My Listings.

Well, I had a closing on a house on Bell Street today at a busy intersection.  House had been on market for almost 2 years with other realtors.  They called me because they saw my once-listed house on Victoria and thought I knew the area.  When they came to town to interview realtors, I was going to be in San Antonio, so I asked Terry Allen to join me on this one and put together a listing presentation.  He did such a great job, that we got the listing.  A month later we got a contract, and today we closed.  Terry was an awesome partner to work with.  He's teamed up with others in my office such as Christy and Dirk.  He is our "go to guy" for information.  He knows so many things.  Big shout out thanks, Terry, for helping with Bell Street.

I got confirmation that the contract on Marrs Street house is now receipted, so this house which also was on the market for several years with other realtors, is now under contract officially.  This one was hard since it had no heat, air, and had to have a  new gas line.  But now we got an offer and hopefully we will close soon.

Paramount Street, this is a great house, 4 br, 3 baths, huge kitchen with large dining at the end, mudroom with outside access, wood floors, sunroom with window seat, oversized double car garage with 3 closets, fp and beams in living room.  Large corner lot, $172,000.  Someone kind of famous lived here.  One of Jerry's and my good friends live across the street, so we know they'll have great neighbors.  You want to live here, I know you do.

Crockett.  This is a Cooper home with 1014 sq ft on main floor and the same in basement.  The main has 3 bedrooms, 1 lr, 1 bath, kitchen, and single car garage.  Wood floors newly refinished.  New texture and paint, new cabinets in the kitchen, all wood and custom built for this kitchen. Fans in all bedrooms. New sinks, new vanity in bath, new dishwasher and microwave.  Basement has 38 x 12 den with built'in down one wall, three windows, 1 bedrooms, new bathroom, office, new carpet, new heat and air and hot water heater, all new bathroom!!!!   Outside new siding and the shop is 24 x 28 with 10' ceilings and lots of storage and 1 overhead door, floored attic, new siding.  Fence is new and set in concrete footings all the way around.  New gas and sewer lines.  All for just $129,900.  This is a house you MUST GO INSIDE to appreciate. 

I'd love to add a couple more houses to this list, so call me and let me show you our Online Seller Advantage, unique to Prudential, and you'll get daily or weekly updates on how many times your listing is clicked on online sites.  Call Prudential at 806 355 960a and ask for Judy.

I'm confused and other ramblings.

I've spent 15 minutes trying to get on here to make a new post.  I'm not exactly social media literate yet, but trying. 

I just want to tell you a few things on my mind, some about family, some about real estate and some just ramblings.

I have a son in law.  I left him off my first blog.  I was called on that, and frankly, it was just an accident.  He is a great guy and a tremendous father.  He makes me feel welcome everytime I visit, unlike all the jokes about mothers in law and sons in law.  So don't feel left out Johnny, you are a true part of my family!!!  Sorry I had brain fade.

Real estate:  Amarillo's is doing well.  We have about 1,500 houses on the market through mls.  Interest rates are at between 4.5 to 4.75 depending on the lender.  You can get a loan for 3.5% down with fha backing, or 5% on conventional.  We also have VA and Texas Land Board loans available, and I happen to be an approved realtor for TLB.

Amarillo's unemployment is LOW, around 5%.  Bell is really hiring right now and I hear that Corning is too.  That helps our housing markets and rental markets too.  Apartments get rented usually when notice is given.  It's about 97% right now.  If you have some money available to buy rentals or build apartments, you can make a killing right now.

I love showing houses and helping people get into a home.  With 492 other realtors or more than that, sometimes people have a lot of choices on whom to look with.  I say, let me help you.  I've lived here all my life, so I know the city!!  I will NOT push you to buy more than you can afford.  I'll take a lot of the work off your back and let you continue with you career.  I'll handle inspections, be there for the repair work, or whatever is needed to help you get your loan, get closed and moved. 

