Recently our daughter, Lindsay, married a grand young man, Patrick. Happily, they’ve started their lives together and immediately wanted to put down roots. After a bit of travel, much research and balancing options like job, climate and the all important access to me, they decided to remain in Knoxville, TN, where they have lived and worked for the last year or so. They’re just over the mountains from us - about 4 hours by car - and that’s great. Of course, not as great as if they had given in to my not-very-subtle requests that they move to Greensboro and buy a house next door.

Why, oh why, would a young couple not want to be next door to me and Mr. Durango? That’s a question for another day.

The point of this already rambling post is that Lindsay & Patrick have been working with a Realtor in Knoxville to whom I am grateful for guiding them so well. Also, this agent has a kicking website. Patrick was so pleased he wrote up props for her on his well read blog.

Understanding that it takes an artist to create but real genius to steal, I’m boosting some of her ideas. (I advised her of such and she said she was cool with it. Thanks, Suzy)

I’m irritated with myself for not having posted more stats before. Not that numbers are the be all and end all of research, but it does give one a framework from which to build.

All that having been written, let’s move on to some data:

Stories about foreclosures are all over the news and have been for a few months now. While Greensboro and surrounding areas in Guilford County haven’t been clobbered as have some other regions of the country (California, Michigan, Florida we pass along our good thoughts for things to improve soon) there have certainly been properties that have been taken back by the lender and put up for sale.

Looking at 2008, below are the number of listings of single family houses that were listed each month*”

Single-family houses listed as foreclosures in Guilford County 2008

*All info is pulled from the Triad MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for Guilford County only, single-family houses.

Well, that’s icky to see.

But the good news is that most of these houses (that is, those listed this year) have SOLD.  When we overlay the properties that have closed (that is, all papers are signed and new owner takes possession) it looks a bit more positive:

Showing foreclousures that have closed. Look at October!

Below, we can see the trend of foreclosures that are now “pending”. which means the seller and buyer have come to agreement on terms and the sale is awaiting final closing.

As you can see, there were few that went under contract during the first months of the year but the number has increased precipitously in the last couple of months:

Adding the number of properties that went under contract each month.

What does all this tell us?

First - There are many, many people who have been through some really rough months. They are more than stats on a chart. And we should all hope that our country never goes through this on the present scale again.

Second - There are many motivated sellers out there. And banks are included in that as they have no motivation to own these houses.

Third - LOTS of buyers are stepping up to take the opportunity to buy.

And keep in mind that these foreclosures are only a small percentage of the houses currently on the market. There are plenty of great buying opportunities out there. Interest rates (hovering below 6% this morning) are good.

Suffice to say that this is a Buyer’s Market like none we’ve seen in decades. No joke. If you have decent credit and the hankering to own a home, start your engines.

If you’re in the Knoxville, TN area and need a Realtor, call Suzy Trotta. And if you see Lindsay & Patrick, newlyweds and new homeowners, tell them to give this ol’ woman a call. I miss them!

Tags: Greensboro foreclosures, Greensboro real estate, Multiple Listing Service, real estate statistics, Triad MLS

It would be easy to believe that no one is buying houses, what with all the horrendous scary disgusting sober news out there. I don’t know what its like in other markets, but the fact is that according to my decidedly unscientific pull of data from the Triad Multiple Listing Service (the database into which all transactions involving Realtors in our area entered) shows that between April 1 - September 30 of this year, nearly 2000 properties closed, just in my city of Greensboro, NC. (Our MLS reaches across the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina which includes several counties and cities.)

Now, for sure that number is lower than for the same time frame of last year - just over 2500 properties - buy there are still people buying homes. And they are getting some good deals. It’s a good time to buy.

Are there down sides to buying now?

That depends, as it always has, on your particular situation. If you have stable income, have a good credit record and won’t be looking to move in under about 2 or three years then it’s a good idea to start looking. This is a historic “buyer’s market” and it won’t always be such.

If you are having trouble paying your car loan, don’t have any savings or wonder every day whether your job will be there when you walk in, then perhaps you need to sit things out until things settle down for you.

But this is not new. These are basic questions a buyer should always ask themselves before getting into home ownership.

So, check your credit (go to this site to get started), check out your bank balance and put some money by for a downpayemnt, and call a Realtor to start looking.

Go on! You don’t have anything to lose. And you may find your next home, just waiting for you.

Tags: Greensboro, Greensboro Realtors, Real estate market, real estate statistics