GOVERNMENT/POLITICS A4-5 | OUR COLUMNISTS A6-7 | YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS A11-13 | BUSINESS A10 | HEALTH & LIFESTYLES SECTION B
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halls / fountain city
VOL. 51, NO. 5
JANUARY 30, 2012
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Laws named Volunteer of the Year FEATURED COLUMNIST MARVIN WEST
Paterno and Majors Former UT coach remembers his friend “JoePa.” See page A-6
Halls Crossroads Women’s League honored members for their volunteer spirit last week at the annual luncheon. Carol Bayless and league president Janis Crye presented Mitzi Laws with the Volunteer of the Year award for her work in the community. Laws is a member of the HCWL Closet, hospice and scholarship committees. She is involved in numerous league activities and volunteered more than 350 hours last year, equivalent to working a 40-hour week for two months.
Halls guy in Hall of Fame David Cunningham of Beaver Brook Stables has been inducted into the United Professional Horsemen’s Association Hall of Fame. Cunningham looks back at an equestrian life. See Jake Mabe’s story on page A-3
Photo by Ruth White
Paging Tommy Chase Vol historian Tom Mattingly is looking for Tommy Chase, who is believed to have graduated from Halls High School in the early 1990s and was briefly a handler for UT’s mascot Smokey. Mattingly is writing a book on the subject and asks either Chase or someone who knows how to get in touch with him to email tjmshm@comcast.net.
Freddie and Fannie and Jim A builder’s dilemma By Greg Householder When times were good, builder Jim Holt’s condo buyers got 100 percent loans guaranteed by the federal government. But when times got tough, the feds roared back, making it almost impossible for Holt to stay in business. “I can’t compete with the U.S. Treasury,” said Holt.
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Through his company JB Homes, Holt began developing the Forest Landing condominium complex off Tazewell Pike in 2006. The condos were modestly priced at $89,900, and JB Homes sold 10 of 24 units in 2007. The units were approved for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans that were eligible to be bought by secondary mortgage market players commonly called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As the economy slowed, so did sales
at Forest Landing. Only one condo sold in 2010 and another in 2011. Holt has five units remaining. He reduced the price incrementally, getting as low as $70,000 in December. But he is competing with Uncle Sam. A buyer of one of his earlier units walked away from her obligations and the unit fell under the control of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – the federal overseer of the various government housing businesses. This owner purchased the unit with government approved financing in September 2008 for a total loan of $93,800 (including financing costs, closing costs, etc.). Without local advertising or even a sign in the yard, HUD sold the unit in September 2011 for $46,200. Holt had no idea it was for sale, even though the unit was near one of the remaining condos he uses as a model and office. Holt believes an out-of-state investor – what he terms a “vulture investor” – discovered the property through the HUD website.
With this low-ball sale, the comparables are destroyed. Holt recently received an offer from a local “vulture investor” of $150,000 for four condos, or about half of what he still owes on his construction loan. “My wife told me not to call you,” he said. “She didn’t want people knowing our business. But I’m mad.” Holt had made a list of the subcontractors he hired. They’re unemployed or have taken other jobs. Forest Landing is a vibrant community with some 18 homeowners paying back 30-year mortgages based on an almost $90,000 purchase price. That’s a good price for a brand new, 2-bedroom, bath and a half condo in Fountain City. But it’s surely depressing to see an adjacent unit go for less than half that. And Jim Holt is hanging by a thread, trying to sell those final five units and pay off his construction loan. “First Tennessee has been great to work with,” he said, “but there’s a limit to their patience.” We’ve read about the failures of
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Bad business decisions,” the pundits say. But fundamentally, the federal government’s involvement in the housing business was destined to fail. And now the community is reaping the consequences of that failure.
Food group promotes healthy eating By Sandra Clark
4509 Doris Circle 37918 (865) 922-4136 news@ShopperNewsNow.com ads@ShopperNewsNow.com EDITOR Sandra Clark sclark426@aol.com ADVERTISING SALES Patty Fecco fecco@ShopperNewsNow.com Brandi Davis davisb@ShopperNewsNow.com Shopper-News is a member of KNS Media Group, published weekly at 4509 Doris Circle, Knoxville, TN, and distributed to 27,825 homes in Halls, Gibbs and Fountain City.
Jim Holt documents sale prices of the condos at Forest Landing. Photo by S. Clark
Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett (right) lobbies for healthy pizza and tacos with Stephanie Welch and Jon Dickl, members of the Food Policy Council. Photo by S. Clark
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Do you favor local veggies and meat over stuff from China? How about fair food prices across affluent and poorer neighborhoods? Want healthier school lunches? The Food Policy Council meets at 10 a.m. each third Tuesday at the CAC/MLB Building, 2247 Western Ave., to discuss these issues and more. Council reps visited the County Commission last week at the invitation of member and Commissioner Amy Broyles. Commissioner (and heart surgeon) Richard Briggs claimed to be the “only one (on the dais) who has sat at a farmers market, trying to sell merchandise.” Briggs is a bee keeper and raises blueberries and
fruit in an orchard on his farm. “How do prices compare?” he asked. Stephanie Welch said prices at a chain grocery store are lower than at a farmers market because of economies of scale, depending on the item, but increasing costs of transportation and labor may erase that advantage. The average potato travels 1,800 miles to reach our table, she said. Welch, who works for the Knox County Health Department, said studies show the lowest income sector of our community pays $20
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