Gatlinburg Real Estate Blog

Now that most all of the Gatlinburg area residential sales from July have finally been posted by the local real estate agencies of our board, it is clear that it was a most excellent month in every respect. Not only were July home sales as reported by our Great Smoky Mountains Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service the highest of 2014, they were a full 16% above the very respectable total from July a year ago. Further, you have to go all the way back to May of 2007 (pre-crash) to find ANY month with more units sold. We've been watching a slow improvement of our Smoky Mountain real estate market for years, but, in July at least, the improvement was anything but slow!! Here is the table for your review: If this sort of growth in the number of units sold continues, there will very likely be significant price appreciation as well. We have already seen some upward movement in prices but this sort of volume jump will very likely push prices higher. As someone who has nearly th...

Now that most all of the Gatlinburg area residential sales from July have finally been posted by the local real estate agencies of our board, it is clear that it was a most excellent month in every respect. Not only were July home sales as reported by our Great Smoky Mountains Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service the highest of 2014, they were a full 16% above the very respectable total from July a year ago. Further, you have to go all the way back to May of 2007 (pre-crash) to find ANY month with more units sold. We've been watching a slow improvement of our Smoky Mountain real estate market for years, but, in July at least, the improvement was anything but slow!! Here is the table for your review: If this sort of growth in the number of units sold continues, there will very likely be significant price appreciation as well. We have already seen some upward movement in prices but this sort of volume jump will very likely push prices higher. As someone who has nearly...

With a LOT going on in my business and personal life over the last couple of months, I have done a horrible job of posting to this Gatlinburg real estate blog. Although I have personally recorded nearly 120 sales already during 2012 (with the assistance of an awesome support staff), that level of activity has taken a real toll on some peripheral pursuits such as this blog. Taking a solemn pledge not to allow this to continue, I am finally making up for lost time this evening and marking a new commitment to posting more regularly to this all too often neglected blog site. Now that August is nearly over, I guess it is high time to post about the sales that our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors board recorded in July. During last month, residential sales as reported by our MLS database were again ahead of July 2011 but by a much less impressive percentage than was recorded during EVERY month of the first half of this year. Here is the table: As you can see, July wasn't a b...

With a LOT going on in my business and personal life over the last couple of months, I have done a horrible job of posting to this Gatlinburg real estate blog. Although I have personally recorded nearly 120 sales already during 2012 (with the assistance of an awesome support staff), that level of activity has taken a real toll on some peripheral pursuits such as this blog. Taking a solemn pledge not to allow this to continue, I am finally making up for lost time this evening and marking a new commitment to posting more regularly to this all too often neglected blog site. Now that August is nearly over, I guess it is high time to post about the sales that our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors board recorded in July. During last month, residential sales as reported by our MLS database were again ahead of July 2011 but by a much less impressive percentage than was recorded during EVERY month of the first half of this year. Here is the table: As you can see, July wasn...

I would love to say that all of our listings are gorgeous homes that are picture perfect and in move-in-ready condition, but I don't like to lie. Truth is, some of our Gatlinburg area foreclosure listings are as far from perfect as the East is from the West, but that isn't always the case! During the past week, we have been assigned 3 new Smoky Mountain residential foreclosure properties that are in fact exceptionally attractive and in excellent condition!! While these properties are in fact brand new listings and are not yet priced, you can preview them here before they are even entered into the MLS. When we do get the prices from the seller for these bank owned homes, you can be assured that they will be priced to sell quickly. Please click on the address line below each photo below to see additional pictures of each home: Great Boyd's Creek Neighborhood - 2159 Bryson Court, Sevierville Lakefront Seclusion - 2151 Stillhouse Rd., Dandridge In the Sought After Glades Comm...

I would love to say that all of our listings are gorgeous homes that are picture perfect and in move-in-ready condition, but I don't like to lie. Truth is, some of our Gatlinburg area foreclosure listings are as far from perfect as the East is from the West, but that isn't always the case! During the past week, we have been assigned 3 new Smoky Mountain residential foreclosure properties that are in fact exceptionally attractive and in excellent condition!! While these properties are in fact brand new listings and are not yet priced, you can preview them here before they are even entered into the MLS. When we do get the prices from the seller for these bank owned homes, you can be assured that they will be priced to sell quickly. Please click on the address line below each photo below to see additional pictures of each home: Great Boyd's Creek Neighborhood - 2159 Bryson Court, Sevierville Lakefront Seclusion - 2151 Stillhouse Rd., Dandridge In the Sought Aft...

