idea of sharing decision-making with your neighbors?

Maintenance – Are you a homebody who enjoys getting dirty in the yard or are you delighted with the idea of never having to cut a blade of grass again?

Budget – How much do you have to spend? Depending on where you want to live, a condo may be the only option that meets your budget.

These considerations and others will help you determine the best choice for you now. And just remember, if your interests and priorities change in the years ahead, you can always sell your home and make a move, this time with experience as your guide.

setting the price

2007-03-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

7 Steps to House Selling Success!

Every reasonable owner wants the best possible price and terms for his or her home. Several factors, including market conditions and interest rates, will determine how much you can get for your home. The idea is to get the maximum price and the best terms during the window of time when your home is being marketed.

In other words, home selling is part science, part marketing, part negotiation and part art. Unlike math where 2 + 2 always equals 4, in real estate there is no certain conclusion. All transactions are different, and because of this, you should do as much as possible to prepare your home for sale and engage the REALTOR® you feel is best able to sell your home.

What is your home worth?All homes have a price, and sometimes more than one. There's the price owners would like to get, the value buyers would like to offer and a point of agreement which can result in a sale.

In considering home values, several factors are important:

The value of your home relates to local sale prices. The same home, located elsewhere, would likely have a different value.
Sale prices are a product of supply and demand. If you live in a community with an expanding job base, a growing population and a limited housing supply, it's likely that prices will rise. Alternatively, it's important to be realistic. If the local community is losing jobs and people are moving out, then you'll likely have a buyer's market.
Owner needs can impact sale values. If owner Smith "must" sell quickly, he will have less leverage in the marketplace. Buyers may think that Smith is willing to trade a quick closing for a lower price -- and they may be right. If Smith has no incentive to sell quickly, he may have more marketplace strength.
Sale prices are not based on what owners "need." When an owner says, "I must sell for $300,000 because I need $100,000 in cash to buy my next home," buyers will quickly ask if $300,000 is a reasonable price for the property. If similar homes in the same community are selling for $250,000, the seller will not be successful.
Sale prices are NOT the whole deal. Which would you rather have: A sale price of $200,000, or a sale price of $205,000 but where you agree to make a "seller contribution" of $5,000 to offset the buyer's closing costs, pay a $2,000 allowance for roof repairs, fund two mortgage points, re-paint the entire house and leave the washer and dryer?

How much is too much? Because all transactions are unique there is flexibility in the marketplace. The amount of flexibility depends on local conditions.

For example, suppose you're selling a townhouse. Suppose also that there have been five recent sales of the model you own and that sale values have ranged between $200,000 and $210,000. You now have an idea of how your home might be priced. In a strong market perhaps you can ask for $210,000 or a little more. If the market has slowed, $210,000 may be a reasonable asking price, but perhaps more than the final sale price.

Here's another scenario. Imagine that you live in a community of Victorian-style homes, most of which were built in the 1920s. All the homes are different in terms of size, condition, modernization, style and features. In such a neighborhood, an average sale price is just a statistic without much practical meaning. On a single block one home may sell for $400,000 while another is priced at more than $1 million. The average price may be outrageously high for one home and staggeringly low for another.

Who can help?Experienced REALTORS® are active in the local marketplace and can provide assistance with pricing, marketing, negotiation and closing.

Because experienced REALTORS® have handled many transactions, they're familiar with the terms and conditions that went into individual sales, not just published sale prices which may not reflect various premiums, discounts and adjustments.

2007-02-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

How to Recognize Predatory Mortgage Lenders
From Elizabeth Weintraub

Don't Be a Victim of Shady Lenders

The bulk of mortgage lenders in the marketplace are consumer oriented and comply with state / federal laws. These lenders operate within the scope of real estate law and ethically. However, there are lenders who prey on the naive and uniformed. They take advantage of people who don't know how to tell the honest mortgage lenders from the predatory types.

Just like you wouldn't buy a watch from some character in the street with bulging pockets, for example, you should not respond to unsolicited marketing efforts such as:

Flyers thrown on your doorstep, stuck to the windshield of your car or tacked to a telephone pole

Direct mail from companies you've never heard of before

Telemarketers who try to pressure you over the phone

However, like with any profession that involves huge sums of money, complicated products and unsophisticated consumers, there is a potential for fraud. How can you tell if a lender is a scammer? Here are a few warning signs:

The representative comes off as a fast-talker and smooth operator. You might get the impression that the discussion is more of a spiel that has been repeated so many times it's now rote and not a conversation.

The rates and fees appear to be unusually high. Ask to have your FICO score explained to you and compare rates among other lenders.

The lender is using high pressure tactics with you, urging you to sign NOW. If you are refinancing, you have three days to change your mind. If you are buying a home and obtaining a purchase loan, ask what happens if you do not immediately "lock" your loan rate.

You are told that "bad credit is no problem" Credit is always an issue. Good credit with high FICO scores means you will get favorable terms on your loan. Bad credit might prevent you from getting any loan. Lenders who specialize in making loans to buyers with bad credit are known as sub-prime lenders and do not offer attractive rates.

The lender encourages you to lie on your loan application and claims "it is done all the time" Do not sign blank documents and do not make false statements on your loan application. It is against the law to defraud a lender.

You are pressured to accept a risky sounding loan you do not understand nor want. Most folks have some kind of idea how much they feel comfortable paying per month on a mortgage. Do not agree to make higher payments than you can afford to pay.
The lender pretends to care about you but you have a funny feeling about the pretense Listen to your intuition. It is asking you to pay attention to this nagging feeling that something is not right. Trust yourself.

You receive assurances that the loan being offered to you will solve all your financial troubles. Nothing will solve all your financial woes until you stop spending money. There is nothing magical about a mortgage, and nobody is doing you any favors in this business.

Only one lender is offering you a loan and claims nobody else will lend to you. Talk to other lenders. Obtain a copy of your credit report.

At the closing table, all your fees and charges are different than what you initially agreed to pay. If this happens to you, pull out your Good Faith Estimate and ask for an explanation. Continue to ask questions until you are satisfied with the answers. If you are still suspicious and do not receive satisfactory answers, get up and leave the closing table. Don't close the transaction until you speak with a lawyer.

Help put these crooks out of business. Report predatory lenders to the Federal Trade Commission and / or your state attorney general.

1st time homebuyers

2007-02-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

Before You Buy Your First Home - Tips for First-time Home Buyers
From Elizabeth Weintraub

It's not uncommon for a first-time home buyer to say to me, "Gosh, just last week I called you about buying a home and now I'm in escrow! How did this happen so fast?"

The answer is it didn't. First-time home buyers start the search long before most even realize it.
Here's what you can expect from your home shopping experience.

Figuring Out the Benefits

You should buy a home. That's what you've been hearing from friends and family, right? So, by now you have likely already weighed the benefits and decided that home ownership was the best decision for you. That's a major hurdle now passed. You are focused and certain. Good.

Defining Search Parameters

Almost 80% of all home searches today begin on the Internet. With just a few clicks of the mouse, home buyers can search through hundreds of online listings, view virtual tours, and sort through dozens of photographs and aerial shots of neighborhoods and homes. You've probably defined your goals and have a pretty good idea of the type of home and neighborhood you want. By the time you reach your real estate agent's office, you are halfway to home ownership.

How Long Should It Take to Find What You Want?

In seller's markets, often I show only one home. After all, how many homes does one family need? A few buyers will look for years, but buyers who do that aren't motivated. A motivated buyer will find a home within two weeks. Most of my buyers find a home within two days. Good real estate agents will listen to your wants and needs and arrange to show only those homes that fit your particular parameters. Your agent should preview homes before showing them to you as well.

