Selling a Home? Avoid these Home Buyer Turnoffs

Are you selling a home? Did you know that even though home buyers are all looking for something different, the majority of them will turn around and walk back out of your door if they notice one or more of these Top 10 problems.

1. Odors
House odors are number one on the home selling uh-oh list. And narrowing it down, odors from cigarette smoke and pets take top billing, with mildew not far behind.

If you smoke indoors--the house smells like cigarettes. If you have pets, the house might smell bad--even if you don't notice it. Ask someone who doesn't live there to take a sniff, and don't get angry when they tell you the truth.

Eradicate the odors so that you can present potential buyers with a clean, fresh atmosphere--not a house that's full of perfumes to cover up the odors.

2. Dogs that Meet You at the Door or in the Driveway
Dogs frighten some people and irritate others. You'll have a much better response from showings if you control your pets--dogs, cats, whatever.

You say you plan to put them in a bedroom or garage and then ask people not to open the door to that area? Bad idea. Would you buy a house you can't inspect? Of course not.

Remove pets during showings if possible. If you can't, contain them in crates for their own safety and to show respect for the feelings of potential buyers.

3. Dirty Bathrooms
Grimy bathrooms are an instant turnoff. Scrub them, paint them, buy a new shower curtain, rugs and towels--do what it takes to make them shine. If you're serious about selling the home, the extra work is a must.

4. Dimly Lit Rooms
Dark homes are a turnoff to most home buyers, so try to brighten them up:

Replace dim light fixtures
Install additional light fixtures
Install (quality) sun tunnels or skylights
Remove heavy drapes to let the light stream through windows
Repaint some rooms with colors that reflect light
Trim tree limbs that shadow the house
Dirty and fogged windows are another buyer turnoff. Clean them inside and out to bring in more light. If possible, replace any double-pane windows with broken seals. You can find them by looking for a foggy residue that cannot be removed.

5. A House Full of Busy Wallpaper
Busy wallpaper in every room turns off most buyers, and even people who love wallpaper rarely like what you've chosen. It's a personal decorative touch that they want to select themselves.

It's the masses you must appeal to when you're selling a home, so take a hard look at your wallpaper and decide if it should be removed and replaced with paint. Don't paint over it, because it will be obvious that you did--and buyers know that makes removing it even more difficult.

6. Damp Basements
Dampness or damp smells in the basement throw up a red flag to buyers that the foundation leaks!

Most problems we see are not caused by faulty foundations. They occur because rainwater is being diverted towards the foundation instead of away from it.

Clogged underground drains?
No rain gutters along roofline?
Downspouts aimed the wrong way?
Go outside the next time it rains and determine where runoff water is going.

7. Bugs
Roaches, spiders, any insect that shouldn't be in the house. Get rid of them.

8. Poor Curb Appeal
You must grab a buyer's interest from the curb if you want to sell the home for top dollar. Home buyers often refuse to go into a house with an unkempt yard, sagging doors or peeling paint. You say you can't afford to paint? Okay, but get that yard in tip-top shape and grab a screwdriver to fix those doors.

9. Gutters with Plants Growing in Them
I'm serious. Some people never clean their gutters, and it always makes buyers wonder what else hasn't been maintained.

Remember the drainage issue in #6? Cleaning packed gutters might help.

10. Sellers Who Hang Around for Showings
Yes, you... leave the house during showings. Home buyers feel awkward about opening closet doors and lingering for a really good look at the house if the seller is home.

If you're selling by owner, give them some space, don't hover.

Parting Words
Most of the Top 10 problems are home selling issues you can correct without spending a lot of money. Do it now, before you put the house on the market, because if your house develops a reputation among agents as the house that smells, the house with the huge barking dog or the house where the owner won't leave people alone, it will be too late. Your house will be last on their list to show potential buyers.

Article by Janet Wickell for homebuying.about.com.

Converting from Living Condition to Selling Condition: Clutter

Walk into almost any home and you will find a pile of bills, magazines or newspapers in a stack and magnets and papers on the refrigerator.  This is how most people live, however when a homeowner is getting ready to sell their home this clutter needs to be removed.  Items cluttering a home contribute to rooms looking smaller and ultimately distracting potential buyers from seeing themselves living in the home.  Removing the clutter is the best bet to a quick sale.

     The kitchen is a good place to start.  A few small appliances on the countertop are okay, but put all the extra items on the countertop away out of sight.  Even if you use an item on a regular basis put it away in a drawer or cabinet.  Try to remove everything you can from sight.  Remove all the magnets and papers from the refrigerator.  You may enjoy your children’s artwork and pictures, but potential buyers will find it distracting.  Remove the pile of recyclables.  Take them to the recycling center regularly.  Between trips to the recycling center keep recyclables in the garage.

     While removing things from countertops go ahead and go to the bathroom.  Remove items from the vanity top.  Put everything away that you can.  You want as little left out as possible.  Also remove throw rugs.  They tend to make the room look smaller and more cluttered.

     Stacks of magazines and books should be kept out of sight.  They may be what the seller is currently reading, but it is best to not have them lying around.  Newspapers should also be put away where they can’t be seen.  If you are a person who likes craft projects they should be put away while the house is on the market.

Sellers don’t always have a lot of notice before their house is going to be shown.  For this reason it is important to keep the clutter put away at all times.  As a seller you don’t want to be caught off guard and have your house not looking its absolute best at a moments notice.  Sellers want to have potential buyers notice all the positive qualities of their house, not distracted by clutter.  This will lead to getting the most and best offers in the quickest time.


Shannon White, allied member ASID of Shannon White Interior Design, St. Louis, MO, 314-315-0768, swhiteid@yahoo.com.

Soulard: Home to residents of various classes

In 1975 Skip Gatermann and his wife, Darlene, began a 28-year love affair with an 1883 home in the Soulard neighborhood. The brick home, a modified flounder style, was a mess; the neighborhood recently had dodged the wrecking ball that had razed its sister neighborhood, Kosciusko, across South Broadway.

“We just absolutely loved our house,” Skip said. “You can’t buy a house like that anywhere else. It had such charm, such history — it was amazing. It was in deplorable condition. That, in turn, evolved into our love of the neighborhood.”

Gatermann served as the first editor of the Soulard Restoration Group’s (SRG)Soulard Restorationist newspaper.


“For many years my wife and I were involved in the neighborhood itself,” he said. “We directed a lot of our efforts into making sure the neighborhood was a success.”

This historic neighborhood has come a long way from 1947, when it was declared “obsolete” by the City of St. Louis’ comprehensive plan. Today Soulard is home to low-income residents as well as those who pay $300,000 for a home or $1,000 for an apartment. Rental units make up more than 70 percent of the housing.

“There are people who are working minimum-wage jobs, and people who have professional jobs as doctors, lawyers and other professions; it is a very mixed neighborhood,” said Alderman Phyllis Young, D-7th Ward, a former SRG president and 27-year resident of Soulard. “Soulard is like a small town within the city; people pay attention to what goes on around them. The neighborhood comes up with annual goals of what they want to accomplish (such as a citywide tree planting program). There’s a lot of attention paid to the historic standards and how those are implemented so the neighborhood retains the flavor of a historic district.”

Individuals and two organizations regularly promote the neighborhood, which increases its appeal, she said.

“Of course, Mardi Gras is the biggest (event) and Bastille Day is popular as well,” Young said. “On the other hand, there’s a house tour. I think the fact that (Soulard) Market’s there serves as a draw; people have an interest in going to an outdoor market that’s been there for more than 100 years. And I think when they get there, the people on the streets are very friendly to talk to, there’s shops to visit and lots of places to eat, and music. All those things add to the flavor of the neighborhood.”

In the early 1800s, Soulard was home to the French aristocracy as well as an African-American aristocracy. By 1850, it had attracted large numbers of German-Americans and Bohemians, followed by Lebanese, Syrians, Hungarians, Croatians, Italians and Serbians.

Some of the largest industrial plants in the city were located here, including the Welsh Baby Carriage Co., Anheuser-Busch, Nooter Boilers, the Helmbacher Forge and Rolling Mill. The neighborhood also is home to some of the area’s oldest churches, including Trinity Lutheran, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic, and St. Vincent DePaul Catholic.

