Relocate to Wisconsin

   Sometimes...you think that you have explained the home buying process to a first time buyer...You have outlines and checklists...you have sent listings...gone on tour...written the offer...gotten it accpeted....financing is approved...the inspection is done ....and you forget because you....as an experienced Realtor ....have done this a thouand times before....to tell the happy first time buyers...WHEN do they get the keys ?

     Whether the house is vacant or occupied...that is not the determining factor.  Everything must be in perfect order on BOTH sides of the transaction.....the buyer AND the seller.  This means that in addition to abiding by the closing date established in the contract...the real "homework" has been done by the title company and the Buyer's lender.  The title company has done the research to determine what liens are on the house....and on or before  the closing date, what money must be paid to  clear the liens and give the home to the new owner "lien free."

    The long awaited closing date on the contract is the date when the home ownership passes from Seller to Buyer....and with it, the keys and best wishes for Happily ever after in a new home.

            If you are looking to find a new home in Waukesha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee or Washington County and are moving to the great state of Wisconsin...call the Hansons for prompt professional service and proven results !

  Thursday, May 10th was RED Day for Keller Williams agents around the globe....our day to Renew Energize and Donate. The Market Center in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin chose to have an open house at our new location: 11225 West Bluemound Road and  invited clients, vendors, friends and neighbors to a buffet and silent auction. We also had a fortune teller who got rave reviews for her "insights" !  (Note to self...make an appointment with Fortune Teller.)

      We had over 60 auction items which ranged from restaurant certificates to home inspections, radon tests, and bushels of baskets twith a variety of themes including gardening, aromatherapy, health food, barbeque, wine and cheese...and generous bidders went beyond the minimum suggested bids for many of the items. I know Margaret...slap my fingers...for whatever reason, we all got caught up in the event of the day....and my camera stayed in my purse ! Imagine the red tablecloths decorated with bouquets of red helium filled balloons, colorful baskets....a bountiful buffet and a good time....it was wonderful !

   The charity that benefitted from this year's RED Day was The Women's Center.....and here is a little about why we chose this organization....and what donations to this worthy cause can provide:

              $25  Provides one hour of counseling for a victim/survivor of domestic abuse

               $50 One hour of class on dating violence to high school students

                $75 Two group sessions, teaching employment readiness skills

               $100 Two days of safe lodging and food for a woman and her children in an emergency shelter

            $6,0000 Operating The Women's Center for one day

      Today, we choose to honor our Mothers....we will do that with a meal at a favorite restaurant and the annual traditional trip to pick out flowers for a summer "table" garden.  Then....we will tally contributions and do the accounting for this event....so that Mothers that have had experiences that no one should have to endure, can have many other Mother's Days with the life skills of successful survivors.

             Kids are putting Draino, tin foil, and a little water in plastic drink bottles and capping it up - leaving it on lawns, in mail boxes, in gardens, on driveways etc. just waiting for you to pick it up intending to put it in the trash, but you'll never make it!!!   If the bottle is picked up, and the bottle is shaken even just a little - in about 30 seconds or less it builds up enough gas which then explodes with enough force to remove some of your extremities. The liquid that comes out is boiling hot !  

Don't pick up any plastic bottles that may be lying in your yards or in the gutter, etc.   Pay attention to this. A plastic bottle with a cap. A little Draino. A little water. A small piece of foil. Disturb it by moving it; and BOOM!! No fingers left and other serious effects to your face, eyes, etc.   Please ensure that everyone that may not have email access are also informed of this.

For verification and more information, go to http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp  

This is really neat; Ya gotta try it. After you type your first name, a card comes up with Sorry Sorry Sorry on it. Just wait about 30 seconds. The words will turn white, then....... Trust me, you'll love it. Amazing what people are doing with computers today!!!!

click here

 I got emails and comments about the great graphic design of my post card/blog that I wrote last week:http://activerain.com/blogsview/3205653/brookfield-wisconsin-homes-sold-quickly-by-the-hansons-  Where did I get such a great look ? We are very very fortunate at our Keller Williams Market Center to have a resident IT/Graphics person that has such talent...Introducing...Mr. Alex Herrera...and his company: Groovie Graphics.  Alex has a keen understanding and obvious remarkarkable creative graphic talent.  Whether you want a business card, a brochure, flyer, website, banner....for all things graphic...just give him a call...you will find smiling service....and great results.  

   Put the POP in your Power Point....the BOOST in Blog ....the WOW on your Website...the PIZAZZ in your post card.....Call Alex..414-322-4781 ...you will be thrilled with the results....! 

