Sharon Roark's Blog: All Categories

If you're thinking of selling your home, you may be pondering some fast fix-ups to help your home compete in this tough marketplace. But which improvements will give you the most bang for your buck and which will likely have you investing more than you could ever possibly recoup?

Well, some of this depends, of course, on the price-range of your home. One of the things you'll want to keep in mind is that when it comes to improving your home to get it sold, the name of the game is "keeping up with the Jones" but not outdoing the Jones. So if everyone in your price range has laminate countertops, installing granite may be overdoing it unless you can figure out a very affordable way to get the job done. And that's the focus of this post -- how to make some…

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There are many prognosticators making predictions about what 2009 will bring to the housing market; some predict good things, other predict bad things and a few think real estate in markets like Lexington KY will begin to see a recovery while the harder-hit markets will continue to flounder.

While I don't claim to be able to read tea leaves, I am looking optimistically ahead to the new year and have put together some thoughts on what I hope occurs this year that I think will help get the housing market headed in the right direction.

So, without further ado, here are my hopes for 2009:

I hope interet rates stay low. Whether you're looking at homes for sale in Lexington, KY or in Miami, FL, low rates are certainly an incentive to buy a home. I wish there…

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There are many real estate agents in the Lexington KY real estate market and many of them are good at what they do. Why, then, should you choose me as your realtor when you have so many options when buying or selling a home?

I'm a lifelong Central Kentucky resident. I've lived in Lawrenceburg, Frankfort, Richmond and Lexington and spent a good deal of time in Georgetown, Nicholasville, Paris and Versailles, so I know this market very well. I know the benefits of one city over another and the drawbacks of most areas. When you work with me in finding a home, I make sure you're fully informed of the pluses and minuses regarding each area and specific houses in those areas. Only through helping buyers make informed decisions can I earn their referral business…

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I still get this question on occasion, so I thought I'd address it in a blog post but yes, in case you're wondering, now is a great time to buy real estate in most markets. Why? Well, let me tell you...

Mortgage rates are the lowest they've been since 1971. After the Fed cut interest rates to their lowest level in history last week, mortgage rates responded by falling to their lowest levels in decades. If you're looking at Lexington, Kentucky real estate for sale, you'll find area interest rates in currently range between %5.25 and %5.50 on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage and loan officers I've consulted say they expect rates to stay low for the immediate future.

With rates at this level, the amount of house you can buy for the same payment increases,…

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I love what I do. Not only do I get to help families make one of the biggest decisions of their lives by helping them find the perfect home for them, but I also get to help sellers who may have been struggling for months (or even years!) to get their homes sold by helping them "stage" their houses to appeal to the widest array of buyers.

Case in point: my most recent listing is a house that had been on and off the market for 2 years. The owners, who lived a little over an hour away, had purchased the home for their kids to live in while they attended UK to save on housing costs (and make a good investment). The problem was, once the kids all graduated, the housing market started tightening up and no matter how many realtors they tried, they simply weren't…

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Home staging has helped sell another home quickly, this time in Frankfort KY. This lovely home (pictured below) in Two Creeks subdivision sold in just 3 weeks -- in an area where homes are routinely sitting on the market for up to a year or more.

There's no doubt that proper pricing played a role in this sale (as it does in all home sales) but the hard work my client and I did staging the home to ensure it appealed to the widest array of buyers helped it sell in a matter of weeks. Removing some of the furniture, cleaning out and organizing the panty, placing attractive accessories on the kitchen counters -- these are just a few of the extra steps I worked with my clients on that paid off in a big way in a very short time

If you or someone you know is…

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1. Mortgage Rates are still at historic lows.
 

While mortgage rates were already trending downward before mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in government conservatorship, but after the announcement about the companies' government takeover, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell by 0.42 percentage point, the biggest weekly drop in more than 28 years.

Despite the appeal of the lower rates, it can be more difficult to obtain a mortgage, with banks less willing to take risks on loans these days. Only borrowers with excellent credit will qualify for the lowest rates. However, for potential homebuyers who do qualify, these lower rates could mean significant savings on monthly mortgage payments.

What can you do if you don't have good…

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Have you been wondering how real estate in Lexington KY is selling? Below is a breakdown of single family home sales for September, 2008 broken down by area (section of town). For more market statistics and information about home sales in Georgetown KY, Lawrenceburg KY, Nicholasville KY, Paris KY, Winchester KY or Versailles KY, visit my website at www.LexingtonRealEstateSource.com.

 

Market Statistics Report

 

 

  Fayette County NW 1      Residential            2- Bedrooms          3 Bedrooms … Read Full Post