The Internet Changes Everything

The biggest change in real estate in the past 20 years has been the ascendance of the Internet. The vast majority of buyers begin their search for a new home on the Internet, and nearly every home for sale can be found somewhere on the Internet. You can now find your home, apply for a mortgage, acquire homeowners insurance, and conduct much of the paperwork right on the Internet.

Internet Savvy Realtor

Being an Internet-savvy Realtor means more than just have a web site. It is estimated less than 60% of all realtors have web sites, but the vast majority of those are “cookie cutter” sites. We feel the template based sites are all the same and don’t really help buyers and sellers find what they are looking for. Hence, we have developed our own site in-house with information our buyers and sellers regularly ask. We also post information relevant to the local OKC metro real estate marketplace, such as attractions and events.

MLS Integrated on KayPratt.com

I have been pushing hard to bring our OKC Metro MLS system into modern times, and finally accomplished this in 2009. We were the first Realtor^™ in the OKC Metro to have the MLS system tightly integrated with our site. In the past Realtors were forced to “frame” the MLS which did not result in tight integration. True integration means the MLS data is downloaded directly to our web site each night so we have the most current information available to our clients, and this MLS data is tightly integrated to all other aspects of our web site.

Google Map Searching

I led the push to allow MLS downloads so that we could fully integrate listings into my own web site. This allows us to better control the customer search experience and provide additional tools for searching the MLS. We have features such as Google Maps searching. This allows you to click a map of the area you are interested in, and see all the listings that meet your criteria on the map. You can easily change the criteria and see the updated listing, then go view that listing with a click of your mouse. We also have larger images and faster searching than the old framed solutions.

Google Map Search

Automatic Email of New Listings

Another feature of our tightly integrated web site is the ability for my clients to set up an account on my site, create different search criteria, and have my web site automatically send you new homes that are listed on the market that meet your criteria. This is great for investors or for people who have very specific needs in mind, or just clients that are willing to wait for just the right home. You can be one of the first people to know about a new listing when it is posted.

In addition, once you find homes that you like, you can email them to friends and family for their review. This way others can share in the excitement of your new home search.

Saved Home Galleries

When you find a particular home that interests you, my site allows you to save it to a gallery. You can add an unlimited number of homes to the gallery, remove ones that no longer are of interest, share your gallery with your spouse or others, and send me the gallery when you are ready for showings. I can then pull comps on the homes and provide more detailed information such as tax records. Once we have narrowed down the list to your favorites, we can then print out a list of homes for us to visit. This tight integration and features of my site make your home search much more pleasant and efficent.

Virtual Tours

Virtual tours offer buyers the ability to walk through your home and see it as if they were already there. Unlike other realtors who use outside companies with templates to develop their virtual tours, we produce all of our tours in-house. This allows us to highlight features of your home that buyers otherwise might not notice.

So when I got back to our Edmond office I did a little Google research.  It seems canola is a plant whose seeds can be used to make canola oil for cooking and industrial uses.  Canola was first found in colder northern climates such as Canada, but has been bred over the years to tolerate our much warmer and dryer Oklahoma climate.  Oklahoma State University has a page on their web site devoted to canola oil production and they encourage wheat farmers to use it as a rotational crop.  It seems that Oklahoma wheat farmers can use their existing equipment with minor adjustments to plant, grow, fertilize and harvest canola seeds.  The rotation of these crops helps improve the soil for wheat and gives the land a rest from pesticides and disease used in wheat production. Canola production is up substantially in Oklahoma in just the past couple of years, hence the huge fields of beautiful yellow flowers we see across our wonderful State this spring.

Kay celebrating spring in a large canola field in central Oklahoma

Kay with her BMW motorcycle as we stop to explore an old cemetary west of Okarche.

When buying your next home, be sure to get a termite inspection and have them check for other pests. Many of our customers use Oklahoma Termite Specialists who not only handles termites, but also other pests.

City of Edmond Free Hound Hunt – Sunday April 1 2:00 pm

Bring your dogs to the Edmond Dog Park at East 33rd & Rankin for some Easter Egg hunting fun.  Your dog will enjoy sniffing out the Easter Eggs filled with dog treats and prizes.  Dogs must be able to get along with other dogs and people and be on a leash. Free admission.

The Mystery of Calvary Holiday Dinner Theater – March 30-April 1

The Easter play at First Baptist Church in Moore is not your normal production set in biblical times.  This play features fedoras and flapper dresses and is set in the roaring 1920′s New York City.  Grace Griffitts, the production’s director, said she likes to promote it as “an Easter Play with a twist.” The church is at 301 NE 27th in Moore.

