Imagine for a moment that after looking at houses for sale you found the perfect new home for your family.  It's in the right neighborhood that you've always wanted to live in and you absolutely love it!  The problem is that you haven't sold the home you own now. You could make an offer on the new home contingent on selling your existing home first, however, most sellers are reluctant to accept such an offer.  If they do accept your offer, you will probably end up paying more for the property as a result.  Having to make a contingent offer almost always results in a major loss of your negotiating power. Writing a contingent offer may also cause you to become more desperate when trying to sell your home first.  You may accept an offer you wouldn't normally have considered just because yo... 01/20/2019

Many home owners do not have a full understanding of how the asking price of real estate should be established.  They either base their decision on what they need to get out of the sale in order to buy another home, or they base it on what they paid for the property and adjust for inflation.  Another mistaken concept that prevails is that the real estate agent sets the asking price.  The truth is that buyers are the ones who establish what your home is worth in today's market. When a real estate agent comes to your home and shows you a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA), it is made up of home comparables that have recently sold, home comparables currently active & listed, and home comparables that were listed but did not sell in a certain period of time, generally 6 months.  What these n... 01/14/2019

 A man runs up and says, "I need to sell my home fast! How how long will my house be on the market?" You know what? It's really not that hard to figure out. I can actually give you a pretty good idea of how long it'll take to sell your home in Newton, IA ... at every price range on the market. It's called a Home Market Absorption Rate and here's how we do it. On the 1st of each month I download (in every price range) how many homes are currently for sale in Newton, IA from $10,000 up to $500,000. I then go back and look at how many houses actually sell per month in each of those price ranges using a rolling 3 month sold average that helps answer the question, "How long will my house be on the market before it sells?" Now that isn't to say your house is going to be on the market that lon... 01/03/2019

Buying a home in today's market takes confidence and experience. You can count on my experience and expertise as a REALTOR in Newton, IA to help you find and buy an affordable home with confidence. Here are some real estate tips & terms to help as you navigate homes for sale near you. Home Loan Pre-Qualification LetterLet's say you've been looking around on Realtor.com and Zillow at "Homes for Sale in Newton, IA" and found the perfect little place on a tree-lined street with a beautiful park not too far away. The 1st Step is to get pre-qualified for a home loan from a local lender. It'll only take a few minutes and when done, ask for a copy of the pre-approval letter so you can give to your REALTOR.  (Which is hopefully me if your reading this!) This will give us an idea of how much hou... 01/01/2019

In today's tech-forward world, where it's easy & affordable for most anyone to have some type of home security device, it's important to remember that there's probably a good chance you're being recorded by both audio and video when showing a home. (I bought the Arlo Pro 2 system on Amazon for outside my home not too long ago, very affordable, easy to install and has 2-way audio on the cameras.) "Never allow that agent in my home again!" yelled the woman on the phone. An angry lady called our Newton RE/MAX office the other day, a REALTOR from another office in town had just shown her home that was one of our office's listings.  She had a Ring doorbell or some similar device, and was listening to the conversation the showing agent was having with her clients as they were in range of the ... 12/30/2018

That's the phrase I most often hear when showing houses, "I'll know it when I see it."  Because finding a new home is a bit indescribable.There's a certain energy when you open the front door. Your furniture begins to arrange itself in the room. And blank walls & spaces are suddenly decorated with all your favorite things.The first time you walk through your new home, you know it. It feels right.The house comes alive.As a Real Estate Agent here in Newton, IA these are my favorite moments. The ones where eyes light up and the next exciting stage of peoples lives begin to take shape.Check out my Top 10 List of Newton IA Homes for Sale and maybe you'll discover the perfect home in my Central Iowa community!Your REALTORScott NeashamRE/MAX ConceptsNewton, IA   A little about my blog:To me, m... 12/28/2018

