Barbara Calwhite, Specializing in Relocation

Good Bye 2011!! The Year of the Joplin Tornado!

2011 December Blogging Challenge. Day 31, Blog 24

2011 is winding down and in a few hours it will be 2012! This past year has been a rough year here in Joplin, Missouri.

The days preceeding May 22, the day the EF5 tornado totally destroyed about 33% of the town, is hard to remember. When ask about events before the tornado we all have to stop and really concentrate to come up with anything.

One of the 2 major hospitals (7 stories) is gone. Our high school is gone. One brand new middle school is in the process of being torn down. 3 grade schools are gone. One Catholic grade school is gone along with one Catholic church. 10 or 12 total churches were destroyed. A large super center Walmart was destroyed along with Home Depot, 2 Walgreens, Academy Sports, Wendys, 3 or 4 pizza places, Sonic Drive In, many convenience stores and the list goes on and on.

The final count of loss of life stands at 161. This figure alone is totally amazing. It is really hard to believe that more lives were not lost when viewing the devastation.

As relief workers poured into town they were all amazed first by the total devastation and second by the fact that in a two day time period all streets were cleared of trees and drivable. The interstates into town were filled with caravans of pick up trucks and heavy equipment all headed to Joplin. One of the Fema workers wanted to know if everyone in town owned a chain saw!

Walgreens was totaled, torn down, debri removed and rebuilt in about 6 weeks. Walmart said they would be open for black Friday but were ahead of schedule with an opening by November 1.

The Joplin School superintendent stated the day after the storm that school would start on time. This was at a time when no one knew where they could even locate a facility for the high school, middle school or the grade schools. It was a giant goal that was met to the wonder of all.

The count for the number of homes destroyed was around 7000 plus 1000 apartments for a total of 8000 'doors'. For us in real estate it was totally unbelievable!! By the end of the first week every available rental that was still standing was rented.

By the end of the second week every vacant house that was on the market and still standing was sold. Of course the first thing we had to do was take inventory of what listings were still standing and which ones were gone. MLS was not very dependable for a while.

Today, seven months after the tornado our city manager announced that building permits have been issued for 50% of the destroyed homes and businesses. A number of new homes have been built. Extreme Home Makeover came to town and built 7 homes in 7 days. That show will air January 13, 2012.

Habitat for Humanity has built 10 homes in about 2 weeks and plan on doing more. They have teamed up with Habitat from Tulsa.

The outpouring of help and support at times have been overwhelming but so very much appreciated. Our realtor community checked to make sure everyone was okay. A number of realtors lost their homes and one young man was killed protecting his wife.

Hundreds of cars were lost. The insurance would not pay off on those that were missing. People were looking everywhere just to locate their damaged cars. It was truly a nightmare with things happening that you could not even imagine!!!

We are slowly but surely getting back to business but I doubt we will ever be able to say we are back to 'normal'. One of the overworked phrases for this year nation wide is the 'new normal' but in our case that is what it will be for years to come.

Our hopes for 2012 is for peace, happiness, health and a calmer year. We have had our dose of a wild year and one is enough!!

Happy New Year to all the 'Rainers'!!!

2011 December Blogging Challenge. Day 30, Blog 23

What Is Your New YEAR'S Good Luck Food??

What is the traditional 'Good Luck' food in your area? Here in the Missouri Ozark's it is blackeyed peas! I will spend Saturday cooking 4 pounds for friends and family.

You begin with dry peas, soak them, find a giant stock pot and begin adding all the good stuff!! You know--like ham, hot sausage, bacon, onion, celery, tomatoes with green chilies, garlic, hot peppers. Simmer for several hours and serve with hot cornbread!

Of course the blackeyed peas are also served up with a good dose of football bowl games. After all it is New Year's Eve and New Year's Day!

If you eat your bowl of peas it guarantees a prosperous and happy new year!! So what else would a good real estate agent do?? After all you can't risk having a bad year!!

Joplin Missouri Tornado report.

When I got on the internet this morning and started to check email that had not been looked at since Sunday I found 2 emails from Active Rain. They were inquiries about my well being from AR members whom I have never met.

My initial reaction was surprise but it should not been. This is a very caring community and I want everyone to know it. In fact, our whole real estate community is very caring of one another.

As I wrote my reply to the first email from Lynda I thought I should post it on Active Rain for all to see. So below is my answer to Lynda and Emily. I want to thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Lynda:

I appreciate your email. My immedate family is all fine. All of the agents at our Keller Williams office are alive. Several totally lost their homes and a lot of their homes were severely damaged.

