Kevin & Barb's Blog

Lap top

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:56:23 -0500

Lap top computers are getting cheaper and seem like a good thing to have in todays world. I am going to purchase one as they are able to be used just about any place you go. Hotels, motels, coffee shops, and restaurants. Lap tops make it easier to take a working vacation and be in touch.

Morel Mushrooms

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:51:21 -0500

The Morel Mushrooms have been out in this area for about two weeks now. We have several days for hunting them left. Once the temperature gets in the eighties that will put an end to Morel Mushroom season. I am not quite sure but i would assume you could take a trip to Michigan and extend your hunting season.

Homes Books

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:28:40 -0500

In Fort Wayne we just recieved another advertiser for a homes book. This will make the fourth one. We had one for years then maybe two years ago another started. Within the past month I have recieved two more offers to advertise in the new books. Pricing is pretty much the same. I would think some competition would drive the price down. Maybe it will some time soon.

Horse racing

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:21:58 -0500

Horseracing is a big sport all over the country. Most states have a horse track. Off track betting is a more convenient place to visit if you are not able to visit a horse racing track. You can see races from all over the country. If you are a gambler you may place a bet. Most people like myself are donators and always loose. Never bet anything you cannot afford and always remember it is just for fun.

Summmer Vacations

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:14:02 -0500

A good place for a summer vacation would be in Steuben county at pokagon state park. You can camp or rent a cabin or a very nice hotel room. They have boat rental if you do not have your own. Trails for walking and bike trails to ride on and even horse rental if you like to ride. two beaches are availible and also several picnic areas.

Home Maintenance

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:07:53 -0500

This is a good time of year to do some home maintenance. One of the first things to do is change the filter in the furnace (this should be done every six months). Second is to change the batteries in the fire or smoke alarms (once a year). Clean the air conditioning unit by spraying off the coils. Last but not least is something most people do not think about is to drain the hot water heater. Do not drain it totally. Just a few gallons and it will remove some of the gook at the bottom that will settle, mainly from well water.

December Party

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:30:20 -0500

Every year FWAAR has a party in December and they give away awards to various members that earned them by doing good deeds or going the extra mile like giving back to the community. I do not work habitat for humanity whch is a big Realtor® cause. Not because I disagree with it but because I donate my time at the Rescue Mission and I also donate money to Arts united and United Way. In the past I have also donated to the Vincent house,Scan, and Ms. Virginia's. All are good causes and many more are out there. Please give back to your community.

Team Member

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:22:49 -0500

As far as right now my wife is an assistant handling customer care. She will be going active soon with her license and joining FWAAR when she does. That is when I will be needing an new assistant to work as customer care coordinator. This position does not need to have a real estate license but will be limited to what you may or may not do. I will post this when needed.

FWAAR

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:15:24 -0500

New real estate agents should join FWAAR( Fort Wayne Area Association of Realtors®) giving you the right to be called a Realtor®. You will get member benefits and the staff is always friendly and helpful. We now have a helpful tool from Lowes that you can give away to clients for thanking them as a house warming gift. As a Realtor® you are able to join the program. You will also get other discount on continuing education classes and they have a givaway at the monthly membership meeting for very good prizes if you sign up to go and pay in advance.

Invitation

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:03:10 -0500

I had sent out an invitation for others to join Active Rain. I had sent out an email to a home inspector and I sent out a email to a web designer. At this time not a single one of them have joined Active rain. I will try again because I feel it is good advertisement for them.

Land

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:47:35 -0500

In Indiana someone can use your land and after so many years take ownership. This is a law that should be changed and purged from the books. If you give them permission to use your property the time limit reverts back and starts over. I think the number of years of use is fourteen. Just give them permission for a day then it starts over.

neighbors

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:42:39 -0500

My neighbor planted several apple trees on my property years ago which is ok. I got free apples. Recently he has started removing them to a spot on his property but has left many ruts on my ground in doing so. A real estate agent which is also a landscaper has been doing the work for him. I won,t complain I'll just till up the ground and plant sweet corn in that area.

