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Oklahoma City, OK Real Estate News

By Captain Wayne - Rowlett Real Estate School, Rowlett Real Estate School / Owner and Instructor
(Rowlett Real Estate School)
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
First let me say that this is not a rant, nor is it going to be a condemation of the big bad corporate entities in real estate called franchises. Everybody has to be someplace, and that someplace has to give you a comfort level, and a sense of being in the right place. For me, that all changed at Inman News in January 2008. There I met Jim Cronin of the Real Estate Tomato and started training in blogging. I listened to Jay Thompson, Kris Berg, Teresa Boardman, and others talking about how they took individual control of their business. Then I spent September through November in Houston getting medical treatment for cancer, and I continued my online education, and starting blogging on Active Rain in November. 130,000 plus points later in eleven months, here I am. It was a great ride with...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
Ernie Banks, the eternal sunshine of sports loved the game of baseball. His full quote was "It's a beautiful day for a ball game, let's play two!" he was not as quotable as Yogi Berra but his inspiration was and is contagious. He played the game with pure joy and gratitude and I loved to watch him. He was interviewed on NPR today about Obama's Nobel Prize award, but more about that later. The interview came at an opportune time for me. This time last year I was in cancer treatment. It has been a long hard road back but this week was particularly good. For the first time I felt like I had my mind back. Once again I looked at real estate as pure joy and love. So in honor of Mr. Banks, I would like to put his quotes in real estate terms. Let's play two.  Ernie Banks could have come to the ...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
Distressed homeowners in Metro Oklahoma City are coming in increasing numbers. Although our city is faring better than most, unemployment has risen from 3.& to 6.1% in one year. I was in the mall today, and I noticed that two stores have closed very recently. Both Bacrach's and American eagle Outfitters have been here a long time, but are now gone. If we take this, medical problems, and divorce, people are having problems paying there bills. I remeber the bad old days of the 1980's when Oklahoma was devasted economically, and i can remeber the daily calls in my retail business for when the payments would be made. I have empathy for what these folks are going through, and declaring bankruptcy is not uncommon. Let's first talk about the difference between bankruptcy and foreclosure. If yo...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
The deadline for the end of the $8,000 is rapidly approaching. Normally the last Friday of the month is the favorite time for Realtors to close a home loan for sellers and buyers. The 28th of November is the last Friday, and the last possible day to close for the tax credit is the following Monday. Those days are going to be like the Gunfight at OK Corral, all guns blazing, hostilities on display, and the more than usual biblical wailing and gnashing of teeth. If you are trying to close on the tax credit, do me a favor, if your Realtor suggest one of these two days, just say no. Hey, if you have to you have to, but if you can close with a margin of error, you are better off. Let's discuss why Realtors suggest this. First, the last Friday gives you the lowest closing cost in that month. ...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
I I am a native Oklahoman that grew up in Oklahoma City. What my city has done in the last ten years is remarkable. After the energy bust in 1982, we were in a major recession that in some ways was worse than what we are seeing now, and it lasted for more than 13 years. Then Oklahoma City got religion. No not the Baptist kind, the kind that when you are on the bottom, and nothing tradition works, go for the creative approach. So it the midst of a down market, our city embarked on a surpising ventrue. We would vote a voluntary sales tax of 1C on the public, and revitalize downtown Oklahoma City and surrounding areas. We built a river walk like San Antonio, revitalized the warehouse area called Bricktown with over 80 restuarants and clubs with the river walk going though it. We built a Tr...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
I used to be an avid tennis player before injuries and a serious illness stopped my play, but I still watch the big tournaments. Seeing  Kim Clijsters come back from a two year layoff, having a child, playing two warm up tournaments, then winning one of the 4 biggest championships makes you wonder what she did to rebuild her game. Maybe Realtors should follow her lead. Maybe it would not be for two years, but are we taking the time to re-hone our skill set that this fast changing real estate environment requires? And do we have the courage to do it? I have always been one who stresses education. I am currently signed up with Domus Consulting Group which now has Domus U that gives you 150 webinars a year divided into 3 skill levels. Often I see struggling Realtors who's lack of income ca...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
Even in Metro Oklahoma City where the unemployment is the lowest of any metropolitan area over 1 million, we have short sales and foreclosures. According to our MLS it is around 4% of recored sales by Realtors, so compared to the hard hit areas this is nothing. However, we have had job loss like others, people getting 100% Plus loans, and high debt ratios. When you throw in the job loss, add a little medical problem, and stir in a divorce, you have a volatile brew that calls for action. My team does short sales, and there are very few Realtors in our area with expertise coupled with the desire to do at least three times the work required of a non-distressed property. As Realtors we all know the myriad of problems that confromt a successful short sale, even when we have a proveable hards...
