Louisville Real Estate Blog

Do I need a Survey?

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:18:08 -0400

If you are like most persons, the obvious answer to “Do I need to get a survey?” is: “I’m buying a house in a Louisville subdivision, I don’t need to get a survey. I’d rather save the $250-400.” But, what is always obvious, isn’t necessarily correct. In October 2006, we represented some clients that were purchasing a home in an established and fairly affluent neighborhood that felt similarly. Upon our insistence, they finally relented and ordered a staked survey for the home they were purchasing. The surveyor found that even though the home owner had gotten the proper permitting to construct their all brick $30,000 free standing garage, the current owner of the property had never gotten a survey either to mark the utilities. And they found a big surprise: the garage was built directly over the Louisville Gas & Electric as well as Metropolitan Sewer District easements. And as such, those utility easements granted them the right to demolish the garage if they so desired to service their utilities. We were then able to renegotiate the purchase price on the contract, as well as get some written assurance from those 2 agencies to amend their easements to not demolish the garage. John Borders of Borders & Borders real estate closing attorneys was involved in this transaction, and it provided inspiration for an article he wrote for the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors Realtor Direct newsletter that I am publishing with his permission here: Surveys—What You Need to Know! One of the most common mistakes made by home buyers today is failing to have a survey performed on the property prior to purchase. Surveys reveal the dimensions of the lot and the placement of easements and building limits. But most importantly, they also disclose whether the improvements (house, garage, pool, drive, etc.) encroach upon the neighboring properties, building limits, or easements. Prior to 1997, nearly every lender required at least a mortgage inspection (a “shortened” form of a survey) on a property before making a loan. The lenders wanted to make sure that their investment was protected from claims made as a result of encroachments. Then something dramatic (and virtually unknown) happened that allowed lenders to be protected without the performance of a survey: all the major title companies decided to insure over (i.e. grant coverage even with) survey defects for the lender’s title insurance policy. That meant that, when a garage encroached into a M.S.D. easement, for example, the lender would have protection against that type of claim. If M.S.D. forced the removal of the garage, the lender’s interest would be protected. But unfortunately, even if a buyer purchased an owner’s title insurance policy, the buyer would not be protected against that claim. Even though the title insurance policy companies removed the survey exceptions on the lender’s title insurance policies, they did not remove these exception on owners’ policies. When lenders stopped requiring surveys, buyers stopped ordering them. The GLAR contract was amended to encourage surveys but buyers continued to purchased properties without them. Today, surveys are rarely performed on residential home purchases. Back before 1997, we dealt with 2-3 encroachment issues a week in our office. Now, we see almost no encroachments. Is that because the encroachments have disappeared? Obviously not. It’s because, even though they exist, nobody is discovering them. The only way to know if your buyer is purchasing a property with a deck encroaching onto an easement, a driveway encroaching onto a neighbor’s property, or a house built over a building limit, is by having a survey done. Simply put, if your buyer buys a home without a survey, she may be buying a home with one or more of these problems and never realize it until she attempts to sell it. Buyers’ agents should recommend that their clients purchase staked surveys or, at least, mortgage inspections. While mortgage inspections aren’t perfect as no stakes are placed into the ground and not all corners are located, they will at least usually reveal whether there are encroachments. If the buyer doesn’t purchase a survey or mortgage inspection, and if an encroachment exists, the buyer may have an unmarketable piece of property. Or, she might have to pay to remove the encroachment. On the other hand, when the survey is performed prior to closing, the buyer can require the seller to address the issue. And if it is an irresolvable issue, the buyer can void the contact. Without a survey, the buyer assumes the risk of these potential survey defects. When I teach first-time homebuyers, I recommend that they purchase stakes surveys. But I also tell them that, if they can’t afford a staked survey, they should at least purchase a mortgage inspection. And if they can’t afford a mortgage inspection, I recommend that they not purchase a house until they can afford to protect themselves adequately. I recommend the buyers’ agents make the same recommendations to their clients. Article Contributed By: John D. Borders, Jr. 502-894-9200 Borders & Borders, PLC, 920 Dupont Road, Louisville, KY 40207 Put our team of Louisville Realtors to work for you. We want to provide you with the best in representation. Contact us today!

