I was driving back from Skiatook to Owasso Oklahoma yesterday when I saw this picture perfect sight. Just by the bend in the road was this old iron bridge. The road is closed and doesn't cross it anymore, but it has been left in place, a remnant from the past. You will notice, if you look carefully, that the present surrounds the old bridge. There is a new house just to the left of the picture and just in front of the bridge also. Scenes like this are on of the reasons I love living in the northern area of Greater Tulsa Oklahoma! Towns and roads in and around Owasso, Collinsville, Claremore, Oologah and Skiatook offer country scenes and serenity you just can't find in the city! 04/03/2011

Speechless Sunday - Owasso Oklahoma Record Snowfall Owasso Oklahoma isn't typically known to be a place where we have tons of snow in the winter time.  However, the winter of 2011 has proven to be a record setter.  Owasso Oklahoma received 21 inches of snow the first week of February 2011 with the air temperature hovering around freezing and below.  Then, the next week Owasso Oklahoma received another 8-10 inches!  And the temperatures continued to not only hover around the freezing mark, but it dipped well below with Nowata Oklahoma setting an all time low of 30 below zero. Schools in Owasso Oklahoma have been cancelled for 8 days, banks were closed down for 3 days and grocery stores began to run out of milk, eggs, bread and the all important frozen pizzas! Needless to say, Owasso Okla... 02/13/2011

When you're thinking of selling or buying a home in Owasso Oklahoma, you should consider working with a Realtor®.  Now, I'm a Realtor®, so I have a vested interest in encouraging you to hire myself or another Real Estate professional.  So let me explain. The first reason why home buyers and sellers should choose to work with a Realtor® in the Owasso Oklahoma area is because Owasso Oklahoma is a relatively small community of around 30,000 people.  What that means for you if you are buying or selling a home in Owasso is that you will connect quickly to the Owasso Oklahoma Realtor® community.  And that's important because so many Owasso homes are listed for sale by Realtors®.  And it's important also because the Owasso Oklahoma Realtor® community works in cooperation with one another.  Tha... 02/04/2011

Welcome Home to 11418 North 123rd East Avenue in Owasso Oklahoma!MLS #1100909 If you're familiar with the Owasso and Collinsville Oklahoma area, you know that our city has a variety of homes in areas from city neighborhoods to country neighborhoods.  We have new housing, older houses and remodeled homes as well.  And while lots of folks love the look and feel of new construction, others prefer homes with land where their neighbor isn't right next door. Such is the case with this great home, located at 11418 North 123rd East Avenue in Owasso Oklahoma.  This beautiful home was originally built in 1971 and is 1645 square feet in size.  Features include three bedrooms, two and half bathrooms, a big living room, covered patio, two car garage, in ground gunite swimming pool, storm shelter and... 02/03/2011

In the world of Real Estate, most Realtors® have a good story or two about the strange, funny, odd and/or just weird things they've seen in houses.  One of my big surprises upon entering this crazy career back in 2007 was being greeted by braziers either in the master closet or in the laundry room. As awkward as braziers hanging in a closet can be, I think I have discovered something in a listing picture that...well...goes a bit too far.  This picture was found in a listing a friend of mine found online.  I comes from an actual listing. Are you ready?  Here we go... Uh yeah.  I believe that is a Bong sitting there by the bathroom sink.  And it's in the listing picture! I don't believe I've ever seen someone feature their personal drug paraphernalia in a picture that was used in the list... 01/19/2011

Oklahoma is an interesting place to live.  We're located in the middle part of the country.  We're pretty conservative.  We have people from all over the place who live here.  And our cost of living is very low and usually very stable. Usually, our local economy follows the national economy.  For example, here in Owasso, our housing market seemed to bottom out in July of 2010.  Phones quit ringing.  Sales were off - way off.  And Realtors® started talking about how they might have to look for other work so they could eat.  In the meantime, the national economy had already been in recession for quite some time.  Our slow housing market market was probably tied to the end of the second government housing stimilus program.  But after we hit bottom in Owasso in July 2010, we began a slow cl... 01/18/2011

CAUTION:  This post may offend your sensibilities! It's one of those conversations you find yourself having and while you're having it, you think to yourself, "I never really thought I'd be having this particular conversation."  And yet you are.  And it is so weird because the topic is...well...poop.  No wait a minute.  That's not right.  It's actually about where one...uh...does their personal business.  And more specifically, if it is okay to use the restroom in someone else's house. Perhaps I should explain. We were at an inspection recently when the buyer needed to...uh...use the restroom.  So they asked me if it would be okay.  My opinion is that it should be okay because as far as I know, the restroom(s) in the house have been being used by the current occupants probably on a dail... 12/30/2010

