From an “on the ground” perspective, 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 House Prices Decline 5% is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

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 the 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.

August 2008: Louisville Real Estate Market Softens is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

The cost of admission is free.

Some of the features include numerous giveaways one of which is the possibility of winning a big screen television and others include free closing costs.  Various vendors will be there which include Realtors, insurance representatives, homes builders, homes repair businesses, mortgage lenders and more.

Some of the main hosts for the event includes Citizens Union Bank (CUB), Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC), as well as HJW Career and Financial Literacy Institute.

If you own a home, or want to own a home, be sure to come out this weekend at the Shelby County Fairgrounds, and take a look at what some of the local persons have to offer regarding the Shelbyville KY real estate market.

Shelby County KY Home Expo is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

There is the understanding that the actual concept for a downtown Simpsonville KY may take up to 20 or even 40 years, but they are wanting to make plans now for the future that is coming this way. Some work preparing the way has already been started: Simpsonville requested money from the Kentucky state government to fund sidewalks along the US 60 corridor that goes through the city.

There is a push for community and citizen input on the proposal as well as potential grandfathering of existing businesses that may not comply with the potential future plans for the area and their ordinance changes that may occur that would place them in potential violation. At this point, most of the citizens appear to be behind the idea of getting ideas and plans in place for the future. Simpsonville KY gets a big thumbs up for thinking and planning ahead. Too many times, cities can grow before they really even know it – and then the infrastructure for those homes and businesses are insufficient to meet the needs of the rapid growth that they enjoyed in the first place. Getting things in place now before the demand from Louisville eastward stimulates high density real estate development is an excellent idea.

Simpsonville Kentucky – Downtown Proposed is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

Admission to the Shelby county fair is free for children 10 and under. To all others, admission is $6. The main entrance is located on US60 at the horse statue (no tractors or livestock will be allowed through that entrance).

The Horse shows will begin at 7:00 pm each day beginning Wednesday. [For those that are unaware, Shelbyville Kentucky is The Saddle Horse Capital of the World.] For those interested in more information for the horse shows, please contact R.H. Bennet at (502) 664-0870, or Beth Snider (502) 647-0076. Ticket prices range from $20 to $40 for admission of the horse show events.

2008 Shelby County Kentucky Fair & Horse Show is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

And if you compare those numbers to the national average that has experienced a 65% INCREASE in foreclosures, you can see clearly that the Louisville real estate market is definitely bucking the trend.

To get into specifics:  288 foreclosure filings were made in the metropolitan Louisville homes market for April 2008.  This equates to approximately 1 in every 1874 homes in the area.  Nationally, there was approximately 1 foreclosure filing made for every 519 homes.

And even on a larger perspective of the entire state of Kentucky, Kentucky ranks 43rd for foreclosure rates with 1 in every 3710 homes making a foreclosure filing.  Our nearby neighbor Indiana, was ranked 11th with 1 in every 544 homes filing.

Again, the “bad” real estate markets continue to fair poorly:  Out of the top 10 highest foreclosure rates in the entire country for metropolitan areas, 9 of the 10 were in Florida and California.

The overall real estate market softening that Louisville has experienced has been slight – and its not been primarily from a market correction as much as it is due to a build up with inventory and a softening of the national economy overall.  Basically, a lot of the problems (which aren’t many) that Louisville may be having is primarily due to everyone else muddying things up – and not really from what we’ve been doing on our own accord.

The Louisville homes market should continue to strengthen despite a softening economy nationally, provided no major changes occur that would have a negative impact, and housing inventory remains constant or declines.

Louisville Foreclosure Rate Declines is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

For those persons wanting to view new properties currently on the market, please visit this page of our site:

Louisville New Homes For Sale

Its spring – and that means that the Louisville new homes celebration is going to be underway this weekend May 10-11, and next weekend May 17-18, 2008.  Over 150 Louisville new homes (single family & patio homes) are going to be featured from the metropolitan Louisville real estate market.  According to The Sentinel News, some of the developments that are participating in this year’s tour include:

Norton Commons

Locust Creek

Beech Spring Farm

Rock Springs

Saratoga Springs

Longwood

Heather Green

Sycamore Run

Summerfield by the Lake

Notting Hill

Ballard Woods

Flatrock Ridge

Williamsgate

Cedar Glen

Waterstone

Chatham Park at Polo Fields

Nachand Springs

Landis Lakes

Cardinal Oaks

The Villas at Pinnacle Place

The new Louisville homes will be open during the hours of 1:00 – 5:00 pm May 10-11, and May 17-18, 2008.  Louisville real estate agents, as well as builders will be available to answer questions.

Price ranges for the Louisville homes participating in the showcase range in value from $130,000 all the way to $1.1 million.

So, be sure and come out this weekend or the next and check out whats available in the new Louisville homes market today!

Louisville New Homes is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

There remains a tremendous amount of inventory on the market currently. For the metropolitan Louisville real estate market, inventory is currently sitting at approximately 9-10 months. (What that means is, if no new homes came on the market, the properties currently on the market, and demand for purchasing a Louisville home remained steady, those homes would expect to sell in approximately 9-10 months.)

