The last blog I did on this site, and a while back I might add, I told you that a new site is coming up and it still is. I hope to have in up and running in a wek to two weeks. In the meantime, please go to my other web site, www.virtualrealestateteam.com where on the front page you will see a blog button. Sorry for the selay, but the new site will be fantastic and the blogging will be done 3 to 4 times per week. We keep brainstroming about how to make it better and when you see it I think you will agree.

I look forward to seeing the ICG family this weekend. We are coming with some terrific deals, guaranteed rent, builder model home lease backs, and preconstruction. We have two new subdivisions that we are holding back on until the next meeting that are in Edmond and Deer Creek. We are also going to wait on our new commercial opportunities until next month. We have new homes starting at $125,000 with interest rate buy downs and 3 months guaranteed rent to start. We have sixteen condos leased in the East Village in Norman, and ready for sale as well as a great deal on the town homes in Phase One. Oklahoma should still be in your portfolio now more than ever. The U.S. Bureau of Housing Affairs released statistics that only three states last year did not have dips in the average price of a home and Oklahoma was one of them. Realty Trac not only showed Oklahoma down 15.4% in foreclosed property last year, they also showed that january 2008 was down 17.87% from January 2007. You can buy distressed property in areas like Florida and it may look like a good deal, but many states have not reached bottom yet and your values could still plunge. Government statistics are showing that in order to reach a decent affordability index many areas like Florida and Arizona need another 30% to 40% drops. Oklahoma is still slightly undervalued for its economic condition. Buy sage, buy predictable, buy cash flow, buy for the long term, buy Oklahoma.

It that time of year again, the first ICG Advanced Seminar. Every year has brought a different market condition to consider. This year seems to be about not only the mortgage and credit crisis but also where is the bottom? Markets like Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan are continuing to increase in numbers of foreclosures and depreciation. States and Cities where this is occurring have more than just properties going back to the lender, they have lost revenues in Taxes that support roads, fire, police, and basic services. Oklahoma is a different story. In 2004 ICG choose Oklahoma as a good investment environment and a safe haven for 1031 exchanges out of nevada and Arizona. In the three years and over 400 sales we have had, only one investor had a subprime problem which was out of florida, and two investors had business reversals. Everyone else still owns their properties with no one selling. With the meltdown of last year to this, isn't it remarkable that Oklahoma is still performing like 2005? We actually went down 15.4% in 2007 repos compared to 2006. In January 2008 our repos were down 17.81% from the previous January. Oklahoma as a state went up 4.97% in 2007 and our suburbs did even better. Edmond and Deer Creek set four records for volume, unit sales, average price, and median price sales. Mustang was next in line, and Oklahoma City had it's 4th best year ever. Now more than ever, Oklahoma City is the place to be. We are coming to the ICG meeting with great prices, guaranteed rents, and terrific values. We hope to see you there.

To those who have chosen to visit this site and also read my blog, thank you. I am excited that a new customized site is about to appear in the next few weeks. I was hoping that it would be ready before I attend the ICG advanced seminar on march 1st, but like home construction you don't always finish when you want. I have a new web master who is a blogging and social networking crazy gut. He also understands Google's algorithms well. I also needed a platform to expand into commercial real estate. I am getting a CCIM designation this year, and I will be selling starting in April office condos, retail condos, mini-storage facilities, apartment buildings, and a group will be marketing 100 hotel sites with me throughout the United States. I have also been purchasing both commercial and residential real estate this year. I am closing next week on a class c strip center, both a retail condo and a residential condo in East Village in Norman, and a single family home in Mustang. With two partners we plan to buy a commercial office building in Louisiana for GO Zone benefits. After my residential experience in Baton Rouge with the purchases of two homes, I would NEVER buy there again, except I have found some areas where commercial is flying, and I can deal with Commercial realtors I can trust unlike my BR residential experience. This is a great time to be buying investment real estate although it requires more due diligence than in the last two years. I do plan to blog 10 to 20 times per month on the new site to share my experiences and insights. Please look for it in about two weeks at this same address.   