I don't go to jail very often.  In fact, I've never actually been arrested and thrown in jail.  But I got to go to jail yesterday thanks to Real Estate!  Yep, I had to go get fingerprinted to renew my Real Estate license. It was a good thing that I called the jail before heading their way.  Seems they take cash only when it comes to financial dealings.  I tend to live by credit and debit card, so I'd been up a creek and out of luck.  Also, they only do fingerprints between certain hours in the morning and certain hours in the afternoon.  When I arrived at the Rogers County Jail in Claremore, there was no one in the lobby.  And there was no one in the reception room, which is behind lots of very thick glass.  It has a little reception box that slides back and forth like they used to use ... 12/23/2010

When I was a kid growing up, I only knew two men named Bob.  One was a friend of the family and the other was my brother-in-law.  It didn't seem like to me that there were very many Bob's in the world.  I myself was a Robert.  Don't remember too many people with my name around either. Today it is different.  Today it seems like there are Bob's everywhere.  It's probably just my age, but I'm holding onto the idea that the name "Bob" is fairly popular (or "pop U lar" as Glinda might sing it). We were putting together Christmas stockings for the kids at church the other night when I came across a box of candy canes that made me smile.   The best part about these Candy Canes, other than the fact that they're named "Bob's Candy Canes," is the fact that they're what I call Tootie Fruity flavo... 12/19/2010

One of the reasons I love Real Estate is because you just never know what you're going to walk into when you enter a house.  Take for example, the day I opened the utility room doors to find a group of about six braziers hanging from the clothes rack.  My buyers and I had a fun conversation after that little revelation! I've seen everything from unmade beds to kid's pictures on the walls (major no-no) to the most beautiful homes and the most tragic of situations.  There is one practice, however, that I think is the ultimate no-no when it comes to selling your house.  And it's something I never would have thought of myself.  Oh...it's also something I discovered by accident the other day when Diane and I were over at a friend's house.  We were sitting around the kitchen visiting when the... 12/17/2010

Take a look at the following picture.  Something is wrong.  Do you see it?  No? Look again... If you said it looks dirty, you're right! This is a picture of an AC unit sitting at a house that some buyers were going to buy.  The inspector noted that the unit was not functioning and needed to be cleaned and serviced to "normal working order" by a licensed HVAC company. After we were told that the unit was working, we went back to the house to be sure (always a good idea).  When we got there and saw the grass clippings, we knew that nobody had touched the AC unit.  And, of course, when we turned the thing on at the thermostate, nothing happened! I sent the listing agent this very picture and it wasn't very long until an HVAC guy was at the house cleaning and servicing the Air Conditioner. ... 12/12/2010

Diane offered to take me to lunch the other day, so I said yes!  And when she mentioned Arby's, I was okay with that too.  Their chocolate turnovers are amazing!  So we met up at the restaurant, placed our order off the dollar menu 'cause  we were in a "Let's eat cheap" mode and then waited for our tray of food.  Diane had ordered one of those Mocha shakes and that sounded good too because one can never have too much chocolate.  So I ordered one too! Here's what we got... I felt like a kid again!  Using the straw for measurement will show you that these little dudes were tiny!  Our straws are the normal Arby's straws that get swallowed up by the normal size cups!  Sure enough, you don't get much for a buck anymore.  Well except for housing in Oklahoma.  We still offer some of the best v... 12/05/2010

Here in Owasso Oklahoma, we seem to have a mole problem.  As you drive down the highways and around town, you can see their brown dirt heaps from where they've been tunneling through the ground. Moles, like groundhogs and other burrowing creatures are very dangerous if you own cattle or horses.  Large animals can step into their holes or tunnels and easily break a leg.  If you live in the city, they're a nuisance because they mess up your yard. I understand that there are lots of ways to get rid of moles, including something called Poison Peanuts that you can purchase at the Home and Garden store.  Our neighbor used to hook up a hose to the exhaust on his lawnmower.  He would then start the mower, put the hose down into a tunnel and let the thing run for hours and hours hoping to kill t... 11/28/2010

