Louisville Home Sales - June 2009
Author: Bob | July 1, 2009
Louisville Real Estate Sales are bouncing back, at least for June 2009. The latest number of Louisville home sales for June show some interesting results. Contracts to purchase a home were up from a year before by 30% but the number of homeowners who actually sat down at a closing table and signed over deeds was off 1.5 %.
A slow down by the appraisal process created much of the problem. Back on May 1 2009, new government regulations required mortgage companies and banks to go through a 3rd party to order appraisals. This created a new “3rd party” industry this separation between lender and appraiser was supposed to keep business relationships from influencing appraisers. All it appears to have done is make the process more expensive for the buyer who picks up the fee for the 3rd party and more complicated organizing the process and delivering the reports. Additionally mortgage companies are requiring more documentation (in some cases) and have to wait for those appraisals to come back.
Looking back to 2007 just before the start of the home sales dive, June 2009 Home sales are down by 25% from June 2007. Rising interest rates for the last half of June 2009 slowed down 1st time buyers, but the rated have dropped a little and that may help get home sales back on track for 2009. For more information on Louisville real estate head to www.weselllouisville.com
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An open letter to builders! (Part 1)
Author: Bob | June 25, 2009
My wife and Norine were out showing homes to buyers yesterday and showed some new construction. We found several disasters that made us wonder, “What were they thinking”? So as a favor to this builder we begin a 3 part series to bring the builders who need it up to speed on Louisville Real Estate.
Item 1) Lets face it, buyers are fewer and farther between these days and those who are out shopping for a new home want to feel like they’re getting a deal. Builders need suppliers who are willing to cut profits in this tight economy and help builders add value to homes by offering discounts on everything from appliances to wood floors (I know easy for me to say).
Item 2) Price, Price, Price… buyers are looking at every detail but price is the bottom line. Stay ahead of the rest of the pack with features that present a big bang for the money. For example Granite to many buyers is Granite. Why pay for mid to high-end granite when the basic granite will be enough to excite a buyer. Find a supplier who will do custom edges for next to nothing.
Item 3) Every day we watch buyers get excited with large kitchens featuring granite, stainless appliances, open floor plans, luxury master bathrooms with separate shower and tub and large walk-in closets.
More to come! For more info on our team head to www.weselllouisville.com
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May Home Sales In Louisville Pick Up
Author: Bob | May 31, 2009
For the first time in more than 6 months, there is undisputed proof that the Louisville Housing market has just about recovered. The numbers for May 2009 will become official tomorrow Monday June 1, 2009, but as of right now we are just about tied with the number of homes that went under contract in June 2008. Officially this May’s numbers compared to May 2008 are off 1.5 % but as in a good game of horseshoes, that’s close enough for a tie in many books.
Of course give some credit to the 8000 tax credit and lower interest rates and a large inventory of homes priced to sell, but the end result is homes are going under contract and that’s good news for Louisville Real Estate. The news could get better as the owners of the entry level homes have to find their new home. That means the trickle up effect has begun. The number of homes actually closed in May 2009 was 920, that’s down 20% from May 2008. But loans are taking more time to close because of new appraisal regulations and underwriter approval requirements.
A new directive announced this past Friday from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan change from FHA’s rules. As soon as the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed State Housing Finance Agencies and certain non-profits and loan up to the full amount of the tax credit (depending on the amount of the mortgage). That means a 1st time home buyer (or someone who hasn’t owned a home in 3 years) can immediately apply the $8000 towards some closing costs. Additionally after the buyer comes up with 3.5 percent of their down payments on their own, they can use part of the $8000 towards an additional down payment.
All this should help the housing recovery stay on track into the summer of 2009 and fuel the recovery of the U.S. economy. For more info head to www.weselllouisville.com.
May 2009
|
This month: 1167 Last month: 1138 This month last year: 0 |
This month: 920 Last month: 787 This month last year: 0 |
|
This month: $153,549 Last month: $156,341 This month last year: $0 |
This month: 87 Last month: 93 This month last year: 0 |
137,000 |
May 2008
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This month: 1184 Last month: 1289 This month last year: 0 |
This month: 1149 Last month: 1006 This month last year: 0 |
|
This month: $166,206 Last month: $166,467 This month last year: $0 |
This month: 84 Last month: 89 This month last year: 0 |
135,000 |
Topics: For Buyers, For Sellers, Trends | No Comments »
Top Louisville Realtors Share Secrets!
Author: Bob | May 15, 2009
Louisville Homes are selling slower than in years past. How often do the top Realtors in a city get together with other agents in the same city to share their secrets to success and how to handle tough times? It happened this week in Louisville Kentucky. Here’s a look at some of the comments made by some of Louisville’s top real estate agents.