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By Ryan Hukill - Edmond, Realtor, Team Lead
(405home @ ERA Courtyard)
2936 SW 127th St, Oklahoma City, OK 73170 Looking for a ton of square footage, an open floorplan, a true mother-in-law suite, Moore public schools, a swimming pool, hot-tub and huge covered outdoor living area? If any or all of those are a yes for you, this house is a must-see. Check it out:
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
I took my initial real estate class in Oklahoma City in September of 1989. It was something i always wanted to do, but this time it was for changing from a retail career to a real estate one. I had a great teacher which is fortunate to start off well. I do remeber the class getting angry with him though. he wanted to spend time talking about avoiding liability. Many protested saying you are supposed to teach us how to pass the real estate exam! He replied, I am going to teach you how to pass the test in the real estate world. Guess where he started? Measuring the square footage of a home, and how to talk about it, and how to represent it. it is a lesson i never forgot, especially when he told stories of Realtors being sued becasue they told a client that a house was exactly a square foo...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
I help people out in the greater Oklahoma City area to avoid foreclosure. A short sale  is where the lender takes less than what is owed on the property due to a provable hardship, does not send a 1099 to the IRS for forgiveness of debt tax, and does not seek a deficiency judgement which in Oklahoma can be and is being done. We are also a judicial state which means that from the beginning of default whihc is missing the first payment, to sheriff sale where the property is legally transferred, that can easily be a year's period of time. DISCLOSURE: No Realtor who does short sales should ever tell a homeowner to quit making payments. At the very least that is unethical. Unfortunately we live in a Topsy-Turvy financial world where a loan modification does not happen if you are current on p...
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By Rick Jackson, Oklahoma City Real Estate
(Dreams Do Comer True)
The summer is almost over and we don't see a big recession in Warr Acres Oklahoma.  In fact, as we look around the Oklahoma City and Edmond area, there is lots of business and growth.  The Greater Oklahoma City area seems to be doing well in a lot of areas.  In fact the State of Oklahoma is going forward and not allowing fear to overcome her. As Oklahoma City area Realtors, we have seen a new Golden Corral open it's doors in Warr Acres.  Previously, a Taco Bell opened near the same location.  Both of these restaurants are in front of a new hotel that is under construction. AAA should have their new Call Service Center opened by the end of the year near north May and the Kilpatrick Turnpike, and I-40 is in the middle of a total rebuild.  Bricktown is growing like crazy and the riverboats...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
I have now upgraded to the iPhone GS, and it is better becasue of the battery life and spped, but not a quantum leap. What still keeps me firmly in the Apple camp are the applications. Another, and there are many, essential applications is Google mobile. It is differnet than Google earth. On this you hit the microphone icon and it ask you to talk into a phone. Say an address and the map comes up and you can ask for directions. Want to know where the doctor's office is becasue you forgot? Speak their name and it tells you. The obvious advantage here is not having to do the normal Google search while you are driving. You can speak and watch the road at the same time. The best part is that it is free. Google mobile, don't leave home without it.
