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.

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 (more…)

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? (more…)

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. (more…)

Some of my buyers are in no hurry to purchase their home. They say something like, "We are willing to wait until a great deal comes along", or "The sellers will get desperate to sell after the home has been on the market for a long time". What does "a long time" mean? Until now, the answer to this question has been some agent’s made-up statistic or vague answer. (more…)

Did you know that 55% of all homes for sale do not have a virtual tour?  I found this statistic as I was working on my brand-new home-search page, http://aroundcu.com/search.  Give it a try and let me know what you think of it!

The virtual tours that you will find when you search for homes are simply links to external sites that have more than the maximum 9 photos that are in the multiple listing service (MLS), the main real estate database that Realtors use.  This database is what you can access through my website.  

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You have probably heard the news about the housing slump, and the “buyer’s market” that we are currently experiencing. A buyer’s market occurs when supply and demand factors shift to cause a drop in price. Due to the increased supply of homes from excess building and foreclosures, with demand remaining constant, prices of homes drop. The Champaign-Urbana market does not experience the large fluctuations that other areas do, but it is not completely immune. This buyer’s market is a great time to buy. Although this seems to be bad news if you are wanting to sell, it is really not bad news if you have been thinking about purchasing a larger home.
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When you search for a home on my website and view the "Detailed Information" link for a home, you will see something like this:

If you look at the "Lot Size" field, you will see a set of numbers. If the numbers are something like 100×100, it’s easy: a square lot with each side measuring 100ft. But 72x70x99x45x26? Which side is which dimension, and what is the total overall size?

Let’s start with the basics. Standard convention says that the street side is the first dimension listed, and then the other dimensions follow clock-wise. For example, if you have a lot size of 60×130, the street side measures 60ft and the lot goes back 130ft. (more…)

These last several weeks have been very busy! As I have been taking buyers around to view homes, I have begun to notice a pattern that has solidified my views regarding the importance of curb appeal. I have been amazed at the striking correlation between curb appeal and the overall condition of a house. (read more and view photo)

In my continuing series on “unique” homes, here is a bathroom that is very worthy of this title: (Click for photo!)