Housing Stock Basics

There are many factors that impact the process of locating the right home for a buyer, but one of the most important is the simple reality of what types of homes exist in the area we’re searching and where. For example, it might make perfect sense for a family to want to find a home near Pearl Street Mall in Boulder or Main Street in Louisville, because they like the ambiance of these neighborhoods. But this family may also want a home built after 1978 when the use of lead based paint was prohibited in residential structures. Both criteria make a lot of sense, but there is a problem.  There are almost no homes built in these areas post 1978.  A buyer who prefers homes built since 2000 will run into the same kind of problem anywhere in Louisville, where only a few hundred new homes  been built since 2000.  In planning the search for your ideal home, it can be very helpful to know what kinds of homes actually exist in your target market.   We’ve pulled together the data in this section of the web site to help buyers gain some systematic perspective on these issues. To fully understand the information contained in these charts and maps, you’ll need to scroll down toward the bottom of this section and read our comments on the housing stock data.