About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about Oklahoma tornadoes, and at that time I guess I should’ve knocked on wood. 

You see, when I wrote this post, I had only been caught up in a tornado twice in my life.  At about 1:45 this morning, that changed.  I found myself, my wife, and my kids crouched down in our laundry room, riding out a tornado that hit dangerously close to home.

It had been a normal night for the most part.  I was up late working and had the TV on, just to keep an eye on the severe weather that had been buzzing around the state for quite a few hours.  Once the high winds hit our area, I started paying a little more attention.

You see, night-time tornadoes, IMO, are the most dangerous.  During the day, you can step outside, take a look around at the clouds and get a pretty good idea of what’s going on, but at night you have to rely completely on what the guys on TV are telling you.  Thing is, they’re going almost completely by what the radar shows because, big surprise, they don’t have any better vision at night than you and I do.

So, they’re showing radar coverage of the ‘hook’ and how this slow-moving storm is just dumping tons of rain and hail all over the metro.  Next thing you know, they’re fully geared up, talking about a ‘touchdown’ (do you know the two types of touchdowns that occur in Oklahoma?)around Danforth & Western.  Yep, that’s exactly one mile West of us, and this storm’s moving East.  Sounds like trouble right?  Yeah, that was enough for us to go get the boys out of bed and make a mad rush for a safe room in the middle of the house.

Long story short, we faired well.  This thing skated by about 1/8 mile South of our home, taking down power lines and snapping the poles in half.  The boys had a great time & I guess they thought we were playing hide & seek or something.  They enjoyed playing with the flashlights & stuff.

Later, we found out that several homes in the Valencia area (just west of our church, and 3 miles from home) got hit pretty hard, but praise God, there were no reported injuries.  One house in particular had almost the entire roof ripped off, with Mom & her twin boys inside. 

It was quite a site this morning, as I drove around checking on clients & friends and their homes.  Several of the main intersections were closed to through traffic as the power company worked to get the lines back up.  I couldn’t really get any pictures of the damage to homes, but you can see here one of those utility poles snapped in half.

By the way, I want to applaud those from my church who decided on their own to go over to Valencia this morning and help those residents any way they could, with cleanup and prayer.  What a great bunch of people!

So, here we are, a month after my first post, and I now have to increase my number by 50%.  Yes, it’s true, I’ve been in that crouching position 3 times in my 36 years.

Here are some of the local news articles on last night’s storm:

• http://www.koco.com/news/15747998/detail.html
• http://www.koco.com/news/15747998/detail.html
• http://newsok.com/article/3223273/

Well, it took our local association almost a month, but they’ve finally published the stats for home sales in February, and once again we’ve got good news to report here in Central Oklahoma, although we did see a small drop in overall volume for the first time in quite a while.

Hopefully this summary will help you see for yourself what the market’s really doing, rather than buying into the false perception that’s so easy to follow these days.

Check this out:

Since the negatives are what so many like to focus on, here they are:

• Approximate 4% drop in the number of homes sold compared to this time last year
• 1% decrease in total volume over a year ago
• Homes are taking about a week longer, on average, to sell than last year

And here are the positive factors that sometimes are ignored:

• We experienced an annual appreciation rate of almost 3%
• Interest rates are historically low, averaging 5.56%
• We saw a respectable drop in absorption rate (which I predicted last month), meaning that inventory is selling off and falling back to a healthy level

The negative media-fed perception is still keeping a lot of buyers on the fence until they feel safe again, but spring fever will counter a lot of that and we’ll likely see an increase in volume next month.

Overall, these numbers are worth getting excited about. While a few markets around the country are seeing decreasing values and slow markets, we’re still enjoying annual appreciation.  Are you still sitting on the sidelines??

“Going, Going, Gone” is the tune to new regulations set forth by the mortgage industry.

As of the end of March 2008, mortgage insurance companies have changed their standards for insuring conventional loans.  They will no longer insure loans over 97% Loan To Value and many are making changes to their acceptable Debt Ratio requirements.

