Arch City Homes

Parkway School District Boundaries Change

Karen Goodman — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:48:51 +0000

Home buyers looking for a home in some parts of the Parkway School District need to pay close attention to the boundaries when they are picking a new home.

Last fall, the Parkway School District announced changes to the school boundaries beginning with the 2012-2013 school year to reduce overcrowding at two elementary schools, Craig Elementary and McKelvey Elementary.

In addition, some subdivisions which have been located in the Parkway Northeast Middle School and Parkway North High School will be reassigned to Parkway Central Middle & High.

Parkway School District NEW School Boundaries:

Moving from Craig Elementary to Ross Elementary:
(no change to middle or high schools)

Driftwood Place
Pavilion (only the area west of Bennington)
West Pointe (only the area west of Bennington)

Moving from McKelvey Elementary to River Bend Elementary:
(and Northeast Middle/North High to Central Middle/Central High)

Pheasant Run Apartment Complex
Royal Pines Condominiums

Moving from Ross Elementary to River Bend Elementary:
(and Northeast Middle/North High to Central Middle/Central High)

Old Farm Estates (and the adjacent homes on the northwest side of Amiot)
Woodland Pointe

For more information, visit the Parkway School District website.

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St. Louis Farmer’s Market Schedule

Karen Goodman — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:15:35 +0000

Updated 5/4/2012

Farmer’s market season is back and this year there are even more markets to choose from in the St. Louis area.

Maybe you are a farmer market regular, or maybe you just want to pick up the freshest peaches in town during harvest season.

This year I’m going to try to make it to all of the markets in St. Louis City and County. I’d love to hear about your favorite market – just leave a note in the comments.

My goal is to make this the most complete list of St. Louis area Farmers Markets, so please let me know if you discover a market has closed or changed it’s hours, or there is a market that isn’t on the list.

St. Louis City:

North City Farmer’s Market (across the street from Crown Candy) – June 2 – October 13 (Saturdays 9 am – 12 pm)

St. Louis Community Farmer’s Market (Tower Grove area) – Winter Market, November – April (2nd Saturdays 9 am – 1pm)

Soulard Farmer’s Market – Year Round (Wednesdays/Thursdays 8 am – 5 pm, Fridays 7 am – 5 pm, Saturdays 7 am – 5:30 pm)

Tower Grove Farmer’s Market – May 5 – November 3 (Saturdays 8:00 am – 12:30 pm)

Washington University School of Medicine Local Growers Farmer’s Market (map) – Outdoor market opens April (Thursdays 10 am – 2 pm)

St. Louis County:

Clayton Farmer’s Market – May 5 – November 3 (Saturdays 8:30 am – 12:30 pm)

Ellisville Farmer’s Market - opens May 24 (Thursdays 4 – 7 pm)

Ferguson Farmer’s Market - April 30 – October (Saturdays 8 am – 12 pm)

Kirkwood Farmer’s Market – April 6 – September 22 (Mondays – Fridays 9 am – 6 pm, Saturdays 8 am – 5 pm, Sundays hours vary by vendor)

Overland Farmer’s Market - May 19 – October 20 (Saturdays 8 am – 12:30 pm)

Schlafly Farmers Market – April – October (Wednesdays 4 – 7 pm) PLUS winter market monthly January – March (Saturdays 9 am – 1 pm)

Webster Groves Farmers’ Market – May 3 – October 25 (Thursdays 3 – 7 pm)

Wildwood Farmer’s Market – opens May 19 (Saturdays 8:30 am – 1:30 pm)

St. Charles County:

Chandler Hill Winery Farmer’s Market (Defiance) – May 27 – October (Sundays 12 pm – 4 pm)

Lake St. Louis Farmer Market – April 14 – October 13 (Saturdays 8 am – 12 pm)

St. Charles Lions Club Farmer’s Market - June – October (Saturdays 7 am – 12 pm)

Wentzville Farmers Market - May 5 – October 27 (Saturdays 7 am – 12 pm)

Franklin County:

New Haven Farmer’s Market – May 2 – September 27 (Thursdays 4 – 6:30 pm)

Washington Farmers’ Market - Saturdays 8 am – 2 pm and Wednesdays 3-6 pm

Jefferson County:

DeSoto Farmer’s Market – May 5- October 20 (Saturdays 8 am – 12 pm)

If you know of any local farmer’s markets that I missed, let me know so I can get it added to the list.

