May 24, 2013

DAVENPORT – Slow and steady wins the race! Our eastern Iowa markets continue to have steady and stable growth in home price appreciation.

Nationally home prices have fallen 9.15% in the last five years, but all of our markets’ home prices are up: 7.01% in Dubuque; 1.95% in Iowa City; 1.48% in the Quad Cities; and 0.74% in Cedar Rapids. This compares to other cities: Des Moines, IA down 4.64%; Chicago, IL down 25.60%; and the Daytona Beach, FL area down 40.61%.

Information courtesy of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for first quarter 2013. FHFA stats always run one quarter behind. Their full report is available at www.fhfa.gov. *Rankings based on annual percentage change in house prices.

Our markets didn’t fall as drastically as other areas of the country, so the increase in home price appreciation has modest but steady. The shortage of listings and pent up buyer demand may further improve home prices locally.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, of the 300 MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) ranked by home price appreciation, all of our markets in eastern Iowa ranked in the top 58% in the nation – Dubuque at 98th; Iowa City at 106th; the Quad Cities at 140th; and Cedar Rapids at 173rd.

Nationally, this is the seventh consecutive quarterly price rise and overall it’s believed the housing market has stabilized in many areas, but a still-elevated foreclosure pipeline remains a hindrance to a bigger recovery, said FHFA Principal Economist Andrew Leventis.

Our local markets continue to provide a much more stable environment for purchasing homes and investing in real estate.

The Home Price Index is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors has grown to nearly 301 sales associates, 58 employees and twelve offices, selling more than 5,000 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwest Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa, Muscatine, and Washington, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm and land sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through Shelter Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.

Along with the launch of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS’ new and improved website, RuhlHomes.com, came Ruhl Premier Access.  Ruhl Premier Access is a free suite of tools to make a real estate transaction simpler and more informative to our clients.

Ruhl Premier Access now allows consumers to:

• Search properties that have recently sold in a neighborhood.
• Receive market reports about real estate activity in their zip code– including real estate trends on solds, new listings, statistics and much more.
• Use Personal Shopper to be the first to know about new listings that meet specific search criteria! Save favorites, save searches and receive email notifications.
• Receive specials and coupons from our Preferred Home Services Vendor program.

RuhlHomes.com is the only area website to provide information on properties that have recently sold – including details like days on market and property details – helping our clients make more informed decisions when buying or selling real estate.

“This sold information helps the public determine what homes are selling for in their neighborhood or gives insight on what homes are selling for in a neighborhood they wish to move to,” said Mike Wendt, General Sales Manager of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS. “This new information helps educate consumers on real estate values.”

This information is provided exclusively for Ruhl Premier Access members, so consumers should sign up for their free account today.  Consumers can sign up for a free account by visiting RuhlHomes.com and clicking Register in the right hand corner.

                                                                        April 25, 2013

Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS is proud to be a sponsor of the 2013 Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Mississippi Valley Annual Plant Sale.

Since 1990, the Plant Sale has been a Quad Cities tradition for many families and businesses. The Plant Sale is held every year the week prior to Mother’s Day.  All proceeds from this event benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters to support one-to-one mentoring programs in our communities.  Specifically, dollars are used to ensure that the matches made are safe, high quality, compatible, long lasting and impactful for the child, adult mentor, area schools and parents.

The plant sale takes place May 4^th – May 12^th with pre-ordering available online at www.bbbs-mv.org .Hanging baskets will be available for purchase at the Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS Bettendorf Office, 1228 Middle Road, Saturday, May 4^th from 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 5^th from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Orders can be picked up and other plants are available at the Northwest Bank Tower in Davenport, Becker and Becker in Geneseo and Quick Printers in Macomb.

For more than 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in communities across the country. We develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people. Over these past 25 years, the organization has helped over 30,000 children achieve academic and social success through the support of a caring adult mentor! 

A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to more than 290 sales associates, 58 employees and eleven offices, selling nearly 5,000 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa and Muscatine, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com .

April 24, 2013

Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to 300 agents – the largest number of agents we have ever had in our company! This is just more great agents to serve you! With the hot market and real estate being such a great profession, many more are considering a real estate career. In fact, according to a recent CareerBliss.com survey, real estate agents actually have the happiest job in America. Find out more about a career in real estate with Ruhl&Ruhl at www.RuhlHomes.com/careers or take our quiz at www.JoinTheRuhlTeam.com.

April 24, 2013

(Moline, IL) – If you’re in the market for a home loan and you are considering an FHA loan, be prepared for some changes.

As of April 1, 2013, if you are purchasing a home and hope to use an FHA (Federal Housing Authority) loan for your financing, you will notice an increase in the annual mortgage insurance premium charged. Depending on the term and loan to value (LTV) of your loan the insurance in our market will increase by 10 basis points.

