ResalesScenic Tennessee Towns Also Have Jobs, Real Estate Buys
From walking horse farmland to mountain views, Tennessee towns offer beautiful scenery along with job and homebuying opportunities for residents and investors, say local Realtors.
Knoxville
"Knoxville is a very pleasant, mid-sized East Tennessee town located near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park," explains Realtor Jim Lee. "The Park received over 10 million annual visitors. With the atomic city of Oak Ridge less than 15 miles away, Knoxville enjoys a symbiotic relationship with her neighbor providing the majority of housing for the Oak Ridge workers.
"Knoxville"s average sales price is $138,000 and that will buy you a nice 3-4 bedroom, 2-3 bath, 2000 square feet home with typically a 2-car garage," advises Lee. "In the nearby bedroom community of Farragut their average sales price is $210,000 and that gets you a very nice 3-4 bedroom, 2400 square feet or more home with a 2 or 3 car garage."
Anticipates Realtor Steve Albin, "Now that the sun will be out more with more daylight time, buyers are everywhere. Now is the time. We looked at several properties this week and, wow, did we buy some great homes. Buyers are really looking for good values in their new purchases. Buyers are also looking for properties that don"t need work (several we looked at needed work) and were priced at the same or priced more that the homes purchased. New home prices are moving up in some areas of Knoxville. Sellers of good properties should not have a hard time selling and getting a fair market price."
Chattanooga
Realtor Jeffrey Criminger, "With the recent ups and downs of the stock market, the investment property market has seen a lot of activity. People selling homes that could be considered investment property are getting very close to asking price. There are still a lot of good deals out there. Appreciation remains steady and time on market averages 45 days with most sellers getting 92 percent to 95 percent of list price. Buyers have a good selection in a broad price range with most bargains in the $275,000 to $350,000 range. A few outstanding buys on lakefront and golf course homes are available now as well as some great buys in the traditional family areas on the mountains (Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain)."
Murfreesboro
Describes Realtor Glenda Victory, "Murfreesboro is the geographic center of the state and has approximately 65,000 residents. When you visit Murfreesboro and Rutherford county you will be in one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S., but you also will find a rich heritage of history. One of the fiercest battles of the Civil War was fought in Murfreesboro. It lasted three days and involved 80,000 soldiers. You can revisit this battle when you visit the Stone"s River Battlefield. You may also visit Cannonsburgh, a step back in history, when you visit this pioneer village. But, with all of it"s history, Murfreesboro/Rutherford County is on the cutting edge of progress with the second largest university in the state located here, Middle Tennessee State University. State Farm has it regional offices here and down the road you will find the Nissan Motor Manufacturing Co., along with several other industries such as Bridgestone, Ingram Distribution, Alvin C. York Medical Center, National Healthcorp, and many more. The walking horse industry is big with nine training facilities with 250-300 horses in training and a breeding facility.
About the market, Victory says, "Until recently we were experiencing a strong buyer"s market but with the interest rate reductions and an influx of relocating buyers, homes on the market have been selling at a rapid rate. Now it looks as if we are in a fairly neutral market with sellers benefiting from a good supply of buyers, but buyers are also still able to negotiate good deals."
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