The Houses By Harlan Team's Blog by The Houses By Harlan Team

Good Monday Morning!!

Enjoy the beautiful day!! We continue to run between rain drops but the coming weeks are looking terrific so get busy with summer! The one thing that seems to be a constant in the market today, as always, is that if you are trying to sell your home, you will have to do everything just right. You will need to price your home aggressively. (We can help you with that!). You might want to have your home staged and have it looking better than your competitiors. Professional promotion is a must also. If you can do this, you will have a fair chance of selling it. If not, you may wait a while for a buyer to appear for your house. Our current market is not for those who are just testing the water. Selling your home takes a full commitment to all of the items mentioned. We're committed and if you are too, call us to see how we can help you accomplish your Real Estate Goals! Have an Awesome Week!! Sincerely,
Harlan & Mark
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National News Again!

What a Beautiful Morning! It is so wonderful to see the Sun Shining!! We look forward to a great spring. Wow, Sioux Falls makes the national news again! We are including the link to CNN Money Web site where they named Sioux Falls as one of the 100 best places to live & launch a new business. Sioux Falls was ranked as number 45 on the list. It costs about 45 percent less to open a business here than in New York. Here is the link http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fsb/0803/gallery.best_places_to_launch.fsb/45.html Be proud! We live in a great Place. The real estate market is looking somewhat better every day. The interest rates have fluctuated in the past week but they are still below 6% for the 30 year, 5.125% to 5.25% for the 15 year loans. Those rates are fantastic! Then you put that together with a good supply of homes on the market, it is not going to be a better time to buy later. The time is NOW! It is also a good time to sell. I have always had good sales ..(read more)

More Jobs in Sioux Falls

Welcome to South Dakota reality. Amazing we think spring is here and we get another snow storm. Oh, well we know it won't last very long with the warm temperatures we have coming. South Dakota and Sioux Falls made some positive news again. This article talks about South Dakota leading the US in growth of income. I like the part of the article farther down where it talks about more jobs in Sioux Falls. Take a look here in the link: http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/NEWS/803300314/1001/news We are so blessed to be living in Sioux Falls, SD. Have a Great Week!!! Sincerely,
Harlan & Mark

AND HERE'S YOUR MONDAY MORNING COFFEE!!

Property Tax Reduction for Disabled Veterans

Do you know any Veterans? Well more appropriately, do you know any Veterans that are totally disabled because of a service related condition? If you do, this bit of information may be for you. South Dakota has enacted the Property Tax Reduction for Disabled Veterans program. The program is designed to reduce the property tax that a qualifying veteran pays. The first $100,000 of the home valuation is not considered when calculating the real estate tax bill which will be a tremendous benefit for those that have served so honorably and paid the price of losing the ability to live as they once did. As we have noted, not everyone will qualify but here is link so you can check to see if you or someone you know will be able to use this partial exemption go to the following link and read the information available: http://www.state.sd.us/drr2/propspectax/property/home.htm or 1-800-829-9188. http://www.state.sd.us/drr2/propspectax/property/relief.htm. Here is another link for ..(read more)

Good Monday Morning!

Spring was happening! Even though we have some new snow, we know spring is close at hand. It is the beginning of a gorgeous time of year. The Sioux Falls real estate market also seems to be awakening from winter. There are more buyers out looking right now than there has been in months. If this starts turning into sales, we should see a marked improvement in homes sales over the next several months. Mortgage interest rates have been on a roller coaster ride over the past week, but still remain extremely favorable with 30 year fixed rates in the 5.75 - 6.0% range. Look for these rates to continue their up and down ride over the next few months. One bit of interesting news is that the average time it takes a home to sell in our current market is 80 days. The average time it is currently taking homes listed by the HousesbyHarlan Team to sell is 49 days. Strong and aggressive marketing makes a difference in this market. Have An ..(read more)

Maintenance Must-Dos

BY JOHN N. FRANK First-time buyers often don’t know much about home maintenance. You can help by giving them a maintenance schedule that’ll prevent small problems from turning into big headaches.

Our maintenance checklist was compiled with the help of Lou Manfredini, Ace Hardware’s home improvement spokesperson and star of the “Mr. Fix-It” show on Chicago’s WGN-AM radio, and Frank Lesh, president of the American Society of Home Inspectors and head of his own home inspection company, Home Sweet Home Inspection Co., in Indian Head Park, Ill.

Inside Tasks · Change your furnace filters monthly. “It’s so easy to do but so critical,” says Lesh. Clogged filters decrease furnace efficiency and can cause breakdowns. · Drain your water heater at least once a year. Sediment will drain out along with the water from the water tank. Removing sediment can prolong the heater’s ..(read more)

Good Monday Morning!

Sunday was another Spring like day with the temperatures rising to the 40's for most of the week, we will lose a lot of our snow. Watch peoples attitudes and health improve! South Dakota made the national news again! Nationally home sales dropped 21% from October through December. South Dakota was the only state where sales rose at an impressive 8.9%. Congratulations. we live in a great place! What does this mean to us, if you have been waiting for prices to drop here, wait no longer. We normally start having strong sales in March and with the good rates, the good press and good weather we look for sales to really start popping. Call us now if you have any plans to sell or buy! Have a fantastic week! Sincerely,
Harlan & Mark

AND HERE'S YOUR MONDAY MORNING COFFEE!!

