Activities • Browser • Holidays • Real Estate • December 15, 2010

Browser Says: Don’t Forget the Pup This Christmas!

by Randy and Christy Oetken

“Browser” is howling to all his Peeps: Don’t forget the Doggie this year!

And just ’cause he’s such a great guy, he’s found a great recipe site for you to sniff out. Lots of really yummy “looking” things for your favorite four-legged friend. They’d probably smell great, too!

He’d also like to do a little growling. His life has been “no treat” for the past year. Literally. A year ago, he was hospitalized for pancreatitis. (We were really concerned about him for a couple of weeks, but he pulled through.) Poor boy! Now his diet is very restricted. No more puppy treats for him…

Sometimes it just puts him in a “down-tail” mood. If it weren’t for his Friends …and Going Outside…and Snow-Mobiling…his life would be so dull!

So bake up a batch of one of these Doggie Treats for someone you love. (We’ve included a recipe below.)

And, some time soon, will you stop by our office to cheer up our old boy?

Cluck-A-Doodle-Doggie Treats

Ingredients

2 cups Flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons fresh, chopped parsley
1 cup cooked chicken livers, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Combine flour and cornmeal in a bowl. In a large bowl add the egg, oil and broth and mix. Add the flour mixture about 1/3 at a time and mix well between additions. Add chopped chicken livers until well incorporated into a stiff dough. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and kneed for about 1 minute. Roll out to a thickness of about 1/2″. Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter dipped in flour. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake treats for about 15 minutes or until firm.

Storing Dog Treats
In general you should store dog treats the same way you would homemade people cookies. That being said, there are two main variables that determine storage time – the amount and type of fat in the recipe and your local weather conditions. If your recipe uses fats such as butter, or meat bits or juices then it will be more prone to rancidity than a recipe that uses some vegetable oil or shortening. Your treats may mold or spoil much faster in humid or very hot climates.

Refrigeration and Freezing – Refrigeration will prolong the life of more fragile dog treats. Make sure to store in a tightly sealed container or zip lock bag. You can also freeze most treats in zip lock freezer bags. Allow to thaw completely before use.

Buyers • Holidays • Real Estate • Sell • December 13, 2010

Top 10 Tips for Selling Your Home During the Holidays

by Randy and Christy Oetken

We found this terrific list of Tips for Selling Your Home During the Holidays and thought you might appreciate it!

If you are interested in Buying or Selling during this Holiday Season, don’t hesitate to call us. We can help!

By FrontDoor.com | Published: 11/07/2008

The holiday season from November through January is often considered the worst time to put a home on the market. While the thought of selling your home during the winter months may dampen your holiday spirit, the season does have its advantages: holiday buyers tend to be more serious, and competition is less fierce with fewer homes being actively marketed. First, decide if you really need to sell, really. Once you’ve committed to the challenge, don your gay apparel and follow these tips from FrontDoor.

