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Owasso, OK Real Estate News

By Tammy Laakso
(Real Estate Appraisals by Tammy)
The phrase, "it's not what you can do for me, but what I can do for you". 1. You may have clients that have two different measurements for their homes. Which one do you go by? Do you take the bigger number and go with it? Do you take the tax record number? Have they "added on" since the last measurement was taken? As a real estate appraiser, I am able to solve this by going out and remeasuring the property to give an updated professional measurement. What will this do for you? To have an appraiser come out and remeasure the property, you gain trust from your client by looking out for their best interest. If their property is larger than measurement on record, this will add value to their property. 2. You look at comparables in the area and see the market for the area vary with a widespr...
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By Tammy Laakso
(Real Estate Appraisals by Tammy)
In the last year I have learned of so many ways to network. Activerain, linkedin, facebook, face to face, and networking groups. These are to name a few. I have a question. WHEN IS TOO MANY, too many? I was speaking to a colleague about this. The question was how much time do you spend networking and getting your name out? We were discussing the vast amount of ways to network and how much time it takes each day to promote yourself and business. So you out there in the Activerain arena, help out with this question. Give imput on how much and where are to RIGHT places in which to promote your business.
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
Well, it's been a heck of a week! The long and short of it is that last Sunday my beloved 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan (or the rolling billboard as I liked to call it) DIED on the way to an open house.  Yep, I'm cruising down the highway in the middle lane, of course, when the oil pump decided to fail.  When the oil pump fails in your vehicle, it basically has a car heart attack and quickly dies.  Not a good thing...especially when you're on the way to your open house. This is the life we live in real estate by the way...the car will not fail on Monday morning at 9 a.m. when things are typically slow...no, it has to happen on the way to the open house.  My wife calls this "Character Development".  I won't tell you what I call it. After the van crisis, I got to the open house about 30 minute...
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By Tammy Laakso
(Real Estate Appraisals by Tammy)
I have been involved in a networking group for several months of late. One of the things that impresses me about the group is their motto, "Givers Gain". Some may ask, "what does that mean". It works like this, when you refer people to other members of the group, they gain from the referral, and you gain as well. Ok, so how would I gain if the business isn't actually coming to me? When you refer to others, they in turn will look to refer to you to return the favor. The great thing about networking groups is when you are involved and you get to know how others conduct their business, you will begin to trust and want to refer people to them. All of us small business owners are looking for ways to build our businesses. Send business to the people you are networking with, send referrals the...
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By Tammy Laakso
(Real Estate Appraisals by Tammy)
I have searched the internet far and long. I have read many blogs, news articles, and advertisements. I have looked at so many pictures my eyes were getting crossed. So, what answers have this vast search come up with? The answer is really quite simple. 1. Affordability 2. Location 3. The perfect fit for the family or individual 4. Time of travel to work and school 5. Family 6. Place of worship So, if these six items are really quite simple, WHY, does it take some families 2-3 months of looking? They go from internet, to realtor, to loan company, to locations, from house to house to house! (not necessarily in that order) How can we stop this cycle for our clients? Have a network of people that with just a phone call we are able to help calm the rollercoster ride our clients feel they ar...
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By Tammy Laakso
(Real Estate Appraisals by Tammy)
Today the sun is shining and the weather is actually quite warm for Oklahoma at the end of January! What does this have to do with Real Estate you ask? I say a lot. People tend to get out more when the sun is out. They start looking at what the year will bring forth. People begin thinking about the possiblity of buying and selling homes. This is a day when cell phones will ring and open houses will have traffic. It is one of those days when if you are prepared and already have your name out there, you will get calls. Marketing is key. Stay on top of your marketing and have your name passed around. This is the time it will begin to pay off.
