2015 | Nebraska Realty - Omaha Real Estate Video Blog with Andy Alloway

What Makes Nebraska Realty the #1 Choice for Employees and Customers?

At Nebraska Realty, we not only look out for the interests of our clients and customers, we care deeply about the success of the people that we employ.

The commission splits are generous, and you'll have much more autonomy over your business than you'll get elsewhere. Our company is agent-friendly and agent-centric. We know what it's like to be in the trenches, and we provide you all of the tools that you need to be successful.

Building up our brand isn't our first priority, it's making sure that agents like you are successful in what they do, and that is what separates us from the competition. Our culture is set up to make you better at what you do.

We provide you tools, technology, and coaching so that you can accomplish the goals that you set. When we help you to succeed, it helps our business to succeed - and not the other way around.

If you're interested in starting a career in real estate at one of the country's greatest agencies, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Important Real Estate Industry News in Nebraska

Today I'd like to speak about some real estate industry updates that we've been working on at a local, state, and national level this spring.

We'll begin by speaking about some of the local/state level initiatives that we've been working on:

The Notary Provision was finally signed into law by the Governor, which eliminated the Notary Provision for Purchase Agreements for homesteads, and this will go into effect sometime in September.
There were also some updates added to the Purchase Agreement by the Board of Directors, and most of these surrounded the time frame in which you have to get home inspections done.
The Zillow Agreement was signed and we will be able to send out a feed through our board to Trulia and Zillow again.
There is also a checklist on its way that will help explain the policies on "Coming Soon" listings, because there has been a lot of confusion surrounding those issues.

Now, these are the issues affecting us at a National level, and I heard about these at the NAR meeting in May:

You've heard a lot about the RESPA/TILA that is coming on August 1st, so definitely keep an eye on that throughout the summer.
Upstream was approved by the board of directors at NAR, and this is a better way to control the flow of data, although it probably won't affect us for another year or two.
There are also several bills from Tax Policies to patent trolls that will be affecting us in the future. Be sure to ask me about these.
There was also a Danger Report that examined the top threats against agents and brokers in our industry in the next few years, and that can be downloaded from Realtor.org.
The Code of Excellence was also approved by the board, which takes our code of ethics to a higher level.

At the Commission level:

We established a joint task force on teams with the Nebraska Realtor's Association to try to create better policy on teams to answer more questions that we've been getting.
There was also a sub-committee created for property management, and we're proposing more education and better requirements for those positions.
We also clarified some policies on "Coming Soon" listings, because there are some big gray areas there.

If you have any questions about any of these issues, I'd be happy to speak with you about them!

As always, consider me your #1 resource for real estate assistance in Omaha!

What's Happening in Omaha Real Estate?

Active listings are down to 3,008, down 19% from this time last year
Pending sales are up 16.5%, from 1,374 to 1,593
Closed sales are down by 6% from this time last year
New construction median sales prices are at $285,000. This is a 13% increase from the $253,000 we saw last year
Median sales price is up 7% to $143,000
Average sale prices are up 9% overall
The average new construction home is up 18% in price from last year
The average sold property is sold for 8% more now than it was a year ago

If we take a look at our listings as a whole, we discover our absorption rate is less than 2. This means we are in dire need of some inventory to continue progressing forward. If you have any questions or are thinking about selling in Omaha, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Have You Seen the Nebraska Realty Mobile App Yet?

Not only can you search for homes on our new app with a list view of photographs, you can search via a map view as well. Homes aren't the only thing you can search for, either. We also have an open house search function, where you can filter open houses by price range and neighborhood.
One feature we mentioned last time, but didn't get into much detail about, was the ability to set your agent. If you open up the Nebraska Realty app, you have the ability to set any of our agents as your personal agent. After you do this, every time you search for a home or open house, a small screen will pop up, giving you one-touch access to your agent's phone number and email.

A few other features that our app offers include the "find a service provider" tab, as well as a built-in mortgage calculator. We are constantly adding new things, but if you have any questions or suggestions for us, we would love to hear them. Talk to you soon!

The Many Features of Nebraska Realty's New Mobile App

Looking to improve your real estate career? I'm here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with Nebraska Realty, contact me at (402) 491-0100 or email Andy@NebraskaRealty.com
Today I am excited to give you an exclusive look at Nebraska Realty's new mobile app. We are the first local company to develop an app from scratch! We've had different apps in the past, but this new version is the best one yet!

If you go to the iTunes or Google Play stores on your phone, you can download our app for free. When you first open it, you'll notice that it's very pictorial, and that's on purpose. We feel the best way for people to view homes online is through photo and video, and that's what we include with the many listings that we offer.

When you first open the app, it will display homes in descending price order, starting with the most expensive. However, you can easily adjust your criteria, such as price, bedroom count, and square footage to get the homes that you really want to see. Each listing has a photo library, and many have virtual tours as well.

You can even contact the Realtor of your choice from the listing's page. Or you can set someone as your specific Realtor, and contact them with the press of a button.

Our app has so many features, we won't be able to get to all of them today. Join us next time, where we will be exploring even more features of our new app. If you have any questions in the meantime, give us a call or send us an email, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!