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Louisville Home Sales in April 2009 improve!
Author: Bob | May 2, 2009
New Louisville Kentucky home sales numbers for April 2009 show a marked improvement over the first 3 months of 2009 but still below the sales figures for April of 2008. Spurred on by an $8000 first time tax credit for 1st time buyers and those who haven’t owned a home in 3 years, the number of homes going under contract in April 2009 reached 1138 compared to 1289 a year before. That’s a decrease of 11% from April 2008 but better when compared to homes under contract the year before: March (down 34%) , February (down 34%), January (down 30%).
One interesting point of interest is the number of Louisville homes under contract in March of 2009 (974) compared to the number of homes closing in April 2009 (787). That means 20% of homes going under contract in March of 2009 have yet to close. Several reasons can cause that including consumers having a tougher time obtaining mortgages, waiting to lock in on a rate and loan appraisers taking more time to complete their work.
New regulations for appraisers that went into effect May 2009 could cause further delays in getting a home appraisal and stricter and tighter appraisals. We may find that appraisers will hold sellers to lower sales prices because they’ll be factoring in foreclosures, short sales and some overall lower sales prices.
For more info on Homes in the Louisville area, head to www.weselllouisville.com or www.louisvillehomestoday.com.
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THE MONTH OF: April, 2009 |
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This month: 1138 Last month: 974 This month last year: 0 |
This month: 787 Last month: 808 This month last year: 0 |
|
This month: $156,337 Last month: $141,677 This month last year: $0 |
This month: 93 Last month: 91 This month last year: 0 |
129,000 |
|
THE MONTH OF: April, 2008 |
|
This month: 1289 Last month: 1156 This month last year: 0 |
This month: 1006 Last month: 1041 This month last year: 0 |
|
This month: $166,467 Last month: $155,796 This month last year: $0 |
This month: 89 Last month: 84 This month last year: 0 |
132,000 |
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Can you call it the stimu-less package?
Author: Bob | March 1, 2009
Georgia one of our 2 English Bulldogs is not smiling yet, but we are! The Medley Sokoler team is actually seeing an increase in the number of first time home buyers in the Louisville area, we believe it’s directly tied to President Obama’s Stimulus Package and $8000 dollar tax credit for 1st time home buyers. But looking at last month’s home sales numbers you might think the stimulus package is stimu-less! The new statistics for February 2009 show the number of homes closed (sold) down 26 percent (from 851 to 630) compared to February 2008 and down 34 percent (959 to 630) from 2007. The stats were worse for homes actually going under contract in February 2009. Those numbers were down 34 percent (1163 to 779) from a year ago and down 35 percent (1200 to 779) from February 2007.
The Median Sales Price of a home was down 22 percent from a year ago to $ 119,000. Average Selling Price of a home was down 10 percent to $146,405.
One area bright spot in the data comes from the number of days a home was on the market, down 3 days to 85 compared to February 2008 and tied for February 2007.
Remember details of the stimulus package aren’t out yet (their expected to be announced March 4th by the Obama administration) so it’s too early to tell what impact they’ll have on markets like Louisville. But it is clear from hearing out telephones ring with first time buyers, there is a change in the market. It could be the season as we head into the spring market or it could be word is spreading about interest rates, tax credit and deals to be had. Though it may take time for the process to work, a sold entry level home allows those owners move up and buy their 2nd house and so on up the line. It’s the food chain with a roof over it. Could it be the Obama Administration was correct and all the housing industry needed was a little nudge in the right direction? The Louisville Housing industry hopes so!
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How to save MONEY buying your next home!
Author: Bob | February 27, 2009
Because of the mortgage crisis, loans of the past are gone. These days you need at least 3.5% for the down payment plus closing costs! All too often buyers make the mistake of asking sellers to pay for those closing costs up front. It’s like someone buying a car from you but that person also asks you to pay for car insurance for a year. You’ll most likely say no.
Over the past 5 years as Louisville Realtors at RE/MAX Properties East, we’ve sold about 500 homes and for several years (as 100% financing disappeared) our strategy has been to find the sellers lowest acceptable price without speed bumps derailing the negotiations. A speed bump is anything added to a contract (like closing costs, painting a room, building a deck). We’ve found any speed bump takes the attention of the seller away from giving us the best price and directs it to something a seller hates: costs or paying fees for someone else.
I can tell you in EVERY CASE when one of our sellers gets a contract asking them to pay closing costs the first statement out of their mouth is “If the buyers can’t afford the house why are they buying it” I can spend hours trying to explain why the money is needed but the fact that a buyer needs the money is ALWAYS in the sellers head and many sellers can’t get around it.
