Real Estate Blog for Murfreesboro and Rutherford County

I know that I have not updated this blog in months but due to some personal obligations I have not been able to keep up with the blog since the beginning of 2009.  I have read many of your blogs to see how you have continued to grow in your business. My path has taken a detour but I keep up with what is going on in the world of real estate.

I still know many qualified realtors that I can recommend so please call me if you need a realtor for anywhere in the Rutherford county area of Tennessee. Thanks for checking in.

Are your decorations up? Is everything in place? Or maybe you are rushing here and there to be sure everyone and everything is taken care of.  What about safety? This can be one of the most unsafe times of the year in the home if caution is not taken.

David Stemper, of our Murfreesboro HouseMaster Home Inspection Company has included in his monthly e-newsletter just a few simple reminders about holiday safety. Follow the link to learn more about these reminders. Holiday Safety.

If you should happen to see your perfect home for sale while out looking at the wonderful holiday lights and want to wrap it up for the New Year then please contact me. It may be the holidays but I am still showing and selling homes.

Photo Credit: Mannequin, Christmas Present, December 25, 2007, Flickr.com

For more information about Real Estate in Rutherford County including the cities of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Rockvale, Eagleville, Christiana, and Lascassas and beyond please contact Verginia Copen at vkcopen@comcast.com or 615-351-2054

Having lived in Murfreesboro, TN for over twenty years and raised my three boys here I knew it was a great place for families.  But now it has been announced to the entire United States that Murfreesboro is a wonderful place for families.

Prashant Gopal, author reported in http://www.businessweek.com/ that Murfreesboro, Tennessee was in the top five cities to raise a family.  Cities were ranked by affordability, school performance, and safety.  Franklin and Clarksville were runner-ups after us as good cities in Tennessee to raise a family according to this survey.

Rob Lyons, the Deputy City Manager for Murfreesboro, was quoted as saying, ” we have a small town feel with big city amenities right here in our community being a city of 100,000 people.  And Nashville being a half hour drive away opens up other recreational, cultural opportunities and profesional sports.”  I absolutely agree! Check out my entries for going beyond Rutherford.  We have have so much going on here and around us that there is never a reason to be bored. 

Gopal goes on to say that Murfreesboro is set apart from a lot of other towns with its low crime, good schools, and low cost of living.  The presence of Middle Tennessee State University is good because college towns tend to ride out recessions better than most towns so having the university here works to our advantage.

Take a couple of minutes to check out this online article.  It is interesting to see our city in the national spotlight for something nice. And if you do not live here yet, then please contact me to help you find a home in this great town.

For more information about Real Estate in Rutherford County including the cities of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Rockvale, Eagleville, Christiana, and Lascassas and beyond please contact Verginia Copen at vkcopen@comcast.com or 615-351-2054

 All Murfreesboro Children are invited to the Keller Williams Realty Annual Trunk-n-Treat.  It will be held at our office located at 450 St. Andrews Drive, Murfreesboro, TN on Thursday, October 30, 2008 from 6 to 8 pm.

We will have our trunks decorated and lots of candy to give to the children.  I hear that some of the realtors will also be dressed up in costumes but nothing too scarey!  My car will be the friendly car.  I don’t do the very spooky bloody stuff.  I relate more to Casper the friendly ghost. 

Keller Williams Murfreesboro, Tennessee did this last year. We had a nice crowd and a large amount of fun.  We are looking forwards to a bigger crowd and more fun this year.

We look forward to seeing all the children from 6 until 8.  If you tell me that you read this on my blog, then you will be eligible to register with my neighborhood drawing.  And the kiddies get a special treat too! 

Stay Warm!   Have Fun!  Happy Halloween!

For more information about Real Estate in Rutherford County including the cities of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Rockvale, Eagleville, Christiana, and Lascassas and beyond please contact Verginia Copen at vkcopen@comcast.com or 615-351-2054

Once again I traveled outside the limits of Rutherford County to the annual Webb School Art and Craft Show in Bell Buckle, Tennessee.  On a normal day Bell Buckle is a quiet town in Bedford County with approximately 400 residents. I had been there a week earlier and taken pictures just to let you the reader see the peacefulness.  While there I stopped to eat at the Bell Buckle Cafe. My lunch was excellent, especially the spiced pecan pumpkin pie. 

