Having lived in Omaha all my life, along with the fact that I have helped over 400 families buy or sell a home, gives me a lot of experience that many other agents may not have. Sometimes putting a buyer and seller together is the easy part of the transaction - it takes the experience of a long time licensed professional to carry through with all the details of a successful transaction.

2013 US PGA Senior Open coming to Omaha!

December 10 2011

Omaha Country Club

Congratulations are in order for Omaha Country Club for being selected to host the 2013 US PGA Senior Open!

Designed in 1925 and set across 190 acres of rolling hills, Omaha Country Club completed major renovations and enhancements to the golf course in 2006. This will be the first Open Championship in the State of Nebraska.

This event is expected to have over 150,000 spectators from all around the world and an estimated $30 Million Dollars in economic impact for the city of Omaha.

There is a need for over 3,000 volunteers as well. If you’d like more information on volunteering, go to the official 2013 US PGA Senior Open website for more details.

Congrats again to Omaha Country Club again for being selected. Take a look at this short YouTube video about the event!

Click the photo to watch the video.

Coats 4 Kids Omaha Winter Clothing Drive starts this weekend!

November 08 2011

Look for these signs!

Start cleaning out your closets and watching for Coats for Kids signs in YOUR neighborhood!

For the next two weekends, open houses all across the city will be collection sites for your new or gently used winter clothing, watch for these signs in yards to identify participating open houses.

If there isn’t a participating open house in your neighborhood, please feel free to drop off your winter clothing donations at any CBSHOME office around the city

For those of you on facebook, you can get additional information on our ‘Coats 4 Kids‘ facebook page at www.facebook.com/coats4kidsOmaha

Thanks so much!

Happy Halloween! Creepy things actual buyers have found in their homes!!!!

October 31 2011

Yes, we’ve all seen the classic 1982 Poltergeist, where the family home is built on an old Indian burial ground. Well, below are a few stories of actual homeowners who made truly creepy discoveries after moving in to their new homes!

Continue at your own risk! Bwuhahahahaha!

First up, yes, an actual Old Burial Ground!

In Jefferson Wisconsin when Helen Weisensel bought her house, she didn’t know it was built on top of an old cemetery — and the bodies were still there. Yikes!

She actually owned the home for over 20 years and made the discovery when she hired a contractor to start a remodelling job on her home.

Operating a Bobcat, “He only got a scoop-and-a-half of dirt out, and when he dumped the second scoop, a human skull actually rolled out of the dirt,” she said.

This was probably the first burial site, or cemetery, in the Jefferson community, and at the time it was definitely on the outskirts of town,” said Dierdre March, of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s burial sites program.

Like many communities, as Jefferson grew, it was decided the cemetery should be relocated.

The question is how much of the cemetery was actually moved,” March said.

I guess it’s not just in the movies!!!

Next entry, just as creepy… How about a house infested with SNAKES!

This story comes to us from Rexburg, Idaho

Shortly after buying their dream home, Ben and Amber Sessions discovered it was infested with thousands of garter snakes. For three months, their growing family lived as if in a horror movie.

At night, the Sessions would lie awake and listen to slithering inside the walls. During the day, the family often had to eat out because their well water smelled like the musk released by the snakes as a warning to predators.

They slithered behind the walls at night and released foul-smelling musk into the drinking water. And they were so numerous that Ben Sessions once killed 42 in a single day.

More than a year after they abandoned the property, the home briefly went back on the market, and they fear it could someday attract another unsuspecting buyer.

They filed for bankruptcy, and the bank foreclosed on the house.

The Sessions left in December 2009, the day after their daughter was born and just three months after moving in.

We’re not going to pay for a house full of snakes,” Sessions said.

And just to add one more unbelievable item to the story. Amber was watching a TV show one day about a family that had fled their house because of an infestation of snakes. The more she watched, the more it sounded familiar. Turns out, it was the previous owners of THEIR house! Yikes!

In an effort to warn others of this creepy property, the Sessions agreed to filming a segment aired on The Animal Planet earlier this year.

The next time you find yourself complaining that you found a broken window, or a faucet leaked in your new house, it certainly could be a whole lot worse, and a whole lot creepier! Happy Halloween!

My Grandma’s cousin’s neighbor’s hairdresser’s Uncle Joe got HIS offer accepted!

