On The House With John Armstrong
On The House With John Armstrong
[MUSIC] >> Good morning, McLean County. You're listening to On The House with John Armstrong on cities 92.9, the news and talk below meets the normal. This is the show where Leah Bland and I get together every week. And we talk about real estate. We typically talk about real estate, don't we? >> Yeah, sometimes we go off track. >> Sometimes we get, yeah, the train gets off the track. But to keep us on track today, Shawn Bozer from the pack at rematch rising. Welcome to the show, Shawn. >> Great to be here. And when I say the pack, I should mention the four time defending champion of the Panograph readers team of the year, is that correct? Are we on four? >> I believe so, I think it's back to back to back to back. >> This is reminding me of the 90 Bulls. Are we going to go one for the thumb for next year? >> No idea, we'll have to see how it goes. >> I love it. So this real estate market right now, I'm loving still as we head. We are in October right now, and to have the type of market we have in Bloomington Normal is, kind of feels like maybe a July. We have 97 existing homes on the market right now with 143 have sold in the last 30 days. If no new houses, this is across all price points. If no new houses came on the market, we'd be sold out in about 20, 21 days, which is an incredible seller's market. When you look with the National Association, a realtor says that if you're in a market where you'd be sold out in under five months, that would be a seller's market. To think that we're talking 20, 21 days, October, that's a real strong seller's market. For those of you who aren't participating in the market, your home value and you're just sitting back, your home value is going up. If you're one of those people who are thinking, okay, I'd love to move, but I'm locked into this 4.5% interest rate, and I don't want to give that up. I got good news for you, rates are dropping. We've been hearing lenders saying 6%. Is that Sean? Wasn't it this weekend to me business meeting compass? I think they said 6% on a 30 year loan right now. >> I think yeah, just above 6%. >> Yeah, yeah, and we're a lot of people aren't anticipating we're going to see rates drop a little further as we head into the end of the year. >> Do we hear a 5% on 15 or something like that? >> Yeah, we heard in the, I don't remember five of it was low fives on a 15 year, which is we've been having the 15 year and the 30 year, not that much difference to see a full percent starting to show you some signs that maybe a little shorter term might be more attractive. So stay tuned on the interest rates, but it's kind of making us feel like it's a little bit of a, I don't want to say it's a spring market because we're definitely not at that spring market. We're all at 143 houses. That needs to go up to about 180 before we really feel like we're in a spring market, but 143 homes in 30 days and we are in the middle of October is a very good sign for the activity in our market. Now home prices to year to date and Sean about you, when somebody asked me, hey, what's my home worth? I hate that question because what, when are we talking about? Are we talking about right this moment or are we talking about in the spring or are we talking about Christmas day? Yeah, it's, and it's tough to, tough to read because, you know, they tend to go for more than what you think. Exactly. Yeah, I feel like overall this year in Bloomington, if I have to guess, I'm going to say we're going to see about a six percent appreciation, but there were times this year where your house value was up about 10 percent. There are going to be times as we head into December that it's probably going to be a little less, but right now you're probably up five or six percent from where you were last year, if you're just sitting there not wanting to cash your chips in yet, you're probably got about five percent more and you're in your, I'm trying to make a reference to poker, right? And you're in your pot, you've got, you've got a little extra equity. So I think there's a lot of people in Bloomington normal that have more equity than what they think in their home. The sign of a good healthy real estate market is a lot of equity within the homeowners. And we, we certainly have that in Bloomington normal. You've got some sellers that want to cash your chips in now. All right, we have 301 East Elm Street in Chatsworth. It's listed for $125,000 by Taylor Lucas. You can return it 309-830-8605. All right, this is a charming three bedroom home. It's on a large corner a lot. It's in Chatsworth. The home is original hardwood floors, living room, dining room, main floor, primary bedroom. This has got a detached two car garage, just one of those nice older homes at 125. I mean, this looks like a real deal. We've got 5-1-1-1 Fleming Lane in Bloomington. That's out in the grove, I believe. And I think Jaden actually talked about this at one of the