Wakefield Reutlinger Realtors

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REAL ESTATE
Wakeeld Reutlinger Realtors, a Berkshire Hathaway Aliate

TESTIMONIAL
Our Wakefield
Reutlinger realtor
went above and
beyond in helping us
buy our first house!
- Emily & Vincent

Louisville is the
Place to Visit
The Huffington Post has put
the world on notice that
Louisville is the place to
visit. Some of the reasons
include: Old Louisville and
its thousands of historic
homes; Louisville Slugger
Museum; Louisville Cards
basketball games; the
University of Louisvilles
beautiful grounds; the Kentucky Derby; the Bourbon
Trail tour; antiques; and the
Muhammad Ali Center.

ALL THE WAY HOME...425-0225

4th Quarter 2014

Sluggish Real Estate Market Continues

The housing market continued its sluggish pace during
2014 with national resales in September up 2.4%
over August but 1.7% below September of last
year. Consumers continue to be stuck between tight
credit
standards
and
limited
wage
growth. However, a recent decline in mortgage rates
should help support sales. The decline reflected a
drop in U. S. Treasury yields against a backdrop of
troubling economic news from overseas.
Tight mortgage lending standards continue to drastically
curtail new-home sales and are causing a growing
number of deals to be lost, according to a survey by
the National Association of Home Builders.
First-time buyers remained on the sidelines, accounting for 29% of sales for a third straight month, below
the 40% to 45% that is considered ideal by economists
and real estate professionals.
Investors, who had supported the market, have been
withdrawing. They accounted for only 14% of
transactions last month, down from 19% in September
of last year.
Inventory is improving, thus moderating price gains.
However, it generally falls heading into the winter
months.

Louisville Real
September Unit Sales of Single Family Residential and Condo

Units Sold January 1 Sept. 30

Locally, existing home sales

were down 12.7% in September versus September of
2013.
Year-to-date sales
were down 3.9% compared
to last year while prices
were up slightly.
Inventory in the Greater Louisville area is still relatively
tight with 9.3% fewer
homes for sale than this time
last year.
Fannie Mae's Chief Economist Doug Duncan believes
that "The results of the past few months show that
consumer optimism remains cautious, and we'll likely
continue to see bumps on the housing recovery path."
As a further concern, the Fed just announced it would
end its monthly purchases of Treasury bonds and
mortgage-backed securities which have supported
U.S. economic growth since the 2008 financial crises.
It will, however, keep its benchmark federal funds
rate near zero for a considerable time after the end
of the bond buying because while the job market is
strengthening it is still not back to normal.

Estate

U P D A TE

Month at a
glance

Sept
2012

Sept
2013

Sept
2014

Houses Sold

1030

1373

1198

Avg. Selling Price

$171,115

$179,204

$184,160

YTD Sales by
Price Range

1/1-9/30
2013

1/1-9/30
2014

% Change

Up to $150,000

5,991

5,646

-5.8%

$150,000-$299,999

4,029

3,869

-4.0%

$300,000-$499,999

1,103

1,117

+1.3%

$500,000-$999,999

285

329

+15.4%

$1,000,000 +

28

26

-7.1%

Total

11,436

10,987

-3.9%

P age 2

THE NAKED TRUTH ABOUT THIS PECULIAR NICHE

Jackie Youngblood strips it down for her clients in a surprising market: nudist communities. By Graham Wood
When Jackie Youngblood meets new clients,
she makes sure to maintain eye contact because
if she looks down, shell get an eyeful. Chances
are her clients arent wearing any clothes.
A lot of times, my clients are nude when I pick
them up for an appointment, Youngblood
says. Or theyll ask if they can take their
clothes off and see what it would really be like
to live in a home. I say, Sure! (Of course,
that's after Youngblood has gotten permission
from the sellers.)
Some might think Youngbloods business is
kind of funny, but theres no funny business
happening here. Youngblood, an agent with
Keller Williams Tampa Properties in Tampa,
Fla., is working a peculiar niche: nudist real
estate. Nearby Pasco County is known as the
nudist capital of North America because of its
12 or so clothing-optional resorts, and
Youngblood has become a go-to agent for nudists
looking to buy and live in communities with
like-minded people.
Nudist communities are typically gated, resortlike neighborhoods where the clothes come off

only within the communitys parameters.

