Louisville Homes Blog

[This story was originally posted on SpringhurstNeighborhood.com]

City Planners are working towards creating a 100-mile trail for bikers/walkers around the city of Louisville. They’re calling it the Louisville Loop. Depending on the route and design of the path, this project sounds absolutely wonderful. Now, can they get through all the red tape and wrangling with communities affected by their plans?

Most recently, people here in Springhurst were able to view the current plans and offer their comments. Money always plays a major role in cases like these as principalities want to know who’ll be responsible for construction costs and then ongoing maintenance. Apparently, those negotiations are still underway.

Metro Parks says “the loop is approximately 25% complete” as of the time of this writing. If they can complete the circle, this innovative idea will be another positive move towards improving Louisville and our perception to the rest of the country.

Real estate is an interesting business, to say the least. At its very core, the idea is to simply bring two separate pieces together—a person and a property. Seems simple enough. But whenever money is involved, we all know that the proverbial wrench can be tossed in at any time.

For months now I’ve been building a Web site called Louisville Neighborhoods. This is one place where home buyers can learn not just about what homes are currently for sale, but about the neighborhood itself. What kind of homes does it contain? How large are the lots? Where is it situated? I even take photos of representative properties and landmarks.

It’s my goal for Louisville Neighborhoods to serve Louisville home buyers in their quest to find their dream home. Imagine my surprise when I received a call (and subsequent email) from representatives at Norton Commons demanding that I take down my page about their neighborhood.

Because the developers have trademarked the name, Norton Commons, they believe they are entitled to a have a say wherever it might be used. That’s likely a stretch considering the doctrine of Fair Use of Trademarks. But that’s not truly the point. The point is that my Web site is only going to promote their development to more potential customers. Said simply, I’m trying to bring them business.

This piece in the Courier talks about some incorrect information on my page, to which I respond, “Let me know about any needed corrections and I’ll be happy to include them.” The whole situation is a surprise to me. And if you think I’m surprised, how do you imagine Mr. Goldsmith feels?

It’s nice to see such a large increase, 32% to be exact, in the number of mortgage applications to start 2008. If the trend holds, it could signal an improvement in the housing market as a whole.

Another piece of under-reported news is that 30-year mortgage rates are continuing to be available to consumers at historical lows. Due to the Federal Reserves recent actions, it’s not difficult to find rates around 5.75% at most lending institutions here in Louisville.

Found this little piece of news that points to better times ahead in the coming year.

Realtors Group Sees Slight ‘08 Rebound

Bucking conventional wisdom, a trade group for real estate agents said yesterday the battered housing market is on the verge of stabilizing and inched-up its outlook for 2008 home sales. The revised monthly forecast from the National Association of Realtors, which followed nine straight months of downward revisions, forecasts sales will rise slightly in 2008 to 5.7 million, up from last month’s prediction of 5.69 million. The group also said the median price for U.S. existing homes will sink by 1.9 percent to $217,600 this year and rise 0.3 percent next year to $218,300. If median prices do fall this year, it will be the first price decline in the nearly 40 years that the trade group has tracked that data. [link]

If you have an adjustable rate mortgage that is expecting to rise next year, you’ll certainly want to check with your lender because news out of Washington says the Bush administration is trying to provide some relief.

Elements of the plan include a five-year freeze on interest rates for certain subprime loans, many of which are expected to reset to higher rates in the months ahead. [link]

Good news in light of what some think are troubling times for the housing market. Here in Louisville, foreclosure filings are actually down from 2Q 2007 and 3Q 2006.

This is exceptional news when you consider that Bethesda, MD is up 1640.7 over their 3rd quarter 2006 numbers.

ABC’s heart-warming show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, has come to Louisville and is now running on all cylinders to get the job done.

Louisville’s Patrick Henry, despite being born without eyes is living beyond most people’s expectations. Now the family’s home, near Buechel Bank Road is getting the special treatment in order to provide a better situation for Patrick and his family.

The reveal is set for Wednesday.

In a major ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III ruled that a current law on how Kentucky real estate professionals deal with out-of-state agents is unconstitutional. As one of the few remaining “turf states” Kentucky was looked at by some as isolationists. In reality, Kentucky, like most states who were once considered turf states, required all real estate transactions conducted within our borders to be done so by our real estate laws. Licensed agents from other state wouldn’t be as well-versed in our particular rules and regulations. This is something a bit difficult to gather from the CJ article as they principally covered only one point of view.

With this ruling in place, Kentucky will need to move forward with additional legislation to shore up the now wide-open gap in our laws. The Kentucky Real Estate Commission has yet to respond to this major change but I expect an opinion forthcoming.

Seriously? Did I type that headline correctly? Actually, I did! The urban district is moving from 49.83 to 49.31 cents per $100, while the remainder of the metro area will decline as well, from 12.6 to 12.55.

Now, the question on everyone’s mind must be, “Did our elected officials just grow hearts and decide to show kindness to our over-taxed populace?” The sneaky truth is actually that their hands were tied.

Jane Driskell, metro government’s chief financial officer, told the committee that state law allows tax receipts to grow by only 4 percent in any given year. [link]

Since overall property values have grown in Louisville (unlike many parts of the U.S.), Metro government was forced to drop the rates in other to keep the overall revenue growth under 4%.

So while our politicians aren’t the kind-hearted humanitarians we might have hoped, at least our taxes are not ballooning out of control. Now, if we could only reduce that 4% number.

Connie Cobane is one lucky Realtor. She just recently sold Billy Gillispie a $1.45 million home in Forest Hills Estates in Lexington. Not much else to report other than it’s the kind of home in which you’d expect royalty to reside. I’d love to see the inside.

Ana Lagunez of the CJ has a brief article called Homearama Shows Off Trends. I’ve got my tickets. Do you?

