Lexington, at the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass Region, is a very special city and a wonderful place to live. As someone who has lived in Central KY all my life, you might assume I'm a bit biased (which I am) but having spent 5 years traveling around the country earlier in my career, it wasn't until I'd had a chance to see most of the U.S. that I came to realize just how special Lexington really is.

I could think of lots of reasons why Lexington is a great place to live, but since space is limited, I've compiled a list of the "Top 10 Reasons to Live in Lexington", which will fall far short of describing everything that's wonderful about this area, but will give you some idea why I and so many others love it here and why you may want to make it your home.  

1. Proximity to Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Nashville and Knoxville  

Sometimes referred to as a "big small town", Lexington retains a great deal of small town charm despite its rank as Kentucky's 2nd largest city. But, no matter how great Lexington is, it's nice to know that you have easy access to other major metropolitan areas, and Lexington is located within a few hours of many.  

Situated at the intersection of I-75 and I-64, Lexington is just over an hour away from both Louisville and Cincinnati and approximately three hours from Indianapolis, Nashville and Knoxville.    Additionally, Bluegrass Airport, located across from historic Keeneland race track on Versailles Road, offers competitive fares that are frequently lower than rates in Louisville or Cincinnati.  

2. Low Crime Rate  

With a lower-than-average crime rate, Lexington is a city where people feel safe walking around the city at night and with good reason. While Lexington's rate of violent crime is consistently lower than national averages, an analysis of major crime rates in Lexington showed a reduction in crime rates over the past few years, with a dramatic drop of 8.4% in 2007 alone. Despite a significant growth in population over the past 30 years, the rate of major crime in Lexington is as low as it's been since 1974, according to Mayor Jim Newberry.  

3. Shopping and Dining  

For a city of its size, Lexington offers a plethora of shopping opportunities. Featuring the largest mall in the state (Fayette Mall), Lexington boasts dozens of national chain stores as well as numerous boutique and specialty stores scattered throughout this pretty, historic city.  

In the area of dining, Lexington, which is purported to rank among the top in the nation for restaurants per capita, features not only dozens of national chain restaurants, but also features a large number of unique, locally-owned eateries as well.  

4. Strong Economy  

With its abundance of healthcare, government and technology jobs, the Lexington economy is one of the nation's most stable. Economists have referred to Lexington as having "a fortified economy, strong in manufacturing, technology and entrepreneurial support, benefiting from a diverse, balanced business base".  

As of July 2008, the Lexington Metro Area had an unemployment rate of only 5.4%, compared to a national average of 6.1%. Due, in part, to its strong economy, Lexington has been named to several national lists as one of the country's most desirable places to live: it was named the 5th best city for "Businesses and Careers" in 2008 by Forbes Magazine, and the 5th best city for Young Professionals in 2008 by Kiplinger.  

5. Lots of Greenspace  

If you've ever been to Lexington, KY, you won't have to wonder why the city is known for its natural, scenic beauty. Strict zoning enforcement helps ensure the city continues to grow at a moderate rate while helping to ensure it continues to exhibit the charming southern horse-farm atmosphere we're famous for.  

Lexington is home to over 100 parks, ranging in size from the tiny but lovely Smith Street Park (.2 acres) to the 659-acre Masterson Station Park, which is home to several horse shows and other events throughout the year.   The city is also home to Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, a 734-acre nature preserve situated along the Kentucky River Palisades. Raven Run features over 11 miles of back-country hiking trails which range from wheelchair-accessible paved trails to difficult single-track trails.  

Other outdoor attractions include six public golf courses, several private golf courses, three dog parks, two public 18-hole disc golf courses and a public skate park at Woodland Park, featuring 12,000 sq ft of ramps, bowls, platforms and pipes.    

6. Cost of Living  

For the 3rd year in a row, Lexington, KY has been ranked 3rd among mid-sized cities as having the lowest cost of living in the United States. In a report compiled by KPMG LLC, Lexington ranks exceptionally well when comparing several factors, including the cost of transportation, property taxes and how much people pay for electricity.  

In 2008, Lexington was also named 5th on Forbes' list of "Best Places for Businesses and Careers." This ranking was based on comparing several factors, including the rate of job and income growth, cost of living, cost of doing business, crime rate, number of universities, the level of educational attainment and the variety of culture and leisure activities.  

On average, in 2008, Lexington had a cost of living 14% lower than the national average while consistently ranking among the top in the nation for quality of life and economic stability.  

7. Affordable Housing  

One of the factors considered by Forbes Magazine when naming Lexington 5th on their list of "Best Places for Business and Careers" was Lexington's excellent level of housing affordability.   

