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Galena, MO Real Estate News

By Steve Mattison, Vietnam Veteran
For more info. and forms for booth or princess entry forms go to the Galena Chamber of Commerce Website: GalenaMO.com
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By Steve Mattison, Vietnam Veteran
Steve's website for Branson and Springfield area homes and land for sale.
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By Steve Mattison, Vietnam Veteran
The wind is blowing in from the South and the trees are starting to leaf out.  Flowers are starting to show alongside the roads.  Instead of snow, we get rain for weather changes, ah ha, life is sweet this time of year.  March madness is going on in the Ozarks too, especially in Branson and Hollister.  A couple of days ago we met some of my cousins who were vacationing in Branson, she won a bunch of show tickets at work, and eating at the buffet were three young men that were very tall.  I asked them who they were playing ball for and they said Washington.  College of the Ozarks is hosting the NCAA Division II Tournament right now so the average height of folks in Branson has gone up considerably.   Besides the local entertainment getting started back into full swing, there is always fi...
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By Steve Mattison, Vietnam Veteran
A total of 10 single family homes sold in Stone County according to our local MLS report for last month.  They were priced starting at $132,500 and topping out at $591,000.  Seven of these homes sold for over $200,000 so you can see that they are not foreclosures but new homes and resales.  This signals the start of our new selling season is off to a great spring forward! There were also other types of homes and land sales in the county last month and all that and more information is available by request. One of the typical questions I get is: "How is the market in the Table Rock Lake area and is it a good time to buy?"  Reading the articles from various well-known nationally recognized experts for buyers can give you, sometimes what seems like, conflicting information.  I do not claim ...
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Our daughter's best friend was allowed to work here to help her raise support for her upcoming mission trip to Nicaragua and so we went to support such a worthy cause.  Talk about pleasant surprises, we found great food, fun atmosphere and local friendliness that is hard to find at Sugar Tree BAR-B-Q.    Supporting local fund raisers is not unique to this family business either as they are the ones who provided the support for the local polar bear plunge benefitting the Special Olympics a couple weeks ago.   This portable cooker was built by oldest brother Greg 20 years ago and his son Thomas is the chief cook and bottle washer for the family business that is truly so friendly they make you feel like family too. Steve Davenport is the owner who loves to cook and his family from Tennesse...
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Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan-February 18, 2009 On February 18, 2009, President Obama announced his Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, designed to help up to 7-9 million families avoid foreclosure by restructuring or refinancing their mortgages. There are three main elements. 1. GSE Refinancing for Responsible Homeowners Suffering from Falling Home Prices.   Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the government sponsored enterprises, or GSEs) will refinance the mortgages for 4-5 million homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by the GSEs. The streamlined refinancing program is designed to help borrowers with loan-to-value ratios above 80 percent up to 105 percent. 2. $75 Billion Homeowner Stability Initiative to Reach up to 3 to 4 Million At-Risk Homeowners   The goal of th...
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Prices on homes along the lakes in the Branson area have been creeping down slowly along with the rest of the houses around here.  While looking at a waterfront home's comparable properties to prepare for a potential listing I was amazed at the price declines over the past year.  It is hard to generalize and even harder to put a specific percentage on the changes, so I can just honestly say they are down little more, in some cases, than homes that are not waterfront houses.  Several factors could easily be causes of this phenomena in our local real estate market.  One could be the amount of flooding that occurred this year, have heard it described by another Realtor as two hundred year floods, this could make the desire to purchase lakefront homes lessen for sure.   Another factor could...
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By Steve Mattison, Vietnam Veteran
REALTOR® for a brokerage that went out of business last year, I was forced to create a new brand and re-start my business from square one in an environment that could not be described as a "cyber-culture." Just to avoid any misconceptions, I am not saying that the Ozarks are full of illiterate, banjo playing, hillbillies, but our lifestyle is not a starbucks-fueled, hyper-blackberry, speed-racer paced one either. Branson and the Table Rock Lake area are more of the retro-baby-boomer oriented style of culture that know how to use the internet but are not dependent upon it daily.  My challenge has also been maximized by the reality that in our rural area, which is true in much of Missouri, there are no daily newspapers or even rarer, local radio stations.  Communicating my brand to this r...