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
We all love and embrace the Internet these days right?  Need to know something?  Do a Google search and off you go.  You can shop for stuff too!  The internet is a part of our lives now.  But when you go to sell your house, be careful. A coworker of mine has a listing.  It's a good listing too.  Right pricing.  Nice home.  Should sell pretty quickly.  Recently he got an offer on the house and was able to negotiate it to contract stage.  Very cool for the seller...especially in our current market. But then the phone call from the buyer's agent came.  It went something like this. "Uh, listen...my client went out on the Internet and did a Google search and found out that the seller's husband died of (fill in the blank here).  And my client found the pics that the seller has on the page she...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
So we're on Facebook now, right?  Pretty cool so far.  Through this wonderful social networking tool, I've been able to advance my real estate sphere of influence by connecting with old friends.  And I've even been able to find a client who I needed to track down in another state.  I couldn't get him on his phone and he was moving.  I jumped on Facebook one Saturday morning and there he was on-line.  We were able to use the Chat feature to catch up and solve the problem. One of the coolest features of Facebook is the ability to send pics to your clients.  For example, I went out yesterday with a gentleman who was in town.  He and his wife are moving here from another state and I've been working with them to find the right house to buy.  She was at home.  He was here.  We went looking.  ...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
I was sitting at a closing table yesterday when the question in the title of this post came to my mind.  The reason the question came to me was because of that particular closing. My client came to me through a referral from someone I work with.  She and I and her fiance went looking for houses over a weekend.  We saw the fixer upper that had been a rent house, existing homes (meaning a house where someone or a family lives there), foreclosure stuff and new construction by one of Tulsa's large production builders.  The choice of which home to buy came down to a new construction home verses an existing home.  The ultimate deciding factor came down to what my buyer was able to get.  She went with the new construction. Why? Because they gave her the one year home warranty, let her pick her...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
I saw this article is on CNNMoney.com today.  Parts of it are very scary! For example, the article say's, "Sunbelt cities suffered the most, but most of the country is watching home values fall. In Phoenix prices have plunged 32.7% since October 2007, Las Vegas home values are down 31.7% year-over-year, while San Francisco prices fell 31%. Miami, Los Angeles and San Diego recorded year-over-year declines of 29%, 27.9% and 26.7%, respectively." Ouch, that bites! There was some good news though... "While not yet experiencing as severe a contraction as in the Sunbelt, it seems the Pacific Northwest and Mid-Atlantic South is not immune to the overall demise in the housing market," Blitzer added." And then there was this little tidbit that caught my eye at the end of the article... "Buyers s...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
This is strictly for fun.  It came about as a result of checking on a property I have listed.  When I pulled up to the house, I couldn't believe what had happened to my poor sign.  So it got me to thinking about what our signs go through.  I know, I know, they're just metal and they don't really have feelings...but it's still fun to think about things from a different perspective sometimes.  So Merry Christmas and enjoy! Top 10 Reasons it Stinks to be a Real Estate Sign  10.      You have to stand all alone in a strange yard in all kinds of weather with no one to talk to for days           on end. 9.      You just know the neighborhood kids are gonna shoot their bb guns at you. 8.      Sometimes you have stand there and watch other signs wear their new sale pending rider and listen     ...
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By Davey and Tammi Ellis
(Keller Wiliams Realty)
Tulsa's Still Hanging Tough With all the hype about the economy, it is no wonder people are afraid to buy or sell homes.  Although there is no doubt that everything happening on Wall Street affects the real estate market, it is NOT a make-it or break-it event.  Actually, we're still doing well here in Tulsa.  According to an article entitled "Rise in Home Prices Forecast" in the Tulsa World, "A study predicts Tulsa's housing market will see a 2.8 percent INCREASE over the next year" (Evatt, 2008).  This predicted increase makes Tulsa the "fifth-strongest market in the nation" (2008).  In that same article, Eric Fox said, "Lately, Tulsa's been performing well due to economic factors such as its low unemployment rate, its low interest rates and its favorable consumer price index" (2008). ...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
When our children were little, the words, "Oh be careful little tongue what you say..." were a part of a children's song we taught them.  We'd sing the song over and over and talk about being careful what you say about others. The words came to mind this morning when I jumped on my computer and saw the story about Lori and Sarah Drew.  You may remember them as the mother and daughter team who drove a 13 year old girl to commit suicide in her bedroom after sending her a message through MySpace that said the world would be a better place without girls like her.  Click here to see a pic of the mother and daughter. Now, this post isn't to judge these two in regards to their actions that day, although I will admit that what they did was wrong in so many ways (in my opinion). What I see here ...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
