Quick email tip

Not related to real esate, except that I learned this at a Real Estate conference, but if you hate junk email try this tip to reduce what you are getting. Set up a free gmail or yahoo account -- I have a new one, GwendaMathews@gmail.com -- very easy for me to remember what with using my name and all!!!-- that you use just for purposes of ordering on-line and getting information from websites that require an email address. With holiday shopping approaching, I'm much happier with the on-line ordering I'm doing knowing that the junk email won't be getting into my "good" email that comes directly into my phone, etc. and uselessly fills up my memory. I do check that account once a day but I can tell it's prevented a significant number of junk mails coming in my regular inbox.

You can set up a gmail account through Google (www.google.com). I promise it's really easy for even the technically challenged.

Now if I could only get rid of all the junk email that I already have...

Happy Halloween...

It should be a wonderful night for Lexington trick or treaters. One of my clients, new to Lexington, asked me our local trick or treat "rules" yesterday and I thought it might be helpful to post them here:

They're pretty simple: Trick or Treat is from 6-8. If you want visitors, turn on your porch lights! If you don't want them...turn off your porch light. I'm hopeful that we'll have lots of visitors at our house who won't be too afraid of my hairy pet spider. And, if my son (who'll be going as Hillary Clinton?!?!?) and his best friend Wyatt (aka John McCain, I hear) come to your door, do watch how much of your candy they take. I've overheard some things that make me worry for our neighbors!

Perhaps this is how NOT to stage a house for a successful showing!

Happy Halloween!!

Frosty morning--time to winterize!

Brrr...it's supposed to be 60 this afternoon but I can't believe it was 29 degrees this morning. Seems like it's way too cold for Lexington at the end of October. I'm going to need my mittens to trick or treat tomorrow night! Will Mathews has promised me all of his Reese Peanut Butter cups so I'm getting really excited and am thinking about fasting for the next 36 hours in preparation!

This frosty morning is a good reminder to check around outside your house for hoses that may still be attached to your house. I unscrewed one the other night during a walk-through and I can't tell you how many times broken hose bibs turn-up on home inspections. Also, most of us our turning our furnaces on for the first time this winter too. Don't forget to change your furnace filter and if you have gas heat, it's a good time to make sure that you have a working CO2 detector. While you're at it, it's also recommended to check your smoke alarms when the time changes.

Have a great morning!

Holy Cow & many many thanks...

Boy was I surprised when I got a call yesterday morning to tell me to read the newspaper! I was voted Lexington's #2 Favorite Realtor in the Herald-Leader Reader's Choice Awards! I still can't believe it and I'm pretty sure they meant me even if they did put 2 "t"s in Mathews. Thank you so much to everybody who took the time to vote for me. I am unbelievably honored!

no good news...at least not in our paper...

Just heard a funny and true story about our local media and the housing market (and by funny, what I mean to say is ironic). Apparently our LBAR president was interviewed about the housing market in Lexington by the Herald-Leader. After hearing the statistics that our real estate market isn't really suffering, especially in comparison to news from the rest of the country, the reporter decided that the article wouldn't be worth writing and passed on the story. Hmmm...seems to me that maybe our community would like hearing some good news.

mileage calculator

This is too cool and a great tool for home buyers & sellers trying to figure out walking distances from a house to a particular spot like a school, library, etc. In fact, I could probably play with it all day which I'd better not since I need to set up some house showings for tomorrow! I found it trying to figure out how far one of my favorite runs is (just over 4 miles by the way in case you're curious...) but everything relates to real estate if you're a Realtor, right?

Thanks to Google earth maps, you can use this fantastic link http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ to go from one starting point to another. I popped in my house as the starting point and dragged it around using points where the road curves and bends for my running route all the way back home. The best part was that I use a cut through from my neighborhood into another neighborhood that I've never been able to calculate by car because it's just a foot path. This let me put a point on the end of my street onto the street I cut through too. I did figure out that you have to be pretty meticulous in plotting the various bends in the road.

Local market news

News from our local Board statistics reinforce that real estate really is local. In spite of all the dreadful news we keep hearing, compared to last September, single family residential sales are up 1% while townhouses and condos are down 2%. Existing home sales are up 1.4% for the same time period. Existing home sale median sales price is unchanged when comparing September 08 to September 07. Inventory is down 7% while pending inventory is up 0.9%. The Housing Affordability Index jumped to 164 in September because of slightly falling mortgage rates. Overall, September 08 vs. September 07 shows more market improvement than a year over year, year-to-date comparison.

In my own micro world of real estate, my statistics from last year to this year compares favorably. Hopefully, my 2009 will continue to buck the negative news in the media and will compare equally well.

Room Layout

I found a super new place to play on the web today: www.Havertys.com . There's a great room planning tool there that lets you lay-out a space and than arrange furniture in it. You can use their products or a generic list of furnishings including bathroom fixtures, walls, doors, fireplaces, etc. I know there's always been software sources for furniture lay-out but I love that this one is free! I tried my own living room which has way too many windows and doors, plus a funky wall and a parlor grand piano that I've been decorating around for years. I managed to get everything in, including a shape for the piano.

I wish this tool had been around when we moved into our current home. It sure could have saved a lot of furniture moving and some questionable purchases I've made over the years. While I don't think it replaces the function of a good interior designer, for the DIYer or new homeowner it could sure make arranging a room and making furniture choices a lot easier!

Fall Home Decor

Feels like Fall!! Yeah, Keeneland opens this weekend and I was quite chilly at Will's football practice last night. Isn't it wonderful to sleep with the windows open?

I came across a great little piece about selling houses in Fall and staging for the autumn season. I thought they were really great tips and wanted to share the link. One of the comments that I really agree with from the article is that putting your house on the market in the Fall or Winter isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think we all know that Spring and Summer are the busiest real estate market times but buyers that come through in the fall and winter tend to be more serious and don't have as many choices to look at so frankly I think it evens out.

Here's the link from the RE/MAX website and think about decorating for the season whether you're staging your house to sell or just enjoy Autumn like I do. I'm making my favorite pumpkin, cranberry and chocolate muffins tomorrow to celebrate October myself! Let me know if you want the recipe (It's from Creating a Stir but I've embellished it :-))

http://www.remax.net/stories/mainst/20080925/8729.htm