Thursday, August 26, 2010

MLS# 98404772 - TBD Sunrise Haven Idaho City ID 83631

3.01 acre lot, Cabin Lots, Building Lots, Idaho City Land. An upscale rural residential community of 214 acres of forested mountains with underground electric, phone and internet capability. A total of 39 lots ranging from 2+ to 7+ acres. Each lot is approved for well and septic. CCNRs, two lane paved bridge, entryway and main entry road. Lighted and sheltered mailbox area at main entryway. Just South of Idaho City, one of the growing tourist spots, completely surrounded by National and State Forest Lands. Make this your second home away from home. Where Retirement and relaxation is at its best.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Realtor or Psychologist?

Being a realtor brings about all kinds of jobs that you must complete on a daily basis in order to get to the end point: a Closing! If you work as a buyer’s agent or a Sellers agent the most important proficiency that you must master is the art of communication.

How often do you communicate with the clients is the difference between putting out fires and having a smooth and great experience during the process of a real estate transaction. This is the type of stuff you learn in Realtor school right? Wrong, the ability to communicate comes from the agents own life lessons. Knowing how to keep a transaction alive in today’s strange market place is an art.

You are the mouth piece for your client’s interests and ultimate well being. Sometimes all it takes to keep the process flowing is your ability to be a cheerleader...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Who is driving the housing market?

Lets take a look at the market as is appears to look right now. We have just come out of the Home tax incentive from the government. Did this help to ease the housing market downturn? In my opinion it helped to get some of the first time home buyers off the fence that was going to buy right away.

It didn’t lead to anyone rushing to the gates like opening day of the IPOD sale. We have the lowest interest rates in place right now, is this making the market any more solid. It appears that the low interest rates are an every day and almost forgotten factor. What then is the contributing mark that is guiding the housing and real estate market? JOBS, the job and unemployment to be exact are not going away anytime soon. Buyers need the money to come in for the money to go out.

How far away we are from a recovery, one could only guess. None of the government forecasters or financial industries has been right yet. Listening to the Sunday morning talk guessers is like throwing a coin in the pond and wishing for change. But I guess it is the job of the government to keep the hopes and dreams alive.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Diggerslist.com

I ran across this interesting New Website Called DiggersList.com. It is located in 17 markets in the United States and growing. Diggerslist is a construction classified that was developed to reduce the flow of building materials in the landfills. While is not yet available in Idaho it probably will be in the future. The company is partnered with non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. The contractors can also place competitive bids for jobs and services. Interesting concept..

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Advantages of aggressive pricing

Place you house on the market? Determining how fast your home will sell? What are the factors in the current market that dictate what to price your home for quick sale? First and foremost is the price. My data indicates that the first elimination is the sales price of the home. Web searches and internet sites are all stating that cost of living and the volatile jobs market has dictated the beginning search criteria.

The old way of business used to be search for the largest and best features, now most locate properties by listing price and then add their haves and wants. Aggressive pricing has made the market a more sure thing. If you don’t price your home to market value, it will stay on the market longer no matter what fix ups and money you have put in to it. Get a good hold on your market to determine your competition for selling your home.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

What are buyers looking for?

My own poll among my clients shows that they are all searching for the same features when viewing homes.


First is the price. This is the number one decision maker when starting out. Above all, they want to feel as if they are getting a great deal. Second is the size of the house. They want the most square footage in relation to the price. Third are bathrooms. Having more than two bathrooms is high on the priority. Fourth is the area they want to move. The wants and needs have changed somewhat since the market change.

The important thing to remember is they have to live in the house probably at least 5 years. Getting too picky in this market may leave them out of some features they started out to buy...

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Keller Williams Realty Named Highest Ranked in Home Buyer Satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates for Third Straight Year

AUSTIN, TEXAS (July 30, 2010) —According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Home Buyer/Seller StudySM, Keller Williams Realty, Inc., the third largest real estate company in the United States, has received the highest overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms for the third year in a row. The company also ranked second among home sellers in the study for the second year in a row.

“We are incredibly proud of our associates for earning this distinction and want to thank them for their commitment to their clients and communities," said Mark Willis, CEO of Keller Williams Realty. “We see this honor as demonstration of our company philosophy that it is the agent’s brand that matters most and no amount of money spent on advertising can replace the influence and reputations our agents have in their local communities. Our associates have earned this on their own, by building relationships in their communities."

The study was produced by J.D. Power and Associates to measure home buyers and sellers customer satisfaction. The results of the home-buying experience were determined by three factors including the buyer’s experience with their agent, the real estate office and a variety of additional services. Keller Williams Realty performed particularly well in the agent and office factors. And, overall satisfaction of buyers for the industry was up over last year.

Additionally, the study noted that the importance of real estate agents has increased substantially in the past year, with buyers and sellers relying on the negotiating skills of their chosen agent and help in navigating the market.

“It is thrilling to see our firm, once again, get public recognition for its incredible focus on customer satisfaction from such a prestigious group. Our associates continually demonstrate that it is possible to deliver the highest level of customer service in one of the toughest real estate markets on record," said Mary Tennant, president and COO of Keller Williams Realty. “We feel incredibly fortunate to be in business with them, and want to congratulate them on their hard work and dedication."

In the past year, Keller Williams Realty has continued to grow despite the well-publicized turmoil in the real estate industry. In addition to becoming the 3rd largest real estate company in the U.S., surpassing RE/MAX®, Keller Williams Realty was ranked as the No. 1 real estate franchise on the 31st Annual Franchise 500 list by Entrepreneur magazine and was voted the Most Recognizable Brand of Real Estate Franchises and the Trendsetter of the year for 2009 in an industry-wide survey for the Swanepoel TRENDS Report.