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A great change is occuring!  Currently when you list your home with an agent in the Grand Rapids area who is a member of the Grand Rapids Board of Realtors, such as Katie K, your listing has appeared on the GRAR.com website.  This website reaches seller and agents in the Greater Grand Rapids Area.  As of July 14, not only will your listing appear on GRAR.com, it will also appear on SWMRIC.com (South and West Regional Information Center).  What does that mean for exposure of your home?  A lot!  SWMRIC reaches agents and buyers in the South and West Michigan counties of Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun,Cass, Hillsdale, Ionia, kalamazoo, Kent, Lake, Manistee, Mason, Medcosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, Ottawa, St. Joseph, Van Buren and beyond!

On July 9, all activity on GRAR will be stopped.  All information that is currently on this website will remain there, but agents will not be able to change or add any of that information until July 14.  On July 14, it will be business as usual except…the listings will also be on SWMRIC, getting YOU maximum exposure for your home.

If you have any questions or concerns about this transition, please call our office.

Congrats to Keller Williams! For the first time, Keller Williams Grand Rapids ranked #1 in the Grand Rapids Magazine’s Reader’s Poll for best Real Estate Broker, voted on by the consumer and published in the December 2009 issue.

http://www.grmag.com/home.htm

Well this is it!  The home stretch.  The last lap.  The final week of the Christmas rush.  Some of you are sitting there, patting yourself on the back for getting it all done in time, others are frantically running around overwhelmed with all there is still left to do.  Whatever stage you’re at, there are always a few extra touches you can be doing at the last minute to make the holidays special.

Dilemma: You still have a few extra gifts to get with little time or money left to do it with.  And of course, there are always a few people that unexpectedly gave you a gift that you didn’t expect to receive from.
Solution: Don’t tear yourself up over it. Think simple. Think fast. Think cheap.
1) Buy a box of cheap, plastic wine glasses and fill the wine glass with your favorite holiday candy.  For a special touch, add a wine glass charm. 
2) Order a subsrciption to their favorite magazine.  It’s quick and easy if you go online.  Buy the first magazine at the store so you can have something to give them, along with a card explaining there’s more to come!
3) Homemade Food.  There is nothing easier to do, but still well received.  It can be as simple as holiday Chex mix or as difficult as your grandmother’s famous cookie recipe.  The key is presentation, which is what makes it a present. Wrap it up in pretty paper and bows or put it in a Christmas tin or box.

Dilemma: You already got a present for the most important people on your list, but you feel like you need to get them something extra because you don’t feel like your gift is “good enough.”
Solution: Do something personal.  It always makes all the difference when that person felt that you put a lot of thought into them. 
1) Make them a burned CD with their favorite songs. 
2) Give them a “day with you.” Write out an itinerary spelling out where you will go and what you will do. 
3) Create a customized collage print  filled with pictures of the two of you together.  Both Walgreens photo center (http://photo.walgreens.com/) and Google’s Picasa (http://picasa.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=19539) are great tools for this.

Dilemma: You want your home to look perfect for when the family comes over, but you feel that the decorations need a little more punch.
Solution: Three fast fixes to give your home some holiday magic.
1) Ornaments are your best friend – Fill a few bowls with shiny ornaments and beads and place strategically around the house or place them in the house plants.
2) Wrap your wall art in Christmas wrapping paper and pretty bows till each wall has its own present work of art.
3) Ribbons are also your best friend: Tie red ribbons or gold and silver string on the arms of your chandelier, on the backs of chairs, around doorknobs or on candlesticks.

My final and last dilemma is one that everybody seems to experience during this time of the year, prepared or not.  Holiday stress. The solution? Breath, smile and appreciate the good moments.  It only comes one time a year and there’s nothing more magical when it all comes together in the end.

GOOD NEWS! The United States Congress have passed a new legislation that expands the tax credit to grant up to $6,500 credit to current home owners purchasing a new or existing home between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010! This gives you, my valued client, more time to prepare to buy a property.

According to REALTOR.org, you qualify for the tax credit if you are current home owners purchasing a home between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010, who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight years.

CLICK HERE to visit the NAR Website that expands on the extension of the move-up buyer tax credit!

Contact Katie today for more information!

Local Greenridge Realty Offices to Become Part of Keller Williams Franchise

Two years after expanding into the Traverse City region, Grand Rapids-based Greenridge Realty—the exclusive operating agency for Grand Traverse Resort properties—will disappear from the area on December 21.

Doug Meteyer, broker and owner of the local Greenridge offices located at the Grand Traverse Resort and at 534 Front St. in Traverse City, plans to sign a license agreement with Keller Williams Realty International. Keller Williams is the third largest real estate franchise in the United States.

