How do you answer your mobile phone? What brings this to the forefront for me is the way some Real Estate Professionals answer their phones.    It can be frustrating to call another agent and get a voice-mail message that has never been setup. At other times you can get a message that is very family oriented.  My mobile phone is my business line to the general public. My outgoing message states the Brokerage that I am affiliated with and my name. When I answer my phone even at 9 o'clock at night it is by identifying myself as I answer. How frustrating is it when in the middle of the afternoon you make a call to another agent and they answer very casually. You ask if this is Susie Realtor with XYZ Realtors and the response is "oh yea that's me"Please if you are going to publish your m... 07/19/2007

 Hamilton One person renovated three row houses in the downtown area, and a whole new trend began. Restoration fever has come to Hamilton and there is a resurgence of community involvement. Even the local government has joined the movement, by adding brick sidewalks and street lights that look like old-fashioned gas lamps. Those with an enterprising spirit will find a splendid variety of architectural designs in this city with a small town feeling. There are fine old row houses and grand mansions in the historic district; a combination of small houses and mansions in an area called German Village; and some neighborhoods have grand old homes on streets that are divided by a tree-lined median. With big city amenities and small-town charm, Hamilton continues to retain the character of the ... 07/17/2007

     I am a Homesteps qualified buyers agent for my area. In addition to the buyers agent incentives and buyer incentives that Homesteps is currently offering they are using additional means to promote their properties.     If you are not familiar with Homesteps it is the property management branch for Freddie Mac. All of the homes that they have have for sale are listed for sale by brokers.      This past Sunday they ran a quarter page ad in the Sunday paper listing some of the properties they have for sale. All the properties that they advertised were available for under 100,000.00!  What do they see coming in the future that they feel they need to dispose of these properties so quickly?  07/10/2007

  I had the pleasure of talking with a very nice lady yesterday. She has had some financial trouble and wants to sell two of the homes she owns. She has had some trouble trying to keep up the payments because of health issues and money is staring to run tight.  To try to cure some of financial woes last week she took an option that she thought would help her. She filed a quit claim deed on her primary home to her boy friend. Now the story gets even more interesting it seems that the boy friend is married. In Ohio we have dower rights so the wife now owns half the house.  Normally it would be easy to get the wife to sign off dower and have the boyfriend quit claim the home back to original owner but it seems that the wife is nowhere to be found.   The wife has quite a bit of money to pla... 07/02/2007

  I own an old Italianate style home in a Historic District as an investment property. I had previously thought that the property which was originally two single family homes with a common wall  was built in 1900. This is due to the fact that this is the date recorded in the county records. Butlers county suffered from a devastating flood in 1903 and most of the county records were destroyed.    I recently had access to the Records of the Ohio Historic Preservation Office and found out a little more about the property that I own.  The home was built in 1881 by John P. Davis (I am trying to find more information on him) who owned it until 1913. Henry Golden who was superintendent of buildings and bridges for the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad lived in the home on the right side f... 06/23/2007

  Do you watch out for your neighbors? There is a lender owned property that is is an area where I own property. The property was let go and has some damage so in my opinion and that of the listing agent it is on the market at about twice what it should sell for. Yesterday as I was driving past I saw the front door open and no cars neer it. I called the listing agent and left a voice mail. I went to the front door to look in and saw a blanket on the floor of the main room.  I did not enter the property as that would be the job of the listing agent or the police. When he called I let him know what I found and he said the he would call the police and meet them at the property. He also said that he would let the asset manager know that the property need the front door repaired as it was ki... 06/08/2007

  In the historic district that I own some property in the Health Department came through for inspections. They addressed many issues in the are. Some of the homes had major exterior repairs that needed to be done. Some of the homes that have been let go have issues like rebuilding the box gutters or repairing pillars on porches.  I have already taken care of the work order issued on the one home that I received a work order on! I have also apologised to the nearby neighbors that know me well as I try to keep my property well maintained. By the way my standing in this community is such that I was the first non resident invited to the annual Sashay.  The building that I received the work order on is a Italianate that was built in 1899. The home has wonderful 6 foot tall front windows wit... 06/07/2007

  There is a 4 family building available for sale in an area that I own properties in. The owner is managing the property herself and lives about an hour from the area.   She and her husband have owned the property for two years and the property now has work orders on it to bring it back up to shape for the historic district. The taxes on the property have risen by 400.00 per year since they have owned it.   In an effort to keep the properties units full they have achieved dropping the income on the property by 150.00 per month all on one year leases. So in a nutshell the income over two years has dropped by 1800.00 and fixed expenses have risen by 400.00 for a total of a 2200.00 swing in cost of ownership per year.  They put the property on the market about 6 months ago and are having ... 06/07/2007

  One of our local television channels has done an investigation on Home Depot. One of the things that they have found is that one home owner had a new roof put on their home and since that was done it leaks. There have also been problems with carpet installation they report. In my area Home Depot has had 66 Better Business complaints in the last 3 years!Would you recommend a company that had 66 formal complaints in a 3 year period? Here is a link to the story it will open in a new window. http://www.wlwt.com/news/13360413/detail.html  www.Find1Home.com   05/22/2007

Sometimes it is nice to work with a recognized brand in Real Estate. The broker that I choose to work with was just namedthe 33rd largest broker in the United States!  That is a great achievement as we only work in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and a small portion of Indiana. Recent MLS data shows that if the second and third largest brokerages in the Cincinnati metro area joined together the brokerage that I choose to work with would still be number one!   www.Find1Home.com 05/21/2007

