Blogging the Flood

A week later and now maybe it is time to talk about the flood. So many folks lost so much. Just a drive around town and the terraces display the devastation of the backed up storm drains, overflowing pipes and 10 inches of rain.

I spent Friday morning with worried and some times scared buyers. "Did my new house get water ... how much water?" What should come next? Do I proceed, do I cancel closing?

As I drove around all areas of town one thing struck me, no "side" of town was spared. This was a shared experience. People were trapped by the flooded streets in every neighborhood. Basements were overrun on Villa Park, 4th Ave and Washington. Foundations collapsed on 8th ave and Doemel.

We were lucky in my house, not a drop of water. Why? I have no idea. Three doors down they were talking feet of water in their basement and next door a few inches.

Real Estate ads on Sunday were already advertising homes that didn't flood. Is this our new marketing campaign, tomorrow's selling advantage?

Maybe a little more time should pass before we use this community tragedy as a new ad tag line.

When to buy

Is there one special moment when you know it is time to commit? Not just when the pros out way the cons, but the moment when you realize the risk of homeownership is worth it?

Doubts can erode all the preparation and work you have put into finding the house. A buyer can talk themselves out of a decision pretty easily. Two words usually work: what if? I can guarantee you, buying a house will cost you money. It will cost you money the day you close, two weeks after you close, two months and two years. Some, if not most, will be because you decide to do something, but some will be a repair. It comes with homeownership, responsibility.

Are you ready?

I can't answer that question for you. Why did you start looking for a home? Why did you go on line and click through to learn more about a house? Why did you set your sights on that particular one? Why did you start arranging your furniture in your head when you saw it? Why did you fantasize about that sparkling new appliance on sale that will fit just perfectly?

Remember that feeling and let go of the what if.

You did your due diligence. Respect your decision and move in.

Peabodys Closing

How sad. I have been at Peabody's almost every Friday night since it opened. Our group tested out many places before landing at Peabody's and now we have no idea where we will end up.

The great thing about Peabody's was the eclectic crowd. There was a great group of regulars and always some new folks would wander in for the music or just the fabulous beer.

The new owners are promising a different place with a new clientel. I guess they are right. We are looking for a new place. Any suggestions.

New Website

After much nashing of teeth and tearing of garments, the improved OshkoshNeighborhoods.com is up. With that done maybe I will have more time for blogging. Wouldn't that be novel.

A friend of mine emailed me today and suggested a new project to promote Oshkosh to other parts of the state, particularly those whose costs are much higher. The idea is to sell Oshkosh as a great, but less expensive place to live and potentially raise a family. Is it doable? Pennsylvania and Maryland are doing bang up jobs with their respected more expensive neighbors. Why couldn't we? Think about it.

So two items today:
1) new website - what do you think?
2) Live in Oshkosh - make sense?

Tell me.

Why Few Pictures?

Can anyone explain to me why some real estate listings still have only one picture of the house? Are home buyers supposed to be clairvoyant or perhaps use their visual acuity and just imagine what it looks like inside?

To save my clients time we often will spend hours sharing web listings and commenting on what we like and don't. The more pictures, the increased likely hood my client will want to tour the home. I seriously recommend a minimum of 10 and please do not use the "panoramic" virtual tours. Not every house in the Oshkosh area has round walls, but judging from the virtual tours some agents are usin,g the perception is circular.

Pictures do not tell the whole story of a house and yes pictures can shade the truth a little bit. However, no pictures tell a lot more truth than the agent might mean to convey. So please, on behalf of my clients and every home buyer out there ... don't be shy, take a picture or twenty.

Our Council

Last night after my last showing I rushed over to the Oshkosh Common Council meeting hoping to arrive before the council took a position on the water tower. This more than 100 year old historic building was scheduled to be demolished at Tuesday's vote despite the fact that no notice was given to the community. As is/has/and always will be, the staff and council refuse to notify the actual people who live in neighborhoods about anything.

Even though I missed the vote I did learn the council tabled the issue until after (yea right) a "hearing" on the issue.

The council at last nights meeting was also having a workshop on the Near East Project. This project has had great benefits while being a might bit dictatorial and sometimes random in its enforcement mechanism on homeowners. More money would solve many of the problems, but as we know, solving neighborhood issues anywhere but the west are not a priority.

