I typed in 4114openhouses, our Omaha Real Estate website in Google and I was shocked and dismayed to see what came up, albeit not 4114openhouses.com. Our programmer had all the questions to a blog about how to do stuff on our site ahead of our domain name. We had defunct pages from our online demo that had little or nothing to do with our domain any longer. So, what did we learn? "Big brother is watching" is an understatement! I put up a joke picture of a caveman and it was picked up ahead of 4114openhouses in the Yahoo! search.  Sometimes we want to be found but other times? Be careful out there!  12/04/2008

Now that November is over we can take a look at the statistics for the month of how many homes in Omaha are selling and how many there are left to sell. Total Number For Sale 5605 Total Number of Accepted Offers 442 Total Number of Closed Sales 499     % of sellers that accepted an offer 7.89% Absorption rate in months 12.68 If you look back at the numbers for October - Omaha Real Estate Market - October, 2008 - you'll see that the rate of sales is relatively unchanged and we still have over a 12 month supply of homes for sale. Normally sales slow significantly during December as people are more focused on the holidays but this might be slightly offset by the recent drops in interest rates. * These numbers encompass all residential listings in the Omaha Area Board of Realtors Great Plai... 12/04/2008

It may not have been Santa and his sleigh, but a police cruiser and a cop served the same purpose for 51 children.  The homeless shelter and the police union worked together to provide a fun Christmas shopping spree for children from the Open Door Mission.  This is the eighth year for the outing.  Each child received a gift card in the amount of $150.00 to be spent at specified Wal-Mart stores.  The money was from the Wal-Mart Foundation and funds raised by the police softball tournament.  The children were paired with officers who used their free time or vacation time for the event.  They went to the store together where they hit the toy aisle as well as the clothing department.  Selections were as common as Hot Wheels, action figures, and transformers to the underwear and socks most m... 12/03/2008

Thank you for checking out my November Real Estate market report for Omaha NE including Downtown Omaha Condos, Midtown - Dundee, UNMC, North Omaha - Benson, Northwest Omaha, West Omaha Homes, Elkhorn, Ralston and Millard homes that are for sale on the Omaha MLS. . Active Listings, as of December 2, 2008 and Sold Data from November 1, 2008 to November 30, 2008.  Months supply is the number of active listings divided by the number of sold listings for the month. Douglas County had 245 attached and detached homes sold in November 2008 compared with 511 in 2007, which is down 52%. As of December 2, 2008, there were 3,398 active homes for sale, which is 13.87 months supply of homes.  Active as of December 2, 2008, Solds 11-1-08 to 11-30-08 Douglas CountyActive listings 3,398Sold listings 245... 12/02/2008

Omaha Tweet Up - Tomorrow! Did you hear about Omaha's TweetUp tomorrow?  Mark your calendars!  It will be at the Brazen Head Restaurant and Bar located at 78t & Cass from 5-7 pm.  And, bring a friend! 12/01/2008

UNMC Food Drive Sets Record for Omaha Food Bank Congratulations to the UNMC Medical Center in Omaha Nebraska for collecting a impressive record setting 20,400 pounds of food!  The Omaha medical center worked & coordinated the drive amongst all their local offices and affiliates to achieve this goal.   Read about it here! Did you know that if you donate to the Omaha Food Bank at Panera Bread, Panera will match the donations?  Ruby Tuesday's will also donate ten percent of all sales from their gourmet chocolate chip, white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies.  Check out all of the fundraising opportunites available for the Omaha Food Bank online or contact them directly at 331-1213. 12/01/2008

Many of the readers of my blog have said that it is sometimes tough to keep up with everything I post. So in an effort to make sure that no one misses anything, at the end of each month I will do a review of the blog posts for the month. Of the real estate articles I posted here are the ones that I feel are most significant to my Omaha subscribers. The All New Realtor.com: Realtor.com has a new look. Zillow Real Estate Market Report: New statistics regarding the housing market. How many Homes are Selling in Omaha and how many aren't?: Not all homes sell. Find out how many do and how many don't. Average Sales Price of Omaha Homes : Sales prices have dipped over the last three years. Seller's Biggest Obstacle to Selling is the Seller Themselves: Are you standing in the way of your home se... 11/30/2008