Not only will Meteyer retain both offices and all current agents but also, he says, “the [Keller Williams] business model calls for us to double in size in the first six months.”

What prompted the switch? Two things: First, Greenridge began closing and consolidating its offices around the state last spring in an effort to stabilize its budget. Second, says Meteyer, “I have always looked at the conventional business model of how real estate operates and have never been thrilled. When I started looking into Keller Williams, everywhere I thought there was a gap in the traditional model, they had a solution.”

A lean model that offers profit sharing with its agents and encourages them to work remotely to reduce overhead and an agent’s cost of doing business, Keller Williams is a debt-free company that is prompting a “paradigm shift” in the real estate industry, says Meteyer.

As part of the Keller Williams franchise, the Meteyer’s outfit will continue to be the exclusive operating agency for the Grand Traverse Resort. J. Michael DeAgostino, Public Relations Manager for Grand Traverse Resort & Spa is enthusiastic about the news. “It’s a very tough market out there right now, so anything Doug can do to make it better as far as representing and selling—we’re in favor.”

Article courtesy of The Traverse City Business News, Copyright © 2009
http://www.tcbusinessnews.com/archives/view.php?archiveId=608

How accurate is the information you receive from the market snapshot feature offered on the Katie K website?  The market snapshot is far more reliable than similar information provided by other real estate sites such as Trulia and Zillow.  The detailed local market data and analysis provided when you request a market snapshot is generated from the MLS used for Grand Rapids, The Grand Rapids Association of Realtors (GRAR.com). 

Ever heard of Facebook?  How about Twitter? LinkedIn?  There are countless social media sites on the internet today keeping everyone updated on virtually all subjects. Our office has begun focusing more on the use of social media to reach out to clients, buyers and sellers alike, and keeping these individuals updated on Grand Rapids Real Estate and the Katie K Team.

In order to harness the power of social media and networking, the Katie K Team has launched a new profile for Katie on Facebook. You can go through the link on the homepage of this site, Katie-K.com, or directly through Facebook at  www.facebook.com/katiekarczewski.kwrealty.  All of Katie’s currently listed homes can be seen with full detail under the “Real Estate” tab.   There is also a “FriendFeed” tab that displays all of Katie’s Tweets direct from Twitter.  Come check it out and stay connected!

The 40th annual Heritage Hill Homes Tour is also about to kick off.  This tour highlights homes in the historic Heritage Hill district and highlights the historical and architectural preservation of homes within this neighborhood.  The home tour runs from October 3- 4 and showcases nine homes and four public buildings.  The homes range in style from an 1867 saltbox to a 1905 prairie-influenced style home. 

For further information on the tour or to purchase tickets, please visit the Heritage Hill website at: http://www.heritagehillweb.org

Are we heading back to basics?  You bet and what could be wrong with that?  A whole new set of rules has emerged out of the ashes of the mortgage meltdown.  Stated income, subprime mortgages, drive-by appraisals are out of vogue!    The Greatest Generation, so eloquently authored by Tom Brokaw about the sacrifice of the World War II generation said it all.  The standard for living within your means was set by them. Twenty-percent down, 30 years mortgages, paying it down and living the dream.   The pendulum swings between buyer/seller for leverage of negotiating the best deal. Today, it is in the buyer’s court.   If you want to sell, then you have to not only be on the market but in the market.  And that means being priced at or below the market conditions to create value.  In the absence of value, money will always be an issue!   Create the sense of urgency for those buyers to feel a value proposition and you just might end up with a full price offer and/or a bidding situation.   And what you give up on one end, you will benefit on the other!  Not only from a purchase price but a base for your taxes too!

Katie was featured in a positive real estate story on WZZM 13 news on Tuesday evening. Reporter Steve Patterson highlighted the rising home sales in the Grand Rapids Market for 5 straight months.

Julie Reitberg, Grand Rapids Board of Realtors Chief Executive officer shared the information that June saw 1,081 single homes sold, up from the 740 single homes sold in January. There is hope this is a trend and sales will continue to grow through the year.  Julie Reitberg attributes the positive sales numbers to the incentives and lower priced homes available.

The other side to this story is that the trend with the price of home continues to decline. Home prices this year average at 113,923 versus the average price in 2006 of 163,266.

Still not yet a trend, but the sales number up and foreclosures and inventory are starting to decline.  Good indicators that our housing market is headed in the right direction.

Please follow this link to read the complete story and watch the video clip:
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=111606&catid=48&provider=email