meetings and it's a very customized home. Great school out there, Benjamin Elementary. The write-ups are a little larger than what I want to read, but it's on over a half acre lot. I know that. But yeah, definitely I know he was talking about different customized bedrooms upstairs and just pretty much a great house, it's $520,000. Up next we have 1907 East Oakland Avenue in Bloomington. It's listed for $299,900 by Jody McDermott. You can return it 309-445-1263. And she's also doing an open house tomorrow, 1-230. Okay, this is when I actually went in this house and took a look at it. It's $299,000. It's an all brick house, one of those on Oakland that sits back in a very desirable area that everybody dries past and loves. What I've always loved about this house is it's got a really cool garage that you drive around and you can't see it at all from the street. It's one of those all brick homes, it's a four square, founders grove area, three and a half car heated garage. There's tons of charm. When you go upstairs, they have one of those built-in pantry deals and at home this age, sometimes you pull those out and they don't slide real well there. Everything's in great tip-top shape here. A really cool patio area on the end of the garage, facing the back of the yard. I could just see a family loving this and living in their backyard if you're one of those people that want to live outside in the summer months. This is a great home for you. Up next, we have a 2005 East Taylor Street in Bloomington. It's listed for $250,000 by Patrick Canary. You can reach him at 309-826-2475. He's also doing an open house tomorrow, 12 to 130. This is a great house in a great location and founders grove. Enjoy the spacious living room, connected to a family room and enclosed porch. It's got a great-sized dining room off the kitchen and all the appliances remain there. We've got a new water heater in 2024, new retaining wall, 2023, gutters 2020, AC 2020, so tons of improvements. Check this one out. You're listening to On the House with John Armstrong on Cities 92.9, the news and talk below me to normal. I like to call things, maybe the avocado green. I like to call those things vintage. You're calling them funky. Yeah, kind of. All right, so we're talking today, we're talking about some throwback styles. I think what you're doing is you're trying to say that Sean and I are old and we're going to know this stuff. No, but I thought you guys maybe you could know because I've never seen these, I feel like. I've never experienced it. Revenant. You're getting more old. You guys can help me. You guys can help me out. Okay, we are. We're going to throw it back. Some throwback trends. The first one I have is the shag carpeting. Shag carpet. That was the 70s. Yeah, we used to even shag carpet or cars. I mean, it was that was the deal. You never heard of that? The shag carpet? I have. I have the cars. Okay, yeah. But I'm kind of glad I wasn't there for that. Yeah, it's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's a bold look, I feel like. You know, when the first house was at when I was house hunting myself, there was shag carpet in the basement walls, which was pretty nice. Okay. Now this wasn't in the 70s though, it was a little like, okay, okay, that is all scary though. Yeah, I never lived in shag carpet, but I got to enjoy a lot of friends houses had shag. So you would put it on your walls too? No, I never, I didn't venture that far. Okay. We had a rake at our house for our carpet. To brush it. Really? We did, we did have a rake. Like the dog hair. Well, no, just, you know, you raked out the shag. Oh, yeah. I didn't actually see that. I remember that. That is amazing. That's hilarious. But now we're kind of more, no carpets, I feel like. Yeah. A doll would. Maybe like a rug. Yeah. Now people are, the only carpet you're seeing is the, the rugs that just, just to soften up the area. Cause they've got like a LVP or a wood all over throughout the house. And it's just, it's just, um, setting it so it's a softer feel. Mm hmm. I think it's more clean too. Yeah. Shag can get a little like dirty. I, I do, I do enjoy some carpet though. Yeah, I agree. I'll be honest. I think the better, the better. Better for sure. Better should be carpeted. Mm hmm. Green kitchens. Yeah. I love avocado green. That's, that's vintage. That's, that's, that's a vintage look. Okay. People should want to pay more for a house because it has that. We have that in the bathroom growing up. Okay. Oh yeah. The vintage green and all the appliances. That are the same color. Yeah. That's so interesting. Yeah. We had a, we had a, at, at our, our lake house, we had a green avocado green and the, you had to pull a dial and it had to go around two times and then you had to go back a left to turn to oven on. Oh. It was, yeah. It was, that was, that was the times that now that was the early 80s. That was. Okay. Yeah. And, and I'm sure that vintage green is still there in that