  Dangerous words..."Probably do...."...No distressed seller should sign up to be any Realtor's "Short Sale Experiment."  As a distressed Seller, you are looking at far more than selling a home...you are placing your financial future in the hands of someone you are entrusting to complete a short sale succssfully...to help you start over financially.

    No Realtor...make that no professional will ever be offended if you ask for "third party verification" of their experience and more importantly.....their success.  Many Realtors take an ipad or laptop with them on a listing appointment.  While we can't say what every MLS shows....we know that many MLS systems can show how many transactions an agent has completed that ARE short sales...and  as or more importantly....how many were attempted and not completed. You don't want to gamble with an atent that has a 50/50 track record for completion of short sales...or who has done a few a year...or done one here and there.

   If you have a question about the qualifications of the agent who volunteers to do a short sale....point them to a computer and have them show you their track record.

   If you or someone you know is in need of a short sale specialist anywhere in the country...call us...we will refer you to someone who is experienced and successful.....and able to help you with a fresh financial start.

      If you are listing a home in Waukesha County...Sally and David Hanson will price your home to earn the best possible return on your real estate investment.  If you are buying a home...The Hansons know the market and as Buyers' agents will be sure that your real estate purchase is well researched and you are well represented....see our testimonials and education...Full time successful agents ready, willing and very able to give you the prompt professional service and proven results you deserve.

        This blog respectfully and professionally dedicated to Barbara Todaro, who reminds us all of the wisdom of blogging and direct mail to help us achieve marketing goals for the people we are honored to serve.

     One of the things that blogging does...if the Blogger chooses....is to give an insight into the professional as a person...I am the eldest of three children...born and raised in Wisconsin....my Father was a strict Catholic...and that is the church all the children attended. We went to public school....and attended classes on Saturday mornings while we were in elementary school and later in high school on Monday evenings. The church we went to was a beautiful red brick colonial building...that replaced an older church and had a rectory attached to it.  It also had an elementary school behind it and Fish fries and dances were held in the basement of the school. My parents were active in school activities...members of the PTA...and they would also serve as chapparones for CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) dances....not something any of us enjoyed. It was just tooooo embarrassing to have your parents at a dance...watch you dance...who you danced with.....fast or slow....just toooo much information. 

   At those Saturday nights, there was a "right way"  to slow dance.....and a "wrong way"...and dancing bear hug....girl's arms around the boy's neck...boy's arms around the girl's waist....was definetly....the "wrong way.

    My parents then felt it was their duty as chapperones to tap the boy on the shoulder and announce in a not quiet enough voice to ever suit us that the couple was to "Let a little room for the holy spirit."  This would usually send us running to the bathroom to hide our embarrassment and wait for a song or two and hope everyone forgot the embarrassing incident. 

    We shared this youthful memory with Buyers of ours who have become friends of ours...Mrs. Buyer and I began calling each other "NBF"....New Best Friends...we are now OBF...Old Best Friends. Their daughter, Angelina, will graduate from 8th grade this June....OBF sent me this email:

                                Angelina will be graduating from 8th grade this year.  As part of the celebration,

                             they give each 8th grader a t-shirt with a 2012 on the front, and a saying that graduates

                             will remember on the back.  Look at this year's t-shirt.  Angelina says they voted from

                             a choice of a few sayings.  This one won.  She says it is because of the middle school dances. 

                             Be sure to tell your mom that 52, eighth graders are wearing t shirts with her favorite middle

                            school saying on it. :)  !!

      We are going to include this picture of Angelina with Mom's card on Mother's Day.....more wisdom  learned at Mother's knee....and a  little peek of what growing up was like for this blogger. Happiest of graduations to come Angelina...we know that the spirits wherever they are....will guide you to achieve the very best you can be.

   As Short sale listing agents...we encounter a variety of scenarios that have gotten homeowners to "the point of no return"...or more accurately, the point of no equity....and an inability to continue making mortgage payments.  The death of a spouse, un or under employment, divorce, serious illness....and often, a combination of circumstances.

     The downturn in interest rates has lead many homeowners to consider the option of refinancing. A lower mortgage payment is certainly an attractive incentive. Some people have taken the savings on the lower rate, and applied the additional funds to the principal to reduce their mortgage debt more quickly. Others have used the money for educational funds, retirement plans, other savings accounts  or to reduce other debt.   Then just as this savings was used wisely....it was, in equity days gone by, used unwisely. The re-fi "cash out" or "debt on" enabled homeowners to add the expense of the car, boat, vacation, consolidated credit cards, etc.  Now that the housing market has declined, the homeowner is upside down with, having re-financed multiple times and add to that....a job less or income reduction...and that four letter word that initially appeared to mean HELP has really turned to HURT. 