By the mid-20th century, the neighborhood had fallen on hard times. In the ’50s, the neighborhood was chopped up for the Third Street Expressway (now Interstate 55). However, there was a benefit: the clear definition of boundaries, Young said.

“The boundaries are I-55 and Broadway on the east,” she said. “That defines us as Soulard.”

That Soulard would become one of the city’s most attractive neighborhoods while retaining many of its longtime working-class residents, speaks to hard work and dedication. Two neighborhood organizations — Youth, Education and Health in Soulard (YEHS), founded in 1972, and the SRG, founded in 1974, worked together to establish Soulard as a city historic district in 1975, protecting it from further random demolition.

YEHS has focused on securing and preserving low-income housing and programs. The SRG was founded primarily by sweat-equity newcomers who wanted to preserve, promote and improve the historic neighborhood. Both have been successful.

“I think the reason that Soulard has such great appeal is the neighborhood is basically intact,” Gatermann said. “It didn’t suffer mass demolition like a lot of the inner-city neighborhoods. The streetscapes are almost all intact. I think that is a main drawing card for the neighborhood. Plus the fact that like all the neighborhoods, it’s got a rich and long history.”

Soulard’s YouthBuild St. Louis AmeriCorps, a construction training and alternative education program for high school dropouts sponsored by YEHS, now has a charter school as well, director Joyce Sonn noted.

“It’s not just a yuppie neighborhood, partly because of the affordable housing our organization has been able to create over the years,” Sonn said of YEHS. “We’re targeting our graduates so they can buy the homes they’ve actually rehabbed or built. It’s families and people of all incomes and backgrounds and races. That’s what we wanted ... to not have gentrification exclude people because of their income.”


======================

Fast Facts

Population: 3,187
Total housing units: 2,216
Owner-occupied units: 27.73 percent
Renter-occupied units: 72.27 percent
Percentage of one-person households: 56.55 percent
Percentage of two or more-person households: 43.45 percent
Percentage of
residents ages 25 to 34 years: 31.50 percent
Percentage white: 79.86 percent
Percentage African-American alone: 16.32 percent
Percentage other: 3.83 percent


By Robbi Courtaway
Staff writer
12/31/2004
You can contact Robbi Courtaway at rcourtaway@yourjournal.com.

Greenspan era is coming to a close

Alan Greenspan

In October 1987, Alan Greenspan hopped off a plane in Dallas and was greeted with some grim news.

The stock market had crashed. Not just crashed, but posted its worst day on record, even more harsh than any day in 1929.

For the economist with the dark-rimmed glasses, it was a defining moment. Greenspan, then just 10 weeks on the job as chairman of the Federal Reserve, responded quickly. He aggressively slashed interest rates. The economy kept its footing.

Eighteen years later, Greenspan - who'll retire Tuesday - has become an icon, the rare economist who's entered the realm of popular culture. His morning baths have become public fodder, as has his marriage to TV journalist Andrea Mitchell. His popularity helped to make "irrational exuberance" a household term.

But it's the way Greenspan handled crises such as the crash of 1987 that has defined his legacy, observers say. In the opinion of many economists, Greenspan was also as lucky as he was good. That fortunate mix allowed him to preside over one of the most prosperous periods in American history.

"What Greenspan did well is he steered through these crises and came out with minimal damage to the economy," said Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics at the consulting firm Moody's Economy.com, in West Chester, Pa. "Over an 18-year period, we had just two short recessions and low inflation. That combination says he's done a good job."

Along with the 1987 market crash, Greenspan also endured the first Gulf War, the bursting of the tech bubble and the terrorist attacks of 2001. For his work, he was knighted by the Queen of England and declared the world's "second-most powerful man" by Newsweek.

"There's simply no precedent for his popularity," said Stephen Ferris, the Rogers chair of Money, Credit and Banking at the University of Missouri at Columbia. "When you look at his job, it's really a dull and dreary thing ... But he's become an icon."

Born in New York City in 1926, Greenspan pursued music before economics. A clarinet player, he enrolled in the Juilliard School in the 1940s. A year later, he left to study business at New York University. In the 1950s he met and became a disciple of the libertarian philosopher Ayn Rand, and he later served as an economic adviser to Richard Nixon.

Despite his lack of any experience at the Federal Reserve, Greenspan was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as the agency's chairman in 1987. He then went on to serve the second-longest term in the 93-year history of the Fed. While in the job, Greenspan was known as an inflation hawk and a staunch opponent of government regulation. On Tuesday, he will be replaced by Ben Bernanke, a former Fed governor and Princeton economist.

While polls show that a only tiny percentage of Americans truly understand Greenspan's job, the chairman of the Federal Reserve may have a more profound impact on their lives than even the president. The Fed is charged with lifting the nation to full employment and keeping inflation low through the manipulation of interest rates. It requires a balancing act between stimulating the economy and then curbing it.

Greenspan elevated the profile of the Federal Reserve. During his tenure, Americans became more aware than ever about the power and importance of the Fed. As a result, Greenspan found his face on TV and in magazines with a frequency not enjoyed by previous Fed chiefs.

"If you look back at the'70s and'80s, the Fed was perceived to be the man behind the curtains. Today, it's looked at as a more prominent player," said Gary Thayer, an economist at A.G. Edwards Inc. in St. Louis. "I'd say (Greenspan's) better known than members of the Supreme Court, and that wasn't true of his predecessors."

Economists generally applaud him for the savvy he displayed in 1996, when a tug-of-war had gripped the Fed. At the time, a rapidly-growing economy had several Fed governors pushing for the agency to pull back the reins to curb inflation.

But Greenspan had a hunch that they were wrong. His theory: Computers were finally making U.S. workers more productive. That meant the economy could grow further without risking inflation. As it turns out, he was right.

"Based on the old rules of the game, the Fed would have raised rates," said Thomas Melzer, former president of the St. Louis Fed and a managing director with RiverVest Venture Partners in St. Louis. "But he basically convinced policymakers that the economy could grow even more quickly. Because of his insight, the Fed allowed the economy to grow much faster in the late 1990s."

More recently, Greenspan slashed interest rates to historic lows to help end a jobless recovery that lingered after the 2001 recession.

Media savvy and a frequent guest of congressional committees, Greenspan maintained a high profile among non-economists. The fast-growing financial media of the 1990s covered him endlessly, said Andrew Leckey, director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism in Virginia.

"He hit it at exactly the right time, when there was a lot more opportunity for him to become a media star," said Leckey, who also writes a syndicated business column. "What was also different about Alan was that he was very much a political and media animal."

In addition, during his tenure, "I think we finally began to understand the importance of the Fed and interest rates," Leckey said.

Thanks to the media, Greenspan's chiding of overly bullish stock market investors in the 1990s for their "irrational exuberance" has become legendary.

Greenspan was not loved by all. As his detractors are quick to point out, Greenspan will not step away with a perfect record. His critics blame him for what they believe is a housing bubble and for his role in the swelling budget deficit.

Princeton economist Alan Blinder, a former Fed governor, has criticized his colleague for ignoring input from other Fed officials.

Greenspan's legacy could be tarnished, too, if the housing market boom that he helped precipitate ends with a free-fall in house prices, said Ferris, the Mizzou economist.

"I think history may second-guess how he handled the bubbles: the tech bubble and housing bubble," Ferris said. "He may have left Bernanke with a bubble that's yet to burst."

Still, Ferris generally gives Greenspan good marks.

Allan Meltzer, a Fed historian at Carnegie Mellon University, adds that a Fed chairman doing his job will inevitably make some enemies. "The fact that you have only these minor criticisms is quite an achievement," he said.


Several key indicators have risen dramatically during Alan Greenspan's tenure.

1987 to Sept. 30, 2005: Increase in median house price, 157.8 percent

1987 to Sept. 30, 2005: Increase in per capita income, 107.7 percent

1987 to Jan. 26: Increase in Dow Jones industrial average, 470.1 percent

Sources: Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Dow Jones indexes

What does the Fed do?

The Federal Reserve affects the economy by influencing interest rates. When the economy is lagging, the Fed's Open Market Committee lowers the federal funds rate, the rate banks charge one another for overnight loans.

