How's the real estate market in the Tri-Cities??? (Kingsport, Bristol: days on market, fit in)

[In the Pines]

Hoping to relocate from coastal South Carolina to the VA/TN area around Bristol and would like some local opinions/facts on the real estate market. Are prices dropping, stable, increasing? How about demand for housing? What is the "hot" price range and what price ranges are slower and therefore open to more negotiation?

Our market is great for first time buyers but we are selling a "move-up" home in a market where builders have gone bankrupt and are flooding the market with cheap homes. It's been a long rode for us but stay optimistic about selling.

Any info is appreciated. Thanks! Oh - what about jobs, have any companies announced they will be opening in the area or are jobs scarce? We already have employment so aren't looking at jobs in the area but the job market affects the housing market...

Thanks!

[Ted Bear]

i have been through the tri cities housing market from a-z. What would you like to know?

There are a ton of 2 story colonials which have been built in development settings over the last 20 years. They list for 200 to 500, but you can just about name your price if the seller is desperate enough. There are NO buyers for all of these homes.

Condos are the same story. I was recently at an auction, only one-half of the units sold at prices which were 30% below market.

Lots are available everywhere. Just be careful cause builders/developers are changing their 'direction' for many projects. Some are putting up tract homes in place of custom stuff.

Low end....tons available....100K or less...just make a bid.

What else would you like to know?

[In the Pines]

We're looking for unique older homes or homes on a bit of land. We don't need to be too close to "town" and would consider a home in a place like Damascus, etc.

Our current home is in the $250K - $300K range and are looking to stay under the $250k mark on the new home so as to be able to afford livestock, equipment, or re-do an older home in need of TLC.

We absolutely do not want a tract home. The only subdivision we have seen that we even somewhat liked was FoxFire in Abingdon.

Sounds like the market isn't great there. I have noticed that prices aren't dropping a lot on homes in Abingdon even though they are sitting on the market. Maybe the deals come once you start negotiating???

[kamoshika]

The local housing market seems to be a little stagnant, but it's still considerably better than many parts of the country so home prices have been relatively resilient. We don't now and probably never will have a lot of volatility in home prices.

Looking at price appreciation from 3Q 2008 through 3Q 2009, we ranked 42 nationally (out of 297 MSAs) per this index:
Federal Housing Finance Agency - City HPI Data

You can compare price trends between the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA MSA and your MSA here:
Federal Housing Finance Agency - City HPI Data

FWIW, the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA MSA encompasses Sullivan County, TN; Hawkins County, TN; Scott County, VA; Washington County, VA (including Abingdon); and Bristol, VA.

[mbmouse]

I agree with Kamoshika. I have to say I respectfully disagree with Ted on one thing especialy...where are "tons" of homes under 100k? I looked up the MLS, there are only a very few that fit into the description the OP is requesting. (mostly mobile homes in that price range)
In the Pines, if you are looking for an older home that might need a bit of TLC/updating to fit your needs/wants, with breathing room and have a budget up to 250k, you should have quite a few to choose from. I think you can find something like what you are looking for closer to 175k-200k. But from talking with and knowing quite a few Realtors in the area, I can say that what houses are listed for is not far off from what they are selling for. Sure, some sell for 3k, 5k, even 7k or 8k less than listed, but 20k less than listed price is not a realistic hope. Now if you happen to find a property that an investor from some other far away state bought, speculating that it would triple in value over 2 years and have been renting it out but now have it for sale, than yea, you might get one heck of a deal.

[jchometeam]

I agree that the concept of "make a bid" and "name your price" are not realistic here. Typically our purchase price averages around 97% of the listing price. Exceptions to this might condos, but not significantly lower than this. We are instead just seeing longer days on market.

[In the Pines]

Thanks for the info! Charleston has been named one of the best real estate markets over the past few years but, having seen it at it's bubbly best, it seems slow to me. I remember a friend from church telling me her house appraised for $100K more than she bought it for two years earlier. It was a bit wild here for a while! Fortunately, we purchased our home before the bubble. I can only imagine the chaos in areas like FL or AZ where the bubble burst hard.

We just need a buyer who can qualify for a larger mortgage - most of the buyers here in this market are in the first time price range now. The move-up market seems pretty bleak. I hope and pray I am wrong. Wish me luck in selling and thanks for the info!

[mbmouse]

For years (before, during and just after the "Mess") I had to watch the Real Estate market on both a local and national level very closely for work. We really did not have a "bubble" here in the TN valley region to bust. It has pretty much been on the same slow and steady track or equity growth for the past 20 years or so (according to my past reasurch...only been here for 13 years ). It has slowed some as far as days on the market and that is directly due to the buyers pool being cut down to only a few because lenders are just not lending money for mortgages unless you fit into government backed mortgage criteria. We really have not had a decline in property value, an increase if anything, albeit small.
I do wish you all the luck in selling your home though!

[williboy]

The market appears to be very stagnant, I've noticed many homes that have been sitting on the market for a very long time. Try to find out what the seller was originally asking and how long it's been on the market.

[donsabi]

Here in Kingsport I have several neighbors who have had their homes on the market for as long as four years. My closest neighbor told me that no one has even looked at her house in over a year.
These homes were all built about 5-7 years ago.
Local TV news says there is a lot of young people leaving the area because of the declining job market.