"Ain't it goodto be alive and be in the great state of Tennessee!!"

From the words of Charlie Daniels. I couldn't have said it better. As a Realtor, I am really getting sick of the media giving us such gloom and doom about the housing market and the economy. One thing people have to understand, Real Estate is local. Most of the horrific news is in particular areas where people went crazy on speculation. Examples being, Miami, Las Vegas, New York and several cities in Arizona. Yes, the Nashville market is somewhat down, but what everyone has to understand is that they are down from several spectacular record years. Nashville's property values were so under valued for so long, our prices here are just catching up with the rest of the country. Statistics show that Nashville is now actually 1% below average housing prices in cities comparable to Nashville.

So, everyone please stop listening to CNN about how terrible the housing market is. It is a great time to buy, especially if you are a first time home buyer. The interest rates are still great. There is a ton of inventory to choose from.
Another reason Nashville's housing market is stable is mostly because we have alot of recession proof industries here, like hospitals and universities. Nashville is centrally located and a great distribution center. Tennessee borders eight states. You can get to a lot of places with a short drive. Who needs the drama of Atlanta when you can make a weekend trip of it?
Nashville is a comfortable, easy place to live. We have great neighborhood comm unites that are second to none. It is a great place to call home!

Mayor Dean's Housing Fair, Aug. 16th @ Fairgrounds 10am-5pm!

Don' t miss this great event, especially first time home buyers. With all the changes in the mortgage and housing industries, the Housing Fair will help you sort through all of the issues with the current market. There will be government agencies there such as the Tennessee Housing and Development Agency as well as many non-profit organizations to help educate first time home buyers on the home buying process and down payment assistance.
I will be there at our Village Real Estate booth. So, if you have even thought about buying a home, don't miss this great event! See you there.


Nashville Housing Fair
AUGUST 16TH 10AM - 5PM
TENNESSEE STATE FAIRGROUNDS
FREE ADMISSION & PARKING!
COME AND LEARN
•New Homes
•Obtain a mortgage
•Increase your credit score
•Take care of your first home
FREE PRIZES & GIVEAWAYS!
FIRST 250 TO REGISTER WILL
RECEIVE A $10 GAS CARD!
No prize redeemable for cash or transferable. Must be 18 or older to win. Proof of ID required.
No prizes paid for by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
Designed By Nashville Artist Beth Inglish www.bethinglish.com © 2008
P r e s e n t e d b y I n Pa r t n e r s h i p Wi t h
GRAND PRIZE
$1500 TRAVEL VOUCHER
HOURLY PRIZES
19” FLAT PANEL HDTVs

$50 GAS CARDS


$25 HOME DEPOT

GIFT CARDS

Great Townhouse for Sale in Donelson

Now that I have touted the horn of Donelson, I really should tell you about this great listing I have.

Just off Lebanon Pike near Stewarts Ferry is Riverstone. What I like about this community is that all the homes are all brick, they all have nice size decks, the property itself is situated along the Stones River so it is a really nice setting with mature trees and very nice landscaping. They have a quaint gazebo nestled in the trees and a walking trail. It also has a community pool. Plus Riverstone is just across Lebanon Pike near the Donelson YMCA, Jackson Down shopping Center (Target is there, my favorite!), the Stones River Greenway Trail which takes you along the Stones River to Percy Priest Lake. Did I mention it is only minutes to the Nashville International Airport and Opry Mills. Okay enough on the great location.

The townhouse is 2 Bedroom 2.5 Baths. It has a 2 car garage with plenty of storage or room for a home gym or hobby space, a large eat-in kitchen with tons of cabinets and counter space, the large living room has a wood burning fireplace and opens to the deck, the second floor has 2 master suites with vaulted ceilings and walk-in closets. If all of that is not enough, it has unique architectural features like curved walls, arched doorways, framed and palladium windows.

Great price of $159,900. If you know someone that maybe interested give me a call. I'd love to some them this gem of a townhome! 615.887.5616. For more photos and the virtual tour go to www.coolnashvillehomes.com or the MLS# is 994005.

Donelson

I guess it is only fitting that I write about my own neighborhood. I have been waiting just because we moved into the neighborhood about a year ago. As most Nashvillians, I didn't know much about Donelson, except that is is where the Airport and Opryland Hotel are. I knew nothing about the neighborhood or the people who lived there. My husband really doesn't want me to write about our neighborhood. He wants to keep it a secret. Too bad!

My husband and I quickly outgrew our East Nashville home and were planning on adopting a 13 year old child who came from a not so great background. So, we were looking for a larger home with some character in a safe neighborhood with a great yard for the dogs and far from any drama a 13 year old may get into. We wanted to stay close to the "urban core," as we call it at Village Real Estate. I hate traffic and driving more than 15 minutes anywhere. I am no fun on road trip to say the least!

As a Realtor, I felt I really knew Nashville and the neighborhoods. I figured our price range would take us to Inglewood, Sylvan Heights or maybe Crieve Hall. But, I just never really thought about Donelson. When my search brought up just a few listings in our under $225,000 price range, I was somewhat discouraged. We looked at a few in Inglewood, but all seemed to need too much work, especially since we are not fond of wallpaper, knotty pine and forest green carpet.

So I widened my search to all of Nashville in our price range and home criteria. Of course, we now had so many to sift through. One caught our attention in Donelson Hills. It sat on a half an acre, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathrooms, all brick, hardwood floors, 2100 square feet with a hobby house. I wasn't quite sure what you did in a hobby house, since my hobby is finding the best martini in Nashville. ;). I guess I could practice making them in there. But my kitchen works just fine.

