Currently one of the hottest area in the Nashville area is Antioch which is located on the southeast side of town to the east of Brentwood, TN. The Antioch market is one of the few area of town that might actually be considered a sellers markets as many homes that are priced right are only on the market for weeks and not months. If you’re looking for a great buy in a steady market whether for investment or as your home you will want to check out Antioch.

Perhaps one of the most popular home searches in middle Tennessee is for local foreclosures and for good reason. These properties offer an exceptional value and many will provide the new owners with “instant equity”. Luckily many of these properties can be found locally without the damage/needed repairs you might expect. Use the advanced search here to find Foreclosures .

Even through some of the slower times in the Nashville, Tennessee homes market over the past few years, the Brighton Village subdivision has been very sucessful. Recently sales in the area have been begining to improve and this community is flourishing. Check out the current listings in this community by clicking here Brighton Village .

Do you really want the lowest price per square foot? During the most recent real estate boom is a huge trend toward getting the maximum amount of square footage for the dollar that you spent and while this has an obvious logic to it, is this the best way to determine one of the most significant investments of your life? Why do we use this to determine value? Quite simply, because it is easier! Really, I’m sure there is a domestic car out there with the same specs as almost any Mercedes, Lexus, or BMW, so why is it that people continue to buy these vehicles seeing as they cost so much more? Let’s just agree that there is more just what is on the spec sheet. During the boom, many homebuyers began to look at their home as more of an investment to become rich than more importantly a functional place to live. I think it’s safe to say that over the last two to three years we have all learned or least been reminded that home values do not always go up. In today’s environment more homebuyers are just that! They’re looking for home to buy and one they want to live in which in reality is a much better way to shop for home. I personally have seen homes that are 2500 ft.² that feel roomier and have more functional space that home that is 3000 ft.². Also many buyers are now weighing the additional cost of added rooms to the realistic time that they would spend in the added space. Take a step back and think about where you actually spend most of the time in your home. For most of us, it’s in just a few rooms probably your bedroom, your living room, the kitchen, and dining room (myself excluded from this one as I like many of you eat on the couch). But it’s really much more than the number of rooms you have been the functionality of those rooms. It’s time to be sensible, right? Think about it, what is the point of having a huge living room area if you’re going to put a typical sized couch a love seat in it? You’re going to have to need a larger TV because you’re too far away to see your old and you will end up paying much more throughout the year heating and cooling the additional unneeded space. While you may not necessarily agree with this, it is a trend that the majority of markets around the country are seeing and will likely continue to see over the next five to ten years. So whether you agree with this or not, you should still consider it because it will affect your ability to sell your home in future years. I know it’s not always easy to picture your furniture and picture the functionality of a home, but take the time to imagine where you would place things in how you would move throughout the house that you’re considering. For instance consider bedrooms up versus bedrooms down. I personally wake up in the morning go to the kitchen and make breakfast, go back to the bedroom to pick out clothes, go back to the laundry room to iron, go back to the bedroom to get dressed. If I had a two level plan is to be a lot of trips up and down the stairs, and I don’t even have children so if you do, you have to tackle and at least another two to three trips every morning up and down the stairs, right? This is not to say that I don’t like two level plans, because I really do, but for the way that I live I just don’t see them working for me. So next time you go house hunting, picture your routine in your new house, because we’re all creatures of habit right?

You may already have a preference one way or the other towards a single story or multiple story home. However if you don’t there are several differences between the two. As a general rule of thumb, a single story home is a more open and flowing plan which offers more usable space but generally cost a little more to build. A 2-story home is generally a little more boxier having more rooms that don’t flow well it into each other but offer more value for the square-foot. Currently the draw is more towards a single level plan in many areas as many of the baby boomers are reaching retirement age and do not want to fight the stairs any longer, but at the same time a two-story plan is attractive to young families who need the extra space but are on a tight budget. You perhaps may want to consider the demographic of your community as to what you feel the future needs will be whenever you decide to resell your house. Another thing to consider in a two-story plan is whether they calculate square footage includes the stairs which many builders wrongfully include as this is not usable space unless you like lounging on your staircase. A single level plan generally cost more because the added materials. It will require a larger roof, more footings or a larger slab, more brick per square foot ( because your roof likely has some peaks). This makes it not sound like much, but it actually adds up to very quick. Consider if you’re building a 2000 ft.² home on a single level you are twice as much roof space, twice as large of a slab, and generally about a quarter to an eighth more brick. Think about it, do you really think that builders build two-level plans because the majority of people in the country preferred this layout or because it’s less expensive to build? at the same time don’t let this hinder you from buying a two-story house but as you can get an excellent value for your dollar.

