About Rapides Parish, LA

Buying a home for the first time is a major life event. Here are "Ten Commandments" that can help you through the process.

1)I Am Your New Home, Put No Other Purchases Before Me-- Credit regulations are pretty strict these days. Buy nothing major on credit, or open new credit lines until the home closes.

2) Honor Thy Mother and Father, But Purchase The House YOU Want-- Family will offer advice in the hope of helping their children out. But odds are they don't buy and sell real estate every day. Find an agent that you trust, and pick the house that meets your needs.

3) Thou Shall Not Take The Seller's Name In Vain-- Buying a home can be stressful, and the negotiations intense. Agents are the buffer designed to keep things civil.

4) Remember The Sabbath Day and Keep It Holy-- Even the Lord rested one day a week. Spending every waking hour obsessing over a home purchase is not healthy or productive. Taking a step back will sometimes make the process more clear.

5) Thou Shall Not Kill The Deal Over Something Silly-- When major problems arise sometimes the smart thing is to pull the plug. Losing sleep over a 400 dollar dishwasher in 200k dollar home? Not so wise.

6) Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness To Your Lender-- Answer income/debt questions truthfully, they are going to verify everything anyway.

7) Thou Shall not Covet Thy Neighbor's ass-- No real lesson here, it's just fun to cuss in a blog post!

8) Thou Shall Not Steal That Foreclosure-- Most foreclosures are priced close to their market value even taking condition into account. Getting a nice home for pennies on the dollar? Not in the real world.

9) Thou Shall Not Commit House Adultery-- Once you are under contract their is no need to look at other homes. The grass will always appear greener in the other lawn. It rarely is.

10) Thou Shall Spread Thine Agent's Name to Others-- Agents live on referrals. Have a positive buying experience, tell a friend!

Would you like to work with the agent who wrote the buyer ten commandments? Call Doug Rogers with Bayou Properties Realty today (318) 613-1994.

Home For Sale in Good Earth Subdivision, Alexandria Louisiana

Searching homes for sale in Good Earth Subdivision? This 3 bedroom 2 bath home on Demeter street is a bargain at only 139,900 dollars!

Good Earth Subdivision is located just off Jackson Street extension in West Alexandria. The kitchen features a nice ceramic tile bar and plenty of workspace.

The living room features a working fireplace and plenty of room for all your furniture. With fresh paint and new carpet this space would look amazing. Thanks to the modest asking price there should be plenty of money for updates!

The fenced backyard is perfect for pets on the go!

Ready to tour this lovely home in Good Earth Subdivision? If so, call Doug Rogers with Bayou Properties Realty at (318) 613-1994.

The deals are out there, but boy this market is tough. And like all performance based industries, the pain is not equally shared amongst the members. In speaking with other agents you can almost feel the pain in their voice.

"I sure hope this deal closes", "if I can only close this deal everything will be okay", "I was planning on buying my familiy's Christmas with this commission".

Over the past couple of months I have heard these statements and several others that were nor fit to print. There is a sense of dread that I have not picked up on in the past. Do I think the market is getting worse? Not really, I think people are just getting tired of waiting on the recovery.

Like family members waiting on the dock for an over due ship, the collective hope fades as time passes. Many of these agents will have to seek refuge in other disciplines. For some the real estate roller coaster ride will soon come to a halt.

Those of us who do ride out the storm will not do so unscathed. My free spending days of the past have taken a far more conservative twist. If I don't have cash to buy something, it don't get bought. Frankly I will probably be one of those crazy old people who bury money in mayonnaise jars in my backyard. Just like my grandparents did after living through the Great Depression!

The first step in the home buying process is speaking with a reputable lender. Once your financials are in order the lender will issue a pre-approval letter. This document will spell out up to what amount the buyer can purchase. The key element here is the phrase "up to".

Many first time buyers will want to START their search at this "up-to" amount. After all, if you are approved for "up-to" 150,000 dollars why look at a 145,000 dollar house? Let's examine why staying under your limit is a good idea...

1) Your car is older than two states-- The bank looks at your current debt/income ratio. If you do not currently have an auto loan this amount is not factored in. What happens in three months when you need a new car?

2) You take vacations like a rap star-- If any part of your vacation includes boarding a Lear jet, it might be a good idea not to be house poor. Once you have stayed at the Hilton, the Motel 6 just won't do.

3) There is a minivan in your future-- When the first kid arrived my wife was mad that the nice daycare was 150 dollars. I chuckled and told her not to be cheap, 150 dollars a month was not bad. Then she told me it was 150 a week. Kids make you broke and crazy. I have four...

4) The only tool you can operate is a clarinet-- Home repairs can cost serious money. And things have a habit of breaking at the worst possible time. Bet you regret not taking shop classes in high school now!

5) Your emergency fund would not buy breakfast for two at Denny's-- In this economy two income families sometime become one income families with little notice. Having a house note the size of the Goodyear blimp is not a wise thing to do.

Find a home that you are comfortable in. Both in a physical and financial sense! Need help finding such a property? Call Doug Rogers with Bayou Properties Realty today (318) 613-1994.

Lessons in the real estate business are anything but cheap. Some can even be career ending. The purpose of this series is to help the rookie agent benefit from some of my mistakes.

Without clients real estate agents are nothing more than cheerful people with expensive MLS keys. Even prior to passing their real estate exam most agents understand this theory. So when a "client" comes a long, we often latch on tighter than a hermit crab in a spiffy conch shell.

While persistence is important in this industry, so is knowing when to cut a client loose. Though there are no hard and fast rules, here are some warning signs to heed.

1) The prospect refuses to commit to you-- Buyers can, and often do call more than one agent to tour homes with. At some point he or she needs to pick one agent and leave the others behind. Never show houses to a buyer in the morning only to have them tour homes with another agent in the afternoon. Such scenarios rarely end in a check.

2) The buyer cannot secure a loan--My poor Jeep drove all over Central Louisiana showing homes to buyers who were "almost qualified" or "within days" of getting settlement money. None ever closed, not with me at least.

3) The seller demands being present for all showings-- As a newbie you are thrilled just to have a listing. Too bad the seller is providing guided tours for all the buyers. One day I plan on writing a book from things I have witnessed on "seller tours". My favorite seller smoked while guiding us through his home. You can't make this stuff up...

4) The buyer refuses to follow your advice-- Thanks to the media and "helpful" family members, don't expect buyers to blindly follow your counsel. And frankly sometimes a buyer has to loose out on a deal before getting realistic. But if things do not improve, refer the buyer to another agent and move on.

5) The client "knows no boundaries"-- Respond to client calls in a timely manner. Keep the lines of communication open. Be proactive. But that seller who calls four times a day is bat shit crazy. There are no emergencies in real estate that do not involve a fire truck.

Customers are free to work with whoever they choose. So are you. Learn to pay attention to those butterflies in your tummy. Quickly.