Tristan Emond, Rapid City Home Specialist

Gotta love technology.

So my kids have discovered a game online that even my 6 and 7 year old have gotten into. But just playing the game is not good enough. They play the game while talking over the internet to each other.

We've got a great program called Skype which is not only free, but allows you to talk to someone else for free. My oldest, Michael, started it all when he stared calling his friend from school over Skpe and they talk while playing their computer games. So then Isaiah and Emily got this great idea of talking to each other while playing their Wizard 101 game. One will get on my computer upstairs and the other will be on the computer in the kid's room downstairs and they will talk to each other while they are in this virtual world. "Hey, Emily, I just did this!" "Isaiah, where are you?" "Ha, ha! I got this thing." (sorry, haven't listened enough to get the correct jargon for you)

I admit I somewhat helped the process along. (hey - I think it's cool. I remember playing games on Dad's Apple IIplus with my neighbor - on one of those great green colored screens - that consisted running around a single screen to get all the boxes and escape before the stick men could get you) I created accounts on each computer and brought home a headset from the office I wasn't using. But now at least I can sleep in a little longer on Saturday mornings (you know - past 7:00) instead of hearing:

bump, bump, bump, BUMP. (down the stairs) "EMILY! WHERE ARE YOU? OK!" bump, bump, bump, bump. (back up the stairs) And then repeat at least 2 or 3 times before either Sarah or I manage to get up and tell them to quit playing so we can sleep...

And now I'm trying to figure out how to really relate this to real estate in South Dakota (hey - had to get my SEO tags in the blog somewhere!), but I can't really other than to say: Home ownership is great. Interest rates are great. Give me a call to see how I can help.

Until next time,

Tristan Emond
Prudential Kahler REALTORS
Rapid City, SD

We here in South Dakota have been really blessed this year to see a continuation of normal real estate activities - still working for actual sellers (not just banks and corporations) and buyers. The last year showed a decrease in the actual number of units sold, but the average sold price did increase from year 2007.

The total number of active listings is up, sales were down this year compared to last, but the average days on market remained relatively stable.

The single family home sales mirrored the total residential - less sold in 2008 with the average active price being lower, but the average sales price of single family homes did INCREASE from year 2007 to 2008.

New construction homes information was similar as well. There were 276 sales in 2008 (down from 345 in 2007) and days on market remained at 118. The average sold prices on new construction homes also increased from $209,058 to $225,320.

{This information was supplied by the Black Hills Association of REALTORS(R). It shows the activity on the MLS in Rapid City and surrounding areas.}

It's been a great year in 2008 and we are all looking forward to an active 2009 as well! ;)

- Tristan

So I'm finally able to sit down and reflect about 2008 and the upcoming 2009. (when January hit, my to-do list grew exponentially overnight!)

I'm quite content with my sales volume in 2008. I sold over 2 million in sales, came in pretty high in my company, and managed to work part-time assisting the commercial realtor in our office as well. When I look back and think about what I can attribute my sales to, it isn't the thousands of cold calls made and doors knocked on. I didn't have radio and TV spots and big billboards. (of course, the obvious question here is: what would my sales have been if I had done more of the prebeforehandmentioned things??) Mostly - it was simply the attitude. I was there. I was available. I was ready to help with a down to earth customer service approach. Sure , I did those things to get business - monthly newsletters, open houses, email lead follow up, etc. - but most of my success came in the simple belief in allowing good things to happen. Throw your desires into the wind and allow the river to take you along. I somehow acquired a simple faith to know whenever I needed some business, it would be there. And it was.

So it is with this same optimistic attitude I look forward to 2009. With a desire to get new ideas and systems in place, more training for better service and goals set higher. (Hey - got a new house - they gotta be higher!!)

It's gonna be a good year.

Let's get to work.

Tristan

So we bought a new home recently. I have been working real estate long enough for the banks to say, "Yeah, you're good." It's been great. We were all in a doublewide mobile home for 10 years - not a lot of room to find a break with the open kitchen/living room being the main activity area for me, my wife, 4 kids, the TV, and the computer. So the space in our 2,000 square foot split level has been wonderful. We even have a room downstairs designated as the "toy room." Sometimes it's so quiet upstairs we wonder what the kids are doing....

One of the joys that I experienced recently is a wonderful holiday activity known as stringing up the lights. I've never been able to do a whole lot with exterior lights, (mostly due to the fact that a 3' strand of icicle lights runs you $15. You do the math...) So when I get a box of Dad's miscellaneous Christmas lights that he is not going to use, a (yes, I'm gonna say it) light bulb went off in my head.

So Sunday was a nice balmy 45 degrees here in Rapid City - so it was time to get those bad boys up, cause I wasn't gonna do it in 20 degree weather plus wind chill. As I am sorting through this box of jumbled Christmas lights and trying to come up with a plan to not use every outlet in the house while still putting up something that looks good (if you can't put ‘em up and have them look good and organized - don't do it :), my mind remembers back to a song I heard when I was a kid. It was a parody on the 12 days of Christmas. One of the lines of the song was "Stringing up the lights", which, of course, started out merry by this guy singing the song because, hey - it's a happy occasion. But as each stanza went by up to the 12^th joy of Christmas, his voice got unhappier, frustrated, and more and more angry until he is literally yelling "STRINGING UP THE LIGHTS". Finally, on the last stanza, all you hear is a mess of noise as the man is throwing the ladder around, crashing light bulbs and basically relieving his frustration as only we guys can do best.

So I'm thinking that won't be me, la-la-la-la-la. But as things got going..."oh these are all icicle lights, not string lights...this plug in doesn't fit into this one to make it all into one plug...do we even have and extension cord?...come on, staple, get into the wood...they were all working when I plugged them in at first!!!!" I began to understand the true feeling behind that ladder crashing to the pavement...

But they are up. And I did it all that afternoon. And there really is a pride in driving by my house (hey- nothing fancy, but mine - er, ours...sorry, honey) lit up with Christmas lights.

It's cool. It's something I would like to help more buyers feel and experience.

May your life be happy.

Tristan