Chicago and Southern Illinois Real Estate Happenings

 Home sales in Orange County fell 1.9% in September.  That is the slowest pace since January 2004.

 The median price of single family homes went down to $219,800. That is quite a drop from $247,000 not too far away in the past.

It seems investors have backed off significantly from when interest rates were near 5.0%.

Since the FED decided to not raise of lower rates this month, that bodes well for central Florida real estate .

As for information of a lifestyle note, Farmer Markets have grown in number by two times in the past 10 years. Late harvested sweet corn, plump eggplant, crunchy green bell peppers, and more are to be had by those who love to go and socialize while shopping for items to put into the dinner recipes moms, Grandmothers and wives love to fix. Those who are skittish about how many people handle their food before they cook it can rest assured that only a precious people few touch these veggys when you buy from a Farmers Market.

There is a Farmers Market in Kissimmee, right near our real estate office. In fact the Market uses part of our parking lot to pitch their tents and sell their wonderful fresh veggys.

For information on any of this market, call 407-892-1135.

For information on the Orange County Lake Eola Farmers Market, call 407-246-2555.

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Whats playing on stage for Halloween:

'Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus'

What: Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival production of Jim Helsinger drama.

Where: Goldman Theater, Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 E. Rollins St., Orlando.

When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through Nov. 26 (also, 2 p.m. today and Nov. 22).

Cost: $25-$35 general, $20-$30 students at most performances, $12 Wednesday matinees. Call: 407-447-1700 Ext. 1.

Have fun..........!!!!!!!!!

 I am looking forward to Friday. It is the weekend when I do the most real estate work. I have several buyers to call and see how they are doing.

I have more flyers to get out in Wedgefield (eastern central Florida real estate) to people near my vacant land listing.

I had a great time talking to people as I distributed the flyers the last time. I ALMOST got another listing, but sadly the lady said she was going to give the brokerage she had signed up with more time to help her sell her property. She said they appeared to be doing their job, so who was I to push the issue?

I do my website optimizations and my submittals, plus look at my links and do my tweeking of my sites. I also look for new links to add to my central Florida real estate sites. I have as of late been hit with a LOT of e-mail regarding links webmasters want to make with my sites, so that is a good thing for my marketing efforts.

I am getting more and more busy with what is needed for real estate again.....and I for one am a happy camper about that fact!

I have had 2 people so far tell me they thought my car was bought for $2000-2500 dollars and I am very, very happy with that also. Considering the fact that I bought it for $550.00 (YES ~~~~ only five hundred and fifty dollars!) is an amazing thing!

I will be driving around looking at central Florida real estate and talking to FSBOs next as I have been spying several FSBO lawn signs around my subdivision. I will be taking some of the wisdom you AR Rainers have blogged about and will be applying it when I knock on doors.

Good, proper and free CMA offers, asking them to sell their home to me to get them talking about it in a objective way, asking for a tour of the home and offering help to them should be effective ways to reach these people who have decided to "Go it alone" in selling their real estate.

All I need is the blessing of God on this and I will be a happy camper......

I will be praying for it and I am expecting answers....... I am looking forward to what God is going to do.

 Working with investors is just plain easy......You show them the numbers and if the deal will make them the profit they want, they are IN.

Investors are so different from residential buyers..

Potential owners have emotions....... they have families. Maybe dogs, cats and guinea pigs too..... They have LOTS of stuff from their previous home or apartment.

Investors have little to NO baggage...they travel to showings for the profit, not the emotional satisfaction.

Both potential owners AND investors are good clients for me.... I work with BOTH types of people.

They just need to be handled differently.

The potential residential buyer has life issues to deal with...and emotions are always a part of the mix.

The investor wants to know the bottom line...what is he/she going to make on the deal, period.

Each client needs a different tool in my toolbelt of training.

I am dedicated to giving my central Florida real estate clients the best service I can...wether they are an investor OR a potential residential owner.

Why do I keep finding ads for listings in the general blogs area when I am looking for informative blogs to read?

...when it says....

 I

 I

 I

 I

 I

 I

 All Blogs -- NO ADS......?????

Why do I find ads for listings??????

Is it just me or does anyone have the feeling there is something seriously wrong in here....either a lack of knowledge about how to post listings or just plain "stupidity" by people ignoring the rules. I think Matt needs to hire a "Doorman" to police this site. We called them "The TOS Police" back in my early AOL days......they were feared by those who were lawbreakers.

Any comments anyone?

It is such a GOOD thing when I know I am being watched.....

GOD watches all of us....... good or bad...He has his eye on everyone.

Today I got ANOTHER buyer from my website which is ranked on

the second pages in MSN AND GOOGLE.

I am going to busy......I can feel it......

I just washed my new car and it is ready to carry buyers to properties...and I am ready to go to listing appointments also.

That makes 4 new buyers in less than two weeks.

I am on my way to the real estate office so I can make local calls and not have to pay 25 cents if they are out of Osceola County.

It is such a good thing to be marketing central Florida real estate .

Especially since I have lived here since 1991. I know a LOT of what is happening around town.

I will start making blogs about those very things even if I don't get points for the blogs if I go above the limit for each week.

Marketing is such an important thing that points just don't matter to me....... serving my clients and making their

central Florida real estate  transaction as smooth as possible and with the least amount of headches is my goal.

"Our clients real estate transaction is our noble cause and our clients best interest is our noble principle."

Popcorn is so good when you know God is watching you eat......

It has been a week since I got my new car and 2 weeks since my accident..........

Strangely, I now have 3 BUYERS that are ready, willing and able to purchase homes now.....

