Cynthia's Chat

For all the inquiring minds who want to know - I did participate in the 5K race.  I walked the entire course and am fairly proud of myself.  Moreover, I am proud of my daughter who organized this event.  The last time I wrote, I was unaware that my daughter put the whole race in Cheyenne, Wyoming, together.  It was not an official "Race for the Cure" but an event that raised money, and was then donated to the same cause.  My daughter was the facilitator for the event.  She did an amazing job!

And  the grandkids are incredible!  Absolutely the smartest and cutest kids ever.  While I was there, I toured their school.  They go to a very innovative and forward thinking public school.

We are on the tail end of October.  Typically in Real Estate, this is a busy time as Buyers are trying to get into new homes before Christmas.  Statistically, Oklahoma has not seen the downturn in Real Estate activity as other areas have.  It has slowed a bit, but we seem to be in fairly good shape here.

Here are some tips for getting your home - your biggest investment - ready for winter. 

• Clean up and/or repair your outdoor furniture- just a little mild dish detergent in a bucket of water, a sponge or brush and a good rinse should do the trick. Plan to store or cover your furniture before the hardest cold of the winter.   Shop the summer sales for a new outdoor furniture set.   Make a fire in the fire pit or Chimenea and have a s'mores party!
• Check for loose or peeling paint on exterior walls - do any touch-ups needed. It is really too late in the season to repaint the entire house as temperatures (night and day) need to remain above 50 degrees.
• Service your heat and air system - It is always a good idea to have the heat and air conditioning systems checked each season.  Hose down your air conditioning unit to remove debris collected around the unit.
• Prepare the chimney - if you have a fireplace, have your chimney cleaned.  Besides creosote and soot, a chimney sweep may also find bird nests and other critters.   
• Weatherproof the house - Take a walk around the house to look for gaps or worn spots in weatherstripping around exterior doors and windows and replace as needed.  Inspect caulking around exterior windows and doors, where masonry and siding meet, at siding corner joints and where any pipes or wires enter the house.  Caulk keeps out the cold, moisture and dirt, so be sure to recaulk any gaps or problem areas as needed.
• Inspect the roof for any missing, loose or damaged shingles or tiles.  Replace them or arrange for repairs.  While you’re up there, inspect the caulk or seals around plumbing stacks, solar tubes, vents, etc.
• Clean and inspect gutters and downspouts - after most of the leaves have fallen, clean debris from your gutters and downspouts.  Turn on the hose to check for damaged, leaking or misaligned gutters.  Make sure they drain away from the house.   
• Inspect driveways, sidewalks and paths for damage or cracks.  Repair or seal as needed before extreme temperatures make matters worse.
• Yard and Lawn Maintenance - Trim tree branches hanging over the roof.  Prune flowering trees and shrubs once they have finished blooming.   Mulch around your bulbs, roses, trees, and shrubs to prevent sudden changes in soil temperature from destroying the root systems of tender plants.   Between now and Thanksgiving is a great time to plant your spring bulbs.Fall is a time to fertilize and overseed a fescue lawn.  Conversely, do not fertilize Bermuda now as it is preparing for dormancy through the winter.  Rake the leaves and remove from the lawn. 
• Take care of the lawn mower and garden tools - run the gas out of the mower for storage or add a stabilizer agent.  Change the oil, pull and inspect the spark plug and oil the engine.  Clean up the garden tools and give them a light coat of oil to protect them from rust.
• Drain the water. Drain the hose, coil it up and hang it where it won’t freeze and crack. If you have a sprinkler system, drain it too, and shut off the water to prevent pipes from freezing.  Protect your plumbing by wrapping lines with pipe jackets.

So now, if you have any energy left, enjoy the last few days of October.  Celebrate All Saints Day Eve, Halloween and the changing of the seasons.   I pray that each of you enjoy your blessings this fall season.

Just thought I would write a little bit about what I am doing this weekend.  At this moment I am up in the cold, windy city of Casper Wyoming.  I am visiting my daughter, Jennifer, and her family.  Today Jennifer is running for Special Olympics, a worthy cause.

Tomorrow Jennifer is running in the Race for the Cure in Casper, to support Breast Cancer awareness and research.  Simultaneously, my assistant, Lisa, will be running the same race in Oklahoma City.  I am thinking about joining the race here in Casper, but that remains to be seen.  Think of Jennifer, Lisa and me tomorrow morning.

