Gatlinburg Real Estate Blog

We have recently been assigned three new foreclosure properties that are actually beautiful residences in the Douglas Lake and Wears Valley areas of Sevier County. These Sevierville homes are very large and attractive and will likely be priced very attractively by the good folks at Fannie Mae. Links to our very preliminary (and un-retouched) pictures (please ignore the uncut yards and the odd photo angles) are below and we hope to have the prices very soon. 1711 Gator Point - Douglas Lake View! 4029 Ridgeback Lane  - Great Mountain Views! 3522 Hiley Dr.  - Your own large pond AND National Park views! To  be added to our Foreclosure Alert Email List, just send us an email to Jeff@GatlinburgHomes.com .

We have recently been assigned three new foreclosure properties that are actually beautiful residences in the Douglas Lake and Wears Valley areas of Sevier County. These Sevierville homes are very large and attractive and will likely be priced very attractively by the good folks at Fannie Mae. Links to our very preliminary (and un-retouched) pictures (please ignore the uncut yards and the odd photo angles) are below and we hope to have the prices very soon. 1711 Gator Point - Douglas Lake View! 4029 Ridgeback Lane  - Great Mountain Views! 3522 Hiley Dr.  - Your own large pond AND National Park views! To  be added to our Foreclosure Alert Email List, just send us an email to Jeff@GatlinburgHomes.com .

No, I'm not talking about the weather, it has finally begun to cool a little .  I'm talking about the residential rental market here in Sevier County.  With fewer people able to qualify for mortgage loans and sadly others who have been foreclosed upon, the rental market is actually going well.  In fact, I have had a hard time locating quality homes for people looking to rent - most reasonably priced attractive homes are already rented.  What this means is that rents will start to go up and that is definitely good news for property values.  All of the homes that I personally own are rented and there are fewer residential rental properties being advertised online.  Even the number of "For Rent" signs that I see as I travel around the county is down.  If you are looking to purchase single family residential investment property now is the time - From Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge and Sevierville starter home / rental property prices are already starting to g...

No, I'm not talking about the weather, it has finally begun to cool a little .  I'm talking about the residential rental market here in Sevier County.  With fewer people able to qualify for mortgage loans and sadly others who have been foreclosed upon, the rental market is actually going well.  In fact, I have had a hard time locating quality homes for people looking to rent - most reasonably priced attractive homes are already rented.  What this means is that rents will start to go up and that is definitely good news for property values.  All of the homes that I personally own are rented and there are fewer residential rental properties being advertised online.  Even the number of "For Rent" signs that I see as I travel around the county is down.  If you are looking to purchase single family residential investment property now is the time - From Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge and Sevierville starter home / rental property prices are already starting to g...

When building a home in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains, one of the first considerations is also one of the very most important.  That question is: How "buildable" is this particular lot or property? My latest Gatlinburg foreclosure assignment is a large (4 bedroom, 2 bath) log-look chalet here in one of Gatlinburg's most popular locations, Chalet Village.  Although it is on a VERY steep lot, the home is quite attractive except that it has an extremely curious feature - Spray-On Concrete Landscaping .  Hopefully this idea won't catch on but it was probably an engineer who came up with this.   Somebody said "We've got to do something to retain this steep mountain-side bank.  Grass won't stay, even hydro-seed won't work here...  I know, let's spray concrete on the dirt to build a shell that will hold the bank in place." Like so many ideas that might sound good on paper (but I'm not sure that this one ever did!), this didn't work so w...

When building a home in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains, one of the first considerations is also one of the very most important.  That question is: How "buildable" is this particular lot or property? My latest Gatlinburg foreclosure assignment is a large (4 bedroom, 2 bath) log-look chalet here in one of Gatlinburg's most popular locations, Chalet Village.  Although it is on a VERY steep lot, the home is quite attractive except that it has an extremely curious feature - Spray-On Concrete Landscaping .  Hopefully this idea won't catch on but it was probably an engineer who came up with this.   Somebody said "We've got to do something to retain this steep mountain-side bank.  Grass won't stay, even hydro-seed won't work here...  I know, let's spray concrete on the dirt to build a shell that will hold the bank in place." Like so many ideas that might sound good on paper (but I'm not sure that this one ever did!), this didn't work so...

