New Fox Team Property on the market

25030 I Rd - Circleville KS Looking for a berm home on 10 acres...Enter this 4 Br, 2 Bath, Spacious interior living with recent updates to the bathrooms and recent addition complete just this week! Large walk-in pantry off kitchen, vaulted ceilings, spacious bedrooms and closets, separate mud room and laundry center, open floor plan, custom cabinetry, tile work, new carpeting, additional wood-burning stove for a heating element and interior appeal. Ext offers, corrals, good fencing & lrg 40x60 barn. Perfect for horses or 4-h. Brome pasture. Call the Fox team at 785.305.1636 today to view.

Market Update - Property at 17590 K116 Hwy, Holton

Looking for a winery, vineyard or bed and breakfast as an opportunity or does your family just want to settle into a quiet piece of comfort with easy accessibility to major cities and highways. If so, this may be the perfect find... This home includes a 3 BR, 1.5 Bath, 1400 fin sq foot on the main floor, built only 12 years ago and has a full unfinished walkout basement with a bsmt bathroom already established - the bsmt space is perfect for additional bedrooms, recreational room space or a business. The home has vaulted ceilings, clean/fresh white cabinetry with an open layout on the main floor design, skylights, energy efficient windows, a stone wood-burning fireplace that goes from floor to ceiling, nice storage and closet spaces, a separate utility room off the garage and kitchen, formal dining and a jacuzzi tub in the Master bath! The 5 acre m/l property has a 5-car garage, 3 of which are attached to the home and there is an additional garage door entry with each of the other 2 main outbuildings. Oh, and did you need a shop to work on your cars, tractors or to run a business out of? Between the 2 spacious outbuildings you are outfitted with 220 electric, water, heat/air, super-insulated and includes both finished and unfinished spaces, even a bathroom! The acreage is landscaped with fountains, ponds, bridges, patios, pergolas, native flowers, succulents, rose bushes, planned lighting and even cactus thriving! And don't forget the 2 acres of grape vines with watering system. If you aren't interested in making your own wine, the many regional vineyards around have already offered to buy the annual grape crops - so this is income producing! The property is fenced all around, settled in the midst of Kansas hills and pasture-land. A tree draw is on the east side. Plenty of wildlife including deer, turkey and fox. Priced at only $220's! Easy to find...North of Topeka KS appx 25 miles on Hwy 75 to Hwy 16 at Holton intersection - Head East on Hwy 16 appx 6 miles - Hwy 16, turns into Hwy 116 - stay straight on Hwy 116. Less than 60 miles from Lawrence KS and less than 90 miles from the Kansas City MCI Airport to Holton.

Recyclable Bags - Green Initiative

If you see Craig or myself in a store this week WITHOUT using recyclable bags - please stop us in our tracks! We're trying to form some new habits! More updates coming soon!

Vacation Homes

The American Dream 2X - The economy may be facing some challenges, but that didn’t stop many buyers from investing in vacation properties last year. NAR’s 2010 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey shows vacation home sales rose 7.9 percent to 553,000 in 2009, compared to 513,000 in 2008. Ninety percent of survey respondents plan to use their second home as a family vacation retreat. Only one in four plan to rent it to tenants. Twenty-six percent intend to make the property their primary residence in the future. The median sale price of a vacation home was $169,000 in 2009, compared with $150,000in 2008. In contrast to vacation homes, investment home sales fell 15.9 percent to 940,000 in 2009 from 1.12 million in 2008. The median transaction price of an investment property purchased in 2009 was $105,000, compared with $108,000 in 2008. (Posted first by NAR Media online)

Pending Home Sales Surge Continuing

Pending Home Sales Surge Continuing Washington, June 02, 2010 (NAR Website Media Outlook) Pending home sales have risen for three consecutive months, reflecting the broad impact of the home buyer tax credit and favorable housing affordability conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors®. The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator, rose 6.0 percent to 110.9 based on contracts signed in April, from an upwardly revised 104.6 in March, and is 22.4 percent higher than April 2009 when it was 90.6. That follows gains of 7.1 percent in March and 8.3 percent in February. Pending home sales are at the highest level since last October when the index reached 112.4 and first-time buyers were rushing to beat the initial deadline for the tax credit. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which usually occur with a lag time of one or two months. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said this second round of surging sales from the tax credit extension looks as strong as the original tax credit. “There were concerns that only a small pool of buyers were left to take advantage of the tax credit extension. But evidently the tax stimulus, combined with improved consumer confidence and low mortgage interest rates, are contributing to surging sales,” he said. “The housing market has to get back on its own feet and now appears to be in a good position to return to sustainable levels even without government stimulus, provided the economy continues to add jobs.” NAR expects a net of 1 million additional jobs in the second half of this year and about 2 million in 2011. “The home buyer tax credit brought close to 1 million additional buyers into the market, which is now helping the trade-up market and has significantly improved the inventory situation. This stabilized home prices more quickly and has preserved about $900 billion in home equity; in turn, that is keeping additional households from going underwater and risking foreclosure,” Yun said. The PHSI in the Northeast jumped 29.5 percent to 97.9 in April and is 24.5 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index rose 4.1 percent to 104.2 and is 17.9 percent above April 2009. Pending home sales in the South slipped 0.6 percent to an index of 123.9, but is 31.3 percent higher than a year ago. In the West the index rose 7.5 percent to 107.9 and is 12.0 percent higher than April 2009. “A big concern surfacing recently is insufficient time to close the deal at the settlement table. Under normal circumstances, two months would be enough time from contract signing to settlement date,” Yun said. “However, the recent housing cycle has brought long delays related to the short sales approval process by banks, and from ongoing appraisal issues. There could be a sizable number of homebuyers who responded to tax credit incentives, but may encounter problems meeting the settlement deadline by June 30.” Because of these market challenges, NAR has asked Congress to provide flexibility on the deadline for closing. The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. # # # *The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing. The index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactions for existing-home sales. In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months. There is a closer relationship between annual index changes (from the same month a year earlier) and year-ago changes in sales performance than with month-to-month comparisons. An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined as well as the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales. Existing-home sales for May will be reported June 22 and the next Pending Home Sales Index will be on July 1; release times are 10 a.m. EDT. Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the News Media section. Statistical data, tables and surveys also may be found by clicking on Research. NAR at a Glance Economic & Housing Indicators NAR Fact Sheet NAR Officer Bios NAR Annual Report REALTOR® Logo & Usage REALTORS® in the Community NAR Meetings & Expo Register for News! Sign up for the NAR listserv. Register Now Resources For REALTORS® & Business Specialties Association Executives News Media ■News Releases ■News Release Schedule ■NAR Media Contacts ■Story Ideas ■Public Awareness Campaign ■Real Estate Today Radio Show Home Buyers & Sellers Diversified Real Estate Firms Site By Topic About NAR Education Government Affairs Law & Policy Meetings & Expo NAR Governance REALTOR Benefits® Research Technology Register Now Access exclusive features and sign up for newsletters. REALTOR Benefits® Purchase discounted products and services from REALTOR Benefits® Partners © Copyright NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS®