Wet St Louis.. Floods Famine & Pestilence

Alright, no famine! I need to drink more water, not see it come from the sky and rivers.... working toward food control is not exactly famine.

The wet events continue and more pesty events to come. With snow to our north and rain to our west in the last week looks like more of the same Water Water everywhere!

Flooding and clean up! Ugh! The CLEAN UP! River cottage dreams shattered. Levees are tested & we have passed, for the most part, at the moment. My visit to New Orleans the year after the flood for the National Association of Realtors Convention was so eye opening. The speed and power of water and the length of time to recover has been so underestimated. I pray for those NOLA folks, still. It is such a beautiful sad place with huge heart attempting to heal.

Thanks to prayers, engineering wonders, helpful hands and sand bags St. Louis and the Metro East are doing fairly well battling the water at the moment. The area has experienced tragic loss of life, property, irritating numerous clients with roof leaks, many wet basements, overflowing gutters, soggy ground everywhere, closed roads and horrible traffic.

In 1993 my Mother lived in East Carondelet IL with one home between hers and a swollen levee. We moved her out and back again, she and the property thankfully survived. It took awhile to get her to move, but we are all now happy she is safely in Crestwood, aware from flood risk.

That '93 year the charming town of Valmeyer, IL was flood ravaged and eventually was moved up the hill to a new location. I understand so was Pattonsburg and Rhineland, MO. What has become of those towns I do not know.

While visiting my Grandmother this week she shared her Reynolds County Courier newspaper detailing flooding of Ellington, home of our grandfather Foy Haywood. It ripped through that sweet historic town. A well respected man, Mr. Baker was lost trying to removed debri from the bridge in front of his home. The flooding must have caught people by surprise.

The sweet little town of Piedmont was seriously flooded. As was one of our favorite parks, Sam A Baker State Park. I remember as I child climbing the roots of huge trees that were ripped from the earth along the river there.

Being in the center of the country I thought we may be insulated from the wild, perhaps global warming, weather that the world has been experiencing. Thsi winter and even a single day has shown rain, snow melting, spring and winter in the same day with 50 degree temp drops in half a day.

I am ready for Spring with kind & gentle showers that grow flowers, planting the herb garden and allow for a little pestilence. I pray for the strength, healing, people, property and the land of ours.

FREE MONEY in St. Louis Missouri

WOW! Finally starting my first blog! Please...Let me know if you have thoughts and ideas for me.

The title says “Hot St. Louis Homes” so I’ll start with what is HOT here in St. Louis … FREE MONEY!!!

I wish I qualified to be a first time buyer right now!
In reality the rates are amazing and if you are financially able to buy, you should do it! Buyers do need to be realistic about their first home may not have it all… for example granite, loads of closet space, luxury baths, though some do. Their first home is likely not going to be their last. While there are confident Buyers here… an educated Buyer knows the well priced, best presented properties do sell competitively and knows when to move fast. Most Sellers are adjusting, yet they do have limits. They are not always going to give in to what they believe to be unreasonable demands.

Every wise investor will tell you… To do well, you have to BUY RIGHT!
A quote from a nice letter from one of my clients.
“We have just refinanced our home that we purchased 23 months ago. A new appraisal was done and the value has increased by $38000. We have made virtually no improvements to the property so the main reason for the 27 percent increase in value was due to “Buying Right.” This Right Location; Right Price; was determined by your expertise in real estate and your honesty in advising us.” Milton & Sally Billiet

I love helping people find what fits and is a great investment. Even the 100% Buyers are given great opportunities. In the St. Louis, MO area there are Missouri, MHDC, county and Non-Profit Buyer Education programs, such as Beyond Housing, for those who qualify as first time home buyers and they can get 3000-13000 at closing to be applied to closing costs and down payment assistance. Depending on the program, there are guideline qualifications regarding income, property condition, county, and of course require, jumping through a few hoops. Some are grants, some are loans at 0%, some are deferrred til you sell and some you pay back a portion of the the benefit if you move within so many years. It is not one size fits all and the does money runs out. But like anything else in life, making the plan so you are ready for opportunity is the first step. It doesn't happen overnight. You have to work with qualified lenders that have gone through process to be approved by the programs and follow the rules of the programs.

Missouri Association of Realtors has a great informational website about Home Buying & financing programs
go to www.Mohomeprograms.org for info.

I copied these links to make it easy:

"Missouri Home Programs provides a summary of housing related programs for home buyers in the state of Missouri. A number of programs provide home buying assistance to individuals based on income.
Search Assistance Programs
Search Loan Products
100 Questions & Answers for Buying a Home "

Enjoy the journey! Let me know if I can help!