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Downtown not the only busy real estate market

By: Monica Mercer
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Veronica French
Randy Durham

The real estate market in downturn Chattanooga may be the hottest, but other key areas in Hamilton County continue to draw buyers.

"The areas where you're seeing the activity, construction and movement are in Ooltewah and downtown Chattanooga," said Randy Durham, a local real estate broker with Keller Williams.

In downtown Chattanooga in particular, the condo market in 2009 offers bargains for buyers that might not have been there a couple of years ago, Mr. Durham said.

Condo construction started in the early 2000s, Mr. Durham said, and peaked with the boom in 2007. That's when prices were at their highest, Mr. Durham continued.

But now a downtown condo buyer can get a deal on the same unit for probably about 20 percent less, Mr. Durham said, making the condo market as hot as ever even amid the generally sluggish housing market.

"It's definitely a buyer's market in downtown Chattanooga," Mr. Durham said, adding that the new lower prices mean that condo sales have largely continued along the same pace.

While Ooltewah and downtown remain popular, the areas in North Hamilton County, such as Soddy-Daisy and Sale Creek, actually have attracted the most buyers since the beginning of 2009.

"There are probably more new buyers out there right now who can't afford the higher-priced home," said Nickie Schwartzkopf, president of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors.

Since home prices in Soddy-Daisy and Sale Creek tend to be lower than in Ooltewah, Ms. Schwartzkopf said, those homes naturally "are the ones that are moving."

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