We are about to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow and will then be well into the Christmas and holiday season. Although, let’s be honest, most of the storefronts already have their windows decorated for the season! There are plenty of ways to make fun family traditions in Evansville, IN this holiday season. We have activities for every person’s taste! Here are just a few! Nov. 30 Holiday C.A.R.E. Faire The Evansville Animal Shelter’s Holiday C.A.R.E. Faire is a fun event for all of you animal lovers! You can bring your dog or cat to have their picture taken with Santa “Paws.” You can also buy gifts for your pet at the silent auction. C.A.R.E. will be collecting canned food to use for the animals at the shelter. Dec. 1 Food Drive at the Evansville History CenterFrom 1-4pm on Dec. 1, the An... 11/25/2014

All the Evansville, IN kids are getting excited to dress as their favorite superhero or who they want to be when they grow up. Halloween school parties will be taking place this week and trick or treating will happen on Friday evening. Here are a few other Evansville, IN events for this week that you may be interested in. Corn Maze As a celebration of Native American super food, this Friday (Halloween night) there will be a corn maze at Angel Mound from 3-9pm (flashlights needed from 7-9pm). You can visit the museum to learn how agriculture helped shape a civilization. A mythological scavenger hunt will also take place! Bring hot dogs or s’mores items to roast in the open fire pit at this fun event. Concessions will also be available for purchase. At night there will also be flashlight ... 10/27/2014

I am definitely breathing in this gorgeous fall weather we have been having. The temperatures have been perfect. Not too hot or too cold. Fall has officially arrived and Evansville, IN has a number of fun activities in store for this week and weekend! Wine Down Weekend will take place tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 25) at the Reitz Home Museum Carriage House in Evansville, IN. This event, which takes place from 5-7pm, allows you to enjoy a beautiful historic setting with live entertainment while enjoying a glass of wine (or beer) and complimentary hors d’oeuvres. Reservations are not required.  Both Friday and Saturday nights, Boogie Nights in Evansville will have entertainment. Friday night the band featured is Sixty Four East—which is a high-energy party rock cover band. Saturday Burlesque... 09/24/2014

Summer is winding down and the school year has recently started for those of you with kiddos. But that doesn’t mean that the fun has to end! The 34thAnnual Newburgh Fiddler Fest takes place Aug. 22-24 at Old Lock & Dam Park in Newburgh, which is just a short drive from Evansville, IN. This event will include craft and vendor booths, carnival games, live entertainment, a variety of food vendors and a beer garden. Entertainment Live entertainment will be playing Friday and Saturday nights from 6-9pm. On Friday the entertainment is Scrubs and on Saturday it is String Theory. Food Dinner is served from 5-8pm tonight, from 12-8pm on Saturday and from 12-5pm on Sunday (or until the fish run out). This event will offer a variety of portions of catfish dinners that come with catfish fiddlers, b... 08/22/2014

It is almost here….one of my favorite holidays. A time to embrace this wonderful country we live in and celebrate being an American. The 4th of July. The time for neighborhood BBQs, family picnics and cool activities to keep kids from overheating like running through sprinklers and throwing water balloons. And of course, not to be forgotten, the good old fashioned, beautiful fireworks displays. In Evansville, IN you have the option to also see the fireworks a bit early, this Thursday (June 26) over historic Bosse Field following the game between Evansville Otters and Florence Freedom from Kentucky. Other events taking place on the 4th include: Old National Bank’s Thunder Air Show. This event takes place on the Evansville river front from 1-4pm and features a variety of aerobatic and mil... 06/23/2014

Summer time….ahhhh summer time! It has been such a cruel winter that we are all ready for the taste of summer at last. And in the summer most of us are not in the mood for coffee, hot tea or hot chocolate. But for coffee lovers, the heat will not stop us from drinking our beloved beverage.   Penny Lane just opened its third location in East Evansville, IN. While they will definitely have the traditional (hot) coffee available year-round, they also have become known for their specialty iced coffee—especially in the hot summer months! This coffee house boasts a bright, modern look and feel with eclectic décor that provides a welcoming and comfy environment, including mismatched rugs and sofas.   Speaking of summer months ahead…have you considered selling your current Evansville, IN home t... 05/21/2014

