real-estate

LEXpert’s top picks for around $250k

by John Rice

Okay.  You want a 4 bedroom house in Lexington.  Nothing too old.  Maybe you have kids.  Maybe you don’t.  Either way you realize a house in this price range and size should be in a good performing school district to keep the resale potential up.

Here are a few neighborhoods I always suggest and why:

Andover Hills-I know, I know.  I am always talking about Andover Hills.  I lived there for several years and it has been my absolute favorite place I’ve ever lived.  You are close to Hamburg, but since you are on the southeast side of it, you do not have to pass through Hamburg EVERY time you go any place else in town.  Since I now live on the northeast side of Hamburg and must get past Hamburg to get anywhere, I am always aware of this.  Andover Hills has a nice vibe.  Upscale without being pretentious.  $250k is the low end for this neighborhood.  An added plus is having Andover Golf and Country Club so close for golfing and the pool if you wanted to join.  There are a lot of businesses that you use regularly that are very close too.

Chilesburg-This neighborhood would not have been on my list many years ago.  It has always been nice, but the school district change finally put all of Chilesburg in the elementary school that sits in the middle of it.  It is just a few minutes past Andover Hills, so it shares many of the same perks.  One cool thing Chilesburg has is a bunch of walking trails through the neighborhood.

Willow Oak-This is one neighborhood few people know exists.  It is tucked away behind Millpond Shopping Center on Boston Road.  If you’ve been out there and seen a park with a pool and a big pond, that belongs to this neighborhood.  There is only one way in and out, and it is across a picturesque bridge.  Anything you want in South Lexington is close, and you could walk to Starbucks.  The streets are lined with huge pin oaks.  This neighborhood has one of my highest “Good vibes per dollar” ratings ever.  You could spend twice as much elsewhere and not get as much neighborhood character.

Copperfield-This is one of the most desirable neighborhoods in this price range.  It is upscale in a classic sense like Andover Hills and has all the character that you find in Willow Oak.  It is also on the edge of the Dunbar High School district, which is one reason it is so popular.  The neighborhood has it’s own pool and clubhouse too.

 

 

 

LEXpert’s top picks for around $150k

by John Rice

Let’s say you are a first time buyer, retiring, downsizing, or maybe you just don’t need a big house.  Your budget is around $150k.  You don’t want to compromise location.  You don’t want a characterless neighborhood.  What to do?  Where to look?

Here are my top 5 picks for neighborhoods to consider.  All are from the 80s and 90s and all are in southwest Lexington:

  1.  On the low end of the budget, you should consider Overview Drive in Hidden Springs.  One side of this street backs to a creek, so you have a little breathing room since the houses on the other side of the creek are a little further away.  Not that you will, but you could walk to the Boston Road Kroger, or Starbucks, or all the stores on either side of Boston Road.  You’ve got a gas station and pharmacy too.
  2. If you like being in an affluent part of town at a bargain price, look into either Ashbrooke or Harrods Point.  Both are right on the Fayette-Jessamine County line out Harrodsburg Road.  Both are nice, quiet and convenient locations.  You have Bellerive Shopping Center sooo close.  Just down Harrodsburg Road is Palomar Shopping Center, the library and the YMCA.
  3. Copper Trace is in the middle of it all.  It is on the outside corner of Man O War and Clays Mill Road. Anything you want to do in south Lexington is a very short drive.  Unless you are on Spring Run Road, there is only one way in and out of either side of this neighborhood.  The huge pin oak trees that line the streets give it that established vibe everybody likes (except in the fall when the leaves drop!)
  4. While all of Clemens Heights is a nice neighborhood, one street in particular is amazing.  If you know the area, you know I am talking about Steamboat Road.  Almost the whole street backs to either greenspace or the city owned Waverly Park.  I’ve been in many houses on either side.  The wooded greenspace is a great view.  Waverly is a real gem of a park.  Just the right size and all the features you’d want.
  5. The fifth one was Harrods Point, but I combined it in #2 with Ashbrooke since they are so close.

Worried about resale value?

by John Rice
I sold a house to a very cool family I have been working with for a while.  We’ve looked at a lot of houses and I have become pretty close to them.  We always have a great time looking at houses and talking about our favorite Lexington restaurants.
But this post isn’t really about all that.  I just wanted to give you the background.
This family has owned several houses before.  This is the first one using me as their realtor.  The last two they ended up selling for less than they paid for them.  Granted, that happened to a lot of people between about 2007 and 2012.  They are understandably nervous about it happening again.
While I don’t have a crystal ball to predict what will happen in the future, I told them I thought they would be in good shape with this house.  Why?  Because the value of their new house is right smack in the middle of the range for the neighborhood.  That is always a safe place to be.
This house is in Hartland.  The range in Hartland is between the low $200s all the way up to over a million.  Most fall in the low $300s to mid $400s.  When you think of Hartland, it is the houses in this range that pop in your head more so than the ones under $300k or over $500k.  Which houses in this (or any other neighborhood) do you think would be the hardest to sell?  It is the cheapest and most expensive ones.  See, somebody looking at the low $200k house might be thinking that they could go to a slightly less fancy neighborhood and get a better house for the same money.  The buyer in the high range for the neighborhood is thinking they might want to be in a neighborhood with more houses in their price range.

Any neighborhood has a range of values.  Most don’t have as wide of a range as ones like Hartland, Chevy Chase, Ashland Park, Greenbrier, etc.  Even if you are shopping in a neighborhood with a narrower range of values, you are usually best to stay away from both the lowest and highest price houses.