After being in Florida I have come to two conclusions. I like the weather and the ocean in Florida. In real estate, unless I was working foreclosures and short sales, it is great to be an Oklahoma Realtor. I was in another CCIM commercial real estate class in the Fort Myers, Cape Coral area. The good news is that I stayed on Sanibel island on the beach. The bad news is that this area has a 4 year supply of single family homes, and with the new condos coming on the market, a six year supply of condos. A realtor from Miami said that her market should hit a ten year supply this year. Cape Coral was selling off at a 40% drop in one year. However, Florida is not a complete disaster. I spent a day in Palm Beach and the Donald Trumps of the world have a great life. The most important part of the stay was the education. I have finished three CCIM classes and I have one more in April, then I take the final in october. Since I have been involved with ICG starting in 2004, it has been important to me to be able to make better deals for my investors, and to know the minute details of investment real estate. I want to keep getting better and better for you. I am also aggressively buying real estate this year. I currently have a strip center, a retail condo, a single family home, and a residential condo in East Village under contract closing at the end of the month. With two partners I have found a commercial GO Zone area that is hot in Louisiana. After the Baton Rouge Realtor over saturated that market my taste for residential in the GO Zone wanned. I will share my commercial experience after it is done. I am working with a CCIM Commercial Realtor who knows the GO Zone and has integrity. I have lots to share with investors and I have some great deals coming to the march 1st ICG meeting. We have 14 East Village units leased that are not sold, and we are going to offer fully furnished units at no extra cost that are not leased. We have found that furnished units can increase the rents a minimum of $100 a month. FYI, the Sanibel Inn was a gem. It is reasonable, on the ocean, and Ellington's Restaurant has great jazz. We saw David "Fathead" Newman there who was at one time Ray Charles' band leader. Sometimes Dave Brubeck who lives on the island comes in to jam. Hope to see you in SF! 

I leave for Fort Myers Florida on Saturday. I will be in a week long class for my commercial real estate designation, CCIM. We anticipate that commercial property for investors sold through me is just about 90 days off for the bulk of it, so I want to finish my education in the next month, so my team will be ready for you. In the meantime, single family homes are doing quite well here. In the next few weeks, I will have at least three lease purchase homes for investors to buy. These come will two years of a lease, a non-refundable deposit if the lessee can't close, and high rents. I also have a few single family homes that have new renters that have not been purchased. if you are interested, contact Orjana at the office next week. I will be answering messages next week on the class breaks and evenings. Email would be the best way to reach me if needed.

I have been working with a new web site provider out of California, as well as a web site building company, also out of California. The first site that is changing is this one. I think that you will find the new site much more appealing, and wasier to navigate. it will have mapping features that will enhance your ability to view the new properties coming this year, and locate them with detail, as well as get more demographic and economic information on the areas. We have an ICG presentation coming at the March 1st meeting. This will include new Edmond and Deer creek neighborhoods, as well as apartment complexes, and the beginning of our commercial oportunities. I will be leaving soon for Fort Myers Florida for another commercial weeklong class that starts on February 3rd. Orjana will be in the office for any information you need that week. At the Inman conference in new York, blogging and social networking where two areas that were given maximum importance to. The new site will be geared this way, and will be a high raking web site. For the price I am paying it should be. We are getting more inquiries from other investors outside of California, and we want our outreach to increase to help add to our database which keeps out builders happy, and allows us to keep the prices down for you. I hope to announce some significant new projects next week, especially one that will be 1.5 miles from the new Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino.   

