Knoxville Tennessee Real Estate Blog

An old family friend named Jean gave me this terrific Carrot Cake recipe many years ago. I’ve made it lots of times and it’s always delicious as well as quick and easy. Quick, easy, and delicious meet all 3 of my food preparation criteria.

Give one a try for Easter; you’ll be a star with the folks that eat a piece.

Jean’s Carrot Cake

• 2 cups of self rising flour
• 2 cups of granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 Cups of Vegetable oil
• 1 Cup of chopped pecans (I often substitute Black Walnuts)
  
• 3 Cups of fresh grated carrots, firmly packed

Mix all ingredients in order listing and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes

Cream cheese frosting

• One 16 ounce box powdered sugar
• 1 large block cream cheese softened
• 1 stick (1/4 pound) butter or margarine (butter is best)
• 2 Tablespoons of pure Vanilla Extract

Mix thoroughly and spread on cooled cake, reserve a few nuts to sprinkle on top for garnish.

Try this delicious Carrot Cake recipe for Easter

Give this one a try soon, I promise this will be the easiest carrot cake you’ve ever made and one of the best tasting.

Happy Easter

By the way, if you need a new yard to hide your Easter eggs in, try KnoxvilleHomeSearcher.com to see all the greater Knoxville area listings for sale.

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Take a look at this charming, North Hills home. Beautiful hardwood floors, updated, and 3 bedrooms.

It appears as if the Knoxville area real estate market is showing some signs of life based on the past week’s sales figures. the Knox County Register of Deeds office is reporting 175 property transfers compared to only 92 the week before.

Days on Market (time from listing to contract) was 122 days this past February compared to 120 days in February 2009 and 100 days same time period in 2008.

For the week of March 28th, 2010

A very nice increase.

The Knoxville News Sentinel had a very nice, tongue in cheek article today about the soon expiring $8,000 tax credit titled:  $8,000 – nah, you can keep it Pretty funny article and full of useful information about how the tax credit works.

As of today, March 28th, 2010 at 10:36 AM, there are 5,089 homes currently for sale in Knox County and 13,643 total in all the counties our Multiple Listing Services reaches including Oak Ridge, Maryville, Loudon County; a total of 19 counties I believe. If you’re a potential buyer that means there is a huge selection of homes for sale in all price ranges.

I wrote an offer on a home yesterday and my buyer got a 4 1/2% fixed rate, 15 year mortgage and 30 year loans are available for 5% fixed interest rate.

$8,000 in tax credits to buy a house, 5% of lower interest rates, and thousands of homes to choose from. It does not get any better than this and that tax credit expires at the end of April.

visit Knoxville Home Searcher.com now to pick one out for you and your family.

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The new, specialty REALTOR License Plates for Tennessee REALTORS — “Celebrate Homeownership!” are in. I picked mine up today and it’s on my car

Tennessee REALTOR license plates

Very cool and very colorful.

If you pre-ordered one they should be at your local county clerk’s office. To pick yours up you will need a copy of your state real estate license and the current license plate on the vehicle you plan to put your Realtor plate on.

I didn’t know that when I went after mine and had to get my secretary to fax a copy of my license down.

I also didn’t know about having to turn your existing license plate in to get the new one either so of course I didn’t have mine with me.

If your current license isn’t due for renewal yet you will get credit for the remaining time left on it so you won’t lose any money by getting your new Realtor plates right away.

And of course if you’re looking for a new home in Tennessee, especially east Tennessee, www.KnoxvilleHomeSearcher.com is a great place to start your home search.

Here’s a marvelous North Hills home that has been extensively updated. Hardwood floors, fireplace, and lots of other great features.

See all the greater Knoxville area listings of homes and condos for sale at Knoxville Home Searcher.com, just click here and you’re there.

My apologies to my regular readers for not posting anything in the past 2 weeks but I’ve been pretty busy listing and selling houses which is a good thing.

The February sales numbers are now available from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors for the greater Knoxville area and surrounding counties so let’s take a look and see how we did this past month.

February to past Februaries comparison

While this just past February was up 42 homes over 2009 the total volume is still way down compared to the past 7 years or so. According to these numbers we’re basically at around 2001-02 levels.

Here’s the latest Knox County sales figures for the week just past.

From the Knox County Register of Deeds

I count 92 transactions in the chart above. That’s down considerably from the 150 or so we were averaging in 2009 which dovetails with the sales figures above from the Realtor Association.

It appears this February is pretty much like January 2010; down from years past but up over last year a little. Modest good news for the Knoxville area real estate market.

Another way to calculate the current state of a real estate market is by the absorption rate. That means how long will it take to sell the current amount of homes for sale at the current sales rate.

