Bill and Sherry Kaplan's (riverwoodsilrealestate) Blog

I am currently in Las Vegas attending classes to obtain a Council of Residental Specialist (CRS) designation. The class I was most worried about was "Financing & Tax Advantages for Agents & Their Clients taught by Dale Carlton.  I am so good at math that I have to take off my shoes to count to 20...

We just finished our Village Spring Clean-up celebration.  All our neighbors came to our home for coffee and bagels and then volunteered to clean up all the streets in our area including Deerfield Road.  I learned a lot about human nature during the clean-up.  All along Deerfield Road I picked up...

The trees are flowering, the trillium is blooming, the ducks and blue herons have returned and the real estate market is picking up.  Spring has come.  This Saturday, May 8th the Riverwoods Preservation Council is sponsoring a program on caring for our trees at the Riverwoods Village Hall, 300 Po...

In the past two weeks I have attended 2 mini conventions and 2 seminars describing the current real estate market.  Some of the news is uplifting i.e. January and February of this year shows an increase in sales over January and February of 2009. However I have recently learned that since 2007 on...

Well despite the efforts of the government real estate values are not what they used to be. Well I guess neither am I.  I have attended several recent seminars which are telling us that the government will soon stop buying up Mortgage Backed securities which will lead to a rise in interest rates....

I have not written anything since this past November when Bill and I attended the NAR Convention in San Diego.  As President of the North Shore Chapter of Women's Council of Realtors I was required to attend and we had a great time and heard some wonderful speakers like Brian Buffini, Matthew Far...

As the wife of the Mayor of Riverwoods one of the most fun things I get to do each year is organize the annual halloween party.  This year Riverwoods held its eighth annual Halloween Party at the Riverwoods Village hall.  There was a horse drawn hay wagon, free Pizza, free hotdogs, hot cider, pop...

I have spent the entire day learning all I can about short sales and forclosures.  I attended a continuing education class taught by Lori Cox who did an outstanding job of explaining the in's and outs of short sales and foreclosures.  The main thing I learned is that this is a constantly changing...

This year I am president of the North Shore Chapter of Women's Council of Realtors. On  Wednesday, October 21st at 6:00 P.M. The North Shore Chapter of WCR will be presenting a Talent Show to raise money for abused and battered women and children.  The money will go to A Safe Place in Waukegan an...

On October 4th Riverwoods celebrated its 50th year as being founded as a Village.  It was a golden day for the golden anniversary of the Village.  There were hotdogs, brots & ribs and photoboards showing the Village 50 years ago.  The attendance wasn't quite what was expected, but the Bears were ...