This is a 3 bedroom condo located in a west side neighborhood.  There is good quality throughout this condo.  The bright entrance area has a closet, supplemental heat and a door to the garage. 

There are Dakota Kitchen & Bath cabinets in the house. The kitchen has a breakfast counter and open area to the dining area.  The very large dining area has a glass sliding door to a deck.   The bedrooms have great sized windows and the master bedroom has a larger than usual double closet.    The laundry is on the same level, in a finished room with the furnace.

The garage has an epoxy floor finish, great to keep clean.

Exceptionally gorgeous ranch walkout in picture perfect condition. Warm colors throughout. Entrance has oak floors. Sharp custom oak cabinets in bright kitchen with oak floors. Vaulted ceiling & oak floors in dining area. Four season room has lots of windows with UV Sunblock cordless roller shades, cork floor & cedar walls.(Note the ceiling fan is also a heater) Bedrooms have walk-in closets. Main floor laundry. Spacious walkout family room with sharp gas fireplace with tile & oak surround. Oversized garage. Storage shed. Bus service to Rosa Park School.

Click here:  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5405.pdf

NEW VALUE   $119,500

Here's a house that will appeal to you in all sorts of ways. With its historical hints like much of the original millwork and window casings, woof flooring or the wonderful staircase, it will tug at your preservationist heart. Gracious formal dining will be in style too. There is even a little leaded glass in the living room window that overlooks the front porch. There are fun nooks and crannies to delight the kids. The lower level has, get this, a tree! With that and the chalkboard on the all, even indoor play days are fun. Now if age sounds like work, here is what has already been done for you. New high efficiency furnace, 3/4 bathroom added in the LL, the playroom is newly finished, replacement windows have been added in the upper level, washer/dryer added off the upper bathroom, new flooring in the kitchen and the yard has been fenced in. They even left the towel warmers! AND. . close to Covell Lake, the park, pool and band shell. Its only minutes to downtown activities.

A lot of updating has been done in this 4 bedroom house which is on a quiet street. New windows were installed in 1997 on the main and in 2004 the upper level. They installed all new and up to date wiring in 2001 along with a bathroom in the lower level and a electronic demand water system was installed. In 2000 a new roof along with gutters and down spouts were installed. New siding in 2004. In May 2007 new concrete was laid for the garage and new siding and gutters were installed. Kitchen with new appliances was remodeled in 2008 with new oak cabinets. A bonus room has a 11 feet of counter space and cupboards for a hobby or whatever with a door to the fenced backyard.

The main level has oak six panel doors. There are two water heaters. The insulated garage has 220 hookups and storage shelving. It is close to schools, park, bike trail and has easy access to the interstate.

OPEN HOUSE, SUNDAY, MARCH 14, 2010 FROM 2:00 TO 3:30

A 5 Bedroom Ranch walkout with an open floor plan and in a quiet neighborhood. Three of the bedrooms are on the main floor with the master suite having a walk-in closet, whirlpool tub, shower, twin vanity and lots of storage.  The kitchen has Dakota Kitchen cabinets with a large kitchen island and a stainless steel appliances.

The new 4 season sun room was added in 2009 and has a wood floor and wood blinds.  The main floor laundry is conveniently placed by the bedrooms.  There are 9' ceilings and several double and triple tray ceilings.  Two fireplaces to enjoy, one in the living room and one in the family room.  This family room has a gaming and wet bar area with a high counter and lots of cabinets and a fireplace with a stone surround.

The house has an efficient furnace with a humidity control and zone heating.There is a continuous hot water system (Rinnai Heater). The 3 stall heated garage has a epoxy floor, hot/cold water, floor drain and an attic access.  The yard is fully landscaped with an underground sprinkler system and a fenced backyard.  The house was build by Dennis Barlage.

A great 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom ranch with lots of updates and new paint.  In the living room there is a gas fireplace.   The kitchen has lots of Dakota Kitchen cabinets with a breakfast island.  There is a sliding glass door to a nice deck in the dining area with a bow area.   There are three bedrooms on the main level with the master suite having a walk-in closet and a 3/4 bathroom.  The ceilings are 9 feet on the main level.  There is a main floor laundry room.

The landscaping has a sprinkler system and a fenced privacy backyard.

The schools are Robert Frost Elementary, Edison Middle School and Lincoln High School

First-Time Homebuyer Credit Expanded and Extended

Homebuyer Credit Extended to April 30, 2010.  Some Current Homeowners now also qualify.

We have a couple items on Energy Efficiency that we would like to share with you. They come from the US Department of Energy. The first one is a 36 page booklet called Energy Savers Booklet. It’s table of contents shows articles on Saving Energy & Money, Your Home’s Energy Use, Insulation and Sealing Air Leak, Heating & Cooling, Water Heating, Windows, Lighting, Appliances, Home office & Home Electronics, Driving and Car Maintenance, & Renewable Energy. This booklet shows you how easy it is to reduce your energy use at home and on the road. The easy, practical solutions for saving energy include tips you can use today throughout your home-from the roof, walls, and insulation that enclose it to the appliances & lights inside.  