How Many Homes Will You See?

Studies show that the your memory dramatically improves after consumption of carbs and slows upon consuming sugar. So, layoff the soft drinks and have a hearty meal of carbs before venturing out to tour homes. The average number of homes that I show to a buyer in one day is seven. Any more than that, and the brain is on overload. Therefore, don't expect to see 20 or 30 homes; although it's physically possible to do so, you probably will not remember specific details about any of them.

The "Red Shoes" Experience

Women will relate to this. Say, you need a new pair of red shoes. You go to the mall. At the first shoe store, you find a fabulous pair of red shoes. You try them on. They fit perfectly. They are glamorous. Priced right, too. Do you buy them? Of course not! You go to every other store in the mall trying on red shoes until you are ready to drop from exhaustion. Then you return to the first store and buy those red shoes. Do not shop for a home this way. When you find the perfect home, buy it.

How to Rate Inventory

Bring a digital camera and begin each series of photos with a close-up of the house number to identify where each group of home photos start and end.

Take copious notes of unusual features, colors and design elements.

Pay attention to the home's surroundings. What is next door? Do 2-story homes tower over your single story?

Do you like the location? Is it near a park or a power plant?

Immediately after leaving, rate each home on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest.

View Top Choices a Second Time

After touring homes for a few days, you will probably instinctively know which one or two homes you would like to buy. Ask to see them again. You will see them with different eyes and notice elements that were overlooked the first go-around. At this point, your agent should call the listing agents to find out more about the sellers' motivation and to double-check that an offer hasn't come in, making sure these homes are still available to purchase.

Making the Selection

I'll let you in on a little secret. I generally know which home a buyer is going to choose, and I suspect most other agents operate the same way. It's an intuition. But I make it a practice not to steer buyers, and I insist that buyers choose the home without interference from me. It's not my choice to make.Real estate agents are required, however, to point out defects and should help buyers feel confident that the home selected meets the buyer's search parameters.

Curb appeal

2007-02-26T08:21:00.000-08:00

How to Improve Curb Appeal

by Janet Wickell

Home Selling Advice to Help You Attract Potential Buyers

A large percentage of home buyers decide whether or not to look inside a house or take it seriously based on its curb appeal—the view they see when they drive by or arrive for a showing. You can help make sure they want to come inside your house by spending some time working on the its exterior appearance.

It's difficult to look at our own house in the same way that potential home buyers do, because when we become accustomed to the way something looks and functions, we can't see its faults. Decide right now to stop thinking of the property as a home. It's a house—a commodity you want to sell for the highest dollar possible.

Curb Appeal ExerciseThe next time you come home, stop across the street or far enough down the driveway to get a good view of the house and its surroundings.

What is your first impression of the house and yard area?

What are the best exterior features of the house or lot? How can you enhance them?
What are the worst exterior features of the house or lot? How can you minimize or improve them?

Park where a potential buyer would and walk towards the house, looking around you as if it were your first visit. Is the approach clean and tidy? What could you do to make it more attractive?

Take photos of the home's exterior. If you have a digital camera, view the color versions first, then remove the color and look at it in black and white, because it's easier to see problems when color isn't around to affect our senses.

Make a list of the problem areas you discovered. Tackle clean up and repair chores first, then put some time into projects that make the grounds more attractive.

Kill mold and mildew on the house, sidewalks, roof, or driveway.

Stow away unnecessary garden implements and tools.

Clean windows and gutters.

Pressure wash dirty siding and dingy decks.

Edge sidewalks and remove vegetation growing between concrete or bricks.

Mow the lawn. Get rid of weeds.

Rake and dispose of leaves, even if your lot is wooded.

Trim tree limbs that are near or touching the home's roof.

Don't Forget the Rear View

Buyers doing a drive by will try their best to see your back yard. If it's visible from another street or from someone's driveway, include it in your curb appeal efforts.

Evening Curb Appeal

Do your curb appeal exercise again at dusk, because it isn't unusual for potential buyers to drive by houses in the evening.

One quick way to improve evening curb appeal is with lighting:

String low voltage lighting along your driveway, sidewalks, and near important landscaping elements.

Add a decorative street lamp or an attractive light fixture to a front porch.

Make sure lighting that's visible through front doors and windows enhances the home's appearance.

Landscaping Decisions

There are times that adding elements to your landscaping can improve curb appeal, but there are other times when removing something is even more effective.

For example, we had a listing for a large brick house with large white columns. Tall evergreens, planted in front of each column, had grown taller than the roof. They obscured the columns and windows and made it difficult to see the front of the house.

We suggested that the owner remove them. She trimmed them back, but it didn't do the trick—they were unattractive and still kept potential buyers from seeing the true character of the house.

I sold the house to a couple who could see past the trees. One of their first tasks after closing was to yank them out of the ground, instantly boosting the home's curb appeal.

Most buyers cannot visualize changes, and often won't take a second look at a house if the first look doesn't appeal to them. Home buyers who can visualize changes, and are prepared to make them, expect you to reduce the price of the house to compensate for the work they plan to do.

A Few Curb Appeal Tips

If you can budget it, a fresh paint job does wonders for a dingy house. Drive around your town to find color schemes that are appealing.

Install a more attractive front door, maybe something with leaded glass inserts.
If you can't justify the cost of a new door, consider replacing plain doorknob hardware with something more attractive.

If new hardware is beyond your budget, repaint or stain the door and polish the hardware?
If you brainstorm, you'll find that there's a solution to most problems—one that lets you stay within your budget. The trick is to find the areas where improvements are needed, then work on them as best you can.

Buyer Representation in New Home Construction

2007-02-23T13:17:00.001-08:00

Why Should You Have Representation When Buying A Brand New Home?

From time to time, we hear a buyer utter the question:

"Why do I need my own agent? Why shouldn't I just use the agent that is selling in the community?"

We asked one of our team members, to review this question and offer her response:

When I hear a buyer ask, "Why do I need an agent?" I think back to when my parents bought their 2nd house. They dove right in and made a lot of bad decisions because they didn't think they needed help, and thought they'd save some money.

In the 80's, you didn't have the option of Buyer Representation. They muddled through the whole process, negotiating on their own and taking the advice of anyone who offered. After the closing, and after having quite a lot of trouble with getting the house to appraise, my parents did some follow-up work and found that the bank appraiser had fudged to match house price to contract price. They were livid!

But sueing wouldn't have accomplished much even if they'd won, and would have cost them a whole lot of money upfront. Fortunately they stayed in the house long enough that they came out okay but that really stuck with me. So when I decided to become a Realtor, one of the main reasons was to act as a full-time, very serious advocate for my buyers, and to make sure this never happened to them.

On-site agents represent the builder and are obligated to. So, even if they wanted to, they are not there to protect your interests. It's just nice to have someone on your side who's available when and where you need them and can help you with decisions like what colors and materials resell well, what kind of Lender costs are fair and reasonable and which aren't, which building lot is a better investment over another, or any number of a multitude of related issues like this.

Every decision counts in Real Estate and nothing is minor! It's all your money and you, and I, are the only ones who are really going to care the most about making sure you make the right choices and that the Builder lives up to what he/she has promised!

All agents owe both parties to the transaction reasonable skill, care and diligence, but you need more that that. Once you have chosen an agent to represent you exclusively, you will get a committment from someone working to help you find the perfect home, and make sure your interests are served in all parts of the transaction. You'll get more than you even realize you need and learn more than you realized you needed to know. For example, if you aren't sure what the answers are to these questions, it should probably give you pause to be concerned:

Do I negotiate when offering on new construction? The answer might surprise you!

