If you are a fan of Wikipedia or any of the other wiki type sites than be sure to check out the new realki.com web site that is dedicated to real estate.  My MLS mapping provider (Realbird.com) has just launched a new site that could become a real powerhouse in terms of defining real estate.  All it needs is the help of us Realtors® to bring it to life!  I'd love to hear what you other agents think.

From the Realki web site: 

Welcome to RealKi.comThe Real Estate Encyclopedia Real Estate is most people's biggest investment. It stands to reason that information about real estate is very valuable. There are many books about real estate, but like the rest of the economy, real estate is a living, constantly changing industry. RealKi is designed to capture and document the world's collective wisdom, for the benefit and easy access of everyone.Let's build the most comprehensive Real Estate Encyclopedia together!  Read More

  STATESMEN BRING HOME THE FRISCO BELL!

With 60 degree weather under crystal clear skies the 99th annual Turkey Day game between the Kirkwood Pioneers and the WEbster Groves Statesmen was another huge success!   

I asked my family to join us this year but they couldn't understand why I would want to spend Thanksgiving watching high school football rather than one of the many bowl games on TV.  Being that they all still live west of 270 they will never understand what it means to have century old traditions right outside your front door.  Don't they realize that it isn't about Turkey, it's about who will be taking home the Frisco Bell (the bell goes to the winning team).  Around here Thanksgiving IS the Turkey Day game.  You simply can't have one without the other.   

(Webster Groves Varsity team members Nick Eason, #10, and Donny Wallace, #60, ring the Frisco Bell during the game. Photo from the Webster Kirkwood Times)

The Webster Groves Statesmen topped the Kirkwood Pioneers 28-12. Because the Pioneers were preparing for a state championship game on Saturday, Nov. 25, this year's Turkey Day game showcased the Statesmen and Pioneer junior varsity football squads.  I heard some folks grumbling about this and stating that had the varsity squads been able to hit the field that the results would have been quite different.  I sure hope they don't have to eat those words at next years game which will be quite the extravaganza as the two teams celebrate a century of football.  I can't wait.

To learn more about our Turkey Day tradition read the article from our local Webster Kirkwood Times:

Football Fans Root For Their Home Team
Area homeowners show school spirit by decorating homes, yards and trees in preparation for the Turkey Day rivalry

Folks in Kirkwood and Webster Groves are pretty proud about having the oldest high school football rivalry west of the Mississippi River. They're so proud, in fact, that they always like to do a little exterior decorating before the big game.  Read Entire Article

                                                                                                                                                    Photo by Diana Linsley

Watch out Zillow...there's a new player in town.  Eppraisal.com has launched a new web site that will provide property evaluations in a format similar to Zillow.  The main difference will be that Eppraisal provides a range of pricing rather than a specific price. They also recommend (and can refer you to) an agent who can meet with you to provide a more accurate pricing summary.

Zillow has been recieving quite a bit of scrutiny and criticism from the industry in recent weeks including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization.  They have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Zillow does not adequately disclose the degree to which its free automated home valuations can over- or underestimate a property's value. The site is "likely to cause substantial injury to consumers who rely on the inaccurate representations made by the company," the complaint alleged.

Another unrelated company with a similar name, Missouri-based Eppraisals, has developed a wireless technology for conducting residential appraisals and owns the Web site http://www.eppraisals.biz/.

Try submitting your home address after clicking on the Eppraisal.com link and let us know how accurate you feel they are.

The St. Louis real estate market is holding its own according to the third quarter PMI statistics!

Each quarter the PMI Institute releases its list of the Riskiest and Safest Real Estate markets. You can read more about who the PMI Institute is and how they calculate the numbers at the bottom of their third quarter release.