   It's too late for some homeowners to realize a benefit rather than a burden from the once magic four letter word: Re-fi ...more debt has been incurred with less income to pay it.   Practical money management is not part of any school curriculum...but to our minds, should be added at an elementary school level and continued through high school.

    We are not lenders...or financial counselors. We are Realtors who encounter homeowners overcome with debt having made choices that appeared at the time to be a good financial option. ....one payment, lower interest.

    As the waves of re-financing splash across the economic landscape...consider the best use of the savings...Live wisely, save well...and live happily ever after.

  RED Day - Renew Energize Donate

Thursday, May 10th   4-8 pm                                                          OPEN HOUSE  and FUN(d) Raiser

    Keller Williams Realty

    11225 West Bluemound Road, Wauwatosa WI

   ENJOY   - Chocolate Fountain ....Food....Beverages...

                   Silent Auction

                    Cash Raffle

                    Fortune Teller

       All proceeds go to benefit The Womens Center - providing free services for women and children throughout Milwaukee and Waukesha who are victims of domestic violence.  For Keller Williams agents across the country...it is our opportunity to "Give Where we Live". Join the fun, bid on an auction item...dip into the chocolate fountain...learn the future with the Fortune Teller...and most importantly....benefit The Womens Center with your generous donations.

            May the Chocolate today that crosses your lips....

                       Not Find its way to a spot on your hips...

                                     May you take the time to enjoy each Bloom....

                           And laughter and love fill each and every room....

                                       We wish you prosperity and the very best of health...

                                 Enjoying your life and building your wealth.

            Wealth is where you find it ...in friends and in the life you live,

        Take time to appreciate....and remember to give.....

                                    Success is not just measured in the money you make....

                                 But in what you have given and not just what you take.

   Three years ago, Easter Sunday was a little more special than usual.  Our buyers took their daughters to what would be their new home...they would choose their bedrooms....explore the neighborhood and learn that in a  couple weeks this would be their new home.  We were also the listing agents for this short sale and the wise parents did not want to tell their daughters too far in advance of the move since the approval and closing had not been decided immediately.

   The concept of a Realtor's job is difficult for a child to understand. There is a sign with the Realtor's name, the agent has the keys....knows the house....it MUST be their very OWN house that they are selling....or so these two daughters imagined. The girls were delighted with their new house...a bathroom to call their own...great yard...lots of room inside and out. While Sally Hansen, of nail polish fame, spells "her" name (I have heard it really a man), with an "e" and we spell ours with an "o"....a Hanson/Hansen by the name of Sally, to them, MUST be the nail polish lady...who just happened to be wanting to sell her house when their parents, Frank and Donna, were looking to buy one.  What LUCK !

    From that day, to this.....the girls tell everyone they know that Sally Hansen, the nail polish lady, gave then her house. (A couple weeks after the move, their parent had to bring them to our house so that they could be sure we really had a place to live.)

    So today....We will do what we have done before...and make sure that the Bunny delivers each of the girls a basket with Sally Hansen products....and of course some traditional chocolate to Sellabrate the anniversary of their new home.

        If you are looking to find a home to Sellabrate in southeastern Wisconsin....Call the Hansons....we promise a basket full of information and a house that you will love calling home for every season and years to come.

  Bring on the Sellabrations...the Buyers are Out ...the Buyers are Out !  It was an exciting weekend with multiple offers on several well priced properties.....and as you browse through MLS you see the "Active with Offer" indicators everywhere...HURRAY !!!

   Homes all dressed up and ready to sell...priced at appraisable prices...ARE selling....a wonderful welcome to spring...and a boost in recovery to the market.

    Along with the wonderful offers....written by agents and buyers who understand that some homes...even those recently listed ....ARE priced to SELL and not to sit....and with that in mind, got out their pens and put their money where there House is...or will be....and wrote an offer like they meant it.

      Then......there were some offers....where both buyers and agents used the "plucked from thin air" price approach....an insult to the Sellers....an effort to steal...despite the agent being that multiple offers would be presented.  Yes, yes...we know...the agent is "just the messenger"....they have to write what the buyer demands. 

