As your real estate agent, one of my tasks is to be your area expert.  If you are looking to buy a home, purchasing in a location that suits your needs best is often just as important as the home itself.  If you are thinking about selling, I can use my knowledge of the area to market your home in a more comprehensive way to appeal to more buyers.

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to meet with several of Urbana’s city officials to discuss the City’s future plans for schools, parks, roads, commercial expansion, and other items of interest.  We spent about 2 hours going through Urbana and discussing the various points of interest we passed.  I have narrowed down the highlights for you so that it won’t take you two hours to learn what I learned.  I will start with some of the recent news-worthy items:

The Olympian Drive expansion – The projected start date for the expansion will be in 2013, with a plan to extend Olympian Drive from Duncan Rd in Champaign to Lincoln Rd in Urbana, with a bridge over the railroad tracks just West of Lincoln Ave.  At this point, the project is estimated to cost $20 million, with most of it ($18M) coming from state and federal funding, and Champaign/Urbana contributing $1M each.  The long-term plan is to extend Olympian Drive all the way East to Cunningham Avenue.  If 2013 is too long to wait, the next road improvement project is to re-construct Airport Road East of Cunningham Ave.  This project is scheduled to begin this summer, and the road improvements will service the Landis Farm and Somerset subdivisions (almost as far east as Brownfield Road).

Menards store on High Cross Road – You’ve seen the Menards signs for years, but no signs of development.  A few years ago, Menards purchased about 300 acres of land along High Cross, with the intent to build a Menards store and 500 residential homes (with Menards materials – genius!).  With the economic slow-down, however, the plans have been put on hold indefinitely, although the land has already been purchased.  Supposedly, Menards has purchased land in other areas of the Midwest also and is now trying to determine which of the areas they will pursue first.  Urbana is “doing what they can” to try to be at the top of that list.

Recent Pool Referendum – The people have spoken, and Urbana will be constructing a brand-new family aquatic center on Broadway Avenue, just North of Crystal Lake Park.  The referendum’s promise is for the facility to open in 2013.  The plan is to have an area with various pools and points of interest to appeal to a multi-generational clientele.  For instance, if grandparents want to take their grandchildren to the pool, there will be something for everyone to do.  At this point, the design and engineered is being prepared in order to start getting bids for the project.

The Historic Lincoln Hotel – If you’ve been through downtown Urbana recently, you’ve probably seen/heard the construction around this building.  The building has been purchased and will be renamed to the Urbana Landmark Hotel.  The building is currently being re-roofed and should partially open later this year.  The owner’s intent is to fully open to the public in 2012 as a full-service hotel, with “historical flavor and a high level of service”.

The old Denny’s building at 119 N. Race – The city does not own the building, but has given permission to the owners to utilize city funds to demolish it.  The footprint of the old building will be a parking lot and a green area.  The Courier Cafe might want to expand into this new area with outdoor seating, but at this time there are no plans for re-development.

If you have any specific questions about Urbana, please let me know!  I might have answers readily available for the following topics, in no particular order:

- UCBB (Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband) $20M grant

- Plans for school improvements throughout Urbana

- New offerings at the Urbana Free Library

- How some of the various projects around downtown Urbana will be financed

- The Lincoln exhibit at the County Courthouse

- Boneyard Creek $7M transformation plan

- Campus improvements, like the Gregory Place complex and Goodwin Avenue

- Future of the Windsor Swim Club (across from Meadowbrook Park)

- Urbana High School future athletic facility

- The Urbana U-Cycle recycling program

- The Urbana Landscape Recycling Center and its available services

- Sewer back-up assistance from the City of Urbana

- Carle Hospital expansion plans

- 5 Points development at Cunningham/University

- Plan for Weaver Park

- Beautification plan for North Cunningham Avenue

- Future expansion of bike paths

If you don’t see the topic that you’re looking for, just ask me!  The aforementioned items are just the things that I learned more about yesterday.  Over the years, I’ve accumulated a wealth of knowledge about the local area.  It was great to have an opportunity to get a quick update, though, so that I can have the most recent information for you.

