I wrote an article this week about closing another short sale.  Knowing that most buyers and sellers don't understand the steps it takes to close a short sale, I want to explain more about the procedure and what to expect.  There is a definite difference between a bank foreclosure and a short sale. Specializing in Springfield Missouri short sales and bank foreclosures was just another way to improve my business.  I didn't know it would be so difficult to help sellers communicate with lenders to sell their property to potential buyers.  Today, not understanding the procedure may cause the seller to lose their home, the buyer to miss a good buy and a realtor working for no pay.   Many sellers in the Springfield Mo Real Estate area are slowly getting behind in their payments and facing th... 05/10/2008

 Springfield Missouri Attractions - Springfield Missouri Real Estate Springfield Mo is loaded with wonderful attractions that draw newcomers and visitors.  Among one of the great parks is Wilson's Creek National Park.    This was the first weekend we didn't work real estate since the first of the year.  Perfect timing, with such a beautiful day.  Jumping on our trike, my chauffeur (my hubby) and I decided we needed more photos of the Springfield and surrounding areas.  Wilson's Creek National Park was our first stop.    Located 10 miles Southwest of Springfield, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, was fought on August 10, 1861.  Wilson's Creek was the first major Civil War battle fought west of the Mississippi River.   Today, it is a drive thru park with 5 walking trails, a 7 mile trail for h... 05/05/2008

 Our website has just been updated!  Now buyers can research and find bank foreclosures in Springfield Missouri directly from my website. Bank foreclosures are the hottest selling homes for real estate in Springfield Missouri.  Thanks to our website guru, David Teefy, our website now, in cooperation with RealtyTrac, allows consumers to request additional information directly from our website.   What consumers do not realize is, homes that have not been foreclosed on are wonderful buys.  Sellers are recognizing that in order to sell their homes, they have to be staged, all repairs completed and homes are updated.  They are offering home warranties, paying closing costs and are pricing their homes to market with prices comparable to bank foreclosures.  P.S.  Not all bank owned properties ... 04/26/2008

This beautiful 6 bedroom, 3 full bath, 2 car garage home is move in ready!  6 Bedrooms, 3 Baths, Built 1973, 2600 Sq Ft. $137,900Home has been completely remodeled upstairs with ; gorgeous new kitchen cabinets and added bar, brand new appliances, ceramic tile, 2 totally remodeled full baths, new furnace, new A/C, new vinyl siding, new carpet upstairs and downstairs. It comes with a very large, mostly fenced in yard and is priced to sell! This is a lot of house for the money!Click HERE for more information! 04/17/2008

If you live in Ozark or Springfield Missouri, you're all too familiar with the 60-65 interchange. Traffic headed South to Branson or North to Springfield getts pretty congested on this outdated cloverleaf intersection. With the continued growth of the area, traffic is only going to get heavier.  Thankfully MDOT is going to provide relief with the rebuild of this area. Here's a link to their website for detailed information. Hwy 60-65 reconstruction. If you're looking for property in SW Missouri please check out my website and give me a call!www.teamknowles.com   04/12/2008

Springfield Missouri Real Estate - January 2008 Reading the Springfield Real Estate magazine this week, I discovered the market is taking it's toll on many real estate agents.  112 agents dropped their license, with 28 agents joining the Multiple Listing System.  This leaves 2574 Springfield Missouri Real Estate agents working in the Springfield and surrounding areas.       Springfield Missouri Real Estate Statistics for January  Homes Currently On The Market 5450 Average Active List Price 192,223 New Listing On The Market 1581 New Listing Average List Price 179,928 Number of Homes Closing Escrow 340 Average Sold Price 158,903 Average Days On Market 78 If you currently have your home on the market, or getting ready to sell, remember to price your home to be competitive with the current ... 03/09/2008

Kay Van Kampen | RE/MAX Solutions | 417-839-4534 Washington, Springfield, MO Home For Sale, Greene County, Springfield, Missouri 4 Bdrm Single Family House offered at $175,900 Year Built 1897 Sq Footage 2,929 Bedrooms 4 Bathrooms 2 full, 1 partial Floors 3 Parking None Lot Size .14 acres HOA/Maint $0 per month DESCRIPTION President Taft Lived Here !! Just kidding! But if he had what would he think of all the new built-in conveniences?? The previous owner spared no expense when remodeling this historic 3 story. New hardwood/tile flooring, kitchen with new black appliances & stainless sink, new lighting & windows, gas fireplace, permanent siding, 2929 sq ft of space! Even has an unfinished walkout basement, corner lot and fenced yard. Don't wait too long or this historic home in Springfi... 03/02/2008

