Rick Hogue - REALTOR

Yes it was hot and yes it was humid, but the fact of the matter is that with some time off and working smarter not harder you can accomplish lots of things.

This past weekend I had an open house on Saturday, wrote a contract that same day on another property, showed my property on 22nd street, and previewed another one for a different client. After that my wife and I went to play Bridge and had a great time. On Sunday I ushered at church, found another property for a buyer that we will look at next week, negotiated my contract and had it accepted, previewed another home, went swimming and out to dinner with Holly to celebrate the end of a great week. I hope that all of the Fathers and Father figures out there had a wonderful holiday. I sure did. Now it is off to get real busy this week on more endeavors.

It was a very good weekend last weekend and I hope to repeat it this weekend. On Saturday I had a couple of people come through to see Latania but both needed to work on a few things before we can get them into a house. However on Sunday in the first hour and a half I had 9 couples come through. Two of them came through 3 times each and I wrote a contract on the house that day and another Keller Williams agent from the Highlands office wrote one. By Tuesday at 12:45 my client had an accepted offer on the house and we hope to close before the 17th but it may be as late as the 28th. We have to wait and see on the moving of his money seeing as it is a cash deal.

This weekend I am having one for Karen Kraft on Ridgehurst Lane from 2-4 on Saturday. I am late in getting this part on the site so I will just tell you a little about it. The house has over 2300 sq ft of AG space which includes 3 full baths and 5 bedrooms, a nicely laid out kitchen with granite counter tops, a custom deck on the rear, manageable back yard, and a 2 car garage. In addition this home has another 1200 sq ft in an unfinished basement. All this for $245,000. Hope you will consider this one for your short list to see and if you would like me to show it to you call me at 502-649-3431.

Sunday I am revisiting a home that is listed with Jackie Schaeffer and before this week the house was at $529,900 The price was just reduced to $499,500. This house is amazing. From the foyer you can go left or right to the formal dining room or to the formal living room with pocket doors to create an intimate sitting area. Hardwood floors carry you to a massive great room with a wall of windows and flooring of Burber carpet. Included is a large gas fireplace and cafe doors leading out on to the back deck. To the left of the great room is the large eat-in kitchen with all built ins and a 3 season room on the back. Cross back to the hall and go to the 3 car garage, or a half bath or on down the hall to the master suite which is enormous and has a master bath with jacuzzi, separate shower, and walkin closet. The room also has several windows and doors that open to the 3 season room as well. The flooring is carpet in the master with inlaid tile and stain glass in the master. On the opposite end of the house are 2 more bedrooms with a jack and jill bathroom with separate vanities for each. This is what is known as a split ranch. But wait, we aren’t finished. If you go downstairs there is a large family room with cafe doors leading out to a lower patio. It has off white carpet, built in book cases, and a fireplace. To the right is an area ready for your pool table with another room to the rear for relaxing or it could be turned into an exercise room. Down the hall is an office that is 11′ by 12′ and at the end of the hall is another oversized bedroom with windows and walk in closet.  if you go straight ahead from the stairs coming down from the main floor you go to a door that opens to an area that is roughly 30 x 14 for storage and has another door that leads to another area about the same size with french doors and a work room for lawnmower, storage, hobby and crafts, or anything you want it to be. All I can say is wow what a very big house at approximately $100 per square foot. Total living space excluding all of the storage and garage is 4950. This is a one of a kind deal you do not want to pass up. Come see it on Sunday the 7th from 2-5 or call me for a private showing. The address is 17103 Ash Hill Dr., Louisville, KY.

Well this is a big week for me. I just had my first closing ever on the 26th at 5:30 and I will have another closing on Friday at 4:00 pm on my listing on Blue Lick.I am looking to get more listing because of the sale. It has taken time to get to the closing table but only took 29 days to get the contract signed. The first home I worked with the buyer about 6 weeks to find the right investment property for him and he is loving the new place to start working on.

Saturday at 2 I have an open house at 8216 Latania Dr and it goes till 4 pm. The house has 3 bedrooms and 1 bath and would make a great starter home or one that wants to expand the basement into a full living area. At a newly reduced price of $119,000 this is a very good bargain in the PRP area. The garage is great and has a gas heater in it as well for all those people who love to have a work shop. I have invited about 47 interested couples to the open house and seen right at 100 homes in the area giving out fliers.