Deck the halls, but don’t go overboard.
Homes often look their best during the holidays, but sellers should be careful not to overdo it on the decor. Adornments that are too large or too many can crowd your home and distract buyers. Also, avoid offending buyers by opting for general fall and winter decorations rather than items with religious themes.
Staging tips for the holidays
Hire a reliable real estate agent.
That means someone who will work hard for you and won’t disappear during Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s. Ask your friends and family if they can recommend a listing agent who will go above and beyond to get your home sold. This will ease your stress and give you more time to enjoy the season.
How to choose a great listing agent
Seek out motivated buyers.
Anyone house hunting during the holidays must have a good reason for doing so. Work with your agent to target buyers on a deadline, including people relocating for jobs in your area, investors on tax deadlines, college students and staff, and military personnel, if you live near a military base.
Learn why selling during the holidays is not all bad
Price it to sell.
No matter what time of year, a home that’s priced low for the market will make buyers feel merry. Rather than gradually making small price reductions, many real estate agents advise sellers to slash their prices before putting a home on the market.
Price low to sell high
Make curb appeal a top priority.
When autumn rolls around and the trees start to lose their leaves, maintaining the exterior of your home becomes even more important. Bare trees equal a more exposed home, so touch up the paint, clean the gutters and spruce up the yard. Keep buyers’ safety in mind as well by making sure stairs and walkways are free of snow, ice and leaves.
Tips for winter curb appeal
Take top-notch real estate photos.
When the weather outside is frightful, homebuyers are likely to start their house hunt from the comfort of their homes by browsing listings on the Internet. Make a good first impression by offering lots of flattering, high-quality photos of your home. If possible, have a summer or spring photo of your home available so buyers can see how it looks year-round.
How to take better real estate photos
Create a video tour for the Web.
You’ll get less foot traffic during the holidays, thanks to inclement weather and vacation plans. But shooting a video tour and posting it on the Web may attract house hunters who don’t have time to physically see your home or would rather not drive in a snowstorm.
10 tips for filming your own home tour video
Give house hunters a place to escape from the cold.
Make your home feel cozy and inviting during showings by cranking up the heat, playing soft classical music and offering homemade holiday treats. When you encourage buyers to spend more time in your home, you also give them more time to admire its best features.
Attract buyers with an inviting atmosphere
Offer holiday cheer in the form of financing.
Bah, humbug! Lenders are scrooges these days, but if you’ve got the means, then why not offer a home loan to a serious buyer? You could get a good rate of return on your money.
Learn more about owner financing
Relax — the new year is just around the corner.
The holidays are stressful enough, with gifts to buy, dinners to prepare and relatives to entertain. Take a moment to remind yourself that if you don’t sell now, there’s always next year, which luckily is only a few days away.
Tips to ease your holiday selling stress http://www.frontdoor.com/Sell/Top-10-Tips-for-Selling-Your-Home-During-the-Holidays/2565

Browser • Coeur d'Alene • Holidays • home • Idaho • Lake Coeur d'Alene • Real Estate • December 13, 2010

Welcome to our Home…at Christmas

by Randy and Christy Oetken

Especially during Christmas, our hearts long for the simpler days when a holiday was antipated not so highly for the piles of gifts, but simply for the chance to spend time with friends and loved ones.

Historians often tell of a bygone era, when Christmas was a day to receive visitors into our homes. Hosts would “lay out” an abundance of sweets and savories, ready to welcome their guests, and Townsfolk would promenade from house to house, greeting one and all, enjoying the food and the companionship of their friends and neighbors.

We’ve come a long way since those days. And while we’re a bit sad about the passing of such a warm tradition, we wondered if you might enjoy a tour of our home at Christmas?

We would offer you a cookie or a warm cup of Christmas Cheer if we could, but we do hope you’ll find yourself “at home” in our photo tour – as well as in our hearts – this holiday season.

Welcome to our home. May the blessings of this Christmas Season be yours!

Foreclosures • Market News • Real Estate • December 9, 2010

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-No Foreclosures Over the Holidays

by Randy and Christy Oetken

Daily Real Estate News | December 6, 2010 |

No Foreclosures Over the Holidays
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are freezing all foreclosure evictions on the mortgage loans they own or back from Dec. 20 through Jan. 3.

“If the property is occupied, our foreclosure attorneys will suspend the eviction to provide a greater measure of certainty to families during the holidays,” says Anthony Renzi, executive vice president of single family portfolio management at Freddie Mac.

Most of the large banks, including Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, already observe a moratorium through the New Year, unless the foreclosure involves an investor who chooses not to observe the holiday policy.

Source: CNNMoney, Les Christie (12/03/2010)

I.R.S. • Market News • Real Estate • Rental • December 8, 2010

1099 Rental Reporting: What does this have to do with Health Care?

by Randy and Christy Oetken

Rental Property Owners have been handed another huge burden for reporting income and expenses in 2011 & 2012.

The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PL 111-148, signed into law in 2010, both beef up 1099 reporting requirements and pentalties for rental property owners.

Between the two acts, Rental Property owners will be responsible for sending 1099’s to perhaps hundreds of service and retail vendors over the next two years. Corporations are not exempt.