Louisville Golf Homes

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:02:36 -0400

We’ve received a few requests regarding the various Louisville Golf Country Clubs that are available in the area, so thats what today’s article is about. We’ll start off with some of the more pricey and work our way down. So here we go with just a few: Valhalla Golf Club – Its a golf country club. Period. There are no tennis courts, and no swimming pools. It does however offer a cozy club house, but its bread and butter is golf. But, there is something to be said for specialists. Valhalla is playing host to the 2008 Ryder Cup later this year. Its initial membership fee is $50,000+* (*estimated, but its probably more), and has a monthly membership fee of $500. Membership is fairly exclusive. There are only approximately 250 regular members of Valhalla, and becoming a member can be reminiscent of applying to get in a good college: it can take up to a year to gain acceptance on the application. The golf course is always in top notch shape, and offers some of the most challenging courses in town. This course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and was constructed by the Gahm family from Louisville KY. The PGA of America has owned the course since 2000. Lake Forest - This golf community features its own golf course, plus its just a short drive from Valhalla allowing Lake Forest residents to potentially golf within minutes at either location. Hurstbourne Country Club – The membership fee to join is $28,000. And it has monthly dues of $375. Lots of amenities for persons to enjoy beyond golf, include swimming, tennis and the clubhouse contains a restaurant for dining. Hunting Creek Country Club – The membership fee to join is $24,000. The country club offers swimming, tennis, as well as a restaurants for dinning. Persimmon Ridge – Their initial membership fee is $15,000. And they have monthly dues that range from $235-$320. Various amenities beyond golf include a clubhouse and one of the areas more fun courses to play. Wildwood Country Club – To join, its $6,000. Monthly membership dues are $240-$390. Lots of amenities include golf, swimming, tennis, and a clubhouse with restaurant dining. Polo Fields Golf and Country Club – Their initial membership fee ranges from $4,000 to $6,000. The monthly assessment runs $198-$293. They offer golf, swimming, tennis, and a clubhouse with a restaurant. There are a lot of opportunities if you are considering joining one of the many Louisville Kentucky Country Clubs. For those, however that are looking to play golf on a budget, you can get in a good round at the Long Run Golf Course – it remains a consistent favorite by many. It costs approximately $13.75 for a round on that course. To search the entire metro area, please visit Louisville KY homes for sale. NOTE: Prices are accurate as of 2008.

What does MLS mean?