house. Do you remember the orange colored name? It, no, it was a kind of a rusty, the, the bright orange, the tiger lily. Oh, it was tiger lily. Okay. I believe that's right. Okay. It might correct me, but yeah, that's, that's a, what was, is there a name for the pink because the pink is also the, went in that same family. I can't think of the pink. Yeah. But you always see it on the walls in the bathroom. It's the, uh, had that one. And I don't know if people can paint that. We'll have to have, uh, Greg Waters from Paint Depot. Uh, we'll have to ask him that question, but I'm sure there's a paint that can, that can bond with that that you can change the color. I don't know if it's going to chip off and while it's in the bathroom, but, um, yeah, that, some of those, uh, tile jobs, they were done really, really well, but you know they were done a long time ago. Um, so you would, the orange and stuff, would your appliances be that color too? Like you would, is that a thing? Yeah. You would match the appliances to the wall. Um, I think back in the 70s and 80s, they did. I don't know if our, our orange was matched, but yeah, a lot of the greens and stuff would match. Okay. Yeah. And I still today when I see those colors in houses, like somebody might have a, uh, a pro pillow or something that's got the avocado. It just feels like it's dated to me when I go in. I agree. I think your colors in your house, when you're selling it, very important. Don't send the wrong message because sometimes that antique, and I'm going to have that antique lovers, send me some hate mail here, but that antique, he makes your house feel older. And you want, when you're on the market, you want it to feel like it's been updated. You know, if you have that old house vintage charm, yeah, that's great. But, um, I would avoid the avocados. Yeah. And I think those, those colors are kind of coming back like the pastelish kind of lighter. Or bell bottoms. We already did that, didn't we? Again. Yeah. I think those are out now. Okay. Yeah. Good. But I think those weird vintage appliances, they're coming back, which is fine, but it's just, it's depends on your style. I feel like I don't, I don't think I'm ever going to put a vent, a vintage color. I'm never doing that. Okay. Okay. I don't think I'm trendy enough. That's okay. Um, I love the popcorn ceilings. Oh, no. Love me some, love me some smooth ceilings. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. When the popcorn ceiling that I never knew how they were going to patch that. That would just, to put that same popcorn look back if you had to cut it off. Why was that a thing? Like weird. You would touch the ceiling and it would like shed or like, it hides, it hides imperfections. It makes it for bad, it was great for the bad drywaller who did it so you could cover the seams and you never know because the, the popcorn's covering it at all. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Well, I have on here that it reduces noise, which I guess hides imperfections. Yep. I don't know about noise, but that's interesting. Yeah. See what we're learning. No, we are. That's what we're trying to teach you with the 70s. I also have the carpeted bathrooms. Yes. Sean, that's, that's, that's a no, isn't it? Yeah. I had to get rid of one of those in my apartments. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's not something that you really want to do. I don't know why that was a thing when it was, but if you have it and you're thinking about selling your house, nobody, everybody's going to mentally take money off your price because it has to be done and they're going to, they're going to take more money off than it really is going to take. So it's probably a project you should do before it goes on the market. Yeah. I think that is kind of crazy, but it'd be cozy in your bathroom, I guess. I can see having a nice fluffy shag rug that you step off to, but not the whole bathroom. The shag rug in the bathroom. Yeah. This is not something that you can hang, you know, hang outside instead of letting it dry. And that's just something that about that just germs. Well, it's like tiles just easier, but it is cold, but you can like put the heated thing under your tile floor, you know, keep your feet warm. Yeah. I've heard that's how the other half lives. So we're slippers. You can wear slippers. There you go. There's options. Yeah. Well, I ponder my options. Let's take a short break. And when we come back, we are going to visit with Langston Pates and we're going to talk about doing some moving with his company team relocation. So keep it right here. We'll be right back. Welcome back. You're listening to on the house with John Armstrong on cities 92.9, the news and talk up. Let me see normal demand. The myth, the legend Sean Bose are from the pack at remax rising four time winners of the Panograph team of the year voted on by the Panograph readers joins, Leah and I were talking real estate. We're talking. You know, Sean, something that you specialize in is investment properties, primarily apartment buildings. How has that been going over the last few years? We've seen the appreciation. We know that rents have gone up and we've seen the residential sales. We've seen the appreciation. How have the gains been with multifamilies? Yeah, I've seen a decent amount of people, you know, cash in on that, you know, working with different management companies and people looking to move their money elsewhere. But it seems like there are just a ton of people looking for them. So if you happen to have one out there and you want to find out what it's worth, you know, give me a call. 309-261-1302. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's a strong seller's market for investment properties. I talked to every realtor I talked to, it seems like they say, Hey, if you got something, you know, let me know. I got a cash buyer. I got a, you know, pre-approved buyer, you know, up to 500 million, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have a lot. There's a lot of out-of-town people wanting to invest in Bloomington. I know you've represented a few of those California, Chicago, Florida, and it used to be when you got those calls. You didn't really believe them, but you believe them now. Well, there's something about Bloomington normal that interests them. We're kind of a phenomenon, and even though we do have high property taxes, I think the belief in Bloomington normal is really what's attracting these people, the stability, and having a diverse employment force, you know, before we were very, very heavily dependent on one major employer. Now it's a little diverse, and it looks good from the outside world to come in and throw money into Bloomington normal. Yeah. I definitely have seen, I've done a ton of, with the student rentals, especially around ISU. Right. And then people come in and specifically ask me about that. But you also seen the residential rentals kind of catch up with that, so it's interesting to see. Well, we heard this a little bit. We have a record freshman class at ISU enrollment size, and how is that going to play out in a year or two? I know they were living in the dorms this year, but how does that play out the next couple years? I'm guessing it's way ahead of what it's been. I get texts on that all the time from from now. Yeah, October, you're probably out if you haven't signed the lease for next year. I believe one of the larger companies just told me they were at 80% the other day, and they're usually at about 60 to 65% at this time. So I mean, I don't think they've started the full open leasing to everybody or right at the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. I remember being in college and signing leases for next year in April. We're not even in the middle of October yet, and one of the company, you're talking about one of the major companies in town at 80%. That's a big indication that you've got to plan ahead, but I got to think that there's going to be maybe a little bit of an inventory shortage as this freshman class matures and to living in apartments and living outside of the dorms. Yeah. You see that and also expanding into the areas kind of around there that didn't need to, but you also have a lot of residential needs. Right. It's kind of, kind of puts them in a spot. So I think the rents might continue to go up. So yeah, if you're looking to, to invest or, or sell or buy, what's that number one more time? 309-261-1302. All right. We got some sellers who want to, they want to cash in on their investment. All right. We have 44 winding way in Bloomington. It's listed for $330,000 by Grace McDermott. You can reach her at 309-445-2588, and she's doing an open house tomorrow, 1-230. Grace McDermott, who Thursday night was recognized by our local board of Realtors as a rising star. Yeah. And I also want to, a shout out to Kelly Reel from Remax Rising, also a rising star, and the realtor of the year, Danelle Moberly and Tracy Pecunas installed as president. So I heard Grace McDermott. Look at them go. That threw me off and I took a left turn. Okay. This is a three bedroom. This is kind of a wild house, three bedroom, two bath, open layout. It's in Fox Creek Village. There's no backyard neighbors, beautiful views, finished, finished basement for entertaining quartz countertops, dark cabinetry, gold hardware. It's one of those very trendy designs at 330, a ranch house with a finished basement. This isn't going to last long. Up next, we have 937 West McArthur, McArthur Avenue, sorry guys, listed for $139,900 by Ashley Brownfield. You can return at 309-287-8383. Yeah, this is a charming two story duplex located just north of Miller Park. So it's a, it's got, look, see a three bedroom unit and a one bedroom unit. So it's always good to have the one bedroom unit. So it's really easily and good to have kind of a mix there. They're both rented months a month. The front