IRS Forms 1099 must be issued by every person in business paying $600 or more during the year for services. If you pay a plumber to unplug the sink in your restaurant 6 times during the year at $100 a visit, you’ve got to issue a form to your plumber and the IRS. If your plumber is incorporated, you don’t have to issue the form. Well, until now. http://blogs.forbes.com/robertwood/2010/11/23/got-irs-forms-1099-more-soon/

Chris Neefus of CNSNews.com explains it this way:

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s health care law, requires that small businesses file a Form 1099-MISC with the IRS for any goods they purchase from an outside vendor valued at over $600.

But the new bill, the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act (H.R. 5297), extends the mandate to private individuals who own property from which they receive rental income. Those people would also now have to fill out paperwork reporting any expenditure they make on that property valued over $600 for the year.

“There’s 10 million people who don’t know that they’re now suddenly going to be required to do this,” Ellis said. “They don’t have to issue them until January 2012 because it’s a 2011 requirement, but they’ve got to start tracking in January (2011). So I hope their internal accounting is good.”

Writing for ATR, Ellis said, “So imagine that you’re renting out your starter condo. You pay a property manager, a plumber, a repairman, a locksmith, a condo association, etc. Imagine having to get a taxpayer identification number, order 1099-MISCs from the IRS, fill them out by hand, keep a copy for yourself, send a copy to each payee (from whom you had to get a tax ID number and other information), and then finally take your legitimate rental deduction. Then the IRS finds some hiccup somewhere, and you get audited — all to placate an insane Congress.”http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/75911

Quick figuring…At .44 postage per sheet, a ream of paper (which might be required for all those 1099’s) could cost you big. Do the math:

500 Sheets per ream X .44 = $220

How many 1099’s will you be sending?

Not that you could actually PRINT your own 1099’s anyway. You’ll have to order those from the IRS. See page 1 of the IRS 1099msc form, which has been generously made available for downloading. Caveat? You can’t USE the downloadable pdf! It’s not scan-able. Sorry. Enticing though it may be, if you send the downloadable PDF, you may be fined $50!)

And…what in the world does this have to do with HEALTH CARE???

This is our government’s version of assisting Small Business??

New Rules: You and the Irs This January (ppjg.wordpress.com)
Let There Be Forms 1099 (blogs.forbes.com)
IRS Form 1099 Wars (blogs.forbes.com)
Got IRS Forms 1099? More Soon (blogs.forbes.com)

Market News • Real Estate • December 7, 2010

Strong Rebound in Pending Home Sales

by Randy and Christy Oetken

Washington, DC, December 02, 2010

Pending home sales jumped in October, showing a positive uptrend since bottoming in June, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator, rose 10.4 percent to 89.3 based on contracts signed in October from 80.9 in September. The index remains 20.5 percent below a surge to a cyclical peak of 112.4 in October 2009, which was the highest level since May 2006 when it hit 112.6.

Last October, first-time buyers were motivated to make offers before the initial contract deadline for the tax credit last November. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said excellent housing affordability conditions are drawing home buyers. “It is welcoming to see a solid double-digit percentage gain, but activity needs to improve further to reach healthy, sustainable levels. The housing market clearly is in a recovery phase and will be uneven at times, but the improving job market and consequential boost to household formation will help the recovery process going into 2011,” he said.

“More importantly, a return to more normal loan underwriting standards and removal of unnecessary underwriting fees for very low risk borrowers is needed and could quickly help in the housing and economic recovery,” Yun said. Recent loan performance data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac clearly demonstrates very low default rates on recently originated mortgages, much lower that the vintages of 2002 and 2003 before the housing boom.

The PHSI in the Northeast jumped 19.6 percent to 71.3 in October but is 27.3 percent below the tax credit peak in October 2009. In the Midwest the index surged 27.3 percent in October to 81.7 but is 24.8 percent below a year ago. Pending home sales in the South rose 7.1 percent to an index of 93.8 but are 18.4 percent below October 2009. In the West the index slipped 0.4 percent to 104.3 and is 15.6 percent below a year ago.