Why should buyers use a Realtor?

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:51:04 -0500

Number one, our service is free. Our pay comes out of the percentage agreement with the listing agents. If we are working with you the buyer, we are going to serve you and look out for your best interest. We are going to negotiate to get you the lowest price on that home you want. Helping you fiend a lender, home inspector, or contractor is some of the free services we offer. The most important thing we do is look over the hud 1 form ( closing statement, with credits and debits)and make sure you are getting everything you are suppose to and not paying something you shouldn't.

Glenwood Park

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:37:37 -0500

I am getting a listing in Glenwood Park near Snider high school. The owner is doing some minor touch ups and I will have it listed in a couple of weeks. The home is on Kingsley and has four bedrooms with three full baths. Windows are original and the front of the home is brick with aluminum siding on the sides and back. This home has a fireplace and two car garage and a large yard. Boiler heating was replaced last year with a new unit and the waterheater is three years old. Carpet throughout will need to be replaced. It will make a nice home within walking distance to the schools.

Brokers school

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Sun, 04 May 2008 09:33:33 -0500

Currently I am taking the brokers course. This course is the same as the sales course but goes into more depth in certain areas. The main areas with more to learn is in the finance and property management areas. Appraisal is another new tool. Once you pass the course and pass the state exam you can do BPO's or Broker priced opinion. In the sales course you are taught to do a comparison which is not an appraisal. Out of ten of us in the class I not sure how many will pass. We do have a few struggling to get by. In proprty management you need to be a broker to do this. This is an area I have not considered yet but am open to the idea.

Gardens

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:58:44 -0500

I think most home owners are a little sad about selling this time of year. Why? Because they hate to loose their gardens. One thing I have decided to do to help people move along in selling their home is to offer garden space at no charge when we list their homes. I have two acres set aside and can till the space up in no time using my tractor. The sizes available will be a maximum of twenty by forty feet if needed. As far as water they will need to haul their own in. I have currently one person interested in this program. Once I advertise I think more will come. Lets wait and see.

Pond

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:42:23 -0500

We just dug a new pond about a year ago and it is one acre in size. The pond was finished in Febuary 2007 and stocked in June of the same year. We brought home a 8 x 16 deck from the lake and have installed it out on the water. We need the water about two foot higher and will be at the level we would like. Within the next two weeks an over flow drain will be installed and maybe sand hauled in for a beach area. My main priority at this time is to get my tractor in good running order now that warm weather is here and plant grass around the pond to stop any erosion. Right now I've been looking at wind mills to use for aeration.

North East Indiana Lakes

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:20:51 -0500

The Indiana lake region is still in high demand. If you find a good deal on a property you had better jump on it quickly. Lakes james and the other lakes on the chain are pretty busy with summer activities every year. Pokagon beaches are packed and boating for just pleasure rides, tubing, skiing, or sailing is a daily event. This summer may be a little slower due to high gas prices but I'll bet the sand bar will be packed. The most affordable home would across from the lake with deeded access. Pricing on the lake is very high and most of the older homes are tore down and a new home goes up in its place. If the home prices are out of reach you can always get a room at the Potawatomi Inn and keep your boat on the dock there. The most affordable way to be on the lake is camping at Pokagon state park or you could stay in the other numerous campgrounds in the area.

Home inspections

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:54:25 -0500

Always get a home inspection. It is worth the money up front and could save you from unseen cost in the future. As a Realtor° this is not my expertise. You want to hire a professional to inspect your possible new home. How do you find an inspector? Search on the ashi website or ask your sales agent or even friends who have bought a home to recommend one. Do not get an inspector that will not climb into an attic or under a crawl space. Problems in these areas will not be knoiwn until it is to late and could cost plenty to repair. In short do not be cheap and look out for your investment.

