Louisville Homes Blog

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.

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!

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.

Louisville is a great convention city, not just because of it’s nationally central location, but because even local organizations do a good job of promoting great events for the public.

This weekend be sure to take in the Home, Garden & Remodeling Show at the South Wing of the Kentucky Expo Center.

With more than 500 vendors, entertaining demonstrations and informative seminars, there¹s plenty to tempt homeowners to give HGTV a break and head out to the Show the weekend of March 9-11. The Home Show carries a long-held reputation throughout the region for showcasing new products and ideas each year, but this year’s vendors say that national design trends will play a prominent role in what people will experience.

Tickets are $10, Senior Citizens $9 and Children 12 & under free. Head over to the event Web site for more details.

The negative example of Derby City Title and their fraud, creates a valuable lesson for home buyers. Not only should we be buying title insurance where 20 years ago that was a rarity, we should be buying it from a reputable company.

Companies like Derby City can pop-up out of nothing because barriers to entry are so small. Now families are on the brink of disaster.

Seven families could lose their homes any day now, even though they did nothing wrong. They made their house payments on time, but their homes are still going into foreclosure.

One of the reasons I chose to affiliate with Semonin Realtors is because they’re part of Home Services. Home Services is a very large organization with companies that cover every facet of the real estate transaction. From the real estate agent, to the mortgage, to title insurance, to appraisers and more—they’ve got it covered.

With a decision as important as buying a house, you certainly want to work with a reputable company and not get scammed. Calamity is just a single bad choice away.

Wow. I had no idea that IE 6 hated this WordPress theme so much. Guess that’s on me for not moving to the new version too quickly.

Update: I’ve spent a couple of hours fine-tuning this theme to my liking. Pardon the abrupt changes.

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.

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!

Louisville Realtor Ashley Holloway won the Live with Regis and Kelly trivia contest yesterday and will being taking a trip to Barbados. Nice job Ashley!