And the Good News Is...

November 20, 2008

It's getting to be more and more difficult to find good news on TV. Reporters seem to be reveling in stirring up as much "doom and gloom" news as they can – after all it's been proven that bad news sells better than good. Our addiction to news tickers and 24 hour coverage was solidified during horrific news events of the last decade. But there IS positive news to be found if you dig hard enough.

28 Metropolitan areas showed increases in median existing single-family home prices from the same quarter in 2007. Areas such as Elmira NY, Tulsa OK, Wichita KS and Urbana IL.

But even in areas where average home sales have dropped drastically, there is good news. Buyers who have been shut out of the home ownership market, are now finding that they can afford to buy. And they ARE buying. Three states where the ‘housing bubble' has burst are seeing some of the highest increases in sales. The largest sales gain during the third quarter was in Arizona, up 28.3 percent from the second quarter, followed by California which rose 28.1 percent and Nevada, up 26.2 percent. These areas have seen some of the strongest sales gains with some reports of multiple bidding.

And there's also good news for sellers. The typical seller purchased their home six years ago and is still experiencing net equity gains, even in today's depressed markets. The national increase in value since the third quarter of 2002 is 18.3 percent, which is a median gain of $31,000. Even with the current downward price distortion, 90 percent of metro areas are showing six-year price gains.

So while we are definitely in turbulent economic times, there is GOOD NEWS to be found if you look for it. Hopefully, some home buying incentives will be passed soon to stimulate even more home ownership. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said that, "A pattern of sharply higher sales in areas with large price declines is well established," Yun said. "Affordability conditions have consistently been a major factor in driving sales. Historically during recessions, buyers have responded to incentives and it's important for government to keep that in the forefront of stimulus decisions."

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Local Information for Alcoa, TN

Latitude: 35.80385 -- Longitude: -83.9775

Other Area Cities: Alcoa Knoxville Maryville

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Alcoa is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, south of Knoxville. Its population was 7,734 at the 2000 U.S. census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. As its name suggests, Alcoa is the site of a large smelting plant owned and operated by the Alcoa corporation. Formerly known as North Maryville, the town was incorporated in 1918 so that the region's tax base would support the area around the plant and not nearby Maryville. Lynn Curtis Swann was born in Alcoa, Tennessee and is a former professional football player, sports broadcaster and the Republican nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania in the 2006 election. The median income for a household in the city was $33,520, and the median income for a family was $44,333. Males had a median income of $31,464 versus $23,212 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,526. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Tennessee 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Alcoa	Tennessee	United States
Population	7,734	5,689,283	281,421,906
Median age	39.8	35.9	35.3
Median age for Male	37.6	34.5	34
Median age for Female	41.8	37.2	36.5
Households	3,489	2,232,905	105,480,101
Household population	7,734	5,541,337	273,643,273
Average household size	2.22	2.48	2.59
Families	2,159	1,547,835	71,787,347
Average family size	2.8	2.99	3.14
Housing units	3,857	2,439,443	115,904,641
Occupied units	3,489	2,232,905	105,480,101
Vacant units	368	206,538	10,424,540

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