I’m sure you probably heard this expression before looking at homes and be honest is quite important. I’ll be the first to say that location is not everything but it is quite important when considering where you want to live. I’ve been in this business for several years and is still astounds me that some people may come into the model who appear to be serious buyers have no idea what part of town that they want to live in. My first question whenever I hear this is oh you must have just moved to the area which would make this response understandable, but no many have lived here for several years. Now I understand no one likes a salesperson so I can only assume that some these people are just trying to brush me off but at the same time I’m sure some are actually serious. They say it really doesn’t matter what part of town I live when I see the perfect house for me I would just know it. I’m sorry if you’re one of these people, but this is the most irrational way to buy house there is. Of course you would get a good feeling when you’re in the house you’re back to purchase, but at the same time is going with your gut will likely leave numerous aspects unconsidered.   Think about it everyone wants the biggest house in the best neighborhood for the lowest possible price but be realistic you can’t have all three. In some way shape or form your purchasing decision will have some trade-offs. Location should be one of your very first considerations. Which area you perceive is best for you and why. Perhaps it’s the schools and shopping the vicinity to work or numerous other factors one of which should be the future growth and potential of the community. Then you need to determine if you can afford to live in this area for the size house that you need and you may also want to consider neighboring areas that offer the same advantages as your first choice to use as a comparison. Then you’d be able to compare the average price of a house near the like versus a second and third choice of various and whether you see value in the additional money spent in the area you likely desire to live in. Trust me the last thing you want to do is purchase a house merely because she liked the house without consideration to the area that it is in because likely you would purchase a beautiful home in a less than desirable neighborhood and unfortunately many less desirable neighborhoods generally get a little bit less and less desirable as the time goes on. However if you purchase a respectable house in a very good community the opposite is true many nice neighborhoods breed more nice neighborhoods which in turn bring in nice commercial businesses such as upscale retail shops and sort.

Picking your options for a new home can be an extremely fun and exciting experience, but there are a few things you may want to consider before making any final decisions on which options and upgrades you will choose. Other than being able to have exactly what you want, the other main goal if you ever plan to resell the house is resell ability. This basically means you need to take things they you perceive other people would see value and is well. It is a good idea to have your realtor present while making your selections as they will be able to advise you on this as well. What I advise you doing is taking a look at several of the other homes in the community that you will be purchasing to get some what of a baseline for the options and upgrades that other people in the community of chosen. This will prove helpful because when you decide to resell the home you neither want to be at the bottom of the list is farce upgrades or above and beyond what most people in the community have chosen. for instance, putting granite stainless steel appliances and crown molding in a 75,000 house probably will help you resell the home but you will likely not get the difference in what you paid for the upgrades As other people in the community will be able to sell the same home for less because they decided to choose a more reasonable upgrade package. At the same time if you’re buying a $300,000 house in the majority of people buying in that community have chosen tile floors and hardwood floors you probably do not want to settle for the basic laminate package is a future potential homebuyer will probably see that as a major negative if they’re comparing your house to another in the community. They will figure that into their offer as replacement cost which five years down the road will likely be more than what they cost today. Also consider if you choose $10,000 worth of upgrades it will likely only cost you additional $60 per month. My advice is always been to be a little bit better than the norm but not so over-the-top that you don’t recoup the value of the upgrades and you resell.

Perhaps you’ve heard of at 1031 tax exchange. Basically the exchange allows you to defer your taxes by trading like kind property. Now the like kind is not necessarily what you think. For instance, you can defer the profits from the sale of your business in defer it by purchasing a piece of real estate whether it be your primary residence or investment property. Also you can defer the capital gains tax that you have to pay from selling a home, that is if you haven’t owned it for two years, into another home. To explain further if you sell your primary residence within the first two years of owning it yet to pay a minimum 15% capital gains tax on the profit that you realized from the sale of your home. This profit is determined by your total expense meaning what you pay for the home plus any commissions that you paid plus any improvements that you made. This number would be subtracted from the new sales price plus any commissions that you paid and other cost incurred  in selling the property. Your profit in a sense is the net amount that you made from the sale of your home.   Now if it’s your primary residence and you lived in the home for two years as capital gains tax does not apply. If this home is an investment property this tax will be levied. This is a good tool that allows you to leverage your money and purchase more thereby allowing you to make more on your next real estate deal. If that doesn’t make sense to give up like this if you can purchase a $300,000 home and appreciates at 7% per year but by using a 1031 exchange you can now purchase a home for the same amount mortgaged for $345,000. Let’s say you hold onto the property for five years you are able to leverage that additional $45,000 which made you 7% per year. I know it sounds a little bit confusing but consider making 6% interest nearly doubles every 12 years, this is well worth your time if you plan to reinvest your money.