Breast Cancer is a disease that has affected so many Americans.  Talk to just about anyone and they know someone who has been affected by the disease - mother, daughter, colleague or friend.

I wanted to let you know about a program sponsored by Re/Max International.  Sold! for the Cure donates a portion of the Real Estate commission directly to the local Susan G. Komen affiliate in Oklahoma.  (Or wherever the real estate agent is located.)  The cool thing about this is that the donation will be made in the Seller or Buyer's name at no cost to them!

If you are thinking about Selling or Buying in the future, be sure to mention to me that you would like to participate in this program.  What a great way to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer.

I'll be back next week after getting my Grandma fix!

Hope you have a great weekend.

First blog!! This is new and exciting for me!!

Some of you have asked questions about Real Estate and I will use this blog to answer those questions for you. You can leave your comments or additional questions in the comments section below or email me at homes@cynthiaok.com.

The first question for discussion is as follows:

“What is it with our homes values going down and our property taxes going up? Seems to me they would either not raise taxes or even reduce them if the values drop.”

It is very easy to raise taxes and extremely hard to reduce them. But it can be done. The onus will be on the homeowner to accomplish it. If the trends for Real Estate values continue to go down, the county assessment will eventually catch up. But in the meantime, you can take action yourself.

There is a threefold process in protesting your property valuation. A recent Oklahoma County Assessor news release explains the process.

“Property owners have the opportunity to appeal, or protest, those values informally with the assessor’s staff, then with the County Board of Equalization (BOE) and if the property owner isn’t satisfied with those decisions they can appeal to District Court,” Sullivan explained.

“The informal process gives us a chance to use the data available over the Internet from our award winning website and additional data we have collected. After we explain how we reached the value based on the information we have, we also ask for any additional information from the property owner to see if there are other variables that could impact the value of the property,” Sullivan said.

“After the informal appeal before the assessor’s staff, a property owner can still appeal the estimated value before the BOE. Out of all the notices, approximately 391 appealed to the BOE which represents a small fraction of the total notices sent out this year,” Sullivan said.

“The last option available to the taxpayer to question the value set by the assessor is to go to district court. Out of all the notices of value to Oklahoma County property owners, approximately 37, representing an extremely small number of those notified went to Oklahoma County District Court to appeal the value the assessor’s office set,” Sullivan said.

Property values are set on property as of January 1 of each year. Property values go up and go down based on market forces. The assessor’s office monitors the fair market value of all property in the county. The records show 95 percent of the properties in the county sell at a price higher than the assessor’s office set as fair market value on January 1.

While values may increase up to 15 percent or more annually in parts of the county, the market value is capped and cannot exceed a 5 percent increase each year, which helps reduce the property tax bill based on the assessment. This cap has saved county residents $278 million in lower property taxes since it was approved by voters in 1996.

So in summary, to protest the county’s assessment on your home, start with the County Assessor’s office first. This is your opportunity to provide them information to back up your opinion of value. And this is also where I can help. When I protested my taxes I sent a letter to Leonard Sullivan, County Assessor asking him to reconsider the value of my property. I included a current market analysis. I did see a slight reduction in the value of the home which resulted in lower taxes. If you consider taking this step, call me and I will provide you with a current market analysis of your home.

If you are not satisfied with the County Assessor’s response, your second option is to appeal to the County Equalization board.

If you are still not satisfied after appealing with the Board of Equalization, then you can take your appeal to the District Court.

The Good News is that by law, your taxes can increase by no more than 5% even if property values increase by more than 5%.

Also, make sure you are taking advantage of tax breaks offered by the county, including Homestead Exemption, Additional Homestead Exemption, Senior Valuation Freeze and Disabled Veteran Exemption. To learn more about these exemptions go to http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/Homestead.htm#SENIOR

Contact information for Oklahoma County Assessor Leonard Sullivan:

Telephone:            (405) 713-1200

Email address:        MARMAU@oklahomacounty.org

Mailing address:     320 Robert S. Kerr #313

                          Oklahoma City, OK  73102

Hope this first blog has been helpful to some of you. And now here is a trivia question for you.

Which OKC radio station was the first station west of the Mississippi River and at one time employed Walter Cronkite, Merv Griffin and Frank Reynolds?