That typically triggers a chain reaction where other interest rates fall, stimulating economic investment.

When the economy is too hot, the committee raises the federal funds rate to hold inflation at bay.

The chairman of the Fed heads the Open Market Committee. The committee meets eight times a year.

By Eric Heisler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/28/2006

Home Buyer & Seller Survey Shows Rising Use of Internet, Reliance on Agents

RISMEDIA, Jan. 18 — Technology is transforming how Americans buy and sell homes in unexpected ways, including how they work with real estate agents and brokers, according to one of the largest surveys of real estate consumers ever conducted. The study was released by the National Association of Realtors®.

Nine out of 10 home buyers use a real estate agent in the search process, but use of the Internet to search for a home has risen dramatically over time, increasing from only 2% of buyers in 1995 to 77% in 2005; it was 74% in 2004. The next largest source of information for buyers is a yard sign, mentioned by 71% of buyers.

When asked where they first learned about the home purchased, 24% of buyers identified the Internet, up strongly from 15% in 2004 and only 2% in 1997. Although most buyers use an agent to complete the transaction, 36 first learn about the home they buy from a real estate agent and 15% from yard signs; five other categories were 7% or less.

The 2005 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, based on more than 7,800 responses to a questionnaire mailed to a large national sample of consumers located through county deed records, is the latest in a series of surveys evaluating demographics, marketing and other characteristics of home buyers and sellers.

NAR President Thomas M. Stevens from Vienna, Va., said the findings underscore the complexity of the home-buying process. “Buyers who use the Internet in searching for a home are more likely to use a real estate agent than non-Internet users, and consumers rely on professionals to provide context, negotiate the transaction and help with the paperwork,” said Stevens, senior vice president of NRT Inc.

“The real estate industry today bears little resemblance to the way we did business 10 years ago. It is hard to find another industry that has adopted technology so readily to its customers,” Stevens said. “Realtors® have invested a lot of time and money in building information technology, and because of these efforts, more consumers than ever are using the Internet in their home search.”

The survey shows 81% of buyers who use the Internet to search for a home purchase through a real estate agent, while 63% of non-Internet users buy through an agent; non-Internet users are more likely to purchase directly from a builder or an owner they knew in advance of the transaction.

“We find that the level of for-sale-by-owners is on a sustained decline and is now at a record low. In addition, a growing share of FSBO properties are not placed on the open market – they’re private transactions,” Stevens said.

A clear downtrend in FSBOs has been seen since that market share experienced a cyclical peak of 18% in 1997. Only 13% of sellers conducted transactions without the assistance of a real estate professional in 2005, and 39% of those FSBO transactions were “closely held” between parties who knew each other in advance, up from 32% in 2004. The FSBO market share was at 14% in both 2003 and 2004. NAR began tracking the FSBO market in 1981; the record was 20% in 1987.

“In reality, the term ‘FSBO’ is a misnomer when used to broadly describe homes sold directly by owners. Since two out of five of these transactions are between related parties, and those properties are not placed on the open market, we believe that ‘unrepresented sellers’ would be a much more accurate term to describe this segment,” Stevens said.

The median home price for sellers who use an agent is 16.0% higher than a home sold directly by an owner; $230,000 vs. $198,200; there were no significant differences between the types of homes sold. “While many unrepresented sellers are motivated to save on paying a commission, we think the price difference speaks for itself,” Stevens said. “Owners without professional assistance also have problems in understanding and completing paperwork, prepping the home for sale, getting the right price and selling within the time planned.”

Survey data don’t explain the price difference, but Stevens offered some context. “Agents know best how to prepare a home and maximize value, agents provide broader exposure to the market and are more likely to generate multiple bids, and the portion of sales that are between private parties are likely to be at a lower price than those on the open market.”

“The housing market today contrasts sharply with predictions a decade ago that the Internet would ‘disintermediate’ real estate agents, including speculation that NAR membership would fall in half. In reality, it’s grown dramatically – selling real estate is not like selling a book or buying an airline ticket,” he said.

Realtor.com was the most popular Internet resource, used by 54% of buyers, followed by multiple listing service (MLS) Web sites, 50%, real estate company sites, 38%, real estate agent Web sites, 31%, and local newspaper sites, 15%; other categories were smaller.

Married couples make up the largest share of the housing market, accounting for 61% of transactions. Single women purchase 21% of homes while single men account for 9%. Unmarried couples were 7% of the market, and 2% were listed as other. In 2004, single women were 18% of buyers and single men were 8%.

The typical buyer walked through nine properties, searched eight weeks to buy a home and moved 12 miles from their previous residence. The typical seller placed their home on the market for four weeks, had lived in it for six years, moved 15 miles to their new residence and previously owned three homes, including the one just sold.

NAR’s senior economist Paul Bishop said both buyers and sellers use traditional methods to choose a real estate agent. “Word-of-mouth recommendation is the most common way to learn about real estate professionals,” Bishop said. “The most important criteria, whether you’re buying or selling, are the individual agent’s reputation and their knowledge of the local market.”

In finding a real estate professional, 44% of buyers were referred by a friend, neighbor or relative, 11% used an agent from a previous transaction, 7% found an agent on the Internet, 7% met at an open house and 6% saw contact information on a “for sale” sign. Six other categories accounted for smaller shares each.

The most important factor in choosing an agent was reputation, according to 41% of home buyers, followed by an agent’s knowledge of the neighborhood, 24%. In terms of desired qualities in an agent, three categories were rated as very important by more than nine out of 10 buyers: knowledge of the purchase process, responsiveness and knowledge of the market. Of buyers who use an agent, 63% choose a buyer representative. Satisfaction with real estate agents is very high, with 85% of buyers saying they were likely to use the agent again.

Seller responses are comparable: 43% chose agents based on a referral by a friend, neighbor or relative, and 28% used their agent previously; 10 other categories were 5% or less. Fifty-seven percent of sellers said reputation was the most important factor in selecting an agent, followed by their knowledge of the neighborhood, 17%. Eighty-two percent said they were likely to use the same agent again or recommend to others.

Four out of 10 respondents are first-time buyers, a finding that is consistent for more than a decade. The median age of entry-level buyers is 32 years, also typical over time, and the household income was $57,200. They made a downpayment of 2% on a home costing $150,000, but 43% purchased with no money down. Of first-time buyers who made a downpayment, 23% received a gift from a friend or relative.

The typical repeat buyer is 46 years old and had a household income of $83,200. They placed a downpayment of 21% on a home costing $235,000, but 11% of repeat buyers paid cash for their home. In all, 94% of buyers and sellers believe their home purchase is a good financial investment.

“To underscore the value of housing as an investment, all you have to do is look at the difference in how repeat buyers purchase their next home – the wealth effect of homeownership provides the greatest source for their downpayment, which is significantly larger,” Bishop said. Aside from sellers who pay cash for their new home, 66 use the equity from their previous home for a downpayment.

The most important factors in choosing a location to purchase a home are neighborhood quality, cited by 68%, close to a job or school, 43%, close to family or friends, 36%, and the school district itself, 23%; seven other categories were under 20%.

NAR mailed an eight-page questionnaire to a national sample of 145,000 home buyers and sellers, based on county records, who purchased their homes between August 2004 and July 2005. It generated 7,813 usable responses; the response rate was 5.4%.

The 2005 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers can be ordered by calling 800/874-6500. The cost is $50 for NAR members and $125 for non-members.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

To start your internet home search, go to www.NoltingRealEstate.com. Click on "Search the MLS" to find homes according to your price specifications and location. Click on "Local Schools" for links to over 125 St. Louis public and private schools. Be sure to check out NRE's Podcast for the latest real estate information.

The Mission of Nolting Real Estate: Reliability

The mission of the Nolting Real Estate team is to invest in the lives of homeowners by providing reliable, innovative, and personalized service to maximize the economic and personal value of their real estate investment and to earn their trust in order to build lifelong business relationships.

Reliability.  This is an interesting word.  The reliability of a product or service may not necessarily correspond with the purchase price.  My good friend drives a six-figure sports sedan.  I should qualify—my good friend drives a six-figure sports sedan when the car is not in the shop.  The rest of the time, he tools around in the rental from the local dealership.  When we put together the Mission Statement for Nolting Real Estate, we wanted to stress the reliability of our operation.  