Youngblood sells in high-end communities that
often feature a clubhouse, tennis courts, volleyball courts, pools, and outdoor bars. One,
called The Woods, is a high-end RV community.
Its just such a big business, the nudist lifestyle,
says Youngblood, who is a nudist herself along
with her husband. There are people from their
late 20s and early 30s right on up to 85 and 90
years old.

Just how big is the nudist niche? Well, in the

first six months of this year, Youngblood sold
22 properties at prices ranging from $135,000
to $800,000. Though Youngblood does sell to
textiles an affectionate term for nonnudists
she estimates that nudist clients make up 85
percent to 90 percent of her business. Most are
either purchasing a second home or retiring in
the community, she says.
Many are buying in cash, Youngblood adds.
Most of them are businesspeople who have
watched their money over the years and
when they want something, they get it.
Nudist real estate has become so popular in the
area that its even caught the attention of television
network TLC. In October 2013, Youngblood
signed on to have her work life filmed as she
shows properties to clients who are very
much in the buff during the showings. The
show, Buying Naked, which airs on TLC at
11 p.m. on Saturdays, chronicles Youngblood
as she helps nudist couples hunting for the perfect
home in clothing-optional communities.

Why You Need a

Survey

Whether you buy a house, commercial

building, or condo, your legal 4tle to the
ownership of that property is a DEED. It is
registered in the county court house for all
to see and examine. The primary purpose of
the deed is to dene the metes and bounds
of your property so that you and your neighbors
know exactly where your propertys
boundaries are. Simple, right?
Lets make it more complicated. The survey
that accompanies your deed has lots of other
informa4on on it that can make a huge
impact on your propertys usage. U4lity
easements! Zoning! Fence lines! Building
lines! Height restric4ons! Subdivision codes
and building restric4ons! Historical designa4on!
Future highway expansion and right of ways!
These are just a few of the many issues that
can crop up when you are purchasing your
home.
Is your driveway exactly as shown on the
original survey? Is your garage over the
building limit line? Or worse, is it on your
neighbors property?
A LOCAL SURVEYOR RECENTLY TOLD OUR
AGENTS THAT HE FINDS SIGNIFICANT
PROBLEMS ON ABOUT 40 TO 50% OF THE
SURVEYS HE DOES IN JEFFERSON AND
SURROUNDING COUNTIES.
Unfortunately, only about 10% of all buyers
are willing to pay another $350-400 for a
survey when they buy a house.
When you buy a house, you must remember
that you are buying land and all improvements (thats the house.) Without a current
survey, you cannot be sure that your deed

matches the current condi4on of the land.

TITLE INSURANCE WILL ONLY GUARANTEE
PROPERTY BOUNDARY DISPUTES IF YOU
HAVE A PROFESSIONAL SURVEY DONE
CONCURRENTLY WITH THE TITLE TRANSFER.
That bears repea4ng. If you dont have a
survey done when you buy property, your
expensive 4tle insurance will only cover
the chain of ownership and encumbrances
---not the boundaries.
So you wonder why the na4ves were willing
to accept 24 beads for Manha1an Island? As
far as they were concerned they were trading
away nothing! They didnt own it in the rst
place.
Moral of the story: ALWAYS GET A SURVEY!
Surveyors joke of the day: My client wanted a
complete title search all the way back to its
original owner. I told him that would be
God, and our records dont go back that far.

