Archive for January, 2009

Speech/Language Development-Speech vs Language

Speech vs Language

What’s the diff???

Before I went into the Home Staging business, I was a speech/language pathologist. I love doing home staging for my clients, but I continue to have a soft spot in my heart for the area of speech/language pathology. I spent 23 years involved in providing speech and language therapy services to children within the public school setting. I think there is alot of valuable information about speech and language development that can be provided to parents and teachers of children with concerns in this area. That will be the purpose of my periodic blogs in our Health and Wellness Category. .. hoping to provide others with information and resources in another area which I feel I have knowledge and experience.

I wanted to write today about a particular “pet peeve” that I have had through the years. As a speech/language pathologist working in the school environment, I would work with children who had “speech” concerns and children with “language” concerns. Sometimes my kiddoes would have both.

I came to realize that many of my regular education colleagues, as well as the parents of my therapy children did not always realize or understand that there is a significant difference between “Speech concerns” vs “Language concerns”. I did my best to educate and inform them through conversations and newsletters. But then there were those continued occasions when I would hear one of my regular education teachers say, “Johnny, it is time to go to ’speech class’”, when in fact Johnny was coming to my therapy for “language help”, not speech. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Art Wagner | Read More | 1 Comment » | 01.29.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch January 24th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Peeking Into The Future by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
January 24th, 2009
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!

St. Louis Real Estate-Peeking Into The Future for our local market will probably look a lot like 2008, but with home prices and values still declining a bit into the second quarter of this year. I know that’s not the best news you’ve heard, but that seems to be the consensus when we look at our current market statistics and read forecasts from Home Builder’s Associations, Mortgage Bankers and read reports with a “grain of salt” from economic advisors in Washington.

Even thought our local market has been fairly stable for the past 12-18 months, we see that stability continuing and not moving up or down too much in the next 6-12 months.

Our foreclosure activity in St. Louis still remains at about 8-10 percent of our sales volume, but it still has an impact on pricing and values. This is espcially true in neighborhoods that are seeing more than a couple homes in their area in foreclosure. The negative impact this has on the neighborhood or area effects everyone, as lower property values impact appraisals for re-finance and new purchases. It also means less money for municipalities, who will have less money to spend on education and other necessary services. Ralph Roberts, a consumer advocate and spokesperson for the Federal Loan Modification Law Center in Sterling Michigan posted a great article on RisMedia.com recently that puts this into perspective. Read his article HERE

The National Association of Home Builder’s forecast predicts builders selling only 420,000 homes this year. They expect the low point of sales activity to hit during the first quarter of 2009. Residential Construction is forecast to hit bottom in the second quarter of 2009 to a level of just 620,000 starts for over-all housing and a meager 430,000 starts for single family homes.

The good news is that even with interest rates rebounding to a three week high, rates are still at record lows and very affordable. As of this writing, a 30 year fixed mortgage is 5.59 percent up from 5.28 percent a week ago. These low rates, coupled with first-time homebuyer credit, FHA availability and grant money still available, we are seeing more first time home-buyers in the market.

We should all consider ourselves lucky to live in the Mid-West. Read another article I found on RisMedia.com about one Southern California family’s home “adventures”. This article describes a scenario you could find almost anywhere in California now. Read it HERE

Oh, By the way, meet Lydia, the young lady in the picture above. This is my grand-daughter, who always wants to know, “what are you doing Grandpa?” when she sees me in my office at home. I tell her that I am “Battling the Wind Mills” to help keep St. Louis Real Estate moving forward and upward. On a future post, you’ll meet my grandson, Isaiah, who will undoubtedly want equal press coverage.

REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND FOR SALE BY OWNERS- Are your listings and / or home sitting on the market too long?? 120 days or more?? We have a program designed to get your listing or FSBO home sold. Real Estate Agents get paid their commission in full. Contact us for more info.

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!!

WHO DO YOU KNOW that’s thinking of buying or selling a home?

Contact Doug Aegerter or Art Wagner for more information and a FREE Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home or your neighborhood.

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

Posted by Art Wagner | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 01.25.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Home Staging-Vignettes, Anyone?

Filed under: For Sellers, Home Staging, Unrepresented Seller(FSBO)

Want to “POP” an area, a special feature, or a room to attract that Potential Buyer’s Eye?

Use Vignettes!!

What is a Vignette, you say? Well, it is “an arrangement” of three items: one high, one medium, and one low in terms of their height. The items within an arrangement can be greenery, knickknacks, pictures, small furniture items, etc.

The word vignette is pronounced /vin yet/.

Vignettes are interesting to the eye. They are groupings of items that appear to go together in a way that is perceived to be un-cluttered and pleasing.

Use vignettes to draw a Potential Buyer’s eye to a particular area or space in a room, such as the corner of a great counter in the kitchen. In staging a kitchen, it is usually recommended to have the least amount of items on your counters–but an interesting vignette on one end or in a corner area shows off the counters and attracts the buyer’s eye to the space.

