Jacki & Jerry Shafer, The Shafer Team Call 502-643-SOLD (7653)

Everywhere we go people want to talk about it: "What's going on in the housing market? Is it really as bad as the news reports say?"

The quick answer is NO, but we are definitely experiencing a buyer's market here in Oldham County, Kentucky (just north of Louisville).

According to the Louisville Multiple Listing System statistics, comparing single family home monthly sales in 2007 to monthly sales year-to-date in 2008, the average sales price fell from $288,664 to $270,749. The Listing-to-Sales ratio was 96.69% in 2007, and year-to-date this ratio has decreased to 95.73%. The average months of inventory has increased from 6.69 in 2007, and presently there are 12.46 months of inventory. This reflects how many months it would take to sell out of inventory at the current month's rate of sale. The average days on the market has gone from 87.3 days to 95.0 days.

So what strategy can we suggest if you want or need to move this Spring and Summer? The key is simple: Price it Right! Your home simply must be priced to move, and it must be in great shape. If your home outshines your competition and is priced just under your competition, it WILL sell.

Jacki and Jerry Shafer of The Shafer Team and Keller Williams Realty Louisville East are Oldham County residents specializing in Oldham County real estate sales.

For more information about how to price your home to sell, please visit The Shafer Team's website: www.TheShaferTeam.com

We almost had to pinch each other to realize it was true! After many months of working with our laptops sitting on card tables and yelling into our phones over the sounds of sawing and drilling, our market center was finally transformed from tired old space in dire need of a facelift to a classy and welcoming place we can now call home!

KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY LOUISVILLE EAST is centrally located at 1230 South Hurstbourne Parkway on the east side of Louisville. From this location we have attracted the best of the best who have joined our forces who specialize all over the Louisville area (Jefferson County) as well as nearby Oldham and surrounding counties.

Realtors, home inspectors, bankers, and other well-wishers stopped by to help us celebrate at our open house.

Here are a few photos:

PAINTING THE TOWN RED: ONE SIGN AT A TIME !

OUR BROKER, BRAD LONG, GIVES A TOUR OF OUR

"INTERNET CAFE". YOU CAN SIT AND BLOG WHILE

KICKING BACK IN A RECLINER! DONTCHA LOVE THE

PENDULUM LIGHTING?

JERRY STRIKES A SILLY POSE WITH OUR WONDERFUL TEAM LEADER,

ANGIE MALONEY.

KAREN KRAFT PUCKERS UP FOR A KISS FROM PERRY THOMAS.

CLASSES ARE ONGOING DAILY IN OUR TRAINING CENTER.

EXPANDABLE SPACE FOR FUTURE PRIVATE OFFICES. LOTS OF LIGHT!

YOU'LL BE GREETED WITH A SMILE FROM ANN KIRSTEN, OUR

DIRECTOR OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

We hope you'll come by and visit us soon!

Jacki and Jerry Shafer are "mega agents" with The Shafer Team and Keller Williams Realty Louisville East. Put their 20+ years of residential home sales to work for you!

If you're planning a move to beautiful Oldham County soon, and you've got little ones in elementary school, The Oldham County Board of Education has provided a comprehensive list of streets with district school assignments for each. Click on the map below for a copy of this list.

Jacki and Jerry Shafer with The Shafer Team and Keller Williams Realty are relocation specialists, selling primarily in their own "back yard" of Oldham County, as well as eastern Jefferson, Trimble, Shelby and Henry Counties in Kentucky

Be watching your mailbox: It's not Publisher's Clearinghouse, but some money IS on the way! The government's $168 BILLION DOLLAR Economic Stimulus package is coming soon - maybe as early as Spring. Intended to jumpstart the economy by distributing tax rebates across our land, the Feds are hoping you'll run out and spend it and thus bolster the economy. But should you?

I'm sure you can think of dozens of things you can do with the extra money, and you may already be making a mental list. But the last thing you want to do is go out and spend money in anticipation of the money coming in. The wise thing to do is NOTHING until you have the check in your hand. (Be sure to file your 2007 tax return; the gross income listed on your return will determine you much you'll be getting.)

Regardless of how much you receive, make a budget and stick to it. We all know how easy it is to go to the store with a fixed amount in mind, only to walk away realizing you've blown your budget. If you do that, you may end up spending your entire rebate and then some.

