News - Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS®

MARKET PULSE – October top sale was in the Ridges

By Don Fenley | Nov 17, 2024 | Market Pulse

A 14-room home with 9,000 sq. ft of living space perched atop one of the highest points in the Ridges was October’s top sale. The five bedroom, six-bath home sold…

By Michelle Davis | Nov 16, 2024 | News

Tri-Cities home prices were at a five-month low in October but sustained both an annual and 10-month gain. Sales dropped 3.5% below where they were last year, and the 10-month…

By Don Fenley | Nov 11, 2024 | Market Pulse

October’s mobile home market is seeing the same lackluster performance as the stick-built market. Last month there were 54 sales, down 27% from 74 this time last year. The average…

By Michelle Davis | Nov 9, 2024 | News

It’s been a slow slog that isn’t over yet, but the Tri-Cities regional housing market has arguably turned the corner on inventory restoration. Currently, the region has a little over…

By Don Fenley | Nov 3, 2024 | Market Pulse

Despite the depth and breadth of housing data from the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) and CoreData a local cohort is waiting for the bottom to fall out of…

By Michelle Davis | Nov 2, 2024 | News

Saturday, Nov. 11, is set aside to honor veterans, past and present. Veterans are an important part of the local population and of the local housing economy. Although the Census…

By Don Fenley | Oct 28, 2024 | Market Pulse

September’s top residential sale was in Johnson City. It was the 53rd million-dollar plus sale so far this year. The $2.9 million dollar sale was a 4-bedroom, 7,563 sq. ft.…

By Don Fenley | Oct 26, 2024 | News

It’s that time of the year when the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® (NETAR) set their sights on boosting their members eduction and…

By Don Fenley | Oct 25, 2024 | News

The shock of Hurricane Helene’s devastation and a hotly congested presidential election sucked some of the oxygen out of September’s housing market on a month-over-month comparison. Pending sales were down…

By Don Fenley | Oct 21, 2024 | News

National Association of Realtors® (NAR) Chief Economist Lawrence Yun recently wrote in a LinkedIn post that “It’s common knowledge that the longer a property is on the market, the larger…

By Don Fenley | Oct 19, 2024 | News

The outpouring of aid to Hurricane Helene victims is restorative to our sense of community during an era of deep divisions. The list of collection sites for any and everything…

By Don Fenley | Oct 14, 2024 | Market Pulse

Tri-Cities residents bought 60 new homes in September, one fewer than last year. The homes were more affordable because they were smaller. Builders began reducing the size of their products…

By Michelle Davis | Oct 12, 2024 | News

There’s no way around the fact that things are tough for a first-time homebuyer or someone shopping the affordable market. And yes, there are affordable home out there. In fact,…

By Don Fenley | Oct 7, 2024 | Market Pulse

Homes sold in September saw the largest yearly price increase so far this year. At the same time, sellers made the largest list price reductions of the year, and of…

By Michelle Davis | Oct 6, 2024 | News

By MICHELLE DAVIS The local effects of Hurricane Helene are still being sorted out. It will be that way for a while because Helene was the deadliest mainland US hurricane…

By Don Fenley | Sep 30, 2024 | Market Pulse

August’s top home sale was a $2.2 million Sullivan Co. lake house. The home features the amenities you would expect. There are four guest bedrooms and baths, and a separate,…

By Michelle Davis | Sep 28, 2024 | News

Would it surprise you to know that the number of local Realtors® constitutes one of the largest employment groups in the Tri-Cities region? A pretty good measure is the Northeast…

By Don Fenley | Sep 22, 2024 | Market Pulse

Mobile home sales were down in August while the median sales price was up. Sellers were reducing their price more than they were last year and concessions were higher. There…

By Michelle Davis | Sep 21, 2024 | News

Fall isn’t here yet, but early morning and evenings are feeling better with a light sweater. And crowds are already gathering for Friday night high school football. Fall is just…

By Don Fenley | Sep 20, 2024 | Pending Sales

August pending sales were down 0.1% from last year and the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) Pending Sales Index settled was flat for the fourth straight month. Sellers accepted…

By Don Fenley | Sep 16, 2024 | Market Pulse

New construction home sales in the area monitor by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) were up 28.6% in August. And the size of those homes continued its downward…

By Michelle Davis | Sep 14, 2024 | News

Stadium lights are again lighting up Friday nights. It’s that time of the year when football is king, and children – both little and big – are prepping for Halloween.…

By Don Fenley | Sep 8, 2024 | Market Pulse

One of the most asked questions about housing these days is about direction. Are sales and prices set to say in the swoon mode, or has more inventory and lower…

By Michelle Davis | Sep 7, 2024 | News

Not long ago, this column explored the economic impact of real estate on local economies. Of particular interest was the segment on how much furniture and remodeling fit into the…

By Don Fenley | Sep 3, 2024 | Market Pulse

The affordable housing struggle has and continues to cloud a significant point. During the 12 months ending in mid August, 65% of all the homes sold in the Tri-Cities region…

By Michelle Davis | Aug 31, 2024 | News

One month into the third quarter and for some, it seems like real estate has turned upside down. New standards and regulations are in effect after the Aug. 17 deadline.…

By Don Fenley | Aug 26, 2024 | Market Pulse

The Tri-Cities Region added its 43rd $1 million plus home sale in July. That’s a 34.4% increase over sales during the first seven months of last year. There were seven…

By Michelle Davis | Aug 24, 2024 | News

Real estate can be a rewarding and enjoyable career. But it’s also a high-risk profession. Many real estate professionals find themselves in situations that put them in harm’s way. Safety…

By Don Fenley | Aug 21, 2024 | Pending Sales

July pending sales were flat as the housing market entered a third quarter of rising inventory and declining mortgage rates. Sellers accepted 176 new contracts, 34 fewer than the previous…

By Don Fenley | Aug 19, 2024 | Market Pulse

Buyers seeking affordable housing are increasingly turning to manufactures homes as a resource. July sales were 38% higher than last year and the median sales price was up 11.7%. According…

By Michelle Davis | Aug 17, 2024 | News

New practices are for real estate transactions that have dominated the real estate trade press and mass media are now in place. Here’s a capsule of the changes and what…

By Don Fenley | Aug 12, 2024 | Market Pulse

New home shoppers will see smaller home offerings until the housing affordability issue eases in the Tri-Cities. It’s one way builders are coping with the economic realities of the affordability…

By Michelle Davis | Aug 10, 2024 | News

It’s hard to believe the year is passing so fast. Kids are back in school and it’s almost football time in Tennessee. That means it also won’t be long before…

By Don Fenley | Aug 4, 2024 | Market Pulse

Buyers have more choice and better bargaining positions as the local home sales tend slouches toward a pre-pandemic level. That’s because slower sales are allowing faster inventory growth. July’s active…

By Michelle Davis | Aug 3, 2024 | News

USA Today recently published a study that proclaimed Johnson City and Kingsport the best Tennessee cities to live in. A few days later the Wall Street Journal-Realtor.com index put the…

By Don Fenley | Jul 29, 2024 | News

New homes sold during the first half of this year were up by 41%, and the sales price was down 3.7% from last year. At the end of June 383…

By Michelle Davis | Jul 27, 2024 | News

The NETAR region’s mid-year housing market report affirmed that the last half of 2024 is going to be chaotic. Home sales slumped 20% in the traditionally strongest month of the…

By Don Fenley | Jul 23, 2024 | Pending Sales

June’s pending sales were flat on the heels of a 20% decline in home sales. Sellers accepted 796 new contracts, one fewer than the previous month, and 42 more than…

By Don Fenley | Jul 22, 2024 | News

A $4.2 million cash sale in Butler’s Horseshoe Cove was the region’s 36th $1 million plus sale in June. It also tops the luxury home sales category so far this…

By Michelle Davis | Jul 20, 2024 | News

The National Association of REATORS®, state and local Associations are getting out the word that beginning August 17, 2024, an MLS Participant “working with” a buyer will be required to…

By Don Fenley | Jul 15, 2024 | News

June was a perfect storm of sorts for Tri-Cities area home sales. They posted their biggest loss so far this year. They were down a little better than 20% from…

By Michelle Davis | Jul 13, 2024 | News

BY MICHELLE DAVIS June temperatures were hot – home sales were not. They were 22.8% off May’s pace and 20% behind this time last year. Prices also declined just enough…

By Don Fenley | Jul 8, 2024 | Market Pulse

June was not a very good month for single-family detached home sales, but the same was not the case for mobile homes. There were 44 sales, and the median sales…

By Michelle Davis | Jul 6, 2024 | News

Back during the early days of unscripted TV, ‘Candid Camera’ was a hit. The format was simple. It showed people who had been secretly filmed in funny or embarrassing situations.…

By Don Fenley | Jul 1, 2024 | Market Pulse

One of the most valuable housing market metrics is months of supply. That’s the number of months it would take to sell all the homes currently for sale, given the…

By Michelle Davis | Jun 29, 2024 | News

Scams have always shadowed the real estate markets, but it seems they have increased. Everywhere you turn, it seems like there’s a story about a lawsuit or complaints over broken…

By Don Fenley | Jun 25, 2024 | Pending Sales

Pending home sales increased 2% from last year as the local housing market neared the peak of the prime home buying and selling season, according the to Northeast Tennessee Association…

By Don Fenley | Jun 24, 2024 | Market Pulse

A recurring item in monthly regional home sales reports for the last two and a half years has been declining home sales. It’s typically referred to as a retreat toward…

By Michelle Davis | Jun 22, 2024 | News

Home sales picked up in May with a slight inventory improvement and an equally slight shift in sellers’ adjustment to a moderating market and the current mortgage rate. So far…

By Don Fenley | Jun 17, 2024 | News

Eleven $1 million plus home sales closed in May, bringing the region’s total to 27 this year. A 10,412 sq. ft. home with a 22-ft. ceiling and marble floors in…

By Michelle Davis | Jun 15, 2024 | News

Despite this year’s unseasonably mild early June temperatures, those weather reports from out West are a heads up. Here’s hoping there won’t be a local heat dome that drives temps…

By NETAR | Jun 12, 2024 | News

WASHINGTON (June 11, 2024) – National Association of Realtors® President Kevin Sears issued the following statement in response to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announcement of a “Buyer-Broker Agent Temporary…

By Don Fenley | Jun 10, 2024 | Market Pulse

Affordable housing – or the lack of it – gets a lot of attention these days. Some of it’s accurate. Some isn’t. Let’s look at the numbers. Good news first.…

By Michelle Davis | Jun 8, 2024 | News

It’s fitting that the Realtor’s® celebration of Volunteer Days comes in concert with Homeownership Month. It’s fitting because what Realtor’s® demonstrate during Volunteer Days dovetails with the social sidebars that…

By Don Fenley | Jun 2, 2024 | Market Pulse

Mobile homes continued a brisk sales rate last month as affordability conscious buyers sought relief from higher prices in the detached single-family, townhome and condo markets. Thirty-six manufactured homes sold…

By Michelle Davis | Jun 1, 2024 | News

June is Homeownership Month, and this year’s observance is very different. We’re still coming out of the fury of the hottest housing market in recent history. It’s a slow process…

By Don Fenley | May 26, 2024 | News

A $2.1 million Johnson City sale topped April’s top of the market list. The five bedrooms, five bath Park Place Community home has all the style, and extras that hallmark…

By Michelle Davis | May 25, 2024 | News

By MICHELLE DAVIS  Most focus on who’s buying homes is on newcomers, and the just-released Census population estimates affirm that more are on the way. There might not be quite…

By Don Fenley | May 20, 2024 | Market Pulse

The townhome-condo housing market segment was the property type with the largest gains in April. Prices were up 13.3% with the $150K-$250K price range selling the quickest as first-time buyers,…

By Michelle Davis | May 18, 2024 | News

Real estate professionals and the media talk a lot about balance, but to get a good handle on it, look beyond the most cited metric – months of inventory. It’s…

By Don Fenley | May 16, 2024 | Pending Sales

The Tri-Cities area housing market continues a slow, steady gain as it moves into the second quarter. The Pending Sales Index, which benchmark to a pre-pandemic level, is up 8.9%.…

By Don Fenley | May 12, 2024 | Market Pulse

Although housing affordability and accessibility remains challenging, the first quarter equity status of outstanding mortgages testify to wealth production in today’s local market. The equity positions of Tri-Cities area mortgaged…

By Michelle Davis | May 11, 2024 | News

May is the only time the most important piece of the local and U.S. and economies is formally recognized. Small Business Month’s goal is to honor the entrepreneurs who bring…

By Don Fenley | May 7, 2024 | News

By Don Fenley | May 6, 2024 | Market Pulse

There were 1,440 active listings in the Tri-Cities region in April. That’s a 7% improvement over April 2023 and 47% better than it was when invitatory bottomed out in 2021.…

By Michelle Davis | May 4, 2024 | News

A couple of weeks ago, this column explored the economic impact of real estate on local economies. Of particular interest was the segment on how much furniture and remodeling fit…

By Don Fenley | Apr 29, 2024 | Market Pulse

There was a subtle, but significant, change in the Census Bureau’s latest local population estimates. It wasn’t so much about the Tri-Cities region’s growth rate. As expected, nine of the…

By Michelle Davis | Apr 27, 2024 | News

Here’s something most everyone knows but is shocked when they hear the number. In the very near future, about 28% of the Tri-Cities residents will be at key pre-retirement age…

By Michelle Davis | Apr 26, 2024 | News

The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Spring Emerging Markets Index was a shocker in NE TN and SW VA. The Johnson City metro area, which has dominated Tennessee and most U.S. markets…

By Don Fenley | Apr 21, 2024 | Market Pulse

Although real estate’s contribution to the overall Tri-Cities area economy has flagged from the early post-pandemic years, it still accounts for about 16% of the local economy. During the first…

By Michelle Davis | Apr 20, 2024 | News

One local economy metric that often gets overlooked amid the jobs and sales tax numbers is the real estate contribution. It accounts for almost 16% of the total economy and…

By Don Fenley | Apr 19, 2024 | Pending Sales

Pending sales jumped 15.1% in March on a 113.3% increases in the number of new contracts in the top bracket of the move-up market. Although demand – as monitored by…

By Michelle Davis | Apr 13, 2024 | News

Now that we’re past the first quarter, a clearer picture of the housing market is developing. More buyers are getting price cuts. But it’s still a sellers’ market. QUARTERLY SALES…

By Michelle Davis | Apr 10, 2024 | News

In many ways, the local rental market is just as frantic as the rest of the housing market. Rents have increased to a new market price level and continue increasing.…

By NETAR | Apr 8, 2024 | News

WASHINGTON (April 8, 2024) – The National Association of Realtors® today announced SoFi as a new partner with NAR REALTOR Benefits®. As part of the agreement, NAR members and their…

By Don Fenley | Mar 31, 2024 | News

Local housing affordability has made its best gains in a year on the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank’s Homeownership Tracker. The monitor is a little different from some of the more…

By Michelle Davis | Mar 30, 2024 | News

Every April Realtors® celebrate and commemorate passage of the Fair Housing Act with events focusing on housing discrimination and segregation. For the Association, Fair Housing Month signifies an annual recommitment…

By Don Fenley | Mar 24, 2024 | Market Pulse

Unlike the existing home market that’s slogging into prime season with a 17% sales increase, new construction sales are booming. So far this year sales are double what they were…