So I think my special family is going be just fine with the house they have picked!

New roof add value to your house?

by John Rice

I just don’t buy it.
I read an article put out by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.  It said putting on a new roof is the biggest single item a seller can do to get the highest return. They said it increased the value of a house by 105%. Get this, remodeling or updating your kitchen only brings back about 67% in added value.
I laughed so hard I snorted a little.
About 50% of my work is with buyers. I sell a lot of houses. I have been doing for over 10 years. My experience in and around Lexington Ky is that very few buyers even notice the age or condition of the roof. The HVAC too for that matter. Most buyers care more about the appearance of the house than anything…..assuming they were okay with the location to have even considered viewing the house.  Most don’t think about the roof (or windows or HVAC or water heater) until the home inspection. That is why I always try to think about these things for them. I am always telling people the age and condition of the roof and the rest of the house. In fact, I’m working with a buyer right now who fired their old realtor because they kept making offers on houses that were in terrible shape and the deals fell apart after the home inspection. The last thing I want is a client of mine to emotionally move in, tell their friends and family all about the house, and then it fall apart after the home inspection.
Several years ago I listed a house for some clients/friends have used me several times. Their house had new windows and literally a brand new roof. The house was a bit outdated. They found their dream home before doing much inside to this one. The seller knew a lot about houses and wanted to take care of those big items first. LOL, I guess I am the same way because I am sitting in my own home, that has a new water heater, sump pumps and I am about to put in new windows…..yet I have a master bathroom that dates back to when Dallas and Knots Landing were new shows.
I put their house on the market. I showed it several times. It took a while to sell because it was outdated. I would remind buyers that there was $15-20k in windows and the roof that they would not have to spend. I would tell them it is more fun to spend that much on flooring and granite than to buy another house that was updated inside but would need new windows and a roof. It finally sold, but my point is that most buyers make decisions on how updated a house LOOKS. That is just how it works. 99% of the time, I would rather have my sellers drop money on updates that can be seen verses maintenance items than cannot. Unless a roof is just ancient or really ugly, most buyers don’t care as long as it doesn’t leak.
So, I totally disagree with this report. It just isn’t happening in my area.
And ALWAYS consult with a knowledgeable real estate agent in your area before making big decisions. I spend a lot of time advising friends and clients about how to spend money on their houses. You need somebody who knows the market and even your neighborhood to help make decisions.
There are a lot of variables depending on your neighborhood and price range.
We had a hail storm several years ago in South Lexington. Almost everybody got a new roof. The norm in those neighborhoods was to have a new roof. Buyers expected a new roof. It was a negative in that situation to not have a new roof.
There are several neighborhoods that are about 15 years old right now. The norm is to have original HVAC and roof. Since buyers will be viewing houses that all have an older roof or HVAC, a seller would do better to spend money updating the interior if they are considering selling any time soon. If they plan to stay forever, it is okay to spend their money any way they want.

What The LEXpert has been thinking about

by John Rice

Here are some things that have been on The LEXpert’s mind lately:

 

  •  I am seeing more and more interest in the houses around Liberty Road and Henry Clay Blvd.  About 25 years ago I saw that once Kenwick got expensive, interest would move to the Courtney/Clayton area.  And once those prices shot up, it would keep going further down Henry Clay Blvd.  What I didn’t see back then was that Delaware would become a hip spot for businesses and restaurants.  Back then, we all thought it would remain the scuzzy industrial area it had always been.  You watch, once the National Avenue area gets filled and rents go up, you’ll see more businesses you want to frequent along Delaware and Winchester Road.   The great thing about the Henry Clay/Liberty Road area is that you are minutes to downtown, minutes to NoLi, and minutes to Hamburg.  It really is an ideal location.

 

  • Greenbrier is seeing a lot of sales.  I have seen several that sold by word of mouth lately.  A couple others sold extremely fast.  I think it mostly has to do with the new school districts.  It is no longer a nice neighborhood on the wrong part of town thanks to Hamburg.  It is also no longer a nice neighborhood with a poor performing school district.  It will attract people who want to have their kids in public school now.   That makes for a broader market.  That means more buyers for fewer houses.  That means prices go up.

 

  • The $350-500k market is strong in Lexington still, even as we get late in the year.   Sales seem to come in waves.  There might be a few slow weeks for certain parts of town and then, all the sudden, that area will have lots of sales in one week.

 

  • Century Hills is blowing my mind.  I have seen several 3 bedroom/1 bath houses without a garage sell for over $100k, some close to $110k.  It wasn’t too long ago that the nicest ones out there were $95k!  Percentage wise, that is a huge increase.  Looks like we are back to the days where under $100k doesn’t get much.

 

  • I think that the new Citation Blvd is going to be a big gain for the west side of town.  That road really ties together all the neighborhoods between Georgetown and Leestown Road so well.  It is easier to get in and out of that area too.  It nolonger feels like a bunch of random neighborhoods scattered across the west side of town.  Businesses are what the area needs.  I think values will really go up if the residents of those neighborhoods do not have to go to Hamburg or south Lexington for shopping/dinning/entertainment.  A nice big road like this might attract them.

 

This is an exciting time to be in real estate.  Things are changing so fast.  Prices are increasing in some areas, stable in others.  Tastes are shifting too.  It is a lot to keep up with…….every new business, every new road that opens changes how people feel about a location.