Oklahoma

Don’t be discouraged – it’s possible AND probable that you can sell your home quickly and painlessly if you follow a few guidelines.

If you are interviewing more than one Realtor, seriously question the Realtor that suggests (or agrees to) the highest list price and tells you that you don’t need to do a thing to get your home ready.

I have three properties almost ready to list. Each are in a stage of painting, re-carpeting, cleaning or staging. Because the inventory of homes is high, Buyers will not give your home a chance if it doesn’t sparkle and impress them the moment they see it from the curb and entry. Buyers today have much from which to choose and have little patience. They truly want a home that is “move-in” ready.

And, Buyers need to see themselves living in your home. They need to see that their furniture will fit and that they will feel comfortable in your home. You love your home and the way your furniture is arranged – it suits your lifestyle and taste.

But it may not be arranged in such a way to accent your home’s best features or detract from your home’s possible flaws. Get it right before you list your property. Follow you Realtor’s advice and paint the scuffed or out-dated rooms; replace the worn or slightly stained carpet; hire a cleaning crew to clean baseboards and ceiling fans and clear the cobwebs. Hire a home-stager to look at your home through a Buyer’s eyes. Don't be offended by your stager's advice. Do you want to be comfortable in your home while it's on the market OR do you want to SELL your home? Sometimes, even both can be achieved.

There are three criteria to selling a home: price, condition and marketing. Throughout the ebbs and flow of our real estate market, these three criteria have never changed. If your property is in the best possible condition, priced correctly and marketed aggressively, it will sell.

What you DON’T want to do is put your home on the market before it is top-notch condition. The traffic you receive in the first three weeks of your listing will not return if you make improvements later – they’ve already formed an impression of your home. And you DON’T want to over-price your home, thinking you can drop the price later – while price reductions are sometimes inevitable, competitive and realistic pricing from day one will increase your chances of getting top dollar for your property.

Your Realtor will study what is and is not selling in your area and paint a clear picture of estimated time to sell. You should work with your Realtor as a team to sell your home. Make sure that your Realtor is internet-savvy and will advertise your listing multiple places on the internet.

I recently did a market analysis for a property that I hope to list, and boy did that market analysis tell a story. Of the five homes sold in that subdivision in the last six months, four homes had been on the market less than three weeks and sold very close to list price. All three of the pending properties had been on the market less than a month. Of the twelve properties currently listed on the market, many had been on the market in excess of two, three, even four months. How could this be? Obviously the homes that sold quickly and for the amount they were listed had followed the three criteria strategy: correct price; immaculate condition and aggressive marketing.

When you consider personal frustration, extended mortgage payments and utility costs, it makes sense to “get it right” before you list. Please call me if you are interested in truly SELLING your home!

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!

Can you beleive the year is half over. Now we have the 4th of July and then the next you know it will be Christmas. Amazing how fast time flys by anymore. Even when you want time to slow down because you are on vacation or maybe involved in something that needs more time, you just can't slow things down. Time have become an Indy 500 speed race. I just can't seem to keep up. I always seem to be running behind, late, or just miss it all together.

How do we stop and smell the roses when they go by at the speed of light.

Why can't we slow down anymore. Life has gotten so fast anymore we don't even know what we are missing.

Tulsa's largest fireworks display will be at the River Parks near the 21st Street Bridge on Saturday, July 4th, and entertainment can be found at two locations on the east side of the river and one location on the west bank. Entertainment and street closings begin at 5:00 and the fireworks launch at 9:30. Crowds in excess of 80,000 are anticipated to attend and enjoy this Tulsa Community Celebration.

As you know, Demetrius and I have the closest residence to the 21st Street Bridge. Drop by for homemade ice cream, Greek chicken, American burgers and a beer. Bring lawn chairs and bug spray. The high for the day is expected to be 105, and chance of rain is only ten percent!

West bank: Kids can enjoy free inflatables, a rock climbing wall and other activities at the River West Festival Park. Vendors will offer food and beverages for sale. There will be live music from about 6 to 9 pm which will continue immediately after the fireworks display. Paid parking will be available for $5 per vehicle.

