What are you doing right now to get these guys off the fence?  With the $8000 tax credit out there it is a great time to buy!  If there was a way to get my ten year old son a loan I would sell him a house just for the eight grand!!!  I know the market has been down in most areas but I think we are at the bottom, right?  What are your thoughts on the market right now?  I have been selling short sales and foreclosures but I think the first time buyers might be where it is at right now.  Thoughts?

 

Buying ~or~ Selling?
Call or Email
Pete Elsner
Cell 314-852-3862
E-Fax 314-677-6501
Co-Owner/Agent
Keller Williams Realty St. Louis
Search all Homes at:
http://www.PeteElsner.com

I am just trying to get an idea of what you guys are doing with your short sales.  How are you handling them?  What are you doing when you receive multiple contracts?  I just had one where I had two competing contracts and a couple of ticked off agents.  Both contracts were close so we picked one and the other agent was mad and decided to resubmit a new contract at a higher price and told me I had to submit it to the bank.  This agent was hoping the bank would overlook the first contract and pick theirs.  My broker advised me to submit them both with the second contract as a back-up and let the bank decide.  I know some agents who only take one contract and others who take as many as they can get with no signatures and just keep submitting them to the bank.  What do you do?  What have you heard is the proper way to this?  I think this will be very helpul to all agents out there with all the short sales taking place right now!  Thanks in advance for all your input.  Pete

Buying ~or~ Selling?
Call or Email
Pete Elsner
Co-Owner/Agent  314-852-3862
Keller Williams Realty St. Louis
Search all Homes at:
http://www.PeteElsner.com

Happy New Year!  It is going to be a GREAT 2008!  My Dad(53 years in R.E.)always said, "Jan. 1^st is the first day of Spring in the real estate market!" I don't know about you, but I am glad to say goodbye to 2007! 

  The real estate market was pretty rough last year. Although, not to toot my own horn, I still sold over 25 homes! (toot-toot!)  Last year the home sellers still wanted top dollar for their homes, oblivious to what was going on around them.  Most home sellers owed more on their homes than they were worth.  The buyers were far and few in between.  I think they hibernated all year!  Now the Good News!  The buyer calls are way up in the last Two weeks, with people wanting to go look at homes.  Interest rates are still really good.  I think the bad is behind us and home sales and values are going to start rising again.  When you listen to the national news, realize the St. Louis market does not follow what is happening all across the country.  For example, think of it like the weather, the temperature is not the same all across the country.  It is 30 degrees in St. Louis and probably 60 degrees in Arizona!  So, what is happening in Phoenix in real estate is not the same as what is happening here!   So, what does this mean to you?  I think now is a great time to buy!  Most sellers have come down to earth on what their property is actually worth, and I have seen quite a few deals out there!  If I had enough money, I would buy them all!  If you are thinking about selling, it might not be a bad time to get your home on the market.  You can beat out the people who will wait until spring to do so, less competition!  So, whether you are thinking about buying or selling, if I can help you in any way, just give me a call.  If you see a home you want to go look at, or you are curious what you might sell yours for, give me a call or shoot me an e-mail.   I hope you and your families are well and I wish us all a very prosperous 2008!  And remember, 2008 will be Great!

I haven't been on Active Rain for a while.  I guess I have been too busy!  I thought I better get on here and do some bloggin, I am low on points!  I don't know about you, but the real estate market is picking up here is St. Louis.  It started right after January 1st.  The phone started to ring again.  I had to call the phone company to see if I was still connected before that!  But, I have been getting a lot of buyer calls.  I think People have just been sitting on their hands too long and can not take it anymore!  They just want to move!  I have sold about 6 homes already this year.  Not a bad Jan-Feb!  Well, I better get back to work!  Peace.

Yikes!  This is like the worst day of the year!  I like to wait until the last minute possible......it is 11:48pm right now.  I have to get to the post office!  Kidding!  I went earlier today and mailed my uncle his yearly check.  They say you are not supposed to complain.....if you are paying taxes......you're making money!  I think we need to go with a sales tax on everything but food items.  You want a new boat?  Well, you will pay a handsome tax!  No more deductions and miles to keep track of, the more you buy, the more you pay in taxes!  Simple!  That's my two cents worth.  Peace!

I have not tried them all, but seems like some good info for sharing.