Different real estate markets are ranked based on the percentage probability of a 10-percent-plus drop in value in the next two years. Here are the riskiest markets, according to the PMI Institute:

Top 10 (Most Dangerous) on the PMI index:

1. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA            603     (highest risk)   
2. Nassau-Suffolk, NY  (MSAD)                           601   
3. Boston-Quincy, MA  (MSAD)                           600  
4. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA                      599
5. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade- Roseville, CA         598
6. Riverside-San Bernardino- Ontario, CA            596
7. Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA                      596
8. Los Angeles-Long Beach- Glendale, CA           590
9. Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA         590
10. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA      589

And The Bottom (Safest) Fifteen Markets:

1. Pittsburgh, PA                                         61         (lowest risk)
2. Indianapolis-Carmel IN                             63
3. Memphis, TN-MS-AR                                 68
4. Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN                 72
5. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH                        74
6. Columbus, OH                                           74
7. Fort Worth-Arlington, TX                             76
8. San Antonia, TX                                         78
9. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, TN            86
10. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX                 88  
11. Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX                                89
12. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC              98
13. Kansas City, MO-KS                                   109
14. Austin-Round Rock, TX                              114      
15. St. Louis, MO-IL                                                  133           (St Louis Metro Area #15)

The PMI Economic and Real Estate Trends (ERET) containing the US Market Risk Index is published quarterly by PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., a subsidiary of The PMI Group, Inc. (NYSE:PMI). The Risk Index is a proprietary statistical model that measures geographic house-price risk by predicting the probability of a regional decline in home prices in the nation's 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and metropolitan statistical area divisions (MSADs) over the next two years. The PMI US Market Risk Index is based on the House Price Index from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), labor market statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the PMI affordability index, which uses local median household income, home price appreciation, and the price of a conventional mortgage to calculate the local share of mortgage payment to income relative to its baseline year of 1995.

The whole release at PMI U.S. Market Risk Index

Do you recongize when opportunity knocks?  Here's that once in a lifetime chance to build on one of Kirkwoods most historic streets. 

Premier Location, Premier Builder, Premier Design.  The lot is 150 x 150 feet and is approximately 1/2 acre.

The builder C Runyan Homes is dedicated to constructing luxury homes that are in keeping with the historic roots of the community.  

Get the best of both worlds...new construction with all the modern amenities, historic design in keeping with the neighborhood, premier location in walking distance to the downtown Kirkwood shops, golf, church, & school.

Pricing to start at 1 million and up!

I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis County.  At the time it was the "place to be" with the newer homes and larger lots seldom found in the more established communities.  Years later when I bought my first home I chose to move to the historic community of Webster Groves and Kirkwood, and more specifically Glendale, MO which sits smack dab in the middle of the two and shares both school districts.  Glendale is often affectionately referred to as "Beaver Cleaver land."

My friends and family couldn't figure out why a west county girl like me would be moving east.  And why on earth I would want a smaller 100 year old home on a 60 foot wide lot instead of a massive newer home on an acre for about the same price.  What they didn't understand was the while away at college I discovered the concept of community.  It's not a word you hear about much in the suburbs.  Or at least it doesn't mean the same thing.

Where I live "community" equates to actually knowing my neighbors and most likely their kids and their cats and dogs as well.  It's a place where children still walk to school, church and even the local ice cream parlor.   A place where when I head out for my four mile run I know the names of neighbors on nearly every street and where I can take a detour to the local farmer's to experience the true taste of my hometown.

Our quaint streets are framed by historic architecture and 100 year old oak trees with leaves that blanket the street in the fall in a way that I never quite experienced in the suburbs.  When it snows in the winter my son can run out the door and find loads of other children sledding down the street and heading to the frozen lake at the golf course around the corner.  It's a place where when the lights went out for an entire week last summer in 100 degree heat that rather than head to the nearest motel my neigihborhood headed to the front porch and lit the barbeque pit! 

It's hard to explain what makes a house a home, but it surely has more to do with the people who live in the neighborhood than the studs and bricks that frame the house.  And I'll happily take my over-priced 100 year old bungalow with all its bumps and bruises any day over a huge vinyl box in the suburbs.  Others may disagree but isn't that what keeps things interesting anyway!

If you want to learn more about where I live or the eight communities that comprise the Webster Groves and Kirkwood school districts than visit the Communities section of my web site at Websterkirkwood.com