Wanda Thomas, Billings Montana Real Estate

Annual Free Admission Event At The Expo Center At Metra Park.

This weekend, September 11th through the 13th is the Annual Home Improvement Show.

Free Admission, bring the family!

I use this event for some of my best ideas for staging and recommendations for home improvements for my clients. Great place to mingle and learn about new techniques in heating, building, roofing, gardening, hot tubs and you name it, they've got it.

There's usually some food, and a bit of local entertainment!

Not much you can do for free these days and have so much fun.

Check it out!

Yes we have wine and a few snacks, but on occassion we get a couple of things done!

A small group of us country bumpkins get together and talk about what we should make, when we should make it and a little show and tell.

We've been working on our mystery quilts, nearly done I think. But for some of you who wonder if we really work at all, here are a few examples.

This quilt was a quick one we did when Kathy found out one of her daughters was getting married in the very near future. We didn't make it in time for the wedding, but it was completed within a month of the ceremony!

This next quilt was put together by 2 of the longer quilt people of this group. It's designed to be "cot sized" and the plan is to send it to or with a soldier. We may make more of these.

One of our more serious quilters is kinda on the "over the top" side. This was made from some goof off pieces she found in her stash while she was "organizing"

You just can't stop her! She can make 6 quilts to my one! She even teaches us a thing or 2 when we have our "quilt nights". But I can drink more wine than she can!

Is it just me or has our town just decided to clean out their junk?

There was actually competing signs on every street corner on parts of Main Street in Billings Montana this weekend, with colorful directions to a yard or garage sale. As I look around my garage, and my office, I have to wonder who else would want any of this shit stuff? And for all of the garage sale mania going on, why do people even want more stuff?

My husband even brought home a double sink we stripped out of a condo this weekend for "cleaning my vegetables outside". This means we'll have another big metal thing in the shop that he already has a hard time walking around in. Heck, there might even be another kitchen sink in there from the last time he thought this idea up.

Why are we so attached to this stuff? Well, sometimes we spent hard cold cash for a really great thing we might need some day. Or, maybe we inherited some really good memorabilia from some of our older family members (I think they were just trying to clean out their crap so they could buy new stuff).

About 20 years ago I left my husband in charge of the movers and headed to our new home and work in another town. When the movers arrived I had 5 couches instead of the 2 I had when I left. His thought was that we had a bigger house and we could handle a few more couches that some other people in the family didn't want anymore. I do love this man, so what have I done to handle this situation? Built a 30 x 50 foot shop. This way we can at least close the doors and no one is the wiser!

I wish I could have a garage sale, but what would I put in the sale? It's all really good stuff right now, or so I'm told.

What Does That Mean?

You'll defend your home from fire, wind, rain and FORECLOSURE!!!

I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal that revealed a terrible stat: Of the people who are behind in their mortgage payments only 6.6% of them will get things caught up and keep their home! That's down from 45% in the very recent past 6 years from 2000 to 2006!

Seems some of those who are behind have either real hardships, such as job loss, or other personal tragedies; but a great many people are upside down in their home value and they would rather just walk away.

Now I haven't done my own scientific survey, but I wonder how many of those people put any real money into the home when they purchased? I'm guessing not very many, I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

If you put up your own money, or at least a good size chunk of it towards your home purchase, then you are more of the Home Owner than just a Home Borrower!

Value is in the eye of the beholder. If you behold hard earned cash and put it in your home, then you see the value of holding on to your home. If the lender is the only one putting hard earned cash in your home, then you really don't value the home, and are more easily separated from the home. Doesn't this make sense!

I've had 3 transactions this year that ended up with first time home buyers putting 20% down on their home! I do believe that those buyers will do everything possible to hold onto their new homes. It's not easy to walk away from real hard earned cash, is it? Today there are great programs available to help people get into their homes with as little as 3.5% down payment. Over time, especially here in Billings Montana, you have a very good chance to gain equity value. A move up buyer who reinvests that value into their next home has a much higher stake in home ownership than someone who doesn't.

That's my story, and I'm stickin to it!

Good advise to give to children, and maybe we should practice a little of what we preach!

A Realtor receives a phone call, from someone wanting to "look at a property for their daughter. The daughter has horses and needs a little room to roam. She also wants to move now, so if there's a property that's vacant, that would probably work best. I don't need financing for this property, I'll be using cash. Can you show me the property later this afternoon, say 6pm or so?"

Are you kidding me? STOP, use your head! You don't know this person; would you ever let your daughter meet a stranger in a vacant home, out of town, by herself? I think not, and don't you do it either.

The public needs to understand, when they call a Realtor to show any property, a certain amount of verification needs to happen prior to the showing. It is not a good idea to show a property to anyone until you have some idea of who, what and where the heck they come from. Not only do you put yourself in danger as a Realtor, but you don't help your seller clients either if you're just the key that unlocks a door to a stranger! And you FSBO's out there need to get a grip on this concern as well.

Every now and then, a national story comes out about a Realtor who gets killed or injured meeting up with strangers. Stop this madness! Our own local area Billings Montana has had someone trying to set up just this kind of meeting. I hope we catch the turd.

If a buyer is qualified and legit, they won't mind you checking them out before you meet them at someones home for sale. It really isn't hard to get some basic info, google them for crying out loud.

• Meet them at the office first and get a copy of their drivers license
• Find out if they're qualified before you show
• Take a friend, or your husband, or one of your bigger boy children with you when you show if you're uncomfortable (remember we were taught to travel in pairs or groups!)
• Take a picture of them by their car, send it to your co-worker, make sure someone knows where you are
• God gave you some sense, if your tummy doesn't feel right, listen! The guy upstairs is trying to tell you something.

Take care out there!