Kehoe Realty Inc.
P.O. Box 496, 901 N. M-18 Gladwin ,MI 48624
Home Office: 989-426-7112
Main Office: 989-426-0664 or 1-800-426-0664
http://GladwinRealEstateAgent.com
At around 2:00 in the afternoon the power went out due to the very high winds. This was a good excuse to take the kids outside to ride their new bikes. (It also got the kids and my husband away from the video games they got for Christmas, which I had tried to get them away from all morning and early afternoon!) Of course, riding their bikes was a little bit of a challenge because of the winds. Our son had no trouble because he decided that the new bike was still too big to ride and opted to ride his old one, but for our daughter who got a bigger bike with the brakes at the handle grips...it was a challenge. There were a couple of times she dumped the bike because she wasn't used to it. Of course, the high winds didn't help. Finally, after about an hour we gave up and went back in for the day.
We spent the rest of the daylight hours playing games like Sorry and Concentration. At dark, we got out the candles and flash lights to get around the house. Of course, by then the kids were getting board and hungry. I couldn't cook because our stove was electric and we couldn't go to the restaurant across the street because they were also out of power (and they're New Years Eve party canceled). So, I called to the Prairie Wold Café just west of Sugar Springs on Grass Lake Road. They said that they just got their power back and were opened again for business. So, that's were we headed off for dinner.
When we got there, the place was packed because of everyone else being out of power in the area. We were lucky to get the last open table in the place! Unfortunately, they were short of help because they had let most of the workers go home when the power went out earlier. It took a while to get our order taken, which was okay. We got to chat with other people that we knew in the area, since most everyone was in the same situation as us. It was sort of fun. After a long wait for our food and the restaurant packed with people, the lights flickered and went out again! There we were, waiting for out food in a packed restaurant without any lights. Luckily, each table already had a lit candle, so there was some light and other people ran out to their cars and brought in flash lights.
Since the grills were still hot and our food was already half prepared, the chef was still able to finish up our dinners and we ate by candlelight. We stayed there long past finishing our dinners, until the restaurant pretty much cleared out. We stayed there and chatted with the owner and workers that we all knew from eating there often. Finally some time after 8:00 pm we decided to head home, in hopes that the power would soon be back on so that we could ring in the New Year with light and heat.
When we got home, we got out a bunch of candles and lit them for light. Jim started a fire in the fireplace for warmth. Then just about 5 minutes after we got a nice fire going in the fireplace and I got all my candles lit, the power went back on! YEH!!!!! Then a couple minutes after that the fire department tones went off on my husband's pager. There was a house fire in the area....and out the door my husband went. Jim rang in his New Year fighting a house fire deep into the night, while the kids and I curled up on the couch watching movies until 2 am. Jim finally got home some time after 4 am, to catch a couple of hours of sleep before getting up and going to work at 8 am New Years day.
So far it's been a great year. I plan on it staying that way. The good news is that real estate has not slowed down much. I've stayed very busy throughout the holidays and into this new year. In early January I took a couple of Real Estate classes. One was an Accredited Buyers Representative class that ran 8 hours for 3 days in a row. It was a fantastic class! I learned so much over that week and I'm excited to implement this new knowledge into my business.
Some more great news! The Clare/Gladwin Board of Realtors now has their new MLS system in place. This is a great system! It is much better than the old one we were using. It has so many other features that the old one didn't have. How will this affect you? Well, if you are a Buyer, I can do much more thorough searches for homes. I can set up web pages with listings that fit your search criteria and as new listings become available, they will automatically be added to "your private web page". You will also get alerts when new listings are put on your page. What's even better is that listings are updated every 10 minutes! Of course, you will still only receive up to one alert a day in your email so that you aren't getting several emails a day from me for each new listing (unless you request for me to have alerts sent every time a new listing come up that day. Otherwise you'd just get up to one email a day if there is anything new).
If you are a Seller, it will allow us to put more information on your listing and create a web page of your listing through the system. It will also put our listing on a public web page that Realtors can email to the buyers with photos, virtual tours and detailed descriptions of your property. Visit the web page that I created that links to the MLS search in Gladwin & Clare counties. You can access information to just about any listing from our Multiple Listing Service from this page (accept Commercial & Multi-Family Housing listings, though I can email you those links as well, if you request them): http://GladwinRealEstateAgent.com/mls.html I feel that this system will enable us to serve our buyers and sellers to a higher level.
Sincerely, Ivie Baker
P.S. If you know of anyone who is looking to buy or sell real estate in the area, feel free to give me a call.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Tax Time is Here! YUCK! With that, we all need important papers put together and it also helps if we can find ways to save a little money. If you bought or sold a home or property through me in 2004 and you can't find copies of your closing statements, please give me a call and I will send you copies.
Also, I found some handy information for those of you who plan on doing some home improvements this year and in coming years. I learned about this form in the ABR (Accredited Buyers Representative) class that I took in January.
Did you know that home improvements, maintaining, remodeling and redecorating your home - are a good investment of your hard earned dollars that produces both a better & safer place for you and your family to live, as well as increases your property value? And while home improvements increase value, they SHOULDN'T increase your Property TAXES. But we all know that sometimes your Tax Assessor thinks differently. Right?
I've inclosed a form for(and about) the "Michigan Mathieu-Gast Home Improvement Act". If you do any home improvements in 2005 or in future years, you may want to turn this filled out form into your township tax assessor before Dec 31 of every year that you do home improvements. Read the enclosed brochure for more detailed information about this valuable form! It might just save you some major money!Your satisfaction and subsequent referrals are the basis for my future business. Thanks!
(Email me if you'd like me to send you this Form)