We’ve been very successful getting a seller to accept an offer then ask the sellers to pay a specific about of closing costs and increase the price of the home by that amount. We also tell the seller that the commission will be based on the original sales price.
Remember, there are thousands of people who don’t understand this basic fundamental art of negotiation. Sellers don’t want to pay for someone else’s closing costs. Our method of negotiating works 100% of the time because it’s exactly what a seller wants, a clean offer.
Bob Sokoler is a member of the Medley Sokoler Team at RE/MAX Properties East. His team is ranxed 4th in the Remax Region. Bob is personally ranked 7th amoung the almost 4000 realtors in the Louisville Kentucky area. For more information visit www.weselllouisville.com or www.louisvillehomestoday.com . To see some of the teams videos head to www.louisvillehomestv.com
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Take a walk on FUN side - Louisville Kentucky ranks 15th!
Author: Bob | February 25, 2009
Planning to take a walk? Consider doing it in Louisville Kentucky! In fact make it easy on yourself and move to Louisville and you can take a walk top 15 walk! The score is part of the website walkscore.com Of the 40 cities ranked, Louisville Kentucky came in number 15 (and they didn’t even include Bardstown Road a walkers paradise). Walk Score is a fantastic website that helps anyone considering a move find walkable places to live. It works this way, Walk Score searches and reports on the walkability of a city by looking at area stores, restaurants, schools and parks. Then the Walk Score website examines how easy it is to live in the city with a minimal use of a car. The website says they don’t include how pretty the area is for walking. Louisville beats out cities like San Diego (ranked 16), Las Vegas (ranked 18) and Indianapolis (ranked 37).
Check out the entire list here. Louisville’s walk score is listed at 58 which according to the website means you’ll still need a car, bike, or public transportation some of the time. For more information about Louisville homes visit www.weselllouisville.com or www.louisvillehomestoday.com
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Stimulus Watch Looks At Where Your Money is Going!
Author: Bob | February 24, 2009
Feedback is quickly coming in on President Obama’s 2009 Stimulus Package. Millions of dollars and more than one hundred projects are slated for the Louisville Kentucky area.
Stimulus Watch has created what appears to be a non-partisan website listing the "shovel-ready" projects planed for Louisville Kentucky and other parts of the U.S.
The list was submitted in the 2008 in the U.S. Conference of Mayors report. Head to the website here and take a look the list of projects. This website also allows you to read more on the project, contribute to the description of the project and even vote on it’s authenticity.
Our president may not be happy with the results of the voting. A large number of website contributors are voting against the projects. As a real estate agent selling louisville homes at RE/MAX Properties East, we would love to see more money given to reduce the number of foreclosures on the market and spur home sales.
Topics: For Buyers | 1 Comment »
Louisville Snow Storm Dosen’t Slow The Medley Sokoler Team
Author: Bob | February 22, 2009
It happened again with another Louisville home! Six days is all it took for The Medley Sokoler Team to get a contract on one of their listings. The listing was up against 5 other properties in the same subdivision all similarly priced. The team is now ranked 4th for RE/MAX teams in the Kentucky – Tennessee region. The success comes from work and the pictures and videos they produce getting eyeball time from buyers.
A recent poll by the Courier Journal and RE/MAX shows 87% of home buyers start looking on the internet, The Medley Sokoler Team believes high quality pictures and attention grabbing videos equals success in the current market. The Team has spent thousands of dollars on cameras, lens and computers to produce the best marketing materials possible for their clients. Watch the video (we’ve posted the same video on 3 different sites to see which has the best quality) see what you think.
Snow won’t stop The Medley Sokoler Team from Bob Sokoler on Vimeo.
Topics: For Buyers, For Sellers, Trends | 2 Comments »
Brakes go on Foreclosures
Author: Bob | February 13, 2009
Finally, after months of stalling and scaring homeowners who have fallen behind in their mortgage payments, a number of banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc have announced they will hold stop foreclosing on homes for 90 days. In an article published in Business newspapers including Business First of Louisville the banks say they will stop foreclosures while the federal government works out a plan to stabilize the nation’s banking industry.
Well it’s about time. As certified distress property real estate agents with a C.D.P.E designation at RE/MAX properties east, my wife Norine and I arehelping a number of home owners who have lost jobs, gone through divorces or have medical problems. Even with those problems many banks have continued to call send demanding letters and piled on hundreds of dollars of fees to homeowners mortgages.
Does anyone in the banking industry understand the impact they have on a family in need of help? Do any of the executives in these banks care about people? Or do they care only about their yearly bonuses?