With more late additions than normal to our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors unit sales results, the final total of residential sales for last month isn't so bad after all. In April, the members of our board (which reports most of the sales for Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, and Cosby) combined to sell a total of 136 residential units and that is a nice increase indeed. This particular Smoky Mountain Realtor had a pretty good month too with a total of 13 sales of my own in April. Here is the updated summary  for our entire board:

With more late additions than normal to our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors unit sales results, the final total of residential sales for last month isn't so bad after all. In April, the members of our board (which reports most of the sales for Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, and Cosby) combined to sell a total of 136 residential units and that is a nice increase indeed. This particular Smoky Mountain Realtor had a pretty good month too with a total of 13 sales of my own in April. Here is the updated summary  for our entire board:

Since we are now nearly to the end of April, it is certainly time to close the books on March 2011 Smoky Mountain residential sales!   The month did pump up a little better than I expected and our MLS now reports 130 homes sold by members of our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors during March.  My quick take on this is that we are still comparing to last year's numbers that were significantly impacted positively by the government's first time home buyer tax credit which certainly served to encourage some buyers to jump into the market.  Although we were down compared to March 2010, we did have (as expected) a significantly better month than January or February was.  This isn't a surprise at all as January and February are almost always slow months for our area (and most of the U.S. real estate market).  Here's a link to the PDF  document of the same spreadsheet that we have created. With one third of the year nearly complete, I think we can assume...

Since we are now nearly to the end of April, it is certainly time to close the books on March 2011 Smoky Mountain residential sales!   The month did pump up a little better than I expected and our MLS now reports 130 homes sold by members of our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors during March.  My quick take on this is that we are still comparing to last year's numbers that were significantly impacted positively by the government's first time home buyer tax credit which certainly served to encourage some buyers to jump into the market.  Although we were down compared to March 2010, we did have (as expected) a significantly better month than January or February was.  This isn't a surprise at all as January and February are almost always slow months for our area (and most of the U.S. real estate market).  Here's a link to the PDF  document of the same spreadsheet that we have created. With one third of the year nearly complete, I think we can assum...

For the fourth month in a row our Great Smoky Mountain Associatioon of Realtors had more residential real estate sales than we did during the equivalent month in 2008. Keep in mind that the end of 2008 was a very bleak period indeed and we have only passed last year's total by a single unit sale as of today. The 116 Gatlinburg area residential real estate sales that have already been reported as of November 3rd will likely finish around 120-125 units as more sales are reported over the next couple of weeks by real estate agents from our Smoky Mountain community. What does this mean you ask? It does look like we have begun to turn the corner at least for volume and that has to happen before prices can begin to increase. While we won't likely exceed 2008's full year volume it does appear that we will do so for the latter half of the year. Although nobody can say for sure when prices will start to go up we appear to be setting the stage for that to occur. Here is my report fo...

For the fourth month in a row our Great Smoky Mountain Associatioon of Realtors had more residential real estate sales than we did during the equivalent month in 2008. Keep in mind that the end of 2008 was a very bleak period indeed and we have only passed last year's total by a single unit sale as of today. The 116 Gatlinburg area residential real estate sales that have already been reported as of November 3rd will likely finish around 120-125 units as more sales are reported over the next couple of weeks by real estate agents from our Smoky Mountain community. What does this mean you ask? It does look like we have begun to turn the corner at least for volume and that has to happen before prices can begin to increase. While we won't likely exceed 2008's full year volume it does appear that we will do so for the latter half of the year. Although nobody can say for sure when prices will start to go up we appear to be setting the stage for that to occur. Here is my report fo...

After recently reviewing the market for two potential new listing clients who own upper bracket homes, I found a somewhat discouraging fact. While there have been 841 residential sales reported during 2009 in our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors MLS by area agents, there has been a very noticeable near absence of upper bracket homes sold. Maybe a more accurate way of putting this is that very few homes have sold at what we used to consider an upper bracket price level. Even very nice properties are selling at more affordable prices but there just aren't many $500k+ sales occurring: Jan-Aug Sales Price 2009 $500,000 - $599,999 = 9 $600,000 - $699,999 = 7 $700,000 - $799,999 = 3 $800,000+ = 2 Total of sales $500,000+ = 21 What do all of these numbers indicate? The picture becomes somewhat more meaningful when you consider there are currently 352 unsold homes for sale in our Gatlinburg area priced above $500,000. My belief is that in a challenging economy not many buyers ...

