I wanted to share about a new website that just went live for Fort Wayne, Indiana. www.fortwaynerealestate.org is your source for Fort Wayne Real Estate.   On the site you'll find access to homes for sale & a real estate blog. Check it out! 09/15/2010

 This Saturday September 11th, 2010 is opening night for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic's 2010/2011 season.  This also is the official start to the newly appointed Music Director Maestro Andrew Constantine's Tenure with the orchestra.    Joining The Phil as guest artist on opening night will be world renowned violinist Gil Shaham playing the Barber Violin concerto.  The orchestra will also perform the Barber Adagio for Strings, Claude Debussy's La Mer and Sergey Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges Suite   Saturday's performance will held at the Embassy Theatre in downtown fort wayne beginning at 6 PM....yes that time is right, performances usually start at 8, but opening night is followed by a dinner at the Grand Wayne Center hence the earlier start time. For more information about this pe... 09/10/2010

This summer has been one of the hottest and muggiest I can remember in the 12 years that I have lived in Fort Wayne.  Most of July and August was in the low to mid 90's and very humid.  I'm sure that some of you that live in Texas or Florida might snicker at my claim of "very humid", but it was.  :)  Now September is here and BRRRR!!!  It's cold in Fort Wayne!!!  Okay, I'm being dramatic.  At 7:51 this morning it is 44 degrees here.  It's not quite middle of January weather, but it feels like it after all that heat.  The 10 day forecast in Fort Wayne is mostly in the low to mid 70's, but late next week the highs are only in the high 60's.  GREAT BONFIRE WEATHER!!  Everybody is invited this Saturday for a big bon fire in my back yard.  See ya there! 09/09/2010

I work 7 days a week.  I try to make a few of those days a little shorter than others and occasionally take one or two completely off, but most of the time I'm working.  The lenders I have used in the past were never available on the weekends.  I'm sure part of that was because they worked for banks and had set hours, but it always kinda irked me to be honest.  If I'm out here working like mad shouldn't everybody else on my team be doing the same?  Then I met Doug Carroll with Guardian Financial here in Fort Wayne.  Guardian pursued us for quite a while before we agreed to give them a try.  I'm sure glad we did!  Doug told me "Hey Jared, I am available at ANY TIME for you!  Even on weekends!" I turned my head like my dog goes when he hears a funny sound.  WEEKENDS??  I can call my lende... 09/08/2010

     Thanks to some very dedicated individuals and the cooperation of city government, the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana continues to expand and improve it's Trails system throughout the county.     What started as the Rivergreenway initiative, has grown into a county wide project.  The Rivergreenway with it's current 24 miles of trails extending North to Johnny Appleseed Park, West to Swinney Park, East into New Haven at Moser Park and South to Tillman Park has 8 trailheads that all have access to parking.  With various funding from the state level all the way down to city government and private donations, the cities trails idea has taken root into the outlaying townships of the county.      The Aboite Trails system is scheduled to be a 50 mile trail system that will be connected to the ... 09/03/2010

Most of the homes I sell are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area.  Once in a while I'll venture out of the area, but only to help a friend or family member.  Well, last week I got two referrals from close friends.  OF COURSE I WILL HELP THEM!  THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR TRUST!!  Oh crap, what?  They want to see houses in Claypool, Warsaw, Silver Lake, and North Manchester (all well over an hour from Fort Wayne)?  OKEE DOKEE, LET'S DO IT!! Today my whole team is as busy as they can be with plates that are VERY FULL.  I am really having to move things around to make this happen but I feel it's the right thing to do.  If it wasn't a referral from a close friend I would obviously help them find a Realtor in the area, but I feel like I need to take care of these two myself. Thankfully both clients ... 09/01/2010

My open house in Fort Wayne begins...  A nice couple in their late 50's come in and love the condo in Chadwick!  They are very excited about the price, the location, the condition, and the fact that my sellers already volunteered to pay $2,000 in closing costs AND a home warranty AND leave all the appliances with a full priced offer.  We end up chatting in the living room for half an hour and will be showing them the condo again in a few days and they will be making an offer.  My open house continues...  Incredibly friendly mom with her two beautiful daughters stop in.  We end up chatting in the dining room  for a half hour discussing their situation and their needs (and sharing a lot of laughs!).  We decide it would be best for them to stay put for a year, work on their credit, save mo... 08/29/2010

I have really gotten away from doing open houses.  At first I thought I needed to do them to get buyers, plus they help the home sell right?  :)  After a while I realized there was lower hanging fruit out there and the busier I got the less open houses I did.  When my Broker (who I love like family) asked me and my team to help out with some of the new construction homes I resisted at first, but then she sweetened the deal  and I decided that our team would do 3-4 for her a month.  That is about 1 open house per team member. I got my open house signs, my balloons, and all my literature and headed out to 1303 Willen Court.  The home is vacant and isn't staged so I spent a lot of time pacing and making phone calls.  An hour goes by...  crickets.  Not 1 person.  The open house was in the p... 08/22/2010

I have only been a Realtor in Fort Wayne since January of 2009.  I don't remember when the MLS was a book, I don't remember a time where electronic lock boxes didn't exist, and I don't remember (GOD FORBID) when you had to take a map to showings if you weren't familiar with the area.  What I do know is that technologically, it is probably 1,000,000% to sell real estate today then it was in 1985.  Johnny Home Buyer finds 7 houses he wants to see tomorrow.  I log on to the MLS, quickly view the map, take 2 minutes to plan my route, hit the Schedule A Showing button, quickly get confirmation emails, plug them in my GPS or my I phone, re-new my lock box card and I'm off and running. (Okay, I do a little more planning than that, but I'm trying to make a point.  Oh, and is technologically a w... 08/22/2010