Who pays commission?

What happens after I make an offer to purchase a home?

Do I have to get a pest inspection?

What is the Customary Deposit?

Do I need to have a home inspection? If so who pays for it and when do we do it?

Will I need legal counsel?

What kind of Title should I ask for?

Why do I need a survey and who pays for that?

When do we get the appraisal and does the seller provide it?

What is an origination fee, or points?

How will my property taxes be determined and how are they paid?

Give us a call today if we can further assist you in your real estate transaction. It is one of the biggest investments you will ever make and having a trained and experienced professional on your side will make all the difference!

The Homes Around Nashville Team

Bill and Cynthia Berkley

Jennifer Devine

Realty Executives Fine Homes

615-847-1169

2007-02-18T12:42:00.000-08:00

JetBlue cancels all Nashville flights for Monday

By MARCUS FRANKLIN

NEW YORK (AP) -- JetBlue Airways called off almost a quarter of its flights for Monday but hoped that would be the last round of cancellations as it struggles to recover from the snowstorm that saw some travelers sitting on grounded planes for hours.

The airline had scheduled 600 flights for President's Day, more than the 550 to 575 flights it has on a normal Monday, but 139 of them were canceled, JetBlue announced late Saturday.

The latest cancellations were needed to make sure all flight crews had gotten the legally mandated amount of rest before returning to service, JetBlue Airways Corp. spokesman Sebastian White said Sunday.

"Canceling one more day's operations will really help reset our airline," White said Sunday.
All JetBlue flights were canceled in and out of 11 airports: Richmond, Va.; Pittsburgh; Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Austin and Houston, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville; Portland, Maine; and Bermuda.

The cancellations followed hundreds of other canceled and delayed flights since Wednesday, when the snow and ice storm that had plowed across the Midwest struck the Northeast, grounding the company's airliners at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

White said JetBlue has been using several methods in efforts to reduce the backlog of passengers stalled by the storm, including charter flights, adding flights in certain regions, rebooking passengers who had some travel flexibility to later dates, and booking seats on other airlines.

He said the airline attempted to warn passengers of the latest cancelations by telephone and e-mail.

The disruptions also meant JetBlue faced mountains of luggage checked by would-be travelers. Some passengers complained that after their flights were canceled no one could find their bags.
White said the airline had teams out in the New York City area on Sunday delivering luggage to customers.

2007-02-17T12:25:00.000-08:00

Seniors shop for comfort in new homesState's retirement market huge, says housing expert

By LEE ANN O'NEAL , The Tennessean

When 91-year-old Ernest Backus moved to Tennessee from Ohio in 1994, he sought a home tailor-made for an older resident.

His two-bedroom condo in the southeast Nashville community of Lenox Village has wide door frames to accommodate wheelchairs, electric outlets placed higher on walls, for people with back problems, and a one-floor design.

"That's the big thing," Backus said. "My wife had health problems. Going up and down those steps was too much for her."

The demand for homes with senior-friendly amenities is expected to grow dramatically as the number of Tennessee residents who are 55 and older rapidly grows in the coming decades.
In 2000, 1.2 million Tennessee residents were 55 or older. That number is projected to rise to 2.2 million by 2030, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

If that holds true, the number of 55-and-older residents will grow more than twice as fast as the state's population as a whole.

"The single biggest demographic change that's taking place right in our midst is the retirement market. It's huge," said Edsel Charles, president of the Brentwood-based housing research firm MarketGraphics.

And many older Tennesseans are shunning age-restricted communities, opting instead to live in communities with people of all ages. But often, they want their homes adapted to fit the needs of older residents.

That was the case with Gail and Bobby Connelly.

Last year, they moved to Lenox Village after searching for a home where there would be no yard work and no stairs to climb.

"It just got the best of me, going up and down steps," Gail Connelly said of the basement-area laundry room in their previous home.

They never considered moving to an age-restricted development.

"We would be very bored in an old retirement community," said Gail Connelly, 68. "We like the young people and the middle-aged people. I don't want to see old people all the time."

For others, the shared experience of living near other seniors is comforting.

"There are several in here who are widows," said Frieda Rhodes, who lives in the 55-and-older Reid Hill Commons subdivision in Franklin. "We have a camaraderie, being the same age. We've all had our families."

She likes the quiet of her community. There are no children playing in the backyard and no teenagers driving fast through the neighborhood.

Subdivisions like Reid Hill Commons, with federally permitted age restrictions, are cropping up throughout the Midstate.

There's the 1,069-home Lake Providence development that opened last fall in Mt. Juliet. There's also a 3,000-home development in the planning stages for further east in Wilson County, said Chris Ryan, Tennessee division president for Pulte Homes.

In her one-floor home, Rhodes can walk from her garage to her patio without taking a step up or down. The door handles are lever-style instead of knobs, the hallways are wide and the bathroom has handrails.

"I don't have any knee problems, but that can crop up anytime," Rhodes said.

Bellevue growth and development

2007-02-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

Harpeth Village Center is filling up with a variety of services, restaurants

By NICOLE YOUNG

The Tennessean

The new Publix Grocery just off Highway 100 and Temple Road is open, and several other tenants are scheduled to come on board.

Publix anchors the new Harpeth Village Center, which is being developed through a joint venture between the Barclay Group and Kimco.

According to Barclay Group broker Matt Fuller, Harpeth Village Center officials have signed leases with Green Hills Cleaners, Li-en Nails, Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse and Marble Slab Creamery.

“We have leases out for signature with four more potential tenants, including a pet store, Mediterranean restaurant, insurance office, and a game and video store,” Fuller said.“We gave our signed tenants the keys to the space last week. Most of them have submitted their building plans to us already. I expect them to open in about two to three months.”

The center includes a total of 68,000 square feet of shopping space. The new Publix takes up about 45,000 square feet leaving about 23,000 square feet available for lease.Although some negotiations are still taking place, Fuller said he hopes to have the center completely leased out within the next couple of months.

Community continues to grow

“Publix has an excellent reputation,” said Gayla Pugh, Executive Director of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce. “This community has enough people to support a new grocery store, and all of the ones that are currently in place. I really feel like we needed this new store and the others planned to accompany it. We like good quality additions and this is going to be a beautiful center.”

The new Publix store manager, Stacy Greathouse, has already joined the Bellevue Chamber, Pugh said.Greathouse, who lives in Fairview, joined the new Publix from the store’s Franklin location.“This is a great community and the growth out here is just soaring,” Greathouse said of Bellevue. “The store is already fully staffed and we’re praying for a big turnout with the community. I think a lot of people are excited and I think they’re ready to come shopping.”

Advance Auto Parts signs on
In addition to the shopping space included in the center, the development includes four out parcels ranging in size from 1.32 acres to 0.81 acres.“We have closed on one of our four out parcels with Advance Auto Parts. The other three out parcels are in negotiations with a bank, gas station and drugstore,” Fuller said.

Construction on the Advance Auto Parts store has already begun, officials said.“Once the company purchases the out parcel, they go through an inspection period where they get surveys, legal work and permits lined up. They have to demonstrate that they are not just holding this land, they are going to develop it for income,” said Barclay Group Director of Development Ron Grunwald.

“We oversee the out parcels to make sure the development is going as planned. We want everyone to follow a design plan so that it looks like a nice center. We give the company, in this case, Advance Auto Parts, 30 to 90 days to build.”Grunwald said construction on the center went as planned on schedule.“We had some challenging weather,” he said. “But the development went smoothly. Every project always has something that is challenging.”