Omaha's Creighton Prep High School continues a 41 year tradition through Operation Others, a program of giving food to others for the holidays.  Every year the program gives food to over a 1,000 families in the Omaha area.  It is anticipated that food will be distributed to more than 1,600 families this year.  Operation Others is currently headed by Jerry Kinney who is the Spanish teacher at Creighton Prep.  The program began in 1967 in combination with a canned food collection at the school and the fact that some students had an excess of turkeys after they had gone hunting.  So, they donated the turkeys to the food drive. Many Catholic high schools have long since joined the program and there are nine high schools that participate.  Coordinating the project begins each summer with org... 11/30/2008

Two Omaha children elude intruders in a grown-up manner.  When Nathan, 8, and Nicole, 15, heard someone knock at the door, they knew better than to open the door to strangers since they were home alone.  They did not respond to the continued knocking at the door. Nicole told her brother to go hide.  They both hid under the bed in her bedroom.  When Nicole heard a basement window being broken and the alarm went off, she called her mother and then 911.  Nicole knew what to do and remained on the phone until the police arrived.   However, once the alarm went off, the intruders ran. Troy Trumm, Trumm Team - Omaha, NE Omaha Homes For Sale Omaha Real Estate   11/30/2008

Realtor.com is the most widely used real estate website in the world with over 6.3 million unique visits per month and it just had a complete facelift. While the previous version was great, the newly updated Realtor.com is incredible. Here is the new Realtor.com homepage. It features an easier to use property search, scrolling property listings, and quick links to request information on home values and neighborhoods.   Realtor.com displays every property for sale that is listed by a Realtor. Listings on Realtor.com come in two flavors: standard and Showcase. The standard listings are available to every Realtor and are free. These are the vanilla listings. The Showcase listings cost a premium but also have much more information. The Showcase listings are the Rocky Road with chocolate sau... 11/30/2008

The Omaha Area Board of Realtors is sponsoring a FREE seminar on the $700 Billion bail out package and how it will impact the mortgage and real estate industry.  This seminar will be held on Monday, December 1, 2008 from 9:30 to 11:00 AM at 11830 Nicholas St in Omaha, Nebraska. The seminar will be taught by George Akers with First Mortgage Corporation and he has received rave reviews from past attendees.  The session is FREE and all local Realtors and lenders are encouraged to attend. Thanks, David Matney, CRS,GRI Alliance Real Estate (402) 490-6771 11/28/2008

The Nebraska Department of Roads has opened a traffic-control center located at 4425 S. 108th St.  Through the use of a newly installed system of cameras and sensors, traffic conditions will be monitored and the control center will be alerted so that traffic problems and accidents are dealt with quickly.  Currently Omaha streets have 23 cameras and 46 sensors installed.  As soon as problem areas are noted, message boards will be posted giving the best routes to use in order to avoid the problem areas and congestion. This system enables traffic to flow efficiently. Not only do the sensors and cameras monitor traffic, but also speed and weather conditions. When necessary, the control center could automatically close gates on exit/entrance ramps to curtail traffic in problem areas. The cur... 11/28/2008

The American Society of Home Inspectors certifies home inspectors and establishes standards of practice and a code of ethics for its members. I always suggest to buyers that when they select a home inspector that they should choose an ASHI certified inspector. In my opinion, they are the best inspectors. Steve Vacha, the newly elected president of the Omaha ASHI Chapter, presented Harry Tolliver with a plaque for his leadership and service as former president of the chapter. Troy Trumm, Trumm Team - Omaha, NE Omaha Homes For Sale Omaha Real Estate 11/28/2008

