We have moved into our new office located at 12722 Black Bob Rd., in Olathe, Kansas.  Our "state of the art" office features many new concepts in the real estate world.  We can now sit down with our clients in one of our conference rooms and view our big screen t.v. and look at many homes through virtual tour or just photos and see the details of the home and decide to put it on the "showing" list or delete it.  This concept alone saves the Client and the Realtor time in driving around finidng homes that are not to their standards.  It also has an aerial map we can pull up and see the busy streets, parks or whatever may be around the home for several blocks.  When we're writing a contract we can change the screen to a soothing, bubbling aquarium with colorful fish swimming, to soothe our Clients nerves...ha.ha...

We have three high-tech color copiers that enable our agents to produce professional quality presentation materials for their current clients and past client mailing list. We have workshops that I conduct every fall and spring, to help the agents practice and learn the applications to create these products.

Our new office is decorated in an African and Wild Animal theme with a warm cozy, welcoming feeling!  Stop by to take a view!  At our Grand Opening Party we had the Remax Balloon out in front of our office giving tethered balloon rides - - -All the cars slowed on the street and people pulled in our driveway - - the balloons are always fascinating to people!

Having recently completed training, testing & receiving the CDPE designation, I have realized how very important it is to help people work their way through the Short Sale process rather than let them go into Foreclosure.

There are definite consequences that happen with Foreclosure, that you can avoid by going the short sale route. For quite awhile, realtors have avoided short sales because it is a different, more involved & unknown process that makes the realtor work twice as hard.  Be sure you find a realtor that has the CDPE training and designation because it involves an extensive amount of time, detail and follow up to work through the process. In this instance, the public should applaud the realtor for his/her compassion, as more realtors are seeing the need for this and preparing themselves for this type of sale.

If you know of anyone in a distressed situation financially, tell them to contact a realtor with training in short sales and try to go that route rather than just give in to foreclosure.

A Foreclosure becomes a public record for 10 yrs. or more; could be detrimental to your future employment, or present job.  Security clearance can also be terminated.  Learn all you can about short sales before going into foreclosure.

Is this a good time to buy??

Yes, this is a good time to buy. The interest rates are fantastic right now and you can probably get a good bargain out there.  Mortgages are available, you'll just need a down payment rather than trying to do it with 100% financing.

We all know, life cycles all the time and the home appreciation will return to us at some point, so an investment in a home is still a good program of forced savings, building equity & interest deductions.

Is this a good time to sell??

Yes, this is a good time to sell.  True, you will get less for your property, but you'll make up for it on the buying side when you buy at a lower price than normal.  Interest rates are great for your buying side.  This gives you a chance to update and move to a newer house, or smaller house or larger house - - depending on your needs.

If you sell in a good market you get more for your home but you also pay more for your new home you purchase.  You always have an advantage on one side or the other, but most generally you can't have the advantage on both sides of your transaction.

Ever since I saw the movie "Ground Hog Day," I'm beginning to believe that our lives truly resemble that movie.   Each year, month and week we seem to do very similar things in our lives over and over again. Each year we start over and try to upgrade what we're doing and make things better.  We keep working on it until we get it right! 

Each new year brings us a lot of hope and motivation to improve our business and help it grow, improve our friendships and improve our family relationships.  This type of motivation is very good for all of us! Stay optimistic, turn off the news and remember everything cycles in life.  2009 will be a good year for all of us, so start anticipating the best in your business and personal life! 

Remember to take time in January to make your new business plan for the year and make a list of goals and desired personal achievements for your future.  If you have it written down they say it has a much better chance of coming true in the future. Happy New Year to All!

It's one thing when a relocation company is involved and they've offered their client a bonus in the transaction in return for the company referring their business to an agent.  Then their company receives a percentage of the agent's commission to help pay that bonus.  Although this type of business sharply cuts into the agents wages, it has become one of the types of business that is pretty accepted.

It's quite another thing when people set up internet sites and advertise that they can find a super agent for you if you register and give them your information.  Then the person in charge of the internet site takes the realtor's business and trys to sell it back to them by trying to get them to pay a fee up front to just get the possible lead and then pay a referral fee also if a sale is made.  This kind of action is just someone trying to attach themselves to the real estate industry and make money off the agents.

If you need an agent, mouth to mouth referrals is a great way, or call a local company or two and interview a couple of agents and make your decision.  If you're working with a realtor and moving to another state, let that realtor find another realtor for you.  That way, the realtor will find a high quality agent for you.  Don't try to find your agent from some internet site where someone is just sitting there behind a computer trying to tap into the real estate industry to earn extra money.

Generally speaking, the people on the internet sites wouldn't know a good realtor from a bad one, they're just selling names.  At least your current realtor can check the roster of their company and talk to the Broker in the town or area you prefer and find someone to fit your needs and watch over you.

Real estate agents interview you to determine if they want to spend their time working with you, so it's o.k. for you to interview them as well.  Some buyers and sellers find interview questions on the Internet - - this is fine, but many times the questions are irrelevant and will be mostly answered when the agent gives their listing presentation to the sellers or goes through their buyers booklet when sitting down with buyers.