What does reliable mean?  Roget’s Thesaurus, one of my favorite resources, notes that reliable means the following:  Capable of being depended upon: dependable, responsible, solid, sound2, trustworthy, trusty.  

We take our duty to our clients very seriously.  We like to say that our clients can expect the following four things:

     We will do what we say we are going to do.
     We will do it when we say we are going to do it.
     We will do it right the first time.
     We will get it done on time.  

Like the incredibly reliable company, Federal Express, we are committed to a goal of “no service failures.”  

Research shows that the typical dissatisfied customer will tell eight to ten people about his misfortune.  We don’t need the bad press.  We believe that consistent, high-level performance makes all the difference in the real estate industry.  Reliability is truly our top priority.  

The Best School Districts in Metro St. Louis

Article by Richard Green for stlouis.about.com

"The Greater St. Louis area offers a wide range of public school options in Missouri and Illinois. Although there are many excellent school systems in the metro area, there are several which rank in the top ten percent of all schools in the nation. The school systems which we have chosen as the best in St. Louis rank higher than 80% of all schools in the country using the following criteria:

Performance on college scholarship exams
Property values
Per capita income
The education level of adults residing in the area
The percentages were developed by arranging the average test scores (ACT or SAT), average property values, average income, and average educational level of adults from all school systems in the country from lowest to highest. The following school districts ranked higher than 81%-99% of some 13,000 school districts across the country and are the top school districts out of 149 in the St. Louis area:

Clayton - Clayton, MO 63105
Kirkwood R-VIII - Kirkwood, MO 63122
Ladue - St. Louis, MO 63124
Lindbergh R-VIII - St. Louis, MO 63126
Parkway C-2 - Chesterfield, MO 63017
Rockwood R-VI - Eureka, MO 63025
Webster Groves - Webster Groves, MO 63119

The Missouri School Boards' Association has named the Webster Groves School District's Board of Education "Missouri's Outstanding Board of Education for 2003". A committee of school board members from districts throughout the state of Missouri selected the Webster Groves School District board for this honor. To be considered, a board must make contributions in the areas of district accreditation, community engagement, student achievement, achievement of district goals and local board initiatives."

If you are relocating to St. Louis or moving within the metro area, click here to access Nolting Real Estate's list of links to local public and private schools.

Is your home making you fat?

By Debra D. Bass
POST-DISPATCH HOME EDITOR
01/20/2006

A snapshot of your home's interior offers visitors a look into your inner sanctum. Your home opens a window into your personal style and sensibilities. Assumptions can be made about your social views, your character traits, your hobbies, your quirks, your marital status. So why did it surprise us when a magazine used the same sort of logic to make assumptions about an inhabitant's weight?

"Is Your House Making You Fat?" confronts the headline in Quick & Simple magazine. It's one of those "how long have you been beating your wife?" presumptuous questions that is at first a bit insulting. Then it shifts to being oddly amusing and, suddenly, it inspires a pensive "hmmm." Do we finally have something to blame that can't defend itself?

We've all heard of the sick house syndrome - too many allergens and not enough ventilation - but "fat house"?

"At first it was just a funny, interesting idea. Then we found a lot of studies that said this stuff bore out in science," said Cary Barbor, the diet, health and fitness editor for "Quick & Simple," in a phone interview from her office in New York City.

"After we knew it was valid we put many, many brains together and jumped to the flip side: 'What are you going to do about it?'," she said.

The article in the magazine edition, which hit newsstands on Tuesday, goes on to address potentially hazardous interior design choices in the living room, bedroom and kitchen.

We asked around, and most people tended to raise an eyebrow at the concept, but then quickly conceded that it makes sense. Not convinced? OK, hear us out.

"Your home affects your overall well being. So it can affect your energy, your outlook, your motivation," explained Laura Forbes Carlin, one of two sisters specializing as home and lifestyle consultants in Los Angeles, who spoke to us by phone. She reasoned that a home full of energy can inspire you to achieve certain goals. Therefore a home lacking energy can discourage those goals and lead to stagnation, depression and sloth.

Her sister Alison Forbes said that your home is the vehicle to drive you to your goals. The sisters subscribe to a belief in feng shui, an accent Chinese art of interior design that seeks to optimize your potential in every aspect of your life by placing objects according to a precise doctrine.

"I don't know about all that relating to someone's weight, but it's interesting," said Beth Henk, director of the Washington University Weight Management Program. She explained (without any sarcasm, thank you) that the program doesn't address interior design, but it does address behavioral issues that, perhaps, can be associated with how people organize their space.

Some of the suggestions from "Is Your House Making You Fat?" are common sense. Banish the candy dish and the TV trays. A lovely crystal dish of treats might seem like the perfect centerpiece for your coffee table, but it's a constant reminder that "Hey, you could be eating right now." And eating absent-mindedly in front of something colloquially called the idiot box is not a good idea, either.

Among the other suggestions are sealing bedroom windows in colder months. We also recommend heavy or layered drapes to help keep out the chill. The rationale is that when it's cold in the morning, you are less likely to get up a half hour early to make a nutritious breakfast or exercise.

Red and orange walls were judged to be no-nos in the kitchen and dining area because they stimulate the appetite. And the trend toward huge, ultra comfy, cushy sofas that cradle your tush like a well-tended glove is probably not in the best interests of your waistline, either. Cozy generally means that you're moving as little as possible, and that can cost you about 350 calories a day, according to the Quick & Simple article, which cited Mayo Clinic research.

So opt for a sleeker couch next time and compensate by encouraging more movement now. The article advises that you put the remote on the coffee table or in a drawer in between channel changes, not in your lap. Place the phone on the opposite end of the room, not next to the chair. Or better yet, Quick & Simple says, get off the couch and stretch out on the floor.

"What your home reflects is what your life becomes. If you have this vision of greatness, but your home is still kind of messy and chaotic, your vision follows," said Alison Forbes, who dispenses lifestyle wisdom with her sister at www.artofeverydayliving.com.

The same goes for any vision of your life, not just weight, she said.

"We've done lots of consultations for single women who have a goal to meet someone, and we walk into their bedroom and they have one lamp, one night stand and one piece of female inspired artwork featuring one woman," Forbes said. Her point is that bedrooms should show things in pairs and include romantic artwork. If you like works featuring one person, animal or object, that's fine, but buy two.

Barbor told us that the point of the article is not to blame your house, but to point out that making changes to your home can make a change in your life. She said that reaching your goals - including your goal weight - is hard enough without compounding the problem with bad habits that are encouraged because of your home's design.

Our experts chimed in with some things to consider, such as maybe you need a screen so that the kitchen isn't the first thing you see when you come home. Maybe your running shoes need a prime location by the back door, not behind your boots in the upstairs closet. Maybe the mini fridge in your home office was not such a good idea. Maybe taking the clothes off of the stationary exercise bike and relocating it in front of a window will encourage you to use it.

"I guess I knew a lot of these things, but it's good to see it in black and white," especially advice like don't eat in the dark, Barbor said. The article encourages people to eat with the lights on high and the drapes wide open if there's natural light outside. Why? People may eat more if they feel they are doing it in secret.

" If you want a cookie, have a cookie . . . just don't make it easy to eat the whole bag," Barbor said.

Take a bite out of your home's fat content

Keep the kitchen clean. You're more likely to cook and less likely eat out if the kitchen isn't scary.

Start small. Organize one small space that you use every day, even if it's a drawer.

Create open space. There is probably one surface, maybe your kitchen table or counter, where you tend to pile things up. Look at vertical options for storing keys. Trash junk mail immediately.

Put like things together. If you've got hobby items scattered around your home, r collect all the pieces in one spot. If you need them to be portable, think baskets or carry-alls.

Don't block traffic. If it's in your way, don't step over it. Pick it up and take it where it needs to go. Do this every time you walk somewhere in your house. Don't leave a room until you've picked up three things. Keep doing this, and you'll clean up in no time.

Teach your kids fun organizing habits. Enforce putting things in their proper place. Give a prize for cleanliness. End the day with a 15-minute clean-up.

Rethink your furniture. If you can't walk around the room briskly without bumping into things, you're probably not moving much while you're in the space.