One agent is in the hospital and his son is missing. (Will Norton who has made national news was on the way home from his high school graduation, in the car with his dad and was sucked out of the car thru the sun roof. Don't know if he is in an area hospital unidentified. We are all praying!!)

Pictures don't even begin to describe the scene here. I can not even drive to the office without crying. Saying that neighborhoods are flattened is no exageration!! At times you need a GPS to know where you are. All landmarks are gone.

As they check houses for trapped residents, they are spray painting a large X on the outside to show that it has been checked. (That is if there is a standing wall to spray)

The response for help has been overwhelming. Yesterday our board of realtors was set up with over 5000 pairs of shoes donated from another board in Missouri. People were picking out shoes and we were handing out toiletries, paper towels, blankets, bottled water, etc.

And of course we are all scrambling to find any listing that can be rented. We have all been on the phone for the last 2 days looking for places for people to stay. (Now that our cell phones will work again. The first 2 days all we could do was text.)

Our office was not damaged but 2 real estate offices were destroyed. We have all services back except internet at our office.

Our office has had a closed Facebook page for just our agents for sometime. I don't know what we would have done without it. From the beginning, people started checking in and also reporting on others they had talked to. It only took us one day to get everyone in our office accounted for.

It has been a place to post what we are needing for clients all the way from warehouses and office space to housing. If you don't have one set up at your office, you need to do so now. You never know when you will need it. With all the smart phones, we were all able to access it for info even without internet or phone service.

Again, I thank you for your inquiry. I am sure you did not expect this long disertation for a reply but I got started writing and could not stop. I am sorry it took so long to answer you but I have just looked at my email for the first time. It took a while to get power and internet services back. I have all of that here at home now.

Barbara Calwhite, GRI
Keller Williams of Southwest Missouri
Cell: 417-438-7387
Direct Line: 417-659-7556

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: are you okay in Joplin? (Sent via Activerain)
From: "Orange Co. Real Estate~Lynda Eisenmann, Broker-Owner,
CRS,GRI,SRES, Brea, CA" <Lynda@PreferredHomeBrokers.com>
Date: Mon, May 23, 2011 8:49 pm
To: "Barbara Calwhite, Specializing in Relocation"
<Barbara@BarbaraCalwhite.com>

You've received a contact message from your Contact Form on the ActiveRain network.

Message details:
From: Orange Co. Real Estate~Lynda Eisenmann, Broker-Owner, CRS,GRI,SRES, Brea, CA
Email: Lynda@PreferredHomeBrokers.com
Subject: are you okay in Joplin? (Sent via Activerain)

Hi Barbra, I found you on AR and I'm so worried about all of you there. Are you okay, I've been watching the news (from my home in Southern Cal) and it's hearbreaking seeing the devastation. I hope you and your family are okay.
My best, Lynda Eisenmann

You've received a contact message from your Contact Form on the ActiveRain network.

Message details:
From: Emily Medvec ~ Santa Fe NM | CRS SRES | 505-660-4541
Email: emilymedvec@gmail.com
Subject: Hope you all KW team OK (Sent via Activerain)

Hi Barbara, I hope this finds you ok given what I just saw on the news. Still hard to comprehend. Reaching out to let you know your community is in my prayers.

Spring is coming!!! Get ready for open house! There has always been an ongoing discussion among realtors about the good of doing open houses, at least here in southwest Missouri.

The first thing to do in preparing for an open house is decide the big WHY!!!

The first and most obvious reason is to SELL the house. If this is the main reason in your mind for doing an open house then you will probably be in the group against open houses.

Another reason often given for doing an open house is 'Because the seller wants me to'. Again, not a good reason.

If the home is located in an area that is hard to find or out in the country, there will not be a lot of traffic through the house. The agent will have spent a lot of time getting ready and the seller will have been inconvenienced.

The answer to this is to have an open house in the same price range located in another area. At the open house have several listings available in the same price range for potential buyers to view. Explain to your sellers that you are having 3 or 4 or 5 houses open that day!!

I have found especially in the spring a lot of POTENTIAL SELLERS are at open houses trying to:

1. See if they can afford what they want in a new home before they sell their current home

2. Do their own market analysis to decide how much their current home will bring.

So there are obviously 3 good reasons to have an open house:

1. Sell the house that day.
2. Pick up prospective buyers for other houses.
3. Pick up new listings.

New agents sometimes miss the listing opportunities because they are concentrating or have tunnel vision focusing on buyers.

In a high traffic area it is often good for agents to work in pairs, especially if the house is not vacant. That way it is easier to talk to each person and to keep a better eye on the seller's possession.

HAVE A GREAT SPRING AND GET READY FOR THOSE OPEN HOUSES!!!