Despite the difficulties of the past two years in the national real estate market, the Lexington KY real estate market has remained relatively stable. A big part of this is due to the fact that while other parts of the country were seeing home values shoot up 50% or 100% within a few short years, values in Lexington grew at a more modest, realistic rate and therefore haven't come crashing down like so many markets in the U.S.  

Along with the stability the Lexington market offers, you'll also find a great deal of value for your money. The median home price in August, 2008 was a mere $152,900, and the average home price is $75,000 lower than the national average. Unlike in many areas of the country, it's possible in Lexington to get a very nice house for under $200,000 and an executive-level home for about $300,000.  

 According to a recent article by Bloomberg News Columnist John F. Wasik, Lexington ranks among the lowest in the nation in risk of losing home equity based on a study he cited by HouseMartReport.com. Of the six cities he listed as having a very low risk of losing home eqity, he indicated Lexington was the only one that offered a "true housing bargain."   

8. Educated Residents Lexington,

According to the most recent U.S Census, is one of the most educated cities in the nation. Of those over the age of 25, 22.4% have bachelor's degrees, 11.4% have master's degrees and 3.1% have an advanced professional degree. The census indicated Lexington ranks 10th in the nation in a list of the country's most educated cities with a population of more than 250,000, ranked by percentage of residents 25 or over holding bachelor's degrees.  

With two traditional universities (University of Kentucky and Transylvania University) and several smaller colleges located in Lexington, educational opportunities abound. In k-12 education, Lexington offers a strong public school system and a variety of private schools to fit the needs of virtually all families with children.  

9. Horses  

Although the world-famous Kentucky Derby is held in nearby Louisville, it's Lexington that's known as the "Horse Capital of the World." Home to several highly-acclaimed thoroughbred horse farms, numerous Kentucky Derby winners have been bred and raised in Lexington and the Fayette County countryside is dotted with beautiful horse farms with their picket fences and gently rolling hills. The city boasts two horse-racing tracks -- Keeneland and the Red Mile, which is the 2nd oldest horse racing track in the nation.  

Lexington is also home to the American Saddlebred museum and the world-famous Kentucky Horse Park, located along scenic Iron Works Pike in northern Fayette County. A working horse farm and an educational theme park, the Kentucky Horse Park will play host to the 2010 World Equestrian Game.   

10. Moderate Climate  

If you're looking for a place with four distinct seasons, Lexington is the place for you! With an average temperature of 54.9 °F, you'll find moderate winters with occasional snow, warm summers with moderate night-time temperatures and wonderfully comfortable springs and falls -- both of which last 2-3 months in this region.  

Summers in Lexington can become fairly humid, but with temperatures in July and August typically maxing out in the upper 80's, you'll find the weather quite appealing winter, spring, summer and fall! Extended periods of high heat, pouring rain, freezing cold and large accumulations of snow are rare.   

11. Friendly People  

Okay, this makes 11, but think of it as a bonus.   The friendliness of a city is something you simply can't measure on a computer, but we all know it when we experience it. You know people are friendly when they make eye contact and say, "Hi" in the elevator; when people not only go out of their way to give you directions, but you become friends somewhere between "turn left where by the big tree" and "go right by the white picket fence."  

Again, I may be biased, having lived in this area all my life, but after traveling all those years across the USA, I found many places I liked, a few I loved and some that had genuinely friendly people, but none compared to the warm "welcome home" that envelopes you each time you step off that plane onto the dew-covered bluegrass. As a well-traveled native Kentuckian, I dare say that Lexington epitomizes the best of what is known as Southern hospitality.

If you've missed seeing trolleys meandering throughout downtown Lexington, KY, you're in luck -- Lexington has received a federal grant of $1.2 million to purchase four 29-foot replica trolleys, similar to the one pictured below. The grant was one of four announced yesterday by Governor Steve Beshear, all designed to help enhance the (already great!) quality of life in the city. "Quality of life encompasses every aspect of a community," he said during a press conference yesterday at the Marriott Griffin Gate Hotel.

The other Lexington grants include: $365,000 for illuminated street signs, $448,150 to help connect the two ends of the Brighton Rail Trail and $64,000 for Lexington's "Share the Road" campaign, which promotes the safety of walkers and bicyclers along the city's roadways.

Lextran, which manages the city's public transportation system, will operate the trolleys. Lextran's goal, according to spokesman Dave Riggins, is to have the trolleys operating before the 2010 World Equestrian Games, though the organization is still working to identify other funding sources to help cover the costs of the trolleys and their operational expenses.

It's expected that the manufacture of the trolleys will be complete in about a year and a half and they're expected to initially travel along two routes: the first between Triangle and Thoroughbred Parks; the other along Limestone and Upper Streets between the University of KY campus and Second Street.