one bedroom unit is in the back spacious three bedroom unit. So it's a great place, plenty of storage, family owned for 25 years. All right. Up next, we have 14632, Knob Hill Drive and Hayworth. It's listed for $625,000 by Chad Lang. You're going to return at 217-714-1171. All right, this is a five bedroom, three and a half bath ranch home. It's on 1.2 beautifully landscaped acres and desirable community of Hayworth. This stunning residence backs up to a picturesque water feature offering serene views and tranquil atmosphere. It's two by six construction, 11 foot ceilings. I want to check out 2300 square foot ranch. So it's a, it's a very large ranch, 625 give Chad Lang a call today at 217-714-1171. Up next, we have 120 Conley Circle in Bloomington is listed for $184,900 by Chad Boyle. You can reach him at 309-531-0922. Welcome to this beautiful three bedroom, one bath home at, it boasts wood flooring, which we're just talking about. And the living room and dining room has updated bathroom, kitchen remodeled with tile flooring, slate, slate appliances, pantry edition, counters, sink, flaccid, mosaic tile backsplash. It's got a great floor plan. I know this is over in Oakland school district. So great price for that area. Oh, yeah. Next, we have 303 Bob White Way in normal, it's listed for $424,900 by Ashley Brownfield. You can reach her at 309-287-8383. This is like two blocks from my house. So great neighborhood over there. So I figured I'd go ahead and talk about a little bit about this one. You're going to talk about how great that neighborhood. Oh, yeah. I mean, hey, might see me walk in my chuckle by this. It's got four bedrooms, three and a half baths. And I know they finished the basement on this one, which is a little different than some of those over there. It's got two-gar garage and it's one and a half stories and looks like it's got a main floor master. So that's great in that location. Oh, yeah. It's a newer part of a pheasant ridge over there, great schools and a great location. Everybody likes that first floor primary. I love that. You're listening to On The House with John Armstrong, Sydney's 92.9. The news and talk, let me tell you a little, Langston Pates from Team Relocation. How you doing? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me today. Yeah. Thanks for joining. I'm guessing that this is a busy, busy time of the week for you guys, always, always on the weekends. You're getting it done. So you guys, or maybe a company, people might not be necessarily familiar with what, you know, let's talk about what you guys do. Yeah. Team Relocation is a family-owned local moving company here in Bloomington Normal. We do service all of McLean County and a majority of surrounding areas, Central Illinois. We offer a pretty extensive service menu, everything from downsizing, packing, loading and unloading. You do the packing. We do. We come in, we pack, we'll pack your kitchen, all your drawers, cabinets, everything. We also load and unload household goods and commercial goods. So we will come in, pack the whole house from A to Z. So is there any move too small, any move too big? No. No move too big, too small, you know, no two moves are the same. We recognize that. So we do tailor our moves, just depending on what the client needs. We will move a single couch from one house to another. We do in-house moves as well. So some people just need things moved off the floor so the flooring guys can come in and replace that shag carpet, you know, from the '70s and, you know, before the house gets listed, we do room to room, door to door, floor to floor. And I've seen you move commercially, you move remax rising from our old building to our new building, you've moved me personally, and I will, hey, we're still friends. So you must have done a good job, right? Yeah, yeah. We love doing jobs for you guys as clients, and team relocation actually wants to let your listeners know that if you're a first-time home buyer and you're buying a house for the first time yet before 2024 is over, we are offering discounted rates to first-time home buyers that you love to find county if they use remax rising. Oh, I love that, Lance, and you're dropping this. I love that. Yeah, so if you guys call us 309-445-0663, if you're a first-time home buyer, you're using a remax rising agent, just reference that when you give us a call, when we do your quote. What kind of a discount we giving them? We give, it's not really a percentage. We kind of, again, no two moves are the same, so it's kind of going to depend on what they're doing, but I guarantee the quote will be less than if they use another broker. Okay, so we move, you guys move, you know, the furniture and things that everybody can think of, but what do you do, do pool tables, do you do safes, can you do? Yeah, we actually specialize in some of those like different types of pianos. Yeah, I've seen your movers, and I'm betting those guys can move pianos. We ran pianos, we