Louisville Homes Blog

Just a few months back I wrote that Muhammad Ali had bought a new house and was planning his return to Louisville. Now it looks like that plan is on hold as he’s having a tough time selling his $3.2 million estate near Detroit. Ah… the troubles of being immensely wealthy.

With Derby right around the corner, what could possibly be worth the risk to rent your Louisville home to total strangers? How does $20,000 sound?

I assure you, that’s the exception rather than the rule, but there appears to be a very strong market for short-term rentals here in Louisville during the Derby season.

You have to hunt through the listings on craigslist.com to find possible rentals, but homeowners near Churchill Downs can expect to make well over $1000/week renting to tourists hitting Louisville for the Kentucky Derby.

What if your home isn’t close to the track? Never fear, just call out to the high-end clientèle. Take the Reserve Derby Grand, for instance. This 5-bedroom estate home with a view of the lake sleeps 12 people and is just a short drive (i.e. 25 miles) to the race track.

If this sounds interesting to you, keep in mind that you should certainly be careful what valuables you leave on the property while you’re away. It’s also a good idea to check with your insurance company to see if you might need additional coverage to your standard homeowners policy. But if you want to earn the big dollars of a vacation rental property, here in Louisville there’s no time like the Derby.

Compared to the national housing market Louisville is in great shape.

Louisville sales are up 2.3 percent for the first three months of the year. [link]

This while the national market of existing home sales fell 11.3% from last year.

Now, everything is not wine and roses because there’s still close to 10 months of inventory. Prices will continue to be pushed downward as Sellers’ need to sell increases.

For buyers, however, it’s still a very attractive market. There are some great deals out there and savvy buyers will be able to take advantage of them. The biggest lesson is to remember to do your homework, so having a professional on your team to help you in that regard is imperative.

Now, here’s something you don’t see every day… or in this case, ever.

Leave it to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates state known for wild architectural endeavors, to be the planned home for such a tower. The $350 million Dynamic Architecture building, a project of an eponymous Florence, Italy-based firm led by architect David Fisher, will literally spin–with each individual floor self-propelled, voice-controlled and even capable of generating environmentally friendly power. [link]

It might be worth the trip to Dubai to see this dynamic architecture in motion.

Sure, we who live in Louisville know it’s a great place to live. But what about people who might be considering a relocation to our fair city? No worries. Relocate America has got us covered. Today they declared that Louisville deserves to be in their Top 100.

“We received nominations for thousands of great communities across the
country, all vying to be part of the annual list.”

We didn’t make Top 10, so how about I claim the 11th spot for us? All in favor? Aye!

This property is hardly your typical piece of residential real estate. What an amazing story! First, the idea that a medieval stone castle was being built off a rural Kentucky stretch of highway is literally unique. Rex Martin started building the castle in 1969 but after divorcing from his wife never completed the building. So it’s been vacant ever since. We’re talking 30+ years.

Then the property suffered a fire in 2004. Authorities never learned if the fire was intentional or not.

Now we learn that the castle is being rebuilt! One rumor is that upon completion, the property will be opened up to public visitors, for a fee, of course.

For more information on this property, click here. [h/t More Than Derby]

How often do people ask you, “What do you want first, the good news or the bad news?”

Happens to me all the time. So now it’s my turn to try it with you. Good news or bad? Bad? Really?!? Ok, here it is.

A 2006 Harris poll shows Real Estate agents rank dead last in a survey on “prestige” among 23 occupations.

That’s bad. Real bad.

I can hear you now, “What about the good news?” You got it. Not all agents are the same. Take, for instance, Steve Leung. He’s a leading agent in the Silicon Valley area of California. And if you are lucky enough to have Steve as your agent, you probably already understand why he’s so good.

Here in Louisville, you can find great agents as well. It just takes a bit of looking, that’s all.

Hot on the heels of my last post—Foreclosures Affect Us All—comes this piece from the Courier-Journal:

Through March, Louisville has logged 915 foreclosures and could surpass 3,600 by the year’s end.

According to housing coalition data, there were 2,800 foreclosures in 2006.

Again the moral of the story is to be conservative in estimating the amount one is able to borrow.

Generally speaking, I try to focus on the positive. But every once in a while a problem is so great that we can’t help but pay attention and then, hopefully, learn from our mistakes.

The biggest problem in real estate today is foreclosures. The numbers are high and continue to rise. Kentucky ranks as the 14th worst state in number of foreclosures as a percentage. This is not good news.

I can hear some of you now. “How does this affect me? My income is steady and I’m paying down my mortgage.”

And if that’s true for you, keep it up! You’re doing great. But foreclosures do affect you.

What once was found in only the poorest of communities is now expanding outward. Greedy loan companies are throwing money at people who haven’t proven themselves to be trustworthy. Sure, many of these companies are going out of business, but they’re not the only casualties.

For example, how would you like to be living in Waters Edge? Keep in mind, this is an upscale subdivision in Stone Mountain, just outside Atlanta.

