Sometimes when I am searching for homes for my clients I run across some pretty funny pictures.  I have saved a few over the last few months and thought I would share.  These were actually attached to the listings.  No too good!! "Oops!  I wasn't fast enough!" "I need a tri pod." "I need a tri pod too!" "The only thing missing is Goofy curtains." "I am a light.  I come with the house." "We are the appliances.  We stay with the home." "You and I are going to spend a lot of time together." 12/13/2010

    As I sit here in my office in South West Fort Wayne the temperature outside is 32 degrees and it is WINDY!  I have my warm pajama pants on, a warm cup of coffee, and am listening to my good friend Teri Armstrong's Early Morning Show on U.S. 93.3 while they are broadcasting live from Jefferson Pointe.  Crowded, crazy, insane, and LOUD are some of the words they have used to describe the scene.  Those are all of the reasons I am sitting here in my warm office in my pjs!!!!  I also read that some shoppers were camping out in front of the Best Buy in Apple Glen since 3:00 AM with tents!  NO THANK YOU!! Are any of you out there Black Friday Shoppers?  Is saving $300 on a plasma TV, or spending $88 for a new laptop worth fighting the crowds, the cold, the lack of sleep???  Not for this g... 11/26/2010

The Indianapolis Colts v. New England Patriots game isn't on until 4:15, so you have plenty of time to stop by and see some of Fort Wayne's finest new construction from 1-3!  Carriage Place Homes has knocked it out of the park with this beautiful 3 bedroom 2 full bath ranch in North West Fort Wayne's Waterson subdivision. Easy access to I 69, close to shopping and Fort Wayne restaurants and the Dupont area.  All of this for $199,899!  Stop by this sunday and see for yourself! 11/18/2010

     The following report is for single family site built homes in Southwest Allen County, Indiana. Data is provided from the FWAMLS for mls area AL06 or Aboite and Lafayette townships for the months of October 2009 and October 2010 for comparative purposes.  This information is provided solely to provide an overview of the market in this area and is not meant to be used for evaluating a particular homes value.  The data is deemed reliable but not guaranteed        Southwest Allen county continued it's strong market presence for the month of October 2010.  although the time it takes to sell a home has increased, the price at which those homes are selling should be reassuring for those with homes in the area.  October saw a 17% increase in the number of homes sold from just last month of... 11/11/2010

     The following report is for single family site built homes in Northwest Allen County, Indiana. Data is provided from the FWAMLS for mls area AL01 or Perry, Lake and Eel River townships for the months of October 2009 and October 2010 for comparative purposes.  This information is provided solely to provide an overview of the market in this area and is not meant to be used for evaluating a particular homes value.  The data is deemed reliable but not guaranteed        October 2010 continued the year over year decline in number of homes sold. Last month we saw a 12% y.o.y drop, only to be followed by a 37% drop this month with only 35 homes being sold in October.  While the October price per square foot (pps) was 5% weaker than the previous month coming in at $71.99 it follows the same... 11/09/2010

FACE TO FACE is the BEST form of communication.  I had to get that out of the way so that all of the old school agents wouldn't give me grief about communication these days being SO IMPERSONAL. When I was a kid I always wanted a walkee talkee.  I finally got one and you know what?  It kinda sucked.  As soon as Bobby was 30 feet away I couldn't hear him anymore.  Not sure if my parents ever got their money back. As I grew up I was fortunate enough to see technology TAKE OFF!  Vinyl turned to 8 track turned to cassette tape turned to cd turned to Ipod and so on... Black and white tv turned to color turned to HD turned to flat screen turned to 3D and so on... Old rotary phones turned to push button turned to cordless turned to car phones turned to cell phone turned to... THE ALL MIGHTY I P... 11/03/2010

717 Kinnaird in Fort Wayne is SOLD by The Christiansen Team!  This cute house with tons of character and potential was offered for $44,850 and SOLD for FULL PRICE!  Congrats to the new home owners!!!  We can't wait to come by for a visit once the hard wood floors are done! 11/03/2010

