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Judi and Don Barrett Integrity Real Estate Services in SE Oklahoma

Great Clients - Wonderful Waterfront Cabin - They go well together. Sold Waterfront Cabin on Lake Raymond Gary Fort Towson, Oklahoma

Great ClientsYou can tell just by looking at these folks that they were a joy to work with!


When I emailed them and asked them if I could use this photo in my blog, they came back and said it was OK, even with the husband's obvious "cutting up" in the photo.


The Anderson's purchased a waterfront cabin on Lake Raymond Gary. They are pleased with it and thoroughly enjoying it and of course the sellers are happy because they were ready to sell.

These kinds of deals are win-win situations!

I think that I get more than my FAIR share of the win-win situations in real estate.


Great clients, great properties, people that work together... .what more can a broker ask for??

New Idabel Oklahoma Library - Almost Finished Everyone Looking Forward to It's Opening!

Idabel Oklahoma New Library

The New Library at Idabel Oklahoma is going to be such an improvement over the current one.  Located next to the City offices on East Main Street.

Great progress has been made as the embedded street scene of the pad prior to construction illustrates below. Grand opening should be coming up soon. The current library is a little more than a block away.. it may take a while to move all of those books!


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Brown Addition Located East of Idabel, Oklahoma – A Quiet Neighborhood With a Country Atmosphere – Ranch Style Homes – You May Find Just the One You Want For Sale.

Brown Addition Idabel Oklahoma Homes

Brown Addition which is located just east of Idabel, Oklahoma is an ideal community to live in if you want to be near town and yet enjoy the feeling of living in the country.

Homes in the Brown Addition (which by the way is so named because the developer was J.L. Brown) are mostly Ranch Style homes. Some of the homes were built in the late 70's and early 80's with some newer homes also in the addition. There are different sizes of lots with some being on small acreages.

The homes in Brown Addition are on the Idabel Public Water Supply for city utilities and have private septic systems. Cable TV along with Cable Broadband Internet Service is available from Pine NeStreet Scenes of Homes in Brown Addition Idabel, Oklahomat in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

Denison School is located about a mile from Brown Addition. Denison is a small elementary dependent school with classes through Eighth Grade (8th) grade.

Brown Addition is convenient to restaurants and shopping since it’s only about 2 miles east of Idabel.

Brown Addition Homes Idabel OklahomaIf you are wanting to be near town but not too near… outside town but not to far outside… Brown Addition just east of Idabel, Oklahoma may be the right choice for you. There’s not a lot of homes on the market in the area, but usually there’s one or two. The three latest sales in the area have been at $100K and $125K, with one smaller frame home selling for $35K.

My office is very near the Brown Addition. If you are wanting to sell or buy in the Brown Addition, just east of Idabel, Oklahoma, call me, Judi Barrett, broker, Integrity Real Estate Services at 580-212-5946 or email me at judi@integrity-realestate.net Let’s talk about Brown Addition and Idabel, Oklahoma homes for sale.

Road leading into Brown Addition Idabel Oklahoma

This post contains some typical street photos of Brown Addition. The photos were taken on a rainy day...It seems we've had a lot of rain this month... waiting for a sunshiny day to take photos has not worked very well! Also I wanted to give you a general idea of Brown Addition and at the same time respect home owners in the area.

Explanation of the Abstracting Process in Oklahoma

Oklahoma is an abstracting state. Since many of our buyers come from out-of-state, states where they do not own an actual "hard copy" abstract of title to the property that they own, they have a blank look on their face when I mention an abstract of title.

When I ask them if they know what an abstract is, 99% of the time, the answer is "no".

Every state has some form of "abstracting" or "title search". It may be called a "title report" "title search" , "title exam", or "evidence of title", and some states do actually call it "abstractng". In Oklahoma, there usually is a hard copy "abstract' that passes to the buyers of the property from the sellers.

THE ABSTRACT is a "book" made up of bound photocopies of all documents that have been filed on a particular legal description, these documents can affect the chain of title or ownership of that piece of property.The abstract is a complete histoy of a legal description's chain of title. This abstract has monetary value. Up until recently the cost was based upon the number of pages and the price of an abstract could run into the thousands of dollars. McCurtain and Choctaw Counties have both changed to a price structure based upon length of time since the abstract's last certification, this has reduced the price of the abstracting process for many land owners. Abstracts must be prepared by Licensed Abstract Offices. Those permits and liceses are obtained from the State Of Oklahoma. Abstracts are prepared in McCurtain County by Southern Abstract in Idabel. Abstracts are prepared in Choctaw County by Choctaw County Abstracting and Title in Hugo Oklahoma.