2007-02-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

Nashville ranks well in job growth
Nashville Business Journal

Nashville 52nd among the 200 largest metropolitan areas in terms of job growth. That's one of the findings of the Milken Institute's annual "Best Performing Cities" report, which identifies where jobs are being created.

The index ranks cities by their ability to create and sustain jobs as well as by salary growth and technology output development.

Nashville ranked 80th in five-year job growth and 73rd in job growth from July of 2004 to July of last year.

Florida cities dominated the economic think tank's index for a second consecutive year, despite the state's recovery from hurricanes that buffeted it in 2004 and 2005. Top of the list was the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville area, followed by the Fort Myers-Cape Coral and the Naples-Marco Island regions.

The report said the cities that ranked highly on the index exhibited strong, growing service sectors; healthy tourism economies; growing populations; and an increase in retirees.
Of the bottom 10 cities, five are in Michigan and four are in Ohio. At the very bottom of the list was Flint, Mich.

Nashville growth

2007-02-15T13:26:00.000-08:00

Nashville growth 15th largest over next 20 years

Richard Lawson

By the year 2020, the Nashville metropolitan area could be the 15th-fastest growing metro area in the United States, according to a population study conducted by Nashville Business Journal's parent company.

The findings, published in the July 6 edition of the ACBJ Research Report, project the Nashville area's population to swell from an estimated 1.09 million people in 1995 to 1.5 million people in 2020, a 37.41 percent jump. The Research Report is published by Charlotte-based American City Business Journals.

Of the eight counties in the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area, Rutherford County is projected to post the largest percentage increase in population from 1995 to 2020, jumping 55.45 percent from 148,041 people to 230,127 people, according to the study.

Williamson County comes in second with 50 percent projected population growth. Its population is projected to climb from 102,061 people in 1995 to 153,013 people in 2020.

Davidson County finished seventh in the MSA with a projected population growth of nearly 32 percent from 1995 to 2020. But its population is projected to grow from 530,796 people to 699,564.

Robertson County had the lowest projected growth at 23 percent. Its population is projected to grow from 38,740 people in 1995 to 58,881 in 2020.

In comparison, the Memphis metropolitan area ranked 23rd in the study with projected population growth of 30.88 percent. That area's population is projected to grow from 1.07 million in 1995 to about 1.4 million by 2020.

Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce officials hope to ensure the Nashville area does post some strong population growth numbers in the coming years. As in many cities across the country facing a tight labor market, the Chamber is trying to attract people to the area to match job growth.

"We're working to keep the numbers up on the job creation front," says Janet Miller, director of economic development for the Chamber. "You'll see not just a campaign to bring targeted businesses here but campaigns to bring targeted people here."

The "targeted" people she speaks of are college graduates. Chamber officials are actively recruiting on college campuses in a six-state area, hoping college grads make Nashville their destination for employment.

A study released last September by Nashville-based Perdue Research Group showed that job opportunity was the No. 1 reason people were moving to Nashville.

In addition, that study showed the Nashville area was attracting a good demographic.

"People who move to Nashville are most likely to be 25 to 34 years old, have no children, are well-educated and come from the South," the Perdue Research report stated.

"It's really the reason we are targeting the South," says Kathleen Feighny, manager of work force development for the Chamber.

She adds the Chamber is trying to attract even younger people and that emphasis on youth is part of the reason for going after college grads.

ACBJ's study used 32 variables to generate projections for 841 metropolitan counties. Local growth rates since 1980, county-by-county racial patterns and the U.S. Census Bureau's state-by-state population projections were among the factors researchers considered.

The Sacramento, Calif., metro area topped the list with a projected growth rate of 72.62 percent, growing from 1.6 million in 1995 to nearly 2.8 million in 2020.

Types of Mortgages and Loans

2007-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Types of Mortgages and Loans

When considering a mortgage, there are a lot of different types of loans to consider. Here’s a rundown:

Federal Housing Administration Loans: The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a federal agency within the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). FHA's primary objective is to assist in providing housing opportunities for low- to moderate-income families. FHA has both single-family (one to four units) and multifamily (five or more units) mortgage-lending programs. The agency does not generally provide the funds for the mortgages but rather insures home mortgage loans made by private-industry lenders such as mortgage bankers, banks and savings and loans.

Homeowners with FHA loans usually have to make only a small down payment (about 3 percent of the value of the home). They also enjoy a lower interest rate -- between 0.5 percent and 1 percent below the interest rates on other mortgages. The downside is that they do indeed have to purchase private mortgage insurance, or as it's called under these loans, mortgage insurance premium (MIP).

Rural Homebuyers: Special loans also exist for people choosing to locate in a rural area. These loans are given to encourage economic development in depressed regions. The specifics of the program are similar to the FHA loan program but may not be as stringent with the income qualifications.

But you'd be surprised at what's considered a "depressed region." You can sometimes find these loans available in very nice areas that for one reason or another have managed to qualify. Be sure to ask if such a program exists in your area.

No matter what kind of loan you end up getting, though, there will be tax implications -- generally positive ones.

Fixed-Rate Mortgage: This is the plain-vanilla loan most people think of when considering a mortgage. You will owe a certain percentage of the loan as interest to the lender. This amount never changes, and your monthly payment will remain the same over the life of your loan. Loans for homes are usually 15 or 30 years.

Adjustable-Rate Mortgage: With an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), the interest rate changes to reflect changes in the credit market out in the great, wide world. The first-year rate (otherwise known as the teaser rate) is generally a couple of percentage points below the market rate. There are also upward limits above which the interest rate isn't allowed to go -- this is called the cap. If your teaser rate is 4 percent and you have a five-point cap, then the highest that your interest rate could go would be 9 percent.

What's more, the amount that the interest rate can rise each year is limited, usually to one or two percentage points per year. The frequency at which the rate adjusts may vary; make sure you know these features.

If you're considering an ARM, think about the worst-case scenario. What if interest rates go up and your ARM adjusts to its maximum? What will that maximum be, and when will it kick in? Will you be able to afford the payments?

Cost of Funds Index: One type of ARM is a cost of funds index (COFI) loan. This loan doesn't have any caps and adjusts monthly. It is, in a sense, the most adjustable ARM, since it isn't fixed for a certain time. But the index it’s tied to is the most stable index of them all: The rate banks have to pay their depositors to keep their money (e.g., checking accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit). It tends to be a slow-moving index. The COFI loan has certain advantages in that you can vary the amount of your payments as you wish (paying off more or less each month).

Hybrid Loan: Typically, a hybrid loan is fixed for one, three, five, seven or 10 years and then converts to an ARM. This means you get stability for a given amount of time, and then your fate is cast to the winds of the prevailing interest rates.

Two-Step Loans: These loans attempt to have the best of both worlds: The stability of a fixed loan with the lower rates of an ARM.

They appear in their most common forms as 5/25 or 7/23 loans. Math buffs among you will note that the numbers straddling those slashes add up to 30, as in a 30-year loan. This means your interest rate will be fixed for the first five or seven years, then the loan adjusts in one of two ways: It will either become an ARM, adjusting annually, or a fixed-rate loan. The beginning interest rate for these loans is generally lower than that of a standard 30-year fixed loan.