Some areas within the metropolitan Louisville real estate market have dramatically much higher inventory. One example, would be the Shelbyville KY homes for sale currently on the market. At the current rate of demand, there is almost 2 years worth of inventory. [Which incidentally - is primarily due to inflated pricing for Shelbyville KY real estate. The homes that are priced appropriately are moving, but a tremendous amount of properties in Shelby County are, to be blunt, delusional (or ignorant) in their pricing valuations for today's market conditions and demand for homes in Shelby County KY. These elevated prices have many homes just sitting on the market........waiting.....and waiting.....and waiting.] Additional pressures and concerns for rising fuel prices also are making many persons wanting to live closer to their work and the larger metropolitan areas, rather than further away in the country.

As expected though for the Louisville real estate market – it continues to show its resiliency relative to the national overall perspective, the median price for homes in the metropolitan area were actually up from a year ago.

From our own perspective, it appears the most active markets are the 2 extremes: Those properties under $150,000, and those properties in the $1.2 – $2 million range seem to be the most in demand presently. Many homes in the several hundred thousand range, are seeing little activity with most persons seemingly waiting for what they perceive to be the “bottom” of the real estate market. [Here's a hint everyone: prices were UP, not down - for January & February 2008, despite the excess inventory. That would indicate that you've already missed the bottom end of the Louisville KY real estate market - and you should be pulling the trigger now.]

New Louisville Homes Starts Decline is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

Dominion Homes of Kentucky LTD – to Angela & Kevin Veeley – lot 40 Cloverbrook Farms, phase 1 section 1 – $142025

Charterwest Mortgage LLC through Countrywide Home Loans & Christy Reese – to The Bank of New York – lot 5 Ardmore Subdivision – $1

David & Stacey Monteleone – to Prudential Relocation Inc. – tract A, Rockbridge Heights II – $293000

Prudential Relocation Inc – to Jennifer Payne & Trevor Rowe – Tract A Rockbridge Heights II – $293000

Bank of New York acting as successor Trustee, Raymundo & Carmelina Nava – to The Bank of New York Trust Company – lot 36 Midland estates section 2 – $1

Chase Bank USA – Jeffrey Waldridge – to Federal National Mortgage Association – tract 1 Hillview Estates – $1

AKL Properties LLC – to Michael & Gwynne Brunzo – lot 20 Knobview Estates – $189000

Kevin Browning – to Joseph & Johnna Griffith – property in Shelby County – $55500

National City Mortgage Company, Roy Lay Senior – to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation – lot 6 Grove Subdivision – $1

Nancy & Charles Wells – to Kelly Cannon – lot 44 Orchard Crossing – $109500

Aurora Loan Services & Edna Parr – to Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs – property located at Watson and Main Street – $1

Wells Fargo Bank acting as trustee, and Scott & Suzanne Frech – to Wells Fargo Bank trustee – lot 42 Cardinal Club Estates – $1

Louisville and Nashville Railroad – to Glen & Lise Sageser – property located at James Quincy Estate – $100

Glenn & Lise Sageser – to James & Lisa Sams – property near Christianburg Kentucky – $300

James & Lisa Sams – to Aurora Farms LLC – 2 tracts in Shelby County KY – $165000

Andrew & Lisa Cheak – to Paul Castro – Lot 32 Woodfield Subdivision section II – $172000

Jo Ann Dillen & Mary Goldey – to Jo Ann Dillen & Mary Goldey – lot 42 Estates of Osprey Cove – $1

As you can tell by looking at the Shelbyville KY homes transfers this week, a majority of the homes are in the more conservative end of the spending market. There were no luxury homes sold this week as the most expensive property was $293000. Again, this would indicate a softening in the luxury Shelby county real estate market – and prices SHOULD come down. [How long it takes for persons to realize this is anyone's guess.] The tremendous glut of inventory on the market combined with weakening demand for living in Shelby County is basic Economics 101: excess Shelbyville Kentucky homes inventory + weakening demand = should equate to lower prices. Hopefully the Shelbyville Kentucky real estate market will start actually looking at the data – rather than just shooting from the gut, or worse – just listing the properties for whatever the home owner wants. Look at the data.

Shelbyville KY Homes Transfers week ending April 19 2008 is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate

53 new RE/MAX offices opened during that same 3 month time frame.  Some of the other countries that are experiencing strong REMAX growth are as follows:

United Kingdom - 19 new REMAX offices

Portugal – 18 new REMAX offices

Australia & Italy – 17 new offices

Canada – 16 new offices

Turkey – 15 new offices

Quite good locally, nationally, and internationally.

Of course, if you are looking for a Louisville Kentucky REMAX office – you’ve certainly reached the right place.  Our office of REMAX Properties East represents what we consider to be the best that the real estate industry has to offer.  From dedicated support staff, to expert professional technical assistance – there is manpower to support the full time real estate professional with whatever they may need to help succeed and grow their business – and we are proud to be a member of the leading Louisville REMAX office.

REMAX continues to post strong growth is a post from: Louisville Kentucky Real Estate