Ask for help. So people make a living cleaning up for others. It's not a sign of failure. Afraid of the cost What's your peace of mind worth?

Converting from Living Condition to Selling Condition: The Front Door

The front door is the gateway to the home.  As sellers are preparing to sell their homes attention needs to be paid so that this gateway makes a great instant impression.  It should convey a feeling of being warm and inviting as well as clean and maintained.

     A good place for a seller to start is with a deep cleaning of the front door.  Door hardware should be clean and tarnish free.  If it’s not possible to remove persistent tarnish it’s a good idea to go ahead and replace the door hardware.  What a seller wants is for a potential buyer to feel like they want to open the door to their new home.

A fresh coat of paint on a painted front door is the cheapest and easiest way to make a considerable impact.  The color should be selected to complement the color of the exterior of the home.  If at all possible the exterior of the front door should be painted a warm color such as a red or yellow tone.  Brick red is often a nice selection.  Warm colors are preferred because warm colors are considered inviting and even sometimes exciting.  They are also said to advance, that is to appear closer than they actually are.  The goal is for the front door to stand out and greet as potential buyers approach the home.  You will not be home to invite potential buyers into your home, so your door should do the job for you.  The door should also be painted on the inside to remove any areas that have accumulated scuff marks as well as oils and dirt from hands.

Stained front doors need different attention.  Sellers need to do a thorough inspection of the door.  If the varnish is cracking or pealing or the stain has faded the door should be striped, re-stained and re-varnished.  For tips on the process see the Saturday, November 12, 2005 entry on this blog.

Besides being warm and inviting the front door should also feel secure.  The door needs close and lock with ease.  As a seller you want prospective buyers to feel the home is secure and safe.

     Most front doors are acceptable if a homeowner is just planning on living in their home.  However this is about converting a home to selling condition.  When selling a home sellers need every advantage possible and a front door that is inviting may just be the edge that is needed to get the most and best offers possible.

Shannon White, allied member ASID of Shannon White Interior Design, St. Louis, MO, 314-315-0768, swhiteid@yahoo.com.

$15 million condominium development planned

Jim Merkel
Of the Suburban Journals
South City Journal
01/18/2006

A developer will spend $15 million to build 33 upscale condominiums and several stores on the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Arsenal Street.

Millennium Restoration and Development Corp. of St. Louis hopes to break ground on the Fleur-de-Lis development this summer.

This is the biggest project thus far for Millennium, a partnership of Tim Vogt and his mother, Claire Vogt.

Millennium has done about 30 single family homes, mostly historical restorations, in the Tower Grove East, Benton Park West, Benton Park, Soulard, McKinley Heights and Fox Park neighborhoods. It plans to sell this year in the Shaw, Gravois Park and Marine Villa neighborhoods.

"This'll be nicer than anything that's been built in the whole area," said Tim Vogt.

"I think it's going to be hugely successful and no doubt is going to stimulate the development of Jefferson from I-44 to Cherokee," Tim Vogt said. "All the people that come to this location will help to market all the businesses on Cherokee west of Jefferson and east of Jefferson."

Most of the buildings will be four stories while a corner of one building will be five stories.

The first floor is to be stores, including an upscale grocery, a coffee shop, a dry cleaner, a restaurant and fitness center.

The Vogts chose the stores after surveying residents of the neighborhood. "There's definitely a need for a gourmet grocer," Tim Vogt said. The closest grocery store is at South Grand Boulevard and Gravois Avenue, he said.

The condominium units will range from 1,100 to 2,600 square feet and from two bedrooms to four bedrooms. The price range will be $180,000 to $600,000.

Part of the development cost will be underwritten by tax increment financing. In a TIF, part of the new taxes from a development are used for specific costs of the project.

The amount of the TIF isn't yet known, Tim Vogt said.

The company consulted residents of surrounding areas to get their full support, Vogt said. It worked closely with Alderman Kenneth Ortmann, D-9th Ward, the city Office of Cultural Resources, the city Community Development Administration and Rollin Stanley, director of the city Planning and Urban Design Agency.

Ortmann said previously there was an empty gas station and a closed Chinese restaurant on the property. The Chinese restaurant had been a fast-food restaurant.

The city received a Brownfields grant to remove the gasoline storage tanks from the service station area and clean up the property, Ortmann said. If the city hadn't received the grant, the property might not have been reused, Ortmann said.

"In the 9th Ward, you don't get this much space," Ortmann said.

The city issued requests for proposals from developers and received three responses. The Benton Park West Housing Corp. chose Millennium's proposal

In a meeting involving representatives of the Benton Park West, Benton Park, Gravois Park and Marine Villa neighborhoods, the Millennium proposal proved popular, Ortmann said. "When we asked for support, it was overwhelming," he said.

There was one comment about one of the buildings going up to five stories, Ortmann said. But there is another building on Jefferson that also reaches five stories, he said.

"The retail spaces will provide businesses and jobs, so there's so many more pluses," Ortmann said.

Top 10 Trends in Home Design

Article by Jackie Craven
Tomorrow's homes are on the drawing board and they are nothing like the places you may recall from your childhood. New materials and new technologies are reshaping the way we build. Floor plans are also changing to accommodate the changing patterns of our lives. And yet, many architects and designers are also drawing upon ancient materials and building techniques. So, what will the homes of the future look like? Watch for these important trends.
1) Earth-Friendly Design
Perhaps the most exciting and most important trend in home design is the increased sensitivity to the environment. Architects and engineers taking a new look at ancient building techniques that used simple, bio-degradable materials. Far from primitive, today's "earth houses" are proving comfortable, economical, and rustically beautiful.
2) "Prefab" Construction
Factory-made prefabricated homes have come a long way from flimsy trailer park dwellings. Trend-setting architects and builders are using modular building materials to create bold new designs with lots of glass and steel. Prefabricated, manufactured housing comes in all shapes and styles, from steamlined Bauhaus to undulating organic forms.
3) Adaptive Reuse
New buildings aren't always entirely new. A desire to protect the environment and to preserve historic architecture is inspiring architects to repurpose, or re-use, older structures. Trend-setting homes of the future may be constructed from the shell of an outdated factory, an empy
4) Healthy Design
Some buildings can literally make you sick. Home designers are becoming increasingly aware of the ways our health is affected by synthetic materials and the chemical additives used in paints and composition wood products. The most innovative homes aren't necessarily the most unusual; they are the homes constructed without relying on plastics, laminates, and fume-producing glues.
5) Storm-Resistance
Every shelter should be built to withstand the elements, and engineers are making steady progress in developing storm-ready home designs. In areas were hurricanes are prevalent, more and more builders are relying on insulated wall panels constructed of sturdy concrete.
6) Flexible Floor Plans
Changing lifestyles calls for changing living spaces. Tomorrow's homes have sliding doors, pocket doors, and other types of movable partitions allow flexibility in living arrangements. Dedicated living and dining rooms are being replaced by large multi-purpose family areas. In addition, many houses include private "bonus" rooms that can be used for office space or be adapted to a variety of specialized needs.
7) Accessibility
Forget the spiral staircases, sunken living rooms, and high cabinets. The homes of tomorrow will be easy to move around in, even if you or members of your family have physical limitations. Architects often use the phrase "universal design" to describe these homes because they are comfortable for people of all ages and abilities. Special features such as wide hallways blend seaminglessly into the design so that the home does not have the clinical appearance of a hospital or nursing facility.
8) Outdoor Rooms
An increased interest in eco-friendly architecture is encouraging builders to incorporate outdoor spaces with the overall home design. The yard and garden become a part of the floor plan when sliding glass doors lead to patios and decks. These outdoor "rooms" may even include kitchens with sophisticated sinks and grills.
9) Abundant Storage
Closets were scarce in Victorian times, but over the past century, homeowners have demanded more storage space. Newer homes feature enormous walk-in closets, spacious dressing rooms, and plenty of easy-to-reach built-in cabinets. Cathedral ceilings are becoming passé because families tend to prefer usable space below the roof. Garages are also getting bigger to accommodate the ever-popular SUVs and other large vehicles.
10) Eastern Ideas
Feng Shui, Vástu Shástra, and other Eastern philosophies have been guiding builders since ancient times. Today these principles are gaining respect in the West. You might not immediately see the Eastern influences in the design of your new home. According to believers, however, you will soon begin to feel the positive effects of Eastern ideas on your health, prosperity, and relationships.