By George Owen

The original Americans watched in amazement

as the rst European se1lers began to stake
o sec4ons of land and designate specic
individuals as the propertys owner. The
concept of land ownership eluded and confused
the tribesmen. They scoed at the idea that
a man could own land. The Great Spirit owns
the land, according to Na4ve American customs.
He gives us the land to hunt, grow crops,
and pitch our teepees upon.
Not that these First Americans werent
somewhat possessive of hun4ng rights. The
name of our state comes from a Na4ve
American word meaning dark and bloody
ground. Many lives were lost when one
tribe ventured into another tribes back yard
to nd game. Poaching and land disputes
were the most common causes of tribal wars
long before our European ancestors started surveying plots and laying out townships.
For the European se1lers part, they mostly came from countries where land barons
owned everything that they could protect
with their personal mili4as. One great
a1rac4on to the New World was that former
serfs, tenant farmers, and indentured servants
could actually own a piece of property when
they got to America. That was their goal: to
have a piece of land to call their own.
Consequently, America began a system of
organized growth by ins4tu4ng standards
used by surveyors that s4ll exists today.

P age 3

Real Estate Insider

Education Thwarting Homeownership For

Younger Households
Was it worth it? That may be the question being
asked by about 5.9 million households
between the ages of 20 to 40 who incurred
student college loan debt and are still paying it
down today to the tune of about $250 or more
each month.
A new study reveals the impact of student college
loan debt on the housing market. According to
the report by John Burns Consulting, an Irvine,
California-based -irm, 414,000 home sales
won't happen because of high levels of student
debt and the monthly-payback burden.
This, says the report, amounts to 8 percent of
all sales and will economically hurt the housing
industry by an estimated $83 billion a year.
The study also reports that the hundreds of
dollars paid toward student debt monthly
causes the purchasing power of the hopeful
borrowers to drop by $44,000.
In an interesting twist from the normal trend,
college grads (with perhaps higher salaries)
are not embracing homeownership whereas
those who never went to college might be inclined to seek homeownership.
The under-age-40 group as a whole is less
likely to have a mortgage if they have student
loans. But in that same age group, if they never
went to college, owning a home is more likely
than those who are strapped by having to still
make college loan repayments.
Another reason this group might not be as
eager to take on a mortgage is because many
of them want to live and work and be
rewarded with experiences rather than with
materialistic things.
However, buying a home at a younger age can
prove to be very bene-icial. There are a number
of reasons why. Let's explore some.

Homeownership provides you with not only

a place to live but a place to rent out for
income if you choose to move. It creates an
opportunity for you to gain equity while
your renters help pay down your mortgage.
This allows you to travel and still experience
life, provided you don't overpay for your
home and you put down a healthy down
payment.
Homeownership gives you the opportunity
to make the changes you want to your home.
It's a space of your own and, yes, that also
means that you won't be calling the landlord
to -ix the washer. But if you plan wisely and
have a reserve maintenance interest-earning
account that you contribute to each month,
you'll likely -ind that your repairs won't
deplete it each year; depending on how
much you contribute. Also, be sure to get a
home inspection so that you know exactly
what the condition of the home is that you're
purchasing.
Right now, we're still experiencing good low
interest rates and many areas have affordable
homes. These two factors are critical and
highly appealing as they make getting into
homeownership easier.
If you're planning to stay put in a home for
several years, homeownership may be the
best way to go as you will be building equity
as opposed to simply renting and paying
down someone else's mortgage.
But, of course, with that student loan debt,
you may -ind it a bit harder to break into the
housing market. So scrimp a little to save,
work to earn more, and keep your eye on the
housing market so that you can someday be
a homeowner, if that's the path for you.
by Phoebe Chongchua

6 Design Trends You'll See More Of

What home-design trends will likely catch on in new construction?

Private space
Baby boomers, empty nesters, and Gen Yers are showing a preference
for homes that have more private outdoor spaces, straying from the traditional "public" backyard, according to surveys. One way some builders
are fulfilling this desire is by positioning the home's architecture strategically around the outdoor space to enclose it more and allow it to be more
open to the interior living spaces. They also are creating more covered
outdoor spaces.

Larger television sizes are prompting more builders to realize the need
for greater wall space to hang the televisions and larger entertainment
rooms to accommodate more seating.

Larger Garage Spaces

If home owners had their way, garages wouldn't be just for parking the
cars. More home owners want spaces for hobbies and storage, and builders
are taking notice by creating larger garages for multi-use purposes.