For the past few years you could get mortgage insurance up to 100% with Debt Ratios at 65% of gross income. Look at this example:

• Joe and Amy just graduated college
• They both have car payments of $350, credit card minimum payment of $100, and student loan min payments of $300, while their combined income is $60,000 

With the old guidelines this couple could take their Debt Ratio up to $3250 per month in debt payments (65% of gross $30,000).  That means their home payment could be $2,150 which would buy a $280,000 home!

Same couple today is now limited to borrowing just 97% with debt ratios of 41% (aprox $2,050 per month total).  Therefore combining their other debt obligations will lower their housing ratio payment to only around $950 (not $2150) which would buy a $135,000 home.

With this said, it looks like the days of people buying homes they can actually afford are back!

-Author, Kenneth Wohl of Spiritbank Mortgage

Those of us who’ve been around Edmond for a while are proudly aware of the Territorial School House, located at 124 E. Second St.  I find myself in awe every time I drive by it.  Those who don’t know about it soon will. 

This school house was the first public school house for children in the Oklahoma Territory, built in August of 1889.  It’s amazing to look at this small building and imagine trying to send our kids there today for an education, and it’s equally impressive to know that there are groups of people who work very hard to protect and preserve this building.  The Edmond Historical Society, and the Edmond Historic Preservation Trust, are the parties responsible, and they’ve been trying to find a way to make the school house available to public viewings.

Well, it looks like things are finally coming together, according to this recent article in the Edmond Sun.  Get ready to experience what school was like over a hundred years ago, as an open house has been set for 1:30-4 p.m. April 5.

The trust and the society are also working on a way to develop an educational program tied to the school house, for the Edmond Public School system.  Celebrating our heritage, and keeping our kids aware of it are great goals, and it’s nice to see things being done right.

The scale of improvements being made to the downtown area the past few years is quite impressive, and they don’t appear to be slowing any time soon.

This is yet another example of our city’s forward thinking and willingness to improve on an already great thing.  At the heart of all of these improvements is the interest that the residents of Edmond take in seeing the city lead the way in different areas of growth.  The cultural side of our city seems to be of particular interest to many, and that includes the attraction of the downtown area, to draw in shoppers from all over.

If you’re like me, you probably like to imagine and visualize what it may be like in a few years, and articles like this one in the Edmond Sun help me to understand a little more of the vision our city planners have.

Keep up the great work, Edmondites!  These types of improvements only help add to the appeal our great city already has for anyone looking to move to the Oklahoma City metro area.

As I said yesterday, it’s been a busy week around here… we’re in the midst of that time of year when buyers are out in full force looking for a new place to call home, and many home owners have it on their mind to get listed and take advantage of that buyer traffic.

As a result, I got a call this afternoon from a gentleman who lives in Fenwick, located between Penn and Western, North of NW 164th.  While researching the current sales and listings in Fenwick, I thought now would be a good time to post a summary of what’s selling, what’s not, and what’s new on the market in Fenwick.

People always want to know “What did that house around the corner sell for” or “How much is that house on X street listed for?”  So, I designed this report to keep you up-to-date on inventory levels, then quarterly I’ll break down overall neighborhood pricing and compare it to the previous year.  This combination gives us all a real pulse on the health of the Fenwick real estate market.  Hopefully, it will be a useful resource for all of the current home owners, and those thinking about moving here.

Here are the Fenwick homes that closed within the past 60 days:

And here are the homes currently on the market in Fenwick (Active & Pending):

**All statistical and listing information provided to and compiled by MLSGateway.com, Inc. covering a period (1/25/08) through (3/25/08). MLSGateway.com, Inc. does not guarantee or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Listing information is deemed reliable at the time of this posting, but subject to change without notification, and should be verified through a licensed agent for accuracy.

For more information about any of these homes, or to find out how to get yours SOLD for the most in the shortest time, call or email me.