Last weekend many people from Rutherford Country and other parts of Tennessee and beyond joined me in the trek to the Webb School Annual Art and Craft Show. This is a juried Art and Craft show on the grounds of the historic Webb School. The weather was perfect for walking and shopping.  Hundreds of booths were set up all over the town. There was so much to see and do.  There were live bands and even a place to get your flu shot.   If you get tired of walking you can wait for the shuttle and take a ride. Many city folk are surprised to find the shuttle is really a tractor pulling a hay wagon.  

My new favorite place to shop in Bell Buckle is a new shop called Designz By You.  The website does not show everything they have.  And of course, it cannot show how very nice the shop owners are when you come into their shop. My friends and I have already completed some Christmas shopping there and love what we have. Sorry, I cannot share what we bought but then friends and family reading this blog might know what they were getting for Christmas!  If you are ever in Bell Buckle stop to visit Designz By You.

If you missed the Art and Craft Show this year then mark the third weekend in October for next year to make sure you do not miss it.  Bell Buckle has other Events at other times of the year that are fun to attend such as the RC - Moon Pie Fesitval. Check with the Bell Buckle Chamber of Commerce for the dates.  Or just plan a visit to Bell Buckle.  There are shops and antique stores to visit most any day of the week.  And it is a very short drive from Rutherford County. Just one more benefit of living in Rutherford County and having such a nice place to visit but still be home in less than an hour.  In fact it is so close that I would be happy to help you to sell or help you to buy a home in this charming town in Bedford County. 

For more information about Real Estate in Rutherford County including the cities of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Rockvale, Eagleville, Christiana, and Lascassas and beyond please contact Verginia Copen at vkcopen@comcast.com or 615-351-2054

One of the great things about living in Rutherford County is that you are near to Nashville, Tennessee, Home of Country Music USA.  In less than thirty minutes, you can be in Nashville experiencing some really great music and it does not always have to be country.

Last Thursday evening, courtesy of my Aunt Barb, I ventured beyond Rutherford County to Nashville to the R.O.P.E. Banquet.  R.O.P.E. stands for Reunion of Professional Entertainers. This is a group that decided they needed to get together at other times of the year besides funerals.  I think there is a message in that we all need to think about.  It is a group of entertainers that are retired and working that get together several times a year to encourage and visit with each other like a family.

 The banquet was a nice dinner and awards show.  One of my pictures is of Jeannie Seely reading an award.  In my opinion, the best award given is the Nightingale Award that is given to a person for taking care of someone else above and beyond normal care and duty.  This shows real love for another whether it be for a spouse or just a friend.

We were entertained by a group called the Time Jumpers. They are the lively group pictured at the top of the blog that has been performing all across the nation for several years.  They do a lot of Western Swing.  You may have seen them perform on your local PBS station as they do shows for the Public Broadcasting Stations.  If you are ever in Nashville, they are at the Station Inn on Monday nights and are known to draw quite a crowd that includes people from all age groups. 

The surprise guest with the Time Jumpers was Vince Gill.  Please understand in Nashville with a superstar like Vince we stay in our seats and listen to what he came to say as he had an award to present. No running to the stage with our cameras, thus the fuzzy picture.  He did sing a special song he had written for a special friend that had passed on that touched everyone’s hearts.  And then he sang a couple more songs. The crowd was pleased to have him close the banquet.

You can check out more about this awards show at this link to the Nashville local newspaper story if you want to know more.  The Tennessean ROPE Story.

This story is to show you the benefit of buying a home in Rutherford County.  You can still drive into the larger city of Nashville to do the “big city” stuff but then drive home to your Rutherford County home. Ahhhh….Home Sweet Rutherford Home.

For more information about Real Estate in Rutherford County including the cities of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Rockvale, Eagleville, Christiana, and Lascassas and beyond please contact Verginia Copen at vkcopen@comcast.com or 615-351-2054.

Crawl VS. Slab in Rutherford County, TN

I have been quizzed by clients about which foundation to choose for a home.  A crawl space or a slab foundation? Basements in Rutherford County are not common. The crawl space and slab foundations are the most common choices.  I will try to simplify the definition of each to help you understand each foundation better. 

Before any foundations can begin the land must be cleared and made as level as possible.

Slab foundation.  The slab foundation is a flat concrete pad poured directly on the ground. It takes the least amount of site preparation.  Slab foundations also take the least amount of formwork and labor to create.  A slab foundation works well in warmer sites with warmer temperatures.  Colder climates can have problems with freezing temperatures causing the slab to shift or cold floors.

