Real Estate Information

We have a number of clients looking for great deals on Louisville Kentucky Foreclosures. Yes, there are deals out there but it takes work to find them. We’ve been out with “Mike” on a regular basis. So far the deals we found have had problems. In this video, we find Mold growing in the basement. That’s one of the biggest problems this time of year. If a home that’s been foreclosed on or has been vacant has not been properly winterized, water lines may have broken and the water can easily cause mold. In fact it’s said that if water stands more than 3 days mold can start to form. Treating a home with mold can be a long and expensive process. Leaving mold untreated can be a health hazard. FEMA has a series of reports on the problem. For more information head to www.weselllouisville.com or www.louisvillehomestoday.com.

.

Louisville Area Homes and Condos continue to sell. We just wrote another contract for a local woman who had been living in an apartment. You can see the excitment in her face as we complete the contract. That's what I love about this buisness.. helping people realize their dreams. 

If you're looking for a way to network with other business leaders consider joining our Waterfront Networking Group here in Louisville Kentucky. We meet every Tuesday morning at 7am and exchange leads for members businesses. Our group is an offshoot of Business Networking International BNI but without the fees or harsh requirements. For more information call 502-376-5483

Home sales are picking up in Louisville Kentucky! As an agent we need to be available to our clients 24/7. In our continuing Live Blog series we're working hard to make our clients happy. In this report we talk to Adam, who had 2 offers on his home in a matter of a couple of days.

Home sales pick up in Louisville Kentucky - Adam on the phone from Bob Sokoler on Vimeo.

As Home Sales go (both Louisville Kentucky and the rest of the country)... so does the economy! It's true. So what do we need to get home sales back to normal? As part of our Live Video Blog Series, my partners and I talked about the problem 1/9/2009. For more information about us head to www.weselllouisville.com

Every day you hear the media talking about how easy it is to get a great deal when buying a home that was in Foreclosure. In Louisville Kentucky, there are an estimated 200 foreclosure sales every month. But what you don’t hear about in the media are the time delays associated with foreclosures. As part of our Live Video Blog series we talked with one of our clients just as they closed on a foreclosure home we found in Jefferson County.
Should you buy a Foreclosure? from Bob Sokoler on Vimeo.

We always wonder how we performed as a Real Estate team. Now that we have a video portion to our blog I decided to ask clients. Sure they know they're on camera but I think a viewer could tell if clients are being forced to say something they don't believe in. :

I have a new Hero in the blogging world. Ian Watt is a Canadian Realtor who does what seams like a daily Video Blog. I love new ideas and Ian gets my vote for best idea of January 2009!

Looking back at the month of December 2008 shows some areas of town performing well even is this slower economy. The sales figures below show that lower priced homes continue to sell if priced correctly. Still many point to the Louisville Kentucky Housing Market as an island of stable home prices compared to much of the rest of the nation. One report on the website Reed Construction Data says “Buffalo, Dallas, Houston and Louisville are representative of local housing markets that largely avoided the home price bubble and the ensuing bursting of the bubble.”.

Writer Jim Haughey is right on the money. Louisville continues to be a good investment.

01-Dec-2008 - 31-Dec-2008

                     Residential Unit Sales        Total   Unit Sales

                      0-2        3         4+      Resid     Condo/    Total

 PRICE CLASS/TYPE    Bedrm     Bedrm     Bedrm     Sales     Co-Op     Units

 $29,999 OR UNDER      30        14         8        52         0        52

 $30,000 -  $39,999    10         6         2        18         1        19

 $40,000 -  $49,999     6         4         1        11         0        11

 $50,000 -  $59,999     2        11         1        14         0        14

 $60,000 -  $69,999     5         5         2        12         5        17

 $70,000 -  $79,999     8         2         3        13         3        16

 $80,000 -  $89,999     2        12         2        16         5        21

 $90,000 -  $99,999     2        18         4        24         5        29

$100,000 - $119,999     5        32         9        46        17        63

$120,000 - $139,999     7        24         2        33         6        39

$140,000 - $159,999     2        27         5        34         4        38

$160,000 - $179,999     1        20         3        24         2        26

$180,000 - $199,999     2        14         9        25         6        31

$200,000 - $249,999     0        25        26        51         6        57

$250,000 - $299,999     0         6        11        17         1        18

$300,000 - $399,999     0         5        17        22         2        24

$400,000 - $499,999     0         3         7        10         0        10

$500,000 OR OVER        0         1        11        12         0        12

Total Types:           82       229       123       434        63       497

Average Price:     $57,444  $139,386  $272,269  $161,564  $135,703  $158,286

Median Price:     $127,500  $127,500  $220,000  $124,869  $117,500  $122,000

Average DOM:           60        77        85        76       102        79

Average CDOM:          74        90       128        98       143       103

The news is not earthshaking! New home sales numbers for December 2008 are just out for Louisville and they are as you might expect.  The number of homes sold was down 25% from December 2007.  Still, look at this a different way, 718 homes sold in December 2008, (compared to 964 in December 2007), means homes are selling.  What buyers are looking for is a stable economy, deals and great interest rates.  Many believe a new administration will stabilize the economy and allow the lower home prices and interest rates to do their job.   

What sellers need now more than ever is to correctly price their home and then marketing that includes high quality pictures and video TV stories about the home to bring in buyer eyeballs.  The Louisville Courier-Journals’ Alex Davis recently wrote a story about aggressive marketing and included us and 2 of our successful sellers in 2008 (Lori Dougherty and Robert and Adele Koch). You can read that story here. 

The average sales price of a home was down about $15,000 from a year before. But remember, included in that number are 202 foreclosures/short sales which were sold at anywhere between 10 and 50 percent below market value. 

It’s the foreclosures and short sales that are forcing down area prices here in Louisville and around the United States. Of the buyers out in the market this new years day, many are looking for bargains and believe a foreclosure or short sale is the place to get them. Unfortunately, once buyers get in to see a home in foreclosure and realize the work needed to return the home back to a livable condition, the deal is not as good as once thought! 

The good news for home buyers (and sellers) right now are interest rates.  As of this writing rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage were 5 percent. A 15-year fixed mortgage was hovering at 4.75. As we move into 2009, many believe the lower rates will motivate buyers to make a purchase.