Terry Ross- Smyrna TN Real Estate - Smyrna TN, Murfreesboro TN, Nashville TN, La Vergne TN - real estate in Tennessee

Spring is coming and it’s time to consider what your home is worth if you’re thinking of buying or selling your home this year. You can check the value of your home automatically using one of the tools on my website. Just click on the “Instant Home Value” button on the home page of my site at http://www.terryrosshomes.com

Interest rates will be dropping with the recent federal reserve action. It’s a great time to be in the market to buy a home! Be sure to call if we can help get you in the door of the home of your dreams.

Home sales have slowed for sure, but according to the Daily News Journal the the National Association of Realtors reported this week that sales of existing single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses rose 0.4 percent in November from October.

This is a great time to be in the real estate market to buy a home because you’ve got more options. To see the current inventory of homes available in the Nashville, Smyrna, Murfreesboro and greater Middle Tennessee area, be sure to use the home search tool at my website, http://www.terryrosshomes.com

A program sponsored by the City of Murfreesboro to help low income real estate buyers get into the home of their dreams has been improved, according to the Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors newsletter:

“The City of Murfreesboro through the Community Development Department offers assistance to first-time homebuyers purchasing inside the city of Murfreesboro. The program is available to households qualified as low-income based on household size as determined by HUD. The Program has a new increased funding level of up to $10,000.00 for principal reduction and/or closing cost. Most lenders are award of the program and the fact that the City’s 0% second mortgage can be used with Conventional, FHA, VA, or THDA loans as approved by the lender. No monthly payments are required on the loans. They are due-on-sale of the property. For additional information contact Patty Pope at 890-4660 in the Community Development Department or go the City’s web page at www.murfreesborotn.gov click on City Departments, Community Development Department – Affordable Housing Assistance Program. ”

If you’re looking to buy real estate in Murfreesboro TN be sure to try out my home search tool at http://www.terryrosshomes.com

Great news on the restaurant front as it’s been reported that IHOP and Applebee’s are in the process of getting approvals for restaurants near the new Super Target and Kohl’s.

This is fabulous news for the Smyrna real estate market, as Smyrna continues to build on the necessary resources to become a destination marketplace for home buyers…

US News & World Report declared Smyrna to be one of the top-ten cities for retirement in their September issue. You can find out more in their article. Of course, we always knew that Smyrna was a great place to live. The magazine article notes that “The small but growing town boasts 10 parks, a public golf course, and 7 miles of greenways.”

Home sales figures for the Nashville area remain strong, according to the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.  Sales numbers for January 2007 were the second-highest number of closings ever for the month of January.

The GNAR provided the following comparison of sales by category for January:

From the GNAR press release:

According to the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal’s chamber of commerce insert for January, the town of Smyrna issued $6.8M in residential building permits and $13M in non-residential building permits for December 2006.

Real estate building permits also were high in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  Murfreesboro issued $10.8M in residential permits and $2.6M in nonresidential.  In Rutherford County’s unincorporated areas, $9.7M in residential and $457,331 in nonresidential permits were issued.

Growth continues in Rutherford County.  Real estate is booming, and the commercial construction is following here in Smyrna, Tennessee.

According to the December 18, 2006, Daily News Journal, the housing market in Rutherford County, Tennessee, continues to grow despite a general slowdown nationwide.

The article noted that, “Home buyers this year have closed on 5,883 through November at an average price of $172,240, and about 44 percent of them were new houses, according to RealTracs Multiple Listing Service. The total is 17 more than reported for the same period in 2005 at an average price of $160,900. House sales for 2006 so far also surpass the total in 2000 of 3,630 when the average price was $127,100.”

With national news fretting over a real estate slowdown, perhaps it’s time to look at the actual numbers here in Middle Tennessee.  According to the GNAR, September 2006 sales were two houses shy of the all-time record set in September 2005.  Slowdown?  Dig a little deeper.  If you check out the figures, inventory may be up, but “days on market” for homes in September 2006 was lower than any month in 2005.  That’s right, in a supposedly slowing national market, Nashville’s houses are turning faster than last year.  In fact, the September 2006 figures for “days on market” are better than any figures since 2002, which is as far back as we kept looking.  It may not make for exciting news headlines, but we’re still buying and selling a lot of houses quickly here in Middle Tennessee.

Looking for empirical confirmation that Middle Tennessee is a great place for real estate investing?  Look no further than the PMI Market Risk Index.  According to their research, the Nashville area real estate market is both continuing to appreciate at a good rate and unlikely to begin depreciating in the next year.  Only a handful of markets share these qualities - Nashville, Memphis, San Antonio, Charlotte and Austin.  Each of these markets also ranks well in affordability according to PMI’s research.