Balloon Loans: These tend to be short-term loans. You borrow money for, say, three or seven years, and the loan is amortized as though it were a 30-year loan. At the end of the three- or seven-year period, you owe the remaining principal in one lump sum. Again, these loans tend to have lower interest rates than the standard 30-year mortgage. If you're not planning to stay too long in your house, you might be interested in such a loan. The reason: You pay less in interest -- saving potentially thousands of dollars -- over the course of the loan than you would with a 30-year fixed. So you're less out-of-pocket when it comes time to sell.

Keep in mind that if your plans change and you want to stay in the house, you're going to have to pay off the loan in full -- by getting another loan, at the prevailing interest rates, and with the attendant costs of getting that new loan. So it isn't for the faint of heart or irresolute of mind.

Veterans Administration Loans: The more you know about loan programs, the more you will realize how little red tape there is in getting a Veterans Administration (VA) loan. These loans are often made without any down payment and frequently offer lower interest rates than what’s ordinarily available. Aside from the veteran's certificate of eligibility and the VA-assigned appraisal, the application process is not much different from any other type of mortgage loan.

What's more, if the lender is approved for automatic processing, as more and more lenders are, a buyer's loan can be processed and closed by the lender without waiting for the VA's approval of the credit application.

2007-02-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

Analyzing Your Debt to Income Ratio

The ratio affects your buying power...

Your debt to income ratio is a simple way of showing what percentage of your income is available for a mortgage payment after all other continuing obligations are met. The ratio is one of the many things a lender considers before approving your home loan.

You may see conventional loan debt limits referred to as the 28/36 qualifying ratio. Those numbers refer to two percentages that are used to examine two aspects of your debt load.

The First Number, 28%

This number indicates the maximum percentage of your monthly gross income that the lender allows for housing expenses. The total includes payments on the loan principal and interest, private mortgage insurance, hazard insurance, property taxes, and homeowner's association dues. (Often referred to by the acronym PITI.)

The Second Number, 36%

This number refers to the maximum percentage of your monthly gross income that the lender allows for housing expenses plus recurring debt.
Recurring debt includes credit card payments, child support, car loans, and other obligations that will not be paid off within a relatively short period of time (6-10 months).

Debt to Income Example

Yearly Gross Income = $45,000 / Divided by 12 = $3,750 per month income
$3,750 Monthly Income x .28 = $1,050 allowed for housing expense
$3,750 Monthly Income x .36 = $1,350 allowed for housing expense plus recurring debt.

Not All Loans Are the Same

FHA loan ratios are typically 29/41, allowing a higher debt load for both housing expenses and recurring debt.

For the above example, FHA would allow $1087 for housing and $1538 for housing plus recurring debt.

For a VA loan, the debt to income ratio should not exceed 41% of your monthly gross income.

Get Pre-Approved

Staying within the lender's debt to income ratio limits is only one part of qualifying for a home loan. If the overall picture looks good, a lender may allow you to carry more debt. It's always best to be pre-approved before you begin home shopping, so that you'll know exactly what price range (and loan payment) fits your budget.

Article by Janet Wickell

Moving

2007-02-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

Step 7: Moving
7 Steps to House Selling Success!

Even the smallest home contains a lot of furniture, clothes, kitchen equipment, pictures and other items. For a short move, it may be worthwhile to transport small goods by yourself, but larger items will likely require a professional mover.

Homestore.com's moving center provides calculators as well as information on moving options, storage, truck rentals and related topics. This information, plus assistance and advice from your REALTOR®, can ease the moving process.

It's ideally best to get rid of excess furniture and other goods by having a sale before you move. This will reduce the volume of goods to be moved and thus lower moving costs. Unwanted furniture which cannot be sold can often be donated to charitable groups, many of which will come to your home to pick up donations. All other unwanted items should be taken to a landfill. You should provide the U.S. Postal Service with a forwarding address, and utility companies should be advised when to end service. Check with utility companies to see if there is deposit money which should be returned.

How do you plan a move? The time to plan your move begins once you've decided to sell your home. Some of the activities required to sell the home can actually help with the moving process. For example, cleaning out closets, basements and attics means there will be less to do once the home is under contract.

Your planning will be guided by a number of things:

Are you moving a long distance? If yes, you'll likely require an interstate mover and the use of a large van.

Moving internationally. Contact the embassy in Washington, D.C., for information. Be aware that items which may be entirely common in the United States can be prohibited in foreign countries. Ask about customs protocols, duties and taxes.

Moving locally? If yes, will you move yourself? You'll need to consider packing boxes, peanuts, blankets or padding and a van rental.

Planning is key. Stock up on boxes, packing materials, tape and markers. Always mark boxes so that movers will know where goods should be placed.

Who should you use? The decision of who to use can begin with a visit to REALTOR.com's® moving center and discussions with the REALTOR® who is marketing your home.

There are a number of factors to consider. Money is one issue: You'll want to spend as little as possible, but choosing only on the basis of cost can be a mistake. Movers must have the right equipment, training and experience to do a good job. A mover, no matter how large or small, should be able to provide recent references for homesellers with a similar volume of goods to transport.

Get mover estimates in writing. Be aware that it's possible to get discounts through membership organizations and, sometimes, on the basis of your profession: Clergy, for example, sometimes qualify for a discount.

Always confirm mover credentials. Movers should be licensed and bonded as required in your state, and employees should have workman's comp insurance.

Get a checklist. Moving is a big job and checklists can make it more organized and easier. Here are some of the major items to consider:

Money. If you're moving more than a few miles then you should have enough cash or credit to cover travel, food, transportation and lodging.

Medicine. Keep medicines and related prescriptions in a place where they will be available during the move.

Number boxes so that all items can be counted on arrival. Make a list of boxes by number and indicate their contents.

If moving with children, make sure that each has a favorite toy or toys, blankets, games, music and other goods.

Moving historic, breakable or valued items? Such goods routinely require special handling and packaging.

Have address books readily available in case you need help.

If you have a laptop computer with a modem, make it accessible during your trip to pick up business and personal e-mail.

credit history

2007-02-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

Guarding Your Credit History
You are the first-and best-line of defense in maintaining
an error-free credit report
By Warren Lutz
Homestore.com

It's one thing to have late payments or delinquencies on your credit report. Everybody has forgotten a payment or two. But it's quite different when somebody else's mistakes cause "dings" on your report.

Fixing such errors is important because unfavorable information on your credit report-accurate or not-affects your ability to borrow money.

The three major credit bureaus-Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union-compile information about you into a report that businesses use to evaluate whether you'd make a good borrower or, in some cases, a good employee. Credit reports tell people where you live, how you pay your bills, whether you've filed for bankruptcy and if you've been arrested.

Let's say you made your monthly payment on your department store credit card on time, but for some reason it is reported as a late payment on your credit report. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, both the credit bureau and the department store are responsible for correcting mistakes or incomplete information on your report. But you have to let them know.

Step By Step

To correct an error, write a letter to the credit bureau that produced the erroneous report. Be sure to:

Provide your complete name and address, stating each item in your credit report that you believe is a mistake and why. Stick to the facts and request that errors be corrected or deleted.

Include copies-not the originals-of documents that back your claim such as a canceled check or a receipt of payment. Enclose a copy of the credit report and circle items in question.

Next, write a letter to the company or lender where the mistake came from, informing them of your dispute. Remember, include copies of documents that back your claim.

Send both letters by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep copies for your records. This way you have proof both parties received notice of your dispute.

Credit Bureau Response
The credit bureau must investigate items in question within 30 days (unless they find your dispute is frivolous). They will also forward your dispute to the department store, which must investigate your claim and report back to the credit provider.

If the department store or any other creditor agree there is a mistake, they must notify the other credit bureaus so they can correct the information in their files. If the disputed item cannot be verified, it must be deleted from your files.