After recently reviewing the market for two potential new listing clients who own upper bracket homes, I found a somewhat discouraging fact. While there have been 841 residential sales reported during 2009 in our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors MLS by area agents, there has been a very noticeable near absence of upper bracket homes sold. Maybe a more accurate way of putting this is that very few homes have sold at what we used to consider an upper bracket price level. Even very nice properties are selling at more affordable prices but there just aren't many $500k+ sales occurring: Jan-Aug Sales Price 2009 $500,000 - $599,999 = 9 $600,000 - $699,999 = 7 $700,000 - $799,999 = 3 $800,000+ = 2 Total of sales $500,000+ = 21 What do all of these numbers indicate? The picture becomes somewhat more meaningful when you consider there are currently 352 unsold homes for sale in our Gatlinburg area priced above $500,000. My belief is that in a challenging economy not many buyers ...

In my analysis today of our Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville real estate market sales for the month of May I came across a very pleasant fact: For the first 5 months of 2009, yours truly is NUMBER ONE in total unit sales among all of the 500+ agents in our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors. Really, I'm not kidding - Here is the link to the year to date ranking based on the total number of units sold: Year-to-Date Agent Ranking The number one position in the report is claimed by "All other agents combined" which is just a little confusing. If any real estate agent who is not a member of our local board (say from Knoxville or some other surrounding community) makes a sale here those are all lumped together in this "catch all" category. You will also note that two of our team's three buyer specialists on our Schoenfield Team were also in the top 50 of all area agents. This is important because many (if not most) other Gatlinburg area real estate t...

In my analysis today of our Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville real estate market sales for the month of May I came across a very pleasant fact: For the first 5 months of 2009, yours truly is NUMBER ONE in total unit sales among all of the 500+ agents in our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors. Really, I'm not kidding - Here is the link to the year to date ranking based on the total number of units sold: Year-to-Date Agent Ranking The number one position in the report is claimed by "All other agents combined" which is just a little confusing. If any real estate agent who is not a member of our local board (say from Knoxville or some other surrounding community) makes a sale here those are all lumped together in this "catch all" category. You will also note that two of our team's three buyer specialists on our Schoenfield Team were also in the top 50 of all area agents. This is important because many (if not most) other Gatlinburg area real estate t...

Several years ago I asked our web designer to help me create a searchable database of the sold properties in our Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area that our website viewers would have access to. This information was quite popular but when our Great Smoky Mountains Association of Realtors board saw the link they were not amused. Their fear was that appraisers would choose to use our site's data rather than pay the fee to subscribe to the board. At the board's request, I removed the link to the sold data and only provided this information on a one-on-one basis. Recently, I learned that the National Association of Realtors has decided that this sort of display is allowable. For the first time in several years this link is now available (again) to the general public via this link . When attempting to learn what a property is likely to sell for or what one might have to pay to purchase a particular type property this free information can be invaluable. If we can assist i...

Several years ago I asked our web designer to help me create a searchable database of the sold properties in our Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area that our website viewers would have access to. This information was quite popular but when our Great Smoky Mountains Association of Realtors board saw the link they were not amused. Their fear was that appraisers would choose to use our site's data rather than pay the fee to subscribe to the board. At the board's request, I removed the link to the sold data and only provided this information on a one-on-one basis. Recently, I learned that the National Association of Realtors has decided that this sort of display is allowable. For the first time in several years this link is now available (again) to the general public via this link . When attempting to learn what a property is likely to sell for or what one might have to pay to purchase a particular type property this free information can be invaluable. If we can assist i...

Although the month of February ended on schedule (as it usually does) a larger number of sales than normal were posted after the end of the month. This leads to a pleasant revision of the residential unit sales figures for Gatlinburg area real estate in February. As of tonight, the total number of February home sales for our area as reported by the Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors is 64. Because there will likely be just a few more stragglers reporting in it may be that we will NOT set a new low in recent year's sales during a single month. November 2008's multi-year low value of 67 home sales may eventually be matched by February's similarly depressed value. While the revised upward number doesn't sound so good it is significantly better than the original value of 52 which was really sickening even when allowing for some additional sales which we knew would eventually be reported. After a review of all of the past 14 month's sales figures several minor...

Although the month of February ended on schedule (as it usually does) a larger number of sales than normal were posted after the end of the month. This leads to a pleasant revision of the residential unit sales figures for Gatlinburg area real estate in February. As of tonight, the total number of February home sales for our area as reported by the Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors is 64. Because there will likely be just a few more stragglers reporting in it may be that we will NOT set a new low in recent year's sales during a single month. November 2008's multi-year low value of 67 home sales may eventually be matched by February's similarly depressed value. While the revised upward number doesn't sound so good it is significantly better than the original value of 52 which was really sickening even when allowing for some additional sales which we knew would eventually be reported. After a review of all of the past 14 month's sales figures several minor...