Near term, Yun expects home sales will continue to climb from their cyclical low this past summer. “Even so, we now have some consumer concerns regarding the mortgage interest deduction, an important component in housing affordability,” he said. “Preliminary results of a new survey show nearly three out of four home owners and two out of three renters consider the mortgage interest deduction to be extremely or very important to them. Home owners already pay between 80 and 90 percent of all federal income taxes and additional tax burden would hurt them and the economic recovery, so we have a reasonable hope that it will not be changed.”

The National Association of REALTORS®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

###

*The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

The index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactions for existing-home sales. In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months. There is a closer relationship between annual index changes (from the same month a year earlier) and year-ago changes in sales performance than with month-to-month comparisons.

An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined as well as the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales.

NOTE: The next Pending Home Sales Index will be released December 30 with release dates being moved up for 2011, and existing-home sales for November will be reported December 22; release times are 10:00 a.m. EST.

REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark which may be used only by real estate professionals who are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics. Not all real estate agents are REALTORS®. All REALTORS® are members of NAR.

http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2010/12/strong_phs

Activities • Browser • Coeur d'Alene • Free • home • Lake Coeur d'Alene • Staging • December 6, 2010

Crafty Ideas for Winter Curb Appeal: Home & Design: REALTOR® Magazine

by Randy and Christy Oetken

We can’t help it! It’s December 6 and Christmas is in the air!

Randy and Christy spent most of yesterday afternoon “sprucing” up some holiday pine swags (pun intended!) to deliver to clients who just purchased new homes.

Since we’re in full Decorating Swing for the holidays, we thought we’d just pass along a few tips we learned yesterday afternoon.

It’s E-A-S-Y to make your own holiday swag, especially in our part of the world. In fact, you may have all the materials you need in and around your home already.

Of course, this time of year, real (or “genuine imitation”) pine boughs, wreaths and swags are available almost anywhere – even in some grocery stores. We suggest that you may save some $ by looking in your own yard. Perhaps you have a tree or evergreen that could use a bit of trimming anyway!

Same goes for pine cones. After you find them on your property, decorate with spray glitter or flocking material or maybe even a light dusting of white or metallic spray paint.

Next, raid your holiday wrapping center for ribbon, raffia, or bows, themed “picks” & ornaments to adorn your handiwork. Get creative! Use your imagination and ingenuity to give your wreath or swag your personal touch.

We suggest using green florist’s wire to secure the pine boughs together into a pleasing arrangement. Wired ribbon makes for quick and beautiful bows. Other “mechanics” include use of glue guns and ornament hooks.

Keep in mind that decorating with evergreens is perfect any time of year. If you’re careful with theme and colors, your handiwork could serve your outdoor decor needs well past the holiday season.

In the real estate business, we call furnishings and decor “staging”. We all like to “stage” our homes for those ideal Christmas and New Year parties, for sure. But have you thought about how to best stage your property to make it attractive for potential buyers?

As an Accredited Staging Professional, Christy Oetken can help you make the most of your home’s floor plan, color scheme, furnishings, and decor. Put her to work for you today!

For other ideas on maximizing your property’s Curb Appeal during the Holidays and beyond, visit

Crafty Ideas for Winter Curb Appeal: Home & Design: REALTOR® Magazine.

Happy Decorating!
Randy, Christy & “Browser”

p.s. This picture of Christy and “Browser” was taken at our Coeur d’Alene home, above Coeur d’Alene’s Bennett Bay.

Activities • Coeur d'Alene • Downtown • Free • Idaho • Shopping • December 3, 2010

Free Carriage Rides in Downtown Coeur d’Alene!

by Randy and Christy Oetken

“Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, Hey!”

Here’s a FREE activity for the whole family to enjoy this holiday season in beautiful Downtown Coeur d’Alene!

Ride the horse-drawn carriage through downtown

[November 3, 2010]

Take a break from your busy holiday shopping and enjoy the slower pace of a free horse-drawn carriage ride through downtown Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

Downtown Spokane

November 26 through December 24
3 p.m. – 8 p.m. Fridays
12 p.m. – 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Special Christmas Eve rides from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Meet at Wall Street and Main Avenue
All rides are FREE!
Presented in partnership by STCU and Downtown Spokane

Downtown Coeur d’Alene

December 4 through December 24
12 p.m. – 4 p.m. Saturdays
Special Christmas Eve rides from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.
All rides are FREE!
Presented in partnership by STCU and the Coeur d’Alene Downtown Association

You and your family, friends, and other romantics are sure to enjoy this enchanting holiday tradition provided by Spencer’s Carriages and Rocking K Ranch.

