Louisville Homes Blog

The new Hurstbourne Heights subdivision is the just the first of many new developments that are expected around the new Hurstbourne Lane extension.

Work is set to begin later this year on the other two — HeartSong Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and Villages of Star Hill condominiums and patio homes.

As property values rise in this area look for developers to grab up the parcels and get to work as interest rates are still historically quite low.

It’s big news when The Greatest decides to move to your city. Even better when he’s returning home. Muhammad Ali and his wife, Lonnie, have bought this new home and are planning spending time in both their current home in Phoenix, and this new home in Louisville.

“My guess is that this will be kind of their summer place,” he Patrick Lancaster.

This gorgeous property was never on the market, as the Ali’s bought it directly from the builder.

Found these keen maps that overlay housing data on Google maps at a site called Neighboroo. How cool is that?

Head over and play with the gadget. Louisville is looking good and I don’t care who knows it. 8^) [via The Big Picture]

Louisville Metro Council considering The Midlands affect on traffic in a proposed 38-acre development off KY-22, east of the Watterson Expressway.

Fenley Real Estate and Blue Equity are proposing 192 apartments, 117 condominiums and shops and offices with 185,950 square feet. The plans also include two restaurants with 17,000 square feet and a six-story hotel with 150 rooms.

Update: Looks like it’s a go!

There are a number of factors to consider when buying a second home. Up front and center are the variety of tax implications based on the amount of time you’ll use the property yourself and how much time the property will be rented out. Be sure to check with a CPA on the exact numbers.

Geena Cardwell has a nice article filled with tips and examples.

Say you rent out the house more than 14 days a year and you also use the house yourself for more than 14 days in a year or 10 percent of the days it was rented out. In this case you have to report the rental income, but you can also take a number of deductions. “Any expenses associated with investment property would be deductible,” says Mark Luscombe, principal tax analyst at CCH, a tax-information publisher. “Not only can you deduct the mortgage interest and real estate taxes as you do with a primary home, but also a portion of the homeowners-association fees and money spent on decorating the house and making repairs.”

So you can see that depending on the particulars, what you thought was an affordable situation can be a big tax liability… and vice versa. As Denzel Washington once said, “Luck is when an opportunity comes along, and you’re prepared for it.”

Jeff Schnepper has put together a nice article on what not to do when investing in real estate. He’s called it 3 Ways You Can Go Broke in Real Estate. On the positive side, he also includes:

Successful real estate investing really boils down to three rules:

* Do your homework. Know the market and its risks.
* Prepare for the worst. It will happen.
* Think location, location, location.

So while investing in Real Estate is still one of the leading paths to riches, not everyone who undertakes the quest will find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Where would you expect to see the largest jump in median home prices? If you guessed Atlantic City, NJ you’d be correct. Scanning CNNMoney’s chart, you’ll see that the high and low-ends of the price spectrum are both seeing big jumps and major drops.

For example, high-priced areas like Seattle, WA are going even higher—11.3% leap—while another pricey spot, Sarasota, FL is experiencing the biggest decline in the country, with values down 18%.

Here in Louisville, homes are up to $137.6k from $134.6k last year, which is a 2.2% increase. This result tops the national average of -2.7% and is much better than the South region’s average of -3.7%.

So while nationally, last year was a difficult year for home values, here in the Greater Louisville area, we are seeing small but steady growth, which is certainly a good thing.

In Steve Leung’s piece called Negative Equity: Heartache for Home Owners, he looks at the increasing phenomenon of homeowners being upside-down.

Imagine selling your house and still owing money on your mortgage. That is what it means to have negative equity: the debt you own on your property exceeds your property’s value. In industry parlance, it’s called being “upside-down” and Liz Pulliam Weston at MSN Money says 1 in 10 homeowners may be in this situation!

In his article, Leung outlines some of the pitfalls and gives some good advice on what not to do when buying a home. Solid stuff.

Kiplinger is a great source for many types of financial information and is presented in a straight-forward manner. This piece by Kimberly Lankford gives you some advice on how to file an appeal if you think your property tax is too high.

She says that as many as 60% of homes are assessed for more than the house is worth and that roughly 30% of all appeals succeed. With today’s higher home prices, a successful appeal could save you hundreds of dollars.

While many analysts debate whether 2007 will be an “up” year for real estate, Taylor Blair of the Listing Information Network says their latest report “shows the possibility that we’re just coming out of the housing recession.”

One positive sign is being reported by the National Association of Realtors, who cite a 5% increase in December of pending contracts.

While today it’s certainly a buyer’s market, this condition may not stick around for long.

Nobody likes property taxes. Scratch that. Nobody outside of politicians who get to spend the money, like property taxes.

With property taxes consuming their greatest share (3.4%) of our income in this country’s history, at least we residents of the great Commonwealth of Kentucky can take some solace that our property taxes are on the low end—1.49%—of that spectrum.

For the full story and data, visit Where does your state rank?

Steve Cook has put together a great article called, Hot Market House Flipping: Can You Still Find Deals?

Now, house flipping might sound sexy at the moment, but it takes a practiced eye and some hard work to consistently make money in this endeavor. Still, Cook gives solid advice to anyone working this model.

While not Silicon Valley, Louisville has produced a few tech success stories. Last month, one such story, RentalHouses.com, was sold to Consumer Source who is out buying up the market.

Founded by Robert Massey Jr., the site is up to 85,000 page views a month and is considered one of the leaders in this space.

David T. Richardson, the President of the company is now looking at other opportunities to work with an “early stage company in the Louisville area.”

Here’s some interesting information from The Big Picture regarding foreclosure filings by state.

Colorado leads the nation, followed by Nevada, with Texas and Florida not too far behind.

Kentucky is near to the middle, which is better but with the total number of foreclosures trending upward, there’s still cause for concern. Homebuyers need to exercise common sense when shopping because lenders will still dangle those large numbers in front of our eyes, whether we truly afford them or not.

Just noticed this helpful article on MSNBC called Heating Up Buyers in a Chilly Real Estate Market. The better informed you are, the better prepared you will be when the time comes to sell your home.

I especially liked “Turn Up the Heat.” You certainly don’t want potential buyers to feel uncomfortable in your home, but being too hot might be just as troublesome as it being too cold. I’ve found 72 degrees to be a great temperature for home showings during the winter.

The Progressive Farmer Magazine has just announced their third annual awards for the Best Places to Live in Rural America. Barren County, Kentucky, has won top honors.

A strong and growing economy, great education, superior access to health care and historical flavor were all important reasons why Barren County, Ky. was selected as the best place to live in rural America this year. The county of nearly 40,000 residents, located midway between Louisville, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn. in south-central Kentucky, also is known for its rolling farmland and friendly residents. In the words of one resident, “People here are just different.”

For the full list, visit the Progressive Farmer Best Places 2007.

Areas were rated on criteria like: household income, household spending, home and land prices, crime rates, air quality, education and access to health care. Then interviews were conducted to get a better feel for its people. Congratulations Barren County, Kentucky!