Xceligent brings commercial listing service to Springfield

Database features area commercial sites with at least 5,000 square feet
Trent Jackson of Murney Associates is one of several commercial real estate agents using Xceligent's data exchange service. Jackson lists his commercial and income-producing residential properties.

With Kansas City-based Xceligent Inc.'s summer entry into the Springfield area, commercial real estate agents have access to a listing service that functions similarly to the multilist service their residential counterparts have used for several years.

Xceligent, which essentially functions as a marketing tool for commercial agents, compiles and lists information on all commercial properties that are at least 5,000 square feet in 30 Midwest markets, including Springfield.

Already, Xceligent has researched 5,800 southwest Missouri properties. Of those, about 1,500 are listed on Xceligent, said David O'Rell, vice president of corporate development. About 830 of those are in Springfield, 170 are in Branson, and the      balance is divided among Ozark, Nixa and Joplin.

About 30 Ozarks commercial agencies are participating in the exchange, he said. Xceligent's business model is built on the belief that each market must have a governing board of local exchange members, according to www.xceligent.com. The board is charged with making sure that the information exchange provides ongoing benefits to the local real estate community. The Springfield governing board comprises representatives of Sperry Van Ness/Rankin Co., CJR Commercial, Murney Commercial, Bill Beall Co., Wilhoit Properties, Davis Properties and McLoud & Co., O'Rell said.

When Xceligent enters new markets, the company also attempts to partner with a media outlet. In Springfield, feedback from management representatives of local commercial firms led Xceligent to select Springfield Business Journal as its preferred media partner.

Local property lineup

The company gathers information on commercial properties in a number of ways, O'Rell said, including culling records from county assessors' and recorders' files. A group of researchers is then physically deployed in an area of expansion, armed with laptops loaded with the data and aerial photos.

The driving teams then scour a territory street by street, observing as much as possible about a given location - the number of loading docks, parking spaces, "anything we can visually observe from outside," O'Rell said. The teams try to gather information on 42 separate data points to be fed into the Xceligent site.

"We can at least tell you the buyers and sellers for properties in the last three years, what's out there, what's sold ... sale price, lease price," O'Rell said. "You can get a historical look at how the building's performed in the market."

The company then follows up with property owners each quarter, checking to see if a property has sold or if its lease price has changed. "It's real-time marketing intelligence," O'Rell said.

The results are made available to commercial real estate professionals, who pay $125 per month to access the information.

Available properties

Trent Jackson, a broker associate at Murney Associates Realtors, (picture at left)said he's used the service for about three months.

"If you get one lead on a million-dollar apartment complex, it more than pays for itself," Jackson said.

He's used Xceligent's Commercial Data Exchange e-mail blast service to tell other agents within the Xceligent network about commercial properties he has available, including a 52-unit apartment complex at 1400-1414 S. Campbell Ave., listed for $1.75 million.

Deb Scott, commercial real estate agent at Wilhoit Properties, also uses Xceligent to spread the word about her own listings, including the former Carson's Nurseries location at 3184 E. Sunshine St., which is listed for $1.6 million.

But Scott also has found Xceligent helpful in guiding clients with specific needs to properties she might otherwise not have known were available.

She cites a recent attempt to find space for Oklahoma-based Thomas Metals Group. Its needs were specific: 10,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet of warehouse space and up to five acres of outside storage. After searching Xceligent, she identified a property at 1012 N. FR 123 in northwest Springfield that would suit the company's needs. She said Xceligent was essential in helping her find the location, which was listed by Joe Roberts & Associates.

"They don't have a Web site for me to go to, nor would I have thought of them off the cuff," Scott said.

Scott said there is a limitation to the service, in that many of her clients are small-business owners who need smaller footprints. Because the cut-off point for market research by Xceligent is 5,000 square feet, many of the properties in which her clients might be interested are not included.

"We have to set the threshold somewhere or we'd continuously be driving the market," O'Rell said.

Eventually, smaller properties will be included in the database, but he said the difference is that agents will supply the information for the listings.

"I think when it gets to be fully operational, it should be great," Jackson said.

Xceligent's expansion into southwest Missouri is part of the company's initiative to cover the entire state. Xceligent already covers Kansas City and St. Louis.

Ultimately, the company - which also this year launched services in Tulsa, Okla., Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., and Dallas - hopes to blanket the nation.

"We want to have coverage in all the main metropolitan areas," O'Rell said.

Springfield Business Journal

Preparation is the Key to Selling your Home

Before you start making repairs, before selling your home or marking dates on your calendar for an open house, it's smart to prepare a home selling plan. Of course, you want top dollar, but you could make costly home selling mistakes along the way if your enthusiasm for quickly selling causes you to run out and stick a for sale sign in the yard before you're fully prepared to sell.

Motivation for Selling

Explore your reasons for selling. Everybody has a reason to sell. If you aren't truly motivated or committed to selling -- if it just struck you one morning that you should move to the other side of town and you haven't completely thought through the process -- you could be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Buying a New Home

Most people who sell do so to buy another home. Put together a list of neighborhoods where you may want to live and drive them. Go to open houses. Check out pricing between newer homes vs. older homes. Weigh your options. You might find you prefer to stay where you are.


