Every year, the Home Builder's Association in Tulsa holds a Parade of Homes in late June.  There are 8 price categories and a variety of subdivisions that compete against each other.  The event lasts a week and the public gets to go through all the houses.

This year's winners are:

$100,000-$169,999 - Mike Fretz Homes, 4723 S 177th East Place, Stonegate

$240,000-$299,999 - Legend Homes, 1704 E Dover Street, Fairway Park

$300,000-$399,999 - Randall J. Schwers Homes, 4903 S 165th East Ave

$400,000-$499,999 - Ironwood Custom Homes, 6738 Hummingbird Court, Stone Canyon

$500,000-$599,999 - Artisan Construction of Oklahoma, 6775 Hummingbird Court, Stone Canyon

$600,000-$799,999 - Jim Rackleff Homes, 4310 E. 116th Place, Wind River

$800,000-$1 Million - LandMark Resources, 12005 S. Lakewood, Crestwood at the River

The best subdivision this year was Forest Ridge, Broken Arrow

It is interesting to note that among these winners, only two were located in the Owasso suburb.  Owasso has been a haven for literally a hundred builders or more (back in 2007).  We have several large production builders, none of which won this year.  Of the two homes located in the Owasso area, both were in our newest and exclusive subdivision, Stone Canyon.

Congratulations to the winners!

Have you heard the news?

There's a new law in town and it's aimed at making America more Green and Eco environmentally friendly.  Okay, that's all fine and good.  I like the earth.  I'm good with us being more friendly towards the planet.  Fine.

But many are worried that this new bill is going to change real estate in big ways.

For example, home owners might be required to put on a new, more environmentally friendly roof or upgrade their heat and air systems according to government standards before being allowed to sell their home. 

Or how about this?

A government inspection might be required before the house could be sold.  If the house doesn't pass the government standards, the home owner will have to pay to fix, change, repair or replace whatever is required.  That kind of reminds me of the old standards FHA used in the past.  We had to put splash blocks under our gutter drains once because of an FHA requirement. 

Now, the good news is that this is all speculation...at least at this point.

The bad news is that the things mentioned above, could become reality for homeowners.

I've been following the development of this from Jamie Dupree.  Jamie is a reporter in Washington D.C. who reports regularly on the Neal Boortz show and on our morning news.  He writes a blog and has commented on this new cap and trade situation.

To read what he has to say, click here.

So, keep your eye's peeled and your ears open folks.  We may be looking at some serious changes in the way people buy and sell real estate.  And that will means changes in the way we real estate professionals do our jobs for our clients!

I'm reading a book right now called, "Leading Change."  It was written back in 1996, so it is kind of funny to read about the business culture back then in light of the recession we live in today.

The first chapter talks about establishing a sense of urgency in a failing or complacent corporation.  It gives 9 reasons why corporations become complacent.  As I was reading through the chapter, I came across reason number 7.  The author states that when young employees would go out of their way to get outside feedback in regards to how the company was performing, they would be treated like "lepers." 

Quote, "In that corporate culture, such behavior was seen as inapproprate because it might hurt someone, reduce morale, or lead to arguments (that is, honest discussions)."

Hmmmm.  Lead to arguments...honest discussions.  That's interesting.

When I argue with my wife, it doesn't feel like an honest disucssion.  It feels like an argument.  The reason is because, typically when you argue with your spouse you are fighting for different things.  You believe it should be this way.  They believe it should be that way.  And you might not be working for the same thing - a good solution.  That's because, in marriage we often "dig in" instead of hammering out the underlying issues.

The same thing happens in real estate.  Sometimes we find ourselves at odds with the other party.  And when the discussion becomes an argument, we usually "dig in" to defend our position.  It is only when we focus on working towards a good resolution that we are able to use an argument as an honest discussion.

And that's the tricky part.

Too often we lose sight of the goal - selling the house.  But when we keep that in mind and use it as our guiding principle, then we can have those tough discussions and find good solutions.  That's because working through a tough issue with a larger guiding principle is different than just arguing with someone.

I've had many an argument where the turning point happened when someone said, "Hey, lets find a way to make this work.  I know everyone is positioned right now, but what can we do to bring the two sides back together and work this out?"

Powerful words.

That's the kind of talk that solves problems and saves marriages, stops wars and sells houses.

Question:  What do most people do who want to buy a house?  Answer:  Go get a loan!

There may be those fortunate folks who can afford to buy their house by paying cash, but the vast majority of people will take out a mortgage.

In the city of Tulsa, and in government, things don't seem to work this way.

Take the city of Tulsa, for example.

Here in Tulsa, our mayor, Kathy Taylor, has been working hard to make good improvements.  These are the kinds of things that willl increase tourism and keep our young folks from leaving to go to other "hipper" places to work.

One of the big projects that is happening right now is the construction of a nice, new baseball stadium for our minor league team.  There wasn't anything wrong with the current stadium other than it wasn't in downtown, where the revitalization is desired.

Here's a pic of the stadium under construction.

Word has it that the owner of the team was threatening to leave the city or maybe to move WAY down south to the city of Jenks by the Arkansas river.  OH NO!

Now, this isn't anything new.

We've all watched sports teams and owners stomp and kick their feet and cry about having to have a bigger and better stadium and threatening to leave if they didn't get one.  And lots of cities have succumbed to their wishes.  After all, you don't want to lose your big time sports team if you're a city right?  Sports teams generate income and income is vital to cities.  And besides, all the cool cities have sports teams, so our city needs one too.  You know how people think...

Our little project is going to cost a cool $40 million or so.  I reckon that's chump change in a recession.