did a 800-pound gun safe yesterday, got it down into a basement, pool tables. We try to stay away from hot tubs, there's a hot tub guy that does hot tubs, we've stayed out of that one. But anything else, if it's not nailed down, glued down or screwed down, we're coming to get it. Oh, I love it, Jackson. And how do you do, is it by weight, is that how you guys do your bidding process? Locally, it's hourly, it is an hourly rate, so we determine how many movers you need, how much truck space you need, and then that's going to determine an hourly rate. From there, I estimate how many hours I believe the job will take. You have a start time and an end time, and that creates your bill. So you've done multiple moves for me, nothing is ever broken, but I'm sure it happens. Things break. How's that insurance? Is that something that you guys cover, or is that something that the homeowner has insurance on their stuff, or how does that work? Yes, absolutely. So what they say, what can happen will happen when you're dealing with guys and trucks. So yes, we do carry over a million dollars of general liability insurance, I do ensure my guys' fingers and toes while they're at your home, I assure your home itself while we're there working, because we want those things to be in the same condition to go to closing once we've emptied it out. And we ensure your belongings while they're in our possession. We protect all the furniture, we will disassemble and reassemble anything that we have to get out and to move, and then we also protect the home as well. So floor protection for hardwood floors, we use carpet shield for that shag carpet. And we will protect vinyl, tile, anything we have to do to protect the floor from the elements and the traffic from the movers. You stole a little bit of my thunder, I was going to say, when you moved me personally, you guys were operating a little bit faster than I thought you were going to, and I didn't have my beds disassembled. Your guys came up and you disassembled and assembled them at my new spot. Now, I know a lot of movers that are just going to take it and they're going to, hey, this isn't ready. >> Yeah, yeah. Some people have the ability to disassemble and reassemble their own items that can knock off 10 and 15 minutes here and there, which will make your move cheaper if you have the ability to do that. Some people are like Langston, I want you guys to- >> I want to do it. >> I want to do it. I want the full service. >> I want the bed made when I get there. >> Yeah, yeah. >> But you didn't do that, but almost. >> Yeah, you were pretty close. Did someone try to wrestle that bed skirt on after we've assembled the bed with the king mattress on? It's a pain in the butt, so. >> Yeah, and you know something else, I liked that you guys, your guys are big, strong, courteous guys, and I've seen you guys work on wet days and you're very cautious of what you're walking through the house. >> We've got an outstanding crew, the young men that work for us, they're amazing. I had a customer about a month ago, she told us, she said Langston, when my move was over, I forgot that I had hired movers. She goes, I felt like my friends and family were here moving me, and that just, it made me feel good. I knew my guys had left a good impression. >> You know, not like they're sitting around visiting and wasting the time, but they are courteous and they'll smile at you and talk and ask how your day's going, and I appreciate that. >> Absolutely. >> All right, Langston, how can people get a hold of you for thinking about making a move? >> Yeah, 309-445-0663. >> All right, and reference remax, if you're using a remax rising agent, you're a first time home buyer, reference us for a discount. I love that. You're a first time home buyer, just let your move coordinator know that, and you will get a discounted rate on your move. >> I love it. We're gonna take a short break and we are gonna recap what's going on in the McLean County real estate market, so keep it right here, we'll be right back. >> Welcome back here, listening to On the House with John Armstrong on Cities 92.9, the news and talk of, let me say normal, Sean Bozart from the PAC, the four-time pantograph team of the year, at Remax Rising, hanging out with Lea and I, we're talking real estate Langston Pates, just left team relocation, highly recommend a great mover that he has a lot of energy too. >> Oh yeah, he's great. >> Yeah, that's why lifting those pianos is nothing for him, all that energy. The real estate market has a lot of energy right now too for the middle of October, we're seeing a market that's a little more active than what we would normally see this time of the year. Partially, I believe we're starting to see some sellers that are saying, okay, interest rates have gone low enough, I'm ready to make that move. Now, I think if we have one more drop in our interest rates, we're gonna hit that magic point where more and more buyers are gonna