Last week I attended the Inman News Real Estate Connect in NYC. I plan to blog on different subjects including the future of real estate, social networking, the general feel for solutions to our serious bank and lending problems, and of course, the best restaurants we ate in. First, it is a cliche but I Love New York! It is a great city and you can get addicted to it. However, I don't plan to trade my Oklahoma City home work $250K for a smaller and older $3 million condo. I love my town because I can afford to travel to places like this. I will in this first blog hit on the fun stuff. My finest dining experience was at Pure Food and Wine. This is a raw food vegetarian restaurant, and it is one of the best dining experiences of my life. If you don't know about the raw food movement please know this is not like Bugs Bunny eating carrots. It is impeccably prepared meal without meat, dairy, and nothing heated over 110 degrees. We had a five course tasting menu that took two hours at the table, completely filled us up, and without drinks was $59 per person! Raw foods are really nutritious and I have ordered three books on the movement. My guilty pleasure was Mama Mia. It was a candy coated jukebox musical of little significance, almost all Abba tunes, incredibly sung, and just a hoot. Sometimes we just need to be amused. I also did two tourists things, I went to the Statue of Liberty which was very moving, and I went to The Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Building. The top is all glass and the view is breathtaking. I enjoyed them both and I feel very American. In the next few blogs I will be commenting on speakers talking about the origins of the current credit debacle, possible solutions, and why Florida has a ten year supply of condos while Manhattan only has seven months. Stay Tuned. P.S. also more restaurant reviews.

I am entering my 19th year in real estate. When I first got into the business, I heard about a mortgage banker that was the most knowledgable in the business. he also had a distain for Realtors. I made it a point to tell him that I wanted to learn the business from his perspective, and that one deal was not worth my integrity just to get something sold. With some degree of skepticism, he took me under his wing. Many free lunches later, I appreciated the fact that he was the borrowers most trusted advocate. He lent money based on character, as well as being convinced that the buyer would do everything to make their payments. He also wanted to make sure that they planned for market corrections, so he refused to do adjustable rate mortgages. To paraphrase Simon and Garfunkel, where have you gone Don Broome, the nation's mortgage holders turn their lonely eyes to you. Many things have gone terribly wrong since that time. First, the gene pool of mortgage lenders and realtors have become diluted. We have too many people in this business without experience, a business plan, and so desperate or greedy that they will do anything to make a sale. Most of the mortgage bankers are not knowledgable enough, and many sell mortgages that net the highest commission. Sub-Prime mortgages were very attractive because you could convince borrowers that 4.25% would not change, the market has a long run coming, and you could save so much, just please don't read the fine print with such boring details as accelerator causes, and prepayment penalties among others. They happened to triple their commission on closing. Now many people are stuck with bad paper. This is not going to be solved by government intervention, or freezing rates. Markets like California, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada will keep going done. Even with a freeze, the value of the home is the problem. If you freeze a loan at say 7%, but those markets depreciate at 30% which is coming in many places, your negative equity is going to be like the albatross around the neck of The Ancient Mariner. People will still walk away from their mortgages thereby exacerbating the free fall of value. It will take a long time before this works out in those above markets. Inflated values are not coming back anytime to soon. Even the old timers like Don Broome can't stop that. But going into the future we need to dramatically raise the entry level to both loan originators and Realtors. They both need to make a declaration of who they represent. In Oklahoma as in other states we declare this up front. It is high time that the mortgage industry also has a disclosure of representation. Then maybe potential lawsuits will outweigh the short term gains that are now coming home to haunt them.

Yesterday was a great day in the progress Oklahoma City has made in the last ten years. While Edmond and Norman were doing there usual progress in voting for more school bond issues, Oklahoma City followed up its $249 million dollar bond issue victory for schools with a whooping 835.5 million bond issue victory for roads, parks, sidewalks, and police and fire issues, that passed with an over 80% approval. Infrastructure spending is crucial to the growth of the city. All around this county infrastructure is crumbling, and cities are either unwilling or unable to fund the necessary monies. While Oklahoma City had previously seen the multi-billion dollar MAPS projects rebuild the downtown area, the fairgrounds, and 75% of the Oklahoma City schools to brand new buildings, our sister city Tulsa voted down their downtown projects modeled after MAPS. I congratulate the citizens of OKC for being progressive and business oriented. As a native Oklahoman who grew up in OKC, I can assure you that I never expected what I am seeing now. Combine this with a recent report that Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas comprise the top region for appreciation in the U.S. and you have one of the best bets for investment in real estate anywhere.