Use vignettes to draw a Potential Buyer’s eye to a great feature in your house, such as a fireplace. The vignette could be placed somewhere on the mantle or on the base of the fireplace. This example below shows a wonderful granite shelf that we wanted to emphasize in a master bathroom.
The vignette worked well to POP this great feature!

Use vignettes to draw a Potential Buyer’s eye into a room, such as this interesting arrangement in a small half bathroom. This not only draws them into the room, but the vignette makes the half bathroom more interesting and inviting!

So…Vignettes, Anyone??? We welcome any of your comments about this idea or if you have some “Vignette Ideas” of your own that you would like to describe and share, let us know.

For more information regarding Home Staging Services, feel free to contact me at Homestaging@stlouisrealestatevoice.com and visit our website at www.stlstaging.com.

Sue Rector, ASP Stager
Accredited Staging Professional
HomeStaging Innovations, LLC

Posted by Art Wagner | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 01.21.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch January 17th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
January 17th, 2009
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

St. Louis Real Estate- Short Sale Misconceptions Abound.

Lately, we have been involved in a number of “short sale” transactions and feel a need to say something here.

A brief defintion of a Short Sale is when a homeowner must sell their home for less than they owe on the current mortgage, or mortgages. This is part of the “pre-Foreclosure” period, and the lender is already involved, as they must approve the “short sale” offer from a buyer. A number of things may cause this situation; job loss, divorce, job relocation, medical emergencies, or any major life changing event.

Many people we talk to think that this is an opportunity to get a “great deal” or “steal a home” for far less than it is really worth. In some parts of the country, where short sales and foreclosures are a very large percentage of the business, this may be the case. In our local St. Louis Market, our foreclosure and short sale percentages are about 5-8 percent of the current market.

OK, there are instances where a home is sold on a short sale for well below market value. The major reason for that in our market is that the home is in need of repair and / or updating. The homes in our market that are up-to-date, and in good repair will sell at or slightly below market value.

Lenders involved in the Short Sale process will do their own evaluation of the value of a home, much in the same way that a Realtor will determine a home’s value. The lender will hire a Realtor to do a Comparative Market Analysis of the home and then apply their own formula to determine what value they will accept for the home. We can’t divulge that formula, because we don’t know it and different lenders operate differently. We can say that needed repairs, location, condition, and comparable sales in the area all come into play. The lender will also weigh their costs associated with having to own the home, if they have to foreclose on it, and what their benefit would be to sell it now. The costs to the lender to own the home could be tens of thousands of dollars.

The bottom line is this: In our local St. Louis Market, good quality homes, whether in a short sale position or not, will still command a fair price. Homes that are dated and in need of repairs will continue to be the “deal of a lifetime” that everyone is talking about.

Buyers, if you are looking for a “move-in ready” home, expect to pay a fair price. If you are ready, willing and able to pick up a paint brush, hammer, or maybe even call a contractor, you will certainly be able to find your “Great Deal”. For the most part, in our market the two do not go hand-in-hand.

Think about this: Home values now in St. Louis are terrific, coupled with historically low interest rates. If everyone could get their drastically reduced, bargain priced home, what is that doing for real estate values going forward? We are lucky; we’re in a fairly stable market, and I would hate to see our home values degrade further into the future.

Take a look at our recent Market Watch Report; Our compilations, which are based on our Multiple Listing Statistics include any short sale and foreclosure activity in all price ranges. We continually can show average list price to sales price percentages in almost all price ranges above 97 percent.

There are good deals and great value in our market now, and a lot of us won’t realize it until the market starts to move upward again.

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!!

WHO DO YOU KNOW that’s thinking of buying or selling a home?

Contact Doug Aegerter or Art Wagner for more information and a FREE Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home or your neighborhood.

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

Posted by Art Wagner | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 01.18.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Building Inspection-Crawl Space Inspections

Filed under: Building Inspection News, First Time Home Buyer, For Buyers

No Basement, No Sweat. . .but you better pay attention to this!

A crawl space is an area or portion of a space in a building or house, without a basement, between the surface of the ground and the bottom of the first floor. This space is usually less than normal headroom. This space is designed to permit access to components such as ductwork, wiring, and pipe fittings.

“This sounds like a great idea”, says Mr. and Mrs. Home Buyer, “Besides, we don’t need a basement for storage and we don’t care what our crawl space looks like, we will never go down there”

You may not want to go through a crawl space, but you better know the condition your crawl space is in. There are three concerns every buyer should be aware of when it comes to crawl spaces.

1) BUGS & CRITTERS – Dirt crawl spaces are a great place to live, thrive, and reproduce if you are a bug. There is even temperature, moisture, damp wood, and shelter. Spiders, beetles, centipedes, termites, and all kinds of other insects are found in dirt crawl spaces. Animals such as mice, (dead or alive) are commonly found in dirt crawl spaces. In some cases even rats, snakes, and small animals have been found in crawl spaces.