Ask the agent to prepare a comparative market analysis for you and ask for advice about:

* Preparing Your Home for Sale
Compare suggestions and consider accepting the most sound advice. Generally, you will want to move out bulky and excess furniture.

* Repairs Before Selling
Not all resale repairs will pay off. You don't want to spend a lot of money making improvements but you do want to repair obvious maintenance issues, if any have been neglected.

* Home Staging
You can hire a professional stager, ask your agent to help stage or stage it yourself. You will get more for your home if it is staged.

* Home Pricing
Do not select an agent based on suggested sales price. Some will overbid each other to get the listing. But do not overprice. Homes that are overpriced often sell for less than market value.

* Net Profits from Selling
I always prepare two net sheets for sellers, each with a low price and a high price. This way, sellers can be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. If the lowest net price will let you buy the home you want, it's time to find financing.

Find a Lender

First, call your existing lender to find out exactly how much you need to pay off. You should order a beneficiary statement. Then check out new financing offers from your own lending institutions and credit unions. Ask for a Good Faith Estimate - GFE. Compare rates and fees. Also, ask for referrals to mortgage brokers from agents. Often, mortgage brokers have more flexibility to discount rates and are more competitive.

* Get a loan preapproval letter, so you know how much of a mortgage you will qualify to obtain.

* You don't need to apply for the maximum mortgage, and a lower mortgage payment might make you more comfortable in the long run.

* Compare mortgage loan types and choose wisely.

Sell Before Buying

The moment your home goes on the market, you might be tempted to bounce around online looking at homes on the web. Next thing you know, you'll want to make an appointment to view a few homes. Don't get carried away by virtual tours and beautiful photographs of your dream home. It is almost always more profitable to sell before buying.

Housing plan reaches 1 in 5

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gOGPH5tuY5PvE2_kbh0FBQPiqnUQD9BSTTMG1

President Obama To Sign Bill Extending Homebuyers Credit | WJBF

President Obama To Sign Bill Extending Homebuyers Credit | WJBF

6 Signs Your Home Will Increase in Value

6 Signs Your Home Will Increase in Value

Following Patrick Murney and Murney Associates, Realtors on Twitter!

Bringing you the latest news on Patrick Murney Realtor and Murney Associates, Realtors now on Twitter!

Facing Tax Credit Deadline, Homebuyers Pounce on Deals

Facing Tax Credit Deadline, Homebuyers Pounce on Deals

Shared via AddThis

20 Ways to Add Curb Appeal

20 Ways to Add Curb Appeal

Shared via AddThis

Patrick Murney suggest to check out this article: Your Home: Is "going green worth" the cost?

Patrick Murney suggest to check out the article: Your Home: Is 'going green' worth the cost?
The eco-friendly house (and renovation) has gone mainstream. But is it really worth the cost?
By Sarah Max, Money Magazine contributing writer



(Money Magazine) -- Jason and Kelly Joseph don't drive a hybrid car. They don't shop exclusively in the natural foods aisle. And they don't lose sleep worrying about global warming.

But their house, a 2,800-square-foot Craftsman near Grand Rapids, would make the Environmental Defense Fund proud.


Jason and Kelly Joseph, with son Alex, love the money-saving benefits of their new 'green' house.

The walls are insulated with draft-stopping foam; the floors are covered in wood from a sustainable forest; and the rooms are decked out with nontoxic paint, just to name a few of its earth-friendly features.

The Josephs weren't planning to go green. But when their builder described the benefits - lower heating and cooling bills and better indoor-air quality - they agreed that it was worth adding $10,000 to their total tab.

"If you're building a house as a lifelong investment, it just seems like the right thing to do," says Jason, 32. And only a year after the house was completed, many of the upgrades are already beginning to pay for themselves, he notes. "Our friends' energy bills were almost double ours last winter."

4 families 'go green': See how they did it

A decade ago most people associated environmentally-sound home building with unsightly solar panels and bad water pressure. That's no longer a worry.

Today the majority of houses that meet the U.S. Green Building Council definition of a "green" home - one that uses less energy, less natural resources and fewer toxic chemicals - are indistinguishable from their traditionally constructed neighbors. And any counter cultural philosophical baggage is long gone as well.

As with hybrid cars and organic food, interest in eco-friendly building and renovating has spilled over to the mainstream. "We're seeing a lot of demand, particularly on the high end of the market," says Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

And some 90 percent of people surveyed by the American Institute of Architects in 2006 said they'd be willing to pay $5,000 more to build or buy a house that would use less energy or protect the earth.

"Green is the new black," quips Maggie Wood, an environmental designer in Jamesport, N.Y.

Of course, environmental consciousness comes at a premium. Green construction techniques and sustainable building materials can add anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few hundred thousand dollars.