Currently in the Knoxville Area Association of Realtor’s MLS (Multiple Listing Service) there are 4,021 single family homes and condos for sale. Based on the latest February sales figures for Knox County there were 369 closings. That means it would take 13.3 months at the current sales levels to sell all 4,021 listings assuming no new ones came on the market.

Those figures tell me we’re still in a very strong buyer’s market in the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area.

Median sales price is the middle of the price range, half were more, half were less.

If anyone is thinking of buying this year let me remind you the $8,000 federal tax credit expires at the end of April 2010 and most likely WILL NOT be renewed this time. Here’s some FAQ about how it works, please call or email me with any additional questions or to get started buying your own home.

You do have until the end of April to have your selected home under contract and then an additional 60 days beyond that to get it closed. Some active duty military personnel have more time under special circumstances; I can help with that as well.

See all the greater Knoxville area listings of homes and condos for sale at Knoxville Home Searcher.com

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See 11,509 Knoxville area homes and condos for sale right here.

February 2010 is now officially over. The total sales from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors won’t be available until around the 15th of March so as to include late closings from February. We can however take a look at last week’s property transfers from the Knox County Register of Deeds office.

Knox County TN real estate property transfers

I count 104 for the past week which is about on par for this year’s totals. Last year we were averaging around 150 a week but I still believe this year’s numbers will increase as the spring selling market gets in full swing.

I mean who wouldn’t buy a house now if you wanted to and could qualify for a loan. There is a huge selection of homes for sale in all price ranges, motivated sellers who are willing to deal on prices and concessions to buyers, AND the lowest interest rates we’ve seen in a long, long time.

The only think holding real estate sales to their current levels is the jobs (unemployment) and the economic mess the United States (and a lot of the world) finds itself in right now.

The January unemployment figures held pretty much steady at 10% of the workforce. However, the real rate of unemployment — which includes part- time workers who want full-time jobs and people who want work but have simply stopped looking — rose to 17.3% from 17.2%.  Not good.

Only two more months left for buyers to get a home under contract now and qualify for the up to $8,000 tax credit for those that have not owned a home in the past 3 years and up to $6,500 for those that have. Call or email me for details.

Here’s what January 2010 sales looked like compared to previous Januarys. We were up 90 homes in 2010 compared to 2009 so that’s  good news.

January sales

Check out my exciting new website below to see all Knoxville area Realtor listings of houses and condos for sale. Search 1000′s of Beautiful Homes Photos, Prices, Tours, Maps & More!

See 11,509 Knoxville area homes and condos for sale right here.

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Search all Knoxville area homes at www.KnoxvilleHomeSearcher.com with multiple photos, maps, and much more.

Enchanting North Hllls 3 bedroom home, ready for you to move in and enjoy.

Currently in Knox County, Tennessee there are 3.461 single family homes listed for sale along with 987 condos. Year to date in 2010 360 of those single family homes have been placed in “Sale Pending” status which means sold but not yet closed; and 55 condos. Most listings that make it to sale pending status end up closing although not all, due to home inspection issues, buyer financing, and other reasons.

The chart below is the sold listings year to date versus actives as of February 15th, 2010.

It appears, based on these figures, that single family homes are selling close to 10% of listings while condos are around 5%.

The first monthly figures are available now from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors so we can see how this just past January stacks up to sales in previous Januarys.

January 2010 compared to past Januarys

January 2010 closed sales beat January 2009 by 90 units but even that number is still way below previous January’s. It appears from these numbers that our volume is back to where it was in Januarys 2001 & 2002.

According to some figures from Trulia.com the average listing price is down somewhat which means there are more lower priced homes coming on the market now than upper price range ones

So far this year we’ve seen a very modest improvement in sales numbers but still quite a bit below previous years. Prices remain weak too with discounts being the order of the day in homes that sell and close.

Average days on market (time to sell) was 118 days in January 2010 compared to 110 in January 2009 and 105 for January 2008.

So that’s where Knoxville real estate is currently, subscribe to my blog to receive the latest updates and Knoxville area real estate news.

Search all Knoxville area homes at www.KnoxvilleHomeSearcher.com with multiple photos, maps, and much more.

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The closed sales from the Knox County Register of Deeds is out today so let’s see what happened in the first week of February, 2010.

Knox County real estate transfers

We’re up to 116 this week. Still short of the 150 we were averaging in 2009 but a little better than the 108 we had last week.

It’s still a bit early in the year to begin saying things are getting better but some number and trends are encouraging.

As the graph above illustrates a slight uptick in our median sales price.

While the average price per square feet is fairly flat.