Gatlinburg Real Estate Blog

Our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors members are still reporting sales for February but I'm going to assume that at this point, most of the transactions have been recorded. If a few more are added in the coming days that just adds to the tally which is already pretty remarkable. During February 2012, local agents have completed 137 residential sales and that is nothing to sneeze at! In fact, you do have to go all the way back to 2007 to find a better February total when 187 homes & condos were sold or 2006 when 196 Smoky Mountain homes and condo sales were completed. As far as I can tell, that 2006 tally is the all time high for the month of February for ANY year in the long history of our MLS. Here is a link to a summary of our Gatlinburg area's residential real estate sales by month . 2012 is indeed looking good for me as I have already completed 28 transactions since the first of the year and have 5 more set to close today which is certainly a personal record...

Our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors members are still reporting sales for February but I'm going to assume that at this point, most of the transactions have been recorded. If a few more are added in the coming days that just adds to the tally which is already pretty remarkable. During February 2012, local agents have completed 137 residential sales and that is nothing to sneeze at! In fact, you do have to go all the way back to 2007 to find a better February total when 187 homes & condos were sold or 2006 when 196 Smoky Mountain homes and condo sales were completed. As far as I can tell, that 2006 tally is the all time high for the month of February for ANY year in the long history of our MLS. Here is a link to a summary of our Gatlinburg area's residential real estate sales by month . 2012 is indeed looking good for me as I have already completed 28 transactions since the first of the year and have 5 more set to close today which is certainly a personal record...

We just received an excellent price on this bank foreclosure this afternoon and the bank has listed the property for the super price of only $ 81,900   NOW REDUCED TO $75900!!  Not only can you easily walk to the Parkway (the main road through Gatlinburg), you can crawl to the Gatlinburg Trolley stop that is literally next door to the cabin.  This honeymoon cabin is also within an easy walk of several restaurants, including Gatlinburg's renowned Peddler restaurant or KFC if you prefer.  If you don't believe me about how convenient this Gatlinburg getaway cabin is, check out this Google  map !  For the full MLS brief of this affordable getaway cabin, please click here .

We just received an excellent price on this bank foreclosure this afternoon and the bank has listed the property for the super price of only $ 81,900   NOW REDUCED TO $75900!!  Not only can you easily walk to the Parkway (the main road through Gatlinburg), you can crawl to the Gatlinburg Trolley stop that is literally next door to the cabin.  This honeymoon cabin is also within an easy walk of several restaurants, including Gatlinburg's renowned Peddler restaurant or KFC if you prefer.  If you don't believe me about how convenient this Gatlinburg getaway cabin is, check out this Google  map !  For the full MLS brief of this affordable getaway cabin, please click here .

In last week's Mountain Press Newspaper, 17 out of the 36 recorded real estate transactions (this is ALL sales including fsbo and builder direct units) involved a bank either foreclosing or acting as the seller of the property.  Today's newspaper reports a total of 48 transactions with 20 of those featuring a bank or other lender acting as a principal (not merely making a loan but actually being the buyer or seller of the property).  For those of you keeping score at home, this week's performance is better in two respects.  Obviously 48 sales is 33% more than last week's 36 transactions and because only 20 of this past week's 48 sales involved banks that percentage is down (which is certainly a good thing).  These bank totals don't however include short sales so the actual number of distressed sales is probably a little higher.  Hopefully better times are ahead as is possibly indicated by last month's increase in our market's average sale price.

In last week's Mountain Press Newspaper, 17 out of the 36 recorded real estate transactions (this is ALL sales including fsbo and builder direct units) involved a bank either foreclosing or acting as the seller of the property.  Today's newspaper reports a total of 48 transactions with 20 of those featuring a bank or other lender acting as a principal (not merely making a loan but actually being the buyer or seller of the property).  For those of you keeping score at home, this week's performance is better in two respects.  Obviously 48 sales is 33% more than last week's 36 transactions and because only 20 of this past week's 48 sales involved banks that percentage is down (which is certainly a good thing).  These bank totals don't however include short sales so the actual number of distressed sales is probably a little higher.  Hopefully better times are ahead as is possibly indicated by last month's increase in our market's average sale price.

For several years I have avoided short sales like the plague because they were rife with problems.  All too often we would work diligently to find a prospective buyer only to be delayed for months by the lengthy and difficult process of trying to get the seller's lender to accept a payoff of less than what the lender was owed.  In fact, until recently there was nothing short about short sales when it came to the typical elapsed time from contract to closing.  In one extreme case we had a couple of years ago the buyer's offer was in negotiation for several months until the property was foreclosed on anyway by the seller's intransigent lender. Fortunately, this is now changing and short sales no longer have to be a long headache for all of the participants. Because of the sharp drop in value from the lofty heights we reached during the real estate bubble, many sellers are finding that their homes are worth (sometimes substantially) less than their outstanding mortgage bala...