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:57:27 -0400

If you ask the question “What does MLS mean?”, you are likely to get a variety of answers. Some sports fans will immediately respond with “Major League Soccer”. If you ask someone that is looking to buy a home, they’ll most likely think of MLS as meaning Multiple Listing Service. But if you ask Sarasota real estate agent, Marc Rasmussen, he’s likely to tell you MLS means one giant headache. Why, you may ask? Well, lets go back a few years to the beginning of the story…… Back in March 2002, a real estate trade association publication wrote an article offering advice about good website name selection. Included in the article was the recommendation that using MLS as part of your name was an excellent tip for those wanting a good domain name. That brings us to Marc. In 2003, Marc was trying to register a website name for his real estate business. Domain names that he tried included his Area real estate, homes, homes for sale, etc – all of which had been taken by others. So, Marc followed the guidance of his real estate trade publication, and registered TheSarasotaMLS as his website name. Not a particularly great website name by any stretch – but at least he listened to the good advice of his trade publication, and made due with what he could get. Marc then went on to spend tens of thousands of dollars on the building, and branding of the website to gain exposure on the internet and to get it in the mind of those within his own local community that he was the expert for Sarasota Homes. Marc worked hard to increase his brand recognition for his website. Thousands of dollars were spent on print advertising, and in internet efforts to gain exposure and recognition for his real estate business. This continued on for several years – and Marc continued to gain more and more prominence. People “knew” who he, and his website, were. Then out of the blue last year, the national real estate trade association came to the conclusion that they needed to protect the term “MLS”. Others joined in and agreed with the national organization with what essentially amounts to affirmations of: Yea, we do – ’cause customers can be fooled into thinking that they are searching the “real” MLS – when they really aren’t. But, there is a flaw with their line of thought. Since the national real estate trade association can only implement rules to affect its own members, it can’t control what NON-MEMBERs do. (Which means, only NON-MEMBERS would be able to use the term MLS in a website domain. What?!?! How is that helping the consumer? Instead of getting consumers to real estate agents that are members of the trade organization, they’d rather feed them to the sharks by sending them to NON-members??) Regardless, after a relatively brief period of time, a new policy was quickly approved and implemented that essentially states that transparency is now required within real estate websites such that consumers will be able to recognize that they aren’t searching the “real” MLS – and that they are just on an agent’s or broker’s website. So, now that you are caught up – that brings us back to Marc…. Marc following what was happening with the new rule implementation, wanted to make sure he was in compliance and not have to deal with getting hassled for any inference that he was in violation or trying to pose as the “real” MLS, so he put a disclaimer on his site in large bold print on his site saying: “This is not the Sarasota Multiple Listing Service (MLS).” Marc should be good to go then, right? Wrong. Marc was hit with an ethics violation, and brought up on charges by his local trade organization for violation of the new rule. He now had to go before his peers to plead his case. After a lot of effort, fortunately, Marc was eventually cleared of any ethics violation. Yay Marc! And they all lived happily every after, right? But, the story doesn’t end there. Not satisfied with the ethics violation charge that they brought (and lost) against Marc within the local organization; they then filed a complaint with ICANN, the international organization responsible for domain name registration. Geeze. Talk about jumping through hoops: Marc had to go and plead his case again. Annoying, but it should be a slam dunk, right? I mean, after all, he did clear his name on the earlier case. Yet, in a dumbfounding move, ICANN declared that Marc Rasmussen would have to transfer ownership of the domain over to the local real estate trade organization. Yes, you heard correctly. Even though other organizations & persons currently use the term MLS, AND an industry trade magazine recommended the use of the term MLS in his domain name, AND the fact that Marc had been using the site for years prior to the implementation of this new rule, AND Marc clearly stated on his own site that he was NOT the “real MLS” – Marc has now been ordered, in a grave miscarriage of justice in my opinion, to transfer ownership of the website to the local trade organization. Are you kidding me?!!?!?He did exactly what the real estate trade organization publication recommended, and when rules changed, he put disclaimers to the point of being a distraction for his customers on his website that he is NOT the “real” MLS – and he still has to give it up? Lost are the years of branding & familiarity within the local community. Lost are the tens of thousands of dollars that he spent on advertising and promotion of the website. It’s really a tragedy. In my opinion, at the very least Marc should be allowed to keep the domain name, and redirect it to a new website (so that he would still maintain his search engine ranking and branding as he transitioned from the old name, to the new website name).He now has to build a new website name presence, and brand recognition with customers from scratch. So, now the fight goes on for Marc. Hopefully a positive resolution will come of this. We wish him the best. Keep fighting the good fight, Marc. If you desire to search for homes for sale and Louisville MLS listings we offer a variety of tools and search features to make finding your new home fast.

North Oldham High School Tis The Season Artisan & Spirit Fest

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:49:08 -0400

The 3rd annual North Oldham High School (NOHS): 2009 Tis The Season Artisan and Spirit Fest is coming up November 14, 2009 at the North Oldham campus, and will be open from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. For those wondering what its all about: think St. James Court Art Fair with an Oldham County KY flair. Some of the highlights of the event include picture opportunities with Santa Claus, crafts for children, and a host of winter time treats will be available such as chili, cider & baked goods. There is still some room for artists and artisans to participate – so if you want to be a part of this great event, you better get your application in ASAP. Call (502) 442-3173 for more information. But, better hurry if you have interest, space is limited and is filling up quickly. For those that are planning on attending – we’re confident you’ll have a wonderful time. This event will have a lot of unique crafts and gifts just perfect for many friends and family for the upcoming holiday season. And even if you don’t plan on making any purchases, come on out anyway. Its going to be a wonderful opportunity for you to spend some time sharing it with friends and neighbors in your local Oldham County community – so you really should make an extra effort to attend and make this event a success! And if you get a moment feel free to view Louisville homes for sale on our real estate website.

