I am so proud of our Keller Williams office in Overland Park!  For the last five years I have seen our office grow some of the finest agents around.  Our particular office has trained and developed numerous agent leaders who are now providing expertise in other area Keller Williams' offices.  We have just learned of two more agents spreading their wings!

Mark Willis is moving over to the Lee's Summit Keller Williams office to be a Team Leader.  He has been a great asset to our office and will be a great Team Leader in Lee's Summit!

Shannon Steere is moving over to our Shawnee office to become an Operating Principal.  She has been our team leader for the last two years and has done a tremendous job of teaching and helping the rest of us grow!

I am so excited to see who will come into our office next and be blessed by all the training and support that is shared here at Keller Williams.

I am generally known as the Webster Team guy, but in this case I want to shout at the top of my lungs.... "I am a PROUD MEMBER OF KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY PARTNERS, INC.!!!"

Bob Webster

 

Cool Tool!

For years I have been replacing washers on faucets.  No big deal.  I have always had a love/hate relationship with bathtub faucet handles.  Either they come right off and I am a happy person or they are so corroded that I end up practically pulling he whole faucet out of the wall! (not so happy)

I cannot believe I did not know about this tool that has been around for as long as I have. ( A very long time.)  It is a handle puller.  Very simple, there is a pin that sticks in where the screw comes out of the center of the handle and then two clamps hook on the sides of the handle, twist the knob and the handle pops off!  Who knew simple things could bring so much pleasure!

 

The other day I was heading across town to meet a client. Do I take 119^th? Do I take old 56 and cut back? How about the wonderful new 127^th street bridge?  No, not me, I decided to risk it and cut through town on Santa Fe.  You probably already know what happened.  I got stuck by the train...   While sitting there admiring the beautiful bridge construction, I wondered when it would be completed.  GOOD NEWS!  The trains should be on the bridge by late February ‘08! It will be completed by the end of 2008!

 

Here is the plan according to Olathe News - Dec. 17 '07

 

Railroad Elevation Project Approaching Milestone
The project to elevate the east railroad tracks at Ridgeview, Santa Fe, Park and Loula streets is approaching a significant milestone.  The first set of railroad tracks on the elevated structure are expected to be functioning and open for trains in mid January, weather permitting.  At that point, trains will be traveling on both the at-grade and elevated tracks.  Vehicles will still need to stop when the arms are down for trains traveling on the old tracks.

The second, and final, set of tracks are expected to be operational in mid to late February, weather permitting.  At that time all train traffic will be routed to the elevated tracks.

After the elevated tracks are functioning, train delays will be eliminated on Santa Fe and Ridgeview, but additional roadwork will continue for several months.  Additional work will also be conducted at Loula and Park Streets to significantly lower the roads, allowing for safe travel under the new bridges.  Those crossings are expected to open in the fall of 2008 with the entire railroad elevation project complete in late 2008

 

I was at a gathering this weekend and there was some serious concern about how terrible the housing market is.

I tried to explain it this way...

In my opinion, there seems to be two markets out there.  One is torn up foreclosures and overprice unprepared personal homes for sale.  The other is correctly priced cleaned up ready to move into houses with home owners who understand what it takes to sell a house.

There have been many times that I have shown buyers the houses in the second category and the house is sold before we can make an offer on it.

The mentality of start high then drop your price just does not work.  These days, start high and you don't get showings.  Most buyers use a Realtor because we can analyze the area around a house to determine a fair price.  If it is not priced right, the buyers just go down the street to the next house.  Please understand I am not saying you need to price a house unrealistically low, I am saying price at the right price for the area and people will look.

The next issue is how the house looks.  If you have looked at houses to purchase before, you probably ran across one with the funky paint or smell.  We usually spend at least a month or more ahead of listing a property advising our sellers on what needs to be done to their house before it goes on the market.  Often it involves painting, cleaning and a storage unit somewhere.  The good news is the people willing to work with us usually don't have to put up with showing for long because their house sells.

Okay, off my soapbox....  The point is... do not panic about what the media is saying about the market.  If you want to sell your house and are willing to do what it takes, it will sell.  It is really not that bad out there for what I call the "normal" market.

President Bush unveiled his plan to remedy the Mortgage Crisis currently plaguing the country.

It's pretty simple actually:

1. Keep the rates from adjusting for a while
2. Give homeowners time to switch to a Fixed Rate mortgage
   
3. Allow the economy time to recover

SO... If you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage... Now's probably the time to be calling your banker to get it switched to a 30 Year Fixed.

Not sure if you qualify for the rate freeze? Give us a call...