Ice Dams

So what do you know about Ice Dams? At least one of our clients called us and asked about a problem they were having with their house. The situation as they described it to us seemed to indicate they might have an “Ice Dam” on their roof. Ice dams can cause damage to the roof, gutters, walls, ceilings, insulation and other areas. They form at the edge of the roof and gutters and prevent snow melt from draining properly. In severe circumstances, the ice will even begin to back up under the shingles. It can become quite a serious situation! We’ve found an article on ice dams on the University of Minnesota Extension web site. Check the attached link if you would like read more about this issue. http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/housingandclothing/DK1068.html We referred our client to a handyman and he was able to take care of the problem. Should you need a referral, give us a call and we’ll provide you ..(read more)

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

Hopefully everyone is taking the slow and cautious route as we head back to jobs or school today. These late winter storms always seem to catch a few of us unawares and a little under prepared for the reality of driving in wintry South Dakota. Slow down and be safe! I guess those same words could apply to our real estate market too. As we have talked about on this page a number of times, the slow and steady approach has seemed to serve our Sioux Falls market fairly well. Some of the national publications and news services have even picked up our numbers. We may not grow and appreciate as fast as some other areas but the slump isn’t hitting us as hard either. It doesn’t mean that it’s perfect here but we don’t appear to be in survival mode. Open house traffic over the weekend was brisk. Hard to tell if that was a sign of the beautiful sunshine or it’s the first sign of spring! One sure sign of spring however is the Sioux Empire Home Show. It’s the ..(read more)

Monday Morning Coffee

Wow, are we lucky to live in Sioux Falls and South Dakota or What? I was thrilled to see the front page headlines on Friday! So much so that if you missed it I want to give you the link so you can read it for yourself and forward to all your friends and family so they can see how great living in Sioux Falls really is. Here is the link to the article in the Argus Leader: http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/NEWS/802150328 Seriously, Let’s enjoy what we have and be so very thankful that we live where and when we do right here! I guess the moral of this story is if you are looking to buy or sell here in Sioux Falls, the prices are probably not going to go down much from where we are. The other side to seriously look at is that mortgage interest rates are starting to go back up. They are still great so now is the time to move. Come on along, we are in for a great ride in real estate here in ..(read more)

Foreclosure: What It Means and How It Works

Foreclosure is the process through which a lender can sell or repossess (take ownership of) a property in order to recover the amount owed on a defaulted loan secured by the property. Anyone worried about missing their home payments--or those thinking about purchasing a foreclosure property--should understand how foreclosures work.

State laws govern the foreclosure process, and they vary from state to state. You'll want to check with your own state to learn the details, including whether a judicial procedure is required (see box below).

Following is a broad-brush summary of the three stages of foreclosure, assuming the homeowner fails to satisfy the repayment obligation along the way.

Pre-foreclosure. This stage begins when the homeowner falls behind on home-loan payments (or sometimes other terms of the loan). Lenders may wait for a second, third or even fourth missed payment before sending the homeowner a "default" ..(read more)

Good Afternoon

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? If you hail from New York/ New Jersey, life probably looks pretty good. If you call Boston/ Foxboro home, maybe not so good. Regardless, it was a game worth watching as the football season comes to a close. Time to switch seasons and get ready for March madness! Back to this matter of perspective. We continue to hear the negatives regarding values and mortgages on the national scene and its information that is hard to ignore. It’s a view that probably makes many of us wonder what is in store for us. Fortunately, we don’t operate in the national scene! Here in Sioux Falls the picture really is much less dire. Mortgage rates are still low, almost historically so. The inventory of homes is not what we could really use for a city of our size. We do have room for more of us to put our houses on the market. If you are trying to decide whether now is the time to sell or refurbish and refinance, give us a call! We would love to stop by ..(read more)

Not Ready to Buy Right Now... Is This You?

A Real Estate Agents prospective client said he was not ready to buy right
now... Is this you?
Provided by Jeff Sislow (Minneapolis) & John Riggins (Hawaii)
Aloha David,
Thank you for your email.
You did not mention why you are not in a position to buy at this time. Would you tell me why?
If it's because you don't think you can afford to buy now, I must advise you that it's less expensive to buy today than it was 3 years ago. Home prices have gone through a market correction after the highs of 2005. Interest rates are at 44 year lows. This past week the 30 year fixed mortgage interest rates ranged between 4.75% and 5.25%. And thirdly, there is an excellent selection which gives you more choices of properties available. There is an old saying, "buy when everyone is selling and sell when everyone is buying." This could not be more true than today. If it's the news ..(read more)

Sioux Falls Market

Hopefully, it was a productive and enjoyable weekend for each of you. I know sunshine and a break from the frigid weather does wonders for both body and soul. It’s that glimmer of hope that keeps us moving on through the bleak mid-winter! Enjoy it for now….. We continue to see daily activity on the national scene with news coming at us regarding home values, rate changes, company consolidations and federal legislative proposals. It doesn’t appear that it will change in the near future either. But regardless of all that, the Sioux Falls market continues to move forward. It isn’t that we live on the Isle of Perfect Real Estate, but we do have a supportive blend of industry, city and state organizations that all serve to give us a steady base that keeps our home values from the drastic falls seen elsewhere. Tax relief for both individuals and employers is being discussed. How these discussions will finally work out is probably still not quite on the horizon but ..(read more)

Flood Insurance Information

Click on this link for information about the new flood insurance areas in Sioux Falls. http://www.siouxfalls.org/Building/information/flood_mgmnt/faqs.aspx