When the investigation is done, the credit bureau must give you its results in writing as well as a free copy of your credit report. You can also request that correction notices be sent to anyone having received your report in the prior six months.

Statement of Dispute
If the credit bureau does not resolve your dispute, you can ask them to include a statement (up to 100 words) in your file that says you disputed information in your report. The statement will show up in future credit reports.

If you're not satisfied with how the credit bureau handled your dispute, you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Response Center by phone (877-FTC-HELP) or on the Web.

Rooting out mistakes in your credit report takes time and diligence. But your efforts could make the difference when it's time for you to get the loan terms you want.

Rates

2007-02-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

Overnight real estate rates calm
30-year fixed rate at 5.84%; 10-year Treasury yield at 4.82%

Long-term mortgage interest rates were mostly flat Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield sank to 4.82 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.84 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate held at 5.61 percent. The 1-year adjustable dipped to 5.4 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.92 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.

In other economic news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 20.19 points, or 0.16 percent, finishing at 12,653.49. The Nasdaq was up 7.5 points, or 0.3 percent, closing at 2,475.88.

Article provided by Inman News

Home Staging

2007-02-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

HOME STAGING TIPS

Here are 10 quick fixes that make a house more likely to be snagged up by buyers, according to home stager Lori Matzke, founder and president of Centerstagehome.com in Minneapolis:

1. Paint the trim, columns, front door, and the light fixture.

2. Replace the storm door with a full-view one.

3. Clean all the window screens.

4. Add new mulch and a potted plant by the front door.

5. Remove mirrors from over the fireplace so buyers focus on the fireplace.

6. Move furniture 1 1/2 to 2 feet away from the walls to create the illusion of more space.

7. Get rid of any movable storage pieces in the kitchen and take all the clutter off the refrigerator.

8. Clean and regrout the bathroom floor tile.

9. Replace dated bathroom vanities with trendy (and economical) pedestal sinks.

10. Put colorful bedding and matching window treatments in all the bedrooms.

real estate rates

2007-02-03T11:24:00.000-08:00

Overnight real estate rates drop
30-year fixed rate at 5.85%; 10-year Treasury yield at 4.84%

Long-term mortgage interest rates fell Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield gained to 4.84 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.85 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate declined to 5.61 percent. The 1-year adjustable remained at 5.41 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.93 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.

In other economic news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 51.99 points, or 0.41 percent, finishing at 12,673.68. The Nasdaq was up 4.45 points, or 0.18 percent, closing at 2,468.38.

Stock and bond figures are current as of 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Article provided by Inman News

2007-02-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

Fed Leaves Key Short-Term Rate at 5.25 Percent
Elaine Barr, Financial News Editor

WASHINGTON –- In a much expected move, the Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 5.25 percent.

That makes the fifth consecutive meeting the Fed has left the rate unchanged.

[Editor's Note: Protect yourself from rising inflation. The Fed won`t do it for you!]

The widely expected decision keeps the overnight federal funds rate target at the level it was set last June after 17 straight quarter-percentage point increases.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben Bernanke, chairman; Timothy Geithner, vice chairman; Susan Bies; Thomas Hoenig; Donald Kohn; Randall Kroszner; Cathy Minehan; Frederic Mishkin; Michael Moskow; William Poole; and Kevin Warsh.

Despite the agency's decision to keep the rate unchanged, the Fed indicated it continues to focus on inflation risks.

In a release, the Fed stated that, "Recent indicators have suggested somewhat firmer economic growth and some tentative signs of stabilization have appeared in the housing market. Overall the economy seems likely to expand at a moderate pace over coming quarters.

"Readings on core inflation have improved modestly in recent months, and inflation pressures seem likely to moderate over time. However, the high level of resource utilization has the potential to sustain inflation pressures," the release continued.

It further stated that, "The Committee judges that some inflation risks remain. The extent and timing of any additional firming that may be needed to address these risks will depend on the evolution of the outlook for both inflation and economic growth, as implied by incoming information."

© 2007 NewsMax Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Steps to obtaining a mortgage

2007-02-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

The Loan Process - Seven Steps To A Mortgage

Pre-qualification

"Pre-qualification" occurs before the loan process actually begins, and is usually the first step after initial contact is made. In a pre-qualification, the lender gathers information about the income and debts of the borrower and makes a financial determination about how much house the borrower may be able to afford. Different loan programs may lead to different values, depending on whether you are qualified for them, so be sure to get a pre-qualification for each type of program you are suited for.

Application

The "application" is actually the beginning of the loan process and usually occurs between days one and five of the loan. The buyer, now referred to as a "borrower", completes a mortgage application with the loan officer and supplies all of the required documentation for processing. Various fees and down payments are discussed at this time and the borrower will receive a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and a Truth-In-Lending statement (TIL) within three days which itemizes the rates and associated costs for obtaining the loan.

Opening The File

This occurs between days 3 and 10. At this time the lender orders a property appraisal, property survey and credit reports, mails out requests for verifications, if necessary, for employment (VOE) and bank deposits (VOD) and any other documents needed for processing of the loan. All information supplied by the borrower is reviewed at this time and a list of items not yet received is compiled.

Processing

Processing occurs between days 5 and 25 of the loan. The "processor" reviews the credit reports and verifies the borrower's debts and payment histories as the VODs and VOEs are returned. If there are unacceptable late payments, collections for judgment, etc., a written explanation is required from the borrower. The processor also reviews the appraisal and survey and checks for property issues that may require further discernment. The processor's job is to put together an entire package that may be underwritten by the lender.

Underwriting

"Lender underwriting" occurs between days 15 and 25. The underwriter is responsible for determining whether the combined package passed over by the processor is deemed as an acceptable loan. If more information is needed, the loan is put into "suspense" and the borrower is contacted to supply more documentation.

"Mortgage insurance underwriting" occurs when the borrower has less than 20% of the loan amount to put towards a down payment. At this time, the loan is submitted to a private mortgage guaranty insurer, who provides extra insurance to the lender in case of default. As above, if more information is needed the loan goes into suspense. Otherwise it is usually returned back to the mortgage company within 48 hours.

Pre-Closing

"Pre-Closing" occurs between days 20 and 30. During this time the title insurance is ordered, all approval contingencies, if any, are met, and a closing time is scheduled for the loan.

Closing

Closing usually occurs between days 30 and 45 of the loan. At the closing, the lender "funds" the loan with a cashier's check, draft or wire to the selling party in exchange for the title to the property. This is the point at which the borrower finishes the loan process and actually buys the house.

Closings occur at different places in different states. For instance, some states require that the closing take place at a closing attorney's office while others use a title or escrow company.

2007-01-31T13:17:00.000-08:00

The Buying Power of Women
by Wanda McPhaden

Women are the CPOs (Chief Buying Officers) of American households, and are rapidly gaining in gender status as the nation's top wealth holders.

According to Tom Peters and other experts monitoring the American marketplace, women now make 83 percent of all consumer buys, including 94 percent of home products, 89 percent of vacations, and 75 percent of all decisions regarding the purchase of the largest investment most of us will ever make -- a house.

As women have increased their earnings, built their own businesses, weathered divorces, widowhood, and taken charge of family bequests, they've grown more independent and wealthy. IRS data indicates women comprise 39 percent of the top wealth holders in the U.S., a category defined as adults with total assets of $625,000 or more. That adds up to some 2.5 million women with combined assets of $4.2 trillion. Significantly, 42 percent of the women in this group will be single or widowed, according to the IRS, by the year 2050.