“We saw evidence of insurgency from drug dealers and criminal activity we certainly did not want,” as homes began to empty and thefts in the area increased, she recalls. “It added a sour note about what kind of community we were turning into. We had to get vigilant to let others know we care about our properties and we don’t want these unsavory types of people in our communities.”

Conditions in Waters Edge have improved recently, but 50 homes are for sale in the neighborhood, 21 of which are foreclosures, says Century 21’s Grier.

This USAToday article says, “One foreclosure will shave up to 1.5% off the value of the other homes on the same block.”

That’s not pretty and it’s something, as homeowners, that we don’t have any control over.

I guess the moral of the story is, don’t buy more house than you can truly afford. If a lender offers to give you $100,000, maybe the best reply would be, “Great! I’ll just take $75,000 today and I’ll come back and see you again for the rest later.”

Update @ 4/12/07 5:41: According to this WSJ data, Kentucky is in far better shape than the majority of the country. Between 2005 4Q to 2007 Q1 Louisville is only up .15% in our mortgage delinquency rate. California, Florida and understandably Louisiana are having serious increases.

The theme of Fair Housing ran through much of my 300+ hours of real estate training. Clearly stated, Fair Housing laws say:

You can not discriminate in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap.

There’s a forum today at the Legal Aid Society to commemorate the 40th anniversary of this invaluable legislation. While not perfect, these laws are designed to give everyone an equal opportunity to pursue the American dream of owning their own home.

For more information, click here.

Sellers, need some great ideas to help improve your showings? Today we’ve got 50 of them! Courtesy of the Unique Real Estate blog comes 50 Tips To Get You Started on Your Home Staging Journey.

Here are a few of my favorites.

#9 Buying or renting furniture is especially vital in an empty home. Empty homes do not show well and can sit on the market for months until a buyer with a good visual imagination comes along, or until the seller drops the price so low that the home is a steal.

Generally speaking, most buyers don’t have the ability to picture a home “finished” so consider using a staging firm to help enhance your empty home. Here in Louisville, LM Home Services has a good reputation. Ask them about their rates and then weigh that cost against the benefit of having a professionally staged house. Remember to think about the presentation of your home and how it compares to similar properties buyers are considering.

#18 If you do not have a plan for what to do with the stuff you no longer need, it will get put in the basement or the attic or the garage or simply stay in a pile in the room where it began. If this happens, then you really did not get rid of clutter – you just moved it to another location. When you are clearing the clutter for home staging purposes, you will have many different piles. Some things may go to a thrift store such as the Salvation Army, some things may go to the dump, some things may go into storage, and some things may be set aside for a garage or yard sale. Knowing what you are going to do with the extra clutter is essential to really decluttering your home.

Clutter is a huge problem. If you tackle this one, you’re halfway to a great showing!

#47. New window treatments can make a world of difference. They can add value and style to your home and be something the buyers view as a bonus – something they will not have to buy or replace when they move in. The caution, however, is that you keep the treatments neutral (keep your personality out of the room) and that you make sure they do not block the amount of light that comes into a room.

A time-honored company here in Louisville is Spindletop Draperies on Bardstown Road. Just remember to consider their advice to keep things clean and neutral. Everyone has different tastes so you don’t want to gamble on whether or not your tastes match up with any particular buyer.

Make sure to read the entire article. It’s filled with some great ideas that will help you sell your home here in Louisville.

Let’s have some fun! “U.S. home prices adjusted for inflation plotted as a roller coaster.”

The Courier-Journal is reporting that a 7-home, elevated development is being planned for Highway 42. The primary obstacle is the severity of the land’s grade.

The 4.1-acre wooded site at 6411 U.S. 42 has slopes as steep as 60 percent.

So to overcome this problem, and the portion of the land below the flood plain, Panacea Development is planning on building these $1 to $1.2 million homes on piers. And that’s not the only part that will be innovative.

Driveways and the road providing access to U.S. 42 will be constructed of pre-cast concrete slabs with heating tubes inside to melt snow and ice.

Sounds impressive! The recently approved a six-month extension gives the development team until Oct. 13 to get started on the project.

There are more homes on the market this year than last—36% more nationally and 34% more in Louisville, KY. This, my friends, is what’s known as a buyer’s market.

“But what about the sellers?” you ask.

Isn’t it obvious? Sellers need to get aggressive when marketing their properties so that their listings will stand out from the crowd.

Sometimes this means a price reduction. Sometimes it means increasing the buyer agent’s commission. Sometimes it means “offering a two-year lease on a BMW X3 SUV to the agent who finds a buyer.” Well, that’s what Courtney Tursi is doing to attract attention to her Detroit home.

Fortunately for us, Louisville sellers aren’t in dire straights like sellers in some of our country’s largest cities. But remember, step one is to lower expectations to a reasonable level. For most people, home appreciation won’t come close to approaching the double-digit levels of past years. And for people who’ve only been in their home a short period of time, selling it and moving on without incurring any debt should be considered a winning play.