Are you one of those real estate buyers waiting to buy until the market "bottoms out" to be sure you get the best deal?  If so, maybe you should rethink your strategy.  The February 25, 2008 issue of Time Magazine has a great story on page 54 that makes a great case for buying now.  To be more specific, if you compare a mortgage payment on a typical house at today's price and interest rate with the same house at a later date with a devalued price and the interest rate then, you might see that it is best to buy now.  Let me give you an example:  the average home in the Springfield, Missouri Multiple Listing System (MLS) sold for $147,800 in 2007.  If you bought that house on a 30 year loan with 20% down and at a 6% interest rate, your monthly principal and interest payment would be $708.... 02/21/2008

  I recently worked a contract on one of Springfield's luxury homes.  Negotiating offers is not something that is taught in real estate school.  You learn after a lot of trial and error.Remember, before Designated Agency was introduced to Missouri real estate, all agents worked strictly for the sellers (buyers beware).  Agents met together with the seller and negotiated offers.  Today, designated agency allow realtors to represent clients in many different ways.  Offers are sometimes lost....not from lack of trying by all parties....but from lack of communication. During our negotiations, the buyer's agent was able to tell me a little about the buyers and why their offer was so much lower than the list price.....comparing the price to another home in the subdivision.  Also, including pe... 12/20/2007

Southwest Missouri Equestrian Property with HomeWhen it comes to Missouri horse property, southwest MO has several to pick from; especially when it comes to horse training facilities.  Horse property can be found around the greater Springfield MO area.  Here is a list of horse farms for sale that consist of at least 10 stalls, with living quarters/home, horse training facility, and in the Springfield MO real estate area:MO Horse Property Real Estate For Sale:22stalls             47acres            1bed 1bath       Lebanon, MO              $225,00022stalls             40acres            3bed 1.5bath    Bolivar, MO                 $249,90013stalls             20acres            3bed 2bath       Marionville, MO           $289,90011stalls             19.82acres       3bed 2(2)bath    Marion... 11/20/2007

Preparing a home in today's market has become very critical.  In a good market it was always important, however, now it's a must.  Even if you are not planning on selling, a yearly checkup on your home will prevent major problems and renovation later.  Realtors are great at giving advice, so I started looking at my own home this year.  It is now 10 years old, with some vinyl flooring, formica countertops, the exterior lights have corroded, door knobs looking a little shabby.  Knowing we needed to update our carpet, we purchased hardwood flooring back in March and stored it in a spare bedroom until we were able to install it ourselves.Throughout the year, we've slowing replaced some of the exterior items.  This week, we spent our evenings tearing out carpeting and installing hardwood flo... 11/10/2007

Are Springfield Homes Priced Right?With the help of Active Rain, showing a prospective client the market statistics today, I used the   Springfield MLS statistics to design the comparison of Solds to New Listings. Springfield Mo homes compared to last year: We were able to see the number of listings increased, the number of sales have decreased....... to be exact, sales for 2006 was 6583 compared to sales for 2007 of 5809. Listings for 2006 were 13820 compared to 14923 for 2007. What this means to the consumer: If you are in the market to purchase a home, now is the perfect time to buy. Springfield homes are now being marketed to reflect the competative market. If you insult the seller with a low offer, expect them to reject the offer. They have already adjusted their prices to reflect ... 10/18/2007

  Many of you remember when real estate was about listing and selling homes by using a Springfield MLS Book that came out once a month.  Then the first computer that was directly connected to the MLS and the books eventually disappeared.Today we research homes from the internet.  MLS is on the internet, our database is on the internet, and all our great personal websites are internet based.  Newspaper advertising is becoming less a necessity, with knowledge of how to drive traffic to your website more important.Last week we drove to Tulsa Oklahoma and Bentenville Arkansas (home of Walmart) to share how we are driving traffic to our websites.  We immediately let the groups know that I am not a public speaker, I'm a working Springfield Missouri agent just like them and I'm only getting st... 09/22/2007