The IRS notes that this will result in the transfer of an estimated $41 trillion from seniors to the next generation composed mainly of Baby Boomers. Since women tend to outlive men by an average of 5 to 7 years, according to the US Census Bureau, even more wealth will be concentrated in female hands.

But the newest wrinkle in female buying power is young, single women across the country who are fueling a new wave of home buying that is far ahead of their male counterparts. Evidence of this trend recently surfaced in a story in the New York Times that described a boom in the purchase of condos in Brooklyn by young, single women.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR), in a study released last month, reported that young women in the 25-34-age bracket bought 1.76 million homes in the period from July 2005 to June 2006, accounting for 22 percent of the market. That's up from 14 percent a decade ago. The number of single men buying homes stayed flat at 9 percent during the same period.
The median age of single women buying a home for the first time is 32, according to the NAR study. The median income for all single women buyers (including those who have owned before) is $47,300. Their median age is 42, a figure pushed higher by divorcees or widows.

Reasons for this buying trend -- according to various research experts and confirmed by my own experience in the real estate business -- include:

Women are surpassing men in higher education degrees (According to the U.S. Department of Education, 57.4 percent of women enrolled in colleges eligible for federal student aid in 2003-4 compared to 42.6 percent of men.)

Women are already successful in their chosen careers, and their earning power is higher than it's ever been. “Among 25-34-year olds -- key home-buying years,” says Peter Francese, a demographic trends analyst for Ogilvy & Mather in New York, “these women have good jobs and they make money.”

Young women are more concerned these days about building an early nest egg and becoming financially independent in the event Mr. Right doesn't come along.

Equally important, in my opinion, is that women are also more willing to trust their instincts and “go for it” when they see a smart investment than they have in the past. A February 2004 study of 1,134 women by Prudential Financial reveals that one in three respondents finds herself more involved in financial decision-making than five years ago.

However, during 20 years in the real estate business, I've witnessed a behavior pattern in women that I find ironic and counterintuitive. Despite their increased education, discretionary purchasing power, and instinct for what constitutes a wise investment, many women -- particularly those in the 34 – 45 demographic -- feel compelled to discuss their buying decisions with men in their lives.

And women are frequently dissuaded from going ahead with what later proves to be a good investment, often to avoid bruising the ego of a spouse, Significant Other, or other influential men in their lives.

Nevertheless, I'm encouraged that women, led by their younger cohorts, are finally getting over that emotional bump in the road to profitable real estate investment and financial independence -- needing a male opinion. This is a refreshing sign in such an active real estate market filled with rich, new opportunities.

From my perspective, I believe we are about to enter a new wealth building period in the U.S. real estate market and, armed with growing financial power and a new independence, women will lead the way.

2007-01-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

RealTown brings industry content to consumers
New site also features agent, property-search links
Inman News - Glenn Roberts Jr.

A new Internet portal launches today with a depth of real estate-related content created by a thousands-strong community of real estate professionals.

The site, RealTown.com, also features links to hundreds of multiple listing service-operated property-search Web sites, a database of properties maintained by real estate technology company Point2, and an agent-search tool.

The new site includes a consumer-facing collection of information from Internet discussion groups, industry articles and blogs. The goal, according to founders, is to empower consumers and real estate professionals alike with a centralized source of relevant real estate information.

Saul Klein, president and CEO for Real Estate Electronic Publishing Company Inc., the company that is launching RealTown.com, said, "It has always been in our vision to do this -- to create a place where content form the people of the community has a lot of value. We had this idea 12 years ago."

RealTown.com joins other sites, such as ActiveRain.com, that offer user-generated content and an online forum for real estate professionals and consumers.

InternetCrusade, as the publishing company is better known, has fostered the creation and maintenance of online communities through simple Internet discussion groups, and now counts about 40,000 members of its various real estate-related communities. There are about 25,000 members, for example, in the RealTalk community, which features daily discussions of industry issues among real estate professionals. Members seek advice and share ideas through the RealTalk network. Internet Crusade's communities also include separate discussion groups for MLS professionals and for Realtor association executives, for example, and a network of bloggers.

InternetCrusade also manages the e-Pro Technology Certification Program through which Realtors receive technology training. The agent-search tool is currently limited to e-Pro members though Klein said there are plans to expand that to a broader group of licensed real estate agents who sign up at the RealTown.com site.

Real estate information, said Klein, "happens to be the driving force in everybody's life right now." Some discussion content is private for members of specific groups, while other information is open to the public. The site does not require registration, though registration is required for those who post content at the site.

Planned enhancements at the site include a system to rate the performance of real estate agents, Klein said, and to package content for publication in other sources. "The whole idea of 'citizen journalism' -- allowing content to flow from the masses -- is a universal idea," he said.
And the new Web site will evolve through community recommendations, he added, "Whatever you want we're going to give it to you. It's a community where we take very seriously the input from people."

While the site can be used to link consumers with real estate professionals, Klein said there is no charge for the online leads generated through the site. There are plans to allow advertising at the site and to offer some paid services, he said.

Klein said the InternetCrusade community has relied on grassroots growth that began with a simple e-mail network. There are an estimated 2,600 bloggers who participated in the RealTown Blogroll, and Klein said InternetCrusade offers free blogging tools for those interested in becoming active bloggers.

Other InternetCrusade managers assisting the creation of the new portal are John Reilly, chief information officer and author of "The Language of Real Estate," and Mike Barnett, chief technology officer and a developer for the RealTown community software.

According to a company announcement, "RealTown.com integrates citizen journalism and professional journalism, giving equal editorial weight to articles from both camps, tapping the great resource of undiscovered talent and knowledge and making it available to everyone."

Nashville forecast

2007-01-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

TonightJan 28
Mostly Clear / Wind
19°

Mon Jan 29
Mostly Sunny
42°/28°

Tue Jan 30
Partly Cloudy
38°/19°

Wed Jan 31
Partly Cloudy
41°/31°

Thu Feb 01
Showers
45°/40°

Fri Feb 02
Cloudy
48°/20°

Sat Feb 03
Mostly Sunny
32°/23°

Feb 04 SUPERBOWL SUNDAY
Partly Cloudy
42°/32°

Mon Feb 05
Partly Cloudy
43°/25°

Tue Feb 06
Partly Cloudy
41°/24°

Winter information

2007-01-27T11:54:00.000-08:00

Warm Rooms Delightful During Frightful Winter

Few regions in the nation were spared winter's frigid fury this week.

Parts of the Northwest and Rocky Mountain regions were still digging out of four weeks of snow as temperatures iced California's citrus crop. San Francisco Bay Area residents kept an eye out for the first snow flurries in years.

Frigid air flowed into New England as wind chill factors pushed some temperatures in the upper states' hinterlands to 35 below zero. Ocean-effect snow showers were forecast for Cape Cod.
New Orleans shivered through 30 degree temperatures and Mother Nature put central and southern Texas into the deep freeze. The Deep South and Southern California held onto "heat waves" with temperatures in the 40s and 50s.

And in the Midwest, well, it's winter. Highs were in the 20s and 30s.

Only south Florida's balmy peninsula appeared to escape the arctic blast.

When you go home after a day on the bone-chilling tundra, your igloo ought to be toasty.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Comfort Institute, an indoor comfort research, training and consumer protection organization based in chilly Bellingham, WA, offer these tips to get your house in order for what's likely to be a long, bleak winter even Punxsutawney Phil can't stop.