1-800-GOT-JUNK can get your bank-owned (REO) and recently foreclosed homes cleaned up and ready for sale.  We have skilled labor that can help get your foreclosed property ready for sale. Services We Provide • Initial clean-out, both internal and external• Personal property removal • Vehicle removal • Photo documentation We offer a simple, flat fee for a standard home cleanout, based on the amount of “junk”. We include interior and external cleanup and yard debris removal.    11/22/2008

Omaha' mayor, Mike Fahey, looks to the future of Omaha beyond his term.  While Mayor Fahey is considering plans for a downtown streetcar in Omaha, he is also looking down the road at a light rail system.  The system would go from Omaha to smaller cities west of Omaha and on to Lincoln connecting the cities and offering an easy means of transportation. Such plans would not take place while Mayor Fahey is in office as his term is over in June of 2009.   In the meantime, he is prepared to arrange for a financial analysis by Heritage Services to determine costs and propose ways of paying for the downtown streetcar.  These plans could go to the City Council for a vote within a week. Numerous routes within the downtown area have been generally talked about but no routes are for sure.  The ide... 11/22/2008

One of my favorite restaurants in the Omaha area is Pepperjax Grill.  If you are looking for a great steak sandwich at a resonable price Pepperjax is the place.  Pepperjax is a locally owned restaurant with seven locations in the Omaha area and I understand they have also opened a store in Kansas.  The steak is cooked right in front of you as you place your order.  In addition to their famous steak Phillies, Pepperjax offers several different wraps and salads.  Even though I have been a frequent customer over the past several years I have never had anything but the steak Philly because it is so good! David Matney, CRS,GRI Alliance Real Estate (402) 490-6771 Searching for a home in the Omaha Area?  CLICK HERE   11/21/2008

Why was yesterday such a great day? Did I close three sales? Nope. Make a connection with a developer to represent a new subdivision? Nope. Yesterday was great because I got the best call a Realtor can get. A call from a past client that just happened to be thinking about me and wanted to thank me again for doing an excellent job. I sold Aaron and Rhonda's house in the beginning of August and at the same time helped them buy the home of their dreams. They were ecstatic when they closed on the new house and very appreciative of all of my efforts to ensure a smooth closing. Yesterday Aaron called out of the blue just to say thanks again... over three months later! It's great to have clients appreciate me when we are closing a sale. It's incredible when a client calls me months later just ... 11/20/2008

While Nebraska lawmakers finalize details on modifying the Safe Haven bill, the 36th child has been abandoned. It is anticipated that the bill will get final approval and be ready for Governor Heineman's signature by Friday, November 21, 2008.  The new bill to be signed Friday will protect infants up to 30 days old. The bill allows parents to relinquish custody of a child to the state. When Nebraska initially passed the Save Haven law that went into effect in July, 2008, there were no provisions regarding the age of the child. While the bill was intended to protect newborns, most of the children abandoned in Nebraska have been teens. Many lawmakers expressed concern about the long term emotional damage to older children by being abandoned and wanted the new bill to include only infants ... 11/20/2008

Zillow just released their market report for the third quarter of 2008. The report tracks 163 metro areas. Some interesting findings are that home values have dropped 9.7% from last year, one third of homes sold in the last year sold for a loss, and 14.3% of homeowners have negative equity (meaning they owe more than the home is worth). To view the report and check for details on your city visit, Zillow Real Estate Market Report. Troy Trumm, Trumm Team - Omaha, NE Omaha Homes For Sale Omaha Real Estate 11/19/2008

Today two other agents and I hosted an Agent Tour of Homes in Somerset subdivision in Omaha, NE. We each gave away a $25 gas card. The winner at the property I am representing was Bob Wear with Century 21. CONGRATULATIONS, BOB! Thank you to all of the agents that stopped in and were kind enough to provide feedback. And thank you, Tori Ross, for providing the cookies and treats. Troy Trumm, Trumm Team - Omaha, NE Omaha Homes For Sale Omaha Real Estate 11/18/2008