It's Thanksgiving, which means...it is time to be thankful.  I was thinking about being thankful this morning as I drank my coffee and thought about what lies ahead for us today.  What does it mean to be thankful?  For me, that definition has begun to change over the last few years.  I used to be thankful for the kind of stuff that we're all thankful for:  family, health, blessings, the fact that I went on an awesome vacation, etc.  But as I have begun to grow older, I realize that there are more important things to be thankful for.  Take, for example, my parents. Today will be the first Thanksgiving we have ever had without mom at the table.  As many of you know, my mom has Alzheimer's disease and is now in a Memory Unit.  My dad lives just a mile or so away and goes to see her daily. ... 11/25/2010

Speechless Sunday - What in Oklahoma is it? I was out with a cliet the other day looking at some vacant land that he was interested in purchasing when we came across something strange.  See if you can identify it...  Did you figure it out?  Yes?  No?  Okay, are you ready if you didn't??? This is the fruit of a HedgeApple tree.  It was as big as a softball and about as hard as a baseball.  And check this out, it wasn't alone! Apparently HedgeAapple wood is very dense and is great for making things like tool handles.  And the trees are great for windbreaks also because they tend to have no real natural enemies.  According to Wikipedia, hedgeapple trees were one of the main trees used in President Franklin Roosevelt's "Great Plains Shelterbelt" project, which was launched in 1934 as an amb... 11/21/2010

Welcome to McDonalds in Owasso, Oklahoma! Now, that seems like an odd title doesn't it?  And maybe even writing about McDonalds may seem like an odd thing to do.  But in the famous words of John Pinette, I say "Nay, Nay!" Knowing where your local McDonalds is located is something that is inherent.  In fact, because I just made that statement, you're probably already envisioning in your mind where your favorite or closest McDonalds is right now.  However, when traveling you don't always know where the local McDonalds is, and that can be a problem.  Oh sure, you can do a Google search for McDonalds if you happen to think about it before you leave home or you can search for McDonalds in the upcoming town if you happen to own a smartphone, but more often than not, we have to look for those ... 11/15/2010

If you read my blog regularly, you know that we own four dogs.  They're good friends and get along nicely with one another.  And one of their favorite past times is squirrel chasing.  See if you can find the squirrel they've "treed" in this picture...                                     Can't find it?  Let's zoom in a bit closer... Still no?  How about now??? Honestly, I think the squirels in our back yard have as much fun running away from the dogs as the dogs do chasing them.  And we enjoy not only watching the action (they never catch the squirel), but the fact that by 8 p.m. we've got four dogs who are ready for bed! Originally Posted at: My Owasso Home 11/14/2010

Today I'm proud to announce that Diane and I have joined the rest of America.  We are finally the proud owners of a set of new front loaders.  That's right.  We bought a front loader washer and dryer!  What's that you say?  No big deal?  Yeah, it probably isn't.  But when you've been stuck with the old models for so long and a dryer that kept going on the blitz year after year, something as mundane as a new washer and dryer can be rather exciting.  Or maybe it's just the fact that we're older now.  We're finding that strange things like staying home on a Friday night or finding good milk for only $2.50 per gallon gets us all hot and bothered and excited these days. After doing research, we went searching for the recommnened Consumer Reports model.  A certain company happened to produce ... 11/13/2010

I grew up in Oklahoma and have lived here most of my life.  We're located in the center of the United States and in what they call the "plains."  Our country is pretty flat too, except for the Northeastern and Southern parts of our state.  And we have lots of wind here too at times.  A 20-40 mile per hour wind blowing all day long is just another day to us!  Back when I was a kid, Tulsa had all sorts of flooding problems because, with all that flat land there wasn't anywhere for all the rain to go in heavy downpours.  I once saw cars floating in the intersection of 31st and Memorial after a big tornado and flood.  That was in the 70′s.  Tulsa worked hard and eventually got that problem fixed.  Today I live in Owasso, a suburb located just 8 miles North of Tulsa.  We're a bedroom communi... 11/07/2010

I don't know about you or your housing market, but the media is beginning to say that housing market here in our part of the world, is getting better.  They use words like "builder confidence," and "consumer confidence" and other kinds of terms.  In the meantime, those of us who live and breathe Real Estate continue to take a look around and scratch our heads.  We may be beginning to come up off the bottom, but things aren't really all that rosey yet.  Take, for example, this price reduction I got yesterday in my email. When the email popped into my Inbox, I couldn't believe it really said what it said.  It read, "Seller Reduced $1,000,000.00!"  So I opened up the email and sure enough, it say's, "Home is listed for $2,999,000.00.  The seller is willing to sell it for $1,999,000.00." No... 10/20/2010