REALTOR® Ring Day - Giving Back to the Community

Lepic-Kroeger, REALTORS® supported the Salvation Army last Friday for REALTOR® Ring Day.  We had over 35 agents that were ringing the bell at Walgreens and HyVee in Coralville/Iowa City area. 

Maria White, an LKR agent has a story to share about her experience that day.

It’s a great time to give back! Whether you are ringing a bell, buying an extra gift for a child in need or baking a few extra cookies for a loved one. This is truly a wonderful time of year to give back.   The feeling of brightening someones day is soothing to the soul.   This past week, we had a day that REALTORS® in the great state of Iowa rang Salvation Army’s bells.  What a great time to spread Holiday cheer!  I decided last minute to take my 4 year old with me.  Wow, what a rewarding experience.   Not only did we enjoy ourselves to the fullest, but teaching a child to take time to give back to those in need was incredible!  My little guy was full of energy and at some points had lines of kind folks waiting to give him a donation to put in the red kettle.  (He made sure to tell them that it was his favorite part).  With his blue apron on and some warm winter gear, he smiled and wished everyone a great day.   This is such an easy lesson in life.

   

 

As quoted by Maya Angelou 

“When you learn, teach.  When you get, give.”

I got to do both that day!  Thanks to the Salvation Army and Iowa Association of REALTORS®. So during this Holiday Season, don’t forget that you can make a difference.  It may seem small in your eyes, but everlasting to someone else.  Wishing everyone an enjoyable Holiday Season! 

This weeks LKR Advantage is now available on our website!

Check out this weeks LKR Advantage providing you with the most current listings as well as the open houses for Saturday and Sunday. 

December 15th, 2012 Publication

NEW - Electronic Version of the LKR Weekly Advantage is Available

LKR is now providing our weekly print publication in an electronic format! You can access this via the LKR website, Facebook and Twitter or you can still view the print format in the Press Citizen in the Saturday paper. 

Check out our New Listings, Open Houses and Featured Properties by agent!

Click the link below to start searching!
Lepic-Kroeger, REALTORS® Weekly Advantage December 8, 2012

Jeff Joins Lepic-Kroeger, Realtors as partner

Jeff has re-joined Lepic-Kroeger, Realtors, the largest and one of the oldest Iowa City real estate companies as a broker and partner! Lepic-Kroeger is the home to many of the areas top real estate agents, and also houses top real estate developers as well. Now, Lepic-Keorger will have the top commercial real estate team to lead sales and leasing in the area.

Rachel Barnes is joining me as my licensed assistant and now as a CCIM candidate. Rachel has been invaluable to me and my clients for the last 7 years and will be for many years to come.

Together, we will keep you informed on the area with the emphasis on commercial real estate sales and leasing trends, but also will report on new projects and interesting events around Iowa City.

We will also be bringing commercial real estate education, speakers and tools to the agents at Lepic-Kroeger to raise the bar with every one's comfort and knowledge of commercial real estate.

Drop in at 2346 Mormon Trek Blvd in Iowa City or just give a call at 319-331-6187. Jeff's email is the same at jeff@icrealestate.com.

Lepic-Kroeger House Float in Parade

We enjoyed seeing you at the 4th of July Parade in Coralville!  Check out some pictures from the Parade.

We look forward to seeing you again at the University of Iowa Homecoming Parade!

Iowa City #21 in REALTOR.com Top Turnaround Towns

Iowa City was ranked 21st in the Top 25 Turnaround Towns by REALTOR.com  The report compared data from 2012 first quarter to 2011 first quarter.  This is the first time Iowa City has made the list! 

The Iowa City real estate market had a 6.81% list price apprecation in 1st Quarter 2012.  The median age of the inventory dropped 24.36% and the total inventory dropped 26.24% over last year. With these statistics as well as Iowa City's unemployment rate at 4.2% and the below average foreclosure rate, Iowa City made the list!

For the complete story, visit:
http://www.realtor.com/blogs/realtor-com-names-top-turnaround-towns-may-2012-data/

How's the Real Estate Market?

For a long time now all you hear about is the doom and gloom in the real estate market.  Conversations about foreclosures and high employment fill the headlines.  You hear stories of 20 % – 50% drops in home values.  What is often glossed over however is that those are generalizations over large areas.  But real estate can’t be generalized.  What is common in one area may not be common in another.  In some parts of the country it is the norm to have slab foundations.  No basements.  In the Midwest that is not the case.  Often you will have full or walk-out basements to provide extra usable space in your home and well as providing a safe shelter during a storm.  The point is just because some cities in California, Florida and Nevada have cities where there are house that have lost 50% of their value, that doesn’t mean that is the norm everywhere.  All real estate is local but what does that mean?  When a realtor does a market analysis of a home in Iowa City, they don’t compare the price to house in Riverside.  That seems obvious.  What is a little less obvious is if you have a home on the West side of town you don’t often use sales comparables on the East side or vice versa.  You want to look at individual subdivisions or smaller subsections of a given area.  Your best comparables or “comps” are those that are closest.  Often the same builder will buy multiple lots in a given subdivision and build a similar or identical floorplan over and over with some variations.  If one house is the same floorplan, same square footage and same level of quality finish then it would be hard to justify one to sell for $250,000 and the other to sell for $300,000 in the same neighborhood.  But two of the same houses with the same floorplan with similar finish located across town from one another might be an entirely different story.  One area might have higher land costs because it is considered more desierable or because of it’s close location to rivers, lake or ponds.  So the point is if real estate does have the ability to vary in pricing just across town than it stands to reason that it would differ across the county.  Just because California and Florida have lots of areas that have homes that are losing value doesn’t mean that Iowa does.  In fact the Iowa City market in particular has been extremely resilient.  While we never saw the huge gains in appreciation that other areas have in the past we have also never seen the steep losses.  Our market has chugged along at a steady pace and not appears to be on the verge of a very solid (but steady) climb.

LKR Gives Back by Supporting United Way with 100% Agency Participation

LKR Supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters!

LKR is supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters tomorrow, February 25th for their annual 2012 Bowl for Kids' Sake. This years theme is Super Hero Bowl.

Bowl for Kids’ Sake is the annual fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County. Teams of six people raise pledges to support Big Brothers Big Sisters’ youth mentoring programs.

LKR will have a total of three teams participating in this fun event. Happy Bowling!!!

For more information visit http://www.bbbsjc.org/