By Michelle Davis | Mar 23, 2024 | News

Realtors® have always paid attention to demographics. Most of it used to focus on two distinct groups. The first was younger buyers who were typically first-time buyers. The next was…

By Don Fenley | Mar 19, 2024 | Pending Sales

It’s official. Spring in here, and pending home sales are perking up from January’s lackluster performance. They’re not the only thing looking up in a market seeing a lot of…

By NETAR | Mar 18, 2024 | News

CHICAGO (March 15, 2024) – The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) today announced an agreement that would end litigation of claims brought on behalf of home sellers related to broker commissions.…

By Don Fenley | Mar 18, 2024 | Market Pulse, News

Although there probably won’t be a big dip in mortgage rates for the prime home buying and selling season, the season is taking shape with guarded optimism. There are more…

By Michelle Davis | Mar 16, 2024 | News

New residents and how they affect the housing market still dominate public attention, but they take backseat to the organic demand from sidelined buyers who are already here. While we…

By NETAR | Mar 15, 2024 | News

By Don Fenley | Mar 10, 2024 | Market Pulse

There were two $1 million plus sales last month. Both were more about the land than the homes. At the same time, overall luxury home market made a strong rebound…

By Michelle Davis | Mar 9, 2024 | News

A couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking to the Elizabethton Kiwanis Club. It’s a fairly common request because people are interested in what the housing market…

By Don Fenley | Mar 7, 2024 | Home Sales

February’s housing market perked up with wide price and sales swings as buyers and sellers jockeyed for position in the early prime buying and selling season. Regional single-family existing home…

By Don Fenley | Mar 3, 2024 | Market Pulse

Mobile homes used to be the undisputed red-headed stepchild of the housing market, but that’s changing. Last year, there were 513 mobile home sales in the counties the Northeast Tennessee…

By Michelle Davis | Mar 2, 2024 | News

It looks like mortgage rates may pump the brakes on an expected robust early start to the spring home buying and selling season. The weekly 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate average…

By Don Fenley | Feb 26, 2024 | Market Pulse

With all the changes that have rippled through the housing market, one that is often overlooked is financing. While there are few big changes in how buyers are paying, when…

By Michelle Davis | Feb 24, 2024 | News

There’s a good chance home inspections will increase on the existing home sales headache list this year. They rank right up there with appraisals. Both can push deals back to…

By Don Fenley | Feb 21, 2024 | News

There was a sign of new life in the local commercial real estate (CRE) market last month. Inventory and new listings increased while total sales and lease transactions dropped to…

By Don Fenley | Feb 19, 2024 | Pending Sales

Pending sales point to a recovery from January’s lackluster market performance. And they’re not the only thing looking up in a market seeing softer demand. There was a pending sales…

By Don Fenley | Feb 18, 2024 | Market Pulse

Market Pulse 2-18 Condominium sales got off to a slow start last month. They matched last year’s performance, but were down 22% (six sales) from December. So was the $201,153…

By Michelle Davis | Feb 17, 2024 | News

Two major third-party housing reports were a marketing boosts for the local housing market in January. The first was from the Wall Street Journal-Realtor.com Emerging Markets Index. The Johnson City metro…

By Don Fenley | Feb 11, 2024 | Market Pulse

The regions’ million-dollar home sales club kicked off 2024 with four sales. It would have been six, but two dropped below the $1 million mark when owners reduced their asking…

By Michelle Davis | Feb 10, 2024 | News

Regardless of how much faith – or lack of it – you have in Punxsutawney Phil’s powers of predicting weather extremes are exerting a new effect on housing. At the…

By NETAR | Feb 9, 2024 | News

WASHINGTON (February 8, 2024) – More than 85% of metro markets (189 out of 221) registered home price increases in the fourth quarter of 2023 as the 30-year fixed mortgage…

By Don Fenley | Feb 6, 2024 | Home Sales

GRAY – January’s housing market saw some rollercoaster price swings while sales continued retreating to pre-pandemic levels. Most price swings resulted from skews driven by luxury home sales as hopes…

By Don Fenley | Feb 4, 2024 | News

One area of the housing market that doesn’t get a lot of public attention is its role in the economy. Local governments generate significant tax revenue from real estate transactions,…

By Michelle Davis | Feb 3, 2024 | News

Remodels, upgrades, and flipped homes have been getting renewed attention since 2024 home price outlooks are being adjusted upward. And if mortgage rates behave like the National Association of Realtors®…

By Don Fenley | Jan 29, 2024 | Commercial Sales

Local commercial real estate transactions were down 19.6% in 2023. And while it wasn’t the best of years from a transaction standpoint, it was a pretty good year. It was…

By Don Fenley | Jan 29, 2024 | Market Pulse

There’s a slow, but broad shift in 2024 housing market outlooks and it falls in line with the Tri-Cities regional on-the-ground fundamentals. Realtor.com’s economic division headlined a report that “The…

By Michelle Davis | Jan 27, 2024 | News

There are myriad considerations about putting a property on the market this year. But one stands out. It’s the role strategic pricing plays during the first days after a listing…

By Don Fenley | Jan 24, 2024 | News

GRAY – Although it’s not the end-all to the region’s housing woes, the number of homes on the market is a critical factor. Since 2019, the region has slipped into…

By Don Fenley | Jan 22, 2024 | Market Pulse

Three million dollar plus residential sales closed in December, bringing the Tri-Cities area annual top-of-the market residential sales total to 59. Last year’s top sale was in Kingsport for $4.4…

By Michelle Davis | Jan 20, 2024 | News

If you want to get an edge on what this year’s housing market will look like as we head into the prime season – and beyond – the metric that…

By Don Fenley | Jan 18, 2024 | Pending Sales

GRAY – Pending sales increased during December, pointing to a stronger evolving housing market. Accepted contracts in all three sub-markets were higher also than last year. The Northeast Tennessee Association…

By Don Fenley | Jan 15, 2024 | Market Pulse

One of the first things that pops out when reviewing how existing home sales were financed last year is the share of cash sales wasn’t as great as the attention…

By Michelle Davis | Jan 13, 2024 | News

Last year was proof that even the best housing market outlooks from the most-trusted analysts are more guidance than gospel. It also reaffirmed that real estate is hyper local even…

By Don Fenley | Jan 10, 2024 | Home Sales

GRAY – Tri-Cities area home price stayed in the double-digit growth range last year while sales retreated to a pre-pandemic level. There were 548 closing in the counties monitored by…

By Don Fenley | Jan 7, 2024 | News

By Don Fenley | Jan 7, 2024 | Market Pulse

The U-Haul Growth Index has been welcome news in the Tri-Cities since the pandemic. That was especially true in 2020, when the Tri-Cities area was at the top of state…

By Michelle Davis | Jan 6, 2024 | News

Media is swamped with advice about the 2024 housing market. There’s consensus it will be a better year, so the volume on what to do, and what not to do…

By NETAR | Dec 31, 2023 | News

Here’s what they do according to the National Association of Realtors® Pre-Listing Activities: 1. Make appointment with seller for listing presentation2. Send seller a written or e-mail confirmation of listing appointment and…

By Don Fenley | Dec 31, 2023 | Market Pulse, News

Housing analysts expect 10,408 Tri-Cities area residents will return to the market if mortgage rates settle at 6.5% in 2024. The two included charts from the National Association of Realtors…

By Jan Stapleton | Dec 30, 2023 | News

Last year Rick Chantry concluded his Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) presidency by saying it had been three years since the region had experienced anything like normal economic conditions. …

By Jan Stapleton | Dec 23, 2023 | News

The housing market is expected to continue a slow thaw during the coming year. Buyers are ready to buy, but not all sellers are ready to sell. Buyers will have…

By Don Fenley | Dec 18, 2023 | Pending Sales

Pending sales were up 8% from Nov. last year following a 1% increase in Oct. The Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) Pending Sales Index, which benchmarks the market to…

By Don Fenley | Dec 17, 2023 | Market Pulse

Condos barely held onto a sales upswing in November while prices continued falling from their September peak. According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR), there were 29 sales…

By Jan Stapleton | Dec 16, 2023 | News

In a couple of weeks, we’ll have the first numbers from this year’s annual existing home sales and prices. Expect advice, analysis, outlooks, and forecasts to surge. But remember, look…

By Don Fenley | Dec 10, 2023 | Market Pulse

The top of November’s luxury existing home market was a $3.6 million cash sale in Johnson Co. Seven other million-dollar closings nudged the year-to-date total to 44, according to the…

By Jan Stapleton | Dec 9, 2023 | News

Cybercrime isn’t something that happens somewhere else. The Tri-Cities area of NE TN and SW VA has seen its share. It’s something that can’t be ignored. The National Association of…

By Don Fenley | Dec 7, 2023 | Home Sales

The downward arch of area home sales eased in November while prices declined for the second straight month. There were 600 closing in the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR)…

By Don Fenley | Dec 7, 2023 | Home Sales

By Don Fenley | Dec 3, 2023 | Market Pulse

Once upon a time, cash sales accounted for half – or more – of the Tri-Cities area single-family existing home sales. Despite the “once upon a time” intro, it’s no…

By Jan Stapleton | Dec 2, 2023 | News

The cold months of winter haven’t arrived in full force yet, but the region is already seeing temps in the 30s. That has left homeowners who didn’t do an early…

By Don Fenley | Nov 26, 2023 | Market Pulse

Million dollar-plus sales lag last year’s total, but the top-end of the existing residential market isn’t suffering. The same goes for the $500K and up luxury market, which has picked…

By Jan Stapleton | Nov 25, 2023 | News

Tracking today’s housing economy is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. And putting context to the flood of data can be as much an art as a science.…

By NETAR | Nov 21, 2023 | News

Key Local Highlights -Local existing home sales declined 2.6% from Sept. and are 13% higher than last year. -The median existing single-family sales price of $260.000 was unchanged from Sept.…

By Jan Stapleton | Nov 18, 2023 | News

There was a time when homeowners – and those who wanted to be owners – were told to first think of their property as shelter and then as an investment.…

By Don Fenley | Nov 18, 2023 | Market Pulse

The highest mortgage rate in years, a stubborn inventory shortage, higher home prices, and higher rents continue stimulating the new and existing condos/ townhomes market. A typical condo owner who…

By Don Fenley | Nov 16, 2023 | Pending Sales

GRAY – October was a month for small gains in the local housing market everywhere except the luxury market where pending sales doubled. New listings in the move-up market are…

By Don Fenley | Nov 14, 2023 | Commercial Sales

Early fourth quarter commercial real estate transactions typically signal the close the year and a preview for the coming year’s strong start. But not this year. The region is engulfed…

By Don Fenley | Nov 12, 2023 | Market Pulse

Existing home sales in the $500K and up price ranges have become a market contradiction in the latter half of this year. While the overall market is headed to pre-pandemic…

By Jan Stapleton | Nov 11, 2023 | News

Today, Saturday, Nov. 11, is set aside to honor veterans, past and present. Veterans are an important part of the local population and of the local housing economy. So, the…

By Don Fenley | Nov 6, 2023 | Trends

GRAY, TN – High-end buyers are propping up the Tri-Cities area housing market as higher mortgage rates have pushed an increasing number of borrowers to the sidelines. Sales in the $500K…

By Don Fenley | Nov 6, 2023 | News

By Don Fenley | Nov 4, 2023 | Market Pulse

Strip malls used to fly under the retail radar. Most of the attention focused on open-air malls and the dismal performance of enclosed malls. But that was then and now…

By Jan Stapleton | Nov 4, 2023 | News

There’s no arguing that technology and a raft of other changes have complicated real estate transactions. Technology and media hype have armed consumers with a lot more information, and the…

By Jan Stapleton | Oct 28, 2023 | News

It’s that time of the year when football is king, local residents – both little and big – are prepped for Halloween. Nights have turned cooler. And last, but not…

By Don Fenley | Oct 28, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY – While monthly existing home sales continue retreating to pre-pandemic levels, the share of mortgage types has not significantly changed. That doesn’t conform to national reports of the number…

By NETAR | Oct 25, 2023 | News

GRAY, TN – The Tri-Cities housing market kept a strong national rating in the Wall Street Journal – Realtor.com Emerging Housing Market Third Quarter Index. The Johnson City three-county metro area…

By Don Fenley | Oct 23, 2023 | Commercial Sales

Growth is giving much of NE Tenn. and SW Va. a new look. While it’s more defined in some areas than others, there’s no mistaking the change. Some are almost…

By Jan Stapleton | Oct 21, 2023 | News

Sellers in today’s complex housing market face a big pricing decision because we are in two separate seller markets. One is the newcomers moving here to embrace a better quality…

By Don Fenley | Oct 21, 2023 | Market Pulse

The typical profit on Tri-Cities area single-family existing home and condo sales is up $23,000 (10%) from the first three quarters of last year and trending toward the fourth best…

By Don Fenley | Oct 18, 2023 | Pending Sales

GRAY, TN – Rising mortgage rates and low inventory combined with seasonality to push September’s pending home sales down 14 percent. The effect will be a continuation of existing-home sales…

By Jan Stapleton | Oct 14, 2023 | News

The region’s housing market is still a strong sellers’ market. But buyers are beginning to get more negotiating power. The dynamics are slowly shifting in their favor and, for some;…

By Don Fenley | Oct 14, 2023 | News

The NE TN – SW VA single-family existing housing market is weathering the throes of record-high mortgage rates, persistent inventory shortage, inflation, and higher prices without huge upsets. That stability…

By NETAR | Oct 7, 2023 | News

Here’s a look at all the things — big and small — that an agent who is a Realtor® may do to help clients when buying and selling a home.…

By Jan Stapleton | Oct 7, 2023 | News

It seems like everywhere you turn there’s a story about a real estate related scam. The most recent is Tennessee’s attorney general’s suit against a former Tri-Cities contractor – Wood…

By Don Fenley | Oct 7, 2023 | Home Sales

Buyers, sellers, and investors want to know how long the current housing market logjam will last. Unfortunately, there’s no single simple answer. There’s too many moving parts. Typically, a housing…

By Don Fenley | Oct 6, 2023 | Home Sales

The local housing market stayed fast with the trend of fewer sales and price stability in September. It was also a month with outliers rendering some eye-popping monthly price numbers.…

By Don Fenley | Oct 5, 2023 | News

By Jan Stapleton | Sep 30, 2023 | News

Affordability is at the top of today’s real estate pyramid of concerns. Prices have seen double-digit increases during the past three years and they’re on track for an annual appreciation…

By Don Fenley | Sep 30, 2023 | Market Pulse

Condo sales are a minor part of the local housing market, but things are changing. During August, the condo/townhome market’s sales and prices outperformed the single-family market. August isn’t a…

By Jan Stapleton | Sep 23, 2023 | News

Skyrocketing mortgage rates crimped affordability, and inflation have taken much of the shine off this year’s buying and selling season. But, it hasn’t totally stifled consumer demand even when combined…

By Don Fenley | Sep 23, 2023 | Market Pulse

Does anyone have or know of a rental coming on the market rental? You don’t have to look hard to find rental requests on social media. It’s also common when…

By Don Fenley | Sep 21, 2023 | Commercial Sales

Here’s a trend many consumers will applaud. More national brand tenants are coming to or expanding in the Tri-Cities. And it’s a trend that is and will continue putting more…

