Gatlinburg Real Estate Blog

Tennessee is a very long state and US Interstate 40 runs the entire length from the western border with Arkansas to the eastern end that borders North Carolina.  In fact, the distance from one end of the state to the other as travelled via I-40 is 440 miles.  The two geographic extremes of the state are even farther apart by other measures.  Sadly, Memphis, Tennessee has recently been named one of the 10 worst places to live in the entire United States. No offense Memphians, but the area's rampant crime and widespread government corruption are the reasons cited for this dubious distinction.  Add to this the generally high taxes, a flat and uninspiring topography, and poor economic prospects and you have a very negative picture indeed.  Nothing could be less like our eastern end of Tennessee here in the Smoky Mountains.  The plateau of middle Tennessee is a little of both and is in the middle in more than one way but for this post we will concent...

Tennessee is a very long state and US Interstate 40 runs the entire length from the western border with Arkansas to the eastern end that borders North Carolina.  In fact, the distance from one end of the state to the other as travelled via I-40 is 440 miles.  The two geographic extremes of the state are even farther apart by other measures.  Sadly, Memphis, Tennessee has recently been named one of the 10 worst places to live in the entire United States. No offense Memphians, but the area's rampant crime and widespread government corruption are the reasons cited for this dubious distinction.  Add to this the generally high taxes, a flat and uninspiring topography, and poor economic prospects and you have a very negative picture indeed.  Nothing could be less like our eastern end of Tennessee here in the Smoky Mountains.  The plateau of middle Tennessee is a little of both and is in the middle in more than one way but for this post we will concent...

Signs of Life at GatlinburgHomes.com Although the recent pace of residential sales in Sevier County has been abysmal, there is good news for the future. Last week we recorded the highest number of visitors to our primary real estate site that we have seen since last summer. Here is a chart of our site visitor count by week: As you can see, our visitor count was up dramatically but that doesn't tell the whole story as there is more good news. The graph below depicts our web site's weekly number of page views. Although not yet above last summer's record levels our site's number of pages viewed by users is trending upward steadily each week: Does this mean a pending increase in the level of real estate activity in the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville real estate markets? No guarantees here but this does track with my general perception of increased activity in the number of phone calls and property showings. The proof will be in the number of transactions recorded...

Signs of Life at GatlinburgHomes.com Although the recent pace of residential sales in Sevier County has been abysmal, there is good news for the future. Last week we recorded the highest number of visitors to our primary real estate site that we have seen since last summer. Here is a chart of our site visitor count by week: As you can see, our visitor count was up dramatically but that doesn't tell the whole story as there is more good news. The graph below depicts our web site's weekly number of page views. Although not yet above last summer's record levels our site's number of pages viewed by users is trending upward steadily each week: Does this mean a pending increase in the level of real estate activity in the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville real estate markets? No guarantees here but this does track with my general perception of increased activity in the number of phone calls and property showings. The proof will be in the number of transactions recorded...

Spring is Here and So are Our Guests! The days are longer and warmer, the nights are milder, the trees are blooming, and East Tennessee is awash in color as everything is blooming. Allergy sufferers take note, the next month or so is a high pollen period and even folks who don't think they have allergies may find themselves sneezing. Something not to sneeze at however is the number of visitors already here right now. The restaurant parking lots are full and there is a wait tonight at most of the better dining spots. Another sign that spring is here is the traffic has started to pick up although it isn't yet an issue - that comes in July and October when those of us who live here generally want to take our vacations elsewhere and let the tourists have Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Sevierville, formerly not greatly affected by tourism now finds itself in the middle of the mix due to all of the new commercial development in the city so it is no longer exempt from the crowds either...

Spring is Here and So are Our Guests! The days are longer and warmer, the nights are milder, the trees are blooming, and East Tennessee is awash in color as everything is blooming. Allergy sufferers take note, the next month or so is a high pollen period and even folks who don't think they have allergies may find themselves sneezing. Something not to sneeze at however is the number of visitors already here right now. The restaurant parking lots are full and there is a wait tonight at most of the better dining spots. Another sign that spring is here is the traffic has started to pick up although it isn't yet an issue - that comes in July and October when those of us who live here generally want to take our vacations elsewhere and let the tourists have Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Sevierville, formerly not greatly affected by tourism now finds itself in the middle of the mix due to all of the new commercial development in the city so it is no longer exempt from the crowds either...

Never Challenge Worse! I believe it was the comedian Bill Cosby that first said "Never challenge worse" as in, some situation can't get any worse. I have borrowed the phrase and use it occasionally to remind myself that things aren't as bad as they could be - they could always get worse. Although the final numbers will likely be slightly better as some end of the month sales may still be unreported, in March, the pace of residential sales in our East Tennessee real estate market definitely got worse : While the drop sequentially from February to March was only 2 units the more important ratio is when this March is compared with March of 2007 and 2006. As you can see by the table above, our residential market's performance in March of 2008 is nothing like previous year's March sales and this is more than a little troubling. Of the 106 residential units sold, only 66 were Sevier County properties with the balance being from surrounding areas including Knox, Blou...

Never Challenge Worse! I believe it was the comedian Bill Cosby that first said "Never challenge worse" as in, some situation can't get any worse. I have borrowed the phrase and use it occasionally to remind myself that things aren't as bad as they could be - they could always get worse. Although the final numbers will likely be slightly better as some end of the month sales may still be unreported, in March, the pace of residential sales in our East Tennessee real estate market definitely got worse : While the drop sequentially from February to March was only 2 units the more important ratio is when this March is compared with March of 2007 and 2006. As you can see by the table above, our residential market's performance in March of 2008 is nothing like previous year's March sales and this is more than a little troubling. Of the 106 residential units sold, only 66 were Sevier County properties with the balance being from surrounding areas including Knox, Blou...