Do you ever just get burned out during the middle of a week from constantly going to work coming home, eating, going to bed, and getting up to start all over again the very next day. I know this happens to me all the time. If you need something to break up the monotony or to just have some alone time with your significant other, I would highly suggest going to catch a midweek concert at the Ryman Auditorium. The best thing is it’s only a short 15 minutes trip from Mt. Juliet. You probably are already thinking to yourself, no one goods can be playing on a Tuesday night. Well you would be more than happily surprised to know that that is not the case. Numerous country stars have appeared at the Ryman on Tuesday night including Montgomery Gentry, Trace Adkins, Sugarland, Carrie Underwood, and many more. Check into it, you won’t be disappointed.

When weighing out in choosing between several different builders, it is important to consider if they are a national/production or local builder as both offer both positives and negatives. Production builders are usually very large publicly traded companies that are accountable to their stockholders for making profit. If they have been in business for a long time they are obviously good at doing just that. Their goal whether they are building shoeboxes or multimillion dollar homes is to maximize profit. Simply put, they want to a build home as inexpensively as they can and sell it for is much that can. They also attempt to pay their workers the least, meaning their general contractors will be paid less and their subcontractors will be who will do the job for the least amount. So many times they are not able to keep the best ones builders or subcontractors on their payroll. Also because customer service/warranty is usually trimmed down to as few workers as possible that are likely underpaid, you can almost guarantee that their service will be marginal at best. However as a large company and doing things in such bulk they are able to get better pricing from their contractors and from suppliers much like the same way Wal-Mart can almost beat anyone’s price.

You may be thinking really what I want is the most for the least and if these big companies can offer me the best value for my money, I will go with them regardless of their customer service. But can they really offer the most for my money? The answer is yes and no. Many times if you catch a big builder when they’re hurting you can get an incredible deal, but this may take several months to do. If they need sales they will deal but usually only on the inventory homes. So if you’re looking to build a house you’re probably just going to get their normal pricing which will likely not be any better than the local guy and you will probably get less for your money. The main advantage of local builders is customization, service, and sometimes pricing. Because these big builders want to maximize profits the build by paneling the home meaning the walls were built a factory shipped to your lot then connected together. This rigidity does not allow for much customization of the home. In fact, you may only get one or two options of things you can change from the floor plan that you most liked. However with the local builder you can pretty much change anything within reason that does not negatively decrease the value of the home as the walls and local construction are built on site. Also many local builders keep many of their contractors around for many years, and also have many of the top agents working in their communities as well as having a professional designer on staff. Likewise many local builders only build a small area, so their reputation is on the line every day with every house of the bill unlike a larger builder who may not do as well in one part of the country but can make it up elsewhere.

But how can they offer better pricing if they are a small builder? Simple, if these companies are run well they will have less overhead than a large company in doing they can lessen effects of the buying power of the big guys and/or fact that they will likely have to pay more for materials and labor. To further explain, they do not have to pay for many positions that large companies do such as HR, Presidents, Vice Presidents, Regional Managers Sales Managers, Marketing Managers, and so on. Also the difference in the amount of marketing plays a big role in to this in how much either can take.

I know this really doesn’t give you a clear concise answer as to which builders choose, but it may help your understanding of the process next time you decide to purchase a home. The best thing to do is to familiarize yourself with the cost of construction for the various aspects of your home or consult with a realtor who is knowledgeable in these areas. Then compare tit-for-tat what each of these homeowners you are considering are offering. That is truly the only way, but the best thing is to for familiarize yourself with the cost of various items as many things you might think would cost a lot more than they do actually do not. In the same way many things you might see as inexpensive are really not. Trust me I’ve been in the construction industry for several years and still able to be shocked by how much or how little a particular upgrade cost.