Today I helped some first time buyers explore a historic home that has fallen on hard times. You might call it a damsel in distress seeking a knight in shining armor.

These buyers had been thinking about this property for a long time and they had big stars in their eyes.  And who could blame them when each room offered so much potential, from the classic double parlors, pocket doors and original hardwood floors to craftsman-embellished fireplaces, clawfoot tubs and grand staircases.

I hate to be the buzz killer in these situations, but this type of house, in this kind of condition, is not for someone who is struggling to come up with 3.5 percent for an FHA downpayment, let alone a conventional buyer.

And the chance of a house in this condition qualifying for FHA is located somewhere in the neighborhood of slim and none.

You'll be dealing with replacement of the electrical system (goodbye knob and tube wiring); adding HVAC (that charming boiler will have to go); repairing the animal-attacked roof;shivering through winter with single-pane windows; refinishing floors; stripping wallpaper; adding an entire kitchen to that large room where you found an original farmhouse sink but nothing else; installing plumbing to code; repairing crumbling plaster and so much more.

Who should buy an historic home in disrepair?  Someone with a lot of money, a lot of time and a lot of patience. (Refer to the underrated Tom Hanks move, "The Money Pit" for an excellent example.)

Much like the Lorelei whose beautiful siren song caused sailors to wreck their ships on the ancient shoals, homes like this one call out to nice people and cause them to make decisions that are not always in their best interest."Fix me. Make me beautiful again," she winks. "I know you can do it. It won't take much. Really. Would I lie?" 

The moral?  If you're determined to rescue an historic home, and you have plenty of funds to sink into the project, call me. We can find a good candidate that will give you a lot of satisfaction and a possible return on your investment.  If you have very little money, let's talk instead about finding a nice house that will require less rehab, less ongoing maintenance and will help you stay within your realistic budget.

After all, the goal is for you to own a house -- not for a house to own you.

I just learned about two new printing tools that are threatening to make me a more productive real estate professional -- KODAK Email Print App and Google Cloud Printing.

I'll be trying both applications out this week and expect to love them.

KODAK Email Print is a free service. It provides you with a unique email address for your printer, allowing you to send emails, contracts, open house fliers, and other common real estate docs to your printer from anywhere. 

Google Cloud Printing, also free, connects your printer or printers to the Internet so you or anyone else you allow can actually send something directly to your printer.

I have had several clients who've had trouble sending back signed contract pages during my last few deals. This should help them by offering another alternative to faxing or scanning to email, which confounds a lot of people. (As an aside, why are we still faxing? As Dilbert says, "1982 called. It wants its technology back.)

I also often find myself needing flier box materials or open house sheets at inconvenient times. Being able to print from anywhere sounds like it will help me tremendously on that score as I run from buyer appointments to check on my listings or unlock the door on my open house. (I have a love/hate relationship with flier boxes -- they always seem to be empty no matter how many copies I put in them. I am hopeful this easier way of printing will solve that issue for me.)

As I read more about these new options, I started daydreaming about the possibilities. Imagine having offers sent directly to your printer. You rush into the room like Superwoman and your paperwork is printed and ready to go. If you think waiting for water to boil is slow, waiting for a contract to print when you and your clients are in a hurry, that's pure torture.

I'll check back in to let you know how it's going in the "cloud."

(This blog post is for the Kodak and ActiveRain 'Printing on the Go' Challenge. You have a chance to win some great prizes from Kodak.)

I started working with another new buyer this weekend.

Like many of my buyers, this one found me on the Internet and asked a question about properties in an area within my territory here in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs.

I answered the questions right away and we had a good back and forth dialogue via email, followed by a phone conversation to clarify their real estate goals and their needs in a new home. 

At the end of the discussion, this buyer said, "You know why we"re hiring you?"

(No, but I'm glad you are, I thought.)

"Because every time we've called or emailed a real estate agent on the weekend -- when we're off work and have time to look for a house -- they don't return our calls and don't answer our emails. We really appreciate your help and can't wait to work with you."