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Author: Bob | February 13, 2009
During a major rain and windstorm in Louisville Kentucky yesterday Norine and I were out showing Louisville Kentucky Homes. What a storm…how about those winds. Once again sections of Louisville lost power. The good news is we new the storm would blow over by the time we arrived at our first house to meet our clients. How you might be asking? Well it wasn’t by watching the clouds or listening to a weather report, in fact have you noticed lately the local weather people can’t seam to get the Louisville forecast correct? Ok… that’s a blog post for another day.
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Becky and Joe Build a Ball Home and Love it!
Author: Bob | February 6, 2009
As Real Estate Agents here in the Louisville Kentucky area we work with hundreds of clients a year. We love success stories and we love sharing them with you. Rebecca and Joe started working with us mid 2008. After showing this fabulous couple a number of homes they decided to build a home with Ball Homes. As an agent I’ve been very impressed with Ball homes for a number of reasons including their price, quality and warranty. Our daughter and my in-laws both have built Ball Homes and so I have first hand personal experience with their entire process. As a realtor I love having enough confidence in a builder to recommended them without hesitation. I feel that way about Ball Homes.
Topics: For Buyers, For Sellers | 1 Comment »
Meet Louisville Top Luxury Home Builder and tour his newest home
Author: Bob | February 5, 2009
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Snow storm sinks home showings!
Author: Bob | February 3, 2009
Buying a home, the weather in Louisville Kentucky stinks! The snow has really put a damper on home viewings and sales these days, but who could blame buyers. Here in the Louisville Kentucky area, last weeks unusual ice storm and today’s snow storm have buyers waiting it out for warmer, sunnier days! Who can blame them! But remember buyers you can still look at homes from the comfort of your living room on your computer. Our suggestion is to head to one of two websites. www.weselllouisville.com or www.louisvillehomestoday.com . From those 2 websites you’ll be able to look at the latest listings, most of the homes have pictures of the inside of the homes. While you’re on the 2 websites look at the featured homes section. There in addition to regular home pictures we have new exclusive video TV tours of homes.
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Feb 09 Louisville Home Sale Update
Author: Bob | February 2, 2009
It comes as no surprise that January 2009 is off to a slow home sale start in Louisville Kentucky. The number of homes under contract in January 2009 was down 30 % from 1 year ago. The number of homes that actually closed in January 2009 was down 34% from the same period in 2008.
My wife Norine and I have actually been busy showing property but many buyers are waiting for a sign it’s time to buy. Let’s face it many home buyers believe the best time to buy a house is when the market hits bottom. That’s a great plan but it has one very important problem, when do you know when home prices have bottomed out? The answer naturally is when prices start to go up. For most buyers (unless you’re physic) you’ll have already missed the bottom when you decide it’s time to buy.
That’s where watching the media will come in handy. Over the next few months keep a very close eye on reports throughout the United Stated where there are reports of increases in home sales. We’re already starting to see positive reports pop up. You can check for yourself by doing a Google search with terms like “home sales increase”. Look for current stories written in the past 2 months. I personally believe we’ll start to see national media reports connecting the different stories within a month or two. Now that we have a new administration in place and there’s talk of a smart bailout that will include real incentives for homebuyers, most of the local and national media will be looking for positive stories to attribute to our new administration.
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Planning to pick an agent to sell your home? Be sure to watch this video!
Author: Bob | January 23, 2009
All across Louisville Kentucky a good number of homeowners are preparing for 2 things, Spring and selling their home. A recent Courier-Journal / RE/MAX poll showed that 87 % of people starting a home search head to the internet to look at homes. So why do so many agents post pictures of homes that are less than flattering? Pictures and the marketing of them goes a long way to sell a home. Don’t hire a realtor until you see our video.
Topics: For Sellers | No Comments »
Georgia the English Bulldog watches the inauguration of Barack Obama
Author: Bob | January 17, 2009
We weren’t able to make it to Baltimore or Washington DC, but we’re watching this historic moment from home with our English Bulldogs Georgia (pictured) and Savannah.
God Bless America!
Let’s get this economy going.
Topics: Trends | No Comments »
Courier-Journal offers peak inside the Medley Sokoler team marketing!
Author: Bob | December 19, 2008
You may have seen one of our marketing videos we produce for all of our Louisville Home listings. This week the Courier-Journal’s Alex Davis wrote a story on the new trend. For a look at his article click here.
For a look at our listings and videos check out the following 2 websites:
http://weselllouisville.com/featured_listings (click on Virtual Tour links)
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Tech Brainstorming will help Louisville Area Home Buyers and Sellers
Author: Bob | December 19, 2008
We’re just back from a very exciting brainstorming session in Columbus Ohio. Imagine being surrounded by some of the top Real Estate agents on the eastern half of the U.S. with the goal of using new technology to its full potential in 2009 for buyers and sellers.
To read more about our event click here.
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