Blogging the Black Hills

Wow! It’s been months since my last post, where has the time gone!! Thanksgiving is over, and I hope you had an enjoyable time eating too much and then joining the crowds and hitting the stores. I had a chance to run in my first Turkey Trot 5k race with my daughter, and I even won a blueberry pie! Not because of my time though, it was a chance drawing!

It is starting to cool off here in the Black Hills, and with the cooler weather comes the ski and snowboard season. For info on ski conditions take a look at www.terrypeak.com or www.skideermountain.com . They say there may be enough snow to open a few runs this weekend, I have heard from lots of people that are ready for it.

Real estate has slowed a bit for the holiday season, but I am still working with several buyers looking for just the right place. A recent Federal report shows the Rapid City area has shown appreciation of about 4.8% since last year, so our market is still holding well. I have a feeling when spring hits and the construction really picks up we will see quite an increase in buyers looking for housing.

Have a great time shopping for the season, and let me know if you have any questions I can answer!

Now that the last third of summer is here, I took a look to see how the real estate market has been doing. As usual, July was a slow month. Now many may think that the middle of summer would be the busiest, but in reality I think most families are thinking vacation, the beach, camping, and a whole lot of other things than buying a home. But now that August is here, it may turn into a mad scramble to get into a house before school starts and summer ends.

Between now and about next July will be my busy season. I do not typically see home buyers slowing down at all during the winter months. So if you have been thinking of selling, you still have plenty if time to get things going.

Wow!  And the Sturgis Rally is almost upon us!  I was on vacation last week in Chicago, and the drive home was long, about 950 miles.  The thing I noticed the most on that drive was the number of motorcycles already heading to the Black Hills for the Rally.  The Sturgis Rally really doesn’t start until August 6th, but I’m finding more and more people want to visit before the BIG crowd shows up.

So how big is the Rally?  When I lived in Denver, I made my first run to Sturgis in 1985.  Back then we were really impressed with the 40,000 or so that showed up.  This year, 2007, they are expecting roughly 600,000 visitors for the week.  Somebody has come up with a way of counting, I don’t know how. 

The important thing you need to know is that if you are just now thinking about a visit to the Black Hills, make sure you have a tent and sleeping bag.  There are NO hotel rooms available, there will be long lines in Sturgis at any restaurant, and traffic jams will occur. 

If you haven’t seen a Sturgis Rally before, you will be amazed.  And whether you are on a bike or in a car, drive careful.

Like much of the country it has been hot lately with temps above the 100 mark. It finally cooled off some this week, my AC is going to finally get a break! 

Real estate sales have slowed somewhat, but this is typical for mid-summer. Over the next few weeks families will begin to remember they wanted to get moved into their new home before school started, and the mad rush will be on. Prices are holding so now is definitely the best time to start looking.

While interest rates have crept up a bit, they are still great. Rates are hovering around 6.5% for a normal loan, with South Dakota First Time Buyers able to 5.5% or even lower. If you:

• earn less than $61,525 for a family of 3 or more 
• want a home priced under $204,432
• haven’t owned in the last 3 years

you may qualify. Give me a call or send an email and I’ll help walk you through the process to see if you do. This program works for VA, FHA and conventional loans.

Soon you will have the ability to search all homes in the Rapid City area from my web site. This will save you lot’s of time. I’ve been working with my webmaster to make it happen. Come back soon, I’ll have it set up.

And I'm not just talking about the real estate market.  Temps today and tomorrow reaching near 100 degrees!  I'm glad the AC is working well on my car...

If you want to take a look at any real estate, I'm still around.  Just give me a call or send an email!