We are quickly running thru the year , and the Springfield Mo real estate market still remains stable.  Fewer homes sold for the month of August, with an increase of new listings on the market.  The median sold price from August, 2006 is up an average of $10,000.  This figure is an average of all homes in Springfield and surrounding areas.Figures courtesy of Springfield Mo MLS  In the Springfield, Mo. Area Real EstateWe here at the Kay Van Kampen Team continuously monitor local real estate statistics for Springfield Mo Homes, to keep our clients informed and ahead of the real estate trends.  Here is a break down by MLS zone.    Want to know the value of your home?   If you would like a free list of homes for sale in this area/neighborhood, or would like more home information about the S... 09/18/2007

This is one of those days that driving on the motorcycle is fun and a lot of work all in one.  We started out from Ozark Missouri to drive to Joplin Missouri to assist other bikers bring all the Multiple Sclerosis bikers ride safely back to Willard Missouri.This is the second year we have been motorcycle escorts.  And every year, the MS run just keeps getting bigger.  It is such an amazing feat to see all the bicyclists ride so far.  This year it was approximately 180 miles.  Stopping in Mt Vernon Missouri, we quickly photographed the courthouse on the square.       A few bikers waiting for the train.  Perfect timing to take a short break.    On to the next rest stop.       Before we reached the last rest stop, we came across this farm of Buffalo.  After taking several photos of this wo... 09/16/2007

 This week, my assistant and I spent two days teaching other RE/MAX agents about meta tags and how to drive traffic to the top of the search engines.  Still being new at SEO, showing other agents how to optomize their sites was as difficult to teach as it is to learn.The sessions also included "Realty Blogging".  Without this great book and advice from Active Rain, we would never have learned how blogging has become such an important tool to selling Springfield Mo Homes.If you haven't had a chance to read this great book, you can also read about blogs in Active Rain.  Kay Van Kampen 09/15/2007

I do not know if it is just me noticing or if the area is getting hit with a large number of events again.  This weekend and next there are an overwhelming number of things to do.  I guess you just pick the ones that you think you would enjoy the most.  Here is a run down on some of the events I have noticed:Today, Friday, Sept 7, 07, is Springfield's downtown First Friday Art Walk and Live Music on First Friday Commercial Street; it has been a while since I have been to an art walk and I would like to attend (weather permitting), mostly just to hopefully run into old friends.  Time permitting I would like to check out Commercial St. too.  11th Annual Japanese Fall Festival, Sept 7-9, rain or shine, at the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden; click here for more info.  We went last year and... 09/07/2007

Welcome to Stone Meadow, a Ron Stenger Community. Stone Meadow is an exclusive residential community located at the edge of Springfield, Missouri in the pristine woodlands of the Ozarks. Residents of Stone Meadow enjoy homes of traditional elegance in a setting of rolling hills, forests and streams, all within minutes of shopping, schools, churches and medical centers. Stone Meadow features gated entrances, heavily wooded building sites and extensive outdoor recreational amenities and common areas. The development of Stone Meadow was carefully planned and environmentally engineered with state-of-the-art land planning designed to enhance the natural beauty of the area. Stone Meadow is one of Springfield's premier gated communities.  For information on listings in Stone Meadow or the res... 08/17/2007

 Among the listings we currently have, a new listing is a Springfield bank repo, located on a major street, complete with a house full of STUFF!  The normal bank repo is usually empty - this is actually the first home we've helped clean out.According to the bank, photos must be taken before and after the home is cleaned out.  For those of you that don't handle repo's, the bank's policy expects the home to be cleaned out,  The policy of  this particular bank, all property must be placed outside on the front lawn, photo's taken, then the property must stay outside for a period of at least 24 hours.  Any remaining property then must be hauled off.Yesterday my assistant, hubby and grandson had the privilege of cleaning house.  They spent hours setting personal belongings in  the front yard.... 08/05/2007

When the family moved to the Springfield Missouri area, our lives made a dramatic change.  We were used to a fast paced style of living and came back to a much better way of life.  Meeting with a Springfield Missouri realtor, we quickly found a home just outside of Springfield and settled down.Now, 30 years later, Springfield has become a booming area in Southwest Missouri.  To the north is Kansas City, Missouri, south is Branson, Mo., Northeast is St. Louis, Missouri and Southwest Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Improved major highway enable traveling quick and easy.  Population within the city of Springfield is now over 400,000.Surrounding the Springfield area are additional towns that have expanded through the years to become the suburbs.  Nixa, Ozark, Rogersville, Willard, Republic, Straf... 06/30/2007