In addition, effective June 3, 2013, mortgage insurance cannot be cancelled on FHA loans at the 78% loan to value (LTV) mark, which is the current criteria for dropping this insurance. At minimum it will be 11 years into the loan and may be for the entire life of the loan, depending on the original terms. Also on June 3, an FHA loan with terms up to 15 years is now required to use mortgage insurance even if it has a 78% LTV at origination, at a rate of 45 basis points and must be retained for 11 years at minimum.

“It used to be that people could stop paying mortgage insurance premiums after a certain point, if they paid down the loan below a certain level, and now that’s no longer going to be the case,” said Jane Schneider, President of Shelter Mortgage.

These changes are necessary to provide adequate reserves against losses by FHA and strengthen FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.

Shelter Mortgage, formally 1862 Mortgage, has partnered with Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS to offer a convenient one-stop experience for both home buying and home financing needs nationwide. As part of a strong and stable bank, Shelter Mortgage offers the promise of longevity and security along with a commitment to service excellence.

A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors has grown to nearly 290 sales associates, 58 employees and twelve offices, selling more than 5,000 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa, Muscatine and Washington, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm and land sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through Shelter Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.

April 16, 2013

(DANBURY, Conn.) – Caroline Ruhl, president of Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors, participated in the 2013 Cartus Broker Network International Conference held February 27-March 2 in Phoenix, Arizona. Cartus is the worldwide leader in employee relocation solutions, serving 64% of the Fortune 50 companies.

This year’s conference featured the theme “Speed2Lead,” and brought together nearly 620 Cartus Broker Network members, clients, industry experts and exhibitors from the United States and around the world for an intensive event that included interactive workshops, roundtable discussions, networking sessions and executive presentations along with award celebrations recognizing Network performance during the 2012 calendar year.

Conference sessions were designed to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices among the brokers from the Cartus Broker Network and subject matter experts from across the business and markets. Ruhl was involved in interactions and discussions on a wide variety of relocation and real estate issues while networking with other leading brokers and the Cartus Broker Network leadership team.

Corporate speakers at the conference included Richard A. Smith, chairman, president and CEO of Cartus’ parent company Realogy, and Kevin J. Kelleher, Cartus president and CEO and a “Presidents’ Panel” comprised of the leaders of Realogy’s franchise brands: Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate^®, CENTURY 21^®, Coldwell Banker^®, ERA^®, Sotheby’s International Realty^®, and NRT LLC, which operates Realogy’s company-owned brokerage offices.

“The last few years have been a roller coaster ride for those of us in real estate,” said Gerald Pearce, Cartus’ executive vice president, Broker Services, Affinity Services, and Cartus Asset Recovery. “But despite the economic challenges they’ve faced, the members of our Cartus Broker Network have continued to provide the highest quality service to their customers. This event gives me the opportunity to congratulate and thank them for their dedication and ongoing professionalism.”

Ruhl spoke of the value gained at the conference. “I appreciate the depth and breadth of information that was shared at this event,” she said. “This conference provided me with an opportunity to learn and grow as well as hear from our industry leaders.”

Representing 811 of the top-performing brokers across the country, the Cartus Broker Network provides real estate services to clients and customers of Cartus’ affinity, corporate, and government clients. In 2012, Cartus and the Cartus Broker Network closed sales of approximately 79,000 properties, with a value of more than $21 billion, on behalf of Cartus clients and Network members.

A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors has grown to nearly 290 sales associates, 58 employees and twelve offices, selling more than 5,000 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa, Muscatine and Washington, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm and land sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through Shelter Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.

April 16, 2013

For the homeowner who has not seen a great deal of traffic on their listed property, start to evaluate your curb appeal.  Real estate professionals nationwide have evaluated some time and cost effective exterior projects to catch a buyers’ eye and give you, the seller the best turnaround time on investment.

When homebuyers are searching for a home, the exterior is their first impression. According to the 2013 Cost vs. Value Report, exterior replacement projects are among the most valuable home improvements that sellers can currently invest in, starting with the front door.

A steel entry door topped this year’s survey with an estimated 85.6 percent of the costs recouped at resale. The steel door replacement is also the least expensive of the 35 midrange and upscale remodeling projects included in the survey, costing $1,137 on average.

This is the 15th year that Remodeling magazine — in cooperation with REALTOR® Magazine — has released the Cost vs. Value Report. This year’s survey included more than 3,900 appraisers, sales agents, and brokers across the country that provided their opinions and estimates.

Exterior projects dominated the list with six of the top 10 most cost-effective midrange projects and eight of the top 10 upscale projects.

Are you ready to sell your home? Visit our home page at Ruhlhomes.com or find an agent near you!