8625 Shearwater Pass, Fort Wayne Indiana is SOLD!  Offered for $110,000, this beautiful ranch in North West Fort Wayne sold for $106,000 IN 25 DAYS!!!  No, we didn't get an offer in 25 days, we listed it, got an offer immediately, and CLOSED IT in 25 days!  Congrats to the new home owners!! 11/03/2010

Just Reduced!  13711 Messenger Bay is a beautful 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home in North West Allen County School Systems.  It has almost 1,700 square feet of living space with a FULL finished basement and a 3 car garage.  This home is only 6 years old! Reduced to $200,000!  Call The Christiansen Team today for your private showing! More pictures and details HERE 10/28/2010

I'm not one to go to Haunted Houses.  I get claustrophobic, anxious, and I don't like creepy monsters in my personal space!  Plus I have had this thought many times... If there was a murderer there and he stabbed me...  wouldn't people just think it's a part of the show???  Because of those reasons you will NOT see me at any of the Fort Wayne Haunted Castle.  If you do enjoy that sort of thing and are in the Fort Wayne area, here are a few links.  Fort Wayne Haunted Castle and Black Forest Columbia City Haunted Jail Huntington Haunted Hotel Have fun, stay safe, and WATCH OUT FOR THE SCARY GHOSTS!!!!    10/28/2010

  1.  Mortgage interest rates are at all time lows!  Average rates are at 4.25% but won’t be there forever.  10 years ago they were 7.81%, 20 years ago they were 9.70% and 30 years ago they were 12%!   Don’t expect rates this low to stay that way too much longer. 2.  Deals can be had right now!  Not all sellers are desperate for a buyer to come save them by buying their home for a price well below the list price but there are good deals out there.  If you do your homework (or have a good Realtor who can help do it for you), there are outstanding deals to be had out there! 3.  Rent does not build equity!  Buying a home does!  You are building your wealth and net-worth as you pay your mortgage! 4.  It’s your to do what you want with!  Paint your living room bright orange if you want to.  ... 10/26/2010

  Thinking of selling your home in the near future?  Maybe even already have it on the market?  Here are a few quick, easy tips for preparing your home to be sold that will cost you (almost) nothing but time if you choose to do them yourself.  But if you would rather, you can always hire professionals to do them for you and save yourself the time and effort. 1.  De-clutter your house!  Removing all clutter from your house makes it look larger and also allows potential buyers to see the potential your home has for them.  Rather than see the knick-knacks and family photos you have on the fireplace mantle, they can envision their own items there.  Box up those items and move them to the garage until it’s time for you to move.   2.  Fresh paint makes walls look like new!  You don’t need to ... 10/22/2010

     In an effort to keep the big picture in mind, I've begun doing quarterly reports for Northwest Allen county in addition to my monthly reports. The criteria are the same for these quarterly reports as they are for the monthly reports that being they are statistics generated from single family/site built/non auction homes sold in Northwest Allen county according the local MLS.  Builders data and FSBO's not entered into the MLS are not included in this data.  All information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.        On the weak side, the number of units sold continued to decline from the 2nd Quarter to 135 homes sold in the 3rd Quarter down from 199 homes in the 3rd Quarter of 2009 or 32% and down 29% from the 2nd Quarter of 2010 where there were 189 homes sold.  The 3rd Quarter a... 10/15/2010

    Buying your first home this year?  With interest rates as low as 4.35% now is a great time to be making a home purchase.  Buying is certainly cheaper than renting a comparable house right now and you get the piece of mind know it is YOUR house.  You are not paying someone else's mortgage and you are creating equity for yourself.  Buying your first home can be confusing though and there are some things you need to be aware of before you begin.  Here’s a short list of a few things a first-time home buyer should know; 1.  Get pre-qualified for a mortgage at the beginning of your search.  This should always be step 1 because it will let you know what your ceiling price is and your mortgage specialist will be able to tell you what your monthly payments will be for the price range you des... 10/12/2010