Currently, from what I've read, Oklahoma and Iowa are the only two states that deal with abstracts that are hard copies of the actual documents, bound together into booklet form and quite valuable to the owner of the property because the Oklahoma "ABSTRACT" must be read by an attorney to determine marketability of a title before title insurance can be issued on that property.

Many history buffs greatly value their "abstracts" for the historical reading.. it can be quite interesting to read through an abstract.. Base abstracts in Southeast Oklahoma usually go back to the "Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek".

They contain such interesting and "juicy" documents as divorces, judgments, liens, probates, mortgages, and deeds (sometimes the older documents were much more interesting than our current ones because they might actually spell out why a piece of property was deeded back and forth between the same two people 5 times).

Another interesting thing is the sale price of properties and the mortgage amounts from 100 years ago! They seems so very small in comparison to the amounts of today. Of course we know that in true dollars that's not the case.

I have had some buyers exhibit more excitement over owning their abstract than their new home as they sat there and read through some of the documents.. I'm sure that they were really more excited about their new home but the exuberance came forth from reading the abstract!

Abstract of Titles have a certification page as the last page of the abstract, where the abstractor signs off on the abstract, certifying it. It contains the signature and date of the abstractor.

The Oklahoma Abstractors Board's website has a lot of information on it about the abstracting process in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Abstractors act is contained here and details the time period that abstracting plant must operate within to prepare your abstract. There is also information on filing a complaint if that becomes necessary.

Abstract Law Reform of 2007 dealt with these things and also made a major change in the issuance of title insurance. The reform of 2007 allows a title insurance policy to be based upon a supplemental abstract if that supplemental abstract goes back to the prior owner's issuance of title insurance. Prior to this time the complete base abstract had to be read each time that a title policy was issued.

After the Abstract is brought up to date, it goes to an attorney for his opinion of marketability of the title. This is necesssary to determine marketability of title and for the issuance of title insurance.. That's next in this series.

If you're thinking of selling or buying a home, land, or commercial real estate in Southeast Oklahoma (McCurtain County and Choctaw County), you owe it to yourself to hire a professional, someone knowedgeable and honorable... Call me, Judi Barrett and let's talk about your needs. We care.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user bionicteaching made avaialble through creative commons licensing.

I Am Your Crossing Guard... I'll Help You Cross "HOME FOR SALE" STREET in Southeast Oklahoma.

I’m your crossing guard. I became your crossing guard when you signed the listing agreement and asked me to help you cross the street named "HOME FOR SALE STREET". I know this street well.. in fact, it's the street that I live on in Southeast Oklahoma.

There have been a lot of accidents on HOME FOR SALE STREET so you didn't want to cross it alone...
and jay-
walkers have been run over in that street.

So it's important that you to hold onto my hand and not let go.

We’re going to walk where we are supposed to walk (price the home correctly, market it well) not be a jaywalker,

and cross with the light, walking when it says "walk" (with the market – selling when it sells "sell" if there are too many homes on the market, we’re going to wait until the light changes).

As your crossing guard, I want you to get to where you are going so stay with me and listen to what I say (clean, de-clutter, etc). I’m right here with you watching and directing you as we cross this street.

When we get safely to the other side of the street, I’m going to send you on your way. I can’t keep holding your hand because I have others that I need to help get across the street… but I do hope you’ll wave at me from time to time when you get by here either walking on the sidewalk or driving down the street...after all we came through some rough traffic together and we made it.

And if you need to cross this busy street again, I’m here to guide you across. All of my towns have a HOME FOR SALE STREET (Hugo, Idabel, Valliant, Swink, Millerton, Fort Towson, Lake Raymond Gary... isn't it wonderful how the even the rural areas have named a road that name! Call me and let's talk about the HOME FOR SALE STREETS IN MCCURTAIN AND CHOCTAW COUNTIES).

Photo courtesy of Flickr user baldeaglebluff