I posted the PDF version of this a vew day's ago.  It was kind of hard to read, so I'm reposting the clean Word version...  Unless you've been living under a rock, you know the housing market is in one of the worst downturns in history, but some say it's not as bad as we've been made to believe. According to those in the local home mortgage business, it's a unique situation; one we've never seen before, but one we are seeing a turn around in. "It's not as bad as the media portray, and most importantly, it's quite the opposite in Northeast Oklahoma and Owasso," one local leading mortgage consultant says. While those well versed on the subject can understand cutting the national media some slack since the housing challenge is a national problem, they feel there is no excuse for the local ... 10/21/2008

I was driving through a neighborhood the other day where I have some new construction listed.  I saw this building site and thought you might like to know that our country isn't doing as badly as the news media say's it is.  Well, at least in Oklahoma, we're doing okay. These guys are pooring a slab in this brand new neighborhood.  This new development has acted like there is no housing crisis in America.  Builders are building houses and people are buying houses and moving in - although at a slower rate than normal - but they are buying houses. I had a contract on a new construction house in this neighborhood that fell because the FHA mortgage rules changed on Sept 30.  The potential buyer owned a house in another state that he had rented out.  The new rules, as I understand them, say... 10/21/2008

The US Mail system hires people to drive their own vehicles to deliver the mail.  In the pic below, you can see how most of the mail gets delivered here in Owasso. I was sitting in traffic the other day when I saw the mail "pickup" in front of me.  I've seen this several times, but those rasically mail drivers always seem to get away before I can snap the pic with my Blackberry...or it could be that I'm always on the phone! Anyway, you can see in the picture that the lady is driving the truck from the passenger's side.  Yes, she holds the steering wheel with her left hand and pushes the pedals with her left foot.  To be fair, there are some of the mail delivery vehicles that have had the pedals installed on the right hand passenger side, but the owner of the vehicle has to pay to have t... 10/20/2008

The following article appears in the new October/November 2008 Owasso Magazine that we highlighted recently in our Localism post.  I contacted the publisher and asked for permission to share the article with you on line.  She graciously agreed and sent me the file.  In the article, David Horton, a local homebuilder, speaks to our housing market stats.  To visit his website, go to wwww.HortonHomesok.com.  The house in the picture is new construction in Owasso.  The information in the green box on page two was researched and compiled by my team member, Amy Main.  She worked for hours and hours to put the information together.  Good job Amy! Be sure to visit Owasso magazine's new website at www.owassomagazine.net.  And now, on to the stats!   Copyright Owasso Magazine 2008.  Used with perm... 10/15/2008

My wife and I went shopping for a flat screen TV.  We've had a pretty good year and it's time to reward ourselves.  So we're out looking and shopping at various stores.  We'd go through the whole spiel with the salesperson, which is fun for me, being a real estate person.  I like to see how other sales folks do in comparison to real estate folks, but that's another story... So we narrow down our choice and ask if they have any and guess what?  At more than one store they're all sold out.  And often they're all sold out not only of that model but of others also.  So I ask how sales are going?  The answer...GREAT!  "Can't keep these things in stock!" Hmmmm.  That's interesting. In my world, nobody has any money for down payments or closing costs to buy a house, so they go after the seller... 10/10/2008

I don't know about you out there in blogland. I find a lot of good information reading peoples blogs that are in the Real Estate business. They offer many insights and ideas. I was reading over some of the blogs entered for today. I really find it interesting to read about the economy, staging houses, marketing tips, how to become wiser and more effective through the words of others. So to all you bloggers out there, keep on blogging. It pays off even if people aren't responding. They are reading and learning. Here are some ideas I have come up with to get a response from your blogs. 1. Ask questions that need a response. 2. Give advice or suggestions that people will want to follow up with you. 3. Seek other opinions and suggestions on topics that relate to Real Estate professionals. 4... 09/24/2008

