Banks as Gatlinburg Area Real Estate Principals

Each week, like many newspapers do, our local Mountain Press, provides a list of all of the previous week's real estate transfers.  In yesterday's edition, there were 36 transfers which made me long for the good old days of a few years ago when the weekly transaction count for Gatlinburg area real estate was much higher.  Speaking of the good old days, remember when banks generally were involved only as lenders in real estate transactions??

Although the newspaper's list of real estate transfers doesn't provide the lender's name, the interesting fact is that in this week's list bank names were all over the page, both as buyers (generally meaning new foreclosures that have been completed) and as sellers (almost always a reflection of the disposal of property that they had foreclosed upon previously).  If fact, out of the 36 real estate transfers Sevier County had last week, 17 had a bank as either the buyer or the seller.  Of those 17 transactions that involved a bank as principal, 11 were new foreclosures and 6 were sales by the bank to a non-bank buyer.  The market for Gatlinburg foreclosures continues to be strong and many properties that are owned by banks are priced to sell very quickly.  For a free complete (and current) list with photos and prices of all the foreclosures currently listed by any  member of our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors, please click here but be patient, as it takes a while to load the complete list.  For assistance in determining which Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville or other local area foreclosures are the best buys, please contact us!

Comments

Steve said…
Jeff isn't it a bit strange that out of approx. 340 foreclosure listings/short sales on your site there are only approx 50 over $300,000? My point is that the properties being defaulted on by the buyers are not in the upper range of quality ones? I don't want to suggest that they are not worthwhile, but many more of the less expensive ones are let go while the more expensive ones do not change hands. Common sense tells me it should be the other way around.
3:48 AM
Jeff Schoenfield said…
Excellent observation Steve. I believe that there are fewer higher priced properties for several reasons. One, people who own luxury properties generally have more resources and are less likely to fall into foreclosure even during a very difficult economic environment. Two, the banks are selling properties at significant discounts so everything sells for less. Three, there are generally approximately 5 times as many properties for sale in Sevier County at any one time under $100,000 as there are over $400,000.

While there have been some very nice foreclosure properties they are much more likely to be less valuable homes.
3:25 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Smoky Mountain Water Wells but were Afraid to Ask!

Unlike more urban communities, many Smoky Mountain homes still have water supplied by individual underground wells. The fact is that only a relatively small (but ever growing) portion of our area is served by municipal utility water. This is rarely a problem as wells here in the Gatlinburg and surrounding area usually produce clear and good tasting water for significantly less cost than utility water once the one-time expense of drilling the well is covered. In fact, while there are certainly exceptions, our area is known for exceptionally clean and good tasting well water. More than one brand of bottled water is actually drawn from underground sources right here in the Smokies. What can go wrong you ask? Unfortunately, plenty! In those relatively rare cases where a well’s iron or sulfur content causes the water to be unsuitable, a water filtration system can generally be installed to remedy the situation. Water filtration can be as basic as a very inexpensive cotton string filter th
Read more

Comments Please!

I have had this blog since 2003 but didn't really get serious about regularly writing here until the beginning of 2007. I do truly enjoy the opportunity to share my thoughts about our local Gatlinburg area real estate market including the surrounding communities of Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, Seymour, Kodak, and Cosby. The only problem with writing any type of blog is that you really aren't sure just how many people are reading much less care about what you are pontificating about. If you are reading this blog, regularly or for the very first time, PLEASE comment me. It's easy, painless, and won't leave any sort of mark. In fact, you can even remain totally anonymous but yet let me know that you are out there. Like the age old question of "If a tree falls in the forest with nobody there to hear, does it make a noise?", a blog writer could wonder "If I write something meaningful but nobody reads it, does it matter?". If you like, you can even tel
Read more

Comments Please!!

Just wondering how many folks are out there reading this Gatlinburg real estate blog.  Please comment with your home town - You can even stay anonymous if you wish. If you want, tell me more about yourself (if you already own property in Sevier County or are just considering doing so, what you would like me to write about in the future, etc.).  Thanks in advance for your comments, whatever they might be!!
Read more