East Tennessee Real Estate & Neighborhood Source
The INFOGRAPHIC below gives you a visual picture of the current national housing market news as reported in the recent Existing Home Sales Report.
Have questions about the national or local Knoxville and Farragut real estate markets? Â Contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS today at 865-999-0925 and I’d be happy to discuss what is happening from first hand experience.
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Here are the most recent (April) statistics for the Knoxville and Farragut TN real estate markets.
Here are the Knoxville TN real estate market stats through April.  The highlighted stats are:
Here are the Farragut TN real estate market stats for April:
The Knoxville and Farragut TN real estate markets are humming along and now in full swing as we enter the Spring selling season. Â Home sales and home prices in both Farragut and Knoxville keep trending upward, and while inventory levels in Knoxville as a whole have bumped up a few percentage points, Farragut is still struggling with a low supply of homes for sale (decreasing to only a 4.05 month supply when a healthy market is 6 months).
Homeowners considering selling a home in Farragut or Knoxville should know that there is no better time to be on the market then right now.  Between the seller’s market being created by the low inventory situation and the fact that we are entering the highest demand time of the year for buyers (May, June, July, August), if you are thinking of selling, do it now!   Watch my recent video here explaining this in more detail. Also sellers become buyers so read below for more important information.
Yes, the low inventory situation can make it a bit harder to find a home, and competition may be fierce, but now is the time to buy. Â Why? Â Recent reports have shown us that both prices and mortgage rates are on the rise. Â These two factors will decrease your buying power, the longer you wait. Â If you find a home to buy now, you will be getting more for your money than if you wait. Â Watch my recent video that explains this in more detail here.Â
Have questions about the market or anything Knoxville or Farragut TN real estate related? Want to sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss?  Contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS and I’d be happy to get together with you and answer any questions you might have.  I look forward to serving you!  If you are interested in a free, no obligation analysis of how much your Knoxville or Farragut TN home is worth CLICK HERE.
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The National Association of REALTORS® just released their latest Pending Homes Sales Index and it showed that homes going into contract in February increased to their highest level since June 2013.
The Pending Home Sales Index is based on pending sales of existing homes and is a great indicator of the current market. A sale is considered pending when a contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed yet. Typically the sale is finalized within 1-2 months of signing.
The report shows the Pending Home Sales Index is now 12% above February 2014. This is the highest level it has achieved since June 2013, and it has increased year-over-year for 6 months straight. The current level is above what is considered “the average level of activity” – for the 10th month in a row.
Knoxville area pending sales were up 13.5% year to date and the monthly numbers are up 20% compared to March of last year. Pending sales in Farragut are up 8.5% year to date and the March numbers are up 5.9%.  I feel that the Farragut numbers would be higher if we weren’t experiencing a shortage of homes for sale, as active homes for sale in Farragut are down 13.8% year to date, and down 24% for the month of March.  The current Absorption Rate in Farragut (months of inventory) is at only 4.22 months, when a normal amount of inventory is considered 6 months.
Here is a visual showing the National Pending Sales numbers:
If you are considering selling a home in Farragut or Knoxville this is a clear signal that now is the time to put your home on the market. When inventory is low you can expect to sell your home faster and for closer to your asking price (provided it is priced correctly in the first place). If you are considering buying a home in Farragut or Knoxville, expect stiff competition. Â This isn’t the market it was a few years ago when you went in and made lowball offers. Â Today that will just result in someone else getting the house you love. Â It’s important to have a professional to guide you in the process, to help you determine if the home you like is priced correctly and assist you in negotiating a win-win scenario for you and the seller. Â If you are either looking to buy or sell a home in Farragut or Knoxville, contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS at 865-999-0925 via phone or text. I’d love to sit down and discuss your goals, so together we can formulate a plan to help you achieve them. Â I’m here to serve you! I look forward to talking soon.
Here are the most recent (March) statistics for the Knoxville and Farragut TN real estate markets.
Here are the Knoxville TN real estate market stats for March.  The highlighted stats are:
Here are the Farragut TN real estate market stats for March:
Have questions about the market or anything Knoxville or Farragut real estate related? Â Contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS and I’d be happy to answer any questions you have!
Buying a home now may save you $100’s of dollars per month. This holds true for any buyer, but especially those who are not paying cash. The reason it effects those financing their new home, is that there are two factors that impact the amount of home you can afford. Those two factors are home prices and mortgage rates. Let’s take a look at what the experts are predicting over the next year for those two important factors:
100+ economists along with investment strategists, market strategists, and real estate experts were recently polled for the “Home Price Expectation Survey”. The goal of the survey was to find out where home prices are headed over the next year. The results of the survey showed that the average home price appreciation projected over the next 12 months is approximately 4.4%.
Freddie Mac’s latest “Economic & Housing Market Outlook” predicted that the 30 year fixed mortgage rate, one year from now, will be at 4.7%. Last week this same rate was at 3.69%.
Let’s look at a couple scenarios. If you are buying a home in Knoxville priced at $250,000, the chart below shows you how much more you could be paying on a monthly basis, if you choose to wait until next year to buy a home:
Let’s say you are moving up to a higher priced home. Â What does it look like if you are buying a home in Knoxville for $500,000. Â How would it change your monthly payment?
Hopefully this helps you see how waiting to buy a home can not only make a big impact on how much home you can afford, but also what a direct impact it can have on your monthly finances. Have questions? Comments? Want to talk about getting started in searching for your next home in Farragut or Knoxville?  Need to get your current home sold first?  Contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS and I’d love to sit down and talk about the process and how to help you reach your goals.  I’m here to serve you!
I recently wrote an article that talked about why homeownership far outweighs renting when it comes to building net worth and also posted another article about why a billionaire says buying a home to live it is the single best investment. One of the most important factors when seeing if owning a home is a good investment, is to look at the quality of that investment over time.  We can do that by looking at the home price trends in Farragut, Knoxville, and beyond.  We all know from looking at the stock market that investments fluctuate.  Some years they go up, other times they go down, but most experts say it’s important to buy and hold an investment to allow it to really be fruitful.  That’s what we typically do with owner occupied real estate.  We buy it to live in for years to come.  Let’s see how our investment would have done if we bought over the last few years.
So, these numbers show us that over the last 10 years, even going through the real estate downturn, the average home in Farragut saw a price appreciation of 15.39%.
This shows us that Knoxville as a whole over the last 10 years, even after the housing downturn, the Greater Knoxville area saw a price appreciation of 6.56%.
The infographic below shows the history of appreciation in the national housing market:
While the numbers above might not look like a home run investment as far as percentage increases go, ask yourself, what other investments can you live in and enjoy with your family? What other investments can you pay down and build equity in? Â What other investments can you sell after two years and keep all of the profit that you’ve made, tax free! Â I don’t know of any others. Plus, have you seen what your money earns in the bank lately?
The following graphic shows what experts predict as far as home price trends over the next 5 years:
Keep in mind that all of the numbers above are median averages, and always remember that real estate is local.  Local, down to the side of the street you live on sometimes.  Your neighborhood might be appreciating significantly more or less when compared to one across town for various reasons. This is why it’s important to find a trusted real estate advisor, who knows the local Farragut real estate or Knoxville real estate markets.  If you have questions about the market in your neighborhood, or want to know how much your home could sell for today, feel free to contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS and I would love to help.  I am here to serve you!
