The Ruhl Blog

5/1 ARM Offers Best of Price and Stability

With rising interest rates, this is a great time to take a fresh look at adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) for your purchase and refinance. These are not the exotic ARMs involved in the subprime meltdown – they are traditional, 5/1 ARMs with unbelievable rates that are in the threes today! That’s more than a point lower than 30-year fixed rates....

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Best Chance to Sell Your Home the First 5 Days on the Market

An interesting new study coming out of New Zealand reinforces the belief that getting home pricing correct on the first try greatly increases your home being sold. A new home on the market gets 4 times as many page views in the first 5 days as it does during the next week. So if the pricing of the home is wrong, odds of the home selling in...

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Best Time to Buy? Bottom of a Recession!

We’re there!  Most economists are saying the economy has bottomed out.  Seize the opportunity while interest rates are at a 50 year low. (Today, as I write this article, October 12th, interest rates are at 4.125% for a 30-year loan with no points and at 3.75% for a 15-year loan with no points.  And for smart people who refinance from a 30-year...

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Buying a Home Now Is a No-Brainer

You might not make a ton of money, but you’re unlikely to ever score a better deal. Is now the right time to invest in a house?  Trick question.  Actually it’s two questions.  Question 1: Is now the time to buy? Questions 2: Is buying a house a good investment? The first answer is easy: With a few exceptions, if you have 20% to put down...

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DIY Home Energy Audit in 6 Easy Steps

Is your home squandering precious energy? Here’s how you can search out areas of energy waste that may be costing you money. By following up on problems, you can lower energy bills by 5% to 30% annually. With annual energy bills averaging $2,200, investing in fixes or energy-efficient replacement products could save you up to $660 within a year....

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Fifth Generation Joins Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS

After 148 years in business, the fifth generation of the Ruhl family joins Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS. Chris Beason, son of Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, is now working as a Realtor in the company’s Davenport office.   Chris was born and raised in the Quad Cities and has grown up in the real estate business. After graduating...

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Foreclosures Decreasing: Exploring the Short Sale Option

RealtyTrac released its U. S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2010, which shows foreclosure filings were reported on 262,339 U. S. properties in November, a 21 percent decrease from the previous month and a 14 percent decrease from November 2009. One in every 492 U. S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month. Both...

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Head Shave for Hospice

After nearly six months of growing his hair (and many hairstyles, much to the ado of his agents!), Jeff Hefel, Ruhl&Ruhl’s Dubuque Manager, posed the following challenge: Raise $2,000 for Hospice of Dubuque and I will shave my head – raise it by June 1, and I will wear a Mohawk for a week! After raising $2,230, here are the results!...

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Health Care Bill Includes New “Real Estate Transfer Tax”

A few months ago, a health care bill turned the country upside down on the subject of the “National Real Estate Transfer Tax.”  Both sides have argued whether or not the new “Real Estate Tax” exists.  Some might even be asking what a Transfer Tax is.  Unlike property taxes, real estate transfer taxes are state and local taxes that are...

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Home Prices Up in Our Markets

Our local markets continue to provide much more stable home prices than the rest of the country. Real estate continues to be a great investment in our region – based on the appreciation in our markets over the past five years. While nationally home prices have fallen 4.41%, in our markets prices are up: 5.69% in Cedar Rapids, 7.83% in the Quad...

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How to Assess the Real Cost of a Fixer-Upper

Trying to decide whether to buy a fixer-upper house? Follow these seven steps, and you’ll know how much you can afford, how much to offer, and whether a fixer-upper house is right for you. 1. Decide what you can do yourself TV remodeling shows make home improvement work look like a snap. In the real world, attempting a difficult remodeling...

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Mike Wendt Assumes Role as Ruhl&Ruhl General Sales Manager

Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, is pleased to announce that Michael R. Wendt II has assumed the role of Ruhl&Ruhl General Sales Manager. Wendt, who has worked at Ruhl&Ruhl for two years as the Legal Compliance and Customer Relations Manager, will continue his current duties for the company in addition to being the...

