Yes... GREEN is one of Staley High Schools colors along with black and silver.  But that's not what I was talking about when I said Staley High School was going GREEN... I meant Staley High School is the only school in the four-state region to adopt the green concept, and was one of the first in the country to register the school as a LEED-registered project. The high school is the fourth high school in the North Kansas City School District located in the northern portion of the district. All the classrooms have an occupancy sensor system.  Which means the lights come on when someone enters and go off when everyone is gone.  (What my mother wouldn't have given to have something like that when I was a kid.) A good percentage of the from of the school is glass.  But not any kind of glass,... 07/20/2008

Have I ever told you my daughter loves music?  She has a record collection and most of the contents were purchased at "The Music Exchange" here in Kansas City, Missouri. Ron Rooks owned The Music Exchange and it was a fixture of Kansas City for decades.  There you would find my daughter in the store in Westport where she would finger through the albums and then after four or more hours would come home with the treasures she'd purchased. Two years ago Ron passed away as he was setting up his shop after moving to the West Bottoms of Kansas City.  He was found in his new shop listening to records. My daughter says there wasn't anything Ron Rooks didn't know about music.  Who sang it, who wrote it and when....... and besides that WHERE it was located in his 250,000 piece collection of album... 07/12/2008

OH how I love Kansas City North.... and the many things it has to offer!  You see I grew up in Kansas City North... before 435.... before there was a Worlds of Fun or Oceans of Fun.... not quite back in the day of Jesse James but before there were what they called "four leaf clover hiways" at 435 and 69 Highway. Back in the day when I would ride my horse from Claycomo to Randolph Rd without major highwways present. I'd leave at dawn and return at dusk... and would have enjoyed an entire day of visiting classmates and friends along the way. Those were the days! Long since past, Kansas City North still has lots to offer homeowers!  Your choice of ranches, split entrys or atriums........ it's long been ear marked as THE place to live in Kansas City!   07/09/2008

I've just learned of www.crimereports.com  .... a great website that no matter where you are in the U.S. you can put in an address or a zip code and see what kind of crime is happening in your neighborhood. What a useful tool this could be when clients ask, "How's the Crime in this neighborhood?" Just point them to the website! It appeared that there was a place to also search for sex offenders. They give you the option of signing up for e-mail notifications of crimes in a certain area.  Of course I had to sign up and see how it worked! 07/02/2008

I was sitting on my deck going over a list of things i've jotted down for May blog topics... boy am I behind, it's JUNE!  Time to get crackin'! The weather here has blistering hot and humid which makes for great storm weather!  I'm sure you've heard about the devastating tornados that have his our area lately.  The tricky tornado wasn't particular with it's distruction: businesses, restuarants, schools and homes.  The damage was eye opening and sad. It made me think to blog about a couple of ways that we can make sure, as homeowners, we are prepared for disaster. Do you re-visit your homeowners insurance policy each year to make sure that you have ample coverage in case of fire or tornado? A quick conversation with your insurance agent could prevent you from being caught up in a nasty m... 06/09/2008

  If only money grew on trees...  Did your property tax assessment go up last year?  Are you paying higher property taxes? We have found that some homes are assessed at a higher value than what that home might sell for-some homeowners have taxes much higher than their neighbors.  This not only costs you money in over-paid taxes, but may make your house harder to sell!  We'd like to help you save money on your taxes by telling you how to contest the assessed value!  If you would like complimentary information about the market value of homes in your neighborhood and the average assessed value of homes similar to yours, give us a call!  We will guide you through the process.  Deadlines are: Platte County: -April 1st-April 30, 2008  Clay County: -April 1st-April 30, 2008 in Missouri Tell yo... 04/01/2008

I've been showing a lot of first time buyers lately that have been watching a lot of television shows that show home remodeling, home decorating, and home buying.Don't get me wrong, most of those shows are full of useful information, remodeling and decorating ideas and they can even give you tips on things to look for when shopping for a home that could be problematic... so they can be useful.But please keep in mind that these are nationwide shows, some are even shot in Canada, and not everything they say apply to every area of the country.Remodeling projects that they say can be completed in a weekend would be a tough job for seasoned hands, let along two women single handedly.One show suggests that when you find a home you want to make an offer on "low-ball them."  In other words, if ... 03/04/2008