Fort Wayne New Construction Open House today from 1-3!  Stop by to see this beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bathroom ranch home in South West Fort Wayne!  This home was built by Carriage Place Homes and is located at 1303 Willen Court in the Brenton Glens subdivisio in Fort Wayne.  It is offered for $133,929! Check out the HD Video Tour of this incredible home HERE See you this afternoon!  There may even be cookies.  :)  08/22/2010

I was reading Blake Clifford's blog post where he posed the question:  Is Facebook REALLY an Effective Tool for Real Estate?  While I was reading through the answers I was amazed at the number of agents that STILL resist Facebook.  Here are some of the things I have heard from other agents in my area: I keep hearing that it's a great tool but I haven't figured out how to use it yet Facebook is a waste of time.  Who wants to hear what I had for breakfast this morning?? I'm on Facebook, I promote the hell out of my listings on there, but I never get any business.  Facebook sucks.  (From an older agent that is used to send out postcards to his farm areas) How do I get my postcards on Facebook?  Then I realized something... Wait for it.  FACEBOOK MAY NOT BE FOR YOU!  Whew.  There, I said it... 08/15/2010

      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 July 2009 and July 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 not guaranteed but deemed reliable.        July was a little bit of a hangover month for the Real Estate market in Northwest Allen County.  The number of homes sold was down 33% year over year and 37% from just last month.  Probably should have expected as much since the original deadline to close tax credit homes was June 30th.  The days on market for our area are s... 08/11/2010

I was reading the newest Realtor Magazine this morning and saw a short story about an agent that interviews their sellers and attaches it to the listing.  The agent asks the sellers questions like: What was your first thought when you saw your home for the first time? What did you enjoy most about living in this location? What are you going to miss MOST about your home?   We consistently have between 15-25 listings and are seriously considering doing this with all of them.  What are your thoughts and opinions on this?  Does it hurt or help the sale of the home?  Thanks!  08/10/2010

With the arrival of new employees to Fort Wayne and the surrounding areas from transfer workers for General Motors. I would like to send them my plea. My wife and I buy only General Motors products. My favorite is the Chevy Silverado. I am currently driving one that is starting to get older and hope to buy a new one very soon. Being a supporter of GM I am hoping to get the same support in return when transfer workers are ready to purchase a home. You can get in touch with me in Fort Wayne at the following phone number. (260)466-2344 Thank you. Kevin Henry 07/19/2010

The Fort Wayne Three Rivers Festival is in full swing!  Well, to be more accurate, it's almost over.  It runs from July 9-17 this year.  There are so many fun things to do at the Festival.  Art in the Park, Crafter's Market, PNC Parade, Food Alley, and of course...  THE BED RACE!!! The Christiansen Team teamed up with Secret Fort Wayne and sponsored a booth at Headwaters Park West last Saturday.  We had a great time seeing some old friends, meeting new friends, and of course meeting a TON of our Facebook friends, and handing out prizes all day long.  Here are some pics from the booth.  Nick, Kathy and Jared.  Nick and I were looking MEAN!!!  My new art work from the booth next door.  They also paint faces. My new friend Melinda and I.  She is also admiring my ink.  :)  Secret Fort Wayne... 07/16/2010

           The following quarterly report is for the 2nd quarter 2010 sales of single family site built homes, excluding auctions, for Northwest Allen County including the townships of Eel River, Lake and Perry otherwise known as AL01 to MLS users.  All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed                   The number of units sold was up fairly significantly (15%) over the 2nd Quarter of 2009, largely in part to the end of the tax credits being offered on April 30th of this year. All other areas of criteria also showed improvement, although the June report showed some signs of weakness in comparison to 2009 and May of this year.  All numbers cited below in charts and text reflect median numbers and not the average basis with PPS representing the Median Price per Square Foot ... 07/14/2010

     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 June 2009 and June 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 not guaranteed but deemed reliable.         June saw a pretty large increase in the number of homes sold compared to the same time a year ago in large part due to the original April 30th/June 30th buy/close deadline on the tax credits.  Now that the closing deadline has been extended to September 30th, data throughout the summer will still include some of those tax in... 07/14/2010

Could you imagine browsing for your new home and finding some of the following pictures?  Would they make you want to see the home?  They make me want to fire the agent!  Talk about curb appeal!  Hurry up honey, I can't wait to see the inside!!! Ooohhhh!!!!  The living room is incredible!!  Does the girl on the right come with the house as well?  Love the curtains...  Focus?  Who needs focus?  (This is actually a picture of a home I remodeled about 5 years ago before I got my real estate license.  I fired my agent.) We're not in Kansas any more!  Looks like a tornado blew through here. Were you wondering what the toilet looked like in your new condo?  Well wonder no more!  At least the toilet seat is down.  :)  Is it just me or does this bathroom NOT look inviting?  Yikes! Before we mov... 07/12/2010

Are You Relocating to Fort Wayne? Moving to a new area can be a very exciting process. You’ll soon be learning about the Fort Wayne community, moving into your new home, and building new relationships. Naturally, a change of this magnitude is also potentially stressful. Concerns over selling your current home, buying a home in Fort Wayne, and coordinating your move can become overwhelming. As Fort Wayne real estate professionals we can help ease the burden on you and make sure your relocation is as seamless and comfortable as possible. The Christiansen Team has assisted many individuals and families with the process of relocating to Fort Wayne, and we will use our experience to give you the very best of service. Whether you’re going to be joining our community for the first time or if y... 07/11/2010

This is my nephew at his first fireworks show put on by his dad.  The first few fireworks scared him, but after a while he absolutely loved it!  Next year we are going to get some of the BIG fireworks and see how that goes.  Thankfully his dad did not lose any fingers during the big show.  Nice job Kris!!  Let's get the big fireworks next year!  07/07/2010