Now that you're all whistling like the Snow White Dwarves :)

We had a phenomenal year last year and because of that, among many other reasons, we've made a huge and exciting change to our business philosophy that we want to share with all of our friends!

As some of you may know already, our son was diagnosed with Autism and we have been struggling with finding help and treatment for him. We recently stumbled upon a doctor using a biomedical treatment that has helped him out tremendously! You probably know someone who has been affected with some sort of illness or disease for which there's not a lot of research or cures. If you haven't been affected personally, I'm sure we can all agree that a child shouldn't have to "stumble" upon a working treatment!

And so we've made treatment research a BIG part of our business! Starting this year, we have made a commitment as a family, business, and citizens, to donate $200 of EVERY house we sell to a treatment research charity. Half will go to Autism research and half will go to whomever our clients wish to support! So if its cancer research, diabetes, arthritis, or whatever YOU care about, we do too! Our goal is to hit $7000 in donations this year!

I know these are tough times, but we can still help out others! I challenge you and your business to do what you can out there! Together, we can all make a difference, whether its an autistic child struggling against a lack of knowledge, or a cancer ridden grandmother longing to walk with her grandkids again. Join us in making a commitment to helping others!

Life is good...

Sheree and Kelly

Current Market Activity for Wichita, KS!

Let's take a quick look at what's happening right now in the Wichita, KS area!

Residential Homes on the Market:

Actives 3836

Pending 878

Closed last 30 days 443

Closed 2009 YTD 689

so what's our scoop?

Last year's YTD at this time was 1022 - so we are slower by a few hundred so far.

Of those actives, 140 are Foreclosures - but only 74 are Foreclosures in Sedgwick County.

What's for Sale Where?

West - 503

SouthWest - 204

Mid/North West - 251

NorthEast - 653

SouthEast - 554

Goddard 37

Derby 176

Haysville 63

Maize 24

Valley Center 42

Park City 67

For a detail on what's for sale in the area that you're eyeballing, visit my website and click the map where you want to be!

See something you like or want to know how your home's area is doing - drop me a line today!

Sheree Wilkerson

316.461.0575

sheree@rwwichita.com

www.kansashomebuzz.com

How's my market doing?

Take a quick peek by using Home Smart's Market Reports! They rate markets on an A-F scale - remember school?? A is good, F is baaaaaaaad.

You can plug in your zip code and get a fairly quick idea how stable your market has been lately. For example, here's a couple in the Wichita market area.

From this one you can tell that 67212 is doing good and is a low risk market!

Zip 67203 here in Wichita has gotten a little bit worse since last year and is now a C rated risk.

How's your zip code doing?

Check it out, or let me help you find your next home or investment in our marketplace! We'll discuss what you are looking for as well as its potential growth in value and potential resale!

Sheree Wilkerson

Search for your next home at:

www.KansasHomeBuzz.com

316.461.0575

sheree@rwwichita.com

Did You know:

That you're not supposed to just throw old electronics in the trash! They apparently can contain products such as mercury, lead, flame retardants, and more, which can leak out, causing problems for many plants, animals, and of course - us human types! It may even be contributing to some cancers!

What the heck is electronic waste?

Items with electronic pieces, of course. This would be things such as cell phones, computers, video game consoles, TV's, pagers, etc. This does NOT include big items such as fridges and stoves, though a select few might have parts that are electronic.

So what are you supposed to do with this Electronic Waste?

Duh! Recycle it!

Let me expand that a bit - First, you should always try to reuse items. Is there another purpose you can put it to? Can you sell it to someone else who needs it? Can you donate it? Can you even just give it away (check your local freecycle!)?

Then you should consider recycling! There are many places that take various types of this waste for you. Here's a list of who will take what: HERE It's so much easier though to find one place and ditch it all! So pay attention, because here is how you do just that:

See if you can repurpose your electronics before then, but if not, clean out the clutter and head down to the Coliseum to ditch it safely, and free!


Until Next Time!

~Sheree~

Foreclosures Foreclosures!

They're all over the news and they are all the latest rage for those out home-shopping. Realtors, newscasters, and others toss out those terms REO, HUD, and more like they're just another piece of the alphabet. But what do they really mean??

There's basically 3 types of foreclosures - REO, HUD, and VA. Then you have Short Sales - which is a pre-foreclosure type.

1. HUD - Housing and Urban Development owned - these homes were originally bought by someone with FHA financing, who then defaulted on the loan. They are basically government owned at this point. HUD homes generally come on the market with an initial bid period ending on a Sunday. Offers are put in by real estate brokers online and the winners notified so that paperwork can be completed. HUD's offer a couple of nice advantages in that they provide an up-front inspection that should identify some issues (of course, your own more thorough inspection is highly recommended) and they note whether a home is FHA insurable or an escrow amount for FHA insurability.
2. VA - Veteran's Administration owned - these homes were originally bought with a VA loan (military) and were then defaulted on. Generally you see fewer of these, at least in our area.
3. REO - Real Estate Owned by the bank - these homes were bought the usual way through any number of methods, banks, lenders, trusts, etc. The buyers of these homes defaulted on their loan and the lending bank took the home back and is now trying to sell it. REO's can have a myriad of different owners, procedures, requirements, or more, based on the wants/needs of the owner bank.

Those are the three types of foreclosures for sale. This takes a various timeframe depending on the lender who repossessed the bank, area it's in, etc. Sometimes these homes sit empty for months at a time while all the paperwork is filed and gets to the right place before it finally goes on the market.

And then there's the popular catch-phrase of today's real estate world - short sale!

• A Short Sale is not yet foreclosed. These are sales being made in which the market value of the home is now less than what is owed on the home, leaving the owner in a negative equity situation. The mortgage company for the owner has to approve a loss on the home, or a short of what is owed them. Most times it is also a case where the seller has stopped paying and is iminent danger of foreclosure, but not all cases are this way. Compared to bank-owned, they are generally in better shape and still lived in (at least here they are!). Many can just be moved right into with only a little work. The worst part of a short sale is that there's no guarantee the bank will allow the loss to happen and they generally take a long time to decide, sometimes as long as 6-8 months. Some are faster than others.

There you go! A brief rundown on what all the lovely foreclosed acronyms mean. I'd be happy to take you out looking - bring your flashlight!