Selling your Home

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:46:18 -0500

When selling your home make sure to remove all personal items(pictures) and refrigerator magnets. Be sure to keep the home clean as possible and uncluttered. With furniture, less is more. This gives the feeling of more space to the buyer. Do all touch ups and keep the colors neutral if painting. You will also want to keep the yard mowed and well trimmed. The more appealing it is to people the sooner your house will sell.

Fort Wayne Homes

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:37:19 -0500

The Fort Wayne market is still going pretty good. Homes in the area are selling. The national trend is not what is happening here. I go through the pending and sold list every day and we have had at least thirty homes this week, every day, sold. I have noticed a lot of the offers were made actually higher than the listing price. What does this mean? A strong market. Now we are moving into spring time when the housing market will be very busy. It is tipical to have a strong May and June due to several couples getting married and buying homes. Get pre-approved at the bank so if you see one you like you will be able to make that offer.

Steps to Buying a Home

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:31:27 -0500

The very first step is to contact a lender and get pre-approved for your loan. This way you will know your price limitations. The worst thing to do is start looking and fall in love with a home only to find out it is out of your price range. From this point on no other homes will measure up to the one you really wanted. After approval, start your search for a home. This can be done on the internet or by the homes magazine. Pick some homes you would like to go through and have the Agent show them to you. After finding a home you like, the next step is to make an offer. Your agent will guide you through this. If the offer is accepted then you will want to hire an inspector. The inspector should be healthy enough to be able to crawl into the attic and under the home if a crawl space and take at least two and a half hours checking the property. If the inspection report is good we will attend the closing with you where you will recieve the keys to your new home. There is more to this if the inspection report does not turn out good or the offer was not accepted but that will be something we will help guide you through. This is just a simple explanation to help you understand the process.

Real estate career

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:14:24 -0500

In this business we have new agents in what I would call a revolving door. They go through school and pass the state test and associate with a broker. After a year most drop out. Why is this? It is my opinion that they get fed up with the money going out of pocket and not getting training or support from the company in which they work. Not long ago I was with a group of Realtors® and someone asked us to raise hands if we had good training when we started in the business. Not one person showed hands. It is my theory that there are two types of Real estate companies. One that wants to make money off of Real estate and the other that wants to make money off of agents. This is done by not giving agents phone time or leads and setting a certain amount of deals to do before being able to get a better split and the notorious monthly fee for transactions regardless if they did them or not. The good companies will let you have phone time which you are able to recieve leads and give you leads with no strings attatched. All will offer you training but that will really come from other agents that have been in the business longer and are willing to help you. I recomend all newer agents get your broker license as soon as you are able. This will help you as you can always hold your own license if you decide to leave your broker.

Relocation

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:39:01 -0500

If you are thinking of relocating to the Fort Wayne area you have made a wonderful choice. We offer a baseball team and a Hockey team. Parks in the area are plentiful. All within an hour drive or less are lakes for boating, fishing, or public beach areas. Fort Wayne has a very nice zoo which has an African safari and the Austrailan adventure. If golfing is your cup of tea, golf courses are everywhere and start at novice level to professional. History and Science are also represented with Science Central and museums. This area has so many things to offer other than what I have mentioned. The best thing to do is check out the Fort Wayne chamber of commerce. And as always call Kevin or Barb Henry for your Real Estate needs. 260-466-2344

Fort Wayne Real Estate

Kevin-Realtor®& Barb-Cust. Care Henry (Henry Realty) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:14:46 -0500

We are always ready to help buyers purchase a new or existing home. We sit down with you and give you step by step instruction on the home buying process. This way you have an understanding of what to expect during the process. Working for you the buyer is a free service and you will not pay anything. In fact we will get you into that home at a lower purchase price than what it is listed for. This is something we are good at and enjoy doing. Give us a call. 260-466-2344 or 260-466-2006. http://www.henryrealty.com/