Lexington Kentucky has been named the 5th best city for young professionals in a 2008 study conducted by Kiplinger's Magazine.

According to Kiplinger's, Lexington made the grade due to a variety of factors, including low crime rate, affordability, income growth, having a variety of entertainment options and how many people here are members of what they call the "creative class" -- scientists, engineers, architects, educators, writers, artists and entertainers.

Kiplinger's list included cities that were best for people at a variety of stages of life, including young singles, mid-level professionals, people married with kids, empty nesters and retirees.

To see the entire study, visit www.Kiplingers.com.

There's no doubt that selling a house in today's market is more challenging than it was a few years ago. Even in the Lexington KY real estate market, which hasn't been hit as hard as most of the U.S., there's more inventory available than in years and houses are sitting on the market longer.

Despite the difficulty you face in trying to sell a home, whether you've decided to go with a real estate professional or go for sale by owner, there's one thing that never pays off -- "fudging" the facts when you market your house. It's one thing to focus primarily on the positive aspects of your house when you write your flyer or compose your mls entry -- it's another to mislead people into believing your home has features it doesn't.

It always amazes me when the marketing description of a home makes claims that are bogus; does the writer not realize that when the buyer shows up to take a look, they are bound to notice that the room you're claiming is an office is actually a hall closet with the doors removed and some shelves added? What about the flyer that describes the house as being in a "tranquil, serene setting" when in fact it backs up to a high school? It's probably not very "tranquil" or "serene" when there's band practice going on or a football game is in progress, and buyers will notice!

Square footage is another area where misrepresentation can occur. And I'm not sure that sellers are purposely misstating their home's square footage as often as they are merely guessing at it. And while misleading people about how "quiet" and "serene" your neighborhood is may leave you with a disappointed prospective buyer, misstating your square footage can get you sued!

A far better approach is to undersell the house just slightly, leaving a little room for pleasant surprises when the buyer comes to take a look. I am not implying, by any means, that you go so far as to write a poor description for the mls or that you should omit photos from your listing. I'm simply saying that a buyer is far more likely to put in an offer on a house when they're surprised with one or two "bonus" items they hadn't anticipated than they are if they're surprised when the house doesn't meet the expectations the advertising set forth.

The bottom line is this -- it never pays to misrepresent your property in ads or in the mls. Tell everyone what's great about your property (there must be something great about it -- you bought it for some reason, didn't you?) but leave the exaggerations and false claims to the carnival barkers who promise to show you "the world's only 3-headed man" or some such nonsense. You're more likely to get your house sold when prospective buyers visit your home with realistic ideas of what to expect when they come to see your house.

Is you home or property appraised correctly?  Today's housing market slump has left countless homeowners scratching their heads and wondering why, if their homes have gone down in value, do they continue to pay higher property taxes each year.

If you have real estate in Lexington KY and would like to know how to appeal your property tax assessment, read my complete blog post at: http://www.lexingtonrealestatesource.com/blog/sharon-roark/

Home staging in Lexington KY continues to pay off for both me and my clients.

After 58 days on the market (exactly half the 116-day average for similarly-priced homes located within a mile of this home in Lexington KY) this slightly dated but otherwise beautiful Lexington KY home went under contract and is now scheduled to close in 2 weeks.

The staging of this homewas a challenge, both because it was vacant at the time of staging and because I was on a very limited budget. My assistant and I scoured Craigslist, yard sales and our garages for enough furnishings and accessories to show off the benefits of this large home, which had some great features but was being overshadowed by things like dated light fixtures and some other personal design choices that didn't necessarily appeal to most mainstream buyers.

With the support of the sellers, we painted the blue kitchen (blue should never be used in a kitchen or dining room -- it's been shown to diminish the appetite) a neutral tan color, replaced a few light fixtures and furnished all the rooms on the main floor, as well as the master suite. We accented with lots of live plants, along with apples and limes in the kitchen, and made sure the first rooms buyers saw were light, bright and updated.

The last home that sold on this street sat on the market for 239 days and sold for $5,000 less, despite the fact that it had a fully finished, walk-out basement and an additional full bath (our home had a partially finished, pit basement with no additional bathroom). Both homes were unoccupied while on the market, so in addition to selling for less, the neighboring house accrued 8 months worth of mortgage payments and utility bills, a total I estimate to be, conservatively, about $12,000.

Our sellers are happy because they're now free to build their dream home in another state. The buyers are happy because they're getting a great home that passed the inspection with flying colors.

While I consider the sale of this home a staging success story, it's also a great example of how important it is to price a home properly. Initially, the sellers decided to price the home $10,000 higher than my CMA indicated would be fair market value for this home. For the first 30 days, we had a good amount of activity, but no offers.