I really feel like I've been missing a lot by not being around here... and I miss all of you!But honestly when I said that Real Estate was picking up in Kansas City North, I wasn't kidding.I've been showing houses like crazy!  Every been in a house that was vacant and it was colder in the house than it was outside, or at least "felt" that way.  My little mittens have been getting a work out.Hopefully we are in for some warmer weather in the near future! I'll be back shortly, but in the meantime if you need help with your Kansas City Real Estate needs, just give me a ring! 02/27/2008

In this day and the market we are dealing with it's even more important that we as Professional Realtors respond in a manner that's an eye opener to our clients.We need to display our level of dedication to our clients... and this past Saturday was no different.Momma always said, "Work Before Play" and I've translated that as an adult to "Business Before Pleasure."I have 4 girlfriends that I went to high school with that I'm still extremely close to.Each year for the last 10 years we've been having and annual "Big Chill" get together.The "Big Chill" event this past weekend was wrapped into a Shrimp Boil (MMMmmm) with even more people that we knew in attendance.Just as I sat down with some lucious beautifully large shrimp, sausage, boiled potatoes and corn (is your mouth watering yet?) m... 09/25/2007

Yesterday and today several men spent hours cutting all the weeds and saplings cleaning up the Water Retention System at Fountain Hills Subdivision in Kansas City, Missouri. It looks fantastic!Did you know it's illegal to dump grass clippings and sod, oil or dumping of anything into this system? Sure is, and it carries a $500.00 fine if you are caught or reported as having dumped in there.The residents along the Water Retention System would like the system to keep working in the manner that it was developed and don't particularly want to look at your yard waste that some having been dumping.A better solution would be to put your yard clippings in those brown paper bags that you can purchase at Lowe's and put it out for the City of Kansas City to pick up when they have their lawn waste p... 09/18/2007

Imagine this.....  you get a call from an out of town client that would like to see some homes! Great huh?When you look them up on MLS, there is only ONE picture.  Now how is this out of town client suppose to see if they even want to drive a distance to see this home?Fran White, REALTOR to the rescue:  Idea!  I'll call the listing agent and see if she has any other place where there are pictures of this home or similar to this home.RING.... RING.... "Yes, I have a client that is interested in some homes in the subdivision that you work out of and was wondering if you have anymore pictures of these homes."Listing Agent Response: "If you want more pictures you'll have to go take them yourself because I'm going out of town."Huh?Is this the way you market property to prospective clients?  ... 09/01/2007

It's ~HOT~HOT~HOT~ in Kansas City and all the pools are packed, but.... not THIS packed!Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you watch it and have motion sickness.... barf bags are under your seats. I've written previously on places to cool off in Kansas City at Water Parks and this ending to August is suppose to be a ~HOT~ one.Yesterday on the Travel Channel were the TOP TEN water parks and they rated the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Texas as #1After you've cooled off and need some help with your Kansas City Real Estate needs, give me a call!Video Courtesy of www.kilian-nakamura.com 08/18/2007

Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile have been found in Smithville, Excelsior Springs and Kearney according to the Clay County Health Department.There has been an increase this year in the mosquitoes that have tested positive for the West Nile Virus, last year there were none in Kearney.Actually this isn't anything new, Clay County has found the virus in Mosquitoes since 2002.Symptoms of the West Nile Virus are flu-like feelings, body aches, fatigue, sensitivity to light.So what does this all mean?  If you are going to be out and about in the outdoors be sure to use some type of bug spray on yourself and your children.A little prevention will help this buggy situation! 08/10/2007

 This is mortgage news from my friend the Vice President of Residential Lending at First Community Bank here in Kansas CityMortgage Division  From:  CAROL POPPE          913-652-7302                                  WEEKLY NEWS REPORT:    8/6/2007  Well as we say in this business, "the wheels are falling off the bus."  Last week was The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.  The good news last week came in the form of friendly inflation and employment news which helped rates on CONFORMING home loans improve over the course of the week.  I just locked a $390,000 loan (80% LTV) in at 6.375%.  Conforming home loans are those under $417,000 and subject to very standard credit, income and asset qualifying, nothing exotic, outside the box, or fancy. A little bad news came by way of the Bureau of Econom... 08/06/2007

It's going to be another hot day here in Kansas City!Generally August is really how as you probably know if you've lived in Kansas City for any amount of time.There are a number of ways to stay cool!There is Oceans of Fun the largest tropically themed water park in the Midwest, offers 60 acres of splashing excitement and fun for every member of the family and all the sunburn you can handle!!There's Tiffany Springs Aquatic Park  with loads of fun for the whole family with reasonable prices There's also Gladstone Aquatic Center that's recently had a major face-lift.Or you can visit a neighborhood pool and if none of these are an option..... try the old fashion cooling system of letting the kids play in the sprinkler while watering the yard.  This way you kill two birds with one stone.BUT ... 08/05/2007

I'm back to report about the Parkville's Farmer's MarketWe went yesterday morning and it was a nice experience.Small compared to the City Market, but all of the same basic selections:Locally grown tomatoes; honey from this area; onions; green beans; flowers; peppers; watermelon; cantaloupe; and bread.One thing I've not seen at the City Market were vendors selling lamb sausage, beef and pork.Since I wasn't interested in the sausage the lady told me she'd have lamb chops next Saturday! She warned me I'd better get there early!Another vendor was selling beef and pork by the pound or side, stressing no antibiotics.After the market we stopped y the Corner Cafe ( I was surprised to find they even have a website) in Riverside for some old-fashioned artery clogging breakfast!I ordered a medium ... 08/05/2007

 I have this wonderful new lawn guy, Ben with Ryan Lawn and Tree.I used Ryan at our previous home and I've always been extremely satisfied with the quality of their lawn care.  If you have a question you can call and ask or if something is sprouting up and you want it taken care of they can usually be there by the next day!So of course when we moved I called them out within the first week.  With new sod you need to care for it and especially since where our subdivision is use to be farm land.... you never know what's going to crop up.This week I noticed some odd grass popping up and growing taller than my normal grass.  I call and Ben was quick to get to my needs.He came out and sprayed this "farm grass" and assured me that it would be mostly gone by next year, and totally gone when the... 08/02/2007

I love going to the market early on Saturday mornings in the spring and summer!  Traditionally I go to the City Market who kicked off it's 150th Anniversary season this year.  This market  began in 1857 and it's one of the biggest and longest lasting public farmers' markets in the Mid-West.  I love it's charm and atmosphere!But now since I'm back in the Northland I'm going to try the Parkville Farmer's Market.  It's located in English Landing, just south of the railroad tracks in quaint little downtown Parkville.  It's open from 3-6 PM on Wednesdays and opens at 6 AM on Saturdays.That's where I'm headed EARLY Saturday morning..... shall I pick you up some fresh tomatoes?I'll report back on the outcome. 08/02/2007

I've loved these Pendant Lights ever since I saw one.  I think they are just absolutely stunning!My wonderful husband promised me that when we moved into our new home I could have one!  To say the least, I was excited.... well today the Pendant light went up and replaced our can light over the kitchen sink.It was a bit of a challenge because there was already a can light in that spot that had been put in by the builder. Personally, I don't like can lights.  Since it's a new home, I didn't want my wonderful husband going up in the attic and tromping around in the insulation so we wanted to find someway to replace the can light without going in the attic.Being the genius my sweetheart is.... he figured out a way to get it accomplished.First we TURNED OFF THE ELECTRICITY (we've watched and... 08/01/2007

We've all had clients that were 1st Time Buyers, but what about 1st Time Sellers?I had a previous cleint call me the other day because they liked the way I walked them through their First Time Home Buying process.Now a few years later they are making plans to put their first home on the market and just didn't understand how they could buy another home of their dreams when they had their current home.I took a little time to explain the process to them and they really appreciated it and totally understood the process by the time we finished.Obviously being a 1st Time Home Seller can be just as frightening as being a 1st Time Home Buyers.My suggestion is to work with a REALTOR® that you feel comfortable asking any type of question.  One that can explain to you in detail the process of buyi... 07/26/2007