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...

Since we are nearly to the end of February, it should be safe to finally but a wrap on the 2010's sales figures for our Gatlinburg area real estate market.  In 2010 I was greatly blessed with an average of almost 3 sales every week making me (by the grace of God) again the leading agent based on the number of residential units sold.  Here is the full ranking straight from our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors MLS: No other single agent had near as many sales regardless of how many people post their transactions under the team leader's name.  We report all of our team member's sales separately giving them the credit for what they have sold.  If you want the number one team with the number one listing and selling agent in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area, hire us, the Schoenfield Team.  For a clearer version of this report, please click here .  For a clearer vision of Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area real estate ...

Since we are nearly to the end of February, it should be safe to finally but a wrap on the 2010's sales figures for our Gatlinburg area real estate market.  In 2010 I was greatly blessed with an average of almost 3 sales every week making me (by the grace of God) again the leading agent based on the number of residential units sold.  Here is the full ranking straight from our Great Smoky Mountain Association of Realtors MLS: No other single agent had near as many sales regardless of how many people post their transactions under the team leader's name.  We report all of our team member's sales separately giving them the credit for what they have sold.  If you want the number one team with the number one listing and selling agent in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area, hire us, the Schoenfield Team.  For a clearer version of this report, please click here .  For a clearer vision of Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area real estate...

It always takes about 2 weeks after month end for all the dust to settle allowing us to get a more meaningful measure of monthly residential sales for our Gatlinburg area real estate market.  Now that we are about there, I thought that I would update the numbers for December and for the full 2010 year.  One would certainly have to describe 2010 as being a pretty good year, at least when compared to 2008 & 2009.  While the first portion of the year was slow, the pace of sales did increase in the second half of the year and with the exception of October & November finished quite nicely.  Government attempts to positively influence the national real estate market did in fact cause more sales during the summer months but these gains were pretty short lived - When the incentives ended so did the bump.  Gatlinburg area sales pretty well followed the national trends and foreclosures continue to be a major part of our overall market.  Al...

It always takes about 2 weeks after month end for all the dust to settle allowing us to get a more meaningful measure of monthly residential sales for our Gatlinburg area real estate market.  Now that we are about there, I thought that I would update the numbers for December and for the full 2010 year.  One would certainly have to describe 2010 as being a pretty good year, at least when compared to 2008 & 2009.  While the first portion of the year was slow, the pace of sales did increase in the second half of the year and with the exception of October & November finished quite nicely.  Government attempts to positively influence the national real estate market did in fact cause more sales during the summer months but these gains were pretty short lived - When the incentives ended so did the bump.  Gatlinburg area sales pretty well followed the national trends and foreclosures continue to be a major part of our overall market.  ...

Although I've come close in the past, never before have I personally had 100 sales in a year.  This year, we just crossed that threshold and with another dozen pending it looks like we'll likely hit my personal goal for 2010 of 120 closed sales.  When I think of who and what to attribute our success to I want to give credit to the following: Almighty God My amazing and very patient wife Our loyal client base The wonderful professionals in our office that compose the Schoenfield Team The other agents in our office that work very hard to make sales in a challenging market Our dedicated real estate community that shows our listings

Although I've come close in the past, never before have I personally had 100 sales in a year.  This year, we just crossed that threshold and with another dozen pending it looks like we'll likely hit my personal goal for 2010 of 120 closed sales.  When I think of who and what to attribute our success to I want to give credit to the following: Almighty God My amazing and very patient wife Our loyal client base The wonderful professionals in our office that compose the Schoenfield Team The other agents in our office that work very hard to make sales in a challenging market Our dedicated real estate community that shows our listings

One of my pet peeves is uncut grass on otherwise nice properties.  In my own residential neighborhood, I have a neighbor who refuses to cut their grass with any consistency or quality of effort.  Despite the efforts of our home owners association, they don't trim the corners of their yard or the grass on the sides of their home.  In a neighborhood of primarily $300,000-$600,000 homes, this is simply not acceptable.  It says a lot about their pride of ownership (or the lack thereof) when an owner mows only what can be done from their riding lawn mower and makes no attempt to do the rest of the job. Don't get me wrong - I'm no fan of lawn care myself.  In fact, I believe that, as a form of recreation, lawn care is HIGHLY overrated.  I am willing however to pay someone to do the job consistently with excellence and our yard and landscaping hopefully show the fact that my wife and I have a healthy amount of pride in our Sevierville home.  With automat...