So we head to Donelson Hills, just off Briley Parkway, west on Lebanon Pike. We found a very well established, tree lined neighborhood. We pulled into the long, aggregate driveway and take the tour. The huge front yard had 4 large mature trees and was nicely landscaped. The hardwood floors were gleaming, there was crown moulding throughout the house. It had the old, big picture windows in the living room and family room. The kitchen has so much cabinet space it was unbelievable. All the bedrooms were nice size and the Master was huge with it's own bathroom. But one of the coolest things was the bricked covered patio that connected to the carport. I would never have to carry groceries in the rain again! I could really imagine the wonderful get togethers we could have there. The back yard was huge as well and had that hobby house I was curious about. We walked in and my husband had found his true "man cave" to be his office! This house had only a couple of issues-the main bathroom had pink and baby blue tile all over and you had to walk through the guest room to get to the master. But, we felt like we could definitely re-do the bathroom and would have to live with the strange floor plan.

Now that we found a great house, what was the neighborhood like?
Well, we were close to a Target, Lowe's and Home Depot that was a good start. But, the first day we moved in, a couple came to welcome us to the neighborhood. They had 2 dogs as well and invited Abby and Gizmo to play anytime. What was even cooler is that they are lesbians which actually made this a diverse neighborhood!! They told us to call if we needed anything, that is what neighbors are for. Wow, had I gone back to the 70's! All the other neighbors proceeded to stop by bringing pies and welcoming us to the neighborhood as well. Now that we have been there a year, they still wave when passing by, bring fruit from their trees and chat pretty frequently. A few even come by and drink a glass of wine on the veranda and talk about everything and nothing.

We are less than 7 miles to downtown and 5 minutes to the airport. The Music City Star (train) has a stop just down Lebanon Pike. The Stones River Greenways have a trail that you can bike, hike or run along the Stones River all the way to Percy Priest Lake. The Donelson-Hermitage YMCA is one of the better ones in town. It has a resort type outdoor swimming pool with slides and everything! How could I forget Two Rivers Park? It has a public golf course, Wave Country (water park), skate park and the Greenway trail pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River to Shelby Park in East Nashville.

As far as restaurants we are kind of in "chain" hell, but there are some good privately owned restaurants like Ellendales (great brunch and live music nightly), Darfons, the Dinner Bell (meat and 3), several good Mexican restaurants, and we know have a Sylvan Park Restaurant. So, it is looking up in that area.

We love our home, our neighbors and neighborhood.

Germantown

Historic Germantown is one of Nashville's oldest neighborhoods. German's settled in the north Nashville area bordering downtown and the Cumberland River beginning in 1820 building unique, architecturally interesting homes.

In 1979, Germantown was designated on The National Register of Historic Places and revitalization of the area began. Homes in the neighborhood are architecturally unique with wrought iron fences and brick sidewalks make this neighborhood a desirable place to live. Werthan Mills Textile plant on Jefferson Street and Rosa Parks Blvd (8th Avenue North) has been renovated into urban living space. Developers salvaged the original hardwood floors and brick work to make Werthan Mills a true loft living experience. It doesn't hurt that Germantown has phenomenal views of downtown.

What makes Germantown such a cool neighborhood is, besides the gorgeous homes ,there are great restaurants in the neighborhood and it is walking distance to the Farmer's Market that is open year round. I certainly can not forget my favorite Nashville festival, Oktoberfest! Great music, food, arts and crafts and of course, BEER make this an annual must "go" event.

Germantown Cafe' has great food and stunning views of downtown and the State Capital. The Mad Platter is known for it's hospitality and a seasonally unique menu. Monell's is one of my favorite restaurants to take out-of-towners. You sit at giant tables with other guests and the southern cuisine is served family style. They come out with big baskets of fried chicken and catfish with all the fixin's and you pass it around. You meet all kinds of people with each visit. There are several new places in Germantown that I am excited to give a try.

Several unique condo projects have been completed or are near completion in the area. Morgan Place boosts to be Nashville's' only "green" building.

Germantown is a very cool neighborhood to call home. Here are a few links for more information:

http://www.historicgermantown.org/ , http://www.germantowncafe.com/, http://www.nashvilleoktoberfest.com/, http://www.monellsdining.ypguide.com/.

This Weekend, April 19 & 20th

Live it up Nashville, Downtown Home Tour is this weekend from 12 noon to 5pm. Tickets are $10 for single day or $15 for both days.
This is an awesome event showcasing Nashville's urban living. Experience the unique architecture of true lofts to opportunities of new developments in Nashville's urban core. Explore the diversity of downtown living along with the panoramic views and original historic elements of design. Don't miss out on this great event.
For more information: www.nashvilledowntown.com. See you there!

Cool Tool!

I found the coolest site: google street views. You have to check it out, especially if you are thinking of moving to a new city. Street Views actually gives you a 360 degrees views of a neighborhood. So, if you are looking at online home finding websites (IE, www.coolnashvillehomes.com) and you find a house you like, you go to www.maps.google.com and put in your city, then the street address and click on "street view." You can actually walk down the street with the arrows! It is similar to Google earth, but you can see the entire neighborhood. Only the cities on the map with cameras have street views.

They have done many major cities, Nashville being one. Atlanta has not been done yet. So, we can actually say that we beat Atlanta in something!! We really don't want to compete with them on traffic. We would like to have an IKEA and Nordstrom's. We are getting a Trader Joe's. Ha, Ha, Atlanta! Oh well, I just checked their website and Atlanta is getting a Trader Joe's soon as well. Maybe we'll be first.

This can be a very valuable tool if moving to a new city. Check it out!