Davenport Iowa Real Estate

If you have ever considered starting a farm territory for your real estate business, here are some things to consider:

• Choose an area that you want to work in.  You will be investing countless hours of time in the area so make it one that you enjoy and hopefully one that is close to your home or work.

• Don't pick a neighborhood that is such a great neighborhood that nobody moves.  You will starve while waiting for your next paycheck. 

• Walk the area door to door.  Tell them you are considering starting a newsletter of happenings for their area and ask if they would find value in that.  You will then find out if someone else has been working that area hard already and you may want to pass.  Ask them if they would prefer to receive the information via e-mail or delivered.  You also will find out who to leave off your list if you get a bad response.

• No matter what you choose to do, do it consistently!  You must have frequent (preferably at least monthly) contact with your area or it won't be as effective. 

• You also don't have to limit yourself to just one farm area.  I used to farm 3 areas.  It works out great, kind-of like a farmer who is a multiple producer.  It diversifies your portfolio.  If one farm doesn't produce it's likely one of the others will. 

• If you aren't going to keep after this for at least two years, don't bother starting it.  You must win people over in time and the results are usually not quick.  If they happen quickly, great!  But don't count on it.  It's like anything else, the best results are through hard work and persistence.   

• If you want to produce your own neighborhood newsletter, good items to put it are recipes, dates of local events, information about things to do socially in the area, maybe even consider sponsoring a neighborhood event such as a game night.  For instance, trivia contests are still very popular. 

• There are several great marketing companies out there who will do newsletters for you.  One I like is Realty Times.  Here is my latest newsletter that they produced.  All you have to do is e-mail it, print it and mail it out, or hand deliver it.  If you have the time, the hand delivery will be more effective for you as you will be able to have two-way communication with the people that you catch home. 

Well, there it is!  The starter kit for beginners at farming.  Go ahead, try it!  You can do it!  See you at the finish line!

Anyone have suggestions to add to this list?

Lucky Lang

qcfsbr.com

                                                                           For more information please contact Lucky Lang at:

                                                                                                       qcfsbr.com

                                                                           For more information please contact Lucky Lang at:

                                                                                                       qcfsbr.com

                                   This property is zoned commercial and is priced at $109,999.

PROPERTY BEING SOLD "AS IS WHERE IS". VALUE IS FOR COMMERICAL REAL ESTATE GROUND. NEW OWNER MUST CREATE OWN NEW ACCESS ROAD. BASEMENT WITH OUTSIDE ACCESS ONLY. PROPERTY HAS PREVIOUSLY RENTED FOR $570./MO. ACCORDING TO SELLER. 

THIS RIVER VIEW IS FROM THE TOP OF THE DIKE BEHIND THIS PROPERTY FROM THE BIKE TRAIL.

                                            THIS PROPERTY IS NOW OFF THE MARKET!!!

                        FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER REAL ESTATE CONTACT:

                              LUCKY LANG, QUAD-CITIES FAVORITE REALTOR^®, AT:

                                         Lucky Lang, Realtor ^®             Licensed in Iowa & Illinois

                    Mel Foster Co., Inc., 3211 E. 35th Street Ct., Davenport, IA  52807-2585

Cell: 563-676-9031      Office: 563-359-4663 Ext. 325  Fax: 563-459-6720 Toll Free: 800-791-8132 Ext. 325

                                                      Website:  http://www.qcfsbr.com/

Baseball season has begun at John O'Donnell Stadium in Davenport, Iowa!  A few snow flakes flew as

           my quartet sang the National Anthem for the opening game.  From left to right are:

                            Dr. Greg Garvin     Lucky Lang     Stan Brown    Amos Glanz

            It's a beautiful setting to enjoy a ball game down on the Mississippi River!

             Tickets are now on sale at Swing Baseball or you can call (563) 324-3000.

                                                   So Let's Play Ball!!!