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Millennium Did Not Crash the Housing Market, What a Great Decade!

With all the teeth-gnashing over the real estate bubble, the bust and the mortgage mess, you can be forgiven for failing to notice this little tidbit: Housing had a superb decade. In fact, the value of a square foot of housing in the U.S. is up 58% from its January 2000 level, according to data from New York housing analytics firm Radar Logic...

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Myths: The Earth Is Flat and Newspapers Sell Houses

It is amazing how masses of people can believe something that is absolutely untrue. I mean, at one time the vast majority of people believed the world to be flat. Today, we want to debunk another commonly held belief - that newspapers sell houses. Somehow this notion gained believability even though the facts consistently prove it NOT...

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New Construction Markets Stabilizing

2009 has been a year of mixed signals to the new home market.  In our regional markets we started to see daylight with some areas showing actual increases in overall unit sales, while most areas that showed decreases in sales experienced smaller decreases than in 2008.  To be certain, we are not experiencing a “boom” time yet, but the signs...

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New Manager Joins Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS in Maquoketa and DeWitt

Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS is pleased to announce the addition of Tiffany Mangler to our team, as the manager of both the Ruhl&Ruhl Maquoketa and DeWitt offices.  Mangler, the daughter of Dennis and Wendy Scott and Nancy DeVore of Maquoketa, brings a wealth of real estate knowledge and expertise, as well as experience in marketing.  “It’s...

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North Liberty Dominates Iowa City Area New Construction

A review of the Iowa City area residential new construction market statistics for the first quarter of the year reveals that North Liberty continues to lead the way in unit sales, reporting 66% of the overall new home sales in the area, while Iowa City maintained a 14.6% market share with Coralville-Tiffin closing 12.1% of sales and the remaining...

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Pending Home Sales on the Rise

Following a sharp drop in the months immediately after the expiration of the home buyer tax credit, pending home sales have modestly risen, according to the National Association of Realtors. The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator, rose 5.2% to 79.4 based on contracts signed in July from a downwardly revised 75.5 in June, but...

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Post-Tax Credit Buyers May Save Money

Missing the tax credit deadline might have seemed like a big mistake to some home buyers, but waiting could have been the smartest thing to do. Interest rates have fallen so dramatically since April 30th that the typical purchaser of a $350,000 home, financed with a $280,000 mortgage, would have saved a bundle by waiting until May. At April’s...

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Protect Our Property Values: Short Sales Better Than Foreclosures

While our region doesn’t have nearly the foreclosure problem that Florida, Nevada, Arizona and California are experiencing, we do have a substantial number of sellers who are struggling with delinquent mortgages and a growing number of foreclosure properties are coming onto the market. At Ruhl&Ruhl, for example, we have 1,352 properties...

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Q-C home sales show strength

The Quad-City housing market saw housing sales end the month of December ahead of a year ago. "When we compare our 2008 numbers to 2009, we are up significantly," Kris Ratigan, Mel Foster Co.'s marketing director, said Monday of the market's performance. Citing statistics from the Quad-Cities Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, which tracks all...

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Q-C’s new homes market shows signs of growth

Quad-City home builders and real estate professionals are gearing up for what they believe will be a strong year for sales of new homes. That hope comes despite a mixed national outlook. Sales of newly built, single-family homes declined 11.2 percent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000 units, the slowest pace on record,...

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Real Estate a Great Investment in Our Region

Home prices continue to be stable in our markets in eastern Iowa, while the rest of the nation experiences declines. Nationally home prices have fallen 8.36% in the last five years, but all of our markets’ prices are up: 9.25% in Dubuque; 7.22% in the Quad Cities; 5.68% in Cedar Rapids; and 5.43% in Iowa City. According to the Federal Housing...