By Don Fenley | Sep 18, 2023 | Pending Sales

The local housing market saw a small seasonal pending sales uptick last month. They’ve increased in August in four of the last six years before arching lower as the market…

By Don Fenley | Sep 16, 2023 | Market Pulse

There are not nearly as many cash deals for single-family homes this year, and they lost market share for the third straight month in August. Instead of trending slightly higher…

By Jan Stapleton | Sep 16, 2023 | News

Despite a perfect affordability storm that continues to thwart many aspiring homeowners, the local housing market remains as competitive as ever. Small changes – some encouraging and some stuck in…

By Don Fenley | Sep 12, 2023 | Home Sales

Small changes were the hallmark of August’s housing market. Prices dipped slightly below July’s level but were 9 percent higher than last year. Sales eked out a small monthly gain…

By Don Fenley | Sep 12, 2023 | Market Pulse

By Don Fenley | Sep 10, 2023 | Home Sales

By Don Fenley | Sep 8, 2023 | Market Pulse

House hacking isn’t just a big-city trend. It’s alive in the NE TN and SW VA region. Much of its effect is below the radar. It’s overlooked because the public…

By Jan Stapleton | Sep 8, 2023 | News

By JAN STAPLETON It may not officially be fall yet, but: -The fall foliage maps are making the rounds on the web. – A sweater in the morning sure feels…

By Don Fenley | Sep 2, 2023 | Market Pulse

Buyers in today’s challenging housing market face a unique choice. Simply put, the stubborn lack of existing home inventory and stepped-up new home construction are presenting increasing examples of new…

By Jan Stapleton | Sep 2, 2023 | News

Real estate can be a rewarding and enjoyable career. But it’s also a high-risk profession. Many real estate professionals find themselves in situations that put them in harm’s way. Safety…

By Jan Stapleton | Aug 26, 2023 | News

The heartbreak and horror of the Maui wildfire play out on every media broadcast. At the same time, some reports are focusing on how islanders have stepped up and added…

By Don Fenley | Aug 26, 2023 | Market Pulse

The housing market is in uncharted waters, and it’s throwing homebuyers for a loop. And the most recent top-down market analysis doesn’t offer much for locals. The latest wisdom: it’s…

By Don Fenley | Aug 19, 2023 | Market Pulse

Townhome sales declined for the second month in July, but when compared to the rest of the residential sales market, their track record and trend line look strong. July’s overall…

By Jan Stapleton | Aug 19, 2023 | News

Affordability and inventory may be the most talked about real estate topics, but hot spots still get a lot of attention. The truth of the matter is a hot spot…

By Don Fenley | Aug 17, 2023 | Pending Sales

GRAY, TN – July’s pending sales and the Northeast Tennessee Associations of Realtors’ (NETAR) Pending Sales Index arced lower for the second straight month as the market moved past the…

By Don Fenley | Aug 14, 2023 | Commercial Sales

Strip centers are one of the hottest tickets in the Tri-Cities area – and US – commercial real estate these days. High occupancy rates have become the norm, according to…

By Don Fenley | Aug 12, 2023 | Pending Sales

Despite growing affordability concerns, the local housing’s biggest challenge is inventory. The situation can be summed up in a simple, short sentence. Home buying demand is high while housing continues…

By Jan Stapleton | Aug 12, 2023 | News

By JAN STAPLETON One look at July’s Home Sales Report was enough to make some say, “aha, I told you the market was going to crash.” Well, it didn’t. And…

By Don Fenley | Aug 7, 2023 | News

NE TN – SW VA home sales declined sharply last month despite a slight increase in demand. At the same time, prices were up from last year but retreated from…

By Don Fenley | Aug 6, 2023 | Market Pulse

By Jan Stapleton | Aug 5, 2023 | News

Buying a home is a definite challenge these days. Local prices continue increasing, there isn’t a lot of inventory to choose from, and buyers are worried about mortgage rates. How…

By Don Fenley | Aug 5, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY – Cash hasn’t lost its luster in this market of fewer sales and higher prices. During the second quarter, there were almost 700 cash sales. That’s 36% of all…

By Jan Stapleton | Jul 29, 2023 | News

Partnering with a professional Realtor® has always been the ticket to a better real estate experience. Since the housing crunch, it has become even more important. So far, this year…

By Don Fenley | Jul 28, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY – The demand for vacant land in NE TN is strong, but total sales are down by 24 percent. According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) there…

By Jan Stapleton | Jul 22, 2023 | News

Presenting the Mark Keesecker Good Neighbor Award to Darrell Duncan was a personal high point for me at the recent Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® (NETAR) membership meeting. Darrell has…

By Don Fenley | Jul 22, 2023 | Market Pulse

June was an exception to a luxury home market that has softened so far this year. Thirteen $1 million plus home sales closed last month in the NE TN –…

By Don Fenley | Jul 17, 2023 | Pending Sales

GRAY, TN – Pending sales and NETAR’s Pending Sales Index point to a weaker market during what is typically the busiest months of the year. June’s pending home sales pace…

By Don Fenley | Jul 15, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY – Mid-year market reports that show all but the affordable market is on the threshold of balanced market conditions begs the question: where’s the new buyer bargaining power showing…

By Jan Stapleton | Jul 15, 2023 | News

GRAY – Mid-year trend indicators are painting a clearer picture of the NE TN SW VA housing market and what’s coming. There are some good, and some not-so-good outlooks. One…

By Don Fenley | Jul 14, 2023 | Commercial Sales

GRAY – Commercial real estate transitions in June and the first half of this year have been tepid while the overall market has remained resilient, according to the Northeast Tennessee…

By Don Fenley | Jul 10, 2023 | Home Sales

GRAY – Home sales continue their slow decline and prices hit a new high in June. “We’re really beginning to see the transitioning of the market to a new normal,”…

By Don Fenley | Jul 8, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Buyers still have to contend with a sellers’ market, but their bargaining position is getting better, especially in the move-up market’s sweet spot – $300K-$399,999K. June sweet…

By Jan Stapleton | Jul 8, 2023 | News

Although we’re still in a sellers’ market, buyers have gained bargaining ground – especially in the $300K-$399,999 portion of the move-up market. Attribute that to a market adjusting to pre-pandemic…

By Don Fenley | Jul 1, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY – The NE TN – SW VA housing market is slowly moving toward balanced market conditions in the move-up market. That market segment has two price bands – $300K-$399,999…

By Jan Stapleton | Jul 1, 2023 | News

Unless you’re a cash buyer, there’s no way around the fact that its tough going in today’s housing market – especially if you’re a first-time buyer or looking in the…

By Jan Stapleton | Jun 24, 2023 | News

By JAN STAPLETON Summer has officially arrived, and that puts homeowners – who are on the receiving end of endless debate about why energy prices and up and who’s to…

By Don Fenley | Jun 24, 2023 | Market Pulse, News

GRAY, Tenn. – Townhome/condo said has their best month of the year during May. There were 40 closings, up from 24 last year. The median sales price was $197,500. This…

By Don Fenley | Jun 20, 2023 | Pending Sales

GRAY, TN – Pending sales took a breather last month after reaching a nine-month high in April. Sellers accepted 12 more contracts than the previous month and plateaued with nine…

By Don Fenley | Jun 17, 2023 | Market Pulse

Cash continues to account for one-in-three local existing home sales that were listed on the local Multiple Listing Service. That’s down from the all sales share in 2011 through 2014.…

By Jan Stapleton | Jun 17, 2023 | News

There’s no question that the local housing market has an affordability problem. It’s a simmering nation-wide issue that has bubbled to the top of discussions for frustrated potential buyers, chambers…

By Don Fenley | Jun 16, 2023 | Commercial Sales

May was another month of pause for local commercial real estate transactions. The FED eased some economic uncertainty with its pass on what would have been the 11th straight interest…

By NETAR | Jun 13, 2023 | News

By: Melissa Dittmann Tracey In a display of unity, real estate pros showed a spirit of giving back during REALTOR® Volunteer Days. See the projects they undertook. About half of REALTOR®…

By Don Fenley | Jun 10, 2023 | Market Pulse

The local housing market didn’t have the most single-family existing home sales in the East TN metro markets in May, but its growth rate was better than the other metros.…

By Jan Stapleton | Jun 10, 2023 | News

June is Homeownership Month, and this year’s observance is very different from last year. Last year we were in the disorientation of coming off the hottest housing market in recent…

By Don Fenley | Jun 7, 2023 | Home Sales

GRAY. Tenn. – NE TN – SW VA housing market lumbered into the height of the prime home buying and selling season in May. There were more sales than during…

By Don Fenley | Jun 3, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – During a time when demand for single-family rentals has outstripped supply, it seems counterintuitive that owners would dump their rentals. But according to courthouse records, that’s what’s…

By Jan Stapleton | Jun 3, 2023 | News

The most common public vision of a Realtor® typically focuses on the intricacies of marketing a property and getting it to closing. That certainly accounts for much of their time.…

By Don Fenley | May 28, 2023 | Market Pulse

The regional vacant land sales market has been sluggish so far this year. But the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) market tracker shows sales are picking up. The most…

By Jan Stapleton | May 27, 2023 | News

Fifty-two years ago, Memorial Day became an official national holiday. But it had been around much longer. Originally known as Decoration Day, its origins were in the wake of the…

By NETAR | May 25, 2023 | News

WASHINGTON – National Association of Realtors® President Kenny Parcell issued the following statement Thursday in response to the Supreme Court’s favorable rulings for property rights in Tyler v. Hennepin County…

By Don Fenley | May 20, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY – Everyone knows Johnson City is the region’s top housing market. That’s a fact. But last month its 82 sales were second place to the 95 in Kingsport. Where…

By Jan Stapleton | May 20, 2023 | News

May is the only time the most important piece of the local and U.S. and local economies is formally recognized. Small Business Week’s goal is to honor the entrepreneurs who…

By Don Fenley | May 18, 2023 | Pending Sales

GRAY, TN – April’s pending sales increased as the market slogged into the prime home buying and selling season. Last month they stood at an eight-month high after sellers accepted…

By Don Fenley | May 15, 2023 | Commercial Sales

GRAY – Despite a transactions slump, concerns over bank reactions to stress from a spat of bank failures, and inflation fears the local commercial real estate outlook is positive. Here’s the…

By Don Fenley | May 13, 2023 | Market Pulse

Despite some common public opinion, affordable housing is not another name for government assistance. The two primary formulas to gauge affordability are the financial model and the percentage of income…

By Jan Stapleton | May 13, 2023 | News

The housing market is proving itself to be better from an economic perspective than a pleaser for consumers and real estate professionals. From an economic perspective the unstainable pandemic market…

By NETAR | May 11, 2023 | News

WASHINGTON – Following significant urging from the National Association of REALTORS®, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) rescinded its proposed loan level pricing adjustment (LLPA) upfront fee on borrowers with…

By NETAR | May 9, 2023 | News

WASHINGTON (May 9, 2023) – Nearly seven out of 10 metro markets registered home price gains in the first quarter as 30-year fixed mortgage rates fluctuated between 6.1% and 6.7%,…

By Don Fenley | May 8, 2023 | Home Sales

GRAY – The 2023 Housing Market Restructuring continued in April with fewer local home sales and prices inching higher. “The market is performing much the same it has for months,”…

By Don Fenley | May 6, 2023 | Market Pulse

Flipped homes are an important part of the local housing market. They account for about 10% of existing home sales and half of them are always in the affordable and…

By Jan Stapleton | May 6, 2023 | News

The Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® and Tri-Cities Mortgage Bankers Association recently joined forces to provide an afternoon dedicated to local recognition of Fair Housing Month. Every April, real estate…

By NETAR | May 3, 2023 | News

WASHINGTON (May 3, 2023) – A majority (63%) of agents and brokers said promoting energy efficiency in listings is very or somewhat valuable, according to a new report from the…

By Don Fenley | Apr 30, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY – Home owners like fast, uncomplicated closings. Frequently they back away from VA loans because they believe deals are risker and a pain in the process. According to mortgage…

By Jan Stapleton | Apr 30, 2023 | News

The Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® recently joined other local organizations and individuals with a $7,500 contribution for Sullivan County’s Veterans Park in Blountville. The contribution is both representative of…

By Don Fenley | Apr 23, 2023 | Market Pulse

Anecdotes about cash-flush, out-of-town buyers snapping up local homes are so common some think they are the norm and one of the reasons local home prices have increased so much. …

By Jan Stapleton | Apr 23, 2023 | News

The local housing market is sending mixed signals as it eases into the prime home buying and selling season. The Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® (NETAR) March mid-month update shows…

By Don Fenley | Apr 20, 2023 | News

GRAY, TN – Pending sales offered its version of mixed NE TN – SW VA housing market signals in March. The number of accepted contracts increased. That’s what you would…

By Don Fenley | Apr 17, 2023 | News

GRAY, TN – Commercial Real Estate transactions were treading water on the two local commercial databases in March. Last month’s total lagged March last year by 32 percent. First quarter…

By Jan Stapleton | Apr 16, 2023 | News

First quarter home sales and prices told a familiar story for the NE TN-SW VA housing market. Prices were up by double digits and sales were down by double digits.…

By Don Fenley | Apr 16, 2023 | Market Pulse

March’s condo-townhome sales burst onto the spring market with a 36 percent price increase and sales that doubled from the previous month. Last month’s $204,750 median price was the housing…

By Don Fenley | Apr 10, 2023 | Home Sales, News

GRAY, Tenn. – NE Tenn. housing market went into spring selling and buying mode last month. Sales were up 43 percent from February while prices gave up a little ground. …

By Don Fenley | Apr 9, 2023 | Market Pulse

Inventory is making snail’s pace increases in NE Tenn. and it’s giving the new home market an advantage to be more competitive with the existing sales market. The local market…

By Jan Stapleton | Apr 9, 2023 | News

For years, Millennials dominated the real estate community’s attention. It makes sense. Nationally, they are the largest generation and were the lead buyer segment. But don’t rule the Baby Boomers…

By Don Fenley | Apr 2, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Investors who flip homes have shouldered an increasing role in the NE Tenn. market since 2018 when demand for existing homes pushed inventory below balanced conditions. That…

By Jan Stapleton | Apr 2, 2023 | News

Every April, REALTORS® celebrate and commemorate the passage of the Fair Housing Act with events and education programs focusing on housing discrimination and segregation. Fair Housing Month signifies an annual…

By Don Fenley | Mar 26, 2023 | Market Pulse

Buyers have backed off cash sales so far this year. In January, they accounted for 28.9 percent of all sales. They picked up to 31.6 percent in February which is…

By Jan Stapleton | Mar 26, 2023 | News

The weather’s not exactly on board yet, but spring is here. And with spring comes a surge of optimism and energy that leads to doing more than thinking about that…

By Don Fenley | Mar 19, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY, TENN. – NE Tennessee’s multi-family housing sector has equaled and, in some cases, exceeded demand in the single-family market. Some research by the Wall Street Journal adds some context…

By Jan Stapleton | Mar 19, 2023 | News

Using this space to intermittently shine a spotlight on rental scams has become a staple for the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® (NETAR). Consumers are urged to be extra careful…

By Don Fenley | Mar 17, 2023 | Pending Sales

GRAY, TN – Pending homes sales make their second straight double-digit increase in February and there was a significant decrease in the time properties spend on the market before closings.…

By Don Fenley | Mar 14, 2023 | Commercial Sales

GRAY, TN – February was the second straight month commercial transactions have been stagnant when compared to last year. But there’s background activity that the public never sees or hears…