That's why I work when you don't, Mr. Buyer. If you're working 8 to 5, Monday through Friday, then we're going to look at houses after 5 and on Saturdays and Sundays. You stick with me and I'll stick with you until we find the right place for you to call home.

My blogging colleague Maria Morton has put together a very comprehensive look at the costs associated with being a real estate agent.

As independent contractors, each with our own businesses, the fees, supplies, dues, etc. can be steep.

Why do we do this job? It has to be because we love it!

Glen Carbon Illinois Scarecrow Contest 2011

The crows may be scared, but most residents of Glen Carbon, Illinois are just charmed by the whimsical scarecrows that have started popping up throughout the village this fall.

The second-annual Scarecrow Contest is underway and you still have time to enter your own straw creation.

Voting will be held at Village Hall on Saturday, October 1 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. (Glen Carbon residents are encouraged to drop by and vote for their favorites that day.)

If you'd like to enter a scarecrow in the individual/family/group or business categories, you can get the details here:

The G.L.E.N Committee runs the contest and encourages scarecrows that are "whimsical, humorous, lovable, and fun" for this family friendly contest. (They will disqualify entries that are too scary or are deemed inappropriate.) There is no entry fee for the contest.

The lovely lady scarecrow to the right is perched outside the Glen Carbon Centennial Library.

Scarecrows entered in the contest will be displayed in the lawn in front of Village Hall from 3 to 7 p.m. on Friday, September 30 where they will stay on view until Saturday, October 8, 2011.

This straw fellow is holding court in front of Village Hall:

And this one is located in front of Miner Square at Glen Carbon Road and Glen Crossing:

Edwardsville Illinois Real Estate Market Report YTD Through August 2011

Year-to-date through August 2011, 202 homes have been sold in Edwardsville, Illinois. That's down 13.3 percent from the 233 homes sold by the end of August in 2010.

Right now, 186 listings are currently under contract, down five percent from pending sales on the books year-to-date in 2010.

The average selling price in Edwardsville through August 2011 is $217,140, just 2.8 percent lower than 2010.

Average days on the market have risen to 170, up 16.5 percent from 2010 when the average house in Edwardsville stayed on the market 146 days.

What does this mean? Fewer homes have sold during the first half of the year in Edwardsville, but pending sales have risen to within five percent of the prior year, a good sign. The average selling price is holding its own with less than a three percent dip from last year. And homes are taking longer to sell with the average number of days on the market experiencing a fairly significant increase.

So, if you're selling your home, make sure it stands out against the competition in price and condition so you can help it sell efficiently. If you're a buyer, now is the time to make a decision and place an offer before prices, which are stabilizing, rise and you've missed your best opportunities.

Some people want a three-car garage in their new home.

Others want four bedrooms.

Or maybe a big kitchen with granite countertops.

But did you ever think about what your fur kids might want?

I bet they'd like you to get a house with a fenced back yard. Here's a good place to start the search for a dog-friendly home. If you see something you'd like to look at in person, give me a call at 618-791-8007.

Click here for a list of homes for sale in Edwardsville with fenced yards.

Click here for a list of homes for sale in Glen Carbon with fenced yards.

Click here for a list of homes for sale in Maryville with fenced yards.

Click here for a list of homes for sale in Troy with fenced yards.

Click here for a list of homes for sale in Collinsville with fenced yards.

Like most of you, I only work by appointment.

Why? Because I can plan my time and devote my attention to my best buyers and sellers.  It's that simple.

When I first started in real estate, I was one of those agents who would pop up from the desk and show anything to anyone who called, wrongly assuming that the caller was truly interested in the property they asked to see.

What did I get? 1.) Crushing disappointment after crushing disappointment, 2.) Potential buyers or sellers who disappeared and never accepted contact from me again, 3.) Hours and hours of lost time that I will never get back.

Why the brokerage I was affiliated with didn't teach its new agents how to properly conduct themselves with customers, I'll never know. But eventually I figured it out for myself.