The second free handout we can share with you is a Home Buyer’s Energy Efficient Checklist. This is a 2 page checklist to give you ideas of what to check for while looking at houses. We would gladly email either of these to anyone that asks for it. If you want a printed copy we will mail that to you as an alternative to sending this through your email.

Survey shows employers will hire more in fourth quarter

Brenda Wade Schmidt

Seen on Keloland:

Money Matters: Housing Market Sees Increase

http://www.keloland.com/videoarchive/index.cfm?VideoFile=081809mm

We keep hearing the housing market is on the rebound and there are now some numbers to prove it.  Home sales in 14 states saw double digit gains in July, including South Dakota, where sales were up nearly 20 percent compared to a year ago.

The last time we checked in on the Sioux Falls housing market in June, home sales were down 17 percent. But what a difference a month can make.

"If you look at this year's July versus last year's July, at least a 20 percent increase and last year was a pretty good year for us, our fifth or sixth best year on record. So to have that kind of swing from June to July is a real good indicator we've got some positive things happening," Barton Hacker of the Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire said.

Hacker credits the $8,000 dollar first-time homebuyers tax incentive for making a big difference. But he also says more expensive homes are also starting to sell and that's why home prices are down only about 2 percent, compared to 5 percent earlier this year.

"We went for a while, everyone was going after homes $120,000 to $130,000 or less. Now what you're seeing happening is the average buyer looking at your $150,000 to $160,000 home, which is increasing our medium and average price for the year," Hacker said.

There are still more homes on the market and they're staying on longer, about 100 days instead of about 90. But Hacker thinks that gap could close in the next few months.

"But we are anticipating a good fall mostly because of people coming out at the last minute to take advantage of this tax credit," said Hacker.

Closing can take up to a month, so first-time homebuyers looking to take advantage of that tax credit really need to do so by October. The deadline to close is November 30.

Angela Kennecke
© 2009 KELOLAND TV. All Rights Reserved.

Going Green!!  Enjoy the Energy Efficiency of this home with the Geo thermal Heat and AC.  Total utility budget is $82.00 a month!  It was built by Curt Hanson.

Note the 1375 sq ft on the main floor that makes for very spacious rooms, compare that size main floor to others in this price range.

New carpet, light fixtures and fans on the main make this feel like new.  Tons of custom Dakota Cabinets and separate main floor laundry make this kitchen a dream.  Segmented bath on main helps with the the morning rush.  The lower level just finished after 2006 to add the 3rd bedroom, full bath and family room.  Room to finish more. 

A large deck to a landscaped yard with sprinklers and pet doors so they can also enjoy the fenced yard.  Good size garage is partially sheetrocked. Quiet set apart neighborhood.

Sioux Falls made into some national headlines again. We were listed as # 7 in the top 10 of tax friendly cities.

http://tinyurl.com/nuk7vb     

Check it out for yourself. Any publicity we get nationally is pretty good.

On the local level sales continue pretty strong in the price ranges up to about $300,000 We are happy with what is happening with our listings & buyers are finding good homes to purchase. Interest rates have declined a little in the last couple weeks again. So now is a very good time to buy & move up in your housing!

Homebuyers looking for bargains and others buying up foreclosed properties are driving down the median sale price of Sioux Falls-area homes.

 But most homes still are holding value, those in the industry say.

 A national report released earlier this week said the median sale price of existing single-family homes in the metro area fell almost 30 percent in the first quarter of the year, compared to a year ago. The median price - the single sale that ranks in the middle of all existing sales - was $95,500, according to the National Association of Realtors.

 Instead, the median sales price for March has fallen 7.4 percent in the Sioux Falls metro area, to $132,000, said Barton Hacker, chief executive officer of the Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire. The organization tracks local statistics for Realtors.

"Our market is not 30 percent off in price," Hacker said.

 While the national and local organizations both defend their numbers, they also agree that homebuyers are looking for bargains and, because of government and other incentives, many first-time homebuyers are able to buy less expensive houses. In addition, several foreclosed properties, which vary in price but often include low-priced homes, also have been selling.

All of those things push the median sale price down. The median is not affected by one or two very high- or low-priced sales as dramatically as the average home price.

The drop in the price of homes that have been selling is not reflective of the value in the market, said Walter Molony, spokesman for the national association. The agency is finding the same kind of drop nationwide, he said.

 Half of all houses selling nationally are called "distressed," often meaning foreclosed homes, Molony said. In addition, half of all houses sold are going to first-time homebuyers who buy at the low end of the price range.

"If you have got half of the homes being sold at deep discount, you see how that can affect the price," he said.

Here is a link to a study of where the best choice & most affordable long term care is at in the United States.

http://tiny.cc/x6rZr

Here we have just another reason to be proud of our Great Faces, Great Places, South Dakota.