Tomorrow I go into the Crossgate subdivision to spread the word about the open house on Sunday from 2-5 at 1902 Warrington Way. This is really a spectacular home with great hardwood floors, a wondeful view from the backyard, a great finished basement, 2 fireplaces, Florida room and much more. The owners are looking for offers on this property so bring them by this Sunday and I will be glad to get them to the listing agent.

I plan on having an open house every Saturday and Sunday during the summer unless I get so busy showing homes that I just have to put them on hold.

If you are looking for a home in Kentucky or want to sell or trade up on a home in Kentucky give me a call. I can help. This is the best time to buy your dream home.

Today I am holding an open house for a truly spectacular new construction home in Longwood in Goshen Kentucky. Over 3700 square feet of finished space plus a 2800 square feet in an unfinished walkout basement. From the grand entrance way to the private study with fireplace to the chefs kitchen with granite countertops, this house is excellent. Come out and see it today. The address is 13203 Wellington Way. You do not want to miss this one. With a $40k customization fund or 4.25 fixed rate interest this just sweetens the pot for this beautiful home by the people at Paragon Homes. Are you trading up? We may be able to work something out for you on a trade as well.

Last couple of months have been kind of wild for me. 3 times in the hospital over a very large kidney stone, which is now gone, and then a month of heck working to get hackers out of my technology companies servers. That kind of puts things on hold for a while and really puts you behind the 8 ball to get things going in a new career. However I also made 1 listing, 1 colisting, and as of today I have two deals under contract. One is for a property I listed out in Shepherdsville and the other is an investment property for a great new investor over on 19th street.

Anyway, I wanted to get back and let everyone know that this is the best time to sell or buy a house. Buying is the most important right now especially if you are looking for a way to increase your retirement income, pay for college for your kids or just to have another way of increasing your monthly cash flow.

There are flip opportunities out there but I still look at buying and doing simple updates and working on the low income housing market is one that will pay steadier and can show a positive cash flow faster. So many people are having to give up their homes and need a place to live. Apartment living is becoming tighter due to this fact so home rentals and/or lease with a purchase option are viable ways to invest and make money in this market.

The federal government is already working on new programs for low income housing on renovations and new construction to help states to cope with the reduction in housing for low income families.

If you are interested in programs for rehab of homes that could help you finance your improvements vist the HUD site for more information.

And it does not matter if the home is an 80k home or a 500k home those who want can get an 8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. That means if the income for the household is less than 150,000 per year you can qualify for this free money. Give me a call and I will send you a flier on this by email.

I will be putting in more later on what is going on in the market for Louisville and surrounding areas.

So the market on homes in your area is bad. Homes are selling for rates as far back as 2000. And you bought your home in 2003. This does not mean you are losing money if you sell it for less than what you originally bought it for.**

Currently a home bought in 2003 for 150,000 may have a value of 125,000. However when you look at the house that was a 250,000 home you can see a difference in price where it will sell for 212,500. Difference being 37,500. You as an upgrade buyer sold your home and bought a new home and saved an additional 12,500.00.

I welcome you to come to my site and do a free market analysis of your area to see how it is doing. It will give you an overview of properties and what they are selling for. Then do another for the area you want to move into. You will most probably be amazed that the houses you thought would cost much more are now more reasonably priced.

Look to trade up or even contact me to talk about becoming an investor. There are many resources out there and many of them cost but to talk to me only costs your time, and hopefully a listing on your home or a purchase contract on a new piece of property.

Remember back in the 80s when we heard the same story about how it was the best time to invest in stocks? That you need to buy for the long run and not try to do the buy sell market as blue chips were the best way? Well one of the things I suggest at this time is to invest in real estate. THEY ARE NOT MAKING ANY MORE LAND! Stocks will come and go. New ones will come today and be a flash in the pan tomorrow. But land is forever. Improvements on the land are the other investment. A well maintained home will appreciate in value. Not like the leaps and bounds they have in the past but still they will appreciate in value over the years. Also if you are using the property as income generation they can be a positive cash flow in a very short time frame. Are you going to have to do some work on them? The answer is yes. Upkeep is a must or value goes down. If you have expendable cash now is a great time to find some real bargains on property, many of which need little or no work to make them a rentable or lease to purchase property. The last part of the sentence before is key in my opinion. With more people having problems with credit and unable to get credit to buy, you will see more people trying to build their credit back. You can help them with lease to purchase programs that range from 1 to 3 years in term. Ask me how this works I am happy to help you get with the right people to get these relationships going.