Consider NOT spending at all. The government is issuing these tax rebates with the hope that Americans will help bolster the economy by spending their checks. But spending isn't always the best plan. If you have high-interest credit cards or large balances you're trying to knock down, use the rebate money to help pay down the debt and get out from under that burden sooner.

If high debt is not an issue, consider saving the rebate check in an interest-bearing account, funding or starting a college savings plan, or even putting the money in a retirement account that will grow with time.

Our favorite loan officer here in Louisville, Rodny Davidson with First Horizon Home Mortgage, tells us in his weekly report that the Economic Stimulus Plan features a number of other benefits. In addition to rebate checks, it includes new conforming loan limits that may allow you to refinance and save money every month, or purchase a home more affordably.

SO HOW MUCH WILL YOUR CHECK BE?

The amount you receive is directly related to how much money you make. For instance, individuals with adjusted gross incomes up to $75,000 will receive a rebate check of $600. If you're married filing jointly and earn up to $150,000, you can expect to receive $1,200.

If you make more than $75,000 as an individual or $150,000 as a married couple, your rebate check starts to shrink. You can plan on receiving $50 less for every $1,000 you earn over those limits.

Finally, if you have children, you can expect to receive a $300 credit for each child.

GOT QUESTIONS?

Rodny Davidson will be happy to help you look at your overall financial picture and help you make the best of this opportunity. Rodny can be reached at 502.396.2598.

Jacki and Jerry Shafer are "mega agents" with The Shafer Team and Keller Williams Realty Louisville East. Jacki and Jerry specialize in selling real estate in their own "back yard" - Oldham County, as well as in eastern Jefferson County (Louisville), Henry, Trimble and Shelby Counties in Kentucky.

As a handful of us stood around this morning wondering how the day would shape up, the judgment call was made: Showcase Oldham County would close at noon due to the biggest snow storm our area has seen in over a decade.

So many months of planning and preparing. When The Oldham County Chamber of Commerce made the decision to host this event in March instead of January or February, it made perfect sense. We may still be a little chilly, but SNOW? Nawwwwww....

By Friday's Kickoff Luncheon (for the vendors), the white stuff was already coming down. But most vendors came out, so at least we all got a chance to "meet and greet" other Oldham County business people, and it was a great day. But by the time we left, the road conditions were already beginning to deteriorate.

Nobody knew whether to cancel or stick with the plan. Louisville has dodged many a snow bullet before, so we were all in hopes that somehow we would be able to GO ON WITH THE SHOW(CASE).

This morning, we woke up to a whopping 14 inches. This was the view from our backyard this morning:

I was so excited about our booth. I usually just put out treats for the kids and come up with a nice prize for a lucky winner who came by to register. But this year a friend and colleague, Karen Tutt (also with Keller Williams) put her interior design creativity to work and together we fashioned a "HOME SWEET HOME" theme. She brought in a plant stand and candles. I brought in curtains, a lamp and other touches to make the booth look inviting. We worked hard, so dang it, we weren't going to let 14 inches of snow stop us! (As it turned out, Karen, sitting back on over 20 acres, couldn't get out of her driveway!)

So I decided to snap a few photos of the last of the vendors still manning their booths and thought I'd share them with you:

Ginger Chapman with Attitude Promotions, LLC spotlights her advertising promotional products.

Striking a pose with Gary Hardy of Farmers Bank of Milton.

Tina Vastine and Steve Jones chat with me about all the services Kentucky Farm Bureau have the offer.

Barry Laws of Open Range Sports talks about how his facility is much more than an indoor rifle range; you can even "HAVE A BLAST" playing paint ball!

Oldham County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Deana Epperly-Karem stopped by each of our booths this morning to thank us for braving the snow !

Disappointed, yes. All of us were. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Deana and her office manager, Tori, and everyone on the Showcase Planning Committee who had logged untold hours into this much-anticipated yearly event. I told Deana, "We'll all look back on this and laugh ... some day. Just not today."

Jacki and Jerry Shafer of The Shafer Team are "mega agents" with Keller Williams Louisville East. They specialize in residential sales in their own "back yard" of Oldham County, and nearby eastern Jefferson County as well as Henry, Shelby and Trimble Counties in Kentucky.