This past weekend we had a home tour and promenade in one of our local historic districts. I own two homes in the area so I attended in the late afternoon. The event was well attended and the police had the streets blocked because of the event. Some people just felt they had to drive around the street closed signs posted by the city and they received a traffic ticket for their efforts. Here are a couple of photos of the event.    www.Find1Home.com 05/21/2007

With all the worry about the environment there is a company that will run an environmental report about any property in the U.S. I became aware of this through my involvement with BZZAgengt a word of mouth product testing company. If you would like a free environmental data report on your home just post on my blog and I will email you the details. Here is a little about the company.   *************************************************************************************When people buy homes, they research nearby schools, crime rates, average property value...so what about potential environmental risks? Up until now, home buyers, sellers and real estate professionals didn't really have any options.That's all changed now that Environmental Data Resources (EDR), the leader in commercial env... 05/19/2007

Morgan Township Morgan Township is named after General Daniel Morgan, a Welsh officer during the American Revolutionary War. Morgan Township's 36 square miles is in the southwestern corner of Butler County, straddling the Indiana state line. Welsh immigrants founded the township in 1802; many Welsh descendents still call Morgan Township home today. Over 5300 residents live in the villages of Okeana, Macedonia, and Shandon and surrounding areas of the township. Stately Federal homes, traditional ranches and modest frame homes dot the landscape of the region. Like its Welsh ancestors, Morgan Township residents have a strong sense of community and are happy to welcome newcomers to the area. TransportationSt. Rt. 126, a winding country road, is the primary access road through the township, ... 05/04/2007

Protecting Yourself From Identity TheftIdentity theft is on the rise, and most people are now aware that they need to protect themselves from becoming victims of this crime. There are many ways your identity can be swiped, and below are some tips on ways to protect yourself.• Do not give your social security or bank numbers to anyone over the telephoneor online.• Shred or destroy personal documents. If you do not own a shredder, rip up thepages by hand.• Check your mail daily and destroy unsolicited credit card and check offers.• Do not keep personal documents or items in an unlocked car.• Check your credit card and bank statements monthly. If you don't recognizeevery debit and credit, call your bank or credit card company immediately.• Beware of online credit Web site imposters and mak... 05/04/2007

My oldest son will be discharged from the Army soon and has started his final leave today. He is looking forward to returning to the real world and starting his college education. Just a thought and the creed that he has lived by for the past four years.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recognizing that I volunteered as a Ranger, fully knowing the hazards of my chosen profession, I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor, and high esprit de corps of my Ranger Regiment.Acknowledging the fact that a Ranger is a more elite soldier who arrives at the cutting edge of battle by land, sea, or air, I accept the fact that as a Ranger my country expects me to move farther, faster and fight harde... 04/30/2007

 I was recently involved a transaction that became a nightmare because of an attorney. My clients made an offer on a property went through inspections and we were set to close in one week. They were very excited to be in their first home! I saw early on that there may be a problem at closing because the names on the sale contract did not match the names recorded with the county as the owners. I requested that the title search be done early so we could avoid having a delayed closing. The title company ran the search and found out that the property was in an estate and the seller was the executrix and had the right to sell the property so we were all set.Now comes the problem. The attorney for probate decides to file and distribute the property by the will instead of letting the property ... 04/29/2007

  Recently an agent put a property on the market that she had purchased. It was an investment type property-- a duplex that needed to rehabbed but the price was right. She was offering the property of 8,900.00! The only problem was that to show the property you had to go to the office to get the keys! Thats right the keys were at the office.  That would not normally be a major obstacle but the office was 35 miles from the property! Would you make a 140 trip to show one property that was on the market for 8,900.00?  I think that this was her way of getting both sides of the transaction which she was able to do.  What kind of things have you run into that make it hard to show properties?  www.Find1home.com   04/08/2007

SPRING  Celebrate spring by cleaning the garage. Hold a yard sale, or organize a community yard sale with neighbors. Dispose of paint thinners, household cleaners and pesticides properly. Contact your city's department of public works to find out when the next scheduled collection of hazardous materials is.  Check and clean or replace furnace air filter.   Shut down and clean furnace humidifier (if applicable), and close the furnace humidifier damper, as this will not be needed until next heating season. Have central air-conditioning unit checked according to the recommendations of the unit's manufacturer or every two or three years. Replace the filter in the forced-air system. Clean debris from the exterior condenser or heat pump. Check dehumidifier and clean if necessary (if applicabl... 04/02/2007

  This is a new and unique program for people with Real Estate questions to get answers anonymously. The program is designed so that someone from the area the person is in can answer them. What help is it if someone answers the question from a different part of the country and in their reply says that "this is the way we do it here but I am not sure about your area"?   Another thing that I have seen is a general question about an area that has been answered by one person quite well but another person has to put a post on that only says "contact me". If the information you have given is of worth and the people need a professional to help them they will contact you! If you need more background to answer the question just respond and they will get the message.   This is not an avenue to sp... 03/09/2007

 This is the third large historic district in Hamilton.  This area was not even a part of hamilton until 1854! Rossville Historic District: Hamilton! Rossville, on the west side of the Great Miami River, existed as a separate city from 1810 to 1854, when it merged with the city of Hamilton. The area is bounded by Main Street, The Great Miami River, Millikin Street and South "D" Street. The district contains 116 buildings, most of which were built between 1840 and 1900. The district now protects buildings to aid in an understanding of the community's history by future generations. Some of the districts most significant homes are seen on Ross Avenue and "D" Streets. Windows, gables, roof styles, porches, columns, stone lintels and steps and other hallmarks help identify the architectural ... 03/04/2007