David Fenley – Louisville Office Space

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:45:14 -0400

Today, I wanted to spotlight a businessman in the Louisville area: David Fenley. David Fenley is a Louisville office space developer that has specialized in class A office space. His company currently has over 21 office buildings that contains 3,000,000+ sq.ft. of class A office space and the company is one of the largest office developers in the entire state of Kentucky. David Fenley’s specialty has been to build executive office suites in a more efficient manner than traditional/older class B buildings – offering the opportunity for persons to move up from class B space, to the executive suites – and get it done for less money than if they had stayed in the lower end class B space in the first place. I’m sure some of you are immediately asking how the heck can it be cheaper to rent a Louisville executive office suite, than it is to be in an older 20 or 30 year old office building. For persons desiring to search for real estate be sure to visit Louisville real estate and you will be able to search Louisville MLS listings. Here’s the answer: Older office buildings had a tendency to be less efficiently designed – relying on more rectangular shapes for the footprint of the building. This results in relatively narrow ends of the building, with very long sides. So, to get from one end of the building to the other – a person would have to travel a greater distance because of the long rectangular sides. This results in odd sized office space within the building, and less efficient flow from office to office. David Fenley has focused on more efficient space concepts that are more boxy or square in nature. This results in an even distribution of distance and space within the building. To get from one end of the building to the other, its all the same distance. This results in a more uniform layout/design of the interior space for the persons leasing, as well as more efficient movement throughout the building, and more efficient parking design. So, while a person may need 10,000 sq.ft. for a 30 year old class B office building, they probably only need 6,000 sq.ft in the more efficiently designed buildings. Add in the upgraded and high end technological innovations and improvements in the new class a office buildings such as upgraded wiring (computers weren’t popular 30 years ago – the power loads can put a tremendous strain on older buildings), better insulation using modern materials for more comfort inside, impressive aesthetics, and more – and it becomes clearly evident that its not only cheaper to consider Louisville office space in a David Fenley building – its more comfortable, and a better place to do business. Some background on the Fenley family: David Fenley is a Louisville native whose family roots and local Louisville Kentucky ties goes back to the late 1800s. His ancestors owned and operated a dairy in the Valley Station area on the south side of Louisville back in 1875. Through the years, the Fenley family has been involved numerous business interests, and ventures within the Louisville metro area.

Louisville Real Estate – 2008 Year in Review

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:41:44 -0400

While its not technically the end of the year officially, the vast majority of Louisville real estate data has come in and we can start drawing some conclusions of how the 2008 year in review shaped up. Before we dive into the year in review, lets start off with the most recent figures for November: if you compare November 2008 to November 2007, the number of real estate transactions are down approximately 35% for the metro area. And if you compare prices, prices are down approximately 8.1% from a year ago as well – bringing the median sale price for the month to $124,500. But, a simple month to month comparison can be somewhat misleading because its simply too small of a data pool. So, lets now look at the Louisville real estate market 2008 year in review. If you compare the Louisville metro market for 2008 to 2007, here is what you will find: A decline of 23.3% fewer homes were sold through November 2008. The average sales price declined 3.5% (bringing the median price for Louisville to $135,000). The 3.5% drop is significant and insignificant depending on the perspective. How so? Well, its significant in that it represents one of the handful of times over the past several decades, that the Louisville real estate market saw depreciation. And its relatively insignificant from the perspective if you compare it to the other major real estate markets across the country: many saw double digit rates of depreciation this year AND are projected to have double digit rates of depreciation again in 2009. It is my opinion, that the Louisville real estate market simply got “balled up” so to speak with the rest of the economic problems (high gas prices, banking problems such as AIG and the resulting tightening credit crunch, etc) – and that combined to help make persons more cautious than normally would or probably should have been expected which resulted in lower values and fewer transactions. I did read an interesting poll on AOL the other day: the vast majority of Americans believe that real estate values declined this year. But when asked if they felt if THEIR HOME VALUE declined, most said no. So, apparently, all the real estate devaluation occurred in their neighbors properties, right? (An interesting psychological paper could probably be written about that phenomenon….but anyway, back to topic.) Still, its not all doom and gloom. Some areas of Louisville saw did see appreciation of their homes value. To cite just 2 examples: St. Matthews increased in value approximately 3% in 2008. And the Highlands saw an appreciation of approximately 2%. So it gets back to the old adage: real estate IS local. Even within a relatively small community like Louisville, you can’t say “all home values declined”. And it becomes more important to have a person that knows your area to be able to pinpoint what your home is currently worth, and what it will take to get that home sold in today’s market. Currently, there are slightly less than 10,000 homes on the market. An improvement from this time last year. But, you can expect that quite a few of the properties were pulled off the market for the holidays, and once New Year’s Day gets here, that a lot of homes that were pulled off for the holidays will be put back on the market. One boon to potentially aid the Louisville real estate market is the tremendously low mortgage rates. Some 30 year mortgage rates are currently available in the 5% range – which is VERY CHEAP. This should help stimulate the ailing real estate market nationally at least somewhat, as that is fairly unprecedented. So, what does all of this mean for the Louisville real estate market? Well, its hard to say. Yes, I know thats a cop out. But there are simply too many variables to get a clear read on the good ole crystal ball. Whats going to happen when President-Elect Obama takes office? Whats going to happen to the Big 3 auto makers (GM, Ford, Chrysler)? Will the stock market continue to flounder? What about the foreign policy issues: wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? etc. Will oil prices go back up? Its simply too many variables on a national and international perspective to get a clear picture. I will say this however: All indicators are that this is a great time to buy Louisville real estate. Louisville has traditionally been a conservative safe haven relative to many other parts of the country. And if you are moving to Louisville, you’ve picked a great time. Mortgage rates are ridiculously low (and cheap money will not remain at this level forever!). Housing inventory is up (law of economics 101: high supply vs. lower demand = cheaper prices). You have the opportunity to purchase Louisville real estate that represent very good values. However, don’t expect steep discounts off the list prices though. Because Louisville is more conservative, most sales typically occur within a few percent of the homes FINAL* list price. *A Louisville home may have been listed for significantly higher previously and had several price reductions. Whatever the “final” list price is at which it finally sells: is normally within a few percent of the sales price. If that doesn’t make sense, lets use an extreme example: Lets say you have a house worth $200,000. You list it for $1 million dollars. [Absurd, I know. ] You wait a few months. Go through a price reduction from $1 million dollars to $900,000. Then, you wait and drop it again to $800,000. And then $700,000. And so on. When you finally get to a list price at which the home sells, you can normally expect the sale price to be within a few percent of the final list price – whatever it may be. So, eventually when you do get your $200,000 home listed for $200,000, you can reasonably expect that it should sell for around $195,000 +/-. Which is why its HUGELY important to get your home priced correctly in the first place. There simply isn’t the room in this competitive market to be messing around. Get it priced as close to what you think the sale price will ultimately be!