The following report is for single family site built homes in Northwest Allen County, Indiana. Data is provided from the FWAMLS for mls area AL01 or Perry, Lake and Eel River townships for the months of September  2009 and September 2010 for comparative purposes.  This information is provided solely to provide an overview of the market in this area and is not meant to be used for evaluating a particular homes value.  The data is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.        September saw a return to a little more typical results for the Northwest Area with 50 Homes sold in the month of September, which is down 12% from the same time a year ago but up in volume 25% from last month.   The median days on market is still really good at 64 days.  The p.p.s (price per square foot) shows a little... 10/11/2010

Half of our closings this year are Facebook leads.  Old friends, new friends, and friends of friends.  It's a gold mine...  as long as you use it right.  Here are 5 things you can do to ensure you don't get business from Facebook. 5.  Talk about politics or religion.  Most people use Facebook for FUN.  Keep it light.  Nobody really cares what your political views are anyway...  4.  Constantly promoting your listings.  People do NOT go to Facebook to find a REALTOR.  If you are shoving your listings in their face they are going to delete you...  ask me how I know.  3.  Cuss a lot.  There is a local REALTOR that I became friends with because I heard how crazy his profile was.  Some of his status updates were just a bit less than professional.  Open house this Sunday from 1-3!  This house ... 10/06/2010

     This Saturday night October 2nd at 8pm the Fort Wayne Philharmonic will be performing a tribute to Ray Charles with Ellis Hall in the beautiful Embassy Theatre.      A night of soul comes to The Phil with the music of the legendary singer-songwriter Ray Charles, performed by his protégé, Ellis Hall. A multi-instrumentalist virtuoso and dynamic vocalist, Hall pays tribute to his friend in a concert dedicated to his music and memory with hits like "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Hit the Road Jack."     Tickets are available online at www.fwphil.org or the philharmonic box office. Prices start at $25 09/30/2010

When we met with Tommy and Susie Homeowner a month ago I kept pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  They told US the following things during that wonderful 1 hour meeting... We think that internet advertising is very important.  Don't worry about wasting money by putting it in the newspaper or anything, we just want maximum internet coverage.   We know that we needed to remove all clutter from our home, take down the 47 pictures of our son in the hallway, and make the home warm and inviting and focus on it's functionality...  how did we do?   We realize that we paid this amount 6 years ago, but our home is not worth that today.   We know that we will have to bring money to closing to get the deal done and we are prepared to do that.    We understand most buyers will ask for c... 09/28/2010

I used Facebook a LOT.  I close a lot of deals from Facebook leads.  I probably spend a few hours a day updating my status, interacting with friends, family, current, future and past clients.  I just tried to log on to answer a Facebook private message and I got a DNS Failure.  I had no idea what a DNS Failure is so I googled it and found a few articles about Facebook being down.  Then I logged on to Twitter.  Wow!  So many tweets about Facebook being down!  People are freaking out!  What are we going to do now that Facebook is down?  I need to plow my Farmville but I can't do it with Facebook being down!  I want to chat with my friend in Alabama but I can't because Facebook is down!!!! What if Facebook never came back?  What would all of these people do?  Me?  I'm about to sell a house... 09/23/2010

"This dude at work told me that I should offer $90,000.  He told me he got a great deal on his house and that it's a Buyer's market so I should offer $90,000" said my Buyer.  The house was listed for $175,000, had been on the market for 3 days AND had 2 other offers coming in that day.  After trying to talk some sense into him, showing him the market, and telling him he was wasting every-body's time he still wanted to make the offer.  If he wasn't going to buy down the road I would have fired him.  We made the offer, the other agent laughed, and we moved on.  Unfortunately he still hasn't bought a home but fortunately he is wasting another agent's time.   "My sister was in real estate back in the 1970's so she knows what she is doing.  She told me to tell YOU to list my house for 3% TOT... 09/23/2010