By Don Fenley | Mar 12, 2023 | Market Pulse

While the Northeast Tennessee region has seen a slight improvement in active housing inventory, the months of inventory metric is stubbornly stuck in the 1.6 to 1.7 months range. It’s…

By Jan Stapleton | Mar 12, 2023 | News

Unless you’re the type of buyer who’s sitting on a pile of cash, there’s no way around the fact that things can be tough in today’s housing market. That’s especially…

By Don Fenley | Mar 6, 2023 | Home Sales

GRAY, TN – The Tri-Cities housing market began shrugging off its winter doldrums in February. Sales reversed a seven-month decline and prices perked up after an eight-month stagnant stretch. “Sales…

By Don Fenley | Mar 5, 2023 | Market Pulse

The Tri-Cities in tip-toeing into what’s beginning to look like a softer prime home buying and selling season without its status as an affordable housing market. According to the Atlanta…

By Jan Stapleton | Mar 5, 2023 | News

January’s pending sales were up from December. New listings and active inventory are also up. All welcome signs that the housing market is shaking off its winter doldrums. Another welcome…

By Don Fenley | Feb 26, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY, TN – Have you ever heard the saying, “you can’t sell out of an empty wagon?” It’s a reality local real estate professionals have struggled with for a little…

By Jan Stapleton | Feb 26, 2023 | News

Realtors® have always paid attention to demographics. Most of it focused on two distinct groups, and that focus is becoming more intense. The first was younger buyers who were typically…

By NETAR | Feb 23, 2023 | News

WASHINGTON – National Association of Realtors® President Kenny Parcell issued the following statement in response to the announcement made Wednesday by Vice President Kamala Harris and HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge…

By Don Fenley | Feb 20, 2023 | Pending Sales

GRAY, TN – The groundhog predicted another six weeks of winter before spring, but the housing market is sending an opposite prediction. January’s new contracts for existing single-family home and…

By Don Fenley | Feb 19, 2023 | Market Pulse

The scribes at the Wall Street Journal are typically quick to grab a data factoid for a brief update on who we are, what we’re doing, and how things are…

By Jan Stapleton | Feb 19, 2023 | News

Here’s another twist that illustrates this year’s housing market will not be like it has been. We’re still firmly in a seller’s market, and it looks like we will be…

By Don Fenley | Feb 15, 2023 | Commercial Sales

GRAY, TN – Commercial Realtors report they are busy – some busier than last year – while transactions in the Tri-Cities area got off to a slow 2023 start. Completed…

By Jan Stapleton | Feb 12, 2023 | News

Are you ready for more housing market reports with conflicting data? That’s what we’re going to get until the market stabilizes. The year started off with another expected sales decline.…

By Don Fenley | Feb 12, 2023 | News

Doing a daily check on Flex does the trick. But it is monotonous. And since inventory is dynamic, it is constantly changes. Here’s a market watcher tactic. Track the dance…

By Don Fenley | Feb 6, 2023 | Home Sales

GRAY, TN – Tri-Cities home prices defied predictions of big reductions in January while sales tumbled to pre-pandemic levels. “December’s pending sales signaled another dip and that’s exactly what we’re…

By Don Fenley | Feb 5, 2023 | Market Pulse

Higher home prices, bigger monthly mortgages because of higher mortgage rates, tougher lending standards, and a squeaky tight homes inventory are paving a bumpy road for first-time buyers this year. …

By Jan Stapleton | Feb 5, 2023 | News

A wave of buyer regret was predictable after the last three years of an unsustainable housing market turned upside down by the pandemic. During that time some buyers allowed themselves…

By Don Fenley | Jan 29, 2023 | Market Pulse

There were 2,400 vacant land sales in the Tri-Cities region last year, down 299 from the previous year. The softer market came on the heels of two years of rapid…

By Jan Stapleton | Jan 29, 2023 | News

If the market wasn’t confusing enough, there’s new jargon elbowing into the space normally reserved for is it a buyers’ or a sellers’ market. Consumers’ fear of missing out is…

By Don Fenley | Jan 22, 2023 | Market Pulse, News

Location, location, location is still dominant in real estate jargon. But inventory, inventory, inventory is right up there with it. Tri-Cities home sales declined for the first time in a…

By Jan Stapleton | Jan 22, 2023 | News

Conventional loans dominated existing home sales in the core seven NE Tenn. Tri-Cities counties serviced by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors© (NETAR) last year. But they didn’t have the…

By Don Fenley | Jan 18, 2023 | Pending Sales

Tri-Cities area pending sales fell to a five-year low in December. Sellers accepted 421 new contracts, down 184 from November and 236 fewer than in December last year – a…

By Jan Stapleton | Jan 18, 2023 | News

Some forecasts are all about a turbulent market this year. Others are calling it a nobody’s market and focus on frothy sales and price conditions. There will likely be some…

By Don Fenley | Jan 16, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities home sales declined for the first time in a decade last year. But the living large in the Tri trend still has legs. Here’s a brief…

By Don Fenley | Jan 12, 2023 | Commercial Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Last year was the year for multi-family sales in the Tri-Cities area. They replaced the office sector as the top area commercial real estate performer, according to…

By Don Fenley | Jan 8, 2023 | Market Pulse

There was a time when real estate market watchers could keep tabs on the time a home spent on the market before selling and the monthly pending sales report and…

By Jan Stapleton | Jan 8, 2023 | News

At the risk of straining to put a silver lining on the recent cold weather, consider this: It was a real estate marketing lesson for owners of older properties who…

By Don Fenley | Jan 6, 2023 | Home Sales

GRAY, Tenn.–Tri-Cities area home sales continued a six-month decline in December while prices remained plateaued near record highs. December’s report mirrors the annual market picture. Rapid mortgage rate increases that…

By Don Fenley | Jan 1, 2023 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Here’s a benchmarking look back at how the local real estate industry’s GDP looked coming out of the pandemic. GDP is the industry’s total economic output. The…

By Jan Stapleton | Jan 1, 2023 | News

Thinking about buying or selling a home in 2023? Here are a few basics to help guide you through some confusion and media myths. NOW IS NOT A BAD TIME…

By Rick Chantry | Dec 24, 2022 | News

It’s been three years since Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia have experienced anything like normal economic conditions. In fact, the so-called new normal is evolving faster than some experts can…

By Don Fenley | Dec 21, 2022 | Pending Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities area pending sales continued falling in November. Sellers accepted 605 new contracts, down 81 from October and 171 fewer than November last year, for a 22%…

By Don Fenley | Dec 18, 2022 | Market Pulse

Tri-Cities vacant land sales are looking a lot like a market in a typical seasonal pattern. It’s not that much different from other real estate market elements like residential resales…

By Rick Chantry | Dec 18, 2022 | News

Given current conditions, home buyers will have a little more bargaining power during the upcoming prime buying and selling season. There should be a little more inventory, which will ratchet…

By Don Fenley | Dec 13, 2022 | Commercial Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Commercial estate transactions for the first 11 months of this year have slowed in the face of rising inflation, household income squeezes, and geopolitical events. It was…

By Don Fenley | Dec 11, 2022 | Market Pulse

It’s always interesting to compare the region’s high-end housing to the rest of the market’s performance. November wasn’t an exception because the high-enders are picking up activity as we near…

By Rick Chantry | Dec 11, 2022 | News

Tracking today’s housing market is like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant. There’s a geyser of information. And putting context to all that data can be as…

By Don Fenley | Dec 6, 2022 | Home Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities area home sales were down for the fifth straight month in November. The price growth rate slowing also continued but not enough to cause a decline.…

By Don Fenley | Dec 4, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – The Tri-Cities housing market is in an anxious state of equilibrium as it trudges through the last two months of the year. Mortgage rates have doubled with…

By Rick Chantry | Dec 4, 2022 | News

One sign that home buyers are regaining bargaining strength is the number of home inspections is increasing. They were one of the things buyers sacrificed during the hypercompetitive market years. …

By Don Fenley | Nov 27, 2022 | Market Pulse

Local condo sales are slowing the same way single-family sales are slowing. And – just like their single-family cousins, condo prices have increased. During the first 10 months of this…

By Rick Chantry | Nov 27, 2022 | News

Two common questions Realtors® hear these days are: 1 – Is this a good time to buy? 2 – Is now a good time to sell? The answer is yes…

By Don Fenley | Nov 20, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – The housing market slowdown the media has been trumpeting for months is here. Tri-Cities home sales are down and tracking at a pre-pandemic level. All the signposts…

By Rick Chantry | Nov 20, 2022 | News

It shouldn’t be surprising that some of the under-40 population are looking at a different real estate wealth-building strategy than their parents. People 25-40 account for one-in-four Tri-Cities area residents.…

By Don Fenley | Nov 16, 2022 | Pending Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities area pending sales continued declining for the sixth straight month in October. Sellers accepted 683 new contracts, down 116 from September and 272 fewer than September…

By Don Fenley | Nov 13, 2022 | Market Pulse

Buyers are regaining some bargaining power as the local housing market continues slowly readjusting. Although sellers are not reducing their original listing prices yet, many are coming off the asking…

By Rick Chantry | Nov 13, 2022 | News

By RICK CHANTRY October’s Home Sales Report clearly defines there’s a market change underway. But it’s not exactly a sales or price bust. Here in NE Tenn. and SW Va.…

By Don Fenley | Nov 7, 2022 | Home Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Spiraling mortgage rates continued squeezing Tri-Cities area home sales last month. Closings declined for the eighth straight month in October while prices were stubbornly flat. “The market…

By Don Fenley | Nov 6, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – The undisputed highest concentration of single-family rentals in the Tri-Cities region is in Bristol, Va.’s 24201 zip code. Current data list 4,550 rentals. That’s better than half…

By Rick Chantry | Nov 6, 2022 | News

Understandably, there’s a lot of confusion and concerns about the local housing market. It’s easy to understand why. Real estate transactions have a big local economic footprint. Last year there…

By Don Fenley | Oct 31, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Institutional investor activity in the Tri-Cities housing market has picked up to the point where there are enough sales to register on the quarterly ATTOM Data Solutions…

By Rick Chantry | Oct 30, 2022 | News

One thing that goes hand-in-hand with being a successful Realtor® is a commitment to education. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has designed a special awareness for designations and certifications…

By Don Fenley | Oct 23, 2022 | Market Pulse

Cash sales are the gold standard and fertile ground for local real estate urban legends. The most frequently cited antidote involves cash-rich, out-of-state buyers swooping in, overbidding locals, and driving…

By Rick Chantry | Oct 23, 2022 | News

Cybercrime isn’t something that happens to someone or somewhere else. The Tri-Cities has and continues to see its share. Each October since 2004 has been designated Cybersecurity Month. The National…

By Don Fenley | Oct 17, 2022 | Pending Sales

Pending home sales declined for the fifth straight month in September. Sellers accepted 752 new contracts, down 116 from August and 115 fewer than September last year.    Pending sales are a…

By Don Fenley | Oct 16, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – One of the biggest threats to the Tri-Cities housing market is not higher mortgage rates or inflation. It’s affordability. Home prices have increased at a tidy clip…

By Rick Chantry | Oct 16, 2022 | News

It’s that time of the year when football is king, and children – both little and big – are prepping for Halloween. Nights have turned cooler. And last, but not…

By Don Fenley | Oct 12, 2022 | Commercial Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities area September real estate transactions are up 3% for the first nine months of this year and down 11% from September last year. The local transaction…

By Don Fenley | Oct 9, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – We’re ten months into the year and the local market has reached an inflection point. It’s clear that a slow transition is underway. But unless something unforeseen…

By Rick Chantry | Oct 9, 2022 | News

The temptation to rent by recently retired or will soon retire residents is understandable. Who could blame them for being tempted by the opportunity to take advantage of all the…

By Don Fenley | Oct 6, 2022 | News

GRAY, Tenn. – Rapid mortgage rate increases are nudging Tri-Cities’ short-term home prices lower. September’s typical price dropped to a three-month low. It’s still almost 15 percent higher than last…

By Don Fenley | Oct 2, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Later this week, we’ll get our first look at NETAR’s Home Sales Report that shows how the housing market is reacting to the fall season, higher mortgage…

By Rick Chantry | Oct 2, 2022 | News

The surge of new residents that escalated during the pandemic continues to drive the Tri-Cities area housing market and much of the local economy. Questions about who these people are,…

By Don Fenley | Sep 25, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Rising mortgage rates, stock market volatility, and inflation concerns have pushed Tri-Cities luxury existing housing sales down by 31% since May. But while $500,000 plus sales are…

By Rick Chantry | Sep 25, 2022 | News

Two of the most recent national stories that gave the Northeast Tennessee housing market another 15 minutes of fame were: Realtor.com’s market hotness rankings. The Kingsport-Bristol and Johnson City metro areas were…

By Don Fenley | Sep 19, 2022 | Pending Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – One of the primary forward-looking monthly housing reports is down for the fourth straight month. Sellers accepted 868 new contracts, down 20 from July and 102 fewer…

By Don Fenley | Sep 18, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities sellers are getting an average of $11,000 more per townhome/condo sale in NETAR’s primary service area while the number of sales is down 26% from August last…

By Rick Chantry | Sep 18, 2022 | News

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is calling it the “season of shivers.” Janice Stillman, the Almanac’s editor, says, “this coming winter could be one of the longest and coldest that we’ve…

By Don Fenley | Sep 12, 2022 | Commercial Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities commercial real estate (CRE) transactions continued a steady growth pattern in August. So far this year, 393 transactions have been finalized for a 54.7 percent improvement…

By Don Fenley | Sep 11, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Cash deals accounted for 34% of August’s existing home sales because the number of total sales declined. Cash sales have ranged from 262 to 265 for the…

By Rick Chantry | Sep 11, 2022 | News

By RICK CHANTRY The local housing market is finally showing more signs that it’s stabilizing. Some of the signs are faint, and it would be wishful thinking to expect a…

By Don Fenley | Sep 6, 2022 | Home Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – The Tri-Cities area’s red-hot housing market is beginning to show cracks. August sales were down from last year, and the sales price increased. But the trend is…

By Don Fenley | Sep 4, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – A new analysis from Attom Data Solutions shows the average vacancy rate for single-family rentals in the Tri-Cities area – including Greeneville – is 2.6%. The news…

By Rick Chantry | Sep 4, 2022 | News

Existing home shoppers have a preference. They want a home that’s 10 years old or less. But today’s market is not like Burger King’s motto – buyers don’t always get…

By Don Fenley | Aug 29, 2022 | Market Pulse

Vacant land sales are taking a respite from last year’s frantic pace. But that doesn’t mean it’s a down market. Demand has steadily grown during the past three years. Much…

By Don Fenley | Aug 29, 2022 | Market Pulse

Inventory will be the key metric for market stabilization in the coming months. So far this year, active inventory has gained every month since April. New listings are also picking…

By Rick Chantry | Aug 29, 2022 | News

Local media recently latched onto a Motley Fool report that declared the Tri-Cities two metro areas were among the top five in the U.S. for House flipping in 2022. It…

By Don Fenley | Aug 24, 2022 | Pending Sales

GRAY- Tenn. – Tri-Cities area pending homes perked up in July after three months of decline. Sellers accepted 888 new contracts. That’s 10 more than June and 64 fewer than…

By Don Fenley | Aug 21, 2022 | Market Pulse

Inventory will be the key metric for market stabilization in the coming months. So far this year, active inventory has gained every month since April. New listings are also picking…

By Rick Chantry | Aug 21, 2022 | News

Autumn isn’t quite here yet, but early morning and evenings are beginning to feel better with a light sweater. And crowds are already gathering for Friday night high school football. …

By Don Fenley | Aug 17, 2022 | Commercial Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – Tri-Cities commercial real estate transactions were almost 11 percent better than the first seven months last year. July’s sales and leases were the same volume as July…

By Don Fenley | Aug 14, 2022 | Market Pulse

GRAY, Tenn. – Remember hearing that a mortgage is a lot like a forced savings account that will make homeowners rich over time? There were a lot of Tri-Cities homeowners…

By Rick Chantry | Aug 14, 2022 | News

July was another month when the local Home Sales Report chronicled new records or had data that was almost a record. That makes it an opportune time to unpack some…

By Don Fenley | Aug 8, 2022 | Home Sales

GRAY, Tenn. – July’s Tri-Cities area home sales were down from last year while prices continued their roller-coaster ride. One example of that ride is the Piney Flats average existing…

By Don Fenley | Aug 7, 2022 | Market Pulse

Homeowners continued increasing their listing price for the seventh straight month in July. The only sign of them yielding to a slower market is the rate that they’re upping the…

By Rick Chantry | Aug 7, 2022 | News

It’s hard to believe that kids are heading back to school. That means it also won’t be long before nights turn cooler and legions of unwanted creepy, crawly guests will…

By Don Fenley | Aug 1, 2022 | Market Pulse

There’s a simple answer to the frequently asked question: “When are home prices coming down?” The answer is: When demand goes down. Despite what you read in the mass media,…

By Rick Chantry | Jul 31, 2022 | News

The days of having a frank “I like this, or this needs to be fixed” discussion while touring a property are as dead as disco. Odds are you’re on camera…

By Don Fenley | Jul 25, 2022 | Pending Sales

Local pending homes declined for the third straight month in June. Sellers accepted 851 new contracts, down 27 from May and 10% fewer than June last year. Pending sales are a…

By Don Fenley | Jul 24, 2022 | Market Pulse

There were slight shifts in how existing homes were sold last month in NETAR’s primary region, which includes Carter, Greene, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington Co. Tenn. VA loans…

By Rick Chantry | Jul 24, 2022 | News

There’s no argument that navigating today’s real estate market is complicated. So, it’s easy to see why buyers and sellers are always looking for solutions that make things less difficult.…

By Don Fenley | Jul 19, 2022 | Commercial Sales

June’s commercial real estate transactions were down from May’s total while posting strong (up 50%) year-over-year and six-month trend gains. The local mid-year growth rate is 13.4% better than the…

By Don Fenley | Jul 17, 2022 | Market Pulse

Everyone knows cash is king in the existing home sales market. But it was king on steroids in June’s local condo market. A little more than six out of every…

By Rick Chantry | Jul 17, 2022 | News

Most mid-year trend indicators point toward a slowing housing market for the last half of 2022. There are some good and some not-so-good outlooks for buyers and sellers. Higher mortgage…

By Don Fenley | Jul 10, 2022 | Market Pulse

Tri-Cities area home sellers haven’t signed onto the reducing prices trend that is beginning to get a lot of media attention. That doesn’t mean there are no local examples of…

By Rick Chantry | Jul 10, 2022 | News

The fact that housing affordability has been declining here in NE Tenn. and SW Va. isn’t a revelation. The local market has been on a tear for four years. Sales…

By Don Fenley | Jul 7, 2022 | Home Sales

June’s typical home sale price backed-off May’s all-time high, but not by much. At the same time, closings perked up from the previous month. “Almost all six-month trend metrics are…

By Rick Chantry | Jul 6, 2022 | News

Look at any national map these days, and you will see a lot of red that has nothing to do with politics. It’s summer. It’s hotter than normal in many…

By Don Fenley | Jul 5, 2022 | Market Pulse

Vacant land sales are showing signs of slowing. Sales listed on NETAR’s Commercial Multiple Listing Service (CMLS) were barely equal to those during the first five months of last year,…

By Don Fenley | Jun 26, 2022 | Market Pulse

Cash sales have accounted for about one of every three local existing home sales since the first of the year. They have also been credited with driving up local home…

By Rick Chantry | Jun 26, 2022 | News

The most common public vision of a real estate professional typically focuses on the intricacies of marketing a listing and getting it to closing. There’s a lot more. Realtors® have…

By Don Fenley | Jun 20, 2022 | Market Pulse

While there is some softness in overall existing home sales, the $500,000 and above existing market continues booming. Last month there were 101 sales. That is slightly better than twice…

By Rick Chantry | Jun 19, 2022 | News

We’re halfway into 2022, and both the local residential and commercial real estate markets continue robust performance despite headwinds. Interest rates are increasing, inflation is at a 40-year high, the…

By Don Fenley | Jun 16, 2022 | Pending Sales

A forward-looking housing market metric has flashed another declining sales signal for NE Tenn. – SW Va. Sellers accepted 19 fewer contracts than they did in April and 62 fewer…

By Don Fenley | Jun 14, 2022 | Commercial Sales

Higher interest rates and inflation have had mixed effects on the local commercial real estate (CRE) market so far this year. Transactions were up for the third straight month in…

By Don Fenley | Jun 12, 2022 | Market Pulse

Anyone who reads housing market blogs, newsletters, or mass media reports has come across the claim that sellers are scaling back prices. Altos Research called price reductions a big trend…

By Rick Chantry | Jun 12, 2022 | News

Despite some signs of a slowdown, local homes are still selling fast and at higher prices. May’s Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS® (NETAR) Home Sales Report is full of examples…

By Don Fenley | Jun 7, 2022 | Home Sales

Northeast Tennessee’s home sales are slowing, but not prices. They hit new highs last month. “While it’s inevitable that rising prices will slow down in the coming months, it hasn’t…

By Don Fenley | Jun 5, 2022 | Market Pulse

Relocation buyers have and will continue to fundamentally change the local housing market landscape for the foreseeable future. So far, the most noticeable effect has been a concentration of buyers…

By Rick Chantry | Jun 5, 2022 | News

June is Homeownership Month, and this year’s observance is very different from last year. Last year we were in the fury of the hottest housing market in recent history. This…

By Don Fenley | May 31, 2022 | Market Pulse

The regional condominium/townhome market mirrors much of the existing home resales but with at least one notable exception. Listings are spending much less time on the market than single-family homes.…

By Rick Chantry | May 29, 2022 | News

Fifty-one years ago, Memorial Day became an official national holiday. But it had been around much longer. Originally known as Decoration Day, its origins were in the wake of the…

By Don Fenley | May 22, 2022 | Market Pulse

Vacant land prices are holding up well in a market that is slowing from last year’s torrid pace. April area sales were down 15.7%. Pending sales were down 1.6%. Active…

By Rick Chantry | May 22, 2022 | News

Last week’s National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Commercial Real Estate Market Conditions Index affirmed local reports and added some high-level context about our market. The first bit of news wasn’t…

By Don Fenley | May 20, 2022 | Pending Sales

Higher mortgage rates, the continued lack of inventory, declining affordability, and inflation took a bite out of April’s pending sales. Sellers accepted 897 new contracts last month, down from 917…

By Don Fenley | May 16, 2022 | Commercial Sales

The local commercial real estate (CRE) market continues moving forward despite higher interest rates and inflation. According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) and the National Association of…

By Don Fenley | May 15, 2022 | Market Pulse

Cash sales are increasing in the local market as they are nationwide. But unlike the national tenor, they are not setting all-time highs. Last month NE Tenn. – SW Va.…

By Rick Chantry | May 15, 2022 | News

For five years, local home prices have been increasing faster than our historical average. It has been and still is a great time to be a homeowner, even though there’s…

By Don Fenley | May 8, 2022 | Market Pulse

Uncertainty took a toll on NE Tenn. home sales last month. April’s sales were down 18 (2.2%) from March and down 58 (6.5%) from April last year. Year-to-date sales were…

By Rick Chantry | May 8, 2022 | News

Competition for the right house, at the right price, at the best possible mortgage rate too often pushes planning for what happens at closing to the background. And it typically…

By Don Fenley | May 7, 2022 | Trends

Northeast Tennessee’s housing market remained robust in April, but with new signs a shift is underway. Mortgage rates have spiked to their highest level in 13 years, and significant questions…

By Don Fenley | May 1, 2022 | Market Pulse

The local hyper-competitive housing market has raised the benchmark for just about all existing home sales categories. Luxury homes sales are no exception. And the market for properties in the…

By Rick Chantry | May 1, 2022 | News

The first week of May is the only time when one of the most important pieces of the U.S. and local economies is formally recognized. Small Business Week’s goal is…

By Don Fenley | Apr 25, 2022 | Pending Sales

March’s pending sales were a replay of February when buyers rushed to lock in mortgage rates before the next increase. Sellers accepted 917 new contracts last month – 191 more…

By Don Fenley | Apr 24, 2022 | Market Pulse

March was one of those months when real estate reports were in the up and down mode across the region. Vacant land sales were up 21% from the previous month…

By Rick Chantry | Apr 24, 2022 | News

Mortgage rates increased to an 11-year high last month. Inflation was at a 40-year high. And the typical existing home sales price topped out at an all-time high. March’s median…

By Don Fenley | Apr 21, 2022 | Commercial Sales

Local commercial real estate (CRE) transaction activity was slightly higher than February and down 20% from March last year. First-quarter activity was unchanged from last year. “Transaction activity alone is…

By Don Fenley | Apr 17, 2022 | Market Pulse

Local rents are increasing at a rate almost four times the inflation rate in Elizabethton to 2.5 times inflation in Kingsport, Greeneville, and Bristol. The Johnson City rate is slightly…

By Rick Chantry | Apr 17, 2022 | News

Just when you thought the housing market couldn’t get any crazier, it did. March’s Home Sales Report is a marsh up of more contradictions than local real estate professionals have…

By Don Fenley | Apr 11, 2022 | News

It’s a foregone conclusion that higher mortgage rates will eventually tap the brakes on the overheated housing market. But it hasn’t shown up on the short-term local market yet. March…

By Don Fenley | Apr 10, 2022 | Market Pulse

A change in mortgage rates always moves this market. The March increased to the 4% plus ranges, and outlooks say more are on the way, was no exception. It was…

By Rick Chantry | Apr 10, 2022 | News

Last year the Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS® (NETAR) devoted this space to warning consumers about rental scams. Since then, demand for apartments has continued increasing. Landlords continue jacking up…

By Don Fenley | Apr 8, 2022 | News

U.S. households saw homeowners and families embark on a wide variety of renovations and remodeling projects over the past year. That is according to new findings in the 2022 Remodeling Impact…

By Don Fenley | Apr 3, 2022 | Market Pulse

Last month, new Census data provided a base to compare some regional annual population gains to home sales and prices growth rates. Only four of the counties monitored by NETAR…

By Rick Chantry | Apr 3, 2022 | News

Rent or buy? The question keeps coming up because home prices have increased so much and there’s so little inventory. But rents are also rising. There are ample local examples…

By Don Fenley | Mar 27, 2022 | Market Pulse

Are foreclosures really on the rise? You bet they are, but not here in the Tri-Cities region. The wave of new filings is in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Houston,…

By Rick Chantry | Mar 27, 2022 | News

Every April Realtors commemorate the passage of the Fair Housing Act with events and education programs that focus on housing discrimination and segregation. Fair Housing Month signifies an annual recommitment…

By Don Fenley | Mar 20, 2022 | Market Pulse

Rising costs are making townhomes more attractive to builders and consumers. Construction is increasing on both the U.S. and local levels. Robert Dietz, chief economist of the National Association of…

By Rick Chantry | Mar 20, 2022 | News

Geopolitics and inflation have taken some of the sparkle off this year’s prime home buying and selling season. Still, it hasn’t stuffed consumer demand even when combined with the super-low…

By Don Fenley | Mar 18, 2022 | Pending Sales

February’s pending existing home sales reversed a five-month decline and pointed to what’s shaping up as an extremely competitive, slow-growing spring home buying and selling season. Sellers approved 726 contracts…

By Don Fenley | Mar 14, 2022 | Commercial Sales

Commercial real estate transactions were flat last month, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR). “There were seven fewer leases and sales than January and three fewer than…

By Don Fenley | Mar 13, 2022 | Market Pulse

Cash sales were down in February, and sellers who went for the deals took an average of $3,627 less than the list price. February’s cash sales market share was 28%,…

By Rick Chantry | Mar 13, 2022 | News

Market watchers warned it was coming. But February’s NETAR Home Sales Report was still a shock to some. After a steady diet of sales gains for a decade, seeing “sales…

By Don Fenley | Mar 7, 2022 | Home Sales

Home sales were flat in February, while the persistent low inventory kept prices in double-digit gain territory. There was one fewer closing than there were on Jan. 2 and nine fewer…

By Don Fenley | Mar 6, 2022 | Market Pulse

As predicted, home sales have gone flat, and the continued lack of inventory is driving prices higher. The early version of NETAR’s Home Sales Report shows February’s pending sales…

By Rick Chantry | Mar 6, 2022 | News

A headline on a current Realtor.com story declares homebuyers should suit up and be ready to do battle during this year’s prime home buying and selling season. It then promised…

By Don Fenley | Feb 27, 2022 | Market Pulse, News

Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, recently commented on a CNN report that more supply is needed at the lower end of the market to achieve more “equitable distribution of housing…

By Rick Chantry | Feb 27, 2022 | News

If you watch broadcast TV you’ve probably seen one of the “That’s Who We R” spots. If not, here’s what it’s all about. The spots are part of a National…

By Don Fenley | Feb 24, 2022 | Pending Sales

Pending home sales trended lower for the fifth straight month in January. Sellers OK’d 684 contracts, down 84 from December and 41 fewer than January last year. Pending sales are a…

By Don Fenley | Feb 20, 2022 | Market Pulse

January’s Tri-Cities condo market was a lot like the existing homes sector with the inventory situation on steroids. Last month the 37 closings were down from 50 last year while…

By Rick Chantry | Feb 19, 2022 | News

Our housing market is truly in uncharted waters. It was only several months ago when almost all the predictions were for a 2022 market that would be competitive but not…

By Don Fenley | Feb 16, 2022 | Commercial Sales

The Tri-Cities commercial real estate market kicked off the new year with a 52% increase in transactions as last year’s growing demand extended into the new year. Cassie Petzoldt said…

By Don Fenley | Feb 13, 2022 | Market Pulse

The current national Attom Data Solutions report on cash sales is good example of how local market conditions don’t always follow the U.S. model. U.S. cash sales accounted for 30.3%…

By Rick Chantry | Feb 13, 2022 | News

January’s Home Sales Report was a little like the stereotypical hangover after a big New Year’s Eve Party. The comparison to December’s sales was a sobering 30% decline. The median…

By Don Fenley | Feb 7, 2022 | Market Pulse

Demographic dynamics are rapidly becoming a bigger factor for the housing market. Millennials and the elder GenZers are aging into their prime home-buying years. Combined, they account for the single…

By Rick Chantry | Feb 6, 2022 | News

To get a feel for what the housing market will look like as we head into the prime buying and selling season the metric that stands out is inventory. At…