say, okay, I'm good at five and three quarters. I wasn't good at 7%, I didn't want to give up my four and a half, four, seven, but I'm good at five and three quarters, there's a threshold for pain that I think everybody who has that low interest rate is willing to live with. But they're living in houses because of their interest rate, not because it's their family's needs. Well, I know several families that have three bedroom homes and have three kids and they're sharing bedrooms that was never their intention and they want to get their, they've got a boy and a girl sharing a bedroom and they're getting into junior high age and they want to have some separation and they're saying back because of the interest rate and that's just not healthy for the family, so hopefully rates will continue to trickle down a little bit and get some of those people, instead of giving up on two percent or three percent, can only give up on maybe one percent or one and a quarter and be really happy. I know I'm kind of driven by my interest rate, I have a great interest rate, but I'm not making a move. Yeah, and you're seeing people even refinancing now, so the people that were- Right. Yeah, whatever presents. We saw some eights, yeah. And I think it's almost like gas prices, you know, when you're at three and it goes to five, it looks bad when you're at eight and it goes to five, it looks great, so you know. Right. It should start happening. We've seen, yeah, we've seen some refi's from the last couple years of, I think it makes sense to refi really if you're going to be in your house, it makes sense to refi if you're going to save one percent. Probably maybe it's a half percent is what the industry, but I think if you're going to be in your house for a long period of time, a half percent is worth it. If you're not going to be in as long, maybe it takes one percent, but it's a good time to look at your interest rate and just do a little check up on your finances, you know, especially if you have investment properties, this is- I'm hearing some pretty good low interest rates for investment properties, so it might be- and that's right up your alley. It never hurts to look, I mean, taxes and insurance aren't going down, so might as well check the third leg there, which is the one you can control. Yeah, the third variable. We got some sellers that want to take advantage of this market and get their home sold this weekend. All right. We have 608 East Market Street in Bloomington, it's listed for $167,000 by Tracy Pecunas. You can reach her at 309-275-5956. Do we have to call Tracy Pecunas president- Madam President now that she's the president of our Association of Realtors? Well, she listed an awesome home for first-time homebuyers. The layout, I think this would be good for first-time homebuyers, last-time homebuyers, maybe an investment property. The layout of this adorable bungalow is all on the main level. There are two bedrooms with a possible third. The current owner has done so many updates in the past 10 months. The kitchen was completely remodeled in July, paint, countertops, cabinets, and a new tub and shower and toilet were replaced in January. Tons of updates, good location, 167. Up next, we have 108 Buttercup Way in Bloomington, it's listed for $195,000 by Emily Bennett. You can reach her at 309-660-1876, and she's also doing an open house today at 12-2 o'clock. I'd like to live on Buttercup. I love that name. It looks great. I hate to mention this one with having three bedrooms, one-and-a-half baths, and there's under 200,000. I mean, yeah, I got a lot of people looking for that type of thing. So welcome to this inviting residence, nestled well, in a well-established neighborhood. It's a three-bedroom, one-owner home, so much to offer. New carpeting upstairs, so we got that just installed, along with fresh paint in all the bedrooms. Like a living room area features a cozy wood-burning fireplace with a gas starter, perfect quiet evenings at home. Up next, we have 12-47-12th Street in Bloomington, it's listed for $79,900 by Amanda Armstrong. You can reach her at 309-826-1471. All right, this is a manufactured mobile home. It was purchased new in 2020, so not much age on this. Three bedrooms, two full baths, it's a spacious layout. Has a living room, large kitchen, ample cabinetry and storage. Master bedroom has an ensuite with oversized tub and a shower combination. The oversized two-car detached garage has plenty of parking in ample space with a shed in the backyard. All right, up next, we have 2305 Rainbow Avenue in Bloomington. This is listed for $227,000 by Janet Jurich. You can reach her at 309-825-2078. All right, this is a great home in the Bloomington's East Side located in Lakewood subdivision. Updates include newer carpet, paint, updated electrical panel, kitchen flooring and added cabinetry. All windows, three years old, gas added to the lower level fireplace, ready for gas logs, maintenance-free duct in 2021 