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Summer in St. Louis ~ Movies in the Parks

Karen Goodman — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:56:55 +0000

If you are looking for something different to do this summer, check out one of the many free movies that will be playing all over town.

*** This schedule includes some movie series that occurred in 2011 but no information has been announced yet for 2012. We’ll update the schedule as more information becomes available, or remove them if it appears they won’t be held this year.

St. Louis Region:

Frontyard Features
Various locations, all movies begin at dusk

St. Louis City:

Downtown Cinema on the Plaza
Old Post Office (movies begin at dusk)
Schedule TBA

Lafayette Square Movies in the Park
Lafayette Square Park Gazebo (June & July event begins at 7 pm, movie starts at 8:30 pm, Sept evening begins at 6 pm, movie at 7:30 pm)
Monthly Saturday movies July

June 23 – Muny Kids Performance & The Princess Bride
July 21 – Event & The Sound of Music
September 22 – Event & Toy Story

Tower Grove Movie Nights
Tower Grove Park Whitaker Theater at Pool Pavilion (movies begin at dusk, approx 8:30 pm)
Monthly Saturday movies May through September (Movie titles TBA)

May 19
June 16
July 21
August 18
September 15

Twilight under the Train Shed
Union Station (movies begin at sunset)
Schedule TBA

St. Louis County:

Chesterfield Amphitheater in Central Park
Chesterfield (7-10 pm)

June 8 – The Muppets
July 13 – Happy Feet 2
August 10 – Kung Fu Panda

Laumeier Sculpture Park LOMA
Sunset Hills (music at 7 pm, movies at 8 pm)
Schedule TBA

Manchester Movies in the Park
Manchester (time TBA)
Monthly Friday movies June – August

June 22 – Puss in Boots
July 20 – Muppets (movie in the pool, free only with pool pass)

Old Orchard Music and Movies Gazebo Series
Webster Groves (music begins at 7 pm, movies at approx 9 pm)
Fridays June 8 – July 8

June 8 – School of Rock
June 15 – Oh Brother, Where Art Thou
June 22 – Trading Places
June 29 – Talledega Nights
July 6 – Top Gun

University City Movies in the Park
Various University City parks, click the link for more information (movies begin at sundown, approximately 8 pm)
Saturday movies in April, May, September & October. Wednesday movies June, July & August

April 21 – American Graffiti
May 19 – Cooley High
June 13 – How to Train Your Dragon
July 11 – Akeelah & The Bee
August 8 – Bend it Like Beckham
September 15 – To Kill a Mockingbird
October 13 – TBD (viewers choices – vote at the movies or online)

St. Charles County:

Lake St. Louis
Boulevard Park Amphitheater (movies begin at 8:15 – 8:30 pm)
2nd Fridays May, June & August

June 1 – Puss in Boots
July 13 – Happy Feet 2
August 3 – The Adventures of Tintin

St. Charles
New Town at St. Charles (movies begin at sundown)
Schedule TBA

St. Peters
Various St. Peters locations, click the link for more information. Movies begin at dusk, approx 7:45 pm (June), 7:30 pm (July), 6:45 pm (Sept) and 7 pm (October)
Friday movies June, July, September & October (October movie is indoor)

June 1 – The Muppets (2011)
July 6 – Hugo
September 7 – The Adventures of Tintin
October 5 – Wizard of Oz

We want this to be the most complete list available. If you know of a movie series not on the list, please leave a comment and let us know about it!

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Keller Williams Realty is #1 Office in St. Louis

Karen Goodman — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:41:26 +0000

We are very proud to announce that Arch City Homes is affiliated with the #1 real estate office in the St. Louis area.

We know that being the biggest doesn’t always mean you are the best. Sometimes quantity comes at the sacrifice of quality.

That’s not the case with our office.