By Don Fenley | Feb 4, 2022 | Home Sales

Home sales and prices were down from December’s strong close to the 2021 market. Market performance was less dramatic when compared to January last year. Closings were down 29.8% from…

By Don Fenley | Jan 30, 2022 | Market Pulse

Buyers, sellers, and Realtors® have a long list of things to watch for as the market gears up for this year’s spring buying and selling season. The trend toward less…

By Rick Chantry | Jan 30, 2022 | News

There are myriad considerations about putting a property on the market this year, but one stands above the rest. It focuses on how strategic pricing plays a critical role during…

By Don Fenley | Jan 23, 2022 | Market Pulse

Tri-Cities vacant land transactions joined the rest of the real estate industry segments last year for its best-ever year. Sales and leases were up 40.8%. They have increased 214% since…

By Rick Chantry | Jan 23, 2022 | News

Last year, conventional loans dominated home sales in the seven NE Tenn. Tri-Cities counties. But they didn’t have the highest average sales price. That status went to Veteran Administration (VA)…

By Don Fenley | Jan 19, 2022 | Pending Sales

The number of pending existing home sales slid in December, as high prices and rising mortgage rates gave some buyers pause. Others clamored to get deals accepted before more anticipated…

By Don Fenley | Jan 16, 2022 | Market Pulse

Prices were up 9.5% for local condominiums and townhomes last year, but sales were down. Lack of inventory and the local preference for detached housing are the drivers for what’s…

By Rick Chantry | Jan 16, 2022 | News

The books on the 2021 local housing market are almost closed. They’re almost final because the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) numbers for the home sales report were pulled on the…

By Don Fenley | Jan 12, 2022 | Commercial Sales

Local commercial real estate transactions ended 2021 at a decade high and are expected to perform well despite the prospects of higher interest rates. Transactions from listings on the two…

By Don Fenley | Jan 9, 2022 | Market Pulse

There were 9,523 closings on existing home sales in 2021. That’s a 10.6% improvement over the 2020 total. It’s also the second straight year the annual growth rate has been in…

By Rick Chantry | Jan 9, 2022 | News

We’re only a week into 2022 and the flood of housing market advice is already cresting. Buy. Sell. Don’t buy now. Don’t sell now. There’s a surge of foreclosures on…

By Don Fenley | Jan 6, 2022 | Home Sales

The benchmark for area home sales and prices moved up a few notches in December. Closings on single-family homes and condominiums were up 10.6% from last year. The median sales…

By Don Fenley | Jan 2, 2022 | Market Pulse

Pending sales outnumbered new listing again in November, wiping out hopes that a couple of months of small active inventory gains would carry into the New Year. The region went…

By Rick Chantry | Jan 2, 2022 | News

At the risk of throwing shade on what has been unseasonal mild weather during Christmas, consider this real estate marketing lesson about the local population’s demographics. While real estate professionals see 60,000 local Millennials entering prime home-buying…

By Don Fenley | Dec 30, 2021 | Market Pulse

Vacant land sales are on track for another annual increase just below the 50% mark. They’ve been on that path since 2020 while sales in some price ranges are well into triple-digit increases. The three…

By Don Fenley | Dec 28, 2021 | Pending Sales

Pending home sales declined from the previous month for the third time in November as the market continued taking a breather from its frantic pace. Compared to last year, last month’s approved contracts point to another record year…

By Don Fenley | Dec 26, 2021 | Market Pulse

By Kristi Bailey, President | Dec 26, 2021 | News

As my two years serving you as NETAR President draws to a close, I am incredibly grateful to have been entrusted with this honor, privilege, and responsibility. Was it anything…

By Don Fenley | Dec 19, 2021 | Market Pulse

Nearly one of every three single-family homes or condos in the region monitored by NETAR during the fourth quarter was a non-owner-occupied investment property. Of those 60,463 properties, 3,460 were vacant, giving the region…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Dec 19, 2021 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Eye-popping describes some of the current headlines about real estate. But savvy consumers should be wary. Most of what is printed or broadcast in the mass media is based on the so-called national market…

By NETAR | Dec 17, 2021 | News

Congratulations to Jerry Petzoldt for being honored as one of the recipients of the 2021 National Commercial Awards! This recognition program honors REALTORS® who received an award or recognition for…

By Don Fenley | Dec 14, 2021 | Commercial Sales

November’s regional commercial real estate market continued its recovery momentum with a 44.1% increase over last year’s transaction performance. So far this year, all but one sector has surpassed market performance during the first 11 months…

By Don Fenley | Dec 12, 2021 | Market Pulse

November’s median existing-home sales price jumped to $210,000. That’s the same level it was at the market peak in August. The reason was buyers saw that mortgage rates were ready…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Dec 12, 2021 | News

Historically November is a month that sees exceptions to the seasonal slowing trend. This year is no exception. Sales didn’t get a bump as they have in years past, but sales prices did. The median…

By Don Fenley | Dec 6, 2021 | Home Sales

Home sales declined for the third straight month in November while prices improved from their October level. There were 741 closings last month. That’s 66 fewer than October and down 4.3 percent from November last year.…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Dec 5, 2021 | News

Birth rates are not at the top of the list some REALTORS® think about when mapping out leads for new clients. But that’s not the case in the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Research…

By Don Fenley | Dec 5, 2021 | Market Pulse

Tri-Cities all-cash home sales mirrored the third-quarter national level, but they part paths when compared to their highest previous levels. The third-quarter U.S. cash deals were at their highest level since the first quarter of 2015. Local cash…

By Don Fenley | Nov 28, 2021 | Market Pulse

Condominium sales remain a hot ticket in the local existing home sales market. So far this year, 469 condo sales have closed compared to 501 during the first 10 months of last…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Nov 28, 2021 | News

The temptation to rent for folks who recently retired or will soon retire is understandable. The market’s hot. So, seizing the opportunity to take advantage of all that equity increase…

By Don Fenley | Nov 21, 2021 | Market Pulse

So far this year, the sales volume for existing home sales reported by NETAR’s Home Sales Report is $1.9 billion. While that’s a big number, there’s more to the real estate’s impact on the…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Nov 21, 2021 | News

There are many reasons sidelined buyers are looking at the closing months of this year as a good time to buy. Here are a few of those reasons. Mortgage rates are bouncing below and…

By Don Fenley | Nov 18, 2021 | Pending Sales

Pending home sales dipped in October as monthly accepted contract activity declined while the year-over-year comparison continued increasing. Pending sales are a leading indicator of housing activity based on signed contracts for existing single-family homes…

By Don Fenley | Nov 14, 2021 | Market Pulse

Home prices and mortgage rates are both climbing. But buyers have shrugged it off for most parts as the housing market continues to stay in front of the rest of the local economy with few –…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Nov 13, 2021 | News

Common knowledge holds that fall and winter is not the best time to shop for a home. Check out the Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS® (NETAR) October Home Sales Report and you’ll see sales are…

By Don Fenley | Nov 11, 2021 | Commercial Sales

The COVID-19 pandemic ravaged some commercial real estate sectors, but overall the market has bounced back. Investors have made a record number of local leases and sales so far this year. “There were 43 transactions finalized in October. That…

By Don Fenley | Nov 8, 2021 | Home Sales

October home sales were down but not enough to push the market’s year-to-date performance off its double-digit growth track. There were 807 closings last month. That’s 43 fewer than September and 30 fewer than October last year. So far this year, 7,911 single-family and condo…

By Don Fenley | Nov 7, 2021 | Market Pulse

October was the seventh-month inventory has stabilized. It was slightly lower than the previous month but the trend continues to show a steady increase. The same thing can be seen for the median time a home…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Nov 7, 2021 | News

One thing that goes hand-in-hand with being a successful REALTOR® is a commitment to continuing education. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has designed this month for designations and certifications awareness. The worth of designations, certifications, and continuing education are illustrated by the success of those who take…

By Don Fenley | Oct 31, 2021 | Market Pulse

Homeowners who sold in September pocked $26,000 more than those who sold in September last year. But if you look at the average sales price the gain it’s almost $40,000. The median offers a better picture than…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 31, 2021 | News

One of the hot-button topics these days is the out-of-state people who have been moving to the NE TN – SW VA area. The bottom line is we’re no longer one…

By Don Fenley | Oct 24, 2021 | Market Pulse

Market share is a key indicator of a company’s competitiveness. The market share of home sales is also an indicator of how communities or even neighborhoods are growing or declining. That…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 24, 2021 | News

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says households should brace for heating bills that could be as much as 54% higher than last year. It looks like those heating with natural…

By Don Fenley | Oct 18, 2021 | Pending Sales

After four months of flat performance, pending sales were down in September. Owners accepted 996 offers for single-family and condos – a decline of 103 from August. After four months of flat performance, pending sales…

By Don Fenley | Oct 17, 2021 | Market Pulse

Unlike the single-family existing home market’s slowly increasing active inventory the townhome and condo inventory is slowly declining. The sales price has increased by double digits like the single-family market. There were 83…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 17, 2021 | News

Although our regional housing market is showing some month-over-month sales slowing, it’s on track for another record year. And with only three months before year’s-end, the performance of the region’s 12…

By Don Fenley | Oct 14, 2021 | Commercial Sales

Commercial real estate (CRE) transactions hit a slump in September but it didn’t dent the local market’s momentum. So far this year, completed sales and leases are up 63.4%. The…

By Don Fenley | Oct 10, 2021 | Market Pulse

It’s not a quick return to balanced market conditions. Still, the month-over-month trend continues showing more homes are being added to the NE Tenn. – SW Va. active inventory. September was the sixth straight month…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 10, 2021 | News

A recent career outlook on the Kiplinger network ran a list of professions that the author thinks will become obsolete in the next decade. At the top of the list was “Real Estate Agent.” The article…

By Don Fenley | Oct 6, 2021 | Home Sales

The September housing market took another step toward a traditional seasonal pattern in NE Tenn. and SW Va. Monthly home sales and prices declined from August while the average price was substantially higher…

By Don Fenley | Oct 3, 2021 | Market Pulse

Mark Twain’s advice to” Buy land, they aren’t making it anymore” is as good advice now as it was in his era. And while they’re not making any more of it, there’s no scarcity of it…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 3, 2021 | News

A marketing challenge for some local sellers is getting past buyer’s apprehension about buying an older home. It’s a concern because most Northeast Tennessee homes have some age on them, while many buyers want something 10 years old or younger. More than half (58 percent) of…

By Don Fenley | Sep 26, 2021 | Market Pulse

Although listing price trends don’t get as much attention as sales prices, they are indicators that warrant some attention. The average listing price in August was $345,866. That’s 21% higher than…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Sep 26, 2021 | News

Summer ended last week, but we didn’t have to wait for the autumn equinox to know that. It’s noticeably cooler in the evenings and early mornings. And the forecast for peak fall colors has been made. The…

By Don Fenley | Sep 19, 2021 | Market Pulse

Another indicator that a little bit of the bloom is coming off the local housing market is the number of price reductions showing up. During the first 12 days of September, there were 13 of…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Sep 19, 2021 | News

You’ve worked with a REALTOR® to scour the listings, toured what feels like a thousand houses, and finally found it: the house you want to call home. The next step is to make your purchase offer,…

By Don Fenley | Sep 16, 2021 | Pending Sales

Homeowners accepted 1,099 offers for single-family and condo sales in August. It was the fourth month pending sales have been flat. Both the long and short-term trends have returned to the traditional pattern of seasonal slowing as…

By Don Fenley | Sep 13, 2021 | Commercial Sales

 Tri-Cities commercial real estate had one of its best-ever months in August. There were 64 commercial leases and sales, up 82.9 percent from last year. It’s also noteworthy that activity in the Commercial-Retail and…

By Don Fenley | Sep 12, 2021 | Market Pulse

The first wave of borrowers is exiting the forbearance program through October. They have the option to resume making mortgage payments, modify their loan, or cashing out at the top of a hot market.…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Sep 12, 2021 | News

August’s Home Sales Report made an on-the-surface glaring contradiction. It said there were signs that the market was beginning to come off the sizzling pace it has been on since…

By Don Fenley | Sep 7, 2021 | Home Sales

There are signs the local housing market is slowly transitioning to more normal conditions. Demand is ebbing, and inventory is gradually increasing. But that didn’t pull August prices and closings off a record-setting pace. Prices were at all-time highs. And closings were at an…

By Don Fenley | Sep 5, 2021 | Market Pulse

During the second quarter of this year, there were almost 65,501 outstanding mortgages in local zip codes. Of those, 20,237 were equity rich. That means they had a loan-to-value ratio of 50% or less. The…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Sep 5, 2021 | News

A high point at the recent Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS® membership meeting was helping present the association’s top awards to some outstanding members. Watching Donna Sartin and Manuel Steffey receive the Mark Keesecker Good Neighbor Award was especially…

By Don Fenley | Aug 29, 2021 | Market Pulse

How many times have you heard potential buyers say they’re going to wait for the housing bubble to burst? That misinformation wisdom is based on some pundits’ – but not…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 29, 2021 | News

It won’t be long before nights turn cooler, and legions of critters begin looking for a warmer place. That’s when many homeowners schedule their semiannual pest control service. There are also several things homeowners can do themselves to help shut out…

By Don Fenley | Aug 22, 2021 | Market Pulse

July’s housing trends had some good news for first-time buyers and those shopping in the affordability zone. Sellers added more homes in the $180,000 to $200,000 price range for the fifth straight…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 22, 2021 | News

Be careful what you say at home showings. A third of sellers admitted in a recent LendingTree survey that they used hidden cameras to eavesdrop on showings. Some say they used the cameras to find out what buyers liked and…

By Don Fenley | Aug 16, 2021 | Pending Sales

Homeowners accepted 1,074 offers for single-family and condo sales in July. It was the third month new pending sales have been flat. Both the long and short-term trends are beginning to soften as the market transitions…

By Don Fenley | Aug 15, 2021 | Market Pulse

July’s active inventory trend has some good news for buyers. Both the month-over-month and year-over-year tracking by the NETAR Home Sales Report shows sellers are putting more homes on the market. …

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 15, 2021 | News

Some buyers are part of the tsunami of new residents who have discovered that NE Tenn. and SW Va. Some are at or near retirement. Others are part of the…

By Don Fenley | Aug 12, 2021 | Commercial Sales

Commercial real estate scored another strong month in July with the Retail-Commercial and Office Sector accounting for almost half of all transactions. Transactions were up 96.6 percent from July last year, according to the Northeast Tennessee…

By Don Fenley | Aug 8, 2021 | Market Pulse

Local home prices continued their upward trajectory in June and reached the highest level since 1979. The 12-month Home Price Index for the Johnson City metro area was 18.9%. It was 17.6%…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 8, 2021 | News

Most people don’t associate REALTORS® with more than the things the real estate professionals do to get a home from listing to closing. But that’s only part of what REALTORS® do. …

By Don Fenley | Aug 6, 2021 | Home Sales

Buyers got a little relief from rising home prices in July while sales entered the second half of the year on the upswing. “July was a month of second bests,” said Northeast…

By Don Fenley | Aug 1, 2021 | Market Pulse

Barring unexpected complications expect home construction to begin expanding inventory for the next two years. Kingsport is just one example of how construction is being ramped up. The city has 1,500 lots for single-family and condos in some stage of…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 1, 2021 | News