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
I know that marketing trainers always say that the rant is one of the many ways we can blog consistently, I think that sometimes the idea is misconstrued. Ranting about how bad other Realtors are in my opinion sometimes goes to far. So I want to talk about an experience I had in 1995, and thank you Judi Barrett of Idabel, Oklahoma for inspiring me in your blog today about telling AR something good that happened. Here is the story. A close friend on mind said I have a referral for you, but you may not want it. I was naturally intrigued, and still young enough to think, I can handle anybody. He went on, you will be the 6th Realtor she has dealt with in the last five years if you accept. Oops, maybe I am not so young, but i thought what the heck, just do it so I did. Yes she was difficult....
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
Let me set the scene. The year was 2005, and the market was cookin. I had had a successful career, but this was a year that was off the charts. I had hooked into a very large investor network and it seemed I couldn't keep up with the business. I was addicted. I finally knew what heroin felt like to an addict. It was never going to be enough, and I was up to the task, or so I thought. Then August came, and besides a record heat wave in Oklahoma City where no day was under 100 degrees, I had 20 days out of the month where i spent the whole day with investors in my care doing at least 250 miles per day. It didn't help that time was the biggest spike in gas prices, but my business was on fire, so why worry. In fact worry was all I did. I started having heart palpatations. I would wake up in...
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By Karen Moseley
(EXIT Bob Linn Real Estate)
Short sales are on the rise, even in Oklahoma City. Some lenders offer the forms package on their web sites. Let me help you get through the process and red tape to help you get on with your life.
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
So now it is 1 year plus 1 day. yesterday my post was an unplanned stream of consciousness story about a major event. It could have been a heart attack, or some other terrible disease. What is was, was cancer. It is strange to think that an organism that wants to live has to kill you in the process. Does that make sense? No, but me getting cancer didn't either. At some point we are all going to get some does of reality shoved down our throat, and at some point that body that started out as a baby is going to betray us. But that body possesses a conscious mind, and that mind contains a will, and that will says I want more. i want more achievement, hell i want more failure to overcome. I want to laugh, I want to cry. I want to make a fool of myself, wake up in the morning and figure out w...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
Has it been a year? Time is becoming very difficult to quantify. Has it gone fast or does it seem like forever? It started in January last year. I had gotten back from Inman News in New York  totally pumped on blogging but very fatigued. Then the flu hit me or so I thought. I couldn't get out of bed for a week. Then something started to protrude out of my neck. I thought, this is weird, but maybe it is just an infections I wondered why I was getting so many colds and fever in the last three years, but i was 60 years old and isn;t this a part of the aging process? Then I spoke at an investor meeting in San Francisco in April and Charlene commented that I sounded very nasally. Having taken voice and speech lessons all my life not to sound like an Okie, I thought strange but we all have a ...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
Part 7-Final Thoughts and Advice For Realtors. I wanted to make an even stronger appeal to Realtors who think that they can do a short sale by on the job training. It won't work. Get training, mentoring, and your CDPE designation. Short of that, excuse the pun, if you refer to someone who knows how to do this and cares, you can get a fee and it just might close. Also please remember that this is not a normal sale, and these are very distressed homeowners. You need to act like a PhD psychologist to start. Then you need to understand that if you screw this up people and their families are adversely affected. Are you willing to tell them oh well I tried. That is no where good enough and you should be brought before your local Board and Commission. If you do it right, then credit can be res...
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By Joe Pryor, REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties
(The Virtual Real Estate Team)
Part 6-Red Flags We have gone through the process of what constitues a short sale, what you need to put together for the mortgage company, and how to choose a Realtor and finding the right buyer and buyer's realtor. Now let's go into a few Red Flags to watch our for. Red Flag #1. Lack of transparency. More lenders are calling for an arms length relationship. BA/Countrywide is especially firm on this. if i want to buy the short sale and leave the owner in as a renter, they will probably kick it back, as they have in relatives buying the house. yes, I can buy a short sale for myself, but I need to put it on the open market for rent. This is becoming more an accepted practice with lenders for accepetance of a contract. Red Flag #2. True hardship. Let's say for arguments sake you made a bad...
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