Louisville House Prices Decline 5%

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:38:10 -0400

The Greater Louisville Association of REALTORs (GLAR) have provided the latest homes prices figures. Louisville house prices have declined 5% in the past year (from October 2007 through October 2008). The current average value for a Louisville home now stands at $130,000. And if you look at it from a multi-county perspective of including Jefferson, Bullitt and Oldham County, there has been a decrease of 22% fewer homes being sold in 2008, relative to the same time frame in 2007. Still, compared to many other markets nationally, Louisville is still holding steady and fairing the tough economic conditions quite well. Many markets saw an 11% decrease last month alone. From an “on the ground” perspective from Louisville Realtors, we’ve begun noticing an increase in activity right now. There are fewer persons looking, but the ones that are – are generally serious. [So, if you have someone wanting to schedule a showing to get in to see your home - its probably in your best interest to try to accommodate them to get in to see it.] Additionally to the homes that are being sold, many Louisville home sellers are tiring of their home being for sale on the market, and pulling their listing. The sales, combined with the withdrawls (or cancellations), is reducing the overall inventory on the market. This should give buyers less to pick from and not suffer quite as much from choice overload – all of which should help strengthen the Louisville real estate market. We anticipate a stronger real estate market here in Louisville in 2009, than we saw in 2008. Our job market remains relatively strong, and our home prices didn’t grow, generally speaking, at unsustainable rates like it did in the markets that have been hardest hit – as such, we should be among the first in the country to experience a rebound. We think we are getting close to the “bottoming out” that everyone is always looking for – and if you are wanting to get into a new home, the next month or two are probably your golden opportunity to get in at the lower end of the market.

Louisville First Time Home Buyers $7500 Tax Credit

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:32:47 -0400

I’m sure that many of you Louisville first time home buyers have heard about the $7500 tax credit. For those that haven’t, or are wanting to find out more information, the $7500 tax credit essentially applies to those First Time Home buyers that meet certain criteria: 1. Purchase a home between April 9, 2008 through July 1, 2009. 2. You claim the tax credit when you file you your taxes. [If you have questions, be sure to ask your accountant.] 3. The full $7500 tax credit may not be available to all persons. You may elgibile for a partial credit (or even none). This usually applies to those persons that earn a large income, or are purchasing a property with a value below a certain threshold. 4. Its essentially an interest free loan. You take the credit when you file your taxes the following year. And then you have to repay the loan over 15 years. So, if you receieved the full $7500 tax credit benefit, you would have to pay $500 per year back on the credit that received. [15 years x $500 = $7500] There are of course numerous volumes of stipulations and exceptions. As just 1 example, if you go to sell your home and you sell the home in an arm’s length transaction at a fair market price, and received no equity money from the property, then you would not be required to repay the balance of the loan. Click here to search Louisville homes for sale now. Regardless, its a great way for persons to get into a new home. Even if you take the $7500 credit when you file your taxes, and put it into a CD at your local bank, and just make your payments each year when you file your taxes, you are making money off the interest you accrue. It gives you added flexibility to have the use of the money. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact us and we’ll try to answer your questions, or put you in touch with loan officers and mortage persons that can explain exactly what you should qualify for, and how much you can afford to purchase. [You also should speak to your accountant, as they should be up to speed on the most recent regulation changes and requirements to participate in the $7500 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.]

