The Three Reasons Why Now Is The Right Time For A Move!

For the last three years we have experienced a dreadful real estate market. The national economy has made everyone afraid to spend money or make changes in their housing status, but I am optimistic this will be a turn around year.

If you have thought about downsizing, buying an investment property for retirement, moving up in value, or moving to a lower maintenance home, there are three reasons this may be the best year ever to make a move.

The first reason is the direction of mortgage interest rates. After seeing rates hit record lows in November of about 4% on a 30 year loan, the interest rates have risen about 1% in the last two months according to TAR Digest . I am afraid that with the emergence of inflation rates will continue to rise, but current rates are still fabulous. A 2% increase in a $200,000 30 year note is a monthly payment increase of $258.00. Think monthly payment not pricing.

The second reason for making a move now is better selling conditions for existing homes. So far this year there are signs of improved consumer confidence. According to Credit.com consumers are using their credit cards again, and in my own business I see a definite increase in calls and real estate activity. Foreclosures and short sales are in decline in all but the lower price ranges in Sumner County according to Realtytrac.com. My greatest problem in sales during the past two years has been competition from foreclosures and short sales. This should be a better year for selling resale homes.

The third reason to move now is that there is a great selection of homes at excellent prices. There have been far fewer new homes built in the last three years. As homes sell and are not replaced we should see declining inventories and increasing prices. Now is a great time to find good selections before inventories decrease and prices significantly increase.

So if you need to sell or just desire to make a move, please give me a call. Let me analyze your home value, home marketability, and availability of homes in the price range in which you are interested. It is time for action to take advantage of excellent interest rates, improved selling market, and a large inventory of homes with excellent values.

Tennessee Foreclosures

It was another record year for foreclosures in 2010 according to RealtyTrac. This occurred despite the fact that many banks slowed down their foreclosure activities during the last quarter of the year due to the widely reported problems of improper documentation and procedures.

Foreclosures are the biggest problems facing real estate recovery. So how did we get to this point? It certainly started with the international belief that real estate can only go up in value. Easy and creative financing with little or no money down made perfect sense if you bought into the assumption that real estate values would continue to go up quickly. Soon after the banks found big prospects ( see blog 2/2/11 Getting Drunk and Throwing Up) in making bad loans to unqualified buyers the first wave of foreclosures began.

Demand for homes started falling, and so did home values. This led to the second wave of foreclosures. Builders and developers that were highly leveraged, and anyone who bought homes between 2001 and 2006 found themselves upside down with value less than their home loans.

These problems started on the West Coast, but within a year had spread to the entire nation plunging the country into the worst recession since the Depression. The unemployment and underemployment that resulted from the recession started the current third wave of foreclosures. People just could not afford their payments, sell their home, or refinance leaving foreclosure the only option.

When you hear the shocking statistics of foreclosure it is easy to forget that the problem is not shared equally by the country. Five states account for 51% of all foreclosures in 2010. They were California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan. Georgia, Texas, Ohio and Nevada were other states that accounted for large percentages of the national foreclosures.

When it came to the largest numbers of foreclosures per households, Nevada, Arizona and Florida lead the nation. In Nevada one out every 11 homeowners received a foreclosure notice in 2010.

Tennessee's foreclosure problems are not as bad as many other areas of the country. Still they had a tremendous impact on our real estate market causing excessive inventory and declining values.

In Sumner County, Realty Tracs reports 691 banks owned properties. Most are single family homes, some are lots and there are even a couple of golf courses with club houses. That's a lot of future sales that will go at depressed values. The most shocking statistic is that of the 691 bank owned properties, only 57 are currently for sale at this time. Maybe I just do not understand the complexities of modern banking, but there must be a better and more profitable way to address foreclosures and liquidate this backlog of bank owned properties.

One Day Vacation Ideas

Bluegrass Underground

One of the joys of living in the Hendersonville, TN and the Sumner County area are all the great one day trips that make you feel like you are on Vacation.

Last week my wife said that we needed to find a brief getaway to move us off the sofa and end our winter hibernation. Then in the Friday Tennessean there was an article about an event that I had always wanted to attend, Bluegrass Underground.

Bluegrass Underground is a once a month concert and radio show. It showcases some of the best bluegrass musical talent in the country with performances in what might be the most unique venue in the USA.

Bluegrass Underground takes place once a month in Cumberland Caverns which is located near McMinville, Tennessee. This beautiful area of the Tennessee Ridge is home to some of the most dramatic scenery in the state. The cave is open for tours throughout the year.

The Bluegrass Underground show is located 333 feet below the caves entrance about a 15 minute escorted walk. You come to one of the caves many offshoots and walk down into the Volcano Room which has high ceilings and other cave intersections for snack bars and green room. The complete absence of outside noise and the asymmetrical room make a wonderful venue for acoustic music. I ask about the attendance for past events and they range from 250 to 800+ when Ricky Scaggs performed last year.

On the day we attended Rides In The Sky a Grammy award winning Western group headlined, and the hilarious Cleverly's did Black Eyed Peas and other techno dance music bluegrass style. Lots of fun!

If you go, enjoy the scenic drive. The Caverns are located near Fall Creek Falls, Savage Gulf, and Rock Island State Park. Take some time to explore this beautiful area of the State.

Hendersonville, TN Morning Commute

It's 7:00AM and I'm headed to the gym opposite the Nashville commuter traffic on the bypass (Hwy. 386). Brake lights are flashing at Exit 6, and all of these drivers will need another 45 minutes to cover the 18 miles to Nashville at the height of rush hour. That is unless there is rain, snow or a hiccup at Trinity Lane.

Normally there are about 75,000 cars a day running the two lanes of 386 according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation. There are alternatives to 386 like Gallatin Rd. (Hwy. 31) or Long Hollow Pike (Hwy 257), but 386 with no traffic lights or stop signs is the choice of most commuters. One of Hendersonville's and Gallatin's greatest assets is also its greatest liability for commuter traffic, Old Hickory Lake. The lake forms the southern border of all of Sumner County, and there are only two bridges spanning Old Hickory within our border.

So why do commuters go through so much stress time and expense to live in Sumner County and commute to Nashville? The simple answer is that it is worth it.

Some people move here for the great public and private schools, some for the lake, parks, and recreation, some for the lower taxes and others for the variety of houses in new safe neighborhoods. There are many compelling reasons to live in Sumner County that make the commute worthwhile.

Actually the commute to Nashville is a lot easier now than when I first moved here 33 years ago. At that time there were only two lanes of I65 into Nashville, a one lane bridge (no kidding) on Long Hollow Pike, and no Hwy 386. We have better commuting now, and we are better off than many of Nashville's other commuter cities, but the only way we can keep pace is with mass transit. Stop 30 road in Hendersonville was named for what used to be the 30th stop on the Nashville Commuter Train in the 1930's. It is time we visited their old ideas.

Commuting has never been a picnic even in the days of Hendersonville's first settler Daniel Smith. Daniel Smith's house Rock Castle still stands proud today, but two of his carpenters and his son-in-law were killed by Indians on their commute across the county. The only traffic jams were the herds of buffalo that wandered the valleys, but there were numerous other stresses and hazards from the river and animal trails that were the first area commuter routes in the 1790's.

So as you make your commute to Nashville, remember no texting, checking your emails or traveling too close to the car in front of you... and watch out for the buffalo and arrows.