Photos with the Easter Bunny – March 24-April 7

The Easter Bunny will be at Quail Springs Mall for photos with the kiddos.

Outdoor Easter Pageant Play – March 31 – April 7

Just an hours drive southwest to Lawton is home of The Holy City of the Wichitas and their long running, very popular Easter Pageant.  Located in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge just northwest of Lawton, this play is held outdoors in an area that looks much like Israel during biblical times.  Free admission.

Pi Sigma Alpha Easter Egg Hunt – Saturday March 31

This hunt for the kids is at Plunkett Park at UCO in Edmond.  It features an egg hunt and free activities for the kids.

Edmond Scavenger Hunt in the Parks – April 7-28

Edmond Parks and Recreation is hosting a month long scavenger hunt at various Edmond city parks.  You can go to their web site, print off a list, bring your camera and go on the hunt.  More information can be found at the Edmond Parks and Recreation web site.

Working with a first time home buyer recently, we had a “hiccup” in the week before scheduled closing. The buyer had turned in all the requested documentation which satisfied the lender. She followed the loan officer’s request to NOT change her financial status in any way, take out any new credit cards, buy a new car or quit her job before closing on her home.  The documentation she presented passed all the preliminary scrutiny by the loan officer.  We continued to proceed with the home buying process. Home inspections were done, water and well were tested and both parties had prepared for their respective  move.  All thing were going according to plan until the file was flagged in underwriting! 

Problem:  Due to an excessive number of overdraft fees on the previous month’s bank statement prior to being pre-approved for the loan.  Although this buyer was well able to manage the loan amount, she had created a false sense of security with overdraft protection!  She wasn’t worried about being overdrawn since she knew she had overdraft protection. A few overdraft fees in the past 60 days were nearly enough to be considered too much of a credit risk by the lender.  After a couple of anxiety ridden days for the buyer, a successful solution was found, thanks to the top-notched lending team we were working with!  She will soon be a homeowner but the possible ulcer could have been avoided with simply a bit of attention to overdrafts.

Your kitchen should be clean and uncluttered.

Now that a home I recently listed has been on the market about six weeks and has not yet gone under contract, I decided to make a visit with the homeowners and discuss options to get it SOLD.  I discovered that some of the de-cluttering suggestions I’d made upon listing the home had not been done.  There is a lot of work and research that goes into determining a home’s value in this market.  Even though an appropriate sales price is determined after reviewing the recently sold comparable properties, the local housing market has the final say on the price. If a listed home is being “passed over” in favor of other properties similar to it, it’s time to evaluate why.  We had a second showing with a buyer and they ultimately selected another home over ours. In this case, our listing had most of the amenities of the other home had but the other home had NO wallpaper, newer appliances and a slightly larger kitchen.  That house is priced at only $1,000 more than ours.  So, the only way we can compete is to either adjust the price to compensate for those shortcomings or change up the home to be more appealing to the typical buyer…and buyers want updated and move-in-ready homes!

My solution:  Remove More Clutter!  The many rugs had to go, along with the table cloth on the kitchen table and all the decor (dusty silk flowers) above the kitchen cabinets.  Also suggested was the numerous dog toys to be removed out of sight from the living room as well as the huge collection of souvenir coffee mugs decorating the spare room.  These are the little things that could mean the difference between a SOLD home and not sold. In short, buyers are willing to pay a little more for what they want.  The best advice is to make sure your home is shown in the BEST light it can be!  De-clutter first, and if it is feasible, paint any rooms that are bold colors, then texture  and paint over any wallpaper.  If re-doing wall colors is not an option for you, just remove any clutter to make the home feel larger, hence making a buyer feel they are getting more square footage for the price!

I am currently working a transaction on a 3 bedroom log home on an acreage in which the appraisal came in at $8,000 under sales price.  We had analyzed data on this unique property and knew the appraisal would be sketchy.  Knowing that we did not want to risk losing this property to another buyer, my buyer agreed to the demands of the seller with the understanding that everything hinged on the appraisal.  Lenders aren’t’ willing to finance properties for more than the property is worth! Now that the appraised value is determined, we negotiated with the seller to reduce the sales price accordingly.

Although buyers are willing to pay a fair price for the property they want, the appraisals have not caught up yet since those values are determined through past sales, not necessarily current value. It’s still going to take another year or more for the market to adjust to the soft economy.

Preston Edmond Homes Sales Report November 2011