an ongoing conversation place for everything real estate

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.

There is a fascinating account of house hunting in the foreclosure-ridden market of Las Vegas. This is truly a head-shaking account of the current market in Las Vegas from CNBC Real Estate reporter Diane Olick. “Lunacy In Las Vegas Housing” Count your blessings, Middle America! Thankfully, the Omaha housing market is not in such an unimaginable condition. While foreclosure is much more common in Omaha than it ever has been, the market has been relatively insulated from the highs and lows that Las Vegas, Phoenix, Florida and Southern California have experienced.

11290 Bridgeview, Blair, Nebraska. $279,900

25 Min To Omaha, Large Rooms W/Lots Of Windows, Fireplace, Country Kitchen with gorgeous panoramic views, 4176 FSF, 5 bedrooms (, 4 baths, formal living room and dining room, main floor laundry, exercise room, game room with custom wet bar (WOW), deck off master bedroom, 2 car garage. CUSTOM RANCH HOME built by Blair’s premier builder ~ Nielsen Custom Homes. Blair City Water! .92 acres (sits on 2 lots). This is a MUST SEE home! AMA

Call Kevin Kermeen at (402) 657-9656 for your private showing. www.AllBlairHomes.com (See Every Home Listed In The MLS By Every Company)

The Omaha sorority is looking at buying the mansion at 101 N. 39th St.  The Joslyn Castle neighborhood is worried that since there is already a fraternity house in the area it will eventually turn into a “Greek Row”.  This in turn might cause the property values of the homes in the area to decline.  Other ideas for the mansion have been a bed and breakfast, art gallery, or lawyer’s office.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this matter.  Should it be turned into a Sorority,

Gold Coast Mansion or Chi Omega Sorority?

other business venture or kept as a family home?

With more homes on the market to compete with your home for sale, why not work with the Leading Real Estate Company in the Omaha Metro area who can give you a better opportunity to sell your home?  

CBSHOME’s Agents are equipped with a comprehensive library of marketing and advertising tools.  Ranging from internet advertising to print advertising; direct mail to e-mail blasts; social media support to mobile website; virtual tours to professional photography.  It’s all available to showcase your listing. Plus, each Agent brings his/her own Real Estate knowledge and expertise to even further enhance the process of marketing your home.

Visit cbshome.com to find an agent who will work hard for you!

 1. Get a High-Efficiency Showerhead
A high-efficiency low-flow showerhead saves up to 3,000 gallons of water per person per year — not to mention $50 in energy costs and 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide.

2. Go Low-Flow All Over
Take the showerhead concept and apply it all over the house for major water-use reductions. Low-flow sink aerator attachments go for as little as $2 per sink but can save thousands of gallons of water per year — serious bang for your buck.

3. Recycle Water in Your Bathroom
Use a water-conservation device such as Sinkpositive, which lets you reuse sink water to flush your toilet. Or keep a bucket by the shower or tub and fill it with the cold water that comes out before the hot water kicks in. Then you can take the bucket outside and use it to water your plants.

4. Treat Your Hot Water Heater Right
If you can’t afford the switch to a tankless waterheater right now, making some simple changes to your existing setup can cut your energy bills and carbon emissions by 25 percent or more. Reduce the temperature of your hot water heater to 120 degrees, wrap it in a cozy water heater insulating blanket and insulate the first 3 to 6 feet of hot and cold water pipes.

5. Use This Excuse for Skipping Chores
Stop hand-washing your dishes. Most of us use far more water and soap than we need to when hand-washing, especially compared to a high-efficiency dishwasher, so save your time, water and power by putting dishes directly in the dishwasher after a meal.  Just make sure you fill up the dishwasher completely before running, and don’t pre-rinse dishes unless your machine is old. If it is not cleaning well,  then you should consider replacing it with a new ENERGY STAR certified model.

6. Get a Home Energy Audit
The best advice for home energy savings is advice that’s customized for you, your home and your lifestyle. A home energy audit conducted by a green auditor or your local utility can do just that, and you can often recoup the cost by following the auditor’s recommendations and reducing your energy bill. Visit Low Impact Living’s website or e-mail them at info@lowimpactliving.com to find an auditor in your area. More info can be found at  U.S. Department of Energy’s site for information on what problems to look for and further steps to take for home energy savings.

