Nashville Real Estate Talk

Brentwood Homes Sales Rebound-Bonbrook Leads all Neighborhoods in Sales-

One of my clients asked for a Market survey on Brentwood Tn. He is using our MLS search Engine www.NashvilleHomeSearcher.com to look for a Luxury Home in Brentwood.

We pulled this report for high- end Brentwood TN homes in the $550,00+range. That range of homes was very quiet just 6 months ago- Not Anymore!

Brentwood High-End Home Sales- April through July 2010

Actually 2 of the Active Properties are “Under Contract”. That means out of 22 properties 14 have gone under contract or closed in the last 90 Days!

Leaving just 8 homes available or less than a 2 month Supply.

BonBrook neighborhood lead all others with 2 closings, one under contract. That’s an average of one home per month selling in BonBrook. The number 2 neighborhood for Brentwood Tn home sales was Inglehame Farms with 1 closing and 1 home under contract.

For  Brentwood, TN home sellers, this is great news.  For Brentwood, TN  home buyers, you need to get moving,  this activity will bring higher prices soon.

Need a Market Survey for your Price Range? Call Jim & Cathy Wood at (615) 347-4424 or email : Jim@JimWood.net

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Mt.Juliet Short Sale Sold! Here’s how we did it.

When the owner of this home on 5 acres came to us we knew right away that we would need to use a short sale to get him out from under the horrendous mortgage payments and salvage his credit.

The owner had bought the home for just $180,000 two year before.  But the over zealous lenders kept coming back to him and telling him the property value was escalating. They led him to believe he couldn’t go wrong re-financing the home and taking out money from his “equity”.

Within a year he owed over $260,000 for the property. Ten the re-finance option stopped.  he was informed by a Mortgage company that the property would bring less than $230,000 in the 2009 Market.

Worse yet, the homeowners business was failing because of the struggling economy, he could not make the large monthly payments. With his business failing he could not qualify for Government  Mortgage Reduction either.

That’s where we took over the situation.

We immediately contacted his Mortgage company and let them know the situation.  We helped the homeowner write hardship letters explaining his predicament.  We applied for a Short Sale package from his lender and helped him gather all the required paperwork.  Then we made sure that each piece of paperwork was received by the mortgage holder and verified that.

We had the homeowner sign paperwork authorizing us as his representative to the mortgage company. That way we could call them anytime and keep the process moving.

We listed the home for sale at a price close to last appraisal value of $230,000. We let everyone know we were Short Selling the property and would consider ALL offers for the Bank.  We also committed to would be buyers that we would only forward one bid to the bank. Others could bid if they wanted, but we would only send them in if the Bank turned down our best bid.

We negotiated a bid from a buyer and with the homeowners signature sent it to the mortgage company.

Once the bank gave us the name of their negotiator we made ourselves available to him day and night, weekends too. I carried the file with 24/7 and was always ready to answer any questions.

Next we helped the bank get a Brokers Opinion on the property from an independent, registered Broker.  He concurred with our estimate of the properties real worth and the property was moved to a second tier negotiator.

From then on we provided the mortgage company with accurate numbers of exactly how much of the offer price they would receive. The final price was $215,000.  The property was closed in the last week of June 2010.

the new homeowner got a great deal on a wonderful 5 acre property. The home seller came away with nothing but at least he was relieved of the burden of the mortgage and can now restart his career and put his life back together.

The mortgage company learned a lesson too.

We were happy to help another neighbor get through this ordeal

If you or someone you know is underwater with a house note they can’t possibly pay, don’t let them slip into foreclosure. Short selling can mean the difference between a short setback and years of bad credit.  Give us a call at 615-347-4424.  We’re confidential and we’re here to help.

Cambridge Woods Home Sells in Record Time.

This home at 1728 Wrencrest in Cambridge Woods  recently  sold in a record 21 days. 

Search Mt. Juliet area Homes

How’s the Mt. Juliet Market?

Mt. Juliet Home Prices are on the rebound and outperforming Hendersonville. One year ago Hendersonville home prices were $20,000 above Mt. Juliet. Now it appears that Mt. Juliet home prices have caught up. In this latest Nashville Market Report, Mt. Juliet homes appear to be just $2,000 below the Hendersonville Median Price.

As you can see from the chart, both Mt. Juliet and Hendersonville home values are below where they were 1 year ago. But they appear to have hit bottom in May and are now moving upward.

Although both area are trending up Mt. Juliet is outperforming Hendersonville in the rebound. Part of this is because Mt. Juliet homes did not lose as much value. But there are two points to be made here.

1. The rebound  in home values started sooner in Mt. Juliet. Home prices began to rise about 6 weeks before Hendersonville.

2. The rebound is clearly stronger for Mt. Juliet Home values over Hendersonville. At this rate Mt. Juliet Homes will e more expensive than homes in Hendersonville within a few months.

To get our free Market statistics for your Nashville area community use this link:
Online Nashville Market Reports

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Not all Real Estate Agents are Realtors!

I had a call this morning from a very distressed Wilson County  home seller.  She’s said she needed a new Realtor, the one she has doesn’t seem interested in her home and has been avoiding her!

Protect the investment!

I wasn’t sure what to make of this.  I listened for a while and told her I would look up her property and see if we could improve on the marketing being done by her present Realtor.

After getting off the phone I went to the Nashville are MLS and put in the property address.

“No Listing”, came back.  Next I did a thorough property search on her address and all that turned up was the previous listing when she had bought the property in 2006.  No other listing had taken place, no “Withdrawns” or “Expireds” were to be found either?

Now I was really interested.  I looked up the agent in our MLS roster, “No Listing”.

Bingo. The home seller had been hoodwinked.  Thinking she was signing up with a Realtor, she had instead signed a long term contract for exclusive marketing of her home for months with someone who had no access to the MLS Listing service, no website and apparently, no other listings!

The entire marketing effort for the past 90 days was simply a crude sign at the end of her street with a pointer, and a sign in her front yard.

Non- Realtor agents do exist. They just have to pass the Tennessee Real Estate Commissions test and just like that they are legal to assist in the buying and selling of property. However; there are many limitations , mainly to the people they work with.

Such  as:

1. Only Realtors can list your home on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Here in Nashville we have the Middle Tennessee Multiple Listing Service or MTRMLS.  That is reserved for Realtors in good standing.

2. Only Realtors have a Code of Ethics.  While the state of Tennessee maintains a set of codes for Real Estate Agents and Brokers, the Realtor Code is much more stringent and demands obeyance.

3. Only Realtors have access to the Sentri-Lock system. This is the most effective and safe way to co-ordinate the showings of your home. Only Realtors have access to them and each access is electronically recorded and Time Stamped.

4.  Only Realtors have the right to use that word Realtor.  It is trade marked.  If you are approached by someone to list your home or help you find a home, make sure they are a Licensed Realtor. Ask them for their National Assoc. of Realtors ID #.  Then call your local Chapter ( Greater Nashville Assoc. of Realtors, GNAR )and verify their standing.

If my caller today had known to do this, she might have already sold her home and be in that new home she is dreaming about by now.

I’m going to call her back now and ask her to bring over her contract to see if there is anything we can do to help her.  If her agent mis-repesented himself, she might be able to withdraw from the contract, but she has still missed valuable time on the market.

How did this happen?  On one hand we Nashville area Realtors need to make more information known about the advantages we offer. On the other hand Nashville area home buyers and Nashville area home sellers need to be more demanding when they interview agents.  Your home may be the largest investment you own,  don’t trust it to anyone but a professional.