an ongoing conversation place for everything real estate

On Saturday, December 8th, CBSHOME Real Estate and Habitat for Humanity handed over the keys to a new home to a very deserving family.

The actual Habitat build started in August and finished up just last week.  CBSHOME would like to thank the countless volunteers (agents, employees and preferred vendors) who donated their time, money, and in some cases the roof and heating systems to this project.  Everyone’s hard work and efforts were realized on Saturday with the excitement in the faces of the home’s new owners.

Congratulations and thank you to all who participated!

To view the entire album from Saturday’s event, go to our CBSHOME Facebook Page.

What a great turnout and successful event we had for the 3rd Annual CBSHOME Relocation Cook-Off!  On Wednesday, September 7th our sales offices participated in the annual cook-off with a friendly competition between offices.  Each office was challenged with creating a theme (decor and food) and choosing a charity.  Agents and employees voted for their favorites with their dollars!  In total, we raised over $1,600 dollars for our charities of choice and surpassed last years total by several hundred dollars.

Congratulations to the Pacific Street Office with their Italian Feast – our First Place winners!  Second place goes to the Bellevue Office with their BBQ spread and third place goes to our Davenport Street Office with the red carpet desserts!

Thank you to all our offices who participated and helped raise donations for their charities.  Every dollar counts and the charities all benefit from your generosity.  The donations were given to the following charities, as selected by there office – Alzheimer’s Association, Nebraska Children’s Home, Habitat for Humanity, American Cancer Society, Make-a-Wish Foundation and The American Red Cross Flood Relief.

Thanks again for all of your support!

CBSHOME Real Estate would like to welcome Iris Pope to our West Dodge Office!  Iris is a newly licensed sales associate.

Prior to real estate, Iris worked at Centris Federal Credit Union, Arbor E & T and First National Bank.  She enjoys investments, working for herself, sewing, chess and family.  On a personal note, she is married with three children (and number four is on the way)!

Again, welcome to Iris Pope – we are excited to have you at CBSHOME!

Insulted, angry, ready to walk away…does this describe you when you get that dreaded low-ball offer? 

Well, let’s face it, selling your home feels personal doesn’t it.  It’s where you live, the furnishings and design are yours, so it’s natural to feel not just criticized, but a little insulted when that low offer lands on your kitchen table for your review.  Remember, you can’t “shoot the messenger”  in a situation like this.  Your Realtor is required to present every offer to you…including the insulting ones.  Even the best of agents have had to present the most ridiculous of offers at some time or another.  This is never fun.

Before you react consider the reaction of this seller:

A CBSHome Realtor recalled the actions of one of her sellers.  She had been working with a seller for some time, and received a contract for the sale of their home.  As she read it, she knew this was not going to make her seller happy.  In fact, she dreaded presenting the low offer so much that she broke one of her “Golden Rules” and called the seller to buffer the news.  Later that evening she met with her clients.  She felt certain this would not go well.  Then something surprising happened.  Rather than alienating the would-be-buyers her client decided to write a letter.  This letter expressed that while they appreciated the time taken to view, consider and ultimately write a contract to buy their home, they would have to respectfully decline the offer.  No counter offer was made.  The seller went on to say that the contract simply didn’t meet their objective and that they wished they buyers the best of luck in finding a new home for their family.

Fast forward now,  after more showings the couple could not find a home they liked more than the home on which they first made an offer.  They came back to their “original” house, and made a second offer that was completely acceptable to both buyer and seller.

This illustrates that there is “A High Road”, and this seller took it.  He could have cursed, blamed his agent, and alienated this couple.  Instead he acted with a cool head, and instead of offending this couple he kept them on his radar screen by writing a personal letter.  The fact that he had the forsight  to react with class and dignity no doubt led to this ultimately happy outcome.

CBSHOME is please to announce the opening of the Learning Center at our Agent Services location (147th and California)!

The Learning Center is located immediately across the hall from the Agent Services reception area and will be “the place” for sales associate education and training in a friendly environment!  With the addition of this Center, CBSHOME now offers two places for sales associate education.  Our Lakeside Education Center will be used when a larger facility is required.

The Learning Center features:

• Touch ‘n Go Stations where our sales associates can check their email, use Paragon, write a contract, etc., while at our Agent Services Office.
• A computer lab for hands-on training sessions and presentations.
• A class room for lecture-style training sessions and presentations.

We are very excited about the opportunities this new Learning Center presents to our sales associates!

CBSHOME Real Estate is pleased to announce that Janet Nelson, Sales Associate at our West Dodge Office, was recently recognized as the 2010 Nebraska CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) of the Year.

The CRS of the Year is awarded to a CRS Designee who shows leadership and actively participates in their local chapter and National CRS.

Janet earned her CRS Designation in 1983.  She has served as the treasurer, secretary, president-elect, president and advisor of the Nebraska CRS Chapter for the past five years.

CBSHOME Real Estate had two sales associates honored at the 2010 Nebraska Realtor’s Association State Convention being held this week!