     One offer was especially low....on a property that had not been on the market less than a week....maybe the agent didn't get the message we left...So I emailed again....politely and professionally...."Did you know that there are multiple offers on this property that will be presented tomorrow ?
    The contract indicated that the agent was a Buyer's agent...."Yes...." he replied promptly..."They wrote for what the property was worth."  Hmmmm....I checked the agent's sales production in MLS....one house sold in the last year....outside of the four county area at a very low price....With multiple offers, the Sellers elected not to respond to the offer and chose one that was well written with a solid price supported by documented financing and earnest money.

     Everyone is entitled to their opinion....best to assist the buyer with the facts...comparable homes that have sold...Whether you work under contract with a buyer as an agent...OR you are a Buyer working with an agent...thin air prices are not the buying mode of the day.  Just as a Seller may examine the sales record of an agent who will list a home...it's a good idea to learn the experience of an agent that is writing an offer.

         Some People Are MIS-READING this BLOG...ALL OFFERS ARE ALWAYS PRESENTED - the Response is the

     CHOICE OF THE SELLER....On with the Blog...

                                        If you really want to own/sell a home.....why risk insulting the Seller....losing a house you really want to call home...Take the advice of an agent that has successful experience.....and live happily ever after.

              If you are looking to live happily ever after in southeastern Wisconsin...call the Hansons...we are proud to be your ambassadors to the state we have called home for a lifetime....and know you will too.

“I thought it was an April Fool’s joke….” cried the Agent… We got a call from an agent who had been referred to a Seller. She went and met with the Sellers for over 2 hours on the first visit and in addition to explaining her qualifications as an agent, as they requested, went thru every room and the basement and exterior and gave them suggestions for what would put their best home forward before they put it on the market.

      She also , at their request, gave them suggestions for contractors to assist with these items. A week later they called back. Confident that she had the listing, she bought a plant that matched their décor and they proudly showed her all they had done on her “to do” list. The snow had melted and with the roof visible., she suggested that they have a roofer evaluate the condition of the roof and replace some shingles . The deck was now in need of some washing and repair that had been snow covered on an earlier visit and they were going to take care of that as well.

     They agreed….seemingly ….with her pricing and presentation…another 2 hour meeting… and would call her back when they had finished the outdoor “to do list.” The call came to the agent…on April Fool’s Day…..”Hi…this is the Smiths….we are listing our house with another agent that we really like.. We appreciate your time and advice, we did everything you said and the house looks great. If you have any buyers in our area, please send them our way.”

          The agent was speechless….and felt ill all at the same time. “I trusted them !” she cried….”All they wanted to do was pick my brain, and use my contractors ! I feel abused and deceived !” Welcome the real estate and the real world….not everyone is honest….no matter what your level of experience, there will alwaus be the people who succeed in getting something for nothing.

         I am betting you will see the listing in MLS for more a higher price and perhaps the agent discounted commission as well…what a concept. Tell the Sellers what they want to hear and charge them less money…..! We consoled her….”If those are the kind of people they are...and weren't honest with you now... do you really want to work with them anyway ?”

    If you do the LEAST….Don’t Expect the MOST…. Sellers want to know….”What can I do to get my house ready for sale ?”

     Like all good agents, we go through the house, inside and out, room by room, down in the basement, into the garage….through the yard and make our list of written suggestions. The Ready, Set, List” plan can involve all kinds of things…sometimes the suggestion of a handy man…a painter, a source for a Pod, a place to donate the furniture that won’t be moved.

       Then there is the wallpaper…”that was there when I bought the house”….and the carpeting that is “still good” despite it’s shaggy multi-colored texture. The window trim is peeling…but the excuse could be the weather…or golly gee the new owner may want to change the color.

             The crack in the window is obvious….who wouldn’t overlook one little crack. We never use the……. Name that feature or appliance…fireplace, sprinkler system, garbage disposal….so we don’t know if it works. People live here….Buyers know that…if they really want this house, they will overlook the clutter.

            Whatever the state of your market….lots of inventory….or not so much…Sellers should not expect the greatest return on their real estate dollar for the least invested in getting the house ready for sale. Make the list…check it twice….put your best house forward and reap the reward of having it truly “market ready” , eye appealing and well maintained.

        The crack in the window, paint that is peeling…Is not appealing…and will not compare well to the homes on the market that are “picture perfect” and curbalicious….Do the most and take the positive approach of expecting the best that the buyers have in an offer written on your home.

  A wise warning to people who don't have a hardship....though in our experience, hardships are genuine and few people are electing to try to "scam the system."  But know for those who even consider it...the 3rd party proof of the bank account, tax return, numerous affadavits will make unrealistic for a selling a home as a short sale, very difficult.