As a 13 year former employee of FedEx and a seasoned REALTOR I can not believe that FedEx's increase in business because the economy starts a turn results in an increase in home prices. The first sector of FedEx's hiring will obviously be with the part time hub employees, which I am afraid are not a high source of the home purchasing market. The mechanics, Pilots (who purchase in the area), managers and IT folks that are currently employed already posses their homes and these positions will not (in all likelihood) see an increase in hiring for quite some time after any recovery begins. Believe me there is a large curve to where it makes good business sense to pay for over time before you bring on a permanent employee, especially with the benefits FedEx has to offer.

There will be more forecloses in the area, but we will rebound higher in Memphis Real Estate prices than their expected .99% IMHO, but for different reasons than she expects. Read more about Memphis Home Values Here

At the time I stated that there were 23 active listings with only five solds in the last 90-days or so; but I mentioned that may be mis-leading because there were also 10-pending listings which meant the buyers were out writing contracts. Well, good news! They have continued to write contracts and purchase new homes. The temporary slow down was even more temporary in Collierville and more specifically, Halle Plantation.

Lets take a look at the updated numbers:

Currently 17- Active Listings

Currently 1 - Pending listing

From July 1, 2007 to October 11, 2007 there were 13 - Sold listings. In mid-May there was a 6 - month inventory level; now there is just over a 90 - day inventory level. That is great news for Collierville real estate owners and Halle Plantation home owners.

The active listings range from $295,000 with 3-bedrooms and 2.5 baths to $749,000 home with 5- bedrooms and 4.5 baths and over 5500 square feet. The median home for sale currently is right at $440,000 with 4-bedrooms and 4-baths.

To search for Halle Plantation or other Collierville homes for sale, feel free to use our custom IDX. If you own a Halle Plantation home and would like a comprehensive market analysis performed on your home to help you determine an accurate value range we would love to help you.

The Memphis Area Associating of Realtors, Multiple Listing Service was used for the data mentioned. There were no FSBO or "arms length" sales or data used. All information is deemed reliable, but not warranted as of October 12, 2007.

Pending home sales in June increased from the previous month in all four major regions, according to the National Association of REALTORS' (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI).

• The 5 percent monthly gain is the largest since March 2004's
  6.1 percent increase.
• The PHSI in the West increased 8.6 percent to 103.6 but was
  5.5 percent below June 2006.
• The PHSI in the Northeast increased 3.1 percent to 96.0 but is 2.4 percent below June 2006.
• The PHSI in the South increased 4.7 percent to 111.6 but was
  12.7 percent below June 2006.
• The PHSI in the Midwest increased 3.5 percent to 92.5 but was 8.2 percent below June 2006.

"However, it is too early to say if home sales have already passed bottom," said Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist. "Still, major declines in home sales are likely to have occurred already, and further declines, if any, are likely to be modest given the accumulating pent-up demand."

[SOURCES: NAR; Texas Real Estate Research Center]

Founded in June 2005, Signature Building Group is a partnership between Chamberlain & McCreery, Inc. and Compass Pointe Homes, LLC, two of the Mid-South's most respected home builders.

Signature Building Group is building its reputation on quality and value one home at a time by building 14 new homes in 2005 and 89 homes in 2006. Signature Building Group is currently building quality new homes throughout the Memphis area where they offer:

• Innovative Floor Plans/Designs
• Customized Interior & Exterior Finishes
• Creative Financing Packages
• Personalized Customer Service Department
• Local Ownership/Management
  

Here are the current Memphis subdivisions being developed by Signature Building Group:

• Carlyle Place
• Glen Ridge
• Railto Square
• Afton Grove
• Heritage Commons
• Sutton Place
• Cotton Plant
• Whisper Ridge

The Whisper RIdge Subdivision in Memphis Tennessee is a fine expample of a quality built developement by SIgnature Building Group.

Nationwide, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.53, for the week ending June 7th, up from last week's 6.42%. The 30-year FRM has not been higher since the week ending August 10, 2006, when it averaged 6.55 percent. The average for the 15-year FRM this week is 6.22%, up from last weeks 6.12%. One-year “T”ARMs were up at 5.63% and five-year “T”ARMs averaged 6.20% up from last weeks 6.19%.

"Mortgage rates climbed this week owing to market concerns of a tight labor force and wage growth. May's unemployment rate remained at the second lowest level since May 2001 while average hourly earnings rose," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "Additionally, unit labor costs increased 1.8 percent over the first three months of the year, tripling the original estimate, and fueling inflation fears.

Meanwhile, Freddie Mac released a new purchase-transaction only version of its Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index this week which showed a sharp deceleration in house-price appreciation in the first quarter of 2007. As house prices grow less quickly and household incomes rise, the housing market will likely recover from its current slump, but perhaps not before the end of this year."

