Living In Pike.com

Five years ago I did a Comparable Market Analysis for an owner that lived just east of 71st and Michigan Road. A challenging area that has about 10 homes, several which have gotten commercial zoning. The house was not in a legal community. The request for the CMA and my response were all done through email and I only had seen the outside of the home. The house was in a very unique setting and I had only a few sales in the area to go by. I did the best I could and never heard from the seller again until this year. He called me out of the blue and wanted to talk to me about selling his house. We made an appointment and again I prepared a Comparable Market Analysis for him. This time I got to see the inside of the house.

It was built in 1940, a two story with full basement, 4 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. On almost an acre, fenced on three sides with
the forth side on Westlane Road. It was a country setting in an urban area.

Turns out the owner was a contractor and had done all the nice touches that Realtors love. He had Hardie planked the house, put
a new roof on, made an extremely nice patio in the back of the house, etc. Inside it had all the charm of a well kept country
home.

Mike and Jessie Jones (the owners) had raised six children in the home and had lived there over 20 years. Four girls and two boys. I got to thinking about that because the four girls had the two upstairs bedrooms and there was only a half bath upstairs. I asked Mike “How did that work out for you?” He responded “Scheduling”. Turns out that some of his children went to Pike Schools at the same time my 28 year old son did.

Mike and Jessie were some of the nicest people to work with since I have been in the business. They wanted to sell the present
house and look for a smaller house in the area. They are members of Agape Church at 62nd and Georgetown Road and Mike was the contractor when the church was built. They wanted to find a house that was still close to the church.

About a month into the listing of their present house we started looking for their new house. We looked at about 10 houses and always came back to the first one we had looked at. A 3 bedroom 2 bath ranch with full basement in Washington Township. Built in 1961, vacant and looked like it had never been updated. We must have visited the property six times. He took measurements, drew up floor plans and had a vision. We had a parade of sub contractors through the house until the owner said “NO MORE!”

The timing turned out perfect. About 90 days into the listing, we had an offer. We negotiated an agreement. We then made an offer on the ranch. Turns out we closed on both houses Oct. 23rd. Mike and Jessie moved into a local Hotel for a month while rehabbing and remodeling the ranch. Friday I got to see it for the first time since closing. It was unbelievable!!!

He had completely opened up the kitchen, living room, breakfast room and family room. He had moved the Kitchen to the Dining room and moved the laundry area from the basement to a laundry closet just off the breakfast area. He had turned the three bedrooms to one Master Suite and an office. The full hall bath had been completely remodeled. The Master suite was just gorgeous. The bedroom opened into the Master Bath with corner Jacuzzi tub and large closet. To many upgrades to mention here for a 1961 house. Neighbors have come by to see the house and could not believe it. I commented that the first floor looked like it had been built recently from what I had seen in production housing. Their minister was there when I arrived. He stayed just to
see the expression on my face when I looked at the house for the first time.

Mike’s business concentrated on churches in the past. He tells me that he would rather do smaller projects in the future. He even is looking for bank owned houses to rehab and flip. He has already given me several referrals, one of which has turned into a new Pike listing. Again with wonderful people to work with and they are also looking for another house to buy.

Mike has my highest recommendation for a contractor. Mike looks at a house and has a vision for what it can become. His years of experience has taught him well. He is extremely easy to work and to get along with.

I am getting nothing out of this praise except his friendship and future referrals.

His name is Mike Jones.
His company is Visions Construction Services LLC.
His website is www.visionscm.com
His phone number is 317-506-0561.
Mike knows his business!!!

After 11 months of being on hiatus I am back and hopefully with a vengeance. I thought this Blog would be easy to maintain in the beginning but I was wrong.

Last year I decided that I needed to put together a different type of Realtors real estate website. I had seen so many that appeared to be cookie cutter (they all look the same) and I wanted something different. After doing all kinds of research on Realtor websites, I came up with www.TimLordRealtor.com. It took 6 months of my free time but it was worth it. This Blog suffered. It was placed on the back burner.

Well, no more. I spent Labor Day weekend updating the software, updating some of the features and deciding which direction I am going to go with it. Some things will change and some things will remain the same. I have studied the log files of the Blog and determined what people were looking at and reading the most and will steer it more in that direction in the future. Change will take time. It won’t happen overnight

Buy the way…a lot of things have happen this year to the real estate market. Most people would think that the market is down because of property taxes and sub prime loan market. Well I am here to tell you that this is the best year I have ever had. In fact the last 2 months have been the busiest ever. It is a buyer’s market out there and I am here to tell you there are bargains to be had. Stay tuned and I will tell you more…

For one thing, it is a buyer’s market. Today with 929 homes on the market, the Pike buyer can just about find anything they like at just about any price.

The numbers I use for my analysis come from the local MLS. These numbers do not include For Sale By Owners and Production Builders new construction, 2 things that have been on the rise in Pike Township for the past year. When I show the headline numbers to be down 14 – 16 percent over last year, the real numbers are probably closer to 5 percent. Every major builder has be constructing houses in Pike over the past year (see entry made on July 3rd. )

I believe everyone is feeling the pinch of gasoline prices and the unknown of future pricing. I think buyers are staying on the sidelines until we see some price stabilization and some good feeling about the economy ahead.

Because buyers are not coming out and buying, we are seeing record number of listings. A paradox because again it is a buyers market.

David Lereah, National Association of Realtor’s chief economist, said the housing market is flattening-out. “Over the last three months home sales have held in a narrow range, easing to a level that is near our annual projection, which tells us the market is stabilizing,” he said. “At the same time, sellers have recognized that they need to be more competitive in their pricing given the rise in housing inventories. Home prices are only a little higher than a year ago.”

Because of the seller competition, prices will have to get leaner, houses will have to be in tip top condition to compete and negotiations will have to favor the buyers.

Buyers…Come On Down!

I know, I know…I am a month late on my Winter 2006 newsletter. My groupies have been mentioning it. Shortly after announcing that I would have it out by the end of January, I got caught up in my e-PRO certification. Then my business picked up in February. I am putting the finishing touches on the newsletter and it should be posted here soon.