Seal duct leaks. The DOE says the typical duct system loses 25 to 40 percent of the energy put out by the central furnace, heat pump or air conditioner. That puts a strain on your wallet as well as comfort levels in your home. Heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) contractors can diagnose and pinpoint duct leak locations and check the static pressure in your ducts and ventilation system. The exam is often part of an energy audit used to also examine insulation, air leaks and other energy inefficiencies in your home.

Consider a new furnace or HVAC system. Newer more efficient systems coupled with sealed ducts, better home insulation, weatherized windows and doors, programmable thermostats and other steps to tighten your home, can remove uneven heating and cooling patterns and cost less to operate. Don't assume you need a larger unit. A new unit and overhauled duct and ventilation system may shock your budget over the short term but provide a payback in energy cost savings over the long run.

Don't neglect maintenance on your furnace or HVAC. Get a checkup of your heating system to make sure it's performing efficiently and safely. Clean or replace your system's air filter regularly as instructed by your manual.

Insulate to the max. Missing insulation can also cause discomforting cold spots in your home. Especially add insulation in attics, rooms adjacent to attics, and next to or over garages. Your contractor can perform an infra-red camera scan to find cold spots and inspect insulation levels. Hollow wall cavities behind sheet rock also need internal attention. Forget external insulation.

Manually close off rooms, closets and shut doors to unused spaces or consider installing a controlled damper system that is tied to thermostats and automatically open and close as needed.

Energy Saving Homes

2007-01-26T12:06:00.000-08:00

Green building's surprising energy savings

New-home design that can also help environment, improve health

It sounds like Ben Franklin, but the speaker in this case is David Johnston, a green-building consultant in Boulder, Colo. His Ben Franklin-sounding aphorism, he said in a recent interview, has proved to be a useful, shorthand way of explaining sustainable green-building principles and practices.

Although these have been embraced by more and more home builders, there is still much confusion among the general public as to what exactly makes a house green. One way to keep things straight, Johnston said, is simply to remember to "use common sense to make sense."

For example, Johnston is regularly asked if a green house is one that is petroleum-product-free.

His common sense answer:

"If you eliminate everything that contains petroleum, you can't enjoy the accoutrements of a 21st century lifestyle." All the heating and cooling equipment and standard appliances contain plastic, he pointed out, adding that "even something as basic as a toilet has plastic parts."

The make-sense part of green building, Johnston went on to say, has to make sense both environmentally and economically. For example, building materials that have recycled content are generally considered to be a plus because recycling can significantly reduce both the volume of the waste stream and pressure on overflowing landfills.

But, speaking like the hard-headed home builder that he once was, Johnston said you shouldn't select a product solely on this basis. A product with recycled content may be much more costly than the conventional product it is intended to replace, and it may not perform any better.

Materials have to make sense from a health perspective as well, Johnston said. Many building materials are made with unstable, volatile organic compounds, called VOCs. They can off gas into the air for weeks and sometimes years after they are installed in your house.

Of the hundreds of VOCs that have been identified, the one that concerns most people is formaldehyde, a potent eye and nose irritant that can cause respiratory problems. It has been classified by the World Health Organization as a confirmed human carcinogen. You can easily avoid it by using one of the many building products now available with low or no VOC content, Johnston said. Though the non-VOC products often cost more, this is one instance where a higher cost is worth it, he added.

Segueing from materials to other aspects of green-home builders Johnston talked about household energy use. His common sense rule: Use as little as possible. His common sense reason: to save money and the planet. If you use less energy, you'll save money on your utility bills. You'll save even more as the price of natural gas, fuel oil and electricity inevitably goes up.
If you use less energy you'll help save the planet because you will be reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your house. Unbeknownst to most homeowners, buildings are the largest source of the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global warming. In the United States, half of building-related emissions are from houses.

Johnston feels that energy issues are so important, he urges homeowners to put them front and center in the design of any new house -- "from the first sketch of a floor plan to the final dotting your I's and crossing your T's."

But, Johnston hastened to say, energy savings should not come at the cost of having a great-looking house with lots of windows and great views. The trick is to get all this and save energy.

Johnston's common sense strategy for supplying household energy needs: Use what's free before using what you have to pay for. That is, tap as much free solar energy as you can for your heating and lighting needs before turning to conventional solutions.

To do this, you really do have to think about energy from the start because the feasibility of passive solar solutions depends on how you place your house on your building site, the first step in any building project. To capture the sun's rays for heating your house during the winter, your living areas must be oriented to the south. You can keep the same spaces cool in the summer by adding overhangs. With some additional refinements to the overhangs, the sun can also supply your lighting needs during the day.

To maximize the benefit of passive solar heating and cooling, you need to carefully tailor your building envelope to reduce heat loss or heat gain through the walls and roof. This generally requires adding insulation to the walls, attic and basement in amounts far above code requirements and upgrading windows to get ones with a low-emission coating that helps to keep the heat inside during winter and outside in summer.

Unless you live in Hawaii or Santa Barbara, Calif., where passive solar strategies can supply all your heating and cooling needs, you'll still need a furnace for those cold days when the sun's heat is not enough to keep you comfortable. But with your upgraded building envelope, you can use a smaller furnace and air conditioning condenser, and that is a cost savings, Johnston said.

You'll also need electric lights for nighttime use and cloudy days. Surprisingly, lighting accounts for about 12 percent of household energy use in the average household. Solar daylighting shaves part of this, but you can shave it further with compact fluorescent bulbs, commonly called CFLs, Johnston said. They use about 75 percent less energy to produce the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb, and they last six to eight times as long. CFLs can be screwed into almost any conventional light socket and their color correction has vastly improved in recent years.
The other part of the home energy puzzle that green building can affect is the sizeable energy draw for hot water. The luxury of having 40 to 50 gallons available 24/7 consumes another 12 percent of household energy use. But, Johnston said, it's another instance where you can tap free solar energy by installing a solar collector on your roof. For those cloudy days, though, you'll need a backup hot-water heater.

The other 35 percent of the energy that the average household consumes is out of a builder's hands, because it is the "plug loads" that homeowners bring into the house when they move in -- appliances, computers, home-entertainment equipment, and all the other doodads that most households accumulate. The most effective way to reduce this load is to purchase Energy Star products, now available in more than 40 categories.

How does Johnston's "common sense to make sense" work in real time on a real house?
To find out I contacted McStain Neighborhoods, a small production-home-building firm in Boulder that has built sustainable, green houses for more than 40 years. The firm builds about 350 houses a year in the Denver and Boulder markets.

Like all home builders, McStain evaluates everything from a cost-benefit perspective. But, unlike almost all the others in the United States, McStain has a research and development department that carries out in-depth reviews of about 50 new products and building techniques a year. Periodically, the firm builds a test house that incorporates the most promising of these innovations. The test houses are eventually sold, but the firm continues to monitor them for several years afterwards, said McStain marketing head Barr Hall.

Jeff Medanich, who heads up McStain's research efforts, said that much of his work is a balancing act, spending more here but saving more there so that in sum, the cost of an innovation is relatively small.

Medanich offered as an example McStain's current exterior wall construction. Instead of the dimensional wood studs that are used by most home builders (a single piece of wood sawn from a tree log), McStain uses finger jointed studs, which are made up of several smaller pieces of recycled scrap lumber that are glued together. These cost more but their superior quality means that fewer are tossed as unusable -- only about 4 percent compared with 20 percent of the dimensional studs. The cost difference is a wash, but the finger-jointed studs have the added benefit of lowering costs down the line. Because they are straighter, the walls are plumb, and this makes the work of subsequent trades go more smoothly and faster.

Article written by Katherine Salant, Inman News