There is a concrete beam around the edge that forms that is about 2 feet deep.  The rest is 4 to 6 inches thick. There is a 4 to 6 inch layer of gravel below the slab and a sheet of plastic between the gravel and concrete to keep out the moisture.  Wire mesh and steel reinforcing bars are embedded in the concrete.

One feature of the slab foundation is that the sewer pipe and the electrical conduit have to be put in place before the contrete is poured.  The sewer pipes are actually embedded in the slab.  You may have driven by a home being built and seen the concrete foundation with pipes sticking out of the floors and wondered about it.  Now you know, it was a home being built with a slab foundation.  Just one of those things you may not think about until you get ready to buy a home.

Crawl Space Foundation.  For a crawl space foundation a crew will dig a set of trenches and holes.   These will be filled with concrete and act as the interface between the wall and the ground.  Once it hardens, it forms a beam on which the house rests.  Then most of the time the crawl space is made of cinder block (brick-o-block) with a brick facing.  One way to keep water out is to have pipe and gravel in a trench around the crawl space. Of course, each home is treated differently.

A crawl space seems to be the most common foundation because it has several advantages over slabs and basements.  It gets the house off the ground.  It is less expensive than a basement but comparable in price to a slab.  Duct work and plumbing can run in the crawl space so they are easy to service and move if needed.

 Your foundation is another factor to consider when choosing your new Rutherford County home.  Most often it is simply a matter of preference.  To add to the mix, I should mention that we now have in some Rutherford County homes a new vapor-lock technology that works in the crawl space.  But that will have to be another Blog on another day.  Or Contact me for more information.

The one feature we want out of all foundations is for our homes to be held up for many generations.

Information for this article was compiled from a portion of : http://www.home.howstuffworks.com/house.htm

For more information about Real Estate in Rutherford County including the cities of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Rockvale, Eagleville, Christiana, and Lascassas and beyond please contact Verginia Copen at vkcopen@comcast.com or 615-351-2054.

When applying for a mortgage loan in Rutherford County there are several items I can suggest you have available in case your lender asks for them. It is an excellent idea for each party applying that will be signing on the loan to have copies of their own information. Often time is short when you find the home of your dreams. So advance preparation is the choice to make. Be ready to make your offer with your money in hand!

Whether you apply for a mortgage loan for a home in Rutherford County, TN or elsewhere, my best advice is to tell a client to be pre-qualified for a loan before the home search begins. Then the client knows how much house can be purchased. A lot of time is saved as well as possible disappoiment.  No one wants to fall in love with a home only to be told that it is not within their budget.

So get out the pencils and check off the list. Below is a general checklist of loan application items that a mortgage lender could require a client to provide. Each lender has its own requirements so this could vary depending on the lender you choose to use.  And always feel free to shop for a mortgage lender that fits your needs.

The list was given to me at my Keller Williams Realty office to be used as a general checklist.  If you had these items available for your loan officer I think you would have a very happy loan officer.  And please keep in mind that your loan officer may need more or different items for your loan.

      General

• Picture ID and Social Security Number
• Payment to Cover the Application Fee
• Name and complete address of all landlords (past 2 years)

     Income

• Employment History (past 2 years)
• Copies of most recent pay stubs
• W-2 or tax returns (past 2 years)

     Assets

• Bank statements Checking and Savings (past 3 months)
• Copies of stock/Bond certificates, retirement statements/accounts
• List of Major household items and their value
• Copies of titles of vehicles of cars, boats, and motorcycles
• Face amount, monthly premiums, and cash values of all life insurance policies

     Creditors

• Credit Cards (numbers, balances, payments)
• Installment Loans (car, student, etc) (numbers, balances, payments)
• Mortgage Loans (property address, lender address, numbers, balance, payments)
• Bring proof of sale of properties
• Child care expense/support

     Other

• Bankruptcy - bring discharge and schedule of creditors
• Adverse credit - bring letter of explanation
• Divorce - bring your divorce decrees, property settlement, quitclaim deeds, modifications, etc.
• VA Only - bring form DD214 and Certificate of Eligibility
• Retirees - bring retirement and/or Social Security Award Letter

If you have questions about any of the items on the checklist contact me.  I will be happy to answer your questions or find the answer as soon as possible.  Making a smooth transaction to a new Rutherford County home is my goal for you.

For more information about Real Estate in Rutherford County including the cities of Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Rockvale, Eagleville, Christiana, and Lascassas and beyond please contact Verginia Copen at vkcopen@comcast.com or 615-351-2054.