Reservations are not necessary. Bring a friend!

We discovered this at www.STCU.org

Bank-Owned • Buyers • Foreclosures • Free • Market Analysis • Market Value • Pricing • Real Estate • Sell • Sellers • Short Sale • January 1, 2010

How to Compete Against Bank-Owned and Short Sales Homes

by Randy and Christy Oetken

Here’s a blog article that we thought you might appreciate, written by a noted Short Sale Real Estate expert.

Wondering what your Coeur d’Alene area property is REALLY worth in today’s market? Call us for a FREE Market Analysis.

We’d love to help you get the information you need, and to help you decide if selling your property is right for you.

Put us to work for you!

By Elizabeth Weintraub, About.com Guide

If the house for sale next door to you is a bank-owned home, but all the other homes for sale in the neighborhood are not, you don’t have much of a problem. However, if most of the homes that have recently sold in your area were bank-owned homes and short sales, you have a problem. That problem is you must compete with foreclosures and short sales to sell your home.

Your home’s market value is directly related to distressed sales if those short sales and foreclosures dominate the neighborhood.

Prior to the real estate bubble of the mid-2000’s, appraisers would often ignore the distressed sales when appraising a home. Since then, appraisers pay close attention to the number of distressed sales that have closed and those presently for sale. What’s a regular seller with equity supposed to do to compete?

Pricing a Home With Equity Against Foreclosures and Short Sales

Pricing a home is at best a mix of facts, science and emotions. It’s a combination of wearing a seller’s hat and stepping into the buyer’s shoes. Bear in mind that it doesn’t matter much how much you think your home is worth if a buyer disagrees. Try answering these 3 questions:

What would make a buyer buy your home over a foreclosure or a short sale?
Why would a buyer’s lender appraise your home for more than a foreclosure or short sale?
How much more is your home worth than a distressed sale?

You might be surprised at the answers. The truth is your home is not worth a whole lot more than a foreclosure, even if you put in upgrades, if all the recent sales are foreclosures and short sales. Appraisers don’t give a huge allowance for upgrades like they used to do.

Buyers want a good deal. They might buy a home that needs carpeting, for example, if adding the cost of new carpeting still makes that bank-owned home’s price attractive. On the other hand, if your home, with equity, is in tip-top shape and priced within the range of distressed sales, a buyer is much more likely to choose your home.

However, say, a bank-owned home priced at $200,000 needs $10,000 worth of work or improvements. If your home doesn’t need any work, a buyer might offer only $210,000 for your home.

Examine the Foreclosed and Short Sale Comparable Sales

Look at every similar home that has sold in the neighborhood over the past three months to determine comparable sales. The list should contain homes within a 1/4 mile to a 1/2 mile and no further, unless there are only a handful of comps in the general vicinity or the property is rural.
Pay attention to neighborhood dividing lines and physical barriers such as major streets, freeways or railroads, and do not compare inventory from the “other side of the tracks.” Where I live in the Land Park neighborhood of Sacramento, for example, identical homes across the street from each other can vary by $100,000. Perceptions and desirability have value.
Compare similar square footage, within 10% up or down from the subject property, if possible.
Compare homes with similar ages. One neighborhood might consist of homes built in the 1950s, co-mingled with another ring of construction from the 1980s. Values between the two will differ. Compare apples to apples.

Tip: I suggest to my Sacramento clients that they price homes among distressed sales a little bit below market value. This tends to drive multiple offers as buyers outbid each other, resulting in a higher sales price for sellers.

http://homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/qt/compete-foreclosure-short-sale.htm

Ingredients

Instructions

Related Articles

Ride the horse-drawn carriage through downtown

[November 3, 2010]

Downtown Spokane

Downtown Coeur d’Alene

Pricing a Home With Equity Against Foreclosures and Short Sales

Examine the Foreclosed and Short Sale Comparable Sales