Keller Williams Realty St. Louis, centrally located in Kirkwood to serve the entire metro area, has closed more real estate sales AND has the highest sales volume in the last year compared to every other office in the St. Louis area.

The reason that our agents are having such success at getting homes sold is simple. The company provides top-notch training and support to help agents maximize their success. Keller Williams Realty St. Louis also offers a financial package that attracts the most growth oriented agents in town.

How Does Being #1 Help You?

Listing your home with Arch City Homes Team out of the #1 office in St. Louis means that you will get added exposure to the most active agents in town who are out looking for homes every day for their buyer clients.

Choosing Arch City Homes to partner with you when you are ready to buy a home means that we have a better shot than any other office at getting you advance notice about homes that are Coming Soon.

But more than anything, being #1 is a reflection that our office is providing the training and support to allow us to serve your needs.

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home, let’s talk about how Arch City Homes can help you.

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Mortgage Interest Rates: 1-Year and 3-Year Charts (April 2012)

Karen Goodman — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:54:19 +0000

A few years ago I used to publish monthly mortgage interest rate updates and have wanted to get back to it for awhile.

In the last year, I’ve been sending out mortgage rate trend charts to our U.S. mail newsletter recipients and decided it was time to start sharing them here too. Each month we’ll publish the latest 1 year and 3 year trend charts for 30 year fixed rate mortgages. To make sure you don’t miss any of the mortgage rate update articles, subscribe to to our articles via RSS or email.

30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Interest Rates – 3 Year Trend:

30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Interest Rates – 1 Year Trend:

The Fine Print:

The interest rate you receive will vary depending on a number of items including the down payment amount, credit scores and the length of time between rate lock-in and closing. All rates are based on zero point loans.

All interest rate information is provided to us by Christine Menker-Wilson with Realty Mortgage Group. This communication is provided to you for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon by you. Keller Williams Realty and Arch City Homes LLC is not a mortgage lender. You should contact Realty Mortgage Group directly to learn more about its mortgage products and your eligibility for such products.

Christine Menker-Wilson is a Senior Mortgage Banker with Realty Mortgage Group. Christine offers a no-fee refi for Arch City Homes clients and friends with refi’s of $150,000 or more (restrictions apply). Christine’s industry requires us to share her NMLS: 238373 and License: 10-730-MLO.

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Are You Ready to Buy a Home?

Karen Goodman — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:05:34 +0000

During the housing boom, a lot of people bought homes who really weren’t ready to be homeowners.

The blame lies both with the homeowners who got caught up in the buying frenzy without carefully considering if buying was right for them, and also with the media and real estate industry for telling people they were foolish to rent regardless of their personal situation.

Are You Ready to Buy a Home?

Just because you can get approved for a loan and can scrape together the 3.5% down payment, doesn’t mean you should be a homeowner.

If any of these conditions apply to you, maybe you should wait to buy your first (or next) home.

Don’t Be House Poor:

If covering the down payment and closing costs will wipe out most of your savings, you should think twice about buying a home.

Many of the people who lost their homes to foreclosure in recent years didn’t have a cash buffer in their savings account after closing. While the days of 100% loans are long gone, it’s still possible to buy a home with very little skin in the game. Buyers can have the 3.5% down payment on the FHA loan gifted by a qualified relative and have the seller cover the closing costs. IF you are doing this in order to ensure that you don’t wipe out your cash reserves with the purchase, then it can be a viable strategy. But if you are going this route because you don’t have any money in your savings account to start, you’re making a big mistake.

Whether you are covering the costs at the closing table yourself or getting the money from a relative and the seller, you need to have enough funds left in your bank account after closing to cover unexpected repairs and your bills if you would end up out of work unexpectedly.

Owning Takes More Work than Renting:

If you aren’t prepared to invest your time (and money) in maintaining a home, then you shouldn’t own one.

Owning a home means you need to educate yourself on what needs to be done to ensure its systems don’t wear out prematurely. You should plan to have your air conditioner serviced every spring, your furnace every fall, and clean your gutters every spring AND fall.

