In a tough market, some sellers believe that changing agents will somehow change the value of a property.  It does not.  There is only one reason a home does not sell ... PRICE.  Several months ago I was on a listing appointment and I showed the seller that in my professional opinion the market value for her property was about $110,000 to $115,000.  Keep in mind I don't have a magic crystal ball but several similar homes sold in that price range in the past few months. The seller really did not like my price and thought I was "giving it away" and she listed with another agent for $134,900.  It was clearly overpriced.  It was vacant and was somewhat dated.  Still a vacant, dated home will sell at the right price.  Today I was in the area and I drove past the home, it was listed by anothe... 06/22/2008

In a ultra competitive market curb appeal can make a HUGE difference.  Many sellers get tunnel vision an simply look at just their own property.  Keep in mind, that buyers are looking at the surrounding homes and their curb appeal or lack thereof can affect the sale of your home.  If your neighbor's yard is unkept or it might not be a bad idea to "pay it forward" and be "neighborly" and perhaps even offer to help somehow to improve their curb appeal.   In a way, it is form of staging the neighborhood.  Obviously, for legal reasons you would have to obtain the permission of the homeowner.  Recently, I had a seller mow their neighbor's yard in order to help improve the appearance of the neighborhood. Thanks, David Matney, CRS,GRI Alliance Real Estate 06/20/2008

I would like to thank Jamie Grayson-Berglund for speaking yesterday on the Destination Midtown community development project.  Jamie is the Executive Director of Destination Midtown and she spoke about the many opportunities and upcoming plans in the Midtown area.  As a member of the OABR education committee, it is great to have a fantastic turnout on these seminars.  The area covering Destination Midtown is 24th St to the east, Saddle Creek Road to the west, Cuming St to the north and Center St to the south.  They have a website and if you are a Realtor you can advertise your properties in the Midtown area for sale on their website for FREE.  CLICK HERE to visit the Destination Midtown website Thanks, David Matney, CRS,GRI Alliance Real Estate 06/20/2008

Saturday night a tornado touched down in Omaha, NE doing damage to a number of homes. In fact some of the homes affected were within blocks of my own. There were numerous downed trees and privacy fences. The car wash at 144th & Harrison St. had the roof completely torn off. Many homes suffered severe damage. The areas hit the hardest were the Millard Highland and Discovery subdivisions. In both subdivisions I have houses listed and the houses are vacant - one of the sellers lives out of state. In an effort to provided outstanding service to my clients I checked in on each property to look for damage. Luckily neither had any. Another client of mine was not so lucky. The new home she and her family had moved into just weeks before was completely destroyed. Fortunately no one was hurt.   T... 06/13/2008

I am compelled to write a "Them-Them" that both deeply saddens me and makes me extraordinarily proud. This has been an extremely tornadic weather season and the last couple of weeks have been more than a little terrifying for us in the Midwest.  Wednesday, June 4th an EF2 tornado hit Ceresco, Nebraska. (Ceresco is between Lincoln and Omaha). My three step-sons live there in a farmhouse with their mother and luckily made it to the basement on time. The town was shut down and without power for several days as significant damage had occurred. Blessedly there were no serious injuries or deaths. My step-sons are still staying in Omaha since a large tree fell on their house and apparently is not habitable at this time. Sunday, June 8th at approximately 2:15am, two tornadoes hit Omaha. The wea... 06/12/2008

Thank you for checking out my May Real Estate market report for Omaha NE including Downtown Omaha Condos, Midtown - Dundee, UNMC, North Omaha - Benson, Northwest Omaha, West Omaha Homes, Elkhorn, Ralston and Millard homes that are for sale on the Omaha MLS. . Active Listings, as of June 11, 2008 and Sold Data from May 1, 2008 to May 31, 2008.  Months supply is the number of active listings divided by the number of sold listings for the month. The May l real estate market was up slightly from April to May.  Douglas county months supply dropped from 8.21 to 6.79.  Total number of homes sold for Douglas county increased from 473 to 597 homes or up 124 homes.   With the warmer weather, more buyers are getting out and looking at homes.  I continue to believe there are a couple of wild cards ... 06/11/2008

