Chris Grus

Ten years ago this month, I traveled to Europe, more specifically Italy, for the first time. It was fascinating! At the time, cities and planning were of little interest to me. I was just a typical American tourist, taking in the scenes, the art and the culture as best as I could.

In the years following my week in Europe, I think often of the trip, particularly when it comes to urban life.

Growing up in the suburbs, I was accustomed to "commerce zones" or seemingly endless collections of strip malls and automobile dealers that stretched all the way through towns on major thoroughfares. Getting to these commerce zones was no problem.....if you had a car. Today I recognize the lifestyle as being "autocentric" or centered around the automobile.

The past decade I've been truly blessed to witness the urban renewal in St. Louis City and have a 'background' role in participating in the changes. One factor fueling the renaissance within the city is the urban concept of 'walkability' and living streets.

Today while doing research for another blog, http://loftsinthelou.com , I came across a website to assist people in adding to the life of thier cities streets at http://www.livablestreets.com . In witnessing so much revitalization, there have been people involved working block by block to improve the areas by suggesting or adding certain elements to their neighborhood that help in building a better community. LivableStreets.com seems to be a great site to help organize and channel that energy into more productive action. As professionals in the real estate community, whether urban or suburban, working to make our surroundings more "livable" is a win-win opportunity!

Check it out!

When I graduated from school and was ready to seek my fortune, I wrote a resume summing up my life to that point. Despite my lack of experience, I easily filled up two and a half pages of courses, clubs, certifications and such that sounded like "good resume material". After a little more embellishing, I added another half page and proceded (thank God!) to a head hunter / consultant to review my efforts.

I sat mortified as she heartlessly stripped away my achievments as if they meant nothing until my resume was broken down to one page of neatly organized special achievements and accolades along with my contact information.

As an employer today, I see more than ever how useful it was to break down and organize the material--making sure the most important information was showcased at the beginning. I know now that employer's want, and deserve a brief and informative summary reflecting a prospects achievments and personality.

Home buyer's are much like employers.

In consulting seller's, I often find the biggest problem is when they try to keep everything. As a realtor, I try not to indulge in lifestyle coaching. If a seller wants to pull all their extra stuff out of storage and set it up in their next home, fine. But in selling, careful consideration must go towards what NEEDs to be left in the home. Too much furniture, books, clothes, toys, etc. can zap the enthusiasm from a buyer and place the focus clutter instead of where it belongs.

Another staging tip I've learned is taking out things that could help sell. Having a dining room table set elegantly with a few settings of fine china and crystal can establish a mood in a room. These are things that may normally never see the light of day.

Lastly, seeking professional help, as I did with my resume, can really make the difference. Someone without the sentimental attachment to your possessions can give unbiased advice on what a buyer would perceive.

Home staging can make the necessary difference as to how a buyer percieves a home. Take advantage of a realtor offering these services (often for free) when its time to sell your home.

When we began working in the downtown St. Louis residential real estate market over 5 years ago, it was sort of a new thing. The market existed largely between developers and buyers with very little involvement of realtors. As a realtor, there were very few examples of how to do things and many realtors, including Premier Realty Exclusive, treated downtown just as they would the suburbs.

Looking at more established urban areas often was of little assistance, but recently, looking at a New York City brokerage, we found that they were holding open houses on week nights instead of the usual Sunday Afternoon. This makes sense. With approximately 85,000 people working downtown, the largest segment of people using the downtown core were somewhere else when we were holding open houses. Weeknights just seemed logical.

This week we are going to test our hypothesis by holding four downtown lofts open on Thursday Evening between 5 and 7.

Are there any other urban realtors with experience doing this type of event? Feedback would be awesome. We're looking to make the most of this experience and possibly build upon the success of our downtown renaissance.

The field of real estate, like any other, is fraught with pre-concieved notions. I love watching HGTV, but one thing that television has a tendency to do is distort reality, even in (especially in) reality TV. Shows where buyer's look at 3 houses and pick one! Give me a break! It can take weeks to get to a point where the "top 3" are clear.

One notion I had early on in my career was that real estate sales are seasonal. That season, in my mind, would last from about April through August. Surviving from September through March would depend upon how busy we were during the so called "selling season". This myth, one that is widely shared, was the first to go.

In the last few weeks, "activity" seems to have picked up. That doesn't necessarily mean more buyer traffic, but more listings going under contract.

Reality though, is that real estate sales don't just happen in the summer. While sales are still lagging, they seem to have picked up from July and August, which are nearly as slow as January-February. In the past two weeks, clients have called with a greater concern about whether we should just "close up shop" and take their listing off the market for now. While that may be the right move for some, it isn't a rule. The interesting thing about the market is that activity in the range of $250,000 to $500,000 has nearly always been relatively slow during the summer months and picks up during the fall and winter months.

The bottom line, its still a great time to buy rather than sell.

Turning down the opportunity to get a First Time Home Buyer's Tax Credit from Uncle Sam is hard to pass up.  Obviously.  But what is the thought of prospective home buyer's buying a home only because of the $8000?  Is that doing the right thing FOR THE RIGHT REASON?

As a Realtor, I may be slightly biased, but I can think of so many reasons to buy in this market regardless of what tax credits are currently available.  I wouldn't think that the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit would lure that many home buyer's back into the market, but I'm starting to see so many new buyer prospects into the market I'm beginning to question the motives.

New buyer's should make themselves aware of all the benefits and still make sure that buying is right for them at this time.  Taking advantage of previously available tax advantages and investment opportunity has to be considered as well as finding out how long the new home buyer plans to live in and / or own the home is crucial.  The home market seemed to be inappropriately influenced by incentives (low interest rate loans) at the height of the market in 2004-2006, so this external influence alone is questionable. 

http://4salestlouis.com/federal%20home%20buyer%20tax%20credit.html Find more information about the tax credit above.