Artist rendering of the finished project

Now the question before us is this - "Uh, where you gonna get that kind of money from Mrs. Mayor?"

Answer:  Why, we're gonna raise taxes on the business owners who are gonna make tons of money from being right around the stadium.

So that's what they did.  They drew a boundary around certain parts of the downtown area.  And every business within that new boundary now is going to get to help pay for the new stadium via higher taxes. 

Here's a rough calculation of how much this is:  Business owners are being charged a flat fee of 6.5 cents per square foot with 2.2 cents going for city services and 4.3 cents to the ballpark.

That should increase taxes downtown by about $3,233,000 a year, with about $2,139,000 going to the ball park note.

OUCH.  If I was a pre-existing business owner who just got hit with that tax, I'd be seriously thinking about moving my business. 

Why?

Because there's no guarantee I'm gonna get rich off that nice, new stadium.  I might, but I might not either.  And further, I don't own the ball team.  Why should I have to pay for their new playground?  Oh, and did I mention that this tax was voted on and passed by the city council without allowing it to be voted on by the people?  There's some talk around town that this may be illegal.

One other thing you might be interested to know is this.  The current Driller Stadium rarely sells out its 8,000 seats. At that rate, it will work just fine for at least another twenty years.  

Now I know it isn't exactly the same thing, but shouldn't the owner and team go take out a loan if they want to build a neat new stadium?  Or how about this?  Go buy some land and build it yourself.  That's what the rest of us pleebs do whenever we want to develop a business or build our dream home.

Maybe there's more to how sports teams and high end stadiums work than I know.  And maybe cities are a lot smarter than I am.

But I'm smart enough to know this...making someone pay for someone else's party doesn't usually make those who pay feel very good about those who party.

Written by Bob Haywood
"Your Real Estate Results Expert!" tm
www.BobHaywood.com
918-272-7272

PS - I have a friend who is a city councilor.  I just saw that he voted for this tax.  I think I'll schedule lunch with him and ask him why.

If you live in Oklahoma get ready!  Fees for not getting your license plate renewed on time are going up!

The current fee structure has been 25 cents per day with a maximum of $25.00.  The new fee structure will be $1.00 per day with a maximum of $100.00 bucks.  Ouch!

For those of us who are procrastinators, this may just be the wake up call we need to keep our tags current rather than wandering in after they have expired.

Remember also that most of the tag agencies close at 5 p.m. and only ONE of them is open on Saturdays.  This is the one in Broken Arrow.  You can expect that it will be very crowded on weekends.

So don't delay if your tag is getting ready to expire.  Save some bucks and get it renewed on time!

Having been in the business for 2 1/2 years now, I feel like I might be beginning to understand some of the basics of this business.

One of the things you learn quickly when you become a Realtor is the importance of the Seller's Disclosure.  The Seller's Disclosure is a legal document that tells potential buyers about the defects and conditions of the house.

Now, I don't know the actual history of why and how this document came into existence, but I suspect that it probably had something to do with a big,

"Oh yeah!",
"Oh yeah!",

"Well I'm gonna sue you 'cause you lied about blah, blah, blah."
"Well I'm gonna sue you right back you big jerk 'cause you're..."

And so now we have this form called the Seller's Disclosure, at least in Oklahoma.  I always tell my sellers that they'd better tell the truth when they fill it out because you have to tell the truth when you fill it out.  If you fill out a disclosure form and you lie about a defect in the house, you're opening yourself up to potential litigation.  And there's a pretty good chance you'll take a beating in a courtroom if it can be proven that you knew about the defect, but didn't disclose it.

One thing to especially be careful of is when you sell your house as a for sale by owner or when you use the services of someone who will put your home in the MLS for a couple of hundred bucks.  In each of these situations you are working on your own.  That means you may or may not have filled out a Seller's Disclosure.  And even if you did fill one out, the question is, did you do it correctly?

We Realtors gets paid for what we do.  And we get paid well, usually.  Lots of folks have an opinion about our pay scale and quite frankly I think we're pretty obnoxious about flaunting our success.  But our ability to help you navigate legal forms and processes in order to keep you out of a courtroom or maybe out of the poorhouse is something that is often overlooked.  Not only are we constantly trained on how to help clients buy and sell houses and do paperwork properly, but we carry the backing of our brokerages and insurance for those times when things go sideways.

Thank God we still live in a free country where we enjoy the right to buy and sell property for ourselves.  But thank God also that we have the professionals for those who understand and enjoy the protection and advice that paying someone brings.

If you ran out and bought a new Apple Iphone 3G, you may be experiencing a delay in getting your new phone activated.

The internet is abuzz with talk about this situation.  Apparently, there has been too much demand and Apple is having issues getting everyone up and going.

To that end, the word is that they are now offering a $30 IStore credit.  The following is an email reportedly sent from Apple to people who are trying to get their new phones up and going...

Dear Apple Customer,

Thank you for your recent Apple Store order. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay in your iPhone activation.

We are still resolving the issue that was encountered while activating your iPhone with AT&T. Unfortunately, due to system issues and continued high activation volumes, this could take us up to an additional 48 hours to complete.

On Monday, you'll receive an email from Apple with an iTunes Store credit in the amount of $30. We hope you will enjoy this gift and accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this delay has caused.

Thank you for choosing Apple.

Sincerely,
Apple Online Store Team

A note to the wise...check into this carefully unless you have actually received the email from Apple.  If you have, enjoy your credit AND your new phone when it gets up and running!

Bob Haywood
"Your Real Estate Results Expert" tm
www.BobHaywood.com
918-272-7272