This is NOT a drive by! This is a terrific family home that you wouldn't believe it's a short sale. Nicely kept HUGE fenced yard, pantry, vinyl siding, newer roof, vinyl windows- a whole bunch of updates. Even the bathroom space has been maximized with a good sized linen closet along with additional cabinet space. Neighborhoods don't get much better than this. Mature trees, no neighbors across the street, low traffic and quite an established neighborhood. Easy access to highway, shopping and schools. Don't miss out of this one. Despite that it's a short sale, all it needs is maybe a carpet shampooing, one bedroom door replaced and just add your family. Don't miss out! Listing Brochure 3930 S 33 St - Upload a Document to Scribd Read this document on Scribd: Listing Brochure 3930 S 33 St 06/10/2008

  Below is a summary of the real estate market in Omaha for the month of May, 2008.   Total Number For Sale 5918 Total Number of Accepted Offers 939 Total Number of Closed Sales 897      % of sellers that accepted an offer 15.87% Absorption rate in months 6.30 These numbers encompass all residential listings in the Omaha Area Board of Realtors Great Plains Multiple Listing Service. Absorption rate is the amount of time it would take for all of the current properties for sale to be sold, or absorbed into the market, assuming that no additional properties are put on the market. At the moment there is a 6.3 month supply of homes available. This is up slightly from last month (Omaha Real Estate Market - April, 2008 ) when there was a 5.79 month supply. This increase is due to a higher numbe... 06/07/2008

As a follow up to my blog The Real Estate Book I thought I would post an interesting anecdote. Last week I received a call from Jody Baker from the channel six news (WOWT). She was doing a story on the real estate market and had been looking through The Real Estate Book for a house near their news station. She found my listing at 4014 Burt St. and wanted to use it as a backdrop for their live shot on the four o'clock news.  The lesson here is that when this reporter needed to find a home that was for sale she turned to The Real Estate Book, not the regular newspaper. This shows that effective advertising works. The Real Estate Book is significantly more expensive than the newspaper, which is why most agents use the newspaper, but it is much more effective, which is why I use it.  Trumm ... 06/07/2008

    On Tuesday, June 10th there will be a benefit for Kathy Friskopp of CBSHome .  Kathy is battling cancer and she is undergoing her second round of chemotherapy.  She lives alone and relies on her real estate income to survive.  Her strength is down, and it is hard for her to keep up the pace needed to stay on top of her monthly living expenses.  We want her to concentrate on getting well.  In order to do that, she needs all the help we can give her.  Please use this opportunity to give back to her.  Attend the fundraiser next Tuesday.  A $10 entry buys you lunch.  John Wanniger of Amerispec has also agreed to donate $2 per person for everyone in attendance.  Kathy is active in WCR and is a very nice person and are prayers are with Kathy at this time.   Thanks, David Matney,CRS,GRI Al... 06/05/2008

Looking for an Omaha Real Estate Agent who will work hard for you? Look no further! In the ever changing real estate market, you need an agent that understands how to leverage the Internet to properly market your home. With BounceMyListing.com you are connected only with select CBS Home Real Estate, NP Dodge and Prudential Realtors in Omaha. Why let an unknown third party service recommend who you should interview? Researching Real Estate Agents online and selecting only those who best match your needs is time well spent. After all, selling your home is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. If you want personal service and comprehensive marketing, please contact me. I would be happy go head to head with any Omaha Realtor.  For more information go to my website. Best re... 06/02/2008

One of our stragetic partners at Alliance Real Estate is ServiceOne Home Warranty.  ServiceOne is a locally owned company and we have been absolutely thrilled with our partnership.  As a result of this relationship, we provide each of our selling clients the opportunithy for a FREE home warranty coverage for our listing clients during the listing period.    In addition to the FREE home warranty program for sellers.  ServiceOne provides an EVALUATED home warranty program.  The evaluation ensures that their are no pre-existing conditions that may prevent or exclude home warranty coverage.  In some cases, this evaluation could not only save a deal but it may save someone's life.  For example, during a recent transaction a safety condition was noted during the evaluation that was a life thr... 05/29/2008

Why sellers should have a pre-listing inspection.        Your homes problems are often invisible to you.  We all get used to our own problems.  Other people, potential buyers are not so kind.  The unbiased eye of the home inspector will allow him to create an objective report on your homes condition.       Informed with the inspection report you can then choose which issues to address and repair.   Repairs completed prior to listing are usually less expensive than when completed prior to closing.  Or if larger issues do arise, you can have estimates prepared, so potential buyers know reasonable repair cost. The above concerns will probably arise prior to closing anyway, and in today's market it is important to be proactive.    When you have addressed your issues, this sharpens your home... 05/15/2008