November 08 2010

OK, you’ve found the house that works for you! Now… What do you offer???

First and foremost, have your agent prepare a market analysis on the house to give you a range of what the house could expect to sell for. Maybe that range is where the house is listed, maybe it’s higher or lower. Whatever that is, expect to probably pay close to that amount after all of your negotiations are done in most cases.

In Omaha, the average List to Sale price ratio over the last 16 months has been 96-97%. Of course you can offer whatever you wish, but if you really want the house, you may have to pay close to or over list price for it, especially if there is more than one offer in play, or if you are asking the seller to pay closing costs on your behalf.

List to Sale Price Ratio

Throughout my career, especially in the last two years, I have had several buyers who were bound and determined to make absolutely ridiculous offers simply because of the advice they have been getting. I call it the: “My Grandma’s cousin’s neighbor’s hairdresser’s Uncle Joe got HIS offer accepted!” syndrome.

You certainly can’t blame them. An excited buyer; especially a first time buyer, is getting information from ALL of the people in their lives. Well meaning friends and relatives, coworkers, any number of Internet sites, even a few ‘not-so-well-meaning’ friends or relatives. They all have the long lost relative twice removed who found that proverbial ‘needle in a haystack’ when they were looking for their house.

This summer, unfortunately, I had to let a buyer go out on their househunting quest without me. It was a nice young couple who were listening to all the wrong people. I met them at a home in the 140,000 range. I referred them to CBSHOME Mortgage and they got approved for approximately 105,000. The only houses they wanted to look at were listed between 140-150,000 and were houses in fairly good condition. They wouldn’t look at anything that needed work. This was because someone at work who literally, had an uncle Joe who got a 150,000 house (assessed value) for 105,000. Nothing I could say would change their minds about the price range they wanted to look at. I politely wished them well. Last I checked, they were still in their apartment and hadn’t gotten their ‘steal’ yet.

A side-note: There are certainly some properties in our market that come onto the market at a price that may be considered ‘a steal’. I’m not talking about those, just the ones that are priced fairly and competitively. Of course there are always those exceptions, those ‘needles in haystacks’ but trust me, they come along few and far between.

I also want to emphasize that I do work and negotiate very aggressively for the buyers I represent. But representation doesn’t JUST mean getting the lowest price. There are many more facets to properly representing a purchaser today in our market.

Please don’t let your search for a ‘steal’ keep you from finding a home that could suit ALL of your needs that you might have to pay close to a fair market value for.

And if you are “Uncle Joe”… Congrats!

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Clean out your closets Omaha!

November 04 2010

This coming Sunday in Omaha and surrounding areas there will be hundreds of official collection locations for the 2010 Omaha Area Board of REALTORS ‘Coats 4 Kids’ Winter clothing drive.

Look for these signs...

That’s because nearly every open house in the area will be an official collection site! Just look for these signs in a neighborhood near you!

If you miss out on Sunday’s citywide collection; You can drop off any coats and winter clothing, both for kids and adults, to any CBSHOME office.

Our goal is to collect 2400 coats by Wednesday, November 10th! The clothing will be split among 3 local charities: the Open Door Mission/Lydia House; the YWCA, and the Sarpy County Community Services as well.

Clean out your closets and let’s put those ‘gently used’ clothes to a good use!

If you have any questions whatsoever, please contact me, Bill Swanson at bill.swanson@cbshome.com

Adopt a Duck… and you might win a MILLION bucks!

July 13 2010

Adopt a Duck… and you might win a million dollars!

Wow! That's a lotta ducks!

Wow! That's a lotta ducks!

Go to any area Baker’s Supermarket to adopt your duck for the third annual “O What a Duck” race…

You can adopt one for 5 Bucks, 6 for $25… or if you’ve always wanted your own flock of ducks, you can adopt 25 for a hundie…

The race is set for July 24th with a $10,000 first prize, a $4,000 second prize, two $1,000 prizes, and of course, the chance to win a MILLION bucks!

In addition to the unimaginable excitement of seeing your own duck race with 49,999 others, you will also have the satisfaction of knowing that your $5.00 donation will help feed families in need right here in Omaha, NE.

The Food Bank began the “O! What a Duck Race!” as a way to raise funds for The Food Bank. We wanted to create a fun and free community event that increased the awareness of hunger in our community.