Before I delved into real estate, I hadn’t yet heard Louisville called a City of Parks. While the concept is worthwhile and innovative, their marketing efforts (thus far) have been a bit underwhelming.

What began in 2005 has been slowing building towards a vision of what community leaders call “Louisville’s Greenprint.” When I read news today about a 300-mile park that stretched from Georgia into our fair state of Kentucky, I thought it must have something to do with this ‘City of Parks’ effort. Turns out I was wrong and that green is apparently the new black.

For those of you who haven’t heard, here are some of the efforts underway to make Louisville a model for other park interested cities:

1. Floyds Fork Greenway Project – an effort led by 21st Century Parks to create a new system of parks, trails and open spaces along Floyds Fork, from Shelbyville Road to Bardstown Road.
2. Expansion of park land in Jefferson Memorial Forest and Southwest Louisville Metro.
3. A 100-mile paved metro loop trail around Louisville Metro’s perimeter that will tie together Louisville’s diverse parks and neighborhoods.
4. An unprecedented level of capital investment to improve existing parks.

These efforts should go a long way to set Louisville apart from surrounding states in green space and outdoor activies.

Here’s the information for this year’s Homearama:

The 2007 Homearama at Beech Spring Farm will feature 10 spectacular homes.
Admisssion is $10 per person - per visit.

Hours are:
Mon. - Fri. 5 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. (ticket gate closes at 8:00 p.m.)
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. (ticket gate closes at 8:00 p.m.)
Sunday: 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. (ticket gate closes at 4:30 p.m.)

Monday, July 30th there will be the after Homearama Furniture Sale and admission is FREE with your coupon from the Plans Book. Not all homes are guaranteed to be open during this event. Hours on Monday, July 30th are 1 - 7 p.m. Please call 429-6000 for any additional information.

If you’re wondering where Beech Spring Farm is, here’s the link.

The Greater Louisville Home Ownership Expo was yesterday. I must apologize for not publishing that information earlier but to be honest, I had no idea. They might want to improve the event’s marketing efforts.

Events like these are wonderful sources of information, especially for new home buyers or buyers with credit issues.

Among the offerings were eight workshops — some conducted in Spanish — on understanding credit, home insurance, applying for a mortgage and predatory lending, to name a few. [link]

Here’s an interesting piece on Money.com about how real estate appraisers are in a crunch from both brokers and home buyers. This issue isn’t as prevalent here in Louisville where values have been slowing increasing but in parts of the country that saw big changes it’s a big problem.

There may come a time when more government regulation becomes necessary but the first step is opening up the flow of information so that all parties can see how these numbers are being determined. As we are, proceed with caution.

Habitat has sure been in the news a lot lately. Today we find out that the Marcus family has donated a 20-acre plot to the charitable home builder. Big thumbs up to the family for being so generous.

You can follow this link to see the Lake Louisvilla area on Google Maps. It’s located off Highway 22 past the Gene Snyder Freeway.

There’s so much to cover, rather than devote a post to each topic I thought I’d hit them all at once—bullet style. Let’s go!

1. New-home sales skyrocket in April
   “Builder optimism is much higher now than it was at the end of February.” I should think so!
2. Existing-home sales, prices decline
   Free market forces are forcing sellers to bring down prices to accommodate the large number of available homes.
3. Aslan Recognized in Affordable Housing Finance’s “Top 50”
   This Louisville-based development firm is turning some heads as they focus on “affordable housing projects” in the Southeast. This sector is often ignored because of the lower margins.
4. Habitat for Humanity due award
   The Louisville chapter has built 250 homes since it began. That’s incredible!
5. Urban areas see biggest gains in property value
   City planners understand about all the benefits of urban renewal, but I wonder if they knew that it could also be so profitable?
6. Habitat to seek new areas for its homes
   In my opinion, Louisville homebuyers are looking for more low-end housing choices and, as you might guess, that is Habitat’s specialty.

HGTV is one of my favorite channels, but I can’t help but wonder how real estate agents are going to “come off” on their new show Bought & Sold. Here’s the overview:

What’s your seller’s real estate agent really thinking behind that smile? Wish you could climb into the head of the buyer’s agent to find out what’s going on with the contract? It’s an inner circle with its own secrets. Competitive, calculating and colorful … meet the brilliant real estate brokers at the center of this entertaining and informative new HGTV series, all about buying and selling residential property. Bought & Sold is the reality of real estate, focusing on the stories and high drama behind the sales and the lengths brokers will go to just to do the deal.

The show is likely looking for drama, so expect fireworks. But—need I say this?—don’t expect all agents to behave like these.

How do you lose your proverbial shirt in real estate, then turn it into a profit? Casey Serin did it by blogging. And making a lot of enemies along the way.

After running up a debt of $170,000 in failed real estate endeavors, he decided to tell the world how much he hated how things have turned out. To his surprise (and mine) people are hitting his site by the thousands!

“A community formed overnight,” Serin said in an interview. “It wasn’t a very positive community.”

It’s a strange phenomenon when people who dislike Serin, tune in to his site for entertainment. A kind of cyber mob mentality. The guy deserves our pity more than anything else. To make as many bad decisions as he has and still have the fortitude to press on does speak well of his determination (if not his intellect).

Louisville is certainly used to being the center of attention during the Derby season. Now, with the proposed Museum Plaza ready to break ground later this year, we’re getting some additional recognition from places like the Wall St. Journal.

World Architecture News.com is certainly paying attention. Others have even found the theoretical father of our proposed building design.

One thing is certain, this project, combined with the new arena project, will dramatically change our downtown skyline for the better.

If you want to stay on top of the news on Museum Plaza, head over their extremely well-done site at:

http://www.museumplaza.net/

Make sure to view the video clips!

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.