There are also a lot of other things that come up that you’ll need to pay attention to if you want your home to maintain its value. You need to keep any wood trim or siding painted. You need to seal cracks in driveways and patios to prevent the winter freeze & thaw cycle from deteriorating the concrete or asphalt. You’ll need to pay attention to broken shingles and soil erosion.

While owning a condo can eliminate most or all of the outside maintenance, you still need to be prepared to deal with plumbing issues, broken appliances and carpeting that will eventually need to be replaced. All of these things cost money.

In order to maintain the value of your home, you should plan to invest 1-3% of the value of your home into repairs and updates EVERY year. If you can’t do that, you need to keep renting.

Your Life is in Transition:

Many people who have been homeowners for a while make the mistake of jumping into a new purchase when life changes occur. Sometimes, these people really should consider renting until their life stabilizes.

If you are in the midst of a divorce or breakup, consider renting for a year until everything is finalized and you get a chance to get comfortable with your new single status.

If you are moving to a new city and are completely unfamiliar with the area, consider renting in the neighborhood you think you like best to be sure of the decision before committing to a home purchase. However, if you have children who will be attending public school, you probably need to just go ahead and make a decision rather than taking the chance that the kids will have to switch schools a 2nd time if you can’t find a house to purchase in the same boundaries.

If you think you might be moving out of the city in the next year or two and are currently renting, don’t buy a house unless you are willing to become a landlord. If you are willing to convert your home into a rental property when you move, then it can still make sense to buy. If becoming an out-of-town landlord is not appealing and you go ahead a purchase, you will probably lose money. Since homes historically appreciate 4% per year, and it can cost 1-2% in fees to purchase and 5-8% in costs to sell, most people will need AT LEAST 3 years just to break even. If you end up in a market where values are not climbing, or worse, are falling…you might end up needing to bring cash to the closing table to sell.

Of course, there are always exceptions. People moving for a job often know that they will only be in a city for 2-4 years before they end up with another transfer. Still, many are offered relocation packages that cover their closing costs for the purchase and the closing, and it would be foolish to rent in these cases as long as they have the cash reserves to cover maintenance issues.

Share our story….have you ever bought a home when you shouldn’t have?

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Marketing Homes for Sale ~ Focus on Lifetstyle

Karen Goodman — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:43:24 +0000

When I first started marketing homes, I did what so many agents do. I used the marketing remarks section of the MLS to list as many features as I could squeeze into the 1000 character limit.

It wasn’t long before I realized I was missing the point.

Buyers don’t buy homes based on the checklist of things they want in a home. They buy the home that they can imagine living in. They buy the home that lets them live the life they hope to live.

Inman News, a leading real estate industry news publication, explains that:

There is only one reason prospects do not want to see a home the second time: They have not seen a home they can picture themselves living in that satisfies their emotional needs, like convenience, safety, fun, pleasure, and pride of ownership.

The article goes on to recommend that agents work with a lifestyle checklist so they can understand what is really important to buyers beyond the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

Marketing Lifestyle:

Nowadays, real estate agents don’t go preview every listing on the market. There are 11,357 homes and condos on the market at this moment in the St. Lous region. And the inventory changes every day.

It’s simply not possible for agents to know all of these homes.

Since both buyers AND their agents are relying on the online marketing to decide which homes they should go see, it is critical that MLS listings advertise not just the facts of what exists in the home, but what it would be like to live in the home.

Here are some of the things we often highlight in our advertising:

Chef’s kitchen – we don’t just list the appliances that are offered, we help people imagine themselves creating gourmet meals for their family
Perfect for entertaining – is the open floor plan great for guest mingling? Does the yard have a patio big enough to throw a BBQ party? Is the dinning room large enough for the extended family at Thanksgiving?
Room to spread out – if a home is likely to attract larger families because it has 4 or 5 bedrooms, buyers want to know there are spaces that they can go when they need a break from ‘together time’
Master bedroom retreat – rather than say the master bedroom is huge or has an adjoining sitting room, buyers should be reminded that they can have a place just their own to get away from the household activity
Park just a few blocks away – this also works for restaurants, schools and anything else in walking distance. Help the potential buyer imagine what it would be like to walk their kids to school or take an evening stroll on a nice summer night and grab dinner at that restaurant on the corner.

