Well, at some point I had to stop eating turkey and watching games on TV and looking at the snow piled high behind the Yukon on the driveway.

We actually got a new Web site up and running for Clark Appraisal Services Inc. Whether or not you're in the market for an appraisal on your home, land or office building, there are some helpful hints for all property owners you might want to check out. Right now we have a write up on  "Winterizing Your Home." Something it's still not too late to do.

Log on to http://clarkappraisals4.appraiserxsites.com/
WinterizeyourHome Email us and let us know if it was helpful and what other topics you might be interested in knowing about.

Between www.lawtoninfo.com and http://clarkappraisals4.appraiserxsites.com we'll get you the information you need.

A Happy, Safe and Prosperous New Year wish for you and your home!

Charlie

An appraisal report is supposed to be independent of the buyer or the seller. That's not only a guideline, but a regulation that, if not followed, can cost an appraiser and a mortgage lender the ability to conduct business at all.
 
Both parties may have high hopes for a high value. Then along comes the appraiser, raining on their real estate parade. For the appraisal report, that overused phrase does apply here: "It is what it is."
 
Typically, a homeowner trying to sell a place tends to figure the value too high because of emotional attachment.

What if I told you how you could spend less than $10 and save as much as 20 percent on your heating bill this fall and winter?

It's pretty simple really: It's in your attic -- the duct work or your central heat and air conditioning system (CHA).  Heat loss through bad ducts is estimated in the industry to increase bills for most homes by 10-20 percent.
 
After a few years, most duct systems develop some leaks. This allows warm air in the fall and winter (and also cool air in the summer) to escape, and not reach the vents of your home's living area.
 

For the Fort Bliss crowd and others contemplating a move to Lawton, something that might seal the deal for you: Businessweek's second annual roundup of the "Best Places in America to Raise Kids" has just listed our Southwest Oklahoma town as one of its top selections.

The recent article also listed two other Oklahoma locations as runners up: Midwest City and Broken Arrow.
A ranking like this from a national publication says a lot about a community. It's also a good selling feature for real estate.

Businessweek's online rankings can be found at http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1110_best_places_for_kids/37.htm
The stats it gives for Lawton are:
"Nearest city: Oklahoma City
Population: 89,304
Median household income: $47,988
Lawton is 90 miles from Oklahoma City in the southwest part of the state, and just north of the Fort Sill Army post. The area has 22,400 acres of wildlife habitat and many lakes that are good for fishing and boating."

As I've pointed out in this column before, a new coat of paint is the easiest, quickest, most inexpensive and a surefire winning way to spruce up a place. It makes you feel better about being in your home, it maintains your property, and adds to the appeal of your investment.

And this time of year, when, baby, it's still cold outside, is a good time to take care of painting your home's interior.

Did I say "easy"? Well, it can be if you take a few steps first.

1. Before getting started, prepare the room. Empty the room as much as possible. Put the rest in the middle of the room. Cover the furniture and floor. Newspaper and plastic are often used. Canvas tarp is the most protective.
2. Clean the walls of....

I want to give a shout out to Certified General Appraiser Michael Barnes, Lawton, for sending me over a column by Kenneth Harney. Ken Harney is a nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post. He writes about real estate, and one of his pieces earlier this month that ran in many the country's bigger newspapers was titled "Some Groups Are Unhappy With New Appraisal Rules."

When your driving neighborhoods at this time of year, you can't help but notice that the homes and yards of some streets have a lot more cheer going on than others. Chances are, where you see more outdoor decorations, you'll also see more home ownership. That translates to investment, and therefore pride in home and neighborhood. Usually better maintenance when the lights come down, too.

Decorating can be worth you're time and dollars. Don't feel you have to have it lit up like Elmer Thomas Park the first year. Holiday decorations are something you can add to a little bit each year.

Certainly anyone who has turned on the TV or read a newspaper recently is aware of the pretty active hurricane season that's been going on, especially in the Caribbean this season. Even those of us on the Southern Plains, some distance from the Gulf, have dealt with the fringe winds and rain.

But we don't have to import the kind of weather that knocks out electricity, we make plenty of our own around here.

We've even had winters, such as in 2006-07, where ice and snow did a lot of destruction to roofs, fences and trees, as well as knocking out power. The hardest hit areas were northeast and central Oklahoma. But, those storms made the national news and ...

 We've all heard the old adage "a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing." A perfect example -- the free online home valuation sites that I've checked out over the years.