Emerging as an art and entertainment district, Downtown Evansville is located on Main Street, between the Ohio River and Martin Luther King Blvd (7th Street).  While not all of the historical buildings are located in the downtown area, several structures such as the Old Courthouse, Old Post Office and Custom House at Second and Vine streets definitely showcase the rich history and character of Evansville. Downtown Evansville features several staples for entertainment and leisure time, including Central Library, the Tropicana Evansville Riverboat Complex on Riverside Drive, The Victory Theatre on Main Street, The Centre on Walnut Street, CMOE Children’s Museum on 5th street,  and the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science on Riverside Drive.  Certainly a place of community gathering and c... 04/21/2014

One of the things I love about working with home buyers in Evansville and Henderson, is seeing their dreams come true. I enjoy helping people become first-time home buyers, and I enjoy helping homeowners trade up into something bigger. It's one of the best parts of being a real estate professional! Sometimes, though, things do not go according to plan, and a different buyer makes a higher bid and gets the house. Or they bump up against a seller who isnt willing to meet them halfway. I'm going to share a few suggestions that can help home buyers get their offer accepted! 1. Have a mortgage approval letter in hand, and have several copies of it. Include a copy of it when you submit your offer. It proves you are ready to buy. Remember that these approval letters are only good for a month o... 04/15/2013

Never mind what those TV get-rich-quick infomercials would have us believe: building long-term wealth requires focus and patience. Patience, because a steady growth is a more reliable strategy than flashier single investment ‘wins’ — and focus, because opportunities slip past when daily demands soak up all our attention. For financially secure individuals, current real estate trends deserve some attention. Right now we have an environment that may be unique in our lifetimes — one that calls for seriously considering the long-term potential investment properties offer. If you agree that investment properties in our area are worth investigating further, you will discover multiple financing alternatives:   · Finding a mortgage for local investment properties is the choice most people thin... 03/20/2013

The first day of spring falls on the 20th—making Wednesday the day many homeowners start planning their ritual seasonal maintenance. Spring is also the traditional launch of the busy season in real estate, when safeguardingproperty values can become a less abstract matter. Because water damage is Public Enemy #1, homeowner checklists should always highlight three points: First: the Roof As soon as March’s lion turns a bit more lamb-like, it’s time to get out the ladder to survey roof damage. Leaves, twigs or other storm debris that have clogged gutters during the weather months can allow moisture to penetrate the roofing and below, in the worst case triggering mold or rot. Look for holes or rust in the flashings or metal seals around roof joints, chimneys, skylights or any other structu... 03/19/2013

“Curb appeal” is an instantly understandable byword: one every home seller hears. You can see for yourself how Evansville property listings that feature sparkling exterior shots with superior ‘curb appeal’ instantly draw your attention — and often, higher offers. Hearing the phrase makes you picture potential buyers standing at the curb, viewing your property. Yet the most important part of ‘curb appeal’ is the second word, not the first. “Appeal” should be an active concept: one that’s about reaching out, roping potential buyers in. Successful sellers create appeal by making every part of a home’s presentation — from its debut in the local property listings to final inspection and closing — as actively appealing as possible. It’s a frame of mind that brings results. “Nice idea,” you m... 03/15/2013

When real estate occupies most of your day (as it certainly does mine), you find yourself receiving no end of information. Some summarize points of view that are available elsewhere; some provide original information that isn’t particularly relevant to our local market. One piece that gets more than the usual quick-scan-then-into-the-recycle-bin treatment is the HPI Data Report. It comes in once each month from the demographers at CoreLogic ®. This group knows what they are talking about: among other things, they collect the most comprehensive property database in the U.S. Last week was relatively quiet on the news front, so when they checked in, I was able to give their report a thorough going-over. What I found: Holy smoke! Prices of homes for sale nationwide made the biggest year-ove... 03/14/2013

Your mortgage: you only think about it once a month (if you’re on autopay, maybe not even that often). Why worry about it? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Wrong! Like all aspects of your big-picture financial planning, keeping an eye on that mortgage can be an extra wealth-building move. I can point to three reasons why re-evaluating your mortgage could pay dividends: Down, Down, Down… Ok, with interest rates continually making headlines, this one might be a no-brainer. But some folks don’t realize just how attainable significant savings may be: a drop of just a single percentage point in themortgage rate can make a gigantic difference. A general rule of thumb is that if you can lower your interest rate by a percent or more, it usually makes sense to refinance. It’s certainly w... 03/13/2013