Construction cost estimates were generated by RemodelMAX. Cost vs. Value is a registered trademark of Hanley Wood, LLC.

April 11, 2013

Please join us for the upcoming Spring Parade of Homes event.  The parade will be held April 20^th – 21^st, 24^th and 27^th - 28^th from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Wednesday. As always, the parade of homes is free to the public.

Many of the top builders in the Quad Cities participate in this event as it showcases new building trends in new construction homes. There are twenty two homes to tour with nine being held open by Ruhl&Ruhl agents.  Please see the homes Ruhl&Ruhl agents are showing below:

•   2914 E. 65^th Street, Davenport, built by Applestone Homes and being held open by JJ Condon.
•  6454 Dorothy Drive, Bettendorf, built by Beaver Builders and being held open by Connie Coster.
•   6877 Still Creek Pass, Bettendorf, built by Tim Dolan and being held open by Otto Nobis and Natalie Glynn.
•  #8 Country Club Court, LeClaire, built by Tim Dolan and being held open by Otto Nobis and Natalie Glynn.
•  #9 Crow Lake Place, Bettendorf, built by Bob Walter Homes and being held open by Sharon Tahere and Peg Hopkins.
•  1701 Stone Gate, Davenport, built by Dan Dolan Homes and being held open by Dan Dolan and Don Gibeault.
•   3544 Black Lion Circle, Bettendorf, built by Dan Dolan Homes and being held open by Dan Dolan, Melissa Wegener and Jane Bauman.
•  4473 Colorado, Bettendorf, built by Prosper Homes and being held open by Tim Martin.
•  3381 Crow Lake Drive, Bettendorf, built by Carey Nowack/Heartland Builders and being held open by Kurt Johnson, Stephanie Graham, Nancy McElhiney and Alicia Lillyblade.

This is a great event and Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS looks forward to participating it in every year.  Please feel free to pick up a parade booklet at any Hy-Vee location or visit http://www.qcbr.org

April 8, 2013

Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS was once again ranked the largest privately-owned real estate company in Iowa, according to RISMedia’s 2013 Power Broker Report.

The report ranks the top 500 real estate companies in the country according to the number of transactions and sales volume. Ruhl&Ruhl ranked 82nd in the country for the number of home sale transactions closed, which was 5,049 in 2012.

Other Iowa Companies Ranked as follows.

*The RIS ranking is based on residential sales only.  It excludes farms, land, commercial and other non-residential properties.

Ruhl&Ruhl’s all-inclusive sales volume was $807,533,527. Including non-residential transactions, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS closed 5,168 deals or 18.1 transactions per agent which places Ruhl&Ruhl agents among the most productive in the country. The National Association of Realtors reports an average of 7 sales per agent nationally.

“2012 was a wonderful year for Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS – our sales volume grew by 36.2% and we had 24.5% more transactions than the prior year,” said Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS. “And it looks like 2013 will be even better!”

“We are excited and proud to earn this ranking,” Ruhl said. “I have been blessed to be surrounded by the best people in our business. At the end of the day, it always comes down to having the right people.”

To view the 2013 Power Broker Report, visit this link, http://remag.rismedia.com/i/118999.

A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to 286 sales associates, 58 employees and eleven offices, selling more than 4,100 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa, Muscatine and Washington, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com. 

Most home buyers enlist the services of a real estate professional when buying a house. It only makes sense – agents have experience in dealing with multiple issues surrounding the process, and they usually have the homes listed for sale as well as hold the most knowledge on the homes currently listed in their respective markets. But the question often comes up; “How do real estate agents get paid and who is responsible for that payment?”

First, we need to state that every real estate agent must work for a broker. The broker is the one licensed with the state to do business. Whether it is a franchised broker, a local company or privately owned, like Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors it is the broker that is licensed to buy and sell the homes in that particular state. The broker is also the one to determine how its agents will be compensated. Real estate agents are usually compensated on what is called a “commission split,” meaning that the broker will receive a percentage of the commission paid to the real estate agent from the closing process.

We also want to state the difference between agents, if you are a buyer you will be working with a “selling agent” if you are the seller your agent is titled “listing agent”, here is the reason why this is the most important thing to remember: In almost every case, the entire real estate commission is being paid by the seller of the home, therefore the commission will be given to the “listing agent” to split with their brokerage and a portion will then be given to the “selling agent” to be split with their brokerage. Please remember that a real estate transaction can be negotiated a number of ways so this case may not always be true.

The bottom line is in this sometimes unpredictable real estate market, it is best to have someone on your side to represent you and make sure that all your needs, whether you are a buyer or seller are met.

Do you want to get into the best industry?  Contact us or visit www.ruhlhomes.com/careers.aspx