For several years I have avoided short sales like the plague because they were rife with problems.  All too often we would work diligently to find a prospective buyer only to be delayed for months by the lengthy and difficult process of trying to get the seller's lender to accept a payoff of less than what the lender was owed.  In fact, until recently there was nothing short about short sales when it came to the typical elapsed time from contract to closing.  In one extreme case we had a couple of years ago the buyer's offer was in negotiation for several months until the property was foreclosed on anyway by the seller's intransigent lender. Fortunately, this is now changing and short sales no longer have to be a long headache for all of the participants. Because of the sharp drop in value from the lofty heights we reached during the real estate bubble, many sellers are finding that their homes are worth (sometimes substantially) less than their outstanding mortgage bala...

I was enjoying an excellent meal out last weekend with my bride (of 15 years) which was made even better by the superb waiter who served us.  Chris was perfectly attentive without being intrusive, which is quite an art. The only oh so minor mistake was when we thanked him for doing such a great job he replied "No problem".  This is a pet peeve of mine but I just don't like that response.  It implies that on some occasions or under different circumstances it could be a problem.  For this reason, our staff is instructed to respond "My pleasure!" or "Your welcome!" when thanked for anything they do.  If Chick-fil-A restaurant employees can do it, we certainly can. It certainly IS our pleasure to asssist our clients with anything that involves Gatlinburg area real estate.  With several new foreclosure and non-foreclosure properties that are well priced coming to market very soon, we can help you find an excellent opportunity here in the Smokies.  As the nu...

I was enjoying an excellent meal out last weekend with my bride (of 15 years) which was made even better by the superb waiter who served us.  Chris was perfectly attentive without being intrusive, which is quite an art. The only oh so minor mistake was when we thanked him for doing such a great job he replied "No problem".  This is a pet peeve of mine but I just don't like that response.  It implies that on some occasions or under different circumstances it could be a problem.  For this reason, our staff is instructed to respond "My pleasure!" or "Your welcome!" when thanked for anything they do.  If Chick-fil-A restaurant employees can do it, we certainly can. It certainly IS our pleasure to asssist our clients with anything that involves Gatlinburg area real estate.  With several new foreclosure and non-foreclosure properties that are well priced coming to market very soon, we can help you find an excellent opportunity here in the Smokies.  As the nu...

With the national real estate market still sputtering, many owners are unfortunately unable to sell their property for what they own.  Mortgages above market value create upside down owners who are stuck with homes they can't afford to sell.  The same is sadly true here in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.  Many of these owners are resorting to renting their Gatlinburg area real estate properties to be able to continue to make the payments.  Because rents are still more than mortgages in most instances, this can work but inexperienced landlords are very much at risk as they try to learn the ropes.  Here is my quick primer for first time landlords (based on many years of renting property and some very painful lessons learned early on): The best renter is not often the person who will pay the most in monthly rent.  The best renter is the person who will treat your property with respect, pay on time, and generate a minimum of complaints. Remember tha...

With the national real estate market still sputtering, many owners are unfortunately unable to sell their property for what they own.  Mortgages above market value create upside down owners who are stuck with homes they can't afford to sell.  The same is sadly true here in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.  Many of these owners are resorting to renting their Gatlinburg area real estate properties to be able to continue to make the payments.  Because rents are still more than mortgages in most instances, this can work but inexperienced landlords are very much at risk as they try to learn the ropes.  Here is my quick primer for first time landlords (based on many years of renting property and some very painful lessons learned early on): The best renter is not often the person who will pay the most in monthly rent.  The best renter is the person who will treat your property with respect, pay on time, and generate a minimum of complaints. Remember t...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA are holding a record number of homes for sale and the number continues to increase. Values for the 4th quarter of 2010 will be out soon but here is the graph (courtesy of CalculatedRiskBlog.com) for the third quarter of 2010: Another meaningful graph however shows that for serious delinquency rates the worst may finally be past: As foreclosures are once again taking place the number of seriously delinquent loans will likely continue to drop (these are the ones that are being foreclosed).  One would think that an important indicator to watch would be the number of loans becoming delinquent for the first time.  I'm working on finding that information...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA are holding a record number of homes for sale and the number continues to increase. Values for the 4th quarter of 2010 will be out soon but here is the graph (courtesy of CalculatedRiskBlog.com) for the third quarter of 2010: Another meaningful graph however shows that for serious delinquency rates the worst may finally be past: As foreclosures are once again taking place the number of seriously delinquent loans will likely continue to drop (these are the ones that are being foreclosed).  One would think that an important indicator to watch would be the number of loans becoming delinquent for the first time.  I'm working on finding that information...