This process can be simplified greatly if you will just listen to the agent's presentation and then finish up with the following questions if they haven't been addressed:

1. Are you an experienced full-time agent that keeps current with new information and how many years have you worked as a Realtor?

2. Do you understand and take seriously your fiduciary responsibility to your clients and can you explain to me how that works?

3. Do you practice risk reduction when working with your clients and how do you do that?

4. Do you have negotiating strategies that create a win-win situation for your clients and what are they?

5. Do you expect me to be loyal to you and how does it work if we have a personality conflict and can't work together after we've signed an agreement.

This sums up the really important issues involved.  Some of the other questions on the Internet really have no bearing at all on the Realtor doing an excellent job for you by being knowledgeable and organized and meticulously watching over your interests and safety.  An agents job is to help people make smart decisions at the most critical moments in their lives!

The current market is very sluggish as everyone knows.  It can easily take 6 months or longer to sell your home even when the agent is marketing, marketing, marketing!

Knowing this, you must have patience and be willing to lower the price at certain intervals, if necessary, in order to move to your next level of life.  If you have a good agent that is showing you they are working hard at this, it's not their fault, but the market's fault that it is taking so long.  So, changing agents at the end of a 6 month listing is not going to help you.  You must listen to your agent and be willing to overcome the objections with a price reduction if you want to move.

You'll have even more working against you if your home isn't updated and can't compete with the new styles, or if your home is totally cluttered and looks bad or if the location (backing to a busy busy street etc.) is not desirable.  Price overcomes all objections.

This type of market gives you the choice to lower your price, sell the house and move on with your life, or be adamant about the price you want and sit there for months, maybe paying a house payment, rent at another location and double utilities.  This also allows your home to become "stale on the market."  When your home is stale on the market the offers that finally come in are much lower, hurting you again.  When you hire a professional realtor to help you with this endeavor, listen to their advice.  This is a very ugly different market right now and the agents work in it everyday and try to pass on their insights and expertise to you.

The bright side to this is, after selling, when you go out to buy you'll most likely get a good deal from the next seller that has to price his home below tax appraised value to move it.  So, you lose some on one end and gain it on the other.

You deserve a break, turn off that t.v. and take a rest from the mud slinging in the political race.....it's been going on for 1.5 years it seems and it's getting very old.

By now, I'm sure you know who you're going to vote for, and if you don't, sit down and figure out which candidate is the most honest, trustworthy and putting our country first and not going to burden us with more and more taxes.

As Americans, we deserve to have people in office that will stop the rampant spending for no reason and act responsible.

We are living in times of economic uncertainty and it takes a physical and emotional toil on everyone.  Steer away from the feelings of fear and panic so we won't make the situation worse than it really is.  The sky is not falling and we will survive a downturn and recover once again!!  You can survive this situation, it will be o.k.!  Happiness does not lie in the abundance of wealth.

For some odd reason I have been glued to the t.v. this year, watching the political arena every evening.  I've made my decision and feel I know who is the most honorable team and I'm ready to vote.  That's all I can do, so I'm turning off the t.v. until election night when I tune in to see if the American people rallied and chose the person to best represent and protect them.

The current real estate market requires a lot of patience on the seller's side, the agent's side and the buyer's side.  The sellers have to present their home in the very best light they can and patiently await the right buyer.  The agents have to work twice as hard to sell the houses because it takes 4-6 months worth of work instead of 1-3 months of work, for the same pay.  The buyers have to be patient in the fact that there's so much out there to see; to be sure they're getting the home they want.

Real Estate Agents are market testers.  We compile our comps and study them with the sellers and we all arrive at a listing price and present it to the market.  The past few years the great appreciation in homes has diminished somewhat and this year some sellers are getting tax reappraisals that are showing the value of their homes going down.  Many people are having to price their homes and sell their homes very close to the tax appraisal amount or below. 

After several showings, if we haven't received an offer it is time to sit down and discuss lowering the price and testing the market with a new price which will present it to a different group of people.   ( There's no exact price for the home on the market, it all bears upon what the buyer's are willing to pay).  At this point, the sellers have to be willing to do their part and lower the price, if they want to move to the next level of their lives. 

In this kind of market the sellers may feel like they take a hit on their home price, but they should make up for it when they buy their new house at a bargain price too.  Homes that are older, even though updated, still, many times, do not have the amenities of the new homes.  Also, homes that have a poor location or back to busy streets have a stumbling block.  In these cases price overcomes all objections.

Time changes all things, and this too will pass on and the market will speed up in the future.....have hope!

A party wall agreement is a set of terms that both parties agree to as to what color the duplex will be painted, type of landscaping on each side, roof repair if needed and/or no old broken vehicles or campers sitting in the driveway, etc.

You also need to include "shared maintenance issues," such as sewer lines that may belong to one half of the duplex and cross over into the front yard or basement area of the other duplex; as you may need access if there is a problem at some time.  The same thing applies to electrical meters.  In an older duplex they could be placed on the outside of just one unit and the other party may need access at some point. 

These types of problems usually exist with older duplexes before strict codes and guidelines were inforced.  The new buyer or the current owner on the other side of the duplex should contact their attorney and have a "party wall" agreement drawn up to the satisfaction of the buyer and neighbor.  They could split the cost of it because the purpose is to protect both of them.