Is Now the Best Time To Buy Your First Home?

You finally stashed away enough for a down payment on a first home. But all the talk about a housing bubble makes you nervous.

Is now really the time to buy?

It's a natural question, especially for young buyers who might consider relocating to pursue their careers in the near future.

After several record-setting years for housing, many economists believe the fast appreciation in many housing markets will soon peter out, particularly if mortgage rates rise substantially in the next few years. Rates have been near 40-year lows in recent times, and many experts believe they now have nowhere to go but up. If that happens, some expensive markets may see price declines or at least slower increases.

This all means that anyone buying a home right now shouldn't count on seeing a home purchase shoot up in value right away. It still could happen, of course, but the chances aren't as good.

"It's more risky than it's been in the past," says Karl Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College. "Prices are at record highs and have been going up, in some cases at alarming rates." Mr. Case says houses in some areas are lingering on the market longer than a year ago and prices in some hot markets have cooled.

Here's what to consider before jumping into the market.

Time Horizon

Common wisdom says that if you plan on keeping your home for five to seven years, you'll be able to ride out any significant price drop, recoup money spent on transaction fees and resell the house at a profit because it will have risen in value. Unfortunately, those are tricky assumptions for those who can't predict how long they'll stay in any one place.

But asking yourself some questions can help make the decision more clear-cut. What's the likelihood you or a significant other's job will change locations in the next few years? Will staying in one place that long, if need be, possibly hinder your job choices? Will you be happy with the size of the home and not need more space for at least several years?

Also, make sure that your expected income will comfortably keep up with your house payments so you're not constantly strapped for cash, or, worse yet, in danger of defaulting on your loan.

A good resource to check out is the "Rent vs. Buy" calculator at www.dinkytown.net, a finance site based in Minneapolis. From the home page, you can find the calculator on the left side, under the heading "Mortgage Calculators." This lets you enter various assumptions about buying a home (expected appreciation rate in your market, mortgage rate, closing fees, local property-tax rate, etc.) and compares that to how much you'll spend to rent.

If you assume your home will increase an average 3% in sales value each year, it may take several years to beat out renting -- especially if you've locked in a decent rent in your area. When home prices surge 10% or more a year, you can recoup your costs and start accruing equity sometimes in less than a year. But when prices creep up slowly -- or not at all -- it can take years before buying makes more sense than renting.

Location Matters

Where you're looking to buy is just as important as your time frame, since some markets carry more risk than others.

Many areas in the Northeast and California saw price increases of more than 70% in the past five years. These high-priced markets such as Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco are particularly vulnerable to price declines, because house appreciation has trounced income growth in those areas, says Chris Mayer, director of the Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia University. In these "growth" markets, he says, home buyers need to carefully consider how long they will be willing to stay put.

But most other regions are much less vulnerable to price drops. Many parts of the Midwest, Texas and Southwest experienced only modest price run-ups in recent years. Mr. Mayer calls these places "income" markets, since the growth has been modest but consistent.

Prices may not rise in these areas nearly as quickly as they did in the past five years. But the risk that prices will actually decline or stop rising altogether is much less. Therefore, your time horizon probably needn't be quite as long.

If your local market has seen single-digit appreciation per year, it's less likely t

hat prices will fall. Markets that have seen double-digit annual appreciation, however, are bigger risks because prices shot up so far so fast.

Keep in mind: The primary trigger of slowing appreciation in most markets would probably be mortgage-rate increases, not a faltering economy. So even if prices fall, a buyer could end up with roughly the same monthly payment -- or more -- for a house by having to pay a higher mortgage rate on a lower-priced home.

But it's still a gamble. Your options are to buy today at a lower interest rate for a possibly higher-priced house, or to bet that prices will fall far enough to make a higher rate worthwhile.

"It's not clear which [option] somebody is going to be better off with," Mr. Mayer says. "Even if house prices went down 5%, you might be better off having a mortgage rate that's 1½ [percentage points] less."

Risk Tolerance

For many, the investment return on a home takes a back seat to the personal benefits of ownership. You can fix it up according to your tastes, dig a garden in the backyard and often get more space for the same monthly payment as a rental. A huge portion of home value comes from "imputed rent" -- what you save by living in the home and not paying rent.

But, that said, investment value shouldn't be overlooked altogether.

Consider this unfortunate scenario: You put a $40,000 down payment on a $200,000 home. Months later, you have to sell at $170,000 and your equity is used to cover the loss in value and broker's commissions and fees. If you don't have enough cash saved up, you may find yourself without enough for a down payment on your next home.

Particularly in markets where the largest price declines are most possible, it makes sense to keep that risk in mind before buying.

In the end, if you're still nervous, you should probably rent for a while longer, until you're comfortable with making a long-term financial commitment.

From RealEstateJournal.com
By Kelly Spors
From The Wall Street Journal Online

Podcast-StLouis.com is launched

Do you know what a Podcast is? Wikipedia defines it as follows:

Podcasting is a term coined in 2004 when the use of RSS syndication technologies became popular for distributing audio content for listening on mobile devices and personal computers. A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to. Podcasters' websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming.

While the name was primarily associated with audio subscriptions in 2004, the RSS enclosure syndication technique had been used with video files since 2001, before portable video players were widely available. In fact, any file with a URL, including still images and text, can be delivered as an enclosure.

Use of "podcast" to describe both audio and video feeds seemed natural to some users, while others preferred to reserve the word for audio and coin new terms for video subscriptions. Other "pod-" derived neologisms include "podcasters" for individuals or organizations offering feeds, and "podcatchers" for special RSS aggregators with the ability to transfer the files to media player software or hardware.

Nolting Real Estate has recently begun Podcast-StLouis.com. We are excited to offer this new service. The purpose of Podcast-Stlouis.com is to provide our clients and the public with audio updates of the St. Louis real estate market. For directions on how to subscribe to our Podcast, please visit our website at www.NoltingRealEstate.com. Click on Podcast and follow the instructions.

Converting from Living Condition to Selling Condition: Curb Appeal

No matter how much we hate to admit it first impressions are extremely important. Within seconds of driving up to a house for the first time potential buyers have a predetermined idea if they are going to like a house or not. As a seller you want your house to give its absolute best first impression. This good first impression is achieved by the house having curb appeal. With a little work any seller can improve their homes curb appeal.

The lawn is an extension of the home. There are different concerns with the lawn depending on the season. No matter what the season the lawn needs to be kept free of clutter. Toys, bikes, gardening equipment, etc. need to be put away. Hedges need to be trimmed and kept cut back away from the door and windows. For winter it is essential that the lawn received a final mowing and edging in the fall. All signs of leaves and dead flowers should be long gone. If it snows the sidewalks should be shoveled. In the summer a well manicured lawn is essential. Keeping the lawn freshly mowed and edged is an indication to potential buyers that a seller cares for their home. If you don’t have time to keep up with the lawn hire someone to do it. It’s that important. Flowers are a welcoming accent, especially yellow. Keep the flower beds well-watered and remove any overgrowth. If the yard lacks landscaping it may be a good investment to hire a professional landscaper.

Front porches should be clean and free of clutter. A new doormat and a pot of colorful flowers by the door is a nice touch. Special attention should be made to make sure the front porch light is clean. Keep the porch light on in the evenings, just in case a potential buyer happens to be driving down the street. It is always a good idea to have the windows freshly washed. Garage doors should be kept closed at all times since again you never know when a potential buyer may be driving by.

There is never a second chance to make a good first impression. As a seller keep this in mind on a daily basis. The exterior of the home is a constant display to potential buyers out for a drive. A good impression from curb appeal encourages potential buyers to take a closer look at the house.

Shannon White, allied member ASID of Shannon White Interior Design, St. Louis, MO, 314-315-0768, swhiteid@yahoo.com.