Three of the most common questions REALTORS® hear are these days are: When will the housing bubble burst? Is this a good time to buy? Is now a good time to sell? …

By Don Fenley | Jul 25, 2021 | Market Pulse

How can Realtors boost the morale of buyers in a market where reports of bidding wars, offers above the listing price, and steep price increases dominate the conversation? One way is to remind them that while…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jul 24, 2021 | News

Athough we’re still solidly in a sellers’ market – and it looks like things are going to stay that way for a while – some things are as important now as they were in the last buyers’…

By Don Fenley | Jul 21, 2021 | Pending Sales

Homeowners accepted fewer offers for single-family and condo sales in June than they did in May. It’s the first time since February pending sales have declined from the previous month, and the second straight month…

By Don Fenley | Jul 18, 2021 | Market Pulse

The local condo and townhome market doesn’t get as much public attention as the existing and new home markets. That doesn’t mean it’s not sharing in the real estate market’s Midas touch. …

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jul 18, 2021 | News

There was a time – it wasn’t that long ago – when contingencies were the top challenge to get to closings a home sale. That’s not the case in today’s market. Some buyers are…

By Don Fenley | Jul 12, 2021 | Commercial Sales

The local commercial real estate (CRE) market continues gaining momentum despite a June transaction decline. The decline from May was the steepest drop in the past three years. But it is not representative of the mid-year trend. Reasons vary, but most of the…

By Don Fenley | Jul 11, 2021 | Market Pulse

Multiple indicators point to slight housing demand easing and an improvement in the inventory crunch. The market is expected to remain robust with more choices for buyers. The days a home spends on the market before…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jul 11, 2021 | News

It safe to say we’ve just completed a half year like no other in the local real estate history. A look at some of the data from the Northeast Tennessee Association of…

By Don Fenley | Jul 6, 2021 | Market Pulse

During the last 12 months 4,162 local residents took out loans to either refinance or buy a home. That’s a 54% increase from the first quarter of last year. Record-low…

By Don Fenley | Jul 6, 2021 | Home Sales

June’s home sales were up 6.4 percent from May, and the average sales price was 9.8 percent higher. “Last month’s housing data – with the exception of prices – also began showing signs that the local…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jul 4, 2021 | News

Phishing, hacking, wire fraud – these are all ways people attempt to steal from others online. As real estate searches and transactions move more and more online, the chances of being caught up in a…

By Don Fenley | Jun 27, 2021 | Market Pulse

There were 201 vacant land sales in May. That’s 28 fewer than in April. So far this year 967 sales have closed. During the first five months of last year, there were 509 closings. …

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jun 27, 2021 | News

There’s a case to be made that this fall and early winter could be one of the best times to sell your home in years. Here are some of the…

By Don Fenley | Jun 21, 2021 | Pending Sales

Homeowners accepted an all-time high of 1,083 offers for single-family and condo sales in May. That’s a 9.9 percent increase from April and 23.2 percent higher than May last year. Pending sales are a leading indicator of…

By Don Fenley | Jun 20, 2021 | Market Pulse

May’s median existing-home sales price was 18.8% higher than it was in May 2020. That double-digit year-over-year trend has been consistent for 10 of the past 11 months. And while it’s less…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jun 20, 2021 | News

Each year during the month of June, the Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS® (NETAR) takes the opportunity to celebrate homeownership by showcasing some of the social and economic benefits that protect and promote the American Dream of homeownership. Homeownership Month was created both to encourage…

By Don Fenley | Jun 14, 2021 | Commercial Sales

Tri-Cities commercial real estate posted its best month so far this year in May. There were 59 transactions. Last year there were 25. So far this year there have been 226 transactions,…

By Don Fenley | Jun 13, 2021 | News

How much – if any – is today’s existing home sales overpriced is a question on the minds of buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals. It’s a question that will remain unanswered…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jun 13, 2021 | News

Inventory has joined price as a closely watched housing market item. What’s on the market has been steadily declining since 2013. It moved to shortage status late last year, but a silver lining to that cloud is developing. Early this…

By Don Fenley | Jun 7, 2021 | Home Sales

Home sales and prices continued at a double-digit pace in May despite a slight softening from April’s totals. “There are some ever-so-slight declines in sales and prices, but the overall market shows no immediate…

By Don Fenley | Jun 6, 2021 | Market Pulse

Inventory made the second monthly ever-so-slight increase in May. At month’s end, there were 1,048 active listings, up from 995 in April. That’s still a little less than half of the active…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jun 6, 2021 | News

In 1995 National Homeownership Week began as a strategy of President Bill Clinton’s administration to increase homeownership across the nation. In 2002, President George W. Bush expanded the observance to…

By Don Fenley | May 30, 2021 | Market Pulse

May will be the final month for the inflated home sale comps this year. They’re inflated because it compares today’s strong market to one where the growth rate bottomed out while the pandemic was trashing the economy. May 2020 local sales were…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 30, 2021 | News

There is no argument that navigating today’s real estate market is complicated. So, it’s easy to see why buyers and sellers are always looking for ways to make things less difficult. Especially when a property’s price is the issue. A popular concept that is overused and frequently…

By Don Fenley | May 23, 2021 | Market Pulse

May 24 Market Pulse There was a time when “what kind of foreclosures are out there” was the most common question a Realtor® heard. And then it was, “how’s the market doing?” Nowadays, it’s…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 23, 2021 | News

Reports about high prices and the lack of inventory shutting first-time buyers and those looking for affordable homes out of the market are common these days. There’s another side to that story that hasn’t gotten as…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 16, 2021 | News

April home sales are running well above pre-pandemic levels. Put comparisons to last year aside because they are what real estate professionals call a “bad comp.” It’s a comparison of today’s vibrant market to one that…

By Don Fenley | May 16, 2021 | Market Pulse

Market Pulse – May 17 The last two monthly NETAR Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Reports point to a sector shaking off pandemic effects and gearing up for getting back to business as usual. So far this year, the transactions trend is up 44% from…

By Don Fenley | May 14, 2021 | Pending Sales

If you liked April’s home sales numbers, look for more of the same in May and June. Homeowners accepted 985 offers for single-family and condo resales in April, setting the stage to continue a strong prime home buying and…

By Don Fenley | May 11, 2021 | Commercial Sales

Commercial real estate transactions were up 65 percent from last year in April. Transactions have more than doubled during the past two months, with a notable April increase in the retail-commercial sector, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association…

By Don Fenley | May 9, 2021 | Market Pulse

April’s home sales were up 33.7% from April last year, but is that a realistic market indicator? It’s an accurate number but not totally representative of today’s market conditions. April last year was the first full month of economic reaction to the pandemic.…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 9, 2021 | News

Homes are selling in record time. The time on market has declined every month this year, and we’re barely into the prime home buying and selling season. The median time on market in April was…

By Don Fenley | May 6, 2021 | Home Sales

Home prices continued double-digit growth in April as inventory dropped to an all-time low. At month’s end, the region monitored by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) Home Sales Report had a 1.3-month supply of homes for sale. “It was a given…

By Don Fenley | May 3, 2021 | Market Pulse

Vacant land inventory is showing signs of last year’s sales surge. During the first three months of this year, active inventory was down almost 19%, while sales were up 74%. There were 541 sales…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 2, 2021 | News

Almost everywhere you look, there’s evidence of a Northeast Tennessee economic revival. Employers are hiring. Restaurant parking lots are crowded. Sales tax collections are up. And the local real estate…

By Don Fenley | Apr 26, 2021 | News

The overall NE Tenn. housing market is hot, hot, hot. But so far this year luxury homes are the hottest of the hot. They have outpaced the growth rate for affordable and mid-price range homes by far thanks to the…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Apr 25, 2021 | News

Increasing prices and an inventory crunch drive more discussions about the merits of renting over buying a home. Buying is both cheaper and a better wealth-building option. Here is why. Renting a three-bedroom home will average $1,040 out of a family…

By Don Fenley | Apr 19, 2021 | Market Pulse

Three key housing market data points were in sync at the end of March. There were 991 homes in active inventory. At the same time, there were 983 pending sales…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Apr 18, 2021 | News

According to news reports, 2021 is a year for discovering termite infestations. Inspections related to increased home sales could be a factor. Another is people have been spending more time…

By Don Fenley | Apr 17, 2021 | Market Pulse

WETS’ Business Matters cited NETAR’s March and Q1 Northeast Tennessee Commercial Real Estate Report. Momentum has been building since the fourth quarter of last year. It released in March. Office…

By Don Fenley | Apr 13, 2021 | Pending Sales

Homeowners accepted 983 offers in March, setting the stage for a strong opening to the prime spring home buying and selling season. March’s accepted offers – pending sales – is…

By Don Fenley | Apr 12, 2021 | Market Pulse

Tri-Cities area home prices made another double-digit increase in March. The average residential resale price of $229,499 was 23.2% higher than last year. That’s good news for sellers and not-so-good…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Apr 11, 2021 | News

Last year demanded a radical new normal for doing business in the housing market. REALTORS® adapted and became leaders for those new best practices. This year, they will do the…

By Don Fenley | Apr 9, 2021 | Commercial Sales

Tri-Cities commercial real estate saw its best month in over a year in March. Transactions were up 71.9 percent in the wake of a dramatic increase in office sector activity.…

By Don Fenley | Apr 5, 2021 | News

The Tri-Cities area housing market isn’t waiting for the peak spring buying and selling season. March home sales hit a six-month high while the average price in the inventory-starved region…

By Don Fenley | Apr 5, 2021 | Market Pulse

Buyers are flooding the housing market early in the year. With plenty of buyers and not as many sellers, homes are selling fast at higher prices. So far this year,…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Apr 4, 2021 | News

There are still some contrarians who think the housing market will crash this year. That’s unlikely. The experts look for an 8 percent price increase this year. That’s down from…

By Don Fenley | Mar 29, 2021 | Market Pulse

Land sales in the NETAR region continued an upswing last month. Here’s what the February numbers look like: – 151 sales – one more than in January and 45 more than…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Mar 28, 2021 | News

Spring is the time of year when real estate professionals are busy with the beginning of the housing market’s prime buying and selling season. It’s also when they take the…

By Don Fenley | Mar 22, 2021 | Market Pulse

The current inventory-sales trend is good news for Tri-Cities homeowners who have or will have their homes on the market for the spring and summer buying and selling season. The…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Mar 21, 2021 | News

Good maintenance is a significant factor in a home’s value over the long run. While most people have some knowledge of things like cleaning gutters, changing heating and cooling system…

By Don Fenley | Mar 15, 2021 | Pending Sales

Sellers approved 178 more offers in February than February last year. That’s a 27.1 percent increase, and the 10th straight month new pending sales have increased by double digits. …

By Kristi Bailey, President | Mar 14, 2021 | News

The housing market buzz is focusing on when the current sellers’ market will peak, and signs are flashing; now is the time to sell. A March 3 Market Watch headline…

By Don Fenley | Mar 14, 2021 | Market Pulse

Get ready to see some big home sales numbers. Beginning next month, the year-over-year residential closings numbers will be comparing today’s rising market to last year’s three-month COVID-induced sales decline.…

By Don Fenley | Mar 11, 2021 | Commercial Sales

Commercial real estate (CRE) gained some local momentum in February. Transactions were up from January. Year-to-date transactions were better than the first two months of last year. And listing traffic…

By Don Fenley | Mar 8, 2021 | Home Sales

Home prices soared 27.3 percent in February, while sales in the inventory-starved NE Tenn. – SW Va. market were up 9.3 percent. “It’s a crazy, red-hot market,” Northeast Tennessee Association…

By Don Fenley | Mar 8, 2021 | Market Pulse

Realtor.com’s economic forecasting team thinks the market will return to seasonality this year. The typical seasonal patterns were tossed out the window last year as individuals and the markets adjusted…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Mar 6, 2021 | News

Home inspections are at the top of the headache list for home resales. They rank second only to appraisals. Both can send a deal back to negotiations or cause it…

By Don Fenley | Mar 1, 2021 | Market Pulse, News

The average local homeowner who sold last month pocketed an average $37,438 more than someone who sold January last year. That’s a 21.2 percent year-over-year appreciation and better than double…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 27, 2021 | Market Pulse

Web searches for “what’s my home worth” have been getting a workout during today’s blistering housing market. I recently ran one and Google found 4,670,000,000 results. Scroll through a few pages…

By Don Fenley | Feb 23, 2021 | Market Pulse

The Tri-Cities region land rush is continuing into 2021. When you combine building lots to vacant land for homes, commercial ventures, agriculture, and now investments, sales were up 48.5% last…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 21, 2021 | News

Ask anyone how they think the economy is doing and many will point to a stock market update. That’s a good measure of how investors are speculating, but not of…

By NETAR | Feb 15, 2021 | Market Pulse

The local housing market is on the cusp of the prime home buying and selling season with a historic shortage of homes on the market and some push and shove…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 14, 2021 | News

Real estate professionals are buckled up for what looks to be a fiercely competitive prime home buying and selling season, based on what they saw in the Northeast Tennessee Association…

By Don Fenley | Feb 8, 2021 | Commercial Sales

The Tri-Cities’ commercial real estate (CRE) market continued eking out a slow recovery in January despite continued economic challenges. Transactions and new listings were up from last year, and the…

By Don Fenley | Feb 4, 2021 | Home Sales

The NE Tenn. – SW Va. housing market stayed on a double-digit increase pace last month. “January usually isn’t one of the stronger housing months, but this market is…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 3, 2021 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY When Charles Dickens wrote the opening to “A Tale of Two Cities” in 1859, he was almost describing 2020’s events. “It was the best of times, it…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jan 31, 2021 | News

Thinking about buying a home in 2021? Here are a few truths for all homebuyers to help you wade through some of the misinformation out there. NOW IS NOT A…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jan 24, 2021 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Facebook posts about new listings getting their first offer in less than a day are becoming commonplace. Ditto for examples of homes selling for – or above…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jan 16, 2021 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY We have all heard the adage that “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” This consumer nugget needs extra attention for folks looking…

By Don Fenley | Jan 14, 2021 | Pending Sales

Sellers accepted 660 offers in December. That’s 200 fewer than during November but 155 more than December last year. “There is some month-over-month seasonal slowing, but it’s nothing to worry…

By Don Fenley | Jan 11, 2021 | Commercial Sales

Office, industrial, vacant land deals were market’s leaders It wasn’t a big increase, but during a year that saw the worst crash since the Great Depression, the local commercial…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jan 10, 2021 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY The largest generations in history will step up their influence on the housing industry in 2021. Millennials have already dominated the first-time buyer ranks, but the leading…

By Don Fenley | Jan 7, 2021 | Home Sales

December was one of the best-ever months for the local housing market, and it closed the books on one of the best-ever years for sales and price heights. “It was…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jan 3, 2021 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY As we all celebrated the coming of the new year, all signs pointed to it being a great year of smooth sailing for 2020. Nothing could have…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Dec 26, 2020 | News

The current headlines about home sales and prices are eye-popping, though customers have become wary. Firstly, the data set in which we use to calculate statistics is not national; it…

By Don Fenley | Dec 23, 2020 | Pending Sales

The NE Tenn. – SW Va. housing market took a breather in November. Pending sales dropped to a seven-month low. But it wasn’t much of a slowdown. There were 860…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Dec 20, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY New FHA financing rules for condominiums were put in place late last year to open ownership to more first-time buyers. It was a pre-pandemic decision when it…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Dec 13, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY In a couple of weeks, we can close the books on the 2020 housing market. Sales and price appreciation are at an all-time high, according to November’s…

