How is the real esate market in Knoxville? (real estate, housing)

[sliverbox]

I never said that the rest of the country is california. I was making a comparison. capeche?

[hoosier07]

That's ridiculous paying 50% of the income in mortgage payment. I could not survive like that. I believe a healthy number should not be more than 30%. Any realtors to give a professional feedback ?

[hoosier07]

Or Loan Specialist ?
Or Bank Manager ?

No "house flippers" please !!! he..he..he...

[mbmouse]

You are correct, 30% is the target debt to income ratio when shopping for a mortgage.

[sliverbox]

I was always told to never pay more than 30% of my income on a mortgage. Yet I know MANY people around here in CA paying at least 50%, if not more. Buying a house out here has a totally different meaning as first time buyers are usually a lot older and paying off a home is often not the realistic outcome. Most I know out here continuously move and sell their houses in up and down markets because they view their homes like stocks. Sell when high, buy when low, etc etc. I've always found the housing market and attitude people have towards houses here to be ridiculous.

[Knox]

From what I've seen the Downtown area is booming. However, with the reroute of I-40 through downtown quickly approaching, I don't know how "desirable" it'll become. Just something to think about.

[suzycue]

Originally Posted by suzycue

I was just in Knoxville for Memorial weekend and I can tell you prices there are getting high, but they are still reasonable to me since I compare them to Florida prices...I looked into several areas…West Knoxville…Dante Court area , we saw a Brand New constructed home 4 + bedroom and 3 bathroom, like 2,500+ sq ft for $217,000, this is around the Powell area; then around Farragut area (south of Knoxville) we found the most expensive homes to be, but this is because these are located in the upper mountains and some near the lake and the views are amazing….rich people , I guess live here…then we went North of Knoxville (Washington Pike and Roberts Rd.) here we found lot’s of new construction and pretty affordable homes within $150,000 and up prices…Maryville is a bit more mix in price…you see cheap and expensive, depending on what area…I guess it would depend if you want to live up in the mountains area or other…..I just wonder what it will be like in a year or two from now…I am going to sell my home in Miami, but I am going to rent for a least a year when I move to Knoxville until I get familiar with the area…there is a lot of areas to choose from to live so, I’d rather continue my research while I live there before I buy…Also, I am pretty sure that near the Cedar Bluff area is pretty expensive too since it is an area where a lot of corporations are….theses are my observations….. hope this helps you…

I finally developed the pictures of the homes we saw in this area..see my post above...Hopefully I have uploaded these pictures correctly
We just drove certain areas and checked out some prices ..the real estate market is pretty stable now (comparing to Miami) but I am not sure what will happen when we are ready to buy???

[sliverbox]

I finally developed the pictures of the homes we saw in this area..see my post above...Hopefully I have uploaded these pictures correctly
We just drove certain areas and checked out some prices ..the real estate market is pretty stable now (comparing to Miami) but I am not sure what will happen when we are ready to buy???

I guess what I'd like to tell people is to not panic about the housing. There are many things that could potentially swing prices in your favor depending on what side of the fence you're on. For starters, the housing market is down. The states that seem to have the highest percentage moving the south are also tanking the worst: FL, NY, MA, CT, CA, etc etc are all having double-digit declines in sales and depreciation. That means less people will move here, which means less pressure on prices. Sales in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis are all down. Not by a huge amount, but still down.

I get this feeling that many from FL, NY, CA, etc have already been through a housing bubble and have a huge fear of being priced out. Trust me- if everyone panics and rushes in, then that very well could happen.But the thing is that the ceiling as far as prices is a lot lower in Knoxville. 200k is already a bit too high for the area. 250-300k... that will eliminate the primary reason people will want to move there for because the cost savings will be lost.

Basically, I think the Southeast got a small 'nip' of the housing bubble at the very end of the cycle. Now that the rest of the country is falling in their housing markets, it is probably safe to say that prices will probably stay about the same as they are now, if not go down a hair.

[hiknapster]

I agree, Sliverbox. I think the prices started to go up in the past couple of years because people were able to sell their houses and escape from other states. Now that real estate is tanking I don't see those prices going up much anymore. Sure, there are a lot of people wanting to move to Tennessee, but can they sell their house?

[hilly7]

Originally Posted by hoosier07

That's ridiculous paying 50% of the income in mortgage payment. I could not survive like that. I believe a healthy number should not be more than 30%. Any realtors to give a professional feedback ?

I'm not sure but in my mind on a couple both employed 30-50% of only one income, lowest one. I'm not even sure if that would qualify a lot of people to buy a home locally so they might have to go more.
My advice, for what it's worth is don't marry yourself to a house. You MUST HAVE money for a rainy day, money to spend or just blow, even if a little. Divorce rates climb when money is too tight, so does sickness not to mention employers love in debt employees, the deeper the better.
While I'm on my soapbox, don't refinance your car into a house to buy a house. How many 30 year old cars do your see driven as daily drivers?
Buy a smaller house, want bigger then work your way up when you can afford it or add on.