East Bank: Live music will begin around 6 pm on the east bank of the Arkansas at 1924 S. Riverside Drive, the former home of the River's Edge Bistro. Concessions will be available for purchase. Bring your own lawn chairs and blankets, as seating is not provided.

Veteran's Park: Tulsa Parks will host their annual American Salute, an old-fashioned family picnic and concert at Veteran's Park, 1875 S Boulder Avenue. Live entertainment will begin around 6 pm with performances by Cindy Cain and Jennifer & Pete Marriott. Vendors will offer food and beverages for sale.

Street closings: The entire 21st Street Bridge will be TOTALLY CLOSED from 11 am to midnight to prepare for the fireworks. Other streets closing from 5 pm to 10:30 pm are:
Residential streets from Jackson to Southwest Blvd. between 17th and 23rd Streets. (Jackson Avenue will remain open.)
Riverside Drive, from Southwest Boulevard to 31st Streets.

No parking permits are issued to residents this year. Residents are told that we (and our guests) will be able to access our residences by approaching from the east. Please provide the guards at the barricades your address and they will let you through.

For more information, visit the event's web site: www.tulsafreedomfest.com or call 596-2001.

Just a few interesting reminders about the totally absurd and fabricated global warming. It needs to be stated that people who oppose this hoax are not against protecting an environment - like having clean water, using less fertilizers and pollutants directly dumped into our river streams, etc, etc...

In 1998, with Bill Clinton in the White House, Sen. Larry Craig said, "As more and more American scientists review the available data on global warming, it is becoming increasingly clear that the vast majority believe the commitments for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions made by the administration in the Kyoto Protocol are an unnecessary response to an exaggerated threat the vice president himself [i.e., Al Gore] is caught up in making."

In 2005 US Sen Inhofe's (R-OK) speach about global warming where he said that the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people"

In 2008 Does anyone remember the recent rebuke of Lord Mongton, a well known and respected scientist on the subject of Global Warming, who had flown here from England recently to go before Congress at the request of the Republicans to give the opposing argument against Al Gore when before the Waxman committee?

They actually denied him the opportunity and told him that it would embarrass Gore.

Mongton was going to explain to the committee that before the industrial revolution 1700-1735 temperatures rose 4 degrees in 35 years. Temperatures rose 1.3 degrees in the whole 20th century and actually the evidence is that there is global cooling! Sea levels he said, have risen 8 inches over 100 years. The last 3 years sea levels have not risen AT ALL!

This climate agenda is nothing more the a new world order for control of peoples lives and a way for elites to profit at the expense of the tax payers.

Keep the earth clean. We are all for that but don't fall for the biggest hoax ever perpetrated in our schools, on our kids and on the people at large!!

Good for Inhofe! He always seems to be the only one that seems to cry out for justice time after time. I really like this man.

In 2009 Sen. Inhofe Calls for Inquiry Into 'Suppressed' Climate Change Report - Sen. Inhofe Calls for Inquiry Into 'Suppressed' Climate Change Report

Republicans are raising questions about why the EPA apparently dismissed an analyst's report questioning the science behind global warming.

By Judson Berger, FOXNews.com

A top Republican senator has ordered an investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency's alleged suppression of a report that questioned the science behind global warming.

The 98-page report, co-authored by EPA analyst Alan Carlin, pushed back on the prospect of regulating gases like carbon dioxide as a way to reduce global warming. Carlin's report argued that the information the EPA was using was out of date, and that even as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased, global temperatures have declined.

"He came out with the truth. They don't want the truth at the EPA," Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla, a global warming skeptic, told FOX News, saying he's ordered an investigation. "We're going to expose it."

All about power, special interests, money and most of all - CONTROL!

All of us need to vote and then vote in 2010 and 2012!!!

POWER TO THE PEOPLE! WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK!

With smiles,

Bo in Yukon