2) CONDENSATION – Because of the high humidity level in dirt crawl spaces, cool surfaces such as the earth at 55 degrees, concrete, and metal surfaces will sweat with water vapor condensing out of the air. This can result in rot, odor, and is a water source for critters.

3) MOLD & STRUCTURAL DAMAGE – Mold spores, the seeds of mold, are everywhere. All they need to grow is organic material, such as wood, the right temperature range, and moisture. Dirt crawl spaces have the high humidity levels necessary for mold to grow. Humidity levels from 50%-90% are easily found in dirt crawl spaces even when they have never flooded. Mold can grow on dirt, insulation, framing, and even under your carpet on the first floor. Mold can reproduce by producing millions of floating airborne spores, which some people are very sensitive to. Spores even can be dormant for many years waiting for the right conditions to grow.

I hope I have the attention of all the buyers out there on the importance of knowing the conditions of a house with a crawl space. The good news is there are many solutions and improvements that can be recommended by your home inspector after the conditions are evaluated. Don’t panic, many of these solutions and improvements are not that pricey. If you truly love the house, you will make these improvements. Take your time, talk with your inspector, and make intelligent decisions for the safety and well being of your family.

Harry Morrell
ASHI Certified Inspector

Posted by Harry Morrell | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 01.14.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch January 10th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
January 10th, 2009
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week has slowed just a bit compared to last week’s activity. In spite of buyers, and sellers, still waiting we at least are seeing a few more listings coming onto the market.

These sellers are undoubltedly making the right move now, as our volume of listings increases greatly as we get closer to spring. Motivated buyers in the marketplace now don’t have as many homes to look at as they will closer to spring.

We believe that the two major incentives buyers have now is our historically low interest rates; hovering around 5.07%, at least as of this writing and the opportunity to take advantage of the first time home-buyer’s credit, which is still available.

First-Time Home-Buyers needing some greater detail and explaination of the $7500.00 tax credit can go to this LINK; Mary Umberger at RISMedia.com has posted a great article on the subject. This should help give buyers a good perspective on how the program works.

With winter upon us, this is a good time for all homeowners, property owners, and landlords to be checking their Homeowner’s Insurance. Check to make sure you are covered for any issues arising out of cold winter weather, such as frozen pipes, falling tree limbs due to ice, ice buildup on a roof which can cause moisture wicking under shingles and causing roofing problems, etc… Check out an article we found on RISMedia.com for more info.

The other insurance issue that we are making our sellers aware of is that most insurance companies need to be informed if your home is vacant past thirty days, as your insurance coverage may need to be adjusted. Some companies will deem your home as “non-owner occupied” if left vacant for more than 30 days. We mention this more and more, as sellers that have moved on to their new home and the home they are trying to sell is vacant. With Average Days on Market getting into triple digits, many homeowners may not be fully protected if an incident occurs at their vacant home.

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!!

WHO DO YOU KNOW that’s thinking of buying or selling a home?

Contact Doug Aegerter or Art Wagner for more information and a FREE Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home or your neighborhood.

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

Posted by Art Wagner | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 01.11.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch January 3rd, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports, Uncategorized

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
January 3rd, 2009
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues to show stable activity. With the Holidays all around us this past week and a half, our active listing numbers and homes accepting contracts have dropped a bit, but that’s to be expected. Our pending ratio, however, has risen slightly, proving that there is still buyer activity in the market.

As we start this new year, we expect to see buyer and seller activity increase in the next couple months, driven hopefully by the continued low interest rates and the great values to be had in the market at this time.

This year, we also expect to see our fair share of homes falling into short sale positions and foreclosures. Fortunately, lending institutions are doing a better job of helping people in these tough situations.

If you are one of those homeowners who may be headed for mortgage troubles, your first step is TALK TO YOUR LENDER. We know it’s an embarrassing situation to admit, but if it helps, you are not alone by any means. There are plenty of homeowners in the St. Louis area that need some form of help with their mortgage. Talking to your lender is the fist and most important step. The second step may be to talk to a real estate professional for advice and consult regarding your situation. They can outline the steps in the short sale and foreclosure procedures so you are well educated as you proceed.

Also…if you are RENTING a home, a friend of ours has a tip for you; one that they learned the hard way. Make absolutely sure that your landlord is paying the mortgage on the home you are renting. Ask them to furnish proof to you each month. Our friend has fallen victim to a landlord that was taking their rent money and not paying the mortgage. Our friends now have two choices; move out of the house, as it has been bought by the bank (foreclosed) , or try to buy the home as a bank owned property (REO). We are helping them try to buy the house, but buying from the bank is much different than buying from an individual homeowner.

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!!

WHO DO YOU KNOW that’s thinking of buying or selling a home?

Contact Doug Aegerter or Art Wagner for more information and a FREE Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home or your neighborhood.

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.