By agreeing to immediately stop what I was doing and show anything to anyone -- or by dropping my work to come immediately to a "seller's" home -- I was cheapening myself.

My behavior said: "Please disrespect my time and my professional expertise."

What I ultimately learned is to work by appointment only.

When new contacts (I refuse to think of them as "buyers" or "sellers" until they actually become my clients) get in touch with me, I let them know when I have available times coming up in the next few days and I let them choose a day and time that works best for them. Here's the key:  I NEVER, NEVER meet them the same day we make phone or email contact. I let them know that I have previously scheduled appointments that must be honored, but that I have a wide variety of other times and days that are open.

If the caller/emailer insists on a same-day showing or appointment, my answer is a polite-but-firm "no" with a re-iteration of the days and times that I have available to meet with them. If this angers the contact and they move on, then my stance has confirmed that they were the type of people I should not be working with in the first place.

The best buyers I have are those who come first to my office for a meeting to discuss their goals, their financial pre-approval and the buying process before we ever look at houses. The best sellers are those who enter into our listing agreement thoughtfully and carefully, not impulsively.

Do I miss a legit client or two by working this way? Maybe. But what I gain in productive time spent with good clients surely makes up for it.

If you'd like to appeal your Madison County, Illinois home's assessment -- that includes homes in Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Troy, Collinsville, Granite City, etc. -- you only have until September 12, 2011 to get the paperwork and supporting materials to the Madison County Board of Review.

The Madison County Board of Review requires that homeowners who want to file a complaint must fill out a form listing a wide variety of information about the property in question and also submit supporting documents such as comparable sales, or construction cost, or an appraisal or an operating statement for the last two years for income property.

If you've just recently purchased your home, you can include copies of your closing statement showing a value lower than your home's current assessment.

Here's a link to the Madison County, Illinois website from which you can download the Residential Complaint for Assessment Year 2011 form. The form also includes an instruction sheet that will answer many of the questions you might have about the process.

What are grounds for a residential assessment appeal?

According to Madison County, they include: over valuation, unequal treatment in the assessment process, contention of law, property that has been assessed twice in the year or condemnation. There also is a blank for "other" in case your situation is not listed.

If you so desire, you also can tell the county that your assessment is not high enough versus similar properties on the same form. I bet most people aren't rushing to do that.

Good luck with your appeal!

I answered a consumer question from the real estate website Trulia today that has me wondering.

The consumer asked for more details about a property here in Edwardsville, Illinois.

I searched our MLS (multiple listing service) and, finding nothing, searched the public records in Madison County for that address.

That's where I found the property and noted that it had been sold in the last couple of years. I replied that the home was not currently listed for sale in our MLS and told the consumer about the prior sales history. 

Here's where the story gets interesting...

I received a reply from the consumer asking me where I got that information because the property was HIS and it WAS currently for sale. He had been asking questions on Trulia trying to check out web traffic and activity on it.

That's when I put my detective hat on and dug a little deeper...

Turns out he does have his ILLINOIS property listed. But it's listed with a broker in CALIFORNIA! (Last time I checked, California was 2000 miles and two time zones away from Edwardsville, Illinois.)

The California broker has the property listed on Trulia, but not via the local MLS that all brokers in Southwestern Illinois are using -- the Southwestern Illinois Regional MLS.  So it looks to all of us -- and subsequently to all of our buyers -- as if his property is not listed at all.

I sent one last message to him to provide the final answer to his question, suggesting that it would be more appropriate to ask his own agent about why his home is not selling and is not in the local MLS.

I don't know if I will hear back from this seller in the future. Perhaps when his contract with the California broker ends and he wants Illinois representation to sell his Illinois home, he'll get in touch. I hope so. I'd love to help.

The moral to this mystery?  If you want to sell your house in Edwardsville, Illinois, please use a broker who will list your property in the MLS that all of the real estate professionals in the region use to find properties for their buyers.