Coming together to discuss health care reform...

I had an interesting morning listening to over 500 people and Senator Lisa Murkowski discuss the ongoing debate over health care reform. No matter what side of the fence you are on, it is important to take your chance to discuss your opinion with your elected leaders! If you can't attend a town hall meeting, send an email, make a phone call or write a letter and express our opinion and tell them your story. We elect these folks to represent the will of the people. How will they know what your "will" is unless we tell them.

We live in the greatest country in the world and for us in Alaska, perhaps the greatest state in the country. It is our responsibility to make our voices heard so that the will of the people is brought forth.

Here are some useful links to our representatives from Alaska. You can also read about the health care reform bills and how each of our representatives feel about them.

Lisa Murkowski: http://murkowski.senate.gov/public/

Mark Begich: http://begich.senate.gov/public/

New listing Thursday!

Okay, here is my latest listing here in Wasilla. It is an absolutely fabulous LARGE family home. 2604 sq. feet of beautiful maintained, remodeled and upgraded living space. 1.16 acres fully landscaped, private setting yet a great commute right off the Palmer Wasilla Hwy. All the bathrooms have been remodeled, new flooring, relatively new windows, new appliances, HSA Home Warranty and more!

Contact Dody Kettler at (907)232-7331 or dkettler@prualaska.com for more information!

Thursday's homework

I am working on preparing an 'Intro to Blogging' class for the Valley Board of Realtors. In my search for good blogging locations and information, I have started several new blogs. I am experimenting with different blog sites, trying to decide which ones are more user friendly, which ones have more options, which ones are free and which ones cost more $ than I care to spend.

There are many different options out there. The key is to determine what your goal is and then base your decision on that goal. If you are coming in as a beginner, take the least expensive, most user friendly option available. From there decide how serious you are going to be with blogging. If you will be blogging at least weekly, you may want to move up to a platform that has direct feeds and more bells and whistles. If you are like me and you HOPE to be able to blog at least once weekly you are probably okay to stay with your first option. If you are heavily in to social networking, there are blogs designed to save you time and $ as you post, sending each post to your social network sites.

So, after tomorrow maybe I will have decided just which blog I am going to use, how often I am going to use it and if I am willing to spend $ on it. We will see! Until then...back to the books!

Monday Moonlight!

I woke up last night thinking the moon was very bright only to find that it was not the moon but the sun! We are having the most beautiful, LONG days here in Alaska right now. 73 degrees at our home all weekend and a beautiful 60 degrees today. In Alaska everything is brown and then all of a sudden it all turns the most beautiful subtle green color. About 3 days after that everything is green and lush. It is like it happens overnight here. Just stunning and breathtaking.

I checked interest rates this morning and they are staying low...under 5% for all financing options. Combine the interest rates along with the first time buyer's credit, 5*plus energy rebate, prices that are stable and an inventory that is growing...it couldn't be a better time to purchase or MOVE up from what you are in now. You may lose a little bit on the sale of your home but you will make that up on the purchase of your new home.

I would love to assist buyers or sellers during this beautiful season in Alaska. Please just give me a call or email and I will do what I can to assist you with your real estate needs!

Call Dody, one of Prudential Real Estate's Top Producers, for a free consulation! (907)232-7331 or dkettler@Prualaska.com Check my website www.dodykettler.com

Thankful Thursday!

I am thankful today for amazing clients! I do believe I have the world's most wonderful clients. Not only do they do all they need to do to help the contract flow smoothly, but they are gracious and kind. Truly a gift! So today I say thank you to all of them and share a beautiful gift given to me by one of them.

For testimonials from my clients please see the testimonial page on my website at www.dodykettler.com

Our office studies the market in depth each month. Last month's information was just finalized and the results were looking very good. Just a tab bit more inventory along with a jump in closing and pendings keeps it a nicely balanced market here in the Valley, at least in the $250,000 and under price range. We have a large inventory of upper end homes at approximately 15 months. So, if you are listings your upper end home, be prepared to be patient and price it to sell. Also, if you are a seller in this market, be prepared for offers that include a large amount of closing cost assistance to the buyer. I am seeing closing costs assistance requests as high as $8000 right now. Everything is negotiable, but be prepared for those kind of things in the offers.

COMING SOON: Home Buyer Seminar hosted by myself and Stephanie Gamble, of Prudential Jack White Vista Real Estate MatSu! More details soon.

Tuesday's Reflections

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day in Alaska. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and since I had to be in Anchorage for a few hours I decided to drive near Rabbit Creek on the Seward, basically across the highway from Potter's Marsh, to see if I could get a good view of Mt. Redoubt. Well, as you can see here...I did! I did not have my good camera with me but decided to try a few photos anyway. We head to Homer on Monday so maybe I can get some really good shots of it down there! Heck we are going to be fishing out in the water in front of it! Hope it doesn't erupt while we are down there.

If you are going to sell your house this summer, now is the time to get it on the market. Take this weekend to get it clean, decluttered and ready to show and then get it listed. We are pending houses as quickly as we are getting new houses listed, which keeps the market balanced. As soon as that balances gets out of whack, things will change. Great time to buy...super interest rates, great homes available, rebates and tax credits. Call Dody Kettler at 232-7331 or email me at dkettler@prualaska.com or go to my website at www.dodykettler.com

I would love to assist you!

Monday, Sweet Monday

Well, we start another week here in Alaska. Spring break up is in full gear.

Folks are bidding winter goodbye in various ways in late April and early May.

1. Extreme Skiing Championships are being held near Valdez, which gets a lot of snow during the winter.


2. At the ski resort of Girdwood near Anchorage, skiiers dressed outrageously compete in a season-ending event that requires them try to ski across a large puddle at the foot of a slope.

3. Migrating birds attract folks to Homer for the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival and migrating whales lure them to the Whale Festival in Kodiak in May.

4. It is a blast to see snow machines and 4-wheelers all out on the same day. The snow machiners are trying to get a last weekend blast in and the 4-wheeler riders just can't wait any longer!

5. People come to 'check out' their favorite fishing hole. Even though the fish are at least a month and a half away, it just makes you feel good to be at the fishing hole.

6. People are wearing SHORTS! When it hits 45 degrees in Alaska everyone thinks it is time to wear shorts. I understand short sleeves as I have already been wearing those too, but I am just not Alaskan enough to start wearing shorts in this weather.

7. DAYLIGHT prevails! It is 5:30am as I am writing this and it is already starting to get light. Last night when I went to bed at 10pm, it was still light! Soon we will have 19 1/2 hours of daylight!

May is still early spring in much of Alaska. Snow may still appear in forecasts on the North Slope and at higher elevations elsewhere, including in Denali National Park. In Anchorage, the lilacs don't blossom until early June.

April and may can be beautiful months as far as weather is concerned, but they are not beautiful as far as the trees, grass and highways are concerned. All that snow melts and leaves us with this huge, brown/grey ugliness that just isn't like Alaska. All the trash that is under the snow comes out and if you haven't shoveled dog poop for the winter...LOOK OUT! In fact this week when the snow melted in our yard we uncovered huge piles of MOOSE POOP!

Spring has also sprung on home listings! Each day we see more and more houses hit the market. Between that and great interest rates it is certainly the time to think about buying. If you are a first time home buyer, someone ready to move up, someone looking to downsize or even someone looking for a second home or rental property...it is time to get serious. It will be interesting to see how the interest rates hold over the summer! 4.75% can't last too long.

If you need assistance in buying or selling your home or land I would love to do just that. Just contact me at my website www.dodykettler.com or email me at dkettler@prualaska.com.