and a new patio. Furnace and Central Air have been maintained yearly and got great-sized bedrooms and great house. You're listening to all the house of John Armstrong on Cities 92.9, the news and talk of Bloomington Normal. A little earlier in the show, I mentioned that there's 97 existing homes on the market in Bloomington Normal. One thing I didn't mention was there's about 1,500 showings in the last 30 days. So when we have that sort of a ratio where you have 1,500 showings and there's only 97 homes on the market, you have buyers looking for things that are selling before they could put an offer and we have to do a little extra hustle and we've got some wants and needs that our agents are looking for. So we play matchmaker with our listeners. So listen up. All right, Randy Bradshaw is looking for something that is a four-bed three-bath in the trails on Sunset Lake. And you can reach Randy if you have this at 309-553-98—sorry—5533-9815. Ashley Kafflish looking for a two-bedroom one-bath ranch home for a client in El Paso, 120 to 140,000. She's also looking for three-bedroom, two-bath home in El Paso, Gridley Hudson, or Kappa for 200,000. If you have these, you can reach Ashley at 309-824-9996. Up next we have Emily Almeida. She's looking for something in Founders Grove, a bungalow with three plus bedrooms and two baths up to $275,000. If you have this, you can reach Emily at 309-826-0672. We have Alicia O'Malley-Shawn. It's looking for a bunch of things here. So a four-bedroom with a three-car garage, first floor primary or ranch, open floor layout, finished basement in Evans NCHS schools up to 400,000. She's got a four-plus bedroom with a three-car garage, finished basement, large kitchen, east side location up to 425,000. She's looking for a condo, duplex, two-plus bedrooms, ISU area up to 140,000. You can reach Alicia at 309-532-4155. All right. We were talking a little earlier in the show about the vintage throwback styles and things that people might have forgotten about, but maybe some that are coming back. Please, there's nothing that tells me the 1970s, something was done in the 1970s, then that dark paneling and the basement, the whole thing is paneled. Is that one of our... That is on my list. That is on the list? Yeah. That's one of our talking points. The wood paneling and the basement. Yeah, you know, there's also a smell that comes with that, that certain basements that I've been in. I don't know. Just that age, you... For sure. You can tell. A little mock bolly smell. For sure. It's a rustic cabin kind of feel, but you can tell. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Well dated. It was a really easy way to finish out your basement back in the day. Interesting. Yeah. I've seen a lot of people put... I've seen that coming back. Sometimes there's an accent wall, sometimes there's the whole basement, but I've seen... You see it a lot of times with just going halfway up the wall, and you've got it like a little chair rail around. I think that's fine. There's a way to make it look fresh. I feel like you can tell it's dated, when you're all your walls are wood paneling. The wings coated wall, I think that's something that never really went away. Yeah. You see that in the bi-level. We had our last house, we had the barn wood, which is kind of a unique one. I like that. I like that. I like that. For ours. Yeah, the barn... The barn... That's a real trendy look right now. Mm-hmm. And that's almost like rustic and cozy. Oh, yeah. Good vibes. It's giving me good vibes. For sure. Okay. Let's talk about my favorite one. The waterbeds. Waterbeds. I just think... That's the first thing I think of. Yeah, I definitely am guilty. I had a waterbed... I had two waterbeds. Oh, my God. Maybe back in my day. There was a time when every member of our family had a waterbed, and we used too much electricity, so we had a waterbed cover or something to turn you off at times. Oh, my God. I don't know why I ever thought that was a good idea. I mean, it's just... When you wake up every time it kind of... It makes no sense. Have you ever been on a waterbed? I have, but like, never would I sleep on one. Yeah. It was... It was quite a... I couldn't imagine just not sleeping on one back in the day. And when I'd go to friends' houses for sleepovers, I'm like, can I sleep on the waterbed? It's just the only ones in your parents' room, I'll sleep with them. Oh, my God. It's so weird. I could never imagine having one in my basement, so... Oh, absolutely. It's... We're at a time. Sean, thanks for joining us today. How can people get ahold of you if they want to make a move? Give me a call at 309-261-1302. And he is the investment property king in Bloomington Normal, so he's a great one to talk to. I hope you have a great weekend. Everybody, thanks for tuning in. Remember, ReMax Rising has more knowledgeable agents. (upbeat music) You
John and Leah talks with Sean of Remax rising on the fall housing market in McLean Co.