One of my pet peeves is uncut grass on otherwise nice properties.  In my own residential neighborhood, I have a neighbor who refuses to cut their grass with any consistency or quality of effort.  Despite the efforts of our home owners association, they don't trim the corners of their yard or the grass on the sides of their home.  In a neighborhood of primarily $300,000-$600,000 homes, this is simply not acceptable.  It says a lot about their pride of ownership (or the lack thereof) when an owner mows only what can be done from their riding lawn mower and makes no attempt to do the rest of the job. Don't get me wrong - I'm no fan of lawn care myself.  In fact, I believe that, as a form of recreation, lawn care is HIGHLY overrated.  I am willing however to pay someone to do the job consistently with excellence and our yard and landscaping hopefully show the fact that my wife and I have a healthy amount of pride in our Sevierville home.  With autom...

Once again, one of the new foreclosures I was assigned to today was a property formerly owned by a Gatlinburg area real estate broker.  Sadly, this is now the FIFTH home that I have recently witnessed being lost to the bank by one of my peers.  Unfortunately, Gatlinburg area real estate brokers have been very hard hit by the state of our local real estate economy.  With a drastic reduction in sales volume, and the continual pressure on profit margins in the vacation rental industry, I'm surprised that more of my friends in the real estate business haven't been seen on the foreclosure list. We have been blessed by being in the depressing but profitable foreclosure end of the Smoky Mountain real estate business.  With 5 new foreclosure assignments since last week, it looks like we are facing yet another wave of new foreclosure properties that will soon be hitting our Sevier County real estate market.  Each time I believe that this debacle...

Once again, one of the new foreclosures I was assigned to today was a property formerly owned by a Gatlinburg area real estate broker.  Sadly, this is now the FIFTH home that I have recently witnessed being lost to the bank by one of my peers.  Unfortunately, Gatlinburg area real estate brokers have been very hard hit by the state of our local real estate economy.  With a drastic reduction in sales volume, and the continual pressure on profit margins in the vacation rental industry, I'm surprised that more of my friends in the real estate business haven't been seen on the foreclosure list. We have been blessed by being in the depressing but profitable foreclosure end of the Smoky Mountain real estate business.  With 5 new foreclosure assignments since last week, it looks like we are facing yet another wave of new foreclosure properties that will soon be hitting our Sevier County real estate market.  Each time I believe that this debac...

Quite some time back I posted about two homes that I nicknamed the Beauty and the Beast.  We have the same sort of situation again but this time the beauty is a traditional residential property in Sevierville, not a Gatlinburg vacation home.  For your consideration, we offer the following Smoky Mountain real estate properties that we have been recently assigned by foreclosing banks: The Beauty This like new home was built in 2007 and was initially offered by the builder (who built our own personal residence which is also in the very attractive LeConte Landing subdivision) at a price of $539,900.  With 3101 finished square feet (nearly all on the main) level PLUS a full, unfinished basement already roughed in and ready to finish, this all brick and stone home is quality built.  Granite counter tops throughout are just one of the many quality features of this residence and it is well positioned on a .82 acre lot.  Although we never got an opportunity to list ...

Quite some time back I posted about two homes that I nicknamed the Beauty and the Beast.  We have the same sort of situation again but this time the beauty is a traditional residential property in Sevierville, not a Gatlinburg vacation home.  For your consideration, we offer the following Smoky Mountain real estate properties that we have been recently assigned by foreclosing banks: The Beauty This like new home was built in 2007 and was initially offered by the builder (who built our own personal residence which is also in the very attractive LeConte Landing subdivision) at a price of $539,900.  With 3101 finished square feet (nearly all on the main) level PLUS a full, unfinished basement already roughed in and ready to finish, this all brick and stone home is quality built.  Granite counter tops throughout are just one of the many quality features of this residence and it is well positioned on a .82 acre lot.  Although we never got an opportunity to lis...