I heard Clark Howard say that Oklahoma is one of only three states that has a forward moving economy right now.  Our housing stats through June show that we got off to a bit of a slow start this year.  The current stats (through August) are going to show that our activity really picked up and took off in July.  While it is true that there are not as many buyers in the market as there were prior to the housing and mortgage crisis, we are still moving properties at or close to the list price and appraised value. In short, it is a good time to be buying and or selling here in our area.  However, you've got to be dialed in on your price in comparison to the neighborhood.  You will not typically get an offer if you're even just $5000 higher than the average in your area.  That is, unless you... 09/20/2008

It's fall garage sale time folks! This Saturday, one of Owasso's awesome neighborhoods will roll out the red (and blue and green and other colored) carpet for you as they offer up their good for sale to the public. Here in Owasso, you can find awesome bargains when you hit the sales!  How about a Snap-on socket for 25 cents?  You can grab CD's for $2 or less!  If you're lucky, you can find that new chair you've been looking for or those wheels for your car or even computer stuff! Sawgrass park is located on Garnett between 96th and 106th. 09/17/2008

Answers on this vary from state to state, but if you are in Oklahoma the answer is yes.  There is usually a base rate, then discounts applied on a sliding scale for the increased financial responsibility.  I have been asked what the corrolation is. While I am not the spokesperson for the process, it seems to be based on the thought that the more risk you are willing to take with your money, the more risk you are willing take with your other property.  Here is the upside to this.. you have an opportunity to really reduce your rates.  A few years back my wife would apply for any credit card offers just to save on the counter purchase.  What she didn't realize was how it was impacting our credit... which impacts everything from home loans to home insurance rates.  Well, after a bad experie... 09/12/2008

I often get asked the difference between replacement cost for insurance and the market value for a home being resold.  Since I know this is a question/concern out there I thought that I would write about it.  Replacement cost is the cost it is estimated to take to put that house back with like quality features in today's market.  Usually this will be a higher value than resale.  I will list a couple of reasons for this.  Scenario 1) You are selling a home that is a great deal for someone, but needs a little updating.  The updating requirements are going to push the market value of the home down.  But from an insurance perspective if you have to rebuild that home, the same quality sinks, carpet, paint, roof, etc... have to go back into the building process.  These items will be bought at... 09/10/2008

I have had many people ask me how I ever went from a getting a degree in physics to becoming an insurance agent.  The answer is simple.  I made my decisions the same way for the past 11 years and they are all focused on one thing.... family.  Right out of college and newly married my wife and I headed for a high tech job in Richardson, Tx in the telecom industry.  We loved the area, but later began to realize that it was not where we wanted to raise children.  Mergers upon mergers followed opening the doors to move back to Oklahoma and beyond if we desired, but we decided to call Owasso home.  As time ticked on we weathered layoffs, callbacks, company changes, job description changes... the works.  But one day I started to realize what my kids saw, and I did not like it very much.  They... 09/03/2008

Well, Mr. Gustav finally made his way to Oklahoma.  One nice thing about living inland is that when hurricanes arrive, they've usually lost their punch. Grey skies are gonna clear up...but not today!                       Blow wind blow! (The tree looks funny because it was damaged in last year's major ice storm)                   Yesterday the number was between 80 and 100!                       In the world of Oklahoma real estate you learn quickly to buy really good shoes!  Days like this can turn a good pair of expensive shoes into old leather quickly.  For those of us who are "shoe consumers" this is a good thing.  For newbies to real estate, it can be one of those surprises you weren't expecting!   Today I have to go to a client's house to look at some settling issues they are hav... 09/03/2008

In the real estate business I am sure that you will get some of these calls.  They go like this "We had a storm last night and I had a spot show up on my ceiling.  Should I get an adjuster out from my insurance company?"  The thing I want my customers to know going into the process is that their insurance is fully behind them and to understand the process so that they will be completely satisfied with the result.  If an adjuster comes out prematurely they may agree that there is a spot, they may be able to give them an idea of what it would cost to fix the spot, but the paths may part there because the adjuster is looking for signs that physical damage that caused the spot.  If the spot was caused because of a general maintenance issue the customer is now frustrated and may believe the ... 08/29/2008