Whether that extra cost makes sense for you in the long run depends in large part on what you hope to get out of a green home in the first place.

Why go green?
Homeowners and buyers have all kinds of reasons, although these, alone and in combination, tend to be the most common:

You can save energy - and money Given the astronomical rise in fuel prices in the past few years, it's no surprise that energy efficiency is the top reason consumers choose green building these days.

Traditionally constructed homes, while far more energy-efficient than those built in past decades, can still squander a mind-boggling amount of fossil fuel. The typical house loses 15 percent to 20 percent of its heat or air-conditioning leakage from ducts alone, according to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Energy-conscious construction can significantly reduce that waste. Some of the savings come from materials that provide extra thermal resistance, such as straw-bale construction and insulated concrete forms. More can come from designs that maximize exposure to winter sun and minimize summer heat.

Green builders and remodelers also favor energy-efficient appliances and water-conserving fixtures. Energy savings from all these techniques usually pay for their higher up-front costs in two to seven years, says Elliot Johnson, an Austin architect specializing in this type of design.

Solar power is a different story. Alex Wilson, author of "Your Green Home," explains that panels are expensive to install and take years to recoup their costs in electricity savings. "If you've done everything else you can to conserve energy, then it makes sense to look into generating your own power."

You can save your lungs Compared with outdoor air, indoor air can be two to five times more polluted, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A major cause: volatile organic compounds (VOCs) commonly found in paints, stains and glues. When these products dry, they release chemicals and continue to do so for years. This can exacerbate allergies and asthma, and cause headaches and nausea.

As a preventive measure, some homeowners opt for "low VOC" paint, natural stains and formaldehyde-free glue, which generally cost a few dollars more per container.

Providing adequate ventilation can also improve air quality. "Years ago the air would turn over naturally because houses were so poorly insulated, but today houses are so tightly sealed that you need to circulate fresh air," says Jeff Wassenaar, president of Legacy Homes, which built the Josephs' house.

One solution: adding a mechanical ventilation system, which can run between $500 and $2,000.

You can help save the planet The final reason you might choose this type of construction is less practical and more philosophical: You want to leave the smallest footprint you can on the planet.

That means planning construction to minimize the waste of building materials; reducing water consumption by adding low-volume toilets or rainwater filtration systems; and working with products that are sustainable (wool carpeting, bamboo flooring, cotton insulation) or recycled (salvaged wood, steel made with reused rebar, insulation made from paper products).

Will it pay off?
If you were to build a house as green as you possibly could, it might cost you 20 percent to 30 percent more than traditional construction. But that would imply an extreme sense of environmental duty.

"Most of our projects cost between 2 percent and 4 percent more than standard construction," says Wassenaar.

There are also some significant tax credits available on the state and federal level that may help pay for improvements. You can claim a credit of up to $500 on your 1040 for installing energy-efficient windows, insulation, doors, roofs, boilers and air conditioners, for example. (Log on to ase.org and click on Consumers for more on this.)

Before you invest in these, however, you might want to consider whether your monthly utility savings and any tax breaks will pay for the added cost in a reasonable amount of time. Assuming a $400,000 house with a 6.5 percent, 30-year fixed-rate loan and $80,000 down, your monthly payment would be $2,022. Add $10,000 of energy-efficient features to that and your payment goes to $2,085.

For you to cover the higher mortgage payment and recoup the up-front costs in seven years, your monthly energy savings would have to be $182. Add $20,000 and your payment goes to $2,149 - and you'd need to save $365 monthly.

In terms of resale value, green homes have come a long way. These days most do not telegraph their eco-friendly features; from the outside they look like any other house on the block. You won't necessarily get a huge premium for your abode's environmentalism, says John Bredemeyer, president of appraisal company Realcorp in Omaha, "but it will likely sell at the upper end of the range and quicker," as it will have something more going for it than an equivalent traditional construction.

Where to go for more information
"There are many contractors who say they do green but don't know what they're doing," says Johnson. To make sure that you're not getting a builder who's "green" on the concept:

Contact a local or regional green building group These organizations can be found at usgbc.org/leed/homes. They can connect you with environmental architects and builders and inform you about techniques that work well in your climate, as well as tax credits offered in your area.

Ask contractors about the criteria the follow Then request a copy of the guidelines to make sure you know what you're in for. The U.S. Green Building Council, whose LEED rating is the gold standard for commercial green building, plans to launch a residential rating program this summer.

Meanwhile, the NAHB publishes guidelines (available at nahb.org, under Publications) that cover everything from lot preparation to water conservation; many local organizations also rate homes on a checklist of practices.

Ask to see examples of their work And talk to the homeowners to see how happy they are with the results. Most are eager to show off their home's earth-friendly features.

Jason Joseph certainly is: "When friends and family come to our house for the first time, I take them to the basement to show them the insulation and ventilation," he says. "A lot of people don't even know this stuff exists."

4 families 'go green': See how they did it

Play Monopoly City Streets Game Online on Google Maps

Play Monopoly City Streets Game Online on Google Maps

Shared via AddThis