Even in Clayton eminent domain debate rages

Eminent domain (US), compulsory purchase (United Kingdom, New Zealand), compulsory acquisition (Australia) or expropriation (Canada, South Africa) in common law legal systems is the power of the state to appropriate private property for its own use without the owner's consent. In the United States, the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution requires that just compensation be paid when the power of eminent domain is used, and requires that "public use" of the property be demonstrated. Most courts have interpreted "just compensation" to be the fair market value of the condemned property. Over the years the definition of "public use" has expanded to include economic development plans which use eminent domain seizures to enable commercial development for the purpose of generating more tax revenue for the local government. Critics contend this perverts the intent of eminent domain law and tramples personal property rights. Keto v. the City of New London is a case that recently went to the Supreme Court of the United States. The link above will take you to a .pdf of the decision.

The city of Clayton has long been the envy of St. Louis County.

With its manicured lawns and thriving downtown, it has seemed - at least on the surface - above the economic struggles of the region.Turn down Central Avenue on any given weekday and you'll see dozens of people racing back and forth between clean office buildings and one of the dozens of restaurants that have made the town a destination.

So it came as a surprise recently when city officials signed off on a $190 million development project that authorized use of eminent domain, a tool never before used in Clayton.

The Centene Corp., a giant in the health care industry, has struck a deal to build its new headquarters on Forsyth Boulevard. The project includes a 16-story headquarters building and a 15-story office building that will have significant retail space.

City officials say the project will be a boon for the local economy, creating hundreds of jobs and adding millions to tax revenues. However, that comes at the expense of several businesses, including Decker Tailoring and Edward L. Bakewell realty offices. Both have been in their current spots for more than 40 years. Both will have to move.

For some, the city's decision proved once and for all that the use of eminent domain was truly out of control. If it could happen in Clayton, it could happen anywhere.But for others, it revealed the cutthroat nature of economic competition between neighboring communities."It's so competitive," said Clayton Mayor Ben Uchitelle. "And you can't just ignore the fact that (incentives) are being offered all around us."

No one is safe

In a controversial ruling last year, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed government's right to force the sale of personal property for economic development.

While the decision broke no new ground, the court's official approval sent shock waves across the country. Since June, legislators in 28 states, including Missouri and Illinois, have introduced bills to curtail eminent domain.

Locally, at least three cities - Maplewood, Ellisville and O'Fallon, Mo. - have already passed ordinances or resolutions limiting eminent domain's use for economic development. Several others are considering similar legislation.

Clayton never seemed to need incentives to attract business. But according to City Manager Mike Schoedel, changes in the local economy have hit the county seat hard. For the past three years, the city has had an operating deficit, forcing it to dip into its reserves.

And last year, for the first time in 10 years, the city raised property tax rates to meet higher expenses for services and salaries."We've taken some major hits recently," Schoedel said. "You can't just sit around and hope things improve. You have to do something."

The hits Scheodel refers to are the loss of two major corporations: Sara Lee and Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. Sara Lee is moving to Chicago. Smurfit-Stone, in a move that stings the most, is moving right down the street to Creve Coeur. "We lost them to a tax abatement deal," said Mayor Uchitelle, pointedly.

This is why Les Sterman, executive director of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, has argued for limitations on such development tools. Sterman said one of the problems with things such as eminent domain and tax increment financing is that they rarely attract development from elsewhere; they just take it away from neighboring communities. "It just ends up pitting neighbor against neighbor," he said.

The Centene deal

The section of Clayton targeted for the Centene Plaza development has long been a tough sell for the city. Schoedel said much of the area has been on the market for five years, with no takers.

Centene provides managed health care for Medicaid recipients and for children whose family income is too high for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. At the end of last year, it served about 772,700 people in seven states including Missouri. The company also operates specialty programs such as behavioral health care. Its total revenue last year was slightly more than $1 billion, compared with $221.35 million in 2000.

The project is expected to generate 800 new jobs for the area and roughly $20 million in tax revenues in the next 15 years. Schoedel said the overall economic impact is too hard to calculate now, but should be considerable when considering the number of new workers and the money they could spend in the area.

"This will be a big boost for the region as a whole," Uchitelle said. "This is the kind of development that we want to attract."But that doesn't come without a cost. The Centene deal would force out five property owners and several companies leasing space from them.Decker Tailoring is one of several businesses on Forsyth facing possible eviction. The shop has been at its current location for more than 40 years. In that time it has built a loyal following. Owner Aleksandr Grinberg is worried about the effects of such a move.

"To do this, to make us pick up and move, it is very hard," he said. "We are a small business and our customers like us here. I need to stay in Clayton, but who knows what will happen."

Laura Dierberg Ayers, an attorney for Debbie Pyzyk, one of the five owners being forced out, said the owners feel like they are being bullied. "We don't want to go and we truly don't appreciate the city giving Centene a hammer to force us to sell," she said. "Once you put eminent domain on the table, honest negotiations are over."

On Monday, the Clayton city clerk rejected a petition seeking a public vote on the use of eminent domain for the project, saying a referendum is not allowable under the city charter.

Ayers said the owners have not finished fighting the project. The next step, she said, would be litigation."The bottom line is we want to stay," said Daniel F Sheehan Jr., president of Dolan Realtors, one of the property owners.

Reporter Clay Barbour writes about St. Louis County for the Post-Dispatch.cbarbour@post-dispatch.com 314-727-6234

What is a Reverse Mortgage?

Mortgage brokers and banks continue to work hard to produce new and innovative products for the public. Like all traditional business, struggling to keep current with a technology boom that brings seemingly unlimited information and ability to comsumers, mortgage brokers have had to develop products to keep at the forefront of the public's minds. The reverse mortgage is an excellent product for cash poor, house rich seniors who struggle to cope with inflation and the onset of excessive healthcare costs. The reverse mortgage actually allows the homeowner to take money out of their property without selling. The mortgage gets paid back when the house is sold. The following article discusses reverse mortgages in more depth. For additional information, call us at 636 391 9997 or email me at RTNolting@NoltingRealEstate.com I would be happy to put you in contact with a mortgage broker or bank that could help you with a reverse mortgage or any banking needs.

As of the first of the year, older homeowners can tap into a larger part of the equity in their homes with a reverse mortgage because of new, higher federal loan limits, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.

Although growing in popularity, reverse mortgages are still an unknown financial product for a lot of elderly homeowners. But if you're 62 or older and find that you are cash poor and house rich - meaning you have a lot of equity in your home, but little or no savings, this is a product that's worth looking into. Or maybe you have some savings but don't want to touch that pot of money.

This type of loan allows seniors to pull out the equity in their home in the form of a loan without selling or giving up title. The best feature: The loan doesn't have to be repaid until the homeowner moves, sells or dies. When the loan is repaid, any remaining equity is distributed to the borrower if he or she is alive or to the late borrower's estate. In addition, the repayment amount can never exceed the value of the home.

Borrowers can take the loan as a line of credit, a lump-sum payment, fixed monthly payments or a combination of these. And because the money received is in the form of a loan, it's not considered taxable income, which means it won't affect your Social Security or Medicare benefits.There is a catch to this product. With a reverse mortgage, the amount of money you can borrow depends on your age, the current interest rate and other loan fees. It also takes into account the appraised value of your house and the mortgage limits for your area set by the Federal Housing Administration.

According to the Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, the changes affect two products: the federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, which accounts for 90 percent of all reverse mortgages made in the U.S., and the Fannie Mae Home Keeper loan. As with other FHA-backed loans, the limits for reverse mortgages went up this year in many parts of the country. To see what the limit is in your area, go to www.hud.gov and click on the link for "Search/index." Then scroll down to find the link for "Mortgage limits.

"The loan limits for HECMs vary by geographic area. The limit for houses in high-priced areas will rise to $362,790 from $312,896. The lowest loan limit, which generally applies to rural and non-metropolitan areas, will increase to $200,160 from $172,632. Fannie Mae's national loan limit for single-family mortgages, including Home Keeper loans, will jump to $417,000 from the current limit of $359,650.

If you live in a higher-valued house but would like to cash out more than the FHA or Fannie Mae limits allow, consider a Cash Account loan. I like reverse mortgages. They give homeowners a lot of flexibility and, increasingly, aren't just being used by cash-strapped seniors."I know one couple who at 76 and 75 used proceeds from their reverse mortgage and bought a new Harley Davidson motorcycle with a side car," said Peter Bell, president of the Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.