Nebraska Realty's New Office Is Nearly Done

It's only been four and a half years, but our new office on 171st and Dodge will be finished in April. It's right across from Village Pointe, and we're extremely excited and proud to be in this new facility, but it will probably take until late May for an official move-in.

This building is specifically designed for the work that we do here at Nebraska Realty. We have plenty of conference rooms and all the technology we need to provide better service to you. We'll be hosting an open house in the future, so be sure to keep in touch.

If you have any questions for us in regards to real estate in Omaha, please don't hesitate to contact us. The market is starting to heat up, so be sure to contact us sooner rather than later!

The Advantages of Rebranding

We believe that Nebraska Realty is something that projects everything we are. We have debated for many years what we would do if we decided to rename the company. We ultimately decided that we are very proud of our heritage and our roots over the last 2 decades in Omaha as Deeb Realty, but we felt we needed a change, something that demonstrated our stability, our size, and our credibility as we continue to grow.

We were very fortunate to acquire this brand and it allows us to expand into other markets all throughout the state. We will not only be in the Omaha and Bellevue areas, but in Lincoln, Southwest Iowa, and all over the Cornhusker State.

People are going to recognize this brand, which may not have been the case before. No matter where you are coming from in the world, you are going to know the name of this brand. We are overall very excited, and this change comes at a great time for our growing company.

Thanks for all your support so far, we continue to look forward to serving you in the future as Nebraska Realty. If you have any questions at all, feel free to send us an email or give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you!

Policy Updates to Be Aware of This Spring

Today I just wanted to discuss some important policy changes that came about during a meeting at the Omaha Area Board of Realtors. Some of these changes may affect your transaction, so I wanted you to be aware of them before they caused you a headache.

Uniform Purchase Agreement changes: A lot of people were very excited when the new uniform purchase agreement came out, but there were some revisions that needed to be made. At the end of January 2015 some revisions were made to this agreement, and they will be going into affect on February 1st. Hopefully people can take advantage of this new agreement, because we think it's very beneficial.
No show - no auto emails: If you have a coming-soon listing or an off-market listing, you will need to sign an addendum of MLS benefits. This waiver has been updated, and it doesn't allow for automatic emails to be sent to clients when a home goes on the MLS.
Days on market: There was a discussion about how we can better track days on market to make it more accurate, and we're looking to come up with a more accurate solution in the near future.
"List Date" definition: We have redefined the 'List Date' for homes to the actual day where the first showing occurred. Sometimes list dates will begin but repairs and staging can take up to two weeks, and this results in your home being on the market for two weeks before a showing. This was damaging to sellers, so we've changed this policy.
FHA reduced premium mortgage insurance: The FHA has reduced their PMI rates, so it is much more affordable to get a loan. Also, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have reduced their down payment requirement to only 3%, so buyers are finding themselves in a very affordable home buying market right now. Hopefully this can re-energize the market and bring more buyers out this spring.

Hopefully all of this information has been useful to you. If you ever need me to explain these updates to you in further detail, please don't hesitate to contact me or my team.

We're always willing to help you with Omaha real estate!

New Nebraska Laws that Could Affect Your Real Estate Transaction

We just got done with Legislative Days down in Lincoln. The Nebraska REALTORS® Association holds meetings down there to discuss bills that would affect real estate. You may have heard of RPAC, which is the REALTORS® Political Action Committee, and they fight for the rights of REALTORS®. This is why they need your donations to keep your best interests in the minds of politicians.

We looked at 20 different bills, but I've got six here that I'd like to discuss.

LB34 is going to require carbon monoxide detectors inside homes just like you have smoke alarms. This would obviously affect your purchase agreements in the future.
LB253 is a big one that has to do with Notary provisions, and the hearing is coming up in a few weeks, so we're hoping that will pass this time.
LB 372 has to do with First-Time Buyer Savings Plan. This is a unique idea and it is similar to a college savings plan. Joni Craighead, the Senator introducing this bill, is also on the Omaha Board of REALTORS®. This is a great idea that's being acted out in Virginia, where you can put $50,000 towards the cost of a new house.
LB 375 has to deal with BPO's for tax assessments. This would allow REALTORS® to price homes for tax assessment purposes, which is currently prohibited under law.
LB 397 is a $400,000 lead-based paint grant for the Omaha area.
LB 406 will extend the Adverse Claim Possession from 10 to 20 years.

There are several other bills that we discussed, and some of them are also very interesting. I do encourage you to get involved with RPAC, and if you'd like to learn more about these issues I would also encourage you to contact me or my team. We're always pleased to serve you.

How Did Real Estate Improve in 2014?

The average sale price in 2014 was up 4% from 2013, and now sits at $184,683.

Median Sale Price
The median sale price was also up 4% in 2014 from 2013.

Average Days on Market
The average days on market, or days a home sits on the market before selling, has decreased slightly. The average in 2014 was 50 days, after being 54 days in 2013 and 62 days in 2006.

Active Listings
Active listings went down a little bit this year. At this point in 2014, we had 3,403 homes on the market. Right now, that number is at 3,107.

A few more things to note: New construction closed sales were nearly identical in 2014 to where they were in 2013, and existing home sales were up 4.3% in 2014 from 2013.

There is a lot going on in this market, and the numbers are constantly changing. If you have any questions at all for us, be sure to give us a call or send a quick email. We'd be glad to help out.

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