Bank owned properties otherwise known as REOs are not strong as of yet in our market but may soon be as we are seeing a rise in short sales and foreclosures. Other areas of the country are already experiencing a sharp increase in REOs. I can help you find them and get you into these properties.

If you are not sure what an REO is or just want to talk about them and other real estate opportunites, contact me and we can have coffee or tea or a soft drink if you prefer.

Till next time,

Rick Hogue
502-649-3431

Right off the bat today we had a great state of the company program and we moved ahead of ReMax into the 3rd largest Real Estate Company in the United States. The comradery of the people at this convention was unbelievable. The sharing of ideas and success plans and how agents got to the point of reaching their goals was insane! The classes were a major help in establishing some additional areas to concentrate on over the next few months.

I will be including tips on green living, what to look for in a home that will last for the rest of your life and various tips on staging your home with some specials from various organizations. If you would like to become part of my Lowes Real Estate Partner group and receive discounts on items you buy every day then just email me at info@propertybyrick.com.

Marketing your home to the best got even better with the new digital Virtual Tour camera that I purchased from a local vendor. Now I can put unlimited tours of your home on your listing and have them work from several locations.

Let me talk to you about listing your home. If you are in the market to sell your home, want to move up to the next level or you are feeling stressed due to possible foreclosure. Call me I can help you in all of these areas from existing and new construction.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Well you know by now that the stimulus package has passed and unlike my last post  which was really upbeat about it was kind of a shortfall from what we hoped for. The tax credit ended up being $8000.00 for first time home buyers but that is someone who has not owned for 3 years. One of the other things to notice is that if the property is held 3 years, no repayment is required.

I think this will really effect those first time buyers who are looking in the 120 to 190K range but will still be a help for those in a higher purchase bracket.

My next post will be some time during the Keller Williams Family Reunion that I am currently attending in Orlando, Florida. I am looking forward to all of the courses and informaiton overload that will occur during this 5 days. Look for more notes after I digest some of the information and look for special tips and tricks on how to get your home in the best selling order without costing a fortune.

Buyers will be seeing some of my notes on how to generate your dream home by making some of my check off lists. More info is available by emailing me at info@propertybyrick.com.

Till next time.

So today the Senate voted to allow for the stimulus package to be put into operation and to boost the sagging credit market. Now onwards to the House and much debate and possible passage by the 16th of the month.

The way it is currently written is that if you purchase a home you will be given 10% of the purchase price up to a maximum of $15,000.00 on the next home purchase. In my humble opinion this will mostly effect those home buyers purchasing homes in the 300k and lower market. Think about it. at 300k 15,000 is 5%  ($1612.85 per month P&I at 5.47%) for a loan downpayment meaning someone who has a home that sells for 200k with 30% equity will have a 20% down on the 300k home, all expenses for closing, and some money left over to help with small changes such as paint and wallpaper on a new home. Not only that but they also would not have to pay mortgage insurance on the place thus keeping their monthly payments lower due to a smaller escrow payment each month. So now you have two houses that were in play that have now changed hands and the 200k house could use the 15,000 to put 10% down and still have enough to pay for closing and potential small changes in paint and landscaping.

So if the other portion goes through with a fixed rate of 4% mortgage refinances will be rampant. Look for much higher closing costs on these refinances but in the long run it could really save money to consumers. The same not from above now becomes $1360.63 per month P&I. A $252.22 per month savings or in a family of 4 approximately 1.5 weeks of groceries. Or the owner could take the cash and pay 2 extra payments per year which would reduce the time of the loan from 30 to approximately 17 years.

This could mean a surge of buying on the market of houses for primary residence for the next 6 to 12 months.

I have mixed feelings about the stimulus package as I am sure many of you do as well. One thing to take in to consideration on the unemployment skyrocket for January is that all of the extra Christmas help was also let go in January which is a normal thing. The numbers did go up substantially but we must consider the seasonal help lose in the mix too. The stimulus package is great for the real estate industry and for the banking industry but what is it doing for the manufacturing  and retail systems in place now without them jobs are mcuh shorter.

Enough for now, time to sleep.