Home Offices

An office and den space is becoming a bigger desire among home buyers,
and the location of it in the home is becoming increasingly important.
Besides being a place for cooking, the kitchen is also the entertain- Placing the home office off the entry is no longer considered the most
ment/conversation area in a home. Open-kitchen layouts have continued practical location for it, but builders are experimenting with moving it
to grow in popularity, putting kitchens more front-and-center and visibly closer to the "living" area, such as off the kitchen or the family room.
exposed to other areas of the house. Kitchen islands are offering extra Two Homes in One
seating and prep space while larger pantries are offering greater storage.
As multigenerational living gains popularity, builders are responding
"As the hub, it becomes a consumer's dream to design these elements
by carving out more separate spaces for several generations to live
together with function, practicality, and flair," the designers say.
together. For example, some builders are offering semi-independent

The S
"uper Kitchen"

Bigger Media Hubs

suites with separate entries, bathrooms, and kitchenettes.

More home owners are looking for a place for their large flat-screen television. Source: BUILDER Online (Sept. 5, 2014)

Kristen English, REALTOR

For over 10 years, Kristin has had the privilege of helping Louisville residents and those
relocating to Louisville manage the home buying and selling process, working closely with
them to make it seamless and stress free.
Kristin first started in real estate in the mid-1980s, but has been surrounded by it for most of
her life. Her mother is a retired real estate agent, her husband sells commercial real estate, and her aunt
owns an appraisal business. Seeing all sides of the real estate spectrum has enabled her to be a thorough
agent and establish long lasting relationships.
Whether youre a first time home buyer, looking to expand, or are ready to downsize, call Kristin, she will
work with you to find the perfect solution that fits your needs.

502-417-8008

kenglish@WRrealtors.com

6511 Glenridge Park Place, Ste. 10

Louisville, KY 40222
WRrealtors.com

Interest Rates
Fixed 30 Year
Fixed 15 Year
Fixed FHA 30 Year
Fixed 30 Year Jumbo

4.000 %
3.125 %
3.375 %
4.250 %

*as of Oct. 29, 2014- restrictions apply.

This is not intended to solicit a currently listed property.
Information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

3 Tricks for Finding the

Perfect Asking Price
Determining the perfect asking price involves
psychological reasons as much as practical
reasons, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Are You Asking Too Much?
When you set a list price, youre sending a
signal to the market, says Michael Seiler,
professor of real estate and finance at The
College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
But pricing a home can be a delicate balance,
says Mike McCann, a real estate professional
with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Fox
& Roach in Philadelphia. You have to balance
the comparables with sellers unrealistic
expectations about what their home is really
worth. Sellers often want to price a home
higher than what the market can bear. On the
other hand, some sellers or agents may be

tempted to set the asking price low

in the hopes of generating a buyer
frenzy and quick sale.
What strategy works? Research
offers a few insights into setting
the right asking price.
Getting too precise means you
wont budge.
Pricing research suggests that setting an exact asking price such as $795,475
sends the message to buyers that the price is
less negotiable than, say, a round number like
$800,000. Those using precise pricing show
confidence in the price, Seiler says.
The number nine can be a big influence.
Pricing a property at $499,900 rather than
$500,000 can subconsciously influence a home
buyer. The home seems way cheaper, Seiler
says. Even if the home winds up selling above
the asking price, the buyer will feel like they
got a great deal with the initial lower asking

price, Seiler says. The goal

is to make it stick in their
head that youre getting a
bargain, Seiler says. Its
the way our brain looks at
numbers.
Going low doesn't always
mean a higher selling
price.
While setting a lower asking price may
generate a frenzy of offers, it wont necessarily
translate into a higher sales price. It creates a
havoc that doesn't serve anyone well," Rebecca
Walter, a real estate professional with Redfin
in Portland, Ore., told The Wall Street Journal.
The lower price wont necessarily increase
what a buyer will offer, since some buyers
may compete in other ways, like paying in all
cash or waiving the inspection to produce a
quicker sale, Walter says.
Source: Strategies for Setting a Price for Your Home,
The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 21, 2014)