I posted Are Replacement Windows a Wise Home Improvement? last month with the chart you see below. Today I thought, why not include the whole story for you? Let’s look at the current Home Improvement Costs vs Values.
Please note that I didn’t say it’s a great time to sell. Homes are certainly being sold—almost 1,200 properties have sold in the first two months of the year here in Louisville—it’s just a tougher market to sell right now. The other side of the coin is that it’s a wonderful time to buy.
Perhaps no home improvement project has more perceived value than installing replacement windows in your home. Is this a well-deserved perception? Like most things, the answer is, “It depends.”
The CJ published this article on Friday: Local economics expert: Louisville in good shape to ride out recession. I have to say, "Great job!" Not only is this expert's opinion…
Asbestos is a highly fibrous mineral whose qualities made it one of the most desirable building materials in the 20th century. Manufacturers of asbestos were aware of its potentially harmful components but continued shipping the product anyway. Its main uses were found as insulation, piping, brake lining, flooring, and roofing. Located on the Ohio River, asbestos exposure incidents in Kentucky have mainly occurred as a result of industrial sites.
The Wall St. Journal wrote an article yesterday entitled For Some, It’s Finally Time to Dive Into Housing Market. Of course, they picked an extreme case to use as their example, as the real estate market in Phoenix, Arizona has been extremely volatile over the past decade and a half. I doubt you’ll see a price drop from $340,000 to $220,500 in less than two years in Louisville’s market, but you never know.
Mockingbird Gardens in Louisville’s east end has some of the city’s most prestigious properties. Like nearby Indian Hills, there are some incredible homes here. The age of homes here are newer, more akin to neighborhoods like Beech Spring Farm and Spring Farm, these high-end properties have a great deal of appeal. Close to downtown Mockingbird Gardens offers a lot to buyers looking for luxury homes without heading out towards Prospect and Oldham County.
It’s always interesting to me to see how headlines are formed. Sometimes they convey the true meaning of the article but many times they don’t.
Take this heading from The Wall St. Journal:
(more…)
It seems the popular press today didn’t listen to their parents growing up. I’m sure you’ve heard the instruction, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Apparently, only bad news sells commercial time, newspaper subscriptions, and online ad clicks.
(more…)I started collecting some news links when the site went down so here they are en masse. Get your Louisville Homes Blog news and advice on your iPhone Mortgage rates…
I’m certainly no home improvement specialist myself, but I understand the value to prospective buyers of having a property in tip-top shape. After you read this article, you’ll see benefits when you winterize your Louisville home.
Now, for every Alexis McGee, there are two or three critics who think that we haven’t seen the bottom of this housing downtrend. Who is Alexis McGee you ask? She’s the president of ForeclosureS.com who has access to a great deal of real estate data and she predicts a major rebound for housing in 2008.
Saratoga Woods is another great neighborhood in the southern portion of Louisville’s East End. Just down the road from Stone Lakes, Saratoga Woods has a similar feel with lots of rolling hills and a good variety of homes at just a bit lower price point. This neighborhood began in the early 1990s and quickly built out the subdivision. In some respects, it’s like the Polo Fields with the hills and age of homes but closer in towards Jeffersontown. If you’re looking for a home in the $225k-$325k range, be sure to check out any homes for sale in Saratoga Woods.
Owl Creek is an established and prestigious neighborhood in the heart of Louisville’s East End. This subdivision, located off Dorsey Ln. in Middletown was started about 20 years ago and contains some wonderful, large homes in a scenic setting.
My thanks to a reader who thoughtfully sent this in. The Wall St. Journal does certain things very well. One of them is their “handy-dandy” charts. The other is their in-depth analysis. This time with Shrinking Prices, Rising Delinquencies they only batted .500. This was due in large part to the chart not working properly. That’s OK, we’ll forgive them because this piece wasn’t hidden behind a subscriber log-in.
(more…)