I also love marketing properties, and so far I've been pretty successful.  (Have a closing tomorrow on a house another realtor listed for 2 yrs, I got it sold in one month) We have what is called Online Seller's Advantage, where we put you on 23 sites and then you get daily or weekly (depending on your preference) emails telling you how many times that day, that week, that month, your house has been included in searches, how many times people have viewed the details and also how many saved your house in their search.  Further we'll give you a graph showing how the activity looks over the course of the listing, whether we are getting more or less clicks.  Then it also shows houses in your area for sale and the prices and when they change in price.  It is quite a good program, and I'm not sure any other real estate company but Prudential has it.  If they do, I haven't heard of them.

I am also helping new people to Amarillo find apartments through CORT relocation.  It is fun, and I meet a lot of new friendly people.  That's why I know how fast apartments are renting.  Been there, done that. (Just made friends with a wonderful couple moving here from Anchorage, Alaska - how is that for spreading wings and flying to new opportunities.)

Further ramblings.  I wish I had the social media/computer literacy thing down.  I want to connect with people and do it effortlessly.  X'ers and Y'ers do it so easily.  I'm a boomer and I'm slower at that.  Share my blog with others, and I'll find some really interesting things to share and keep you abreast about real estate.

Obama wants to increase down payments to 20% if govt involved in loans.  Please let your representatives and senators not allow this, have them vote no.  The housing market will die, everyone will be renting, and the American dream of home ownership could die.  Then we could all live in little white boxes.  I like to paint my walls colors, I want to hang stuff on them.  I don't want a landlord telling me what to do!! 

Finally, my last rambling is I LOVE my co-workers.  They are the best bunch of people to work with, and we have so much fun on Wednesday Tour Day.  Thanks guys for being great to work for and doing your jobs so well.  Prudential Ada Realtors ROCKS!!

Well I hope to find some great things to share with you guys, so check back and pass my blog on to others.  Sign up below at end to get it by email and you won't have to click and find me.  OH YES< check out the color poll.  Two tied.  No one could read the age one, but the choices are Civic, Boomer, X, or Y.  In that order.  Sorry for the brown background, but as I said I'm not too hip on this social media stuff and I can't figure out how to change that awful brown background.  I'll check with Dirk and get back with you. 

How proposed 20% down will affect you.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/proposed-20percent-down-payment-rule-could-put-owning-a-home-out-of-reach-for-many/2011/06/15/AGDJIhaH_story.html

If you ever plan to buy a house and are not a good money saver, your dream of home ownership may soon end.

If you plan to sell a house in the future, buyers may not be available as they may be the people in the above paragraph.  You may only be able to sell to investors.

House ownership could turn totally into investment property.  If you wonder how this could happen, click on the Washington Post link above for an unbiased article on a new proposal that could happen in September.

TODAY'S LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Up at 5:30 to leave at 6:30 for Lubbock, Texas.  Breakfast served at 8:30 was like a Denny's special: scrambled eggs, ham, sausage links, potato patties, gravy, biscuits, fruit salad, orange juice.  I hardly ever eat breakfast so this was special.

Lunch they did it again, beef and chicken fajitas, rice and refried beans, chips, nacho sauce, hot sauce.  I probably gained 5 lbs today.

But we also had some interesting lessons and activities.  We argued with the teacher over the "right" answers to the diversity activities, and read an amusing story about a giraffe who had an award winning house and workshop.  His good friend elephant who loved to work in the workshop came over but wouldn't fit.  Giraffe took out the screws from the door and expanded it so he could get in, but he didn't fit well in the house and fell of the stairs and made a mess.  Giraffe wants to be friends, so he suggests he go to the gym and lose weight and take yoga or get light on his feet for the stairs.  This all translates to us trying to get people to fit into our world by changing rather than accepting them as they are. 

In the afternoon we studied Generations.  How people are different because of their experiences in life before adulthood.  Civic are those older than 63, and they went through the great depression and the two world wars.  They want security in their life and they had real heroes like "Superman", Patton, McArthur, FDR and Winston Churchill. 