The one who I have been cultivating as a future buyer...and 2nd the referral he gave me which I contacted today.

The 3rd buyer came today at church choir practice....... MAN...is this REAL or what?

Since I have bought the car that will say I am organized and READY to help with anyones central Florida real estate needs, buyers that are READY to GO have been popping up all around me.

It's like God KNOWS I am ready to GO...and He is supplying me with the fuel and ability (buyers) to do what I need to do......

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Another funny thing happened to me yesterday at work...... one of the guys that is driving me to and from Vero Beach where we are installing the A/C on a $1.75 - 2.25 million dollar house was a loan officer at one time~~~~ he drove a Lexus to work every day!!

I gave him my contact info and he said he MIGHT be able to do a loan for me if I gave him something. I am kinda dubious about it since he was not too enthusiastic about it, so I will see what happens.

The point is THINGS are starting to happen again for me in real estate...and for that I am truely thankful to God!!!!!!

                                                                                                               GO SNOOPY GO!!!!!

Relationships with loyalty and honesty do such good things.......

Today a buyer of mine got done paying his new car off and is ready to start the home buying process.

He obviously was so excited he started to talk about it to other people he works with.

I met him several months ago when I was with my wife window shopping for shoes......(she has over 40 pairs of them!!  hehehehehe :-D )

I have been patiently talking to him and letting him know his options over the past months.

As I built this relationship I did not know it would do other things for me besides get a testimonial from him or a sale from a family member.

I am just doing my job to make sure I serve my customer with honest answers and loyalty in my relationship.

As he talked to his fellow workers one of them said she wanted to purchase a home also. He told her about me. He is getting her go ahead to let me contact her so I might help her buy a home also. So, instead of just having one closing to look forward to, I will be having TWO.

Making sure you serve your customer with honest answers and loyalty in your relationship to them ALWAYS will benefit you. I am hoping this will turn into a domino effect and that the lady my buyer is helping me to get in touch with will have friends and/or relatives I can help also with their real estate needs.

Staying persistent in doing the things that get you LEADS, CLIENTS and closings is ALWAYS the BEST THING to stick with. Central Florida real estate  is one of the best investments that anyone can make.

When prospective buyers and sellers look for competent, experienced central Florida real estate agents and work with them to find the perfect home, everyone wins.    

The Florida Building Commission voted to upgrade building standards for new homes constructed in the state. Homes will have to with stand a "breeze" of 130 MPH on the west coast. That change alone will toughen standards for over 85% of the homes built in the Florida panhandle.

The median home price has stayed flat at $248,000 for the past year.

According to my search on the central Florida MLS there are over 20,000 residential homes for sale in the central Florida area.

The number of homes sold in August 2006 was down 33.7% compared to the same month last year. Of course last year was a record year, so this months numbers SHOULD be lower.

Interest rates are still relatively low, but not what they were during the feeding frenzy we had 2 years ago.

That situation of low interest rates is partially to blame for where we are now. Sellers saw that people could afford to pay MORE for their home if the interest rate was low, so prices ballooned and buyers saw the same situation as they looked for more expensive homes because they could afford them. As this situation increased in intensity, multiple offers on listed homes became the norm not the exception; having the prestige of a BIGGER and more expensive home with payments you could afford fueled the fire ~~~  this drove up prices also as competition between buyers competing to purchase the same property increased. If you were a buyer back then and got a FIXED rate mortgage you made out like a bandit...all you have to do is wait this correction out and you will be looking FINE and DANDY!

If you have an adjustable mortgage I would be looking to refinance the mortgage into a FIXED rate and try to get the closing costs put into the loan if you do not have the money to put towards the refinance. I know that is NOT a great scenerio, but it is better than having your monthly payments jump by hundreds of dollars every month as your adjustable mortgage "adjusts".....

Now, we are seeing a correction in home values because of the higher interest rates out there currently are not making it as affordable to purchase a property as it was when the rates were so low.

Now is a great time to purchase a home if you have the money saved. Prices will not go down too much more and then they will resume their upward trend again......and interest rates are NOT that bad.... they are just not hovering around 5%.......wishful thinking, but not realistic...... having dreams is NOT a bad thing, but making sure the dream can become a reality is something to consider.... central Florida real estate is a great thing to invest in........an agent that is knowledgable and professional is your best bet.......

Not a bad car to get for having a junker taken away from you.....

This is a picture of the type of car I have bought to replace the one I had.

Not too shabby for making listing presentations OR Open Houses....

OR Showing Homes either.

It has nice COLD A/C...and DARK tinted windows, plus tilt steering,

power windows, power door locks and a quartz locked cassette radio.

True...it IS a 1988 model... but what did you want for $550 dollars!!!!

YES...I said $550 dollars!!!!

It runs GREAT...tracks down the road smoothly....and has a good paint job.

I LOVE it when GOD shows off how much he loves me!!!!!!

The car on the right is a picture of the car I used to have...which one would you like to drive to a listing appointment?

One that said...I am poor and don't have a penny to my name...or one that says...

I might not have the best car on the lot, but I am organized and a professional.

I am wondering if anyone got my e-mail I sent out to those who might be intrested in sending ideas for our get together for central Florida real estate agents.....

Or did something go wrong with the network that the e-mail did not get sent?

I know I sent it so let me know if something went wrong. I sent it to 17 of you that are in my associations list for central Florida real estate agents.

Please let me know, ok? If there is anyone else who DOES want to be a part of this and you are a loan officer, virtual assistant, or central Florida agent, please let me know...and we can add you to the group.