Eric Blackwell's Blog: All Categories

OK, I realize that there are two types of people that read my blog: REALTORS  and People looking for homes in the Louisville area. For the sake of this post only, I'd like to hear comments back from just people looking for homes only and NOT from REALTORS,

Sometimes those of us in the business use terms like IDX, MLS, and map based searching to describe the type of home search we are providing to you online. I'd like to try something different. I have listed below three typical home searches that you can do to find your new home.

Some are more complicated yet fancy.

Some are more simple yet basic and easy to understqand. 

What I'd like you to do is to look at these three searches and leave me your comments about them. And I don;t want to hear from…

So you want a New Home in the Louisville Kentucky area. Where do you start? if you have never built a new home before (or had a new home built for you before...) Then it can be a very frustrating time.

You have a vision of what you want, but how can you bring that vision to reality? How to choose (objectively) the right neighborhood?  All I can tell you is where I would start...

First I'd look at the location...a REALTOR can be of great help here because your new home's value is as much determined by the quality of the other neighborhood homes as it is by the quality of its own construction...Think about that for a minute...

If you build a QUALITY Louisville area new home and it is in a neighborhood of lesser quality homes then YOUR new home's value is…

1031 Exchanges are effective methods of transferring real estate wihout incurring undue capital gains taxes. Sounds great, right? But there's a lot more to it than meets the eye! Miss a deadline or incorrectly put this type of transaction together and you have not only negated any good --you can cost yourself THOUSANDS in taxes as well. 

There is a field guide to putting 1031 transactions together that is FREE and available at the National Association of Realtors site that I have linked below.

One of the REALTORS in our office who specializes in investment property and Tax efficient transactions is Joe "The Real Estate Guy" Hampton.

He has been a long time member of the Kentucky Real Estate Investors Association and has the experience of many 1031…

One of the agents in our office just built a VERY COOL website for people to find private schools in the Louisville Kentucky metro area. His name is Matt Brown and I thought his site and effort were worth noting. His site is LouisvillePrivateSchoolGuide.com . While I have no ownership or connection to the site, he hired another local web developer to create it and I thought they did a pretty darn good job.

Enjoy!

For a real estate investor, nothing is more powerful than information. You'd like to know how much someone owes on a proptery, when it was last sold and MANY other tidbits of info that will help you get the best deal.

Here's a quick place to look up ALL courthouse documents online in Jefferson County. It is jeffersonCountyClerk.org. Go to the "Online Land Records" section and you can look up ALL court documents quickly and easily!

It is a great resource for the investor and a good tool! I will post here more about what you can do with this tool--like looking up default notices--(hint , hint!) in my next post.

In my opinion, our county clerk has done a GREAT job of making real estate research easier and more efficient!

OK, so you are going to use a REALTOR that will list your home on BOTH Louisville and Southern Indiana MLSs. And you are going to ask up front what your REALTOR is going to do to market your home.

Here are some other tips to get great exposure:

Have as many pictures taken of your house as possible! (currently both boards will support up to 20 pictures of your house. This is IMPORTANT! Our internal studies have shown that potential buyers OFTEN ask for more photos BEFORE physically going to look at your house.

In fact, the Louisville MLS averages about 4 photos per house listing, yet the average of  the number of photos where people requested showings on our site was 9 photos! If that doesn't make you want to provide the potential buyers with a GOOD look…

So you are thinking of selling your southern indiana home? Maybe you are moving out of the area? Perhaps you have been transferred to a new location?

Whether yout needs are to get TOP dollar for your home or to get your home sold quickly in a buyer's market, there are three things that will help you get there: EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE! (and you thought real estate was all about location, right?)

When you sell, you can't really affect the location of your home, but you CAN get the MOST exposure. Here are 3 tips to get the MOST:

Even though your home is in Indiana, make sure it is listed with an agent who is also licensed AND is a member of Louisville's Board of REALTORS. Why? Because then it will be listed on MANY websites that attract visitors who…

by Guest Author Ryan Ward, Classic Atlanta Properties

According to the National Association of REALTORS, approximately 13% of homes that were sold in 2005, were sold by owner. The most common reasons people elect to try to sell their own home are a desire to save equity that would otherwise be paid in commission. A previous bad experience with a real estate agent or broker. and finally the idea that a professional, full time Realtor® is not needed for them to sell their home

The home selling process is more complex than having a for sale sign placed in your yard. Partnering with a Realtor®, such as myself, will save money, time, risk and dramatically increase exposure of your home to potential home buyers. Here are the most significant reason to…