Columbia Illinois Real Estate Columbia IL Community Events

Realtor Magazine today announced that Lindsey Bivins of Century 21 Advantage in Columbia was selected as one of the young professionals to be featured in their "30 under 30" article coming out in June 2009.  This nationwide search select 30 agents under the age of 30 who have excelled in their field.

Realtor Magazine says "Our Class of 2009 is focused, energetic, and upbeat. Its members are driven by youthful optimism, no doubt. But they’re also embracing innovation and seeking out knowledge when they don’t know the answer. If there’s one thing this year’s honorees share, it’s an ability to adapt quickly to the fast-changing real estate environment without losing an ounce of passion for what they do. In any generation, that’s a true gift."

Lindsey, 26, says "You have to change with the market, and you have to figure out what consumers want and need now." Bivins works mainly on the administrative side, coordinating closings and listings for the Linda Frierdich Real Estate Group, which closed $32 million in sales on 159 sides, ranking the Group number 1 in the Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois in 2008.  She is also the Managing Broker for Century 21 Advantage in Columbia (ranked the #1 firm in Monroe County-RASI 2008) and Smithton. 

Congratulations!

Crazy blog title, right?  Well, that was the theme of the Illinois Association of Realtors Spring Conference that was held Wednesday and Thursday.  Between all of our showings and contracts coming in this week, 4 of our members were still able to make the time to attend the conference.  Our group is constantly trying to expand our knowledge in all aspects of real estate and this annual conference is a good way to do that.  From receiving continuing education credits to visting with different vendors that service all areas of the real estate industry, we picked up some must-have materials!  If you see any of us out and about, feel free to ask us about it.  We hope all of you have an enjoyable Mother's Day Weekend!

Pictured below are Linda, Naureen, Sam, and Angi hard at work during one of the many classes offered at Spring Conference.

Columbia is hosting Maifest Memorial Day Weekend!

When:  Sunday, May 24  12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

What:  Columbia will be celebrating its heritage with German food, beer, and music by Die Spitzbuam

Where:  Metter Memorial Park   211 E. Cherry, Columbia, IL

Cost:  Free!!!

Congratulations to one of Our Team members, Angi Laskowski, for completing her first half marathon this past weekend in Nashville, Tennessee at the Country Music Marathon & ½ Marathon.  She has been training for several months and is really proud of her accomplishment.  Angi said that it was one of the toughest goals she has attained and was quite sore for several days after the run. 

In her own words, Angi describes why she has developed a passion for running:   “The drive to better your time and perform at an even better level in terms of  physical, mental, and psychological is so motivating!  I love the personal/internal competitive spirit to continue to grow and get better…it’s not a competition against others but one against your current skill and ability levels (much how I feel about my career in real estate).”

This crazy girl is already contemplating training for the Virginia Beach, VA  Rock & Roll ½ Marathon, which is September 6, 2009.  Good Luck, Angi!!

Today was a really fun day for The Linda Frierdich Real Estate Group.  We hosted Mrs. June Zinck's Consumer Education Class from Gibault High School to teach them how to Buy their first home.  Mrs. Zinck's class went around to local businesses today to learn about opening a checking account, buying furniture, buying a car, and their last stop was a visit with our group.  Sam and Whitney met the class at one of our New Construction Homes listed in Columbia Lakes.  Before touring the home, they had a brief discussion with the class about the importance of finding a Realtor to represent them on their first home-buying transaction and the importance of being pre-approved for a loan before digging in deep to looking.  We then hosted a mock open house where the students were allowed to ask questions and we pointed out to them different features in homes to observe and take note of.  After the open house, we wrote up a sample contract about the students first home purchase.  It was an educational experience for the class and Our Team.  If anyone reading this has a group or class who would be interested in doing something similar to this to go over the importance of buying your first home, we would be happy to help.  You can come to us for a mock open house, or we can come to your classroom or meeting space to go over the importance of homeownership and buying your first home.  Thanks again to Mrs. Zinck and Gibault High School for giving us such a great opportunity to teach future generations about buying a home.  Also a big thank you to Monroe Homes for letting us use one of their display homes in Columbia Lakes to host this important event.  We hope they have the same field trip next year and we encourage anyone interested in having a similar event to give us a call or send us an email. 