We all know kitchens and bathrooms often sell a home - and this kitchen will do it for this house!  We just finished a remodel for resale job on this house, kitchens and baths included.  Take a look at what a difference we made in the kitchen. Project Details: - Removed chandelier over eat-in area of kitchen (they are never in the right place and often take away from the view out the window); added can lights throughout the ceiling spaced 6' apart - Replaced dated vinyl flooring with stunning 20" x 20" tiles - Replaced dated and boring laminate countertops with granite (my granite vendor is so inexpensive it doesn't make sense NOT to do granite) - Replaced dated tile backsplash with new tile to coordinate with new counters and flooring - Removed very dated table and chairs and rented a ... 05/15/2008

The Spring Parade of Homes takes place in Omaha between May 11th and May 18th. There are 74 entries which includes residential homes as well as condos with price range of $111,000 to $800,000.  A nice way of spending an evening with your family or friends! 05/11/2008

One common mistake many buyers make when buying a home in a newer subdivision is assuming a not so busy street today will not be a major throughfare in the future.  Often builders in a new subdivision will put all the "bells and whistles" into the model homes that typically back to a major street.  At the time of construction many of these roads in west Omaha were simple two lane streets that did not have a heavy traffic load.  Years later, these simple two lane roads are now a MAJOR four lane throughfares with heavy traffic with mature commercial and residential development. If you are buying a home in a newer subdivison it may be worthwhile to look at a development that was built 15 to 20 years ago.  Look at the streets that are now MAJOR traffic hubs.  As the traffic increases your r... 05/09/2008

In order to encourage agents to complete my requests for feedback after showing one of my listings I offer a $20 gift certificate to the agent that closest guesses the sales price.   Congratulations to Pat Hoppe, Terry Forman, Howard Fouts, and Jeff Tu who each won a $20 gift certificate to Chili's for submitting the closest guesses on the sale prices of listings of mine that sold in April. This is my way of thanking agents for taking a minute to provide valuable feedback and at the same time provide my clients with outstanding service.Trumm Team - Alliance Real Estate, Omaha, NE Your Home Sold within 120 Days or I will Buy It! 05/08/2008

Below is a summary of the real estate market in Omaha for the month of April, 2008.Total Number For Sale 5785Total Number of Accepted Offers999Total Number of Closed Sales817  % of sellers that accepted an offer17.27%Absorption rate in months5.79These numbers encompass all residential listings in the Omaha Area Board of Realtors Great Plains Multiple Listing Service.Absorption rate is the amount of time it would take for all of the current properties for sale to be sold, or absorbed into the market, assuming that no additional properties are put on the market. At the moment there is a 5.79 month supply of homes available.Compared to March (Omaha Real Estate Market - March, 2008 ) the market has changed little. There are 141 more homes for sale than there were last month but homes are se... 05/03/2008

We can all agree that print advertising is not nearly as effective as it once was. The Internet far surpasses print ads in effectiveness. Print advertising can still be useful though if done intelligently. Every month I do a full page ad in the The Real Estate Book. Why? Because it gets read. It is the most widely circulated real estate publication in Omaha. Why not just advertise in the Omaha World Herald? Simple, I want my ad to be seen by buyers and buyers read the The Real Estate Book. Why would I want to run an ad that it going to get seen by people that have no interest in buying a house? On top of that The Real Estate Book is the third most popular real estate website in the world (Realtor.com is number one - and yes, I advertise heavily there too). Of course all of this exposure... 05/02/2008

My listing at 8606 S. 142 Ave in The Meadows subdivision of Omaha sold last week. It was on the market for only 33 days, but the escrow period for closing was about two months. Comprehensive marketing and outstanding service are what are responsible for such a quick sale; but credit for such a smooth closing go to John Beers at CBSHome Real Estate. He represented the buyer and helped manage the transation through to closing. Thanks, John!Trumm Team - Alliance Real Estate, Omaha, NE Your Home Sold within 120 Days or I will Buy It! 05/02/2008