The WeSellLouisville.com Louisville Real Estate Blog

The Louisville Real Estate Sky is NOT Falling!

Despite record temperatures and fear of a faltering economy, Louisville Homes going under contract for the month of July 2011 actually increased almost 11 percent from the year before (see data below). The numbers may be artificially low for July of 2010 because many homebuyers had purchased a home earlier in the year thanks to federal tax incentives. Still the trend from year to year shows some positive signs. For example the July 2011 homes going under contract numbers are only off 2.5 percent from July 2009. Better yet 2011was actually up 20 percent from 2008. You can make the argument that these are the bad years, recession, foreclosures, short sales and bank bailouts. But The past 3 years are actually the new normal. The good old days are gone, we can only hope for their return. So imagine my surprise tonight when I read a fellow realtors’ blog explaining to his clients that home prices are off 15% over the past 2 years. Maybe in select sections of Louisville, but according to the new Greater Louisville Association of Realtors data released today, July 2010-2011 median home prices remained the same. Additionally the average sales price of homes increased almost $3000. The numbers are not all good! The number of homes that closed was actually down 5 percent from July 2010-2011. That may be a sign of a bigger problem. We’re seeing a disturbing trend with appraisers. Appraisals are coming in low in some areas of town. That’s a concern because even if a home sells for a decent price, an appraiser may feel the property is not worth the value of the contract. We’ve had it happen to us 6 times in the past year. I’ve had to challenge the appraisal each time and I’ve won 5 out of the 6 times. So to all my fellow realtors here’s the recipe...