"There are basically three types of people who get these loans. There are need-based borrowers, who need the money to supplement what they are getting. There are security borrowers, who are getting by but want to add a reserve to pay for such things as emergency repairs. And there are lifestyle borrowers, who are doing OK on their retirement income but want to add some discretionary income."

To get an estimate of how much you might get in a reverse mortgage, check out AARP's "Reverse Mortgage Calculator" at www.rmaarp.com. AARP is an extremely useful and unbiased source of information on reverse mortgages. For more information go to AARP's very useful Web page on this topic at www.aarp.org/revmort, or call 1-800-209-8085 to order a free copy of "Home Made Money: A Consumer's Guide to Reverse Mortgages."

If this is something you would be interested in, I suggest you get a booklet created by the Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. It's called "Just the FAQs: Answers to Common Questions About Reverse Mortgages." It's free and covers all the basics and more about reverse mortgages. Call 1-866-264-4466. Or order it online at www.reversemortgage.org.There's another feature of reverse mortgages I like. Borrowers have to get counseling from HUD-approved counselors before obtaining a loan. For information about a HUD-approved counseling agency, call 1-800-569-4287.In fact, HUD recently announced it was expanding its network of counselors. Good thing because, as Bell pointed out, it's important to get all the facts on reverse mortgages and learn how one would affect your estate.

By Michelle Singletary Sunday, Jan. 08 2006
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Top 10 Tax Breaks for Homeowners

Top 10 Tax Breaks, On The House
by Broderick Perkins


The New Year always turns thoughts to the new tax season and when it comes to taxes there's no place like home to find shelter.

Your home offers a score of tax deductions and credits designed to help offset the cost of housing and to keep the housing market fueled with new buyers.

Some federal-level politicians would like to separate you from some of those benefits and they may or may not be successful, so take advantage of them while you can.

Here's a look at the Top 10 Tax Breaks, On The House. Visit the Internal Revenue Service's website for more details on each item.


Mortgage Loan Interest: The Mother Of All Tax Breaks, because interest payments comprises a large portion of your mortgage payment in the early years of the loan's term, mortgage interest on a maximum of $1 million in mortgage debt secured by a first and second home is deductible. Deductions reduce your taxable income against which your taxes due are calculated. The $1 million level applies to joint tax filers. You get half the deduction if you file single or separately.
Likewise, home equity loan interest is deductible, but limited to the smaller of $100,000 (half as much for each member of a married couple if they file separately), or the total of your home's fair market value as determined by a complicated formula you may need a tax professional's help to decipher.


Home Improvement Loan Interest: The interest on a home improvement loan is also deductible, but calculated differently. You can deduct all the interest on a home improvement loan provided the work is a "capital improvement" rather than repairs, maintenance or cosmetic upgrades. Capital improvements typically increase your home's value (say, because you added a room), prolong it's life (a new roof) or adapt it to new uses (universal design improvements to assist older people or people with disabilities). You get tax benefits from repair work (painting, repairing, etc.) only when you sell your home but you can use a home equity loan to make repairs and deduct the interest -- up to the limits.

Points: Points, each equal to 1 percent of the loan principal, are charged by lenders as part of the cost of the loan. You can fully deduct points associated with a home purchase mortgage, but not a mortgage broker's commission. Refinanced mortgage points are deductible too, but only when they are amortized over the life of the loan. Once you refinance a second time, the balance of the old points from a refinanced loan offer an immediate write off, as you begin to amortize the new points.

Property Taxes: Property taxes or real estate taxes are fully deductible. Any local city or state property tax refunds reduces your federal property tax deduction by the same amount.

Capital Gains Exclusion: Home buying investors' best tax shelter comes from provisions in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 which allows married taxpayers who file jointly to keep, tax free, up to $500,000 in profit on the sale of a home used as a principal residence for two of the prior five years. The amount is halved for those filing single or separately. You can use the benefit as often as you qualify.

Home-Based Business Deduction: Home offices that use a portion of your home exclusively for business could qualify you to deduct a percentage of costs related to that portion. Included are a percentage of your insurance and repair costs, utility bills and depreciation. Under clarified provisions of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, if your home office qualifies, you don't have to allocate a home sale's capital gains between the home and the business.
Previously if you used, say, 10 percent of your home for a home-based business, 10 percent of the gain from a sale would be subject to capital gain taxes and you couldn't use the capital gains tax exclusion on that portion. The clarified provision does not excuse you from a recapture tax if you've taken a depreciation deduction because of the home-based business.


Selling Costs and Capital Improvements: When you sell your home, you can reduce your taxable capital gain by the amount of your selling costs, which include real estate commissions, title insurance, legal fees, advertising and inspection fees. Cost typically stemming from decorating or repairs -- painting, wallpapering, planting flowers, maintenance, and the like -- are also selling costs if you complete them within 90 days of your sale and with the intention of making the home more saleable.
Selling costs are deducted from your gain. Gain is your home's selling price, minus deductible closing costs, minus selling costs, minus your tax basis in the property. Your basis is the original purchase price, plus the cost of capital improvements, minus any depreciation.


Moving Costs: A move triggered by a new job comes with some deductible moving costs. To qualify, you must meet certain requirements including, moving within one year of starting your new job, moving 50 miles farther from your old home than your old job was and working full-time at the new job for 39 of 52 weeks following the move. Deductions include travel or transportation costs and expenses for lodging and storing your household goods.

Mortgage Tax Credit: Mortgage Credit Certificates (MCCs) allow qualifying low-income, first-time home buyers to take a mortgage interest tax credit of up to 20 percent (the amount varies by jurisdiction) of the mortgage interest payments made on a home. This credit is available every year you keep the loan and live in the house purchased with the certificate. Unlike a deduction that reduces your income, the credit is subtracted, dollar for dollar, from the income tax owed. For example, with a 20 percent tax credit, if you paid $10,000 in interest, your tax credit would be $2,000. If you owe $2,000 in income taxes without the credit, you would end up owing nothing to the IRS after the credit was applied. The remaining 80 percent of your mortgage interest -- $8,000 -- is taken as a normal mortgage interest deduction.

Energy Tax Credits: The newest home-based tax credits were made possible last year by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Tax credits of up to $500 in 2006 and 2007 are available for upgrading heating and air conditioning systems, insulations, windows, doors and thermostats, caulking leaks, installing pigmented metal roofs and for otherwise putting the bite on energy waste in your home. Qualified solar energy and fuel cell systems can net tax credits of up to $2,000. Some states also offer tax credits or rebate deals that could reduce the federal credit. Related tax credits are available for consumers who buy alternative- and clean-fuel burning cars and for entrepreneurial consumers who install clean-fuel vehicle refueling property at the principal residence of the taxpayer.

Published: January 11, 2006
Article from RealtyTimes.com

The mission of Nolting Real Estate

Corporate Mission Statements are all the rage today. So popular is the concept that the comic strip Dilbert has created an online Mission Statement Generator to aid corporations in this difficult task. Please click below to access this humorous tool:

Dilbert’s Mission Statement Generator

Despite our usual resistance to following the current trends, Nolting Real Estate has developed a Corporate Mission Statement to guide us as we grow our business. According to data that we have gleaned from our research, the mission statement should be a clear and succinct representation of the enterprise's purpose for existence. It should incorporate socially meaningful and measurable criteria addressing concepts such as the moral/ethical position of the enterprise, public image, the target market, products/services, the geographic domain and expectations of growth and profitability.

After a great deal of brainstorming, Nolting Real Estate has put together our first official Mission Statement. We don’t believe that this statement will change the way we do business. But we do hope that the statement will communicate to our clients and future employees how we feel about the real estate business.

The mission of the Nolting Real Estate team is to invest in the lives of homeowners by providing reliable, innovative, and personalized service to maximize the economic and personal value of their real estate investment and to earn their trust in order to build lifelong business relationships.

While the statement is short, we believe that it is jam-packed with content that highlights who we are, what we do, and how we do it. Over the next few weeks, I intend to focus on a few of the points that we make in our mission statement.

This week, I want to concentrate on just one word of our mission statement. Nolting Real Estate is a team. My concept of practicing real estate is to practice as a team. Teams perform functions very differently from individuals. One might argue that a team is only p