We go further than just writing up a good paragraph for the MLS listing. We create a custom map for each home which shows what is in the immediate neighborhood. We also create a video which spends as much time highlighting the community as it does the house.

Here’s a sample video that gives you an idea how how a home listing can promote lifestyle while still hitting the highlights of the homes features.

It really does work.

Of the 21 properties that we have had on the market this year, 13 are either closed or currently under contract. Another 2 owners decided they weren’t in a position to sell for the market value of the home and pulled the properties off the market. We have no doubt that the marketing of the remaining 6 will get them sold.

While some agents aim for a large inventory of listings so that they can financially succeed even though only a percentage of the homes sell, we expect every single one to sell…or we won’t take on the job.

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St. Louis Condo Sales by Price Range (2009-2011)

Karen Goodman — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 14:16:32 +0000

Over the last few years, condo sales have been harder hit than home sales.

In 2011, only 12% of the sales in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County were condos. With 9 in 10 buyers choosing homes instead of condos, only the best priced condos sell.

2011 Condo Sales by Price Range:

Take a look below to see how condo sales for the 3 major counties that make up the St. Louis region did over the last 3 years.

The charts below include condominium & villa sales that closed in 2011 and were listed in the MLS. The data is obtained through MARIS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Is the Market Getting Better or Worse?

It depends on your price range and your county.

Compare the 2011 charts above to sales in the last 2 years.

St. Louis City:

St. Louis County:

St. Charles County:

What does all this mean?

If you are trying to sell a condo, there just aren’t many buyers in any price range. If you aren’t priced between $100,000 – $200,000, it will be extremely hard to sell and you need to price it aggressively if you hope to get a contract offer. But in EVERY price range, you need to be competitively priced if you hope to sell at all.

If you are trying to buy a condo, you should have a lot to choose from compared to buyers of single family homes. With a high level of inventory available and very low demand for condos, buyers are getting great deals.

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Video Review: Creve Coeur Seller Reviews Arch City Homes Team

Karen Goodman — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:15:32 +0000

We’ve been very busy at Arch City Homes.

We currently have 7 properties under contract for our clients and have an offer we are working on today for a house we haven’t even gotten onto the market yet.

It’s been a busy few months.

We started doing video reviews a little while ago, so you could see for yourself what our clients have to say about working with us. We don’t give our clients any warning and we don’t tell them what we want them to say. The result is that you hear what they are really thinking. All of our video reviews are done in one take without any editing for content.

Yesterday, we closed on a condo for two sisters who were selling their father’s condo after his death. In situations like this, our job is more than just getting a property sold. We are honored to be selected to help clients like Judy and Pam as they deal not just with selling a property, but in closing a chapter in their lives.

Judy Shanfeld & Pam Katz
Estate condo sale
Creve Coeur, MO

St. Louis Homes Sales by Price Range (2009-2011)

Karen Goodman — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:48:44 +0000

For the last 3 years, I have reported that the majority of buyers were choosing lower priced homes and there was little demand in higher price ranges.

Even with daily bad economic news, people continued to buy homes over the last few years. However, buyers concerned about the economy clearly made conservative spending choices. Homes appropriate for first time buyers and investors made up a big portion of the sales.

2011 Home Sales by Price Range:

Take a look below to see how single family home sales for the 3 major counties that make up the St. Louis region did over the last 3 years.

The charts below include residential sales that closed in 2011 and were listed in the MLS. The data is obtained through MARIS and deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Is the Market Getting Better or Worse?

It depends on your price range and your county.

Compare the 2011 charts above to sales in the last 2 years.

St. Louis City:

St. Louis County:

St. Charles County:

What does all this mean?

If you are trying to sell a home and it is priced above or below the average sale prices for your county, there just aren’t a lot of buyers. You need to consider pricing your home aggressively if you hope to get it sold. If you don’t need to move, it might be smarter to stay put for a year or two until sales pick up in your price range.

If you are trying to buy a home, don’t be surprised if you end up competing with other buyers if you are looking at the same price range as the majority of buyers. If you are in a position to purchase a higher priced home, you should be able to find a great deal.

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