Next are Baby Boomers (I'm one) the "Me Generation", who experienced walking on the moon, Kennedy's death, Viet Nam;  we march for anything, we think its all about me, so that explains why we should be good at blogging, but probably don't try it.  We are interested in community, being a part of something. 

Next are the X ers those between Boomers and Yers, most in their 30's and they were the first latchkey kids. You experienced some bad things like the Challenger Explosion.   They are independent, trusting of no one, like technology that helps them do things by themselves. 

Finally are you Y'ers, my children.  You experienced 9/11, technological explosion, and you really have no heroes.  You are our techno specialists.  You want to work only until finished with the job, rather than putting in 8 hours a day.  You don't respect your elders because of past achievements, but want us to show you what we can do NOW.  You are so enterprising on how to use technology for everything.  You like to text, but not talk on phone. 

By studying the generations we are suppose to be able to take that information and be able to use it to get along, work together and even be a team.

Would love to know what my followers are:  Civic, Boomer, X or Y, and what you think of this.

Decorating Color

Choose at top your favorite decorating color,  This is a poll.  If you know me, you know its BLUE.  But being a realtor I know I'll have to get rid of it before selling my house.

BLUE:  I drive a blue car, and have a blue sportscar in garage.  My house trim is blue and white; my kitchen is periwinkle and white, my pool table room has blue plaid cloth on the wall.  My dining room is blue print cloth.  I buy my husband blue shirts. 

But in real estate sales, blue is a killer.  Things need to be neutral if you are going to sell your home.  The buyer needs to be able to see a blank slate and imagine their own favorite color.  There are exceptions.  I sold a house in September to someone who chose a house because it had a red kitchen.  She was tired of blank slates that we had looked at, and she was tired of blue as she'd owned a blue home for 15 years.  Normally a realtor will tell you to neutralize the color with beiges and tans. 

I gave my favorite floorings.  Our next poll will be allowing you to tell me yours.

My family.

I wrote all about my family and realized that probably that wasn't smart to put out to the public.  So just know I'm a mom to 3 terrific guys and one terrific gal, 2 lovely daughter in laws, and 4 stupendous grandsons.  As much as I love real estate sales and marketing, working with a great group of realtors on a daily basis, meeting wonderful home owners and buyers, my family is probably the best part of me, and I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with them. 

But interestingly enough, my daughter is a realtor also in San Antonio.  She has a lot of knowledge about how to get a contract to closing, and it's with great relief to have her as a "backup" for information if something in the process comes up and I need a quick answer. 

I have a brother who has been involved in real estate for over 40 years.  He developed both commercial property and housing additions in Georgetown, Texas, and now invests in ranches.  So you might say real estate runs in our blood.

Family, career and God - not necessarily in that order, are the three main interests in my life.  So now you know a little about me and I hope you'll come back to this blog regularly as I post real estate tidbits and articles.  Thanks for visiting, and I look forward to adding to this site.

Welcome to Judy's Musings

This is my first adventure into blogging.  Welcome!!  Let me tell you a little about myself.  My dad was a superintendent of a gas plant, and we lived there with 16 other families.  After marriage and getting a Business/Secretarial Degree at Amarillo College, I worked as a legal secretary, railroad office manager and court reporter, owned a mfd home park and a ceramic store, and taught 5th Grade at Bible Heritage Christian School, which no longer is open.  Later I worked for James Morgan as a division order clerk and then got my real estate license, and am now eagerly and enthusiastically engaged in a real estate career.  I love marketing properties and helping people find their dream home.  I work for one of the world's most trusted companies, Prudential, the rock.  Locally, I work in Amarillo, Texas, for Greg Glenn, at Prudential Ada REALTORS.   It is a great place with lots of great agents.  We continually strive for excellence, integrity, and staying abreast of the newest and latest ways to market properties.

In an attempt to show what this blog will be like, enjoy a Prudential article on How to Sell a Property in the Summer Months.
Enjoy!!