Crist and Sharon's Blog

Buyers and sellers alike who do their research when it comes to finding a real estate professional can experience a smooth mental and financial transaction and save thousands of dollars.  Therefore, never waste what time and resources you have.   Use your time and all your resources wisely.

Decide what is important to you when looking for a real estate professional.  You want to look for someone who specializes in your area.  Are you buying, selling, relocating or investing?  Whatever your choice, if you choose the right real estate agent, they will be able to help you.

A great place to start your search is by asking family and friends if they can refer a Realtor® to you.  If not, then begin your search in the community where you are planning to buy or sell.  Take a drive through the community and neighborhoods.  If you begin to see the same name pop up over and over again, that is a good indicator that the agent specializes in that community.

Find out if that real estate professional has a website.  If so, they should have an abundance of information on their site.  For starters, there should be an "about me" or "about us" page giving details about who they are and their history in the real estate business.  Some real estate professionals have helpful community information on their websites, giving you a complete break-down of the communities they serve.  Does their website offer buyer/seller tips, local school information, property searches, links to their other website(s) or other useful links?  If you're looking to relocate, does this real estate professional offer a relocation package?  Another thing to look for is a real estate blog link on their website.  If they have a real estate blog, this means they are working extra hard to keep consumers up-to-date on the communities they serve, current market conditions and real estate trends along with giving real estate tips and advice to buyers, sellers and homeowners.

Always keep in mind that, when looking for a real estate professional to handle all your real estate needs, you want someone who specializes in the area you live or are interested in moving to.  We can't stress enough how much easier this will make the buying or selling process go.

We wish all buyers and sellers luck on their real estate professional search.

Realtors® Sharon & Crist Fanning - Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri Real Estate

Homes for Sale in Lake of the Ozarks

Spring is getting ready to spring upon us already.  We really can't believe how fast it has come.  But, nevertheless, it's here and it's time to do some Spring cleaning around the lake.  Therefore, the Lake of the Ozarks is calling upon its brave souls to help clean up the lake's shoreline.

This year, the annual Shoreline Beautification Cleanup is scheduled from March 15 through April 15.  Adopt-the-Shoreline organization is seeking volunteers to help spruce up the lake in time for the summer swimming and boating season.  So far, there are over 600 volunteers expected to turn out, but there is always a need for more help.

Clean up will consist of cleaning the shoreline, transporting floating material from the lake and stacking debris for later pickup.  Adopt-the-Shoreline provides all supplies, administrative work and disposal of trash.  Volunteers will only handle the clean up. 

Since the annual Shoreline Beautification Cleanup began, there has been between 120 to 240 tons of dock foam and other junk removed each year from the lake's shoreline.  In the past, around 90% of the debris removed from the shoreline was old foam.  We have blogged about the removal of non-encapsulated foam docks in the past.  There is now a ban on non-encapsulated foam docks so, hopefully, we won't have to be cleaning up so much loose foam in years to come. 

If you would like to volunteer, you can call the Adopt-the-Shoreline office at 573-365-9252.  There are several volunteer zones around the lake, so be sure to mention which mile marker you are closest to and the volunteer office will direct you to the closest zone to you.

Realtors® Sharon & Crist Fanning - Lake of the Ozarks Real Estate

Lake of the Ozarks Community Information

Homes for Sale in Lake of the Ozarks

Other Lake of the Ozarks Communities

In today's world, we are beginning to hear the term "going green" more and more.  We read about it, see news reports about it and watch television programs geared toward it.  Now we have a President and an administration that seems to understand the importance of that term and how it effects our economy.  Therefore, we are seeing experts from both sides of the playing fields demanding a recovery plan that will focus on green jobs and infrastructure, especially now that consumers are striving to cut their living costs and live in more economically sustainable homes and businesses are looking to cut operating costs.

Plain and simple, the key to a prosperous future is sustainability.  That is extremely important as we move forward.  In order to coexist with our environment, we must develop systems that encourage cleaner indoor air, reduce water and recycle almost everything we use.

Here's some good news we found in recent studies: 75% of commercial real estate builders, rental building owners, engineers, developers, engineers and architects say they will not let the credit crunch discourage them from building green.  Most of them plan to seek LEED certification for buildings and plan to build within the next few years.  Almost 70% of homebuyers are also interested in buying a green home over the conventional home.  In fact, many homebuyers that bought a green home had an annual income of less than $50.000.  So, it's not as expensive to buy a green home as many buyers may think.

The opportunities for going green today are nearly endless.  And the more homeowners and home builders that go green, the more jobs that will be created.

Realtors® Sharon & Crist Fanning - Lake of the Ozarks Real Estate

Homes for Sale in the Lake of the Ozarks

Lake of the Ozarks Community Information

More Lake of the Ozarks Communities