It’s been a busy week around here… the home buyers are out in full force and we’ve had more requests than normal for information about certain neighborhoods.  While researching the Copper Creek addition (SE corner of NW 178th & Penn) yesterday, I thought now would be a good time to post a summary of what’s selling, what’s not, and what’s new on the market in Copper Creek?

You’d be amazed at how often I get asked “What did that house around the corner sell for” or “How much is that house on X street listed for?” As a result, I designed this report to keep you up-to-date on inventory levels, then quarterly I’ll break down overall neighborhood pricing and compare it to the previous year. This combination gives us all a real pulse on the health of the Copper Creek real estate market. Hopefully, it will be a useful resource for all of the current home owners, and those thinking about moving here.

Here are the Copper Creek homes that closed within the past 60 days:

And here are the homes currently on the market in Copper Creek (Active & Pending):

**All statistical and listing information provided to and compiled by MLSGateway.com, Inc. covering a period (1/24/08) through (3/24/08). MLSGateway.com, Inc. does not guarantee or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Listing information is deemed reliable at the time of this posting, but subject to change without notification, and should be verified through a licensed agent for accuracy.

For more information about any of these homes, or to find out how to get yours SOLD for the most in the shortest time, call or email me.

Yep, it’s pretty much an age-old question that’s asked all the time.  Why should I buy a home instead of renting?

After several years in this business, and owning a few homes of my own, I’ve got all kinds of examples of why it’s better for most people to own, rather than to rent.  You’ll notice I didn’t say that everyone should be a homeowner. I don’t believe that.  Some folks just aren’t cut out for it, or don’t have a lifestyle that’s conducive to home-ownership.  But, MOST are.

I won’t go into all the whys and why-nots right now, but I do want to share with you a cool little gadget a friend turned me on to last week.  The New York Times recently created this nifty little tool that takes your current rent situation into account, and compares it to a buying scenario of your choosing.

All you have to do is plug in how much you currently pay in rent, and how much you might want to spend on a home, how much you plan to put down, a current interest rate, and the projected property taxes.  That’s it!  Next it’ll show you how long you would need to own that home to break even, then how much wealth you would build each year thereafter.  Did you know that over 60% of Americans’ wealth is in their home equity?

Anyway, I hope this helps answer some questions, but if you have any others you’d like answered, feel free to get in touch with me.  I’m happy to help.

In the spirit of this wonderful Holiday, I thought I’d share something with you that was passed along to me by a dear friend recently. If you have a few minutes to spare, this video is WELL worth the time it takes to watch.

For the faithful, it puts in perspective what He did for us, and what he continues to do for us each and every day! For anyone out there who may be struggling with demons and battles of any sort, it serves as a reminder that He is ALWAYS there for us, no matter our past or present shortcomings. As I experienced church this morning, I was overwhelmed with the reminders that He is love, and He is there! Happy Easter to all of you!

So, what’s selling, what’s not, and what’s new on the market in Woodvine?

You’d be amazed at how often I get asked “What did that house around the corner sell for” or “How much is that house on X street listed for?”  As a result, I designed this report to keep you up-to-date on inventory levels, then quarterly I’ll break down overall neighborhood pricing and compare it to the previous year.  This combination gives us all a real pulse on the health of the Woodvine real estate market. Hopefully, it will be a useful resource for all of the current home owners, and those thinking about moving here.

Here are the Woodvine homes that closed within the past 60 days:

And here are the homes currently on the market in Woodvine (Active & Pending):

**All statistical and listing information provided to and compiled by MLSGateway.com, Inc. covering a period (1/21/08) through (3/21/08). MLSGateway.com, Inc. does not guarantee or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Listing information is deemed reliable at the time of this posting, but subject to change without notification, and should be verified through a licensed agent for accuracy.

For more information about a specific home, or to find out how to get yours SOLD for the most in the shortest time, call or email me.