Everyone needs hobbies, activities and enjoyment in life other than their work, profession or jobs. Of course Katharine and I (Ed Pierce) have five children between the two of us, so there is plenty there to keep us busy. However, we enjoy playing Texas Hold-em in the low limit tournaments, dinning & movies and the like AND competitive BBQ Team competitions like the World Championship, Memphis In May BBQ Festival.

The general concept sounds really off the wall when not familiar with it and even non-entertaining. Having lived in Virginia Beach and moving here to Memphis from L.A. California I can assure you that the "BBQ Bug" can hit anyone from anywhere. I have been associated with a very successful BBQ Team for the last 6-7 years and enjoyed the competitions, camaraderie, learning and of course the socializing. View our BBQ Teams Website HERE.

A few of us on the team recently splintered off of that team and have formed our own BBQ Team (name to be announced). During Memphis In May there are in excess of 100,000 people that visit the grounds which ends up being a very good party. Anyone can get in the park and stroll through and participate in the sponsored tents and so forth; however, you must be on a team or know someone who is to get in to a private tent. And, that is where the FUN is.

We are currently entertaining the idea of a sponsored team (having a corporate entity sponsor the team) and are inviting our friends and family members to join the team. We have received a great response from all. Our team is offering a lower membership dues than most at $250.00 (for now) and are offering a monthly membership payment plan which I know of no other team doing (through PayPal at $21.00 a month).

Here is a small view of Tom Lee Park on the bluffs of the Mississippi River.

If you happen to be in Memphis during Memphis In May or some other BBQ competition, give us a call and stop by and see us for a beverage and a welcome. We'll be relaxing!

With all that said; there is still a demand by the public for open houses and it does work in certain areas. We have one particular area here in Memphis (Midtown) that does very well with open houses, and we Realtors have to "earn" our commission and perform some work from time to time.

Evidently there is quite a demand for listing of open houses because we currently have 156 Open Houses listed for this weekend and it's only Thursday. Those are pretty impressive numbers, considering the majority of the Realtors haven't found out about the resource as of yet.

MAAR is planning on a public "Grand Opening" and advertising blitz this next month with Billboard ads, bus stop advertising, and even Google Adwords and print advertising in the newspaper and Homes for Sale Magazine. Who knows, open houses may become main stream again.

Katharine and I plan on utilizing this new tool when ever feasible!

Looking for an Open House in the Memphis area? Search HERE.

The typical REALTOR is:
-- 51 years old,
-- works 40 hours per week, and
-- had a median income in 2006 of $47,700 ...DOWN from $49,300 in 2004 (which had ALSO gone down from 2002).

Members licensed as brokers earned a median of $73,700 last year, while sales agents earned $34,600.

REALTORS in the business for two years or less earned a median of $15,300, while those with three to five years of experience earned $44,200. For six to 15 years, the median was $64,600, while members in the business for 16 years or longer earned $76,200.

"With rapid member growth in recent years, newcomers - those in the business for two years or less - now account for nearly a quarter of all REALTORS and are diluting median income," noted Paul Bishop, NAR's manager of real estate research.

And where does their business come from?

One fourth of all business is from referrals or repeat business from previous clients, ranging from 7 percent for newcomers up to 41 percent for respondents with at least 16 years of experience.

The median number of transaction sides handled in 2006 was 10, (equivalent to five full transactions). This figure is also DOWN from prior years. In 2004, the median number of transaction sides was 12.

And in 2006, typical residential sales members sold one of their own listings and five of someone else's, while other agents sold four of that member's listings.

For other highlights, see NAR's full press release on the new member profile.

Currently there are 23 active listings in Halle Plantation ranging from $325,000 to $645,000 and 2600 square feet to over 5,000. There have been only five closings registered in the Memphis MLS since February 15th, 2007, but that may be mis-leading.

As I said before, the market picked up just a few months ago (meaning around eight weeks ago) The average days on market in the area is around 87 days. So we really haven't had time to allow the closings to occur to prove our point.

However, let's take a look at a statistic that helps to demonstrate that the market is alive and kicking with energy and enthusiasm. There are currently ten Pending listings in the MLS. That is great. One - that means buyers are out writing contract offers on the properties they want to purchase and Two- there are just at a six month inventory of available homes in the Halle Plantation subdivision; which is NOT an over inventory time frame.

Halle Plantation is less likely to be affected as hard as some other areas in concerns to the sub-prime market. That and the economy (at least the DOW Jones) is picking up, inflation is at bay, unemployment hasn't done anything outrageous, and interest rates are still as low as ever - all equate to favorable conditions.

We will analyze other areas from around the Memphis area to see how different areas are fairing the real estate market at this time.