Gatlinburg Real Estate Updates & Community News » pigeon forge short sale

Real Estate Market’s Ups & Downs Present Many Questions

lheraty — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:32:29 +0000

The real estate roller coster leaves many questions

Let’s face it, times are tough and on any given day the mood is a different one than the day before. The market’s up, then down, we’re in a recession, we’re recovering, it is hard to know what is really happening out there with so many mixed signals. Real estate is difficult to figure out, and remains relative to where you are. Is real estate improving? Sales are up, inventory is down but foreclosures are expected to keep coming, especially with unemployment figures on the rise. To find out if real estate in your area is improving talk to a real estate agent and look at the statistics that they provide. Each market has it's experts and in Gatlinburg you can find yours at Century 21 Four Seasons Realty. Have we hit bottom? Parts of the country have hit bottom other parts still have a way to fall. Home prices are apparently steady in parts of the country and climbing in others. In Sevier county where you'll find Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, the fall of home prices has slowed and the number of sales has increased. This gives some professionals in our market the feeling that we are in for a persistent increase in the number of homes sold while the prices will start to increase modestly by the Summer and continue an incremental upward trend into next year. It's not a return to the lofty prices of a few years ago but a steady rate of appreciation will be welcomed by everyone. In a nutshell, real estate is relative. It is improving in many areas and as soon as our recovery includes job growth real estate is going to improve in many more areas. Click here for an article about real estate on Yahoo Finance.

Selling Your Home? Choose the Right Realtor

lheraty — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:49:14 +0000

Take time to choose the right broker when selling your home

When preparing to sell your home it is important to find a real estate professional that will best suit your needs. A warm handshake and a friendly smile is all well and good but if you want to sell your home pick a broker that is experienced and knowledgeable, someone that will do the best job for you. When selecting your real estate agent here are a few things to keep in mind:

Data. Get a prospective Realtor to bring in a copy of what they have listed and closed. They can present you with an MLS report that displays their inventory. In some markets, especially where secondary homes and investment properties are prevelant like Gatlinburg, email is how you’ll receive most documents and information so make sure your agent is proficient with technology.

Price. Get an evaluation of your property. A solid real estate professional will be able to detail what has been selling and for what price. He will be able to evaluate your home and your location, giving you a value for your home that will help sell it not deter people from looking at it. The experienced agents at Century 21 Four Seasons can easily give you all the information you need to select the best price.

Plan. What does your Realtor plan to do for you in terms of marketing, sales, listing, etc. Make sure he has a plan for your house and find out what he is willing to do to get it sold for you. Each agent at our offices has a detailed market plan that they will present to you for your approval.

Real estate is often a person’s most valuable asset. Do your legwork and choose the best broker for your home. He or she should be a salesperson. If they can sell themselves to you perhaps they are halfway to selling your home for you as well.

Waiting For the Bottom

lheraty — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:59:24 +0000

Waiting for the bottom in real estate is similar to grabbing a yo-yo at the bottom, you are usually a little early or a little late

There are many people out there waiting for the bottom to hit in many facets of the economy, including real estate. Perhaps there will be a big announcement one morning across newspaper headlines and across the internet “THE BOTTOM IS HERE: NOW IS THE EXACT MOMENT TO BUY”. Of course by the time the announcement comes the bottom will have hit and the exact time to buy real estate will have come and gone. A great analogy to the bottom of the real estate market is a yo-yo. Take a yo-yo in your hand and use it. Can a person grab the yo-yo at the exact moment it hits bottom every time? Chances are a person will grab it just before it hits bottom or just after, rarely at the exact bottom. Real estate is the same game, if it is indeed a game. If people knew, absolutely knew, the exact time to buy stocks, real estate, or any other investment then no one would ever have a financial worry. For people who believe in investing in real estate now is a great time to buy. Interest rates won’t be low forever, real estate has either already hit the bottom, is about to, or is already on its way up, we’ll know for certain sometime in the future. If you want to buy at the bottom, buy now or wait until it’s too late, when you can look back and say, “If only I had bought then.”

Somone Ring the Bell

broadway — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:59:59 +0000

I’m going to say it, WE’VE REACHED THE BOTTOM! I’ve been thinking it since the first of the year but now I really believe that in 6 months the media will be saying it too. I’ve been waiting because I didn’t want to sound like somone with their head in the clouds. Some guy who says the market is on the verge of a turn around (turn around being a little subjective, I believe stabilization to be a turn around at this point) every 4 or 5 months just to have to eat crow and start all over again.

Looking at the number of foreclosures and short-sales (and the sellers who qualify for a short-sale) in our market leads me to believe that the end of the malaise is near.

Of course, by then all of the truly exceptional deals on property will have been snatched up by investors. That’s OK because I’m ready for someone to ring the bell and say ‘yep their it was 6 months ago and now we can move on with the rest of the economic recovery.

New Year, New Business

broadway — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:58:59 +0000

I have to admit that I’ve been aprehensive about 2009. It’s not as though 2008 gave me that much to look forward to in the way of business, the type of business you can count on, can budget with. 2009 is proving to be much more agreeable though. Beginning the last 3 weeks of December we started seeing marked improvements in our real estate business.

Short-sales, foreclosures and just great deals on some of our rental properties have inspired many buyers to act (along with almost comically low interest rates).

Someone once told me that ‘no one rings a bell when you reach the bottom, you only recognize it when it’s already past by at least 6 months’. I have the distinct feeling we could be hearing a bell soon and I couldn’t be happier.

Happy 2009!