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I noticed the James River was looking normal again, about 40 feet lower than it was last spring and I decided to get the boat and head for the Corps of Engineers launch ramp in Cape Fair.  Last time I was there I was driving in the edge of the lake to get to the area where the launch ramp used to be.  This time it was back to normal and everything went great.  Only one other boat trailer in the parking area and a very quiet lake to fish.  Caught a couple nice ones and had a quiet afternoon all alone in a secluded cove that left me refreshed and happy I went.  I know a lot of folks are wondering if they can get their boats in the water again and is it safe to boat again so my opinion is yes.  I did not see any floating logs or pic-nic tables like I did a few months ago and the levels are...
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By Steve Mattison, Vietnam Veteran
What should I do, sell, buy or wait?  People want to know, they know what they have heard from the media is all big news of doom and gloom but life goes on and they want a professional perspective.  Market is slow, it is a buyers market, good time to buy, bad time to sell,  time to sit on your assest, ie just sit it out and wait for the market to recover, and many other cliches have been bouncing off my ears lately as I have talked to people about the local real estate situation.  Really, just like I told a couple folks today, even though you may get a few percent less than you would have when the market was high, you will pay that much less for what you move into too, so it really is a wash.  Hindsight is twenty-twenty and if you would have sold then and bought now, you would have rent...
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My wife reminded me that this is our normal month for the most rainfall and after all we had received earlier this spring, I had forgotten that fact.  Watching those wet Iowa folks helping each other out in the flooded streets of their towns reminded me of how great American neighbors really are.  I talked to a farmer the other day that lost his brand new tractor in a flooded stream that he had forded sucessfully for years, but this is just not an ordinary year.  I believe we are seeing new records set because we are in either a 100 year or 500 year or 1000 year cycle of flooding like we have never seen before.  Unfortunately it seems there is more on the way, hang on, keep your head above water, and keep on being a good neighbor.  That is what being a mid-west citizen is all about, hel...
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By Tracy Cutbirth
(Tri-Lakes REALTORS)
Did you know that Galena boasts something spectacular that not many others can? Yes, the Y Bridge. It is called the Y Bridge due to being shaped like the letter "Y". My understanding (and what I found on the internet to confirm what I have always been told) is that there are only 2 other Y Bridges in the world. The bridge was opened in 1927 and was constructed with materials around the river. It replaced the wagon bridge to accomodate vehicles. In 1986 the bridge was closed down to vehicles. In 1991 the bridge was placed on the National Register of Historical Places. You can now take a liesurely walk along the bridge and enjoy the view high above the river.  
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By Joan Snodgrass
(Midamerica Referral Network)
GIGGING TOURNAMENT SET                                        A Gigging Tournament will be held this Friday, October 12 in Galena, Missouri.  Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the Fall Festival in Galena, the Stone County seat. There is a $15.00 tournament fee per boat for this nighttime event. "What in the world is Gigging,"  is exactly what I asked my ex-Kansas farm-boy husband??  Seems it is an ancient way of catching large nocturnal feeding fish, with a spear of sorts.  It is an implement with a shaft and a barbed point, often with 3 prongs.  You evidentially jab (spear?) the fish with one hand while holding a lantern with the other, all the while trying not to fall out of your swaying boat.   The best time for gigging is on a still, dark, moonless night. The...
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By Charlie Gerken, CRS, GRI, SRS
(Gerken & Associates )
A client asked me to list his home in Galena, Missouri. Being our sales office is 40 minutes away, I told him that I would co-list his home with an agent who has an office in Galena, so if anybody in that area wanted to view it, they could do so within a relatively short time, rather that waiting on me to get out there. By the second day of the house being listed on the market, I began getting all kinds of calls on it. At one point, there was an agent inside showing the home, an agent in the driveway waiting to go in and another agent parked in the street waiting to show it too! By the end of the second day, two full price offers came in, which led to a wild bidding war. Needles to say, my client is very happy to have a full price contract, a full price back-up offer and will have his h...
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By Charlie Gerken, CRS, GRI, SRS
(Gerken & Associates )
Over 1500 square feet at a great price! Affordable, quality-built, 3-bedroom home features open floor plan, slate floors, lots of windows and updated fixtures. Well-maintained throughout. Lake house or full-time residence. Peaceful and secluded with level front yard and patio in back for cooking and entertaining. Wonderful view of the Virgin Bluff; a great place to fish and ski the James River arm on Table Rock Lake. Public boat launch about a block away. Want even more land to stretch out on? Adjoining lots are available as well.MLS Sheet: http://www.trilakesmls.com/brn/maildoc/a002fj6185.html Slideshow: http://www.charliegerken.com/Listing/VirtualTour.ashx?listingid=1034503 
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