Last week, Evansville home sellers saw more than the usual number of reasons to look forward to this spring’s local home sales selling season. It looked like the opposite of the lengthy real estate “Perfect Storm” that caused freefall across the national landscape. Signs pointed to the possibility that we may be headed into the opposite market conditions. Webster’s Dictionary says the opposite of ‘storm’ is ‘calm’ – but I don’t think you would callEvansville’s home sales outlook a “Perfect Calm.” Far from it! Some of the signs: -Falling Inventory. Per the NAR’s Existing Home Sales Report, there’s a nation-wide shortage of total inventory. By the end of January, it had fallen another 4.9%: lowest in seven years. Raw unsold inventory hasn’t been this low in 14 years! Our current month’s ... 03/12/2013

Market Watch   This month I want to recap the local real estate market in 2012 compared to 2011. This is especially easy since our market improved in virtually every category last year. The easy place to start is closed transactions. Our BLC (broker listing cooperative, which used to be called MLS) closed 4,387 home sales last year up 8.83% from 2011. The median sales price increased 4.4% increasing our average sales price to $125,971. Days on market decreased 11.3% compared to 2011 but is still higher than I like, at 105 days. The big news, which I have mentioned frequently over the past year, is that the months supply of homes listed for sale continues to decline. The average for 2012 was 7.32 months down from 8.70 months in 2011 and 9.43 in 2010. This is the lowest average level in 6... 03/11/2013

Sometimes home values can undergo abrupt changes. One way that can happen is through the ‘Surprise Remodel’ phenomenon. That’s when you wake up one morning to find that your local house grew larger…overnight! If you are one of the many residents whose children have left for school, the Surprise Remodel is what happened the moment you realized that that you were, in fact, suddenly in possession of an extra room. Sometimes it takes a few months, but as soon as you conclude that the sentimental value of leaving the high school memorabilia in place is outweighed by the value of transforming the room into more useful space, you have a number of ways to proceed: Workout Area Transforming the former kid room into an exercise area is one foolproof way home values can be increased. Remove carpe... 03/06/2013

Suppose you are driving past one of those ‘For Sale by Owner’ yard signs…and the house looks good!  Do you screech to a halt, jump out and rush up to the front door to – quick! – sign a deal? More likely, you jot down the phone number (hopefully one is visible, though with For Sale By Owner signs, it’s not always the case) so you can call up your agent to get the details. Veteran buyers considering a local For Sale by Owner (FSBO) property know why it’s highly beneficial to use their agent from the start. Even if you have found the home yourself, you should want that first call to go to an agent. Here’s why: ·         Agents offer advanced relationships that stand to improve your bottom line. For example, timing often can make or break a deal, and agents can utilize their network of th... 02/28/2013

You are doing some serious house-hunting. You’ve been Googling ‘newest local listings’, but when you click on the most popular sites, somehow the ‘newest local listings’ are the same ones you’ve seen before. Worse, some of them turn out to have been sold! Or the price was wrong! Or the agent isn’t even the agent anymore! What is going on? Doesn’t Google (or Bing, or Yahoo!) promise to show you sites with the newest listings in Evansville? How can the most popular sites (at the top of their results page: Zillow, Realty.com, Trulia) be showing ‘newest listings’ that were sold last month? Or contact numbers that take you to an answering machine that never calls back? The answer is not mysterious, but it can take a while to catch on. The top of the search engine results pages show the bigge... 02/27/2013

Your yard is your local home's calling card. A dated or overgrown yard can be a huge turnoff to potential buyers – just as an appealing one can trump other objections. Landscape designer Cynthia Bee knows this well. "Landscaping often makes the difference,” she says, “between a prospective buyer getting out of the car for a closer look or simply driving on by." The same goes for Internet prospects as they scan through listings in search of a local home to buy. An unappealing yard can detract from your all-important curbside glamour photo -- and cause them ‘to drive on by’ your listing. The backyard is not as important in attracting buyers, but often proves vital in holding their enthusiasm. To help sell a home in Evansville this spring, right now is prime time to consider some yard-foc... 02/25/2013

To the extent that rentals reflect wider real estate movement, there is good news and bad news for Evansville tenants. It all depends on how they view it (and how they chart their personal housing strategy). The bad news was not unexpected: for the third straight year, rents were up across the nation in 2012, according to apartment housing industry expert MPF Research.   Although rents rose at a slightly slower pace than in 2011, national forecasts are calling for rent increases in 2013 that match last year’s. The research firm said that apartment rents climbed 3.0% in 2012, down from 4.8% in 2011, but again were above the long-term norm of 2.5% registered over the past 20 years.   For tenants currently in rentals -- both apartments and single-family homes -- rents may be heading up, b... 02/15/2013