an ongoing conversation place for everything real estate

CBSHOME.com and all our agent websites have been updated!

		The “Property Search” page now has a “Save this Search” and “Clear Search” under your summary of search criteria across the top of your screen.  Also, this newly redesigned search screen highlights the “Location” search field.  Type in the street number, address, city or school district to search for homes in that area!
Interested in a home?  Ready to see it with your agent?  Now you can print a brochure about the property that includes large photos, space to take notes about the home and a place to rank the home!
		Curious to know what is near the home you are looking at?  Our website now features “Points of Interest” on each listing!  Simply click on the “Map” tab and click on “Points of Interest.”  You can quickly view what stores, restaurants, schools and more are near that property!

These are just a few enhancements that make CBSHOME.com the BEST website for real estate!

Joe Valenti discusses our commitment to customers and agents – you are working with the Best! CBSHOME Real Estate will help get the transaction closed. Our agents and full services teams will be there to help navigate the complex phases of buying or selling a home!

At the beginning of 2011, we set out to understand how you use CBSHOME.com and what features of CBSHOME.com are most popular.  Many of the website enhancements we are introducing today came as a result of a thorough study of the latest trends and most user-friendly real estate websites.  We then worked on new design concepts with our own web design team and David Day & Associates.  In the end, the new home page and additional changes have resulted in the BEST local real estate website!

Today, we are proud to announce that CBSHOME.com has a new home page focused on getting users to the information they are seeking quickly!

Here are the highlights of the site’s enhancements:

Redesigned Home Page: Our new home page is focused on an easy Quick Search.  In the Location field, you can type a street name, house number, city, zip code or subdivision to see search results.  This search also allows you to narrow your results with bedrooms, bathrooms and a price range.

The Quick Search continues with tabs for Open Houses, Bank Owned/REO Properties and our Agent/Office Search.

New to Market: We automatically rotate through CBSHOME listings that have been listed within the past seven days.  Clicking on the photo will bring you to more property details and an agent’s contact information.

My CBSHOME Page: Allows you to easily sign-in to your existing Saved Search/Saved Property site, or create a new Saved Search.  If you are already registered with an agent, once you sign-in, you will see your saved searches and saved properties. This is prominent on the home page and ALL interior pages of the site.

Live Mortgage Rates: We have current mortgage rates (updated daily) provided by CBSHOME Mortgage.

News and Noteworthy: This section is easily updated with current news and announcements from CBSHOME.

Enhanced Navigation for Additional Services: While property searches are the most popular item on our website, there are additional services that you may be interested in.  On the right side of the page, we have new tabs labelled “Our Services,” “Open Houses,” “Our Community,” “CBSHOME Mobile,” and “CBSHOME Careers.” All of which contain additional information for those areas of our business.

And last, but not least, our interior Search Pages are bigger and easier to use!  We removed the left navigation  bar to give more room to the Map Search.  This means its an easier search to use with less scrolling for a consumer!

We hope you enjoy the newly redesigned CBSHOME.com!  We invite you to check it out yourself by visiting CBSHOME.com!

SIX WORTH-THE-PRICE FIX-UPS

There are a lot of do-it-yourself projects that can increase the value of your home.  On the contrary, it is possible to spend LOTS of money on projects that, when you sell your home, you find were not worth the cost.  Here are six simple projects, all approximately under $1000,  that could get you a decent return on your money:

1. Cleaning & decluttering.  Remove all personal items, clear off countertops, straighten-up and clean-out closets (all of them!) and clean, clean, clean! (approx cost $290, return – $1,990)
2. Brighten-up. Clean ALL windows, inside & out, replace old curtains, replace light fixtures, remove anything that keeps the light from shining in. (approx cost $375, return – $1550)
3. Smart staging. Rearrange/remove furniture, bring in new accessories, add complimentary artwork, play soft music, use aroma therapy, but NOT TOO MUCH. (approx. cost $550, return – $2,194)
4. Landscaping touch-ups. Punch up curb appeal, front and back, by adding fresh bark mulch, bushes, flowers, and make sure to keep them manicured. (approx. cost $540, return – $1,932)
5. Repair electrical and/or plumbing. Fix leaks under the sink, remove mildew stains,  make sure all plumbing is working.  Update older homes for modern appliances, fix any lights or outlets that don’t work, replace old plug points with new safety fixtures. (approx. cost $535, return – $1,505)
6. Replace or shampoo carpets. Steam-clean carpets, replace worn carpets, repair creaks in floors. Stretch carpet, if necessary. (approx. cost $647, return – $1739)