I'll admit it.  I held off plunging into Facebook for a long time.  This was mostly because I own three teenagers who have been Facebooking and MySpacing for years.  It's a kid thing right? WRONG! I finally took the plunge a few weeks ago after reading Jason Crouch talk about social networking and real estate.  Click here to read his post. Facebook is very easy to set up and install and it is FREE, which is great.  Once you set up your account and upload a pic, you can go pick your high school and graduation year and click the search button and guess what happens?  Anyone from your school and that year who is on Facebook will pop up.  You can then ask them to be your friend, which is how you build your social network.  You can do this same thing with places of business where you have wo...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
I read about this concept a couple of years ago.  It was written in regards to church growth, but the idea applies to real estate big time!  Basically, the thinking goes like this...you may think you are a native in your environment because you've been you, doing what you're doing for a long time.  However, you may actually now be a tourist in your world because the world around you changed while you stayed the same. Want an application?  How about Facebook and Twitter? I've put off jumping into these two applications for a long time because I always thought they were more for the kids.  I finally gave in after reading so much about them here on Active Rain and guess what I discovered?  I WAS OUT OF TOUCH.  I WAS A TOURIST AND I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE IT. As my kids would text...OMG (gosh ...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
Finally the election is over.  This is a day I've long been waiting for because in the world of real estate, election years slow down your business.  At least this is what the big dog, long time Realtors in my office tell me. So now that we're past November 4th, I have to wonder what happens and where do we go from here? In the world of politics, we now have one party that is basically in power.  This is dangerous, regardless of what party you belong to.  Our forefathers set up our government to have a system of balance and checks so that no one person or group of people could take absolute power.  Hopefully, this administration and the Democrats won't get into office and do exactly what the Republicans did when they had their day.  And that's to blow it by getting the big head and just...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
As I was drinking my coffee this morning, I was thinking about my weekend and the last few weeks and it struck me that there is just a bad vibe in our country right now.  And I'm seeing it in Real Estate big time.  For example, I've noticed that... My builders are in a bad way because their houses aren't selling and they're paying those nasty carrying costs. Buyers are happy about lower housing prices, but ticked because they can't sell their own home and can't get as much as they want for it. Sellers...well, I know very few happy sellers right now! Other agents around town say they've seen down times before, but never THIS bad.  That's almost always said with a frown. My broker - not happy because agents aren't showing up to use their pretty new offices we just moved into.  I believe t...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
The wife and I are painting a room in our house.  We heard about a product called Wilson's Imperial Wil-bond.  This is a liquid substance you rub on stained woodwork.  Wait about 30 minutes and you can paint the woodwork without sanding.  I've heard wonderful reviews about this product, but I cannot find it anywhere in our area.  I checked at Lowe's and Home Depot and even called Ace Hardware.  The reaction each time was, "Never heard of the stuff!" Here's a pic of the can... Have you used this product before?  Any opinions on how it performed? Does anybody know where you can buy this stuff?  I'm located in Tulsa, OK.  I'd like to not only use it, but to be able to find it and recommend it to clients who may be planning to paint their houses. Thanks!
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
Ever noticed how some folks are able to place a copy of their desktop image into their blog?  It's pretty handy when you want to be able to show others exactly what you're talking about! For example, here's a copy of my desktop right now... Here's how you do it. 1.When you've got your browser or desktop to what you want to show others, press the PRINT SCREEN key once. 2. Open your photo editing program and load a blank, new palette.  3. Click on the PASTE icon in your program and magically your desktop will appear in your photo editing program! 4. Be sure to EDIT the image, removing any pertinent information you don't want others to see.  This may include the address of the web page or private information you may have placed on your desktop.  You can see in the image above that I did no...
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By Bob Haywood, BobHaywood.com
(McGraw Realtors)
We all know how powerful Google is right?  Did you know you can use Google to grab the time in any time zone in America?  Here's how to do it. Open Google in your browser.  Then type in the word "Time".  What will come up will look similar to this... What you'll see at the top is your own time zone, followed by cities across the US.  If you want to double check the results to make sure the time is correct, you can click on the The Official US time search result. Why would this be important? If you're like me, your power goes off from time to time, meaning that you have to reset all your electronic clocks.  Getting them all back to the correct time can be tricky.  Sometimes our power fluctuates so much that we just leave the 12:00 flashing on the VCR! Another reason to know the right tim...
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