Jan Nielsen's Mad...

...and he's not gonna take it anymore! Mr. Nielsen is a local builder, who, according to the Knoxville MLS, currently has 5 homes for sale in Saddle Ridge in Farragut. I got a mass email sent out by Jan the Builder today and he's not happy about what the media is saying about home prices:

"I am sending this message out of frustration with articles in the media telling us that home prices are down and going further down. Nothing could be further from the truth here in Knoxville.The News- Sentinel, and other media, report prices DOWN over 8% for 2007, but this is based on the Case-Schiller index which measures only the 20 largest metropolitan areas.On the contrary, the OFHEO, which is HUD's office measuring same house sales across the nation, reports that Knoxville had an average appreciation rate of 5.8% UP for 2007.Furthermore, Tennessee was UP (4.1%), our East South Central region was up (4.1%), and the nation was up (0.8%) for all transactions (includes appraisals for refinancing.) You would never guess that 2 out of 3 states reported positive appreciation rates in 2007.You can check this yourselves by visiting ofheo.gov. I bring it to your attention because everyone should know that prices are continuing to go up, not down, in Knoxville."

OFHEO, for the uninitiated, is the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. When I actually have time to breathe, I'm going to check out Mr. Nielsen's numbers.

I did have time to check out the House Price Calculator located on their website. According to this nifty tool, my home, which I bought 2nd quarter '06, had a little more than 8% appreciation by 4th quarter '08. I'll take it!