By Don Fenley | Dec 9, 2020 | Commercial Sales

Office, industrial, vacant land deals best CMLS performers The local commercial real estate market is slowly clawing itself out of the COVID-19 black hole. Recovery continues to be uneven, with…

By Don Fenley | Dec 7, 2020 | Home Sales

Sales were down slightly from October but up 22.7% from last year. The average resale price was $222,142, up 26.7 percent After an expected minimal seasonal slowdown, Northeast Tennessee and Southwest…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Dec 6, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Studies show that many buyers prefer a home 10 years old or less, but that may not always doable in today’s local market. According to the latest…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Nov 28, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY There used to be a real estate rule of thumb that said during normal market conditions meant a six-month inventory of homes for sale, which we have…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Nov 21, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Local home prices have increased by double digits so far this year despite the pandemic, high unemployment, and a hotly contested presidential election. The area median year-to-date…

By Don Fenley | Nov 20, 2020 | Pending Sales

Pending sales surged to a three-month high in October. Sellers accepted 965 new contracts (pending sales), up from 921 in September. October’s pending sales are at a 17.3% increase in…

By Don Fenley | Nov 15, 2020 | Commercial Sales

Office, industrial, vacant land deals weathering the storm —– October’s Commercial Real Estate Market posted a small transaction decline on the heels of its best two months this year. Compared…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Nov 14, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY The weather may be cooling off, but it looks like this will be a hot winter for the local housing market. The housing market continues to be…

By Don Fenley | Nov 9, 2020 | Home Sales

Local home sales saw some seasonal softening, but it was not enough to pull the market off its record pace. “October sales dropped 13.7% from September, but were 11.5% better…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Nov 8, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Closing costs are an all-too-common surprise for some homebuyers. Their focus was on finding their next home, getting a good deal, and the other things that come…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 31, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY The average Northeast Tennessee home sales price hit a new high in September. It was $218,438. That is 20.7% more than it was in September last year. …

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 24, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY The local housing market has hit lots of new benchmarks this year, and there will likely be a few more before the end of the year. It…

By Don Fenley | Oct 21, 2020 | Pending Sales

New pending sales continued softening for the second consecutive month in September. That hints that while the market is still on a record sales pace, there is a little bit…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 19, 2020 | News

A couple of weeks ago, we devoted this space to winterizing your home so you could enjoy all a Northeast Tennessee autumn has to offer. There’s one more item that…

By Don Fenley | Oct 15, 2020 | Home Sales

The local housing market again surged into uncharted territory in September. Residential closings and the average sales price hit all-time highs while inventory and mortgage rates remained at all-time lows.…

By Don Fenley | Oct 13, 2020 | Commercial Sales

In September, the commercial real estate market recorded another best month of the year, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) monthly Commercial Real Estate Report. Transactions were…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 10, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Housing is currently the brightest spot in our economy. As strange as it may sound, one reason for that is COVID-19. It has altered some fundamental ways…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Oct 4, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Industries are always changing. That makes continuing education essential for workers to stay current with the latest technologies, development, and skills required for their fields. Some professions…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Sep 26, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY The first signs of fall are here. It is noticeably cooler in the evenings and early mornings. The forecast for peak fall colors has been made. It…

By Don Fenley | Sep 23, 2020 | Pending Sales

New pending sales were down in August, but not by much. There were 962 new contracts (pending sales) at the end of the month – down from 980 in July.…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Sep 19, 2020 | News

BY KRISTI BAILEY Our housing market is a lot like the Energizer Bunny. You have seen the commercials. They feature a pink drum-beating bunny with limitless energy. Homes sales –…

By Don Fenley | Sep 17, 2020 | Home Sales

Northeast Tennessee’s housing market continued its robust recovery for the initial COVID-19 economic shock in August. Home sales were up 9.4%, and the average sales price was an 8 %…

By Don Fenley | Sep 15, 2020 | Commercial Sales

August was the best month so far this year for Tri-Cities commercial real estate (CRE) transactions. Web traffic to local listings was also at a 2020 high. But, the number…

By Don Fenley | Sep 14, 2020 | Commercial Sales

August was the best month for Tri-Cities area commercial real estate (CRE) so far this year. The transactions total equaled last August’s performance, and listing traffic was at its…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Sep 13, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY It is ironic that during a pandemic and when the economy is in a recession, it’s one of the best times in years to sell a home.…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Sep 6, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Real estate can be a rewarding and enjoyable career, but it is a high-risk profession. Many real estate professionals find themselves in situations that put them in…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 30, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Low-interest rates and high consumer demand sent Northeast Tennessee home sales soaring in June and July, and a forward-looking indicator says it is not over yet. July…

By Don Fenley | Aug 26, 2020 | Pending Sales

New pending sales set another high point for the NE Tennessee housing market in July. There were 980 new contracts (pending sales) at the end of the month – up…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 23, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY “The only thing holding back the local housing market is inventory.” Sound familiar? The issue crept into housing market reports about two years ago. Back in 2016,…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 16, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Last weeks tremors from the earthquake centered in North Carolina got me thinking about things that threaten our homes. With earthquakes happening only a couple time a…

By Don Fenley | Aug 14, 2020 | News

Northeast Tennessee home sales increased 11% in July, and the average sales price was up 7.5%. There were 818 resale closings in July, 81 more than July last year. The…

By Don Fenley | Aug 11, 2020 | Commercial Sales

Tri-Cities commercial real estate (CRE) began looking a little more like the residential market in July. Transactions increased. Listing sank to a seven-month low. And consumer activity increased. But when…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 9, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Five months ago, getting a sign-unseen offer for an existing home listing was a rarity. So were buyers waiving contingencies to sweeten their offers. And what about…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Aug 2, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY There’s no such thing as the lazy, hazy days of summer in real estate. At least not this year, thanks to COVID-19. Shelter-at-home curbed the traditional spring…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jul 26, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY It’s a fabulous time to be a seller. Interest rates have never been lower. That balances some of the price increases because lower mortgage rates mean a…

By Don Fenley | Jul 20, 2020 | Pending Sales

New pending sales increased in June. It was a small increase from May’s total, but it was a clear signal the market is not cooling off. There were 889 new…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jul 19, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY The housing market pivot from the brief coronavirus sales lull arrived with a bang in June. It was the best single month for closings, and the average…

By Don Fenley | Jul 13, 2020 | Home Sales

Northeast Tennessee home sales roared back into record territory in June. Closings on residential resales were 40.9% better than May and up 9.9% from June last year. The average sales…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jul 12, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY There is no arguing that navigating today’s real estate market is complicated. So, it’s easy to see why buyers and sellers are always looking for solutions that…

By Don Fenley | Jul 7, 2020 | Commercial Sales

Unlike its residential cousin, commercial real estate (CRE) isn’t seeing an early and robust rebound from the initial economic Covid-19 pandemic shock. Total transactions for the first half of this…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jul 4, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Have you ever heard someone say they rent because they don’t want to be saddled with a mortgage in these uncertain economic times? Step back and think…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jun 27, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY It’s almost time to tie a bow on June’s observance of Homeownership Month. Throughout the month, local and national real estate professionals have focused volunteer and information…

By Don Fenley | Jun 22, 2020 | Pending Sales

As new pending sales for the local market rose in May, experts anticipate more significant growth in June and July. There were 881 new contracts at the end of the…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jun 20, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY Northeast Tennessee’s home sales continued to struggle in May, but indicators point toward a pivot to a recovery phase. There were more closing than there were in…

By NETAR | Jun 18, 2020 | News

By Don Fenley | Jun 15, 2020 | Home Sales

May’s home sales made a slight bounce from April but continue to be gripped by the coronavirus economic fallout. There were 569 closings in May, up 4.7% from April, and…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jun 14, 2020 | News

It looks like NE Tennessee housing sales are already beginning to bounce back from its COVID-19 slowdown. Nationwide, applications for purchase mortgages gained for the seventh straight week, according to…

By NETAR | Jun 11, 2020 | Stories

I’ve always been one to give of my time to others. As far back as high school when many of the scholarships I received were because of my community service,…

By NETAR | Jun 11, 2020 | News

REALTOR® of the Year The REALTOR® of the Year must meet all of the qualifications of the REALTOR® of Distinction plus have a high level of involvement with Tennessee REALTORS®…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jun 7, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY There is an ongoing debate in one corner of the policymaking world about re-evaluating the role of homeownership in the American Dream. It is an extension of…

By Don Fenley | Jun 3, 2020 | Commercial Sales

Tri-Cities commercial real estate (CRE) transactions continued laboring with the economic fallout of COVIX-19 in May. The short-term numbers are about what you would expect. May sales were down 40%…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 31, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY The buzz in the real estate industry is Coronavirus has shifted this year’s peak spring buying and selling season to the summer. Local indicators are pointing that…

By Don Fenley | May 26, 2020 | News

New pending sales declined in April as the local market reacted to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. There were 688 new contracts (pending sales) at the end of…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 24, 2020 | News

You’ve worked with a REALTOR® to scour the listings, toured what feels like a million listings, and finally found it: the house you want to call home. The next step is…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 17, 2020 | News

By KRISTI BAILEY During these chaotic times, the single most crucial thing anyone planning to buy or sell real estate can do is to partner with the right REALTOR®. Media…

By NETAR | May 14, 2020 | News

In April, home sales were down by 17.9% in Northeast Tennessee. However, home prices increased by almost an equal percentage. According to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR), 543…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 10, 2020 | News

Homeowners who want to sell must give buyers a disclosure of the property’s known defects. Unless the buyer agrees to buy the property “as is,” one of the steps is…

By NETAR | May 7, 2020 | News

WASHINGTON (May 7, 2020) – More than 3 in 4 potential sellers – 77% – are preparing to sell their homes following the end of stay-at-home orders, with half completing do-it-yourself home…

By Kristi Bailey, President | May 3, 2020 | News

The Days on Market (DOM) metric that’s typically at the bottom of the Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS® (NETAR) Trends Report is more than just a data point. It’s a…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Apr 26, 2020 | News

There are so many housing market hot topics these days that you need a helicopter to say above them. One that’s of interest to homeowners and real estate professionals is…

By Don Fenley | Apr 23, 2020 | Pending Sales

The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic did not have much effect on new contracts for residential resales in March. There were 798 new contracts (pending sales) at the end…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Apr 19, 2020 | News

The March housing numbers didn’t follow suit with the early coronavirus pandemic drama from other parts of the economy. In fact, sales and prices were pretty much what was expected.…

By NETAR | Apr 16, 2020 | News

WASHINGTON (April 16, 2020) – A quarter of Realtors® with clients putting contracts on homes this week had at least one do so without physically seeing the property, according to a…

By NETAR | Apr 14, 2020 | News

Tri-Cities home sales were down 8.4% from March last year and up 1.1% from the first quarter of 2019, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors. There were 568…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Apr 12, 2020 | News

This year’s observance of Fair Housing Month is not happening as planned. Consumers and real estate professionals are currently preoccupied with making the best of the situation we are in…

By NETAR | Apr 9, 2020 | News

WASHINGTON (April 9, 2020) – With an expected slowdown in spring real estate business activity, many Realtors® remain hopeful for a post-pandemic market rebound, according to a new survey from the…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Apr 6, 2020 | News

It is definitely not business as usual, but REALTORS® are innovative. They are adapting to representing clients during these upside-down times. With current safer-at-home orders and other COIVID-19 driven situations,…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Mar 23, 2020 | News

You can depend on COVID-19 pushing the local prime home buying and selling season onto uncharted waters this year. In the short-term, you can rely on housing and economic data…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Mar 23, 2020 | News

Coronavirus is the housing market disrupter that no one could have seen coming. And it arrived hand-in-hand with the first look at February’s Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® (NETAR) market…

By NETAR | Mar 23, 2020 | News

WASHINGTON (March 19, 2020) – Nearly half of Realtors® – 48% – said home buyer interest has decreased due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors®.…

By Don Fenley | Mar 20, 2020 | Pending Sales

There were about 1000 approved contracts for residential resales awaiting approval at the end of February, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors’ (NETAR) latest report. Those contracts were…

By Don Fenley | Mar 16, 2020 | Commercial Sales

It wasn’t the best year. But it wasn’t the worst. When you look at the data, 2019 was an OK year for the Tri-Cities Commercial Real Estate (CRE). Sales, leases,…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Mar 15, 2020 | News

There was a time when the first words a REALTOR® would hear from a new client was, “What kind of foreclosures are there out there?” Those days are gone, but…

By NETAR | Mar 13, 2020 | News

As the coronavirus remains a growing concern in the U.S. and in Tennessee, our leadership would like to assure you that we are prepared, and that we are keeping a…

By Don Fenley | Mar 13, 2020 | Home Sales

February Tri-Cities’ home sales took a breather from the double-digit increase we saw in January with 30 fewer closings. “Don’t read too much into that,” said Northeast Tennessee Association of…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Mar 8, 2020 | News

The initial listing price of a property is one of the single most essential items in a successful real estate transaction, and it does not matter if the market is…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 29, 2020 | News

EDITOR’S NOTE – The rate droped to 3.45 percent after this item was written. Do not look for mortgage rates to be a big home sales driver this year. Even…

By Don Fenley | Feb 27, 2020 | Pending Sales

The Tri-Cities pending homes sales trend posted a double-digit gain over January 2019, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR) Pending Sales Report. Pending sales are a leading…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 23, 2020 | News

The local housing market started 2020 the same way it ended 2019 – with a bang. January resales were up 16.5%, and there was a tidy 3.3% sales price appreciation.…

By Don Fenley | Feb 19, 2020 | Home Sales

The Tri-Cities area home sales were up 16.5% in January. The average residential resale price had a 3.3% improvement. “This is a promising walk-up to the 2020 prime buying and…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 16, 2020 | News

The single most important thing anyone planning to buy or sell real estate this year can do is to partner with the right REALTOR®. All the signs point to a market…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 9, 2020 | News

Unless you are a cash buyer, there is no way around the fact that things can be tough in today’s housing market – especially if you are a first-time buyer…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Feb 2, 2020 | News

Mortgage rates fell to their lowest point in three months at the end of January, and we are only one-quarter of a percentage point above the all-time low. According to…

By Don Fenley | Jan 27, 2020 | Pending Sales

Tri-Cities pending homes sales posted a small increase over November’s total while year-over-year and the moving average trend surged, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of REALTORS® (NETAR) latest report.…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jan 26, 2020 | News

The folks who specialize in marketing and demographics will tell you women are the principal spending influencers, and that will only increase in the future. Women outnumber men in college…

By Kristi Bailey, President | Jan 19, 2020 | News

Wow! That’s the first impression when you look at what the Tri-Cities area housing market did in 2019. Here are just a few of the milestones. It saw the best annual…

By Don Fenley | Jan 15, 2020 | News

December was a strong month for the Tri-Cities region’s housing market, and it lifted annual sales and prices to new highs. Kristi Bailey, NETAR 2020 President, said 2019 saw several…

By Don Fenley | Jan 2, 2020 | Pending Sales

Tri-Cities pending homes sales posted an 8.9% seasonal decline November after increased in October, according to the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors’ (NETAR) latest report. The year-over-year contract signing short-term trend…