Lucky Lang

qcfsbr.com

The Iowa House voted Tuesday to banning exotic animals as pets.  Lions, tigers, and bears......oh my!  Can you imagine that one Iowan actually has a pet alligator?  Yes, this is Iowa.....not Florida.  One Sioux City home actually had 30 exotic animals, including this alligator!

The Animal Rescue League has been pushing this through claiming in the past three years there have been 14 cases where wild and exotic animals (including monkeys, cougars, and yes.....lions, and tigers, and bears....oh my!) have been kept.

Personally, I've seen some pit bulls that were more dangerous than these because they're allowed to run free!

So for now, we can keep our dogs and cats, oh yeah, and hogs are okay too!

It appears that hamsters are still okay.  OSHA hasn't made a ruling yet on the noise level of the running wheel.....stay tuned!

Iowa was one of three hold-outs of states in this country that previously didn't have a ban at all.

I'm happy to know that as soon as the Governor signs this legislation, I won't have to spend nights up worrying about my next door neighbor bringing home a pet elephant!

Lucky Lang

qcfsbr.com

Below are the statistics for all residential real estate activity in the Iowa Quad City market for this year.

The market is picking up and values are stabilizing.

Lucky Lang

qcfsbr.com

I got a call from an appraiser yesterday to set up an appointment to do an appraisal one of my listings that just pended!

He said, "What would you do if you were called to appraise a property that had been on the market for over 6 months for $100,000, with no offers, and the purchase price of the offer is $110,000 with $10,000 going back to the buyer at closing?"

Before I tell you how I responded, think about the ramifications of this situation:

1) As an appraiser that relies on income from referrals from lenders, real estate agents, etc., do you try to make the person happy that sent you the referral (and he/she made it clear that they needed this value in order to do this loan) and knowing that if you don't........you may never make a dime off their business again?  You stand to lose over $10,000 of business from this lender if you don't comply.

2) The buyer is your client and is the person that paid for the appraisal.  The buyer knows what he/she paid for the property, thinks that he/she got a good deal, and wants the property to appraise so that he/she can close!  After all, who are you to interfere with what a willing buyer and a willing seller agreed to in an open market?  You will kill the deal for sure and have an upset buyer and a very upset seller as well if you don't comply.

3) You have been getting pressure from people who say that the foreclosure rates are going up and you need to be sure of your value and to look for situations that look "fishy".

Who is your allegiance to?  What would YOU do?

I will update this later to tell you my response.  I want to know YOUR thoughts first!

Lucky Lang :)

A new Forbes magazine report ranks Davenport, Iowa 25^th in the nation for its low cost of doing business. The report - "Best Places For Business and Careers - also ranks Davenport 90^th overall among 200 large metro areas.

Forbes bases those rankings on economic research firm Economy.com, owned by Moody's. Its business cost index factors in labor, tax, energy and office space costs. For living costs, Economy.com weighs housing, transportation, food and other household expenditures. It also supplied five-year historical figures on job and income growth, as well as migration trends.

Other data used in the rankings came courtesy of Portland, Ore., researcher Bertrand Sperling. He looked at the education of each metro's work force as well as the presence of four-year colleges in each area. Sperling also examined such quality-of-life issues as crime rates and cultural and recreational opportunities.

WAY TO GO, DAVENPORT!!!

Lucky Lang :)

qcfsbr.com

Back in 1989, Iowa legislators passed a law permitting Riverboat Gamblingwith certain restrictions for the first time in this country in decades.  Iowa was first but over the next several years Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri followed course.  Most of the casinos are located on the Des Plaines, Illinois, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers.  With several changes in the laws over the years, Iowa now allows 24-hour, no-limit, dockside gambling. 

Davenport, Iowa has a new Sky Bridge that leads pedestrians from a downtown parking garage across Highway 61 to the Mississippi Riverfront and the entrance to the Rhythm City Riverboat Casino.

Bettendorf, Iowa boasts the colorful Isle of Capri Riverboat Casino on it's section of the Mississippi River.

If you decide to go, please take time to enjoy our beautiful riverfront.  They are real treasures!

Lucky Lang :)

qcfsbr.com