Category: Uncategorized

My cousin sent this picture of our farmhouse after the recent snow.  So pretty!  I can't wait for the thaw and to get out there for a good Spring cleaning!

Seeing is believing! A spectacular home site above the water filled quarry with a 360 degree view. Look to the East to see the Mississippi River bluffs and to the West across the rolling hills of Lincoln County. Truly awesome. All this perched 200 feet above the lake surface on the quarry rim. This property is primed for building ones perfect family retreat, with a drive time of 50 minutes from Central/West St. Louis County.  From kayaking to scuba diving, fishing to cliff diving this is a water sports enthusiasts dream.  Not to exclude the hiker, biker & ATV user, all will find this rewarding!  New over sized (32'x50') custom barn w kitchen, full bath and screen. $389,000 

Listed by Laurel Oserholt, Dielmann Sotheby's International Realty 314-725-0009

• More videos! At least to make my blog more interesting. I am excited to buy a Swivl that will work with my iPhone to follow me and provide a microphone.
• $22 million in real estate sales
• $2 million in Pike County property sales
• Add a transaction agent to handle my paperwork after the property is under contract.
• Finalize my branding initiative
• Add more "meat" to this blog by researching  some aspects of the history of what I post. My journalistic approach is a little fluffy.
• Incorporate my real estate business.

Below are the goals that I set for myself back in January for 2013.  Let's see how I did!

• Increase my sales to over $10 million (Sales of $18,370,003. About twice as much as in 2011! 60% from my listings and 40% from Buyers. This is about 4% of the total transactions in the St. Louis and surrounding counties area. I hope that I will be in the top 20 this year in the St. Louis Business Journal.)

• Further create awareness of the Pike County area (Createdwww.pikecountyliving .com  I did sell two properties (lots of listings) in Pike County and one in neighboring Lincoln County. Wait until 2013!  I have some fabulous Pike County listings coming! )

• Host another Pike County ramble for the Landmark Association…this time up to Louisiana, MO (Done!  Great trip!)

• Improve my property videos to be even better (Well my video production did suffer from me being busy with sales and switching to an iMac. The iMac should make it easier. I also plan to buy a Swivl that will be a great video tool for my iPhone….it has a remote microphone and will move my iPhone to follow me as I narrate.)

• Get more publicity for my listings in local and national media (My Compton Heights mansion for sale was in the New York Times on-line site for "What you can buy for $800,000". The Ladue News selected by Bernoudy listing on 18 acres in Town and Country for their Decorator's Show House. HGTV did picture one of my Pike County listings in their new magazine. HGTV also contacted me about my water treatment and church buildings in Louisiana, MO for their show, "You Live in What?" I could not scrounge up before pictures, so they could not shoot the episode.)

• Create logos for www.stlouisstyleblog.com and www.pikecountyliving.com (I did have two separate designers create logos for my brand. I need to talk further with one of the designers to fine-tune the logo.)

• Hire an assistant/Buyer's agent (Licensed Realtor, Kelli Graf, started helping me in April 2012. She has been great and some of my clients like her better than me! I guess that is a good thing.)

Come back and see what goals I am setting for 2013!

I love this view through the window of our octagonal barn from the Dining Room of our farmhouse.  See pictures from a recent weekend when I entertained some friends for an overnight…HERE.

Osage Oranges are a fixture of farm living….at least in Pike County, MO.  It is interesting to read about them….click HERE.  I love the idea that they can repel spiders if placed under a bed.  They will slowly shrink and become the size of a golf ball. The chartreuse color is perfect. 

Beware…they have nasty thorns! I was clearing out a corral at our farm and decided to clip back an Osage Orange that was near a fence….it whipped back at me and I received several horrible scratches. Silly me to be doing farm work in shorts.