What's the Real Estate Market like there? (house, tax)

[Big TR]

Originally Posted by bnsilly

TR..in your 1st post you said you were renting at McKay Mills? Then later said something about buying...
I was just wondering if you are renting or buying, and if you are renting, what made you make the decision to rent? (lower monthly pmt, etc?)Thanks~

We are renting and bought our place in January. Part of our short sale purchase was the bank paying off the remaining 5 months of the lease term so we could remodel the home before we moved in. (I fully understand that we could have just gotten a cheaper price for the home, but we chose to look at it like a construction loan and buy out our landlord.)


We relocated here in March 2008 and signed a 15 month lease for two reasons:

1. Both me and my wife think relocating to a new area and instantly buying a house is a terrible decision.
2. We wanted to get our son through his first year of school without having the possibility of having to relocate during the school year.

I'll expound on #1 a bit. I'm assuming that you are in our situation and don't know anybody in Nashville. You're picking up roots and moving your family. You've done all the research and think you know where you'll want to settle. So you've got to sell your old house (typically), start or find your new jobs, get the kids settled in school, move all your stuff, etc. Now you're throwing the craziness of trying to buy a home on top of all these life altering things?

Buying a home is a stressful situation in and of itself. Why put the stress of having to love your new home and new neighborhood because it looked the nicest on your 2 day visit to the area and that's where you made the snap decision to buy? Why not lease a place for a year and use that time to take a slower, more realistic look at the towns and subdivisions to see what you really like?

I know having to move twice is a pain in the neck. But it really is only a pain for a couple weeks. Isn't a slight inconvenience for a couple weeks better than being miserable because after 2 years you find out you hate the subdivision you chose. Or even worse you really wish you would have bought a house with a better layout but settled on this one because it was convenient at the time of relocation?

I say it all the time.

Rent first.

Buy later.

[Big TR]

Last post got long and this part is a bit off topic. I thought it was important to note why we did what we did so you can see what we were thinking during the process.

We had no intention of buying a house when I first saw it in October. At the time my son and I were just checking out an open house to see what the subdivision was like. We spent many weekends driving around doing reconnaissance on numerous subdivisions and builders. It just so happened that I loved the house and lot very much. I sent my wife over there during the week to check it out. She loved it too. It was at that point I did a little digging, saw the owners were upside down in the mortgage, knew their listing price was completely and utterly whack, etc. I knew then that this was a gem with some mud on it. The home just needed some polishing and would be a gem again.

The housing market is not going up anytime soon so it's not like you are missing out if you wait until Spring 2010 to buy. Some realtors on here may say that the market is picking up, deals are happening, yada yada. Of course the market is picking up: it's Spring and we just had probably the slowest winter real estate market ever!! Everybody was scared they weren't going to have a job, those who weren't were seeing one of the tightest lending markets in our history, and those who could get financing couldn't sell their home. Business can only go up from there.

Simple logic shows that with extremely tight lending standards and a market still absolutely flooded with homes for sale there's no way values are going to increase anytime soon. You should feel no rush to buy whatsoever.

[bnsilly]

Thanks TR...Hoping to move that way in the future and am looking at all the housing possibilities....
So are you leasing and then buying the same house, or you will have to move?
I am interested in McKays Mills...need to do some more research..
Where is the best site to go to, to find rentals there.
Also, is this one of the developments that has condos as well, or is it all houses? Thanks for any info~

[bnsilly]

Hey TR...
Also, how can I find out if the owners are upside down as you did..
I would love to find an amazing home and be able to offer a bit less than they are asking...thanks for any help..

[user123455]

Originally Posted by Big TR

Last post got long and this part is a bit off topic. I thought it was important to note why we did what we did so you can see what we were thinking during the process.

We had no intention of buying a house when I first saw it in October. At the time my son and I were just checking out an open house to see what the subdivision was like. We spent many weekends driving around doing reconnaissance on numerous subdivisions and builders. It just so happened that I loved the house and lot very much. I sent my wife over there during the week to check it out. She loved it too. It was at that point I did a little digging, saw the owners were upside down in the mortgage, knew their listing price was completely and utterly whack, etc. I knew then that this was a gem with some mud on it. The home just needed some polishing and would be a gem again.

The housing market is not going up anytime soon so it's not like you are missing out if you wait until Spring 2010 to buy. Some realtors on here may say that the market is picking up, deals are happening, yada yada. Of course the market is picking up: it's Spring and we just had probably the slowest winter real estate market ever!! Everybody was scared they weren't going to have a job, those who weren't were seeing one of the tightest lending markets in our history, and those who could get financing couldn't sell their home. Business can only go up from there.

Simple logic shows that with extremely tight lending standards and a market still absolutely flooded with homes for sale there's no way values are going to increase anytime soon. You should feel no rush to buy whatsoever.

Congratulations for your new house !

It sounds great, although we would like to be closer to Nashville.

I agree that in most cases it may be better to wait a while before buying, following a long distance move.

I agree about the market - when inventory is up and sales down, it usually means that prices will continue to decline. I think the main reason is related to the weak job market which is still deteriorating.

[Big TR]

Originally Posted by bnsilly

Thanks TR...Hoping to move that way in the future and am looking at all the housing possibilities....
So are you leasing and then buying the same house, or you will have to move?
I am interested in McKays Mills...need to do some more research..
Where is the best site to go to, to find rentals there.
Also, is this one of the developments that has condos as well, or is it all houses? Thanks for any info~

We did not buy the house we are leasing. We weren't interested in McKay's Mill to own. The houses are too close and overpriced for what they offer, at least in our view.It has some townhomes on the west side of the development, but no condos.

To find a rental, get a realtor. Ours set us up with an email listing showing all the available rentals in the MLS. You'll have tons to pick from. If you want I can PM you my agent's information.

As for finding upside down homes, the most likely sign is seeing a house that seems way overpriced vs. the comps in the area. This is a sign that they refi'd a couple years ago and got some silly inflated value attached to their brain. Now at this point you need the realtor. They can look online and see the mortgages that are on a property and from there you can figure out how bad things are.

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by denawilliams

Unless you're getting data straight from the MLS or tax records, you should be a little careful of sites like trulia and zillow, for example, that give recent sales data or value estimates. While I commend them for giving more data in the hands of consumers, they are not quite there in terms of accuracy overall, that is.

I'm not selling my house yet, but I looked at Zillow anyway to see what it said about my house. And there's numerous errors. From the wrong year of sale and price to the wrong school district. It doesn't give any tax info either. There's incorrect info about the house as well. One of the only things it has correct for my house is the address. So take those sites with a grain of salt.

[bnsilly]

TR-
Yes, if you could pm me your agent's info that would be awesome!
Also, any info you want to share about great areas in and around Franklin to search? Thanks~

[user123455]

Originally Posted by bnsilly

TR-
Yes, if you could pm me your agent's info that would be awesome!
Also, any info you want to share about great areas in and around Franklin to search? Thanks~

I would suggest to look at areas close to Cool Springs mall, as this area has the best shopping, dining and entertainment, as well as being closer to Nashville and I-65.

[user123455]

Originally Posted by ss20ts

I'm not selling my house yet, but I looked at Zillow anyway to see what it said about my house. And there's numerous errors. From the wrong year of sale and price to the wrong school district. It doesn't give any tax info either. There's incorrect info about the house as well. One of the only things it has correct for my house is the address. So take those sites with a grain of salt.

I feel sorry for anyone who is still using zillow.com, which is an awful website. There are much better real estate information sites out there.