Hi, I'm Scott Neasham, REALTOR and Home Listing Specialist with RE/MAX Concepts located on Newton's historic town square. Whether your buying or selling a home or acreage in the Newton & Jasper County Iowa area, I hope you'll hire me for all your real estate needs.  I'll do my best to provide you with the best possible experience from start to finish. Selling a Home?One of the 1st steps in selling a home or acreage is to find out what it may bring in today's market.  What's most important to you when selling your home ... the most money? ... to sell it quickly?  Click here to get started with my Confidential SELLERS Survey Buying a Home?Have you been browsing through Realtor.com & Zillow and found a few properties you'd like to see in the Newton, IA and Jasper County area? Let's go look... 12/23/2018

Despite the media reports on "slowing" home sales to the economy, we have not found this to be true in Jasper County! Our sales have remained stable the last 2 months with buyers continuing to be conservative. Our year to date market share is 42% of the sales in the Newton community. We feel a large part of our success is our commanding presence on the internet and our websites doyledevoe.com and NewtonIowaRealty.com. Newton is a wonderful place to live and more and more poeple are realizing this! 06/03/2010

One of my dear friends has always given me the devil about the "joy of home ownership".   Unfortunately with owning our own home there are responsibilities that do come with that priveledge.  Those responsibilities have both community and financial impact.  But the pride in owning your own home typically shines through.  It is so awesome to see homeowners upgrading their front door with even a coat of paint, planting trees and shrubs to add to the curb appeal and neighborhood appeal and even as much as raking leaves. The foreclosure issue has kind of put a bit of a damper on the "joy of homeownership".   As realtors we certainly hope to see this crisis over soon and families to feel that it is worthwhile to fight through the hard times and keep their home.  It impacts everyone in their ... 12/21/2009

This morning I watched the "real estate expert" on the Today show.  I really think she talked out of both sides of her mouth.  She kept telling us how the market had turned around.  And then she kept talking about how for every 2 houses currently on the market that hasn't sold there is a 3rd one just waiting to come on.   I just didn't understand her thinking on how this was making the price of homes rise.  My thoughts on our local market:  The real estate market in Newton, Iowa has seen a decrease in the number of foreclosures coming on the market.  Our prices seem to be stable.  But homes still need to be priced well and in move in condition to sell quickly and for the most money.   10/20/2009

First Time Home Buyers in Newton We've been asked a few questions about the new Stimulus bill and how it affects Newton, Colfax & Baxter Iowa Buyers. 1. Who qualifies for the $8000.00 credit on the purchase of a new home? You must be a first-time home buyer, which the law defines as someone who hasn't owned a primary home for 3 years. You must buy the home between Jan 1st and Dec 1st of 2009. If you haven't owned a home for past 3 years but your spouse has neither of you qualifies. The New credit does not have to be repaid. 2. I'm planning to buy a home for $50,000. Will I get the tax credit for $8000? No. The credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price, up to the maximum of $8,000. You would be limited to $5,000. 3. I'm buying a new home from a builder. Will I qualify fo... 03/01/2009

It's pretty cold here in Newton,Ia so our office goes above and beyond our scope of customer service. When I say cold, it was -10 below this weekend. The past few weeks we have gone to all our vacant homes which is plenty and put batteries in their thermostats to make sure they continue to work. We've found a couple homes that the furnaces weren't working and pipes were froze which eventually when it gets warm in the home your bound to have leaks when the pipes unthaw. Which leads to new sheetrock, sometimes flooring, painting the list goes on. So if your a homeowner and it is vacant for the winter you might have some one check on it periodically or if it's on the market with a Realtor ask them if they can check it. Another thing you might want to do if your home is vacant for the winte... 01/25/2009

I would love to hear anyone's input on registering on Realtor's websites. I have two websites currently for Newton, Ia the first one is http://www.doyledevoe.com/ and my other one is http://www.newtoniowarealty.com/ one is from Best Image Marketing and the other one is prostepmarketing. A couple of months ago I decided to make everyone register if they wanted to see interior photos of homes so the customer has to put in his name, phone number, e-mail address then he can look at homes on our website to his heart content. Obviously the reason I make them register is to capture more leads for  our listings.This past week I recieved a nasty note from a guy and he really gave me a earful on what he thought about signing up on my website. I emailed him back with a nicey nicey note. I bet he w... 04/02/2008