Wildwood, MO

With the anticipation of cooler days, turning leaves and apple picking, now is the time to enjoy a great day of family fun at this years Wildwood Celebration 2008 on September 13, 2008 at Babler State Park. Vendor booths, the Kid's Village, concerts and food, food, food make this a great day to share an outing with your family and friends. Wildwood Celebration offers activities for everyone or just bring a lawn chair and watch one of the activities on center stage and tap your foot to the music. The celebration begins at 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. - lots of time to do everything!

You'll want to be sure to bring the children to our Prudential Select Properties booth to sign up to win the wonderful doll house pictured below. After all, homes for families are our specialty! For Real Estate information on homes in Wildwood and the surrounding area, be sure to visit my website at www.PatMooreSells.com. As a resident of Wildwood for 20 years, I've seen a lot of Wildwood being built so I know this area and the housing market here!

I've included the link below for your convenience. It provides a list of activities and vendors for Wildwood Celebration 2008. http://www.cityofwildwood.com/egov/docs/121190543186.htm

Wildwood living offers AAA-rated schools, lots of green space and family friendly activities. Contact Pat Moore to make your home here!

Free Home Buyers Seminar

Date and Time: Thursday October 2, 2008 7:00 to 9:00p.m.

Place: Prudential Select Properties

16442 Village Plaza View Dr

Wildwood, MO 63011

Come learn about........

Tax credit for 1st time home buyers, financing, home buying process, etc.

NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!

For reservations: call 636-779-1100

email AHayden@psphomes.com

Or sign on to www.SelectAnn.com

Summer is officially here and the vacation driving season is on us. Being a Realtor, any extra mileage I can squeeze out of gallon of gas helpls my bottom line. I have put together a list of 10 things to do to improve your mileage for those of us who forget.

10 Ways to Improve Mileage:

1. Have a complete check up. For safety and fuel economy, you should give your car a good check up before taking a trip.

2. Change your oil regularly. Dirty motor oil can impair your engine's performance cutting down on good gas mileage.

3. Make sure your tire pressure is correct. Keep your tires at the recommended pressure. Lower tire pressure can cause drag on the vehicle's performance.

4. Slow down. Within the range of normal highway speeds, each 10 mph over the limit, will reduce fuel economy by 10% to 20%.

5. Cruise control. Use it if you're driving on relatively flat roads. It can prevent speed changes that waste precious gas.

6. Use the A/C . It's debatable whether your car uses more fuel to drive with your windows down or rolled up with the air conditioner on. So, turn on the A/C, cool down and enjoy the ride.

7. Avoid idling. Idling and slow driving wastes fuel, so plan your drive time when there is less chance of traffic jams.

8..Pack light. Extra weight cuts fuel economy, so pack as little as possible. And avoid hauling your stuff outside the vehicle. Roof-top bins and racks can cut fuel economy by 20%.

9. .Take it easy on the pedals. When not in highway traffic, calm down the aggressive acceleration and hard braking. This habit of quick starts and stops wastes an amazing amount of fuel.

10. Use the lowest grade. Check your owner's manual for the fuel your car needs. If it recommends "Regular" gas, use it. Using Premium just wastes money.

Like most areas of the country where the Real Estate market is declining, the Wildwood, Mo area is no different! However, homes are still selling and decline in St. Louis for the next year is fore-casted to be about 1.8% - much less than other areas of the country. The days on market is increasing slightly and buyers are low-balling everything in site! While this is frustrating to sellers who have great homes, it happens to be what is happening in the market. Since there is more of a selection to choose from, if buyers don't get the price they want (often below what the seller's paid in the past couple of years) - then guess what - the buyer's just move on to something else. What a frustration also to agents who can't get the buyer and seller to come to terms and who often write several offers because the buyer's are looking for the greatest deal. This is what our current market looks like for the past 6 months: (Rockwood School District - Wildwood, Grover, Glencoe)

Active Listings - on the market with no offer: 259 ranging in price form $157,00 to $2,595,000

Contingent - an offer but contingent on some other factor: 14 ranging in price from $150,000 to $634,000

Option: in the building inspection phase: 3 ranging in price from $300,000 to $789,900

Pending- waiting to close - inspections complete: 29 ranging in price from $154,900 to $1588,437

Sold - Closed and Funded - 163 ranging in price from $90,000 to $2,000,000

Based on the stats and considering the active, contingent, option and pending listings as still available, we currently have a 12 month inventory of homes (11.25) assuming no other homes come on the market.

What can seller's do? Make sure your home is in tip top condition - no carpet that needs to be cleaned, no junk around (a streamlined house), no odors to contend with - pets, etc., and make sure above all that you are priced for this market and not the market you think that you should get or need.

Creative marketing can get your house sold if you and your agent are working in a partnership and both are working to accomplish your common goals. If you can't afford to do things to your house then make sure you have done everything else possible to have your home in the best condition - clean closets, put away all the small appliances on the counter, confine the kids toys to a specific area. There is a long list and consider asking your agent to have a marketing team of 3-4 agents make suggestions on what you can do. Our company, Prudential Select Properties has a Five Star Program to help sellers make sure that all the bases are covered to get their home sold. It's a tougher market and everyone needs to work together and communicate on a regular basis.

Wildwood receives an A+ on its report card for the our wonderful AAA rated Rockwood School District. Eleven areas including Wildwood, MO are served by this district also including some areas of Jefferson County. These include but are not limited to some bordering areas of Ballwin, Clarkson Valley, Chesterfield, Fenton, Eureka, Manchester and Ellisville.

The Missouri State Department of Education has recognized the Rockwood School District for Distinction in Performance. Not only does the district have Rockwood Pre-School as part of Early Childhood Education but the district is also part of the Special School District of St. Louis County providing special education to students with disabilities.

Two technical area high schools are also part of the district and provide technical and career choices for students. In all, there are eleven elementary schools in the district, four high schools, the Early Childhood Education Center, an Individualized Learning Center and a Creative Learning Center. Our schools are as diverse as our citizens. There are lots of scholarship opportunities for students and these and additional information can be found on: Links to the Rockwood School District.

Rockwood's motto is "Growing Together - Learning for Life". Wildwood, Mo is a great place to raise a family and educate a child for tomorrow's challenges.