I am all about being real with people. I mean, that is what you want, isn't it? When you ask a Realtor a question, don't you expect a REAL answer? One that requires some thought?
I have been in the Bluegrass area since I was a kid and a Realtor since 2005. I have watched it grow and change. My blog is all about what is happening right now with our market, my thoughts on neighborhoods, and the future.
I hope you enjoy it!
John
I have been in the Bluegrass area since I was a kid and a Realtor since 2005. I have watched it grow and change. My blog is all about what is happening right now with our market, my thoughts on neighborhoods, and the future.
I hope you enjoy it!
John
Sooo You're Moving to Lexington Ky: Best Site to Use
Posted 10-25-2010 at 01:46 PM by LEXpert
Many out of town people use a variety of sites to look for houses. A good one is our local MLS, which is the "Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors." A lot of people use it's site at http://www.lbar.com. While that is a nice site and all, I think it is pretty limiting. A better version of the same thing is http://www.lbarmls.com. Click on both of them and you'll see that the one with mls at the end of it allows you to better refine your search criteria.
The local MLS site is the best one to use. Why? It is always up to date and just about any other site like zillow, trulia, yahoo, etc are nothing more than an IDX feed from lbar. The main difference is that when a house is sold, it disappears (to the public) on lbar and lbarmls. I can't tell you how many times that I have had a client tell me about a great house they found on some site like zillow only to find that it sold and closed months ago. You can use those other sites for the good info they provide, but don't use them for house hunting. I have also found that it can take a while before a price reduction trickles its way down through that IDX feed.
Okay, now you're using lbarmls.com for looking at houses. You'll see a place where you can chose the area. Lexington is busted up into 4 areas, and the other areas are for the different counties. Here is how the areas are divided in Lexington: Area 1 is between Leestown Road and North Broadway a.k.a. Paris Pike. Area 2 is North Broadway to Richmond Road. Area 3 is Richmond Road to Nicholasville Road. Area 4 is Nicholasville Road back to Leestown Road. If you haven't already, take a looksie at a map of Lexington. You'll see it looks kind of like a wheel with spokes.
The next big decision you'll have is to enter a price range. What I like about this site compared to the lbar.com site is that you can enter the range yourself, rather than in $25,000 increments. Keep in mind that most Lexington realtors are still pretty old school. Say if your range is $200-$250k, you had better enter $199k as the low range or else you'll miss a bunch of $199,900 listings by just $100. I never use the hundred dollar numbers when I list a house for this reason. There is no way to refine your search more than to the nearest thousand, so why potentially miss a buyer by $100. Not to mention that $200,000 listings can not only be one buyer’s lowest number, it can also be another buyer's highest number. It is like getting double the exposure for free....but that is another blog entry I guess?
Here is something you'll need to know: The average list to sale price in Lexington is 97%. I occasionally see some lower, but most of the time an over-priced listings ends up getting reduced to the point that it is near market value and then sells for about that percentage. The strongest market in Lex is the $120-180k range. Then we have the move up range of $200-300k. When I see a decent house that sells for a lower list to sale percentage, it is usually in houses priced higher than $300k. I guess the combination of fewer sales and the likelihood of having equity allows those sellers to budge more. Who knows?
Then next thing to remember has to do with square footage. I usually search a little less than what I really want. Say, if I am looking for a minimum of 2500 square feet, I might put 2400 as the minimum. The reason is that sometimes a well designed house can feel larger than it is, and also because there are plenty of agents that will do something like put that the house is 2497 square feet.
Alright....you're on your way. Over the next few blog entries, I think I'll talk about the different areas of Lexington and prices ranges.
You can check out my wordpress blog at http://www.theLEXpert.com for more tips, advice and all.
~John
The local MLS site is the best one to use. Why? It is always up to date and just about any other site like zillow, trulia, yahoo, etc are nothing more than an IDX feed from lbar. The main difference is that when a house is sold, it disappears (to the public) on lbar and lbarmls. I can't tell you how many times that I have had a client tell me about a great house they found on some site like zillow only to find that it sold and closed months ago. You can use those other sites for the good info they provide, but don't use them for house hunting. I have also found that it can take a while before a price reduction trickles its way down through that IDX feed.
Okay, now you're using lbarmls.com for looking at houses. You'll see a place where you can chose the area. Lexington is busted up into 4 areas, and the other areas are for the different counties. Here is how the areas are divided in Lexington: Area 1 is between Leestown Road and North Broadway a.k.a. Paris Pike. Area 2 is North Broadway to Richmond Road. Area 3 is Richmond Road to Nicholasville Road. Area 4 is Nicholasville Road back to Leestown Road. If you haven't already, take a looksie at a map of Lexington. You'll see it looks kind of like a wheel with spokes.
The next big decision you'll have is to enter a price range. What I like about this site compared to the lbar.com site is that you can enter the range yourself, rather than in $25,000 increments. Keep in mind that most Lexington realtors are still pretty old school. Say if your range is $200-$250k, you had better enter $199k as the low range or else you'll miss a bunch of $199,900 listings by just $100. I never use the hundred dollar numbers when I list a house for this reason. There is no way to refine your search more than to the nearest thousand, so why potentially miss a buyer by $100. Not to mention that $200,000 listings can not only be one buyer’s lowest number, it can also be another buyer's highest number. It is like getting double the exposure for free....but that is another blog entry I guess?
Here is something you'll need to know: The average list to sale price in Lexington is 97%. I occasionally see some lower, but most of the time an over-priced listings ends up getting reduced to the point that it is near market value and then sells for about that percentage. The strongest market in Lex is the $120-180k range. Then we have the move up range of $200-300k. When I see a decent house that sells for a lower list to sale percentage, it is usually in houses priced higher than $300k. I guess the combination of fewer sales and the likelihood of having equity allows those sellers to budge more. Who knows?
Then next thing to remember has to do with square footage. I usually search a little less than what I really want. Say, if I am looking for a minimum of 2500 square feet, I might put 2400 as the minimum. The reason is that sometimes a well designed house can feel larger than it is, and also because there are plenty of agents that will do something like put that the house is 2497 square feet.
Alright....you're on your way. Over the next few blog entries, I think I'll talk about the different areas of Lexington and prices ranges.
You can check out my wordpress blog at http://www.theLEXpert.com for more tips, advice and all.
~John