You know, for every popular swing in opinion there is a marketing bonanza that just brings in floods of people dying to use it to pry dollars out of your hands.  But not all actually fall into lock step with the actual initial intent of the message. Before you start getting ideas to the contrary, I probably grew up in a greener home than most of the voices of the green movement today, but we didn't call it being green, we called it waste not, want not.  I remember the long profitless and thankless days and evenings spent with my father tearing down an old house to salvage the lumber.  This wasn't a business for him, but the home was going to be demolished and was full of hardwood building materials.  So, we settled with the owner to tear it down for the lumber in it.  It was hard work, ... 08/28/2008

On a previous post questions came up regarding Disability Insurance.  I will try to outline as simply as possible these products and also  provide some reference material.  There are two basic types of disability insurance.  These are Short Term Disability and Long Term Disability.  These are meant to replace some percentage of your income if you are unable to work.  Each one of the policies will have a period of time that you must be disabled before you are able to draw benefits.  This is called the elimination period.  They also will have a maximum amount of time that they will pay out.  A Short Term Disability policy will have a shorter elimination period and a shorter payout period.  Inversely Long Term Disability will have a longer elimination period and a longer payout. Of course ... 08/27/2008

This is Tamara.  She's the manager of the Owasso Delta Cafe.  My wife and I met her tonight while eating dinner at the restaurant.  Let me introduce you to a wonderful lady who believes in going the extra mile for the customer. Tamara told me that she's been working for Delta Cafe, Inc for sixteen years.  Yes, that's 16 years.  You don't stay in the food service industry that long unless you love what you do and you're good at it.  And Tamara is very good at what she does. I asked her why she decided to work at Delta Cafe all those years ago.  She said it was because the company offered her flexible hours that allowed her to be with her children.  Thanks to Delta Cafe, she didn't have to put her kids into daycare, which was something she didn't want to do. Tamara's favorite part of wor... 08/25/2008

Here in our town when you want a sweet treat, one of the places you head to is Braum's.  It's one of those places where you run into friends while enjoying your shake, freeze or treat.    At nighttime in the summer, the neon lights are a beautiful sight!                     These ladies are placing their orders while enjoying the view of the various flavors of ice cream!                   Not only can you get your ice cream fix, but you can pick up your produce too.  Notice that, towards the end of the day, the shelves have been somewhat picked over...                 The bannana shelf is looking empty too!                     You can get your veggies too!  This shelf has apples, oranges, salads, carrots and dressings.                   Got milk?                      Think breakfast! Yo... 08/25/2008

When I started college I had in mind that I would get college over with and get down to the real stuff, making a living.  Education time would be over and I could get serious about making a living (I.E. cash flow... something we didn't have in college).  As I progressed through the process to gain my Physics degree I started to see that with the gains in science I would be having to refresh my education continually. Upon graduation I entered into the corporate world, into a job not directly related to my degree, so the lectures and lab time stopped.  But you have already guessed, in order to get promotions and to keep up I was continually learning something new, or learning more thoroughly the process that I already was assigned.  Later as I had employees of my own, I tried to improve t... 08/22/2008

In the past 2 weeks I have had people call in to advise me that they were moving.  Each time neither had any idea but the change caused a significant drop in their auto rates.  Todays rates (especially auto) are determined by many factors, unlike the old days when you just avoided a red car that was considered high performance.  As in any good business insurance companies continually are reviewing the business to properly assign risk.  What county you live in, what state you live in, the safety rating on your car, and how far you drive to work are just a few of the factors that figure in. So, long story short, pick an agent that you like.  To maintain you and keep you at the best rates that they can offer you will need to talk to them.  Your agent should never try a one size fits all ap... 08/13/2008

Owasso is a growing community.  We're the kind of town where we were all excited when Wal-Mart decided to build a supercenter here.  That was several years ago and since then, we've added a Home Depot and a Lowes and lots of new restaurants.  One of the newest features to come to our town is the brand new "Owasso" Magazine.  This publication is the vision of its founder, creator and editor Anna Holton-Dean.  The first edition just hit the streets and the response around town is...wow!  Here's a pic of the first cover. I sat down with Anna today to get to know her a little bit better and to find out about the magazine.  Here's a couple of facts about her that I thought were interesting... She was born in Lake Charles, LA (anybody remember which hurricane hit there?) She and her husband m... 08/12/2008