Pictured above are Sam and Whitney, on the right, with Mrs. Zinck's Consumer Education Class from Gibault Catholic High School.

If there is one thing The Linda Frierdich Real Estate Group loves, it is summertime and the St. Louis Cardinals!  Everyone on Our Team is a big fan of their team.  Some of us have already made it to a game or two this season.  We hope everyone recieved their Linda Frierdich Cardinals schedule in the mail.  You will be seeing more of our love for baseball soon!  Last Thursday was a rainy mess, but those who went to the game had an awesome time and the Cards won! 

Pictured above from left to right are Aaron Eversmeyer, one of our preferred lenders with Banker's Home Lending, his wife, Lindsey Eversmeyer, Sam and Angi. 

Moving in the right direction, Gain seen in pending home sales, housing affordability sets new record.

Pending home sales have edged up, hinting at a possible pickup of sales activity in coming months, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts sighned in February, rose 2.1 percent to 82.1 from a reading of 80.4 in January, but is 1.4 percent below February 2008 when it was 83.3.

 Dan Barnard-2009 President of home builders association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri Wrote a column in the St.louis Post-Dispatch The week of April 5,2009.

New home buyers have something to look forward to, with some credit due to the american recovery and reinvestment act of2009 recently being signed into law, as part of the economic stimulus measures, the legislation created a homebuyers tax credit that is bigger and better than the previous credit that was implemented in July, 2008. The website www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com explains in detail the provisions of the new tax credit. We are seeing significant activity in both the resale and new-home market as first-time buyers take advantage of the credit coupled with record-low mortgage interest rates. In a nutshell, it.

Provides a tax credit equal to 10 percent of the sale price of the home,up to an $8,000 maximum and is a true tax credit. It does not need to be rpaid unless the homeowner sells the home within three years of the purchase. and in Missouri, the Missouri housing development commission has developed a plan to make $6,750 of the tax credit available immediately for down payment! Learn more at www.mhdc.com under Homeownership.

Can only be used with the purchase of a home that will be the buyers principal residence. It cannot be claimed for the purchase of a vaction home or property to be used as a rental.

Is available to first-time homebuyers only with a modified adjusted gross income less than$95,000 for a single tax payers or $170,000 for married filers. A first time home Buyer is defined as someone who has not owned a principal residence for three years or more.

Applies to homes purchased by qualified buyers between Jan 1 and Nov30,2009. The purchase date is the date when closing occurs and the title transfers.

Allows unmarried joint purchasers to allocate the credit amount to amy Buyer who qualifies as a first-time buyer. Also, a parent who jointly purchases a home with a child can allocate the credit to the child. The same goes for two unmarried people one who owns a home and the other who does not, who purchase a home together befor getting married can allocate the credit to the taxpayer who qualifies as a first-time Homebuyer.This new tax credit provides an uprecedented opportunity for people looking to Buy their first home. Not only will they riceive an $8,000 tax credit, they also will be taking advantage of record-low interest rates, a large selection of homes to choose from and competitive home prices.

House hunters will also find that many builders have inventory that is move-in ready, and may offer upgrades or other incentives to seal the deal. Also, owners of existing homes who are looking to trade-up or relocate are ready to bargain.

Last Thursday, Sam and Angi attended a Real Estate Conference sponsored by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage over in St. Louis at the Chesterfield Mall.  Wells Fargo put on an excellent presentation about meeting the needs of buyers in today's market.  There are a lot of options for buyers to still obtain financing in today's tough economic times and the information they got at the conference has been beneficial to the whole group. Wells Fargo put a great emphasis on all of the options available with FHA loans and discussed in detail FHA/203 k Loans which are great for the first-time Buyer who is interested in purchasing a home that needs a bit of TLC.  You can actually Buy the home and finance the improvements!  Thank you to Vanessa Salas for inviting our group to the event.  It was such an exciting event and a fun time networking with other agents all over the bistate area.  If you would like to hear more about everything we learned send us an email and we'll be happy to share. 

On a break during the Wells Fargo conference at the Chesterfield Mall, Sam and Angi pose as the infamous Ben & Jerry of ice cream fame.