We would like to congratulate Jerry Ahlvers from our West Dodge Office for being named the Nebraska Realtor Association’s Realtor of the Year!  This award is given to someone for their activities within the Real Estate community at the National, State and Local Board levels and the professionalism that they have show.  Jerry has held offices with both the Local and State boards as well as the National Association of Realtors.

We would also like to congratulate Kathryn Rouch from our West Dodge Office for being named the Women’s Council of Realtor’s Realtor of the Year!  This award is given to someone who has given outstanding service to the Women’s Council of Realtors.  Kathryn has held every position at both the Local and State levels of WCR and is currently the WCR Regional Vice President.

What an honor for both Jerry Ahlvers and Kathryn Rouch!  We are very proud of these two individuals!

Omaha Wooded Retreat on TODAY Show!

If you watched the TODAY show last Friday morning you may have been surprised to see a home here in Omaha was chosen as one of just a handful of properties shown on the recurring segment by Barbara Corcoran, “What Can You Buy for Under $500k”? In case you missed it, click the previous link to view.

This awesome wooded retreat is one of my listings and I am pleased to announce that the home is now Pending! The soon-to-be owners are thrilled with the exposure and have sent the link across the country to all of their out of town friends and family to see their new home on National TV!

Marketing a home in today’s market is vastly different than when I first got into the business many years ago. Our marketing used to consist of ‘putting a sign in the yard and an ad in the paper’. Then just hope for the best! In today’s marketplace, it takes a lot more than that to properly market a home.

My marketing plan consists of attacking all possible avenues to expose your home (properly) to anyone and everyone who may be interested in it. The TODAY show segment was about six weeks of work but definitely worth it!

While I certainly can’t guarantee national TV exposure, I can tell you that we can no longer just ‘put a house on the market’ and expect results. Contact Bill Swanson today if you are thinking of making a move in the near future for a no-cost analysis of your home!  Or feel free to answer a few brief questions and get an online market analysis too!

Don’t forget the changes and enhancements to the tax credit! Repeat Homeowners may be able to qualify for a $6,500 tax credit instead of only qualifying first time homebuyers who are still eligible for up to an $8,000 tax credit.

Bill Swanson is an agent with over 20 years of experience with CBSHome Real Estate, an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway.

Let’s see…where were we? Oh, yes! I was last posting about getting ready for a bike ride with my buddy Jerry. Well, that went just great, as we covered about 25 miles on the West Papio & Keystone Trails, from just south of 93rd & Pacific to Papillion & back. A couple days after that, I rode from my home near 156th & W. Maple out to a few miles north of Hwy. 36 on County Rd. 15. That’s just northwest of the beautiful Douglas Co. landfill to you detail types! Yesterday (Tuesday), weather conditions were just about perfect, so I rode out to Elk City, then Hwy. 36 to 252nd St., south over the expressway onto 264th St. to Hwy. 92, east to Skyline Drive, & back home through Elkhorn & down Blondo, etc.—about 40 miles. I guess you could say I’m “back in the saddle again.”

I saw Dr. Pat Clare for my surgical follow-up visit today. He told me he feels things look good & that I should just keep on strengthening my leg muscles & giving things time to completely heal before trying out the running again. No problem there. Incidentally, Dr. Clare is Chief Orthopaedic Surgeon for the Huskers, & he is the “Main Man” behind Nebraska Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine, P.C. Having known Dr. Pat for over 35 years & been the beneficiary of his excellent professional skills twice, I would whole-heartedly recommend him to anyone who needs orthopaedic care. Besides, you’d love the offices of the place & the large wall photos of athletes in action, outdoors activities, etc. Great location just south of 70th & “O” streets in Lincoln.

I will do another posting about my “knee progress” after awhile, as I am now back to assuming nearly all of regular life activites. If you’ve come across any of the postings I’ve placed about what I’ve been through with my knee surgery, I hope you’ve found them at least mildly entertaining, perhaps even a little helpful. If you wish to contact me for further information or just want to talk about what’s going on in your active lifestyle—ups, downs, anything— just click on my name following this posting to get my contact info.     -Scott

Today the swelling around my foot & ankle is down to almost nothing. There’s still swelling around the knee, especially at the 3 points of insertion where surgery took place. The one spot that’s troubling me noticably is behind the knee, where it feels to the touch like there’s a bump that has stubbornly refused to go away. It’s particularly bothering me because it prevents me from fully flexing the muscles in my thigh during my prescribed exercises, especially that medialis, which helps the patella (kneecap) to track properly. If you’re interested in more detail about these things, go to my previous postings & click the embedded links.

When I get out of bed in the morning, the knee & lower back of the leg continue to be quite stiff & sore. After a bit, though, I’m finding that the leg feels much better to walk on. Still, however, I found myself putting the ice bag on the knee before going to bed last night & waiting for the cooling to diminish the discomfort I was feeling in the knee. Perhaps this had something to do with riding my road bike around the neighborhood earlier in the evening, very easily & smoothly, of course. Or…maybe it had something to do with my trip to Wal-Mart to get a paperback & some peanut M&M’s! Guess this is just another sign that life is getting back to “normal” for me.     -Scott