The funny moment at the meeting was when Council member Palmeri was expressing his usual harrumphing this time about the lack of quality in our schools, East-side of course, he had to turn to the other council members to inquire, "which elementary school serves the near east?" The other clueless council members could not help with his perfect display of rhetoric over reality.

Blogging "Public Enemies" from Peabody's

Okay, this is so cool.

Sitting with friends, hanging out at Peabody's, and the talk of the filming stories are rampant. A friend of mine owns Art Haus and he had a treat, coupled with a serious disappointment. At one point this afternoon, a production assistant stopped by to alert him, that being Jim Evans, that is shop might be in a long shot, and to please, refrain from looking out the window. So, as to right of any Oshkoshian, he and Gail immediately took their spots in the window to claim best view.

Pull away and there goes the camera, on crane, coming right along. "They are shooting my shop," said the seriously surprised Evans. His and Art Haus's moment in movie history. Gail, the Mrs. and of course Art prof extraordinaire, watched the moment and reveled that business may be non existent, but we are now "in the movies."

Another story made the rounds. Yesterday, standing on Main Street in front of the shop, there was directly Michael Mann and Johnny Depp having a conversation about, put in your imaginative conversation, right in front of the shop. Evans grabs his vintage, and quite cool camera, and attempted to celluloid the moment, damn, the mirror locked up.


So goes life in Oshkosh, in my hometown, today. We are the cinematographers dream.

Not all is good. Some business owners are annoyed about conflicting messages. Are they open or not? Yes, yes they are. Don't let the movie guys tell you otherwise.

Technology conspiracy

Not to sound like Andy Rooney, but don't you just hate it when technology or some such related item conspires against your best efforts?

It seems I won't be able to update by website until tomorrow. So those of you dying with anticipation to read the rest of the March market report will have to be patient until the report can be uplinked to the website.

Sigh.

March Oshkosh Real Estate Reports

The real estate reports are out for March in Oshkosh. As was expected Oshkosh's market keeps plodding a long. It is down a tiny bit, but when compared to many markets we are downright robust.

Compared with March of last year 81 residences were sold this march, while 97 sold a year ago, but the average sale price was UP almost $4000. The days on market (DOM) expanded by 11 extra days (160 to 171) but we are still getting almost 96% of our listing price on average. Not too darn bad for a "really down market."

And remember all the talk about how many houses are on the market? Just drive around town and it seems that every block has multiple houses for sale. Is this reality or just over over tuned imagination? Check the numbers. At the end of last March Oshkosh had 2000 homes on the market (1198). As of March 31, 2008 our inventory of residences is down more than 130 homes (1060).

As an agent showing a lot of homes this week I can assure you the number of homes available is down. We need more folks to gain confidence in our local market and take the plunge. Now is not only a great time to buy but it is a great time to sell.

I have more of the report and my analysis on the OshkoshNeighborhoods.com website. Venture over and have a look.

Women Home Buyers

Single women are the fastest growing segment of home buyers today. That is the good news. The bad news is it is harder for them to buy a home than married women, married men or single men. Why?

Forty percent (40%) of single women make below $30,000 a year. Less than married people or single men. Single women make only .56 cents for every $1 dollar made by married men.

Ten million single-parent households are headed by single women out of the 12.2 million total.

Yet for all of the struggles single women are facing in buying a home, they are still managing to do it. As Realtors we should be prepared to help them achieve this goal by being knowledgeable about their struggles and options, their financing and available programs, their fears and dreams.

I was raised by a single parent and still remember the day we moved into the house my mother bought. I was 15 years old and even then I knew what it meant to my mom to own her own home, brought about by her own achievements. On moving day the truck pulled into our new driveway and the driver commented that he assumed we would be downsizing our home because my mom was single and obviously couldn't afford to move up. He stated he was really surprised to see we were actually moving to a bigger house in a better neighborhood.

My mom glowed with pride and chuckled at the drivers obviously wrong stereotype of women.

I love to work with first time buyers, but to be honest, my deep satisfaction is helping a single mom buy that very first home.

Share the joy.