Welcome to my first blog post!  I am excited about our new website so we can communicate what’s happening in the market directly to you.

I plan to provide regular video and written updates on what is going on in the Omaha Metropolitan area real estate scene.  I hope you find my updates helpful so you can determine when is the right time for you to make a move!

Please watch the video to learn more about the $8000 Tax Credit and historically low interest rates – a perfect combination for buyers in Omaha!

What’s new at WallStreet Tower?  That’s a question I hear almost daily.  I love it too, as it gives me a chance to talk about this downtown community, and all that Omaha has to offer (http://www.selectgreateromaha.com/).  

But first, just what is WallStreet Tower?  It’s the planned 32-story downtown Omaha high-rise; that will host luxurious condominiums on floors 11-32, a boutique hotel and office space on floors 3-10, and retail space on the main level.  The community will also host a data-center, which will be located in the attached parking structure. 

The location of WallStreet Tower (www.wallstreettoweromaha.com) is 14^th/Dodge Streets, the site of Union-Pacific’s former headquarters.  Union Pacific employees vacated the old building in 2004 when construction on their new multi-million dollar headquarters on the south side of Dodge Street was completed (http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&id=101725).  The old structure was demolished (in 2008) mainly for asbestos reasons.

Recent changes were made to the residential side of WallStreet Tower, which has come at a time when the real estate market has been down and the credit markets have tightened.  The change is a product appropriate for the time.  Instead of the originally planned 192 condominiums, the number has been cut in half to 96.  The result?  A more exclusive condominium community.  The amenities package for the condo owners remains unmatched anywhere in town, and the views can’t be beat!  If you’re looking to buy a condo in the downtown area, WallStreet Tower is where you want to be.  But if you think this is a sales pitch, come see for yourself.  Visit the sales and marketing center (located at 1207 Cass St), and tour all 5 of the standard models.  Even if you aren’t in the condo market, I encourage you to visit it anyway, it’s pretty impressive!

While developers (www.townsendco.com) are waiting on final lender approval so they can begin construction, they are also actively taking reservations.  A 1% refundable deposit is an easy way to reserve your future home in this top-notch high-rise community!

Auctioning a home as a way to sell is becoming more and more common in Omaha today.  CBSHOME Auction services was introduced in June, 2008 and since then we have had some roaring successes and some that we did not sell.  Many times I talk with people who askme”is my home a good home to sell at auction?”  The answer to that is “it depends”.  We need to look at the history of auctions and the history of Real Estate in Omaha to explain whether or not your home is going to be a good prospect for auction.  The midwest is no stranger to the auction process due to farms and farm equipment being sold at auction on a regular basis.  The strange twist happens when we throw residential real estate into the auction mix.

Real Estate Auctions in Omaha

The focus now becomes “why are they selling at auction?”, “Are they desperate?”, “Is it a foreclosure?”  The answer to almost all those questions is invariably “NO!”  The reason why people chose to auction their house is because they want to meet the market and they want to meet the market today instead of selling in 3 months, 6 months or even a year.  So why do people have this perception of distressed or pre-forclosed properties?  I believe it has to do with the process of how banks will foreclose on properties.  We have all heard about the auction on the court house steps where the bank will buy back the property it has the note on.  People simply associate “courthouse steps auction” with real estate auctions in general.  It is an easy mistake to make and leads to usually some people who sign up for my auctions, expecting to pay 50 cents on the dollar for some of Omaha’s finest residences.  Fortunately, among these dreamers are some real buyers who are willing to pay the market price for the property today.  And so the next question that I often get asked is “what is the advantage to the buyer?”

Honestly, the advantages are geared toward the seller, but as a buyer, it is very comforting to kow that you have just paid $500 more than what someone else would be willing to pay for exactly the same house.  That can give a buyer a lot of solice.  In fact the transparency in auctions is probably one of the most attractive things for both buyers and sellers.  Have you ever made an offer on a house where there was a multi offer?  Often the buyer is left wondering, “was my offer high enough?”, “will I get a chance to increase my offer?”, “Is everything above board, or did someone know what my offer was?”.  With auction, it is so transparent, not only can you see what the other offers are, you can eye ball the other buyers that you are bidding against.  For my next post I will be talking about what strategies work when marketing your home at auction.