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Robson Homes Now Building at Prairie Heights in Davenport

Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS and Robson Homes are pleased to announce that construction is now under way on the first phase of a new townhome-style condominium project at Prairie Heights, Davenport’s finest new neighborhood. With a traditional neighborhood design, Prairie Heights features large green spaces, expansive pedestrian walkways, adjacent...

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Ruhl&Ruhl Outsells Mel Foster Company

For the first time ever, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, the residential company, outsold Mel Foster Company in sales volume for the year of 2009. According to the Real Trends 500 Report, Ruhl&Ruhl was ranked 174th nationally based on sales volume. There are over 8,000 real estate companies in the country. Mel Foster Co. was ranked 178th. Ruhl&Ruhl’s...

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Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS Announces New Cedar Rapids Office

Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, is pleased to announce the addition of a Cedar Rapids Office. Ruhl&Ruhl is the 96th largest residential real estate company in the country in sales transactions, according to the National Association of Realtors. They are the largest real estate company in eastern Iowa. Cedar Rapids will...

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Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS Critiqued by Peers

Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS was recently visited and critiqued by leaders of 15 real estate firms from all different areas of the United States. Brokers came from Raleigh, North Carolina; Reno, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Burlington, Vermont, and points in between to help make Ruhl&Ruhl an even better company. “The entire group was very...

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Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS Participates in Student Hunger Drive

Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS proudly collected 10,947 pounds of food for the 2010 Student Hunger Drive Corporate Challenge and earned the prize for the Most Creative Company at the annual Clucky awards.  “I am so proud of our company’s participation in such a wonderful community organization,” said Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS....

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Ruhl&Ruhl to Host Military Financing Seminar

Together, with 1862 Mortgage, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS will be hosting an informational seminar regarding VA mortgages. Veterans have many financing benefits that they may not be aware of, including: - Up to 100% financing available - No monthly private mortgage insurance (PMI) - Additional IFA/Government Grants available - Additional assistance...

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Sales Growth in 2009

Ruhl&Ruhl Celebrates Sales Growth in 2009; Announces Year End Results Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, congratulated her sales associates and staff on “surviving and thriving in 2009”.  She thanked them for their extraordinary customer service.  “You are knowledgeable and highly skilled professionals who consistently...

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Scott County New Home Sales Grow in 2010

Scott County year-to-date new house sales, as reported by the Quad City Area Realtor Association’s Multiple Listing Service, have shown a 27.6% increase in unit sales, when compared with the first ten months of sales in 2009.  The month of October saw exactly the same number of both closed and pended new house sales as recorded during October...

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Should You Move or Improve?

Whether to move or improve is a harder question to answer than it was a few years ago, but a few cost-benefit calculations can help you make the right decision. Moving has gotten harder.  With median housing prices down 25% since their peak in 2006, some 15 million homeowners—almost one in four—owe more on their mortgages than they could...

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Tax Credit Deadline Extended

After a close call with the deadline, Congress has passed an extension of the Homebuyer Tax Credit closing deadline until September 30, 2010.  The extension applies only to transactions that have signed contracts in place as of April 30, 2010 that have not yet closed.  This new deadline applies to both the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers...

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Understanding Real Estate Representation

Always remember you have choices when selecting representation in a real estate transaction. Here are five tips for understanding which type of legal relationship with a real estate professional, called an agency relationship, will best protect you when you buy or sell a home. 1. Buyer’s agency When you’re buying a home, you can hire an...

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Why wait? Davenport NOW!

Davenport NOW, a city established, tax incentive program that launched in July of 2009, provides a 50% rebate of the City’s share of property taxes for 10 years to people who build a home or renovate an existing property in Davenport, Iowa. With the Davenport NOW program there has never been a better time to make Davenport your home.  Davenport...

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Chris Beason

Licensed In IA, IL
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Corporate Office

5704 Utica Ridge Road
Davenport, IA 52807