This weeks theme is ON FIRE!
Do you have a proper home inventory checklist?
What would happen if your home were burglarized, caught fire or was in some other catastrophic even? In an earlier blog, Spontaneous Combustion, we wrote about some very good friends that lost their home to fire and another friend (with the client hat on) that, on the day after his offer was accepted, it burned down Accepted Offer Goes Up in Smoke-LITERALLY!
If you had proper warning, what would you save? What would you miss the most?Would you be able to list all the furniture, important documents, computers and electronic info all the way down to how many spatulas you would have to replace? Bath rugs? How many picture frames did you have on the wall. It may sound silly to think about these kind of things but it all adds up. If you have attended a wedding recently, think about the gift registries and how expensive it is to start a home!
Why not take this time and use this friendly reminder to hug your loved ones and then take an inventory of your home. At least that way if this ever happens to you or your loved ones, you will have an idea of what to expect.
Take the time to ‘save’ your possessions now. Make a home inventory checklist. Write down descriptions of your items and take photos.
Let the local police departments know the directions to your home all the way down to the color of home and the real directions of how to get there. Keep the driveway plowed and free of snow (an Alaska thing) and do not panic if you have to call. When in doubt call 911 and speak clearly. Every second counts and you have to give the dispatchers all the information possible so they can send help right away.
One option that we have run across is Know Your Stuff home inventory. This is a free service provided by the Insurance Information Institute. There is a video on the Know Your Stuffsite that explains a bit bore on the process on the site but, essentially, it walks you through a computerized home inventory process. You can add rooms, change and maintain your home inventory. There is even a maintenance calendar where you can set up reminders via text or email messages.When you go through the inventory checklist process, it allows you to go through your home room by room, piece by piece. You do not have to complete the task all at once. You can add items or skip through rooms with ease. It even allows you to print out your home inventory checklist.
The inventory information you save at Know Your Stuff is stored on remote servers and is accessible from any computer.
Don’t get caught in the emotions and grief in an emergency situation. With all the confusion of the fire trucks, the fire restoration folks, the insurance company, the neighbors and the scanner chasers, confusion and disbelief are the dominating emotions. Take the time now, even it it is one room at a time or one room a week, to invest in your home inventory checklist.
There are so many things to consider and a little planning and preparation WILL help.
Currently there are 42 active foreclosure listings with approximately 4 months of inventory.There have been 9 foreclosures sales reported as of Dec 28th for the month of December 2010.The graph shown demonstrates what the Wasilla Foreclosure market has done since November 2007.
To put this into perspective we need to compare the Wasilla Foreclosure inventoryto the rest ofthe real estate market.When comparing months of inventory on the market over the past 36 months we see that the average home in all price ranges usually falls between 7 to 10 months based on the rate of sales.
The Wasilla Foreclosure inventory often falls between 2 to 4 months.These homes are getting absorbed into the market place at a much higher rate.As the rate of new Wasilla foreclosures increase they become more of a threat to the normal home seller who has to compete with the foreclosure market.
The Wasilla area has not been hit with the decline of the real estate market like much of the country.However we certainly have not been immune to its effect.Since 2006 values have remained relatively stable in the lower price ranges.As price points increase so has the decline in values.
In the past 12 months there have been 1163 home sales.The foreclosures represented 143 of those sales or 12% of the Wasilla area Real Estate Market.The proceeding 12 months resulted in 1156 home sales with 121 or 10% of them being foreclosures.With foreclosure inventory climbing, the result will be an increased percentage of foreclosures making up the total volume of closes home sales in the Mat-Su Valley.
As Realtors in the Palmer and Wasilla area we are often asked to see what homes within the different school boundary lines. This can be done in several different ways. One way to search this is by using the school information in the listing detail, but this often not filled in by the listing licensee as it takes time to figure out what school a home is located in and it is not a required MLS data field.
Our intention here is to help make searching homes for sale within the Colony High School boundary easier. The boundary lines for Colony High School are very irregular. There are no set lines in which to search from.
Often the listing licensee uses BTV (buyer to verify) for the school district or simply assumes that the school is the nearest one. Due to the irregular lines of the map (for school population we were told) this is not necessarily the case.
Searching just by the MLS field of ‘Colony High’ often does not show all of the homes in the boundary and often had the wrong information. Before we created this searching tool, we would have to verify each home by hand.
We have created a map in which to search homes for sale in the Colony High School boundary area in Palmer. These lines are approximate and should be verified with the school district and transportation department. We followed the boundary lines from the 2010 to 2011 Colony High School boundary map.
Please note that the homes here are specific to Colony High School and may include or exclude homes located within the boundary lines of Colony Middle School.
For more information on homes for sale in the Colony Middle School boundary area, please visit our map of homes located within the Colony Middle School boundaries.
If you see an error in any property we would appreciate a call or an e-mail to help keep this information as accurate as possible.
As Realtors in the Palmer Wasilla area we are often asked to see what homes are for sale within the different school boundary lines. This can be done in several different ways. One way to search this is by using the school school field in the search parameters. This detail is often over looked by the listing licensee or the listing licensee feels there is too much liability involved in the event it is incorrect . So what we commonly see in this field is “Buyer to Verify” instead of the school it is in. This makes if very difficult in isolating the homes for sale in specific school districts.
Our intention here is to help make searching for a home for sale easier within the Colony Middle School boundary. The boundary lines for Colony Middle School are very irregular. There is not set lines in which to search from. We have taken the time to create a map search of homes for sale located within the boundary lines.
While we have done our best to trace the boundary area we realize there may be errors. Here is the link to the boundary map from the school district. Please help us keep this information as accurate as possible in the event you notice a home that does not belong within the Colony Middle School boundary area.
Do not make a purchasing decision on the school information provided. Our advice is to verify this information with the school district transportation department. The boundary lines we used were from the 2010 to 2011 Colony Middle School boundary map.
Please note that the homes here are specific to Colony Middle School and may include or exclude homes located within the boundary lines of Colony High School. Please visit our map of homes located within the Colony Middle School boundaries by clicking link located at the bottom or top of this page.