865 Real Estate

East Tennessee Real Estate & Neighborhood Source

The Hot Season To Buy Or Sell A Home In Knoxville Is Upon Us!

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Whether you are in a warm weather market, cold weather market, or a high tourist seasonal market, you will see the hot time of the year to buy and sell a home ebb and flow throughout the year.  There will be times of the year that will slow down and others will take off.  Locally, we are about to step into the busiest time of year to buy and sell a home in Knoxville.  As evidenced by the graphics below, we typically see a drop in sales volume, sales price, and inventory throughout the winter months.  Then once we hit February or March, the trend does an about face and the number of homes sold increases, along with the prices of those homes and the number of homes available.

Knoxville Real Estate Volume and Prices Chart March

Knoxville Homes Inventory Graph March

What does this mean for you?

  • If you are looking to sell a home in Knoxville, there is good news and not so good news.  The good news is, the odds of selling your home will increase along with the odds of selling it for a higher price.  The not so good news is you will have more competition.
  • Seller’s takeaway:  Get your home on the market as soon as possible, before more competition hits the market alongside of you. 
  • If you are looking to buy a home in Knoxville, the good news is you should be seeing more options hit the market as inventory increases.  The bad news is that you will most likely be looking at higher prices and more competition for homes as well.
  • Buyer’s takeaway:  Start looking today and when you find the right home don’t mess around.  Waiting too long or submitting low offers will invite additional offers in to compete against you.

If you are even considering buying or selling a home in Knoxville in the near future, contact me, Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS, to sit down and plan out your strategy for achieving your Knoxville real estate goals. I look forward to talking with you!

Is Selling A Home For Sale By Owner in Knoxville Worth It?

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For Sale By Owner in KnoxvilleFirst, let’s just get this out of the way.  I, along with everyone else I know, like to save money. This is witnessed every year by the frenzied shopping taking place on Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.  People will line up, in the cold, overnight to save a few bucks. So trying to save yourself some money by selling a home For Sale By Owner in Knoxville isn’t surprising.  But that being said, are you really saving yourself money?  Better yet, forget saving money, are you allowing yourself to make the most money possible on the sale of your home?  Statistics say no.

Here is what you need to know:

  • Last year, the typical For Sale By Owner home sold for $184,000, where the typical home sold with the assistance of an agent sold for $230,000.  Therefore, on average, using an agent brought a 20% higher sale price.
  • Last year, only 9% of all homes sold were FSBO.  Of those 9%, 40% of the homes were sold to people who were already known by the sellers.  So really that 9% number is more like 5.4%. The other interesting fact is that the number of homes sold without an agent has decreased year after year.  In the last decade it has gone from 20% to 9%.

The takeaway is this. If you are thinking about selling a home for sale by owner in Knoxville, follow these steps:

  1. Exhaust your friends and family to see if anyone might be interested in buying your home, THEN…
  2. Contact a real estate agent for assistance.  Here is a recap why:
  • Statistics show a higher sales price is imminent with agent assistance.
  • Avoid the possibility of legal action against you (there is a reason agents have so much paperwork… to protect you).
  • This is a huge investment.  You need a professional to guide you.  You wouldn’t perform a do it yourself surgery would you?
  • There is a reason why the numbers of FSBO sales are dwindling.  One it’s hard, and two it’s ineffective.

For help with selling your home in Knoxville, contact Troy Stavros at 865-999-0925 to sit down and talk about your goals, and how he can help you make a strategy to reach them.

SOURCE: National Association of REALTORS Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2013

Advantages of Selling A Knoxville Home During The Holidays

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advangates of selling a Knoxville home during the holidaysWhat are the advantages of selling a Knoxville home during the holidays? Many people in the process of selling a home in Knoxville assume the holidays are not a good time to find a buyer.  If it’s not spring or summer than good buyers aren’t to be found, right?  While many buyers do plan their home buying during those seasons, you absolutely can’t rule out the holidays.

Here are some reasons why the holidays could bring you a faster sale and a higher price when selling a Knoxville home:

  • Less Competition For Your Home:  If standard operating procedure for most sellers is to take their home off the market during the holidays, and most sellers getting ready to put their home on the market choose to wait until after the holidays, that’s great for you.  Think of all of the competition that will evaporate away and or stay away from the market, leaving you to shine like a star on top of the Christmas tree!  With less competition, your home will get more buyers checking out your home.  It’s like being in the window display at Macy’s!

ADVICE: Remember though, just like those Black Friday deals at the front of the stores on Friday after Thanksgiving, your house also needs to look good and be priced to sell!

  • Holiday Buyers Are Motivated:  If Knoxville home buyers are taking time out of their busy holiday schedule to look at your home, they are SERIOUS.  These are buyers who may have just been relocated for a new job in Knoxville or they’ve been scouring all of the Knoxville homes for sale for months and are just waiting for the right one to jump on.  No matter what their reason, your typical holiday home buyers in Knoxville are not tire kickers.

ADVICE: If they are willing to look during the their busy holiday season, don’t make it hard for them!

  • Nothing Says Home Like The Holidays:  Everyone gets emotional around the holidays.  Buying a home can be an emotional decision. Couple those together and get someone emotional about your home during the holidays.  Think about how good your house looked for that holiday party.  How you painstakingly decorated so everything looked perfect.  Take advantage of that!

ADVICE: Don’t go overboard a la “Christmas Vacation”.  Continue to keep the clutter to a minimum, but add some tasteful holiday decorations. Allow the buyers to see their own family enjoying the holidays there.  Oh, and when the holidays are over, take it down, pronto!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

To speak to someone about listing your home or sitting down to talk about a plan, contact Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS at 865-999-0925 today!

 

Top Reasons You Should Sell Your Knoxville Home NOW!

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Time to Sell a Knoxville Home is Now
Time to Sell a Knoxville Home is Now

With low mortgage interest rates and depressed home prices, the last few years have garnered a lot of talk about how great a time it is to buy a home in Knoxville. While that has absolutely been true, let’s talk about why it might also be a great time to sell your Knoxville home. Here are some reasons why right now may be the perfect time to put your Knoxville home on the market.

First reason is HIGH DEMAND. Knoxville home buyers are serious about buying and are out in full force, holding true to what we are seeing on a national level where buyer traffic is 31% stronger than a year ago. National statistics are showing that homes are selling at the fastest pace since the market spiked in response to the home buyer tax credit. The latest National Association of REALTORS Existing Home Sales Report showed that monthly sales increased 9.7% over the same month last year. Total sales have been above year-ago levels for 22 consecutive months.

The second reason is that inventory is beginning to increase. Nationally, total housing inventory last month rose to a 5.2-month supply at the current sales pace, compared with 4.3 months in January. Many experts expect inventory to continue to rise as more sellers are again above water on their mortgages as a result of rising home prices. Selling your Knoxville home now, while demand is still high and before supply increases may get you top dollar.

The third reason is increasing competition with new construction.  The last few years, sellers haven’t had to compete with new homes, but with low inventory levels, and a recovering market, more builders are ramping up their construction.  As they get more comfortable they will build more homes, thus increasing the competition with your existing home. Better to sell now, with less competition from new, energy efficient homes with modern amenities.

The fourth reason is rising interest rates.  According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, interest rates for a 30-year mortgage have jumped to 3.98% which represents an increase of more than ½ point since the beginning of the year. Economists across the board seem to be projecting interest rates to keep rising. The longer you wait to sell, the higher your interest rate will likely be when purchasing your next home.

The final reason is lifestyle.  Why is it that you are looking to sell your Knoxville home in the first place?  What is more important right now, a few more dollars or moving on with your life?  Perhaps you are selling to get closer to family, or looking to retire to a different area, or downsizing financially to give yourself more freedom. When you weigh the benefit of a few more dollars against the real reason you are selling, it most likely gives you the biggest reason to sell your home now.

 

Waiting To Sell Your Knoxville Home At A Higher Price May Cost You

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hourglass houseTroy Stavros, Broker and Partner with the 865 Real Estate team stated, “We often hear of sellers waiting for prices to increase before putting their home on the market. While that might sound like a good idea, it’s quite possible that they could end up costing themselves money in the long run.”

Stavros agrees that there are circumstances that call for a wait and see approach. Those being if a seller is in a negative equity situation, or is in a situation where the use of equity in the home is needed for the down payment on a new home in Knoxville, and additional equity is needed.

For sellers not in those situations waiting to sell your Knoxville home may be the wrong thing to do. Why? Two main reasons:

1) While a sellers home is appreciating in value, so are the homes the seller will ultimately purchase. January saw the biggest year over year price increase on homes since 2006. For move-up buyers, waiting just doesn’t make sense.

2) According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage rates are expected to increase from the 3.5% range up to 4.4% in the next year. On a 30 year, $300,000 mortgage, this difference would cost a homeowner an additional $155 per month in payment or a whopping $55,853.49 in extra interest over the life of the loan.

Stavros concluded, “If rates and prices weren’t going up it would be a different story, but they are both going up and at what looks to be a brisk pace. Delaying will cost you money.”