The Food Bank is a non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce hunger in Nebraska and western Iowa through community collaboration, making the best possible use of all available resources. Food is distributed to people in 77 Nebraska counties and 16 western Iowa counties.

You can purchase your ducks at all area Baker’s Supermarkets!

Spread the word that July 24, 2010 is a FREE Family Festival that features games and activities for the whole family and the racing of 50,000 ducks!

Bill Swanson is an agent with over 20 years experience at CBSHome Real Estate, and also a lifelong Omaha resident. For any and all of your real estate needs, email Bill at Bill.Swanson@cbshome.com or visit http://www.billswanson.com/ today.

Senate Passes Tax Credit Extension, Obama Expected to Sign

July 01 2010

Late last night, reported by CNN/Money.com; the Senate has passed the extension to qualify for the tax credit to September 30th. This is only for contracts that have already met the April 30th acceptance deadline. This will apply to both the $8,000 first time buyer and the $6,500 repeat buyer contracts.

Earlier reports indicated that there were as much as 200,000 pending contracts that didn’t get closed by the original June 30th deadline that now have an extra 90 days to get officially closed.

It is unclear how many of these pending contracts are in the Omaha market but with over 1500 contracts accepted in the month of April, there are sure to be several.

Bill Swanson is an agent with over 20 years experience helping buyers and sellers in the Omaha, NE area.

House backs ‘Closing Time’ extension for tax credit.

June 29 2010

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved giving extra time to homebuyers trying to get a popular federal tax credit by the end of the month.

The House backed a measure to extend the closing deadline to September 30 for buyers who met the April 30 deadline to have a signed contract. The current deadline requires those buyers to close the transaction by June 30 to receive the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

It’s not final yet but this is a great step for those buyers and sellers who are experiencing delays in trying to close this week. Read the article here.

If you are in need of a Realtor in Omaha, NE; Bill Swanson has 25 years of experience in helping people buy and sell homes. Contact Bill today!

The BEST Thing about Real Estate is…

June 14 2010

I recently accompanied a friend who’s thinking of getting into the real estate business to a CBSHOME Career Night. I found it to be very informative and certainly worth the time of all who attended.

Near the end of the presentation, I was asked: “As an long-time agent, what is the best thing you’ve found about being a Realtor?”

To me, it was a very easy answer. I simply said: “The entire time my kids were growing up, I never once had to ask a boss if I could take the day off to go watch a Christmas Program.” There are lots of other things I never had to ask for the day off for; like field trips, doctor visits, taking several days off while my son recuperated from surgery or the few years when I picked the kids up every day from middle school.

There are a lot of great aspects to our business, but far and away, in my mind the flexibility of our schedule for family time or personal obligations wins hands down. That is the BEST thing about Real Estate.

Yes, there is a great opportunity to make a very good living income wise. Of course, any good Realtor works a lot of hours; many of which to make up for taking those afternoons off with the kids.

Of course there’s also a flip side. I’ve seen many agents come and go in my years because they had ‘too flexible’ of a schedule. If they didn’t have a boss to tell them what time to be at work , they just didn’t work. But if you happen to have an ‘entreprenurial edge’ about you, being a Realtor might just be your ticket!

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What’s new at Boys Town?

April 08 2010

For over 90 years, Boys Town has been a beacon of hope for America’s children and families through Boystownits life-changing, leading-edge programs. Recently, construction sounds filled the air with a major remodelling of the Boys Town new and improved visitors center gift shop. When all the dust settled, Father Boes, standing amidst dozens of faculty, employees, students, and visitors blessed the new gift shop with a prayer.

Boys Town attractions are free. However, If you’d like to, you can purchase a self guided CD tour through the campus, museum, chapels and Father Flanagan’s Historic House.  For a self guided tour we suggest a donation to the Home of $5.00 per vehicle.  Also available for larger groups that would like a walking tour, we suggest a donation to the Home of $3.00 per person.

Also for your information, we have a café open Monday-Friday, for breakfast and lunch, and a stamp center in the Visitor’s Center, housing the Guiness Book of World Record’s largest ball of stamps!
The Visitor’s Center is open Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Saturday 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. and Sunday 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Our phone number is (402) 498-1141 or call us toll free at 1-800-625-1400.  The Boys Town gift center is also online at www.BoysTownGiftShop.org.

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