There are a few things that can be done in times of
   grave emergencies.  Your mobile phone can actually be
   a life saver or an emergency tool for survival.  Check
   out the things that you can do with it:

       FIRST
       Subject: Emergency

       The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112.
       If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your
       mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112
       and the mobile will search any existing network to
       establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly
       this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.

       Try it out.


       SECOND
       Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car?

       Does your car have remote keyless entry?  This may come
       in handy someday.  Good reason to own a cell phone:  If
       you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at
       home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your
       cell phone.  Hold your cell phone about a foot from your
       car door and have the person at your home press the unlock
       button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end.
       Your car will unlock.  Saves someone from having to drive
       your keys to you.
       Distance is no object.  You could be hundreds of miles away,
       and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote"
       for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

       Editor's Note:  It works fine!  We tried it out and it
       unlocked our car over a cell phone!"


       THIRD
       Subject: Hidden Battery Power

       Imagine your cell battery is very low.  To activate, press
       the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve
       and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery.
       This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell
       next time.



       FOURTH
       How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

       To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the
       following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 #
       A 15 digit code will appear on the screen.  This number
       is unique to your handset.  Write it down and keep it
       somewhere safe.  When your phone get stolen, you can
       phone your service provider and give them this code.
       They will then be able to block your handset so even
       if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be
       totally useless.
       You probably won't get your phone back, but at least
       you know that whoever stole it can't use / sell it either.

       If everybody does this, there would be no point in people
       stealing mobile phones.

       And Finally....

       FIFTH
       Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or
       more for 411 information calls when they don't have to.
       Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our
       vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a
       problem.  When you need to use the 411 information option,
       simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without
       incurring any charge at all.  Program this into your cell
       phone now.



       This is the kind of information people don't
       mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.

..........the other day.  A guy calls me and says he is looking for an agent to sell his home.  I say great!  We set an appointment and I meet him at the house Sat, morning.  Now, his home is currently listed with another agent and her listing is set to expire.  My brother who is also a Realtor went with me.  We go thru the house and then go over are marketing plan yadda, yadda.  Thinks went very well and he is going to make a decision by the end of the day.  Well........next day no word so I call and leave the guy a message......and.no call back.  Hmmmm, so I call again tonite and guess what?  No answer!  So, I leave another message.  You know what pisses me off is, just call back!  If you don't want to hire us that's fine, but have some F'ing manners for crying out loud!  You were taught in grade school if someone calls for you, call them back, even if you don't want to!  Peace!

You know when you get those out of towners that you have to show 20 houses to in one day?  And if it is in a part of town where you are not that familiar with the side streets etc. Well, something I did yesterday was to pull all the listings up in the Mls, then hit map the listings.  This is a feature we have on our mls, you might not have this.  Anyway,  I then looked at the closest route between houses.  I printed out all the homes in the quickest order to show them, but before I stapled them, I went to Mapquest.  I got turn by turn directions from address to address.  I then put the directions between the listings, then stapled them all together.  This way once we left a house, I would just flip to the turn by turn directions and go!  This left me free to concentrate on my clients instead of looking like an idiot who doesn't know his way around town!  You know, you are trying to look at your street guide while driving and your people are asking question and it is very nerve racking.  Hope this helps someone!  Thanks, Pete.

How do you feel about Open houses?  What do you say to the seller who wants you to hold their home open every Sunday?  I personally can't stand open houses!  They usually ruin my whole weekend!  I know, I know, I shouldn't be like that!  But to sit there on a Sunday for two or three hours in the hopes that someone will show up, much less, want to buy it!  I should be positive and say, maybe I will pick up a buyer, but slim chance.  How do you deal with getting out of open houses?   They don't sell houses generally.  Thanks, Pete.

I really hate getting fired from a listing!  It all starts with an overpriced usually ugly house.  You tell the people list it at this price and they say............I want to list it at my price.  You go back and forth and finally agree to list at their price telling them ok, if we don't receive a contract within a couple of weeks we will lower the price.  Sure enough, in a couple of weeks you wast to lower the price and they have amnesia!  Then after a couple more weeks they decide it' you, not the price!  Then next thing ya know they lower the ax, and fire your butt!  Then they list with someone else at a lower price and it sells!  Don't you just love it! 

 

Pete.