Excerpted from HomeGain’s 2011 Home Sale Maximizer Survey, www.homesalemaximizer.com

CBSHOME Real Estate is pleased to announce our new virtual tour product!  These tours have been built exclusively for CBSHOME and are full of consumer-friendly features!  Here’s an overview of what you will see with the new virtual tours:

• All open house information will display on the tour
• The tours include all the photos and listing information
• The tours are updated hourly so the most current photos and information is available
• You can easily share a tour with family and friends
• Each tour features various property flyers for printing
• Google Mapping and Driving Directions are included
• There’s a mortgage rates tab that displays today’s current rates with a calculator
• You can easily schedule a showing right from the tour

Where do you find these tours?  Simply do a property search on CBSHOME.com.  On your results page you will see an icon that says “Virtual Tour” – click that button to view!

m.CBSHOME.com is the same mobile convenience you’re used to, but now you can easily locate Nearby Properties.  Using the GPS capabilities of your mobile phone, our site is able to display listings that are closest to you!

How it Works:

1. On your mobile smart-phone, go to CBSHOME.com and you’ll automatically be redirected to our mobile site (m.cbshome.com).
   
2. Click on the “Find Nearby Properties” button.
   
3. You may be prompted to allow your phone to use the GPS, go ahead and allow this setting.
4. Your phone will begin to display the closest listings to your current location (within a one mile radius)!
   

Features of m.CBSHOME.com

• Nearby Properties: You can easily pull-up properties near where you currently are!  Let’s say you are driving around looking for houses, you see one for sale and you’d like more information… with Nearby Properties you can easily get that information without having to search for the street or address you are currently on.
  
• Full MLS Details: Each listing displays all the MLS data available, including marketing remarks, room sizes, photos, schools, contact information and more!
  
• Additional Features Include: Ability to Schedule a Showing, Request more Information, Save the Property and Search for Open Houses!

CBSHOME would like to thank everyone who voted us “Best of the Big O! Best Realty Company” in the 2010 Reader’s Choice Awards!  This is our sixth straight year of receiving this honor!  The Best in the Big O! Award goes to the company that had more than 50% of the votes cast in that category or the top vote-getter.

If you’d like to find out what makes CBSHOME Real Estate the BEST; click to read a few testimonials from our past clients or search for one of our BEST agents.

Did you know that there is a quick way to get Omaha housing information on the go? How many times have you driven by a property wondering what the sale price is? If you go to mobile.cbshome.com you can conveniently drive through neighborhoods and help narrow down your home search. CBSHOME Real Estate is the first company in the Omaha market to bring this handy tool to consumers.

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.

Many sellers have often started to do their research by looking at other homes that are for sale.  When they find out that the ranch down the street is for sale they run down to the open house on Sunday to discover in horror that it is the same price that their agent just told them that they would put their home on the market for in a couple of weeks.

But your two- story home is in much better shape, with more square footage, not to mention the fact that you have upgraded all of the appliances, and there isn’t a spec of dirt… you think to yourself.

So why is that house listed at the same price?  First of all, as an experienced real estate agent we must only compare apples to apples.  Since your home is a two story home and this is a ranch I would explain to you that we must look at the two story homes in the area that have sold recently to find where your home value should be, and that the ranch down the street has done the same.  You may say that the two story about 5 miles away sold for over $250,000, but I will explain to you why that isn’t going to help you sell your home.

Realtor.com does a good job explaining:

If a house exactly like yours – same size, same age, same condition – on the other side of town is selling for $200,000, don’t think you’re made in the shade at the same price. A host of things in your own neighborhood can affect your home’s price – the quality of schools, the crime rate, or the street you live on. For instance, you may have a stellar home, but if it’s on a busy street, its value will undoubtedly be less than a comparable home on a road less traveled. Potential rezoning of adjacent areas also can affect comps: If that lovely forest behind your home is due to become a sea of condominiums, your home’s value is likely to be less than a similar home that will retain its forest view.

If you truly want that SOLD sign in your yard, trust your real estate agent to give you a quality comparative analysis of the homes that have sold in the last six months in your area.  This will tell you where you should list your home because it shows the successes and the failures over the last six months.  Do you want to be a success- then give me a call to help put that SOLD sign in your yard! Stephanie Mathis 578-6308