Fern Creek Developments Move Forward

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:24:37 -0400

Good news for all Louisville homes owners in the Bardstown Road & Gene Snyder Freeway area. A proposed shopping center that will encompass approximately 45 acres called South Pointe Commons is now moving forward. It still has a few more hurdles to get through. It needs final approval for the zoning change; the real estate is currently zoned residential, and it needs to be changed over for commercial use. The developer for the project is Barrister Commercial Group anticipates that the first stores could be open possibly as early as spring 2010. Current plans depict 420,000 sq.ft. of commercial space and it incorporates a new entrance for the Bates Elementary School (along with the razing of around 12 single family residential homes currently located on the property – the homes are currently under option to be purchased by the real estate developer). The overall feel for the development once completed will be following an open air feel that will allow easy moving and shopping for pedestrians within the development. This should provide some close easy access shopping for local residents – important for the times given the high price of gas for commuting back and forth for every day necessities. Additionally on another project in the Fern Creek area: The Louisville Metro Council approved a 5 acre retail development located in the Fern Creek community located at Bardstown Road and Cedar Creek road. Approximately 3,000 new Louisville homes have been approved to be constructed in the area since December 2006, and this commercial real estate development will fill a need for the area. Some of the proposed stores within the project include a Walgreens drugstore, commercial, retail, as well as office space. Despite a slowing Louisville real estate market, the Fern Creek area is continuing to post strong growth with approximately 1500 new homes being built there each year. And with the residential increases, there increases the need for commercial development to service that growing need.

August 2008: Louisville Real Estate Market Softens

office@louisvillehomepros.com (Jonathan Karlen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:21:28 -0400

While the Louisville real estate market has been fairly immune to the slowing market nationally, the latest data is now showing that things are starting to soften somewhat in regard to the sale of single family residential homes and condos. Before we get into the August 2008 numbers, I wanted to recap all of the numbers for this year. So, lets take a look at the data and see what we can make of it: January 1 – August 31 2007 Homes Sold 10513 Average Sales Price $174,428 Median Sales Price $140,000 January 1 – August 31 2008 Homes Sold 8021 Average Sales Price $170,711 Median Sales Price $137,000 So, as you can see – theres been a fairly stiff decrease in the number of the Homes Sold in Louisville this year of nearly 24%. Interestingly enough though, theres only been a slightly over 2% decrease in the Average Sales Price, and Median Sales Price. This would indicate that while the total number of homes that are selling has dropped – the prices for which they are selling haven’t been affected too much overall. So, now lets take a closer look at the August numbers. August 2007 Homes Sold 1521 Average Selling Price $179,715 Median Selling Price $141,750 Average Days on Market (DOM) 74 August 2008 Homes Sold 965 Average Selling Price $181,472 Median Selling Price $140,000 Average Days on Market (DOM) 90 The total number of sales is down significantly (965 vs. 1521, which equates to an almost 37% decrease in the number of sales) . And the average days on market has increased from 2.5 months to approximately 3 months. But, probably more interesting is that the average selling price actually went up. This would indicate that the higher end properties ($1,000,000+) while being fewer in number for the overall sales, are actually increasing the overall average value for Louisville homes sold. So, what does this mean for a person looking to buy or sell Louisville real estate? It means that homes are selling, albeit at a slower rate than in the past – BUT it does not mean they are selling for substantially less than they were previously. (Sorry to those out there looking for a slam dunk deal in buying a Louisville home for 20 or 30 cents on the dollar. It just isn’t commonplace here at this point in time.) For Buyers: Theres lots of inventory to select from. Currently there are over 10,000 homes for sale in Louisville market. There are homes that represent a good value out there. You just have to dig through them and find the one you want. But – don’t expect to steal it. Prices are holding fairly firm for those houses that are selling. For Sellers: Lots of inventory (read: competition) and longer market times are the norm. If you want to get your home sold, you need to price it appropriately AND be the nicest within whatever price point you are currently competing. No matter the price range, you will want to be at the lower end of that price range to get your home sold.