After bringing the price to market value, we had two parties seriously considering an offer within 2 weeks and had an offer on the table within 3 weeks of the price adjustment.

This kitchen was originally peacock blue. We painted it a light tan, using a slightly deeper shade below the chair rail in the breakfast area.

The cherry cabinets look beautiful now, but originally had quite a few scuff marks. The Mr.Clean eraser helped take care of the scuffs and we touched up any deeper scratches with a can of matching stain.

The windows were highlighted with valances to soften the windows (the great view is highlighted but not obscured).

The gray paint throughout most of the first floor was a challenge, but since the paint was a fairly recent addition, we felt we had no choice but to work with it. The carpet was beige/tan, so we needed to bring together the grays and tans with something that could warm up the room. The accent pillows and rug both contained chocolate brown and gray and helped bring the room together.

The table set in the living room was purchased for $60 off of Craigslist. The tables were originally brass -- we painted them a deep brown which complimented the other furniture and other accessories in the room.

The mirror over the sofa was originally gold. We painted the frame a deep brown with a light brush of metallic bronze to highlight the detail work.

The family room originally had a brass/oak ceiling fan with no light fixture. The updated ceiling fan/light fixture helped to brighten the room. We got a set of six lamps on clearance (and with a coupon!) from Home Depot for $60 -- four of which we placed in the family room. The sofa is was an existing one that we slipcovered and the chairs came from Value City (my local Value City gives me a 10% discount and free delivery -- make sure you ask your local furniture stores for a "home stager's discount".

Being on such a tight budget, we weren't able to afford quite as many accessories as I would have liked, but the room still came across as bright, updated and welcoming.

The angle of the light in the master bedroom made the colors seem a little washed out in the photos -- in real life, the colors were very rich.

The comforter set was $42 from Family Dollar store -- the matching window panels were $10/set. We added a bedskirt the homeowner had left over along with some big square pillows we covered with matching gold Euro-shams. 

We got the headboard for $10 at Goodwill -- we upholstered it in a nicely textured sage green fabric we got on sale for $10/yard and covered the $8 side tables with it.

The metallic art pieces over the bed were on clearance at Big Lots for $2/each. They were originally gold & orange. We painted them a deep metallic brown with bronze highlights. We painted a pair of brass lamps the homeowners were leaving behind.

Lexington KY continues to beat the national real estate market in sales and amount of inventory.

While there was less activity in the market in terms of sales -- 732 pending sales this July compared to 893 pending sales in July 2007 -- there were also significantly fewer listings coming on the market, helping to decrease the total number of homes in the Lexington Area MLS.

There is an 8.3 month inventory available in the Lexington KY MLS, but the total number of new listings added to the system during the first half of 2008 is down from 12,118 in 2007 to 10,798 in 2008. The number of new listings coming on the market in July of this year is 1629 compared to 1673 in July of last year.

Average time on market increased marginally, from 87 days in 2007 to 90 days in 2008 for single family homes. Townhouses and condos continue to take slightly longer to sell, averaging 95 days on the market in 2008, up marginally from 94 days in 2007.

While median sales price for single family houses dropped 3% from $177,612 in 2007 to $172,105 in 2008, median prices for townhomes/condos rose slightly from $123,750 in 2007 to $124,500 in 2008.

Lexington, Kentucky has attained a rank of number five in Forbes lastest list of "Hotspots". According to Forbes.com, the infusion from Toyota Motor Manufacturing of some $5.5 billion into the local economy is one of several reasons for Lexington's high rank. Other factors included in the ranking calculations included: cost of doing business; cost of living; educational attainment; crime rates, job growth and income growth.

For more information about the list, visit www.Forbes.com.

Lexington, Kentucky has been named the 9th safest city to drive in according to the most recent "Allstate America's Best Drivers Report(TM)."

The safest city to drive in, according to Allstate's report, is Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which has been named the safest city to drive in for three years in a row.

According to the Allstate report, drivers in Lexington, Ky are 22% less likely than the average driver to have an accident, with an average number of years between collisions of 12.9.

For more information about the report and to see where your city ranks, vist http://www.Allstate.com.

Lexington, Kentucky ranks number five on Forbes Magazine's 2008 Best Places for Business and Careers. Forbes' rankings were calculated by weighing the size of the metro area against other factors such as cost of doing business, rate of job growth and education attainment of the population.

Lexington, with a Metro Area population of approximately 440,000 ranked high in the areas of cost of doing business, cost of living and educational attainment. Lexington also ranked well in the number of colleges located here compared to the size of the metro area.

For more information, visit Forbes.com.