For some time now, as a service to my clients, I have been providing additional pictures of some of the homes for sale in Champaign county.

Until recently, for homes with additional pictures, there has been a tab at the top of the home information page that said ‘More Pictures’. (You can see this for yourself by going to my Featured Listings page and choosing one of the homes there)

While this was useful, I decided I could make it better. Now, for any given home with additional pictures, I actually tell you on the tab how many additional pictures that there are. So, instead of just saying ‘More Pictures’, the tab will now say ’24 More Pictures’, or ’19 More Pictures’. This might seem like a small thing, but little touches like this can really draw you into a home listing and encourage you to discover more about the home.

This is just one more way that I’m distinguishing myself from other Realtors around. Contact me. I’d love to have you as client.

I offer a popular mortgage calculator on my website at www.AroundCU.com/calc that you can use to determine what your mortgage payments will be on a home that you are interested in. You can also get to this mortgage calculator by clicking on the ‘Mortgage Calc’ link in the tabs at the top of any home’s information.

From looking at how clients use my website, one thing that I have noticed over and over again is that people quickly change the percentage of down payment on their dream home from 20% to something smaller. Usually 0%. Alas, for the average homebuyer in today’s economy it just isn’t realistic to make that drastic of a change. I’m not choosing 20% as a starting point because I am evilly wanting you to see a lower monthly payment. Read on, dear client, to find out the motive.
(read more)

I’m always looking for ways to increase home visibility for my clients who’s homes I am marketing.

My website is popular (well in excess of (read more)

If you have thought about purchasing a foreclosure home because of the allure of getting an amazing deal, remember that in our area, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Last week, I had the opportunity to meet a client at one of the least expensive homes available in Champaign right now, a two-story foreclosure with a basement, priced at $29,950 (there are several homes priced even lower).  I was the first to arrive, so I thought I’d go inside and take a look around before meeting my client.  This home is not for most people, so keep this in mind when you look at the photos.  Remember also that this home is less than $30,000, a rare find anywhere. read more and view photos

I like Hardee’s. I’m especially fond of their biscuits, so I come to Hardee’s for breakfast quite often (a few times a week). A few weeks ago, the manager on duty extended an invitation to me to come to Hardee’s on Monday, August 17th, to partake in their 2nd Annual “Making it Happen” tour. Today was the last day of the tour, which visited the last 8 of 66 Hardee’s restaurants in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. At each location, the tour donated money to hometown charity groups, organizations and individuals. This year, a total of $25,000 was given to individuals and small groups where it has the most direct impact on lives, enabling them to continue ‘making it happen’. read more and view photo

Whether you are considering selling or buying your home, it is common to go through times of stress and through times of joy.  Regardless of how stressful things may be, when a home goes pending (a contract has been accepted), it is fair to expect that things will go normally, and in complete accordance with the dates and criteria set forth in the contract.  After all, when everything is written out in black and white, there is no room for mistakes, right? (read more)

We got some weather here in Champaign on Friday!  Of course, the life of a Realtor doesn’t stop when the clouds gather.  I happened to be driving along John Street to meet a client at a house when I saw this scene: (read more)

When all is said and done, home-buying is a personal choice. You have to be happy with what you are buying, and I’ll do everything I can to make that happen.

Even though it is a personal choice, while you are looking for your dream home, it’s great to have input from people you know on the homes you are considering! Or, you might have found an interesting home and want to share the details with a spouse or other person that will be living there. Last night I added a new feature to home search on my website to make that a little bit easier. (read more and view screenshot)

Once you make the decision to sell your home, you might be tempted to just put the house on the market and get it over with as fast as possible.  After all, this can be a stressful and emotionally-draining task!

But rushing into things can show a lack of preparation and strategy. Mistakes made in the beginning of the selling process are difficult to undo. Even time – the great healer – does not help with real estate. (read more)