Sharon Roark's Blog: Market News

Forbes Magazine has named Lexington, Kentucky the fifth-best in its list of top 10 “Top College Sports Towns” in its February edition. 

The criteria included what the Forbes called “quality of life measures” such as housing costs versus median income, public school quality, crime and the availability and value of real estate in Lexington, KY.

Here’s what Forbes Magazine had to say about Lexington:

"If you like basketball and horse racing, there's no betterplace in the world to live than Lexington, Ky. Besides the university's hoops team and the tracks around the city, there is quality affordable housing to be found. A four-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot home costs just $234,500, while median earners make $45,622 a year."

Ann Arbor, Mich., home to the…

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I'm proud to announce that effective this week, I am now a member of the Keller Williams Bluegrass family, which is part of the national franchise of Keller Williams Realty.

Many items factored in to my decision to join Keller Williams, not the least of which is their impressive market share (number 2 in Lexington, KY real estate and quickly gaining on number 1) and the incomparable training and support they offer. Another factor was their size -- they're one of the larger offices in the Lexington area, which gives me as your agent more opportunities to network with other agents who may have clients who would like to see your home/property. I've only been at my new office a few days, but already I'm impressed with the "get it done" attitude of the support…

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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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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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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

 

 

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