• 🩷 Your Turn To Plan Date Night?

• 💰 Federal Reserve Interest Rate Cut

• 📷 Waiting Til Winter Will Cost You

• 🐔 The Controversial Owensboro Chicken Saga

• 🏠 Two Homes & 3+ Car Shop on 26 Acres!

• 🍕 Owensboro Pizza Week Sept 19th-28th

• 📦 Know Before Moving To Owensboro

• 🏢 Development on 54 Next To Chick-Fil-A

• 💭 Final Thoughts

This newsletter is loaded with real estate info, but also with really neat things going on in and around our community that I think you would want to know. Let’s dig into it…

🩷 Your Turn To Plan Date Night?

You are going to thank me for this! Just copy and paste. 😉

We are blessed in Owensboro with so many options. Here's a date night idea to do on a Saturday afternoon/evening this month in Owensboro!👇

🩷 Walk Owensboro's riverfront hand-in-hand...and stop to play on the playground. You don't have to be a kid to have kid-like energy!
🩷 Swing by Willow and Pine Market to browse their unique and beautiful gift ideas.
🩷 Take a break from walking and enjoy your favorite latte in a romantic corner with your favorite person at The Creme Coffee House.
🩷 Now that you've relaxed, it's time to have a friendly competition of Axe Throwing Escape Today!
🩷 You'll be hungry after all of that fun so swing by City Walk of Owensboro and share your favorite dish while talking about how you're going to win at Axe Throwing next time.
🩷 End the evening listening to some great tunes downtown at the free outdoor concert at LIVE on the Banks!

The concert series winds down at the end of September so be sure to put this date night on your calendar THIS month!

💰 Federal Reserve Interest Rate Cut

You wanna know something that grinds my gears?

It’s when I see real estate agents screaming that the interest rates have dropped when they really didn’t. And I’ve been seeing that a lot this year.

Let me be clear, interest rates are ALWAYS fluctuating. But for a real estate agent to tout that rates have cut when they MIGHT have dropped for one day really insignificantly…it just drives me crazy. To me, that’s misleading. And I don’t believe in doing that.

The Fed’s job is to continuously make decisions that keep the right amount of money and credit flowing so the U.S. economy can thrive. To control it, the Fed sets the federal funds rate which impacts all kinds of interest rates including savings accounts AND mortgage rates. It’s a “benchmark” per se.

On September 17th, the Federal Reserve announced a quarter-of-a-percentage interest rate cut. Many mortgage companies were ahead of this (mortgage rates typically react prior to the Fed news by anticipating what the news will be) and we are FINALLY seeing a nice interest rate decrease on mortgage loans.

There are some homebuyers who are already seeing interest rates in the upper 5’s now instead of in the 6’s so that is GREAT news! When you see others celebrating an interest rate in the 5’s on social media, it’s okay to get excited, but do NOT make a decision on buying/selling real estate until you’ve talked to your mortgage loan officer. Those seeing rates in the 5’s at this moment have a great credit score and are a really solid buyer.

If your current interest rate is in the upper 6’s or higher, I would highly recommend that you reach out to your lender to see if a refinance would be in your best interest. Find out what it would cost you to refinance and what that refinance would mean for your new monthly mortgage payment and determine if it makes sense. If you plan to sell in the next 6 months or so, it likely will not make financial sense to refinance. Talk to your lender to talk specifics.

And if you need a mortgage lender recommendation, I’ve got you! Just reply to this email and I’ll be happy to help!

📷 Waiting Til Winter Will Cost You

I’m talking about real estate. But I’m likely not saying what you think I am.

Waiting until winter to sell isn’t going to cost you money. There will be less competition than the spring months, and likely with the recent interest rate drop, there may actually be MORE buyers this winter than there were in the spring.

However, I’m referring to taking photos of your home. Please don’t wait until winter to get the professional photography of your home taken. At minimum, at least go ahead and get the exterior shots done.

Don’t take my word for it. Check out the spring vs. late fall/winter photo of the same home. Homebuyers shop online first to determine whether or not they want to give your home a chance and tour. Which photo do you think would be more appealing to the most amount of buyers?

Of course it’s the first one. Sometimes you can’t help. Sometimes you just didn’t know ahead of time that you’d be selling in the “not as pretty” months. If you know right now that you will be selling before this upcoming spring when things come to life again. reach out to your real estate agent and request that the exterior photos get taken of your home as soon as possible.

I promise, it WILL make a difference on the amount of money you make on your home.

🐔 The Controversial Owensboro Chicken Saga

Give me a sign that’s more effective at telling you that you do NOT live in a big city than a city ordinance passing that ALLOWS citizens to now have chickens within city limits! 🙌

I’m an animal lover through and through…and I actually live in the country on acreage, but you will NOT find chickens on our property. Not because I don’t like them. I think they are adorable. And they taste really good too. Haha! But having chickens just isn’t my thing. If you follow me on social media, you already know if chickens end up at my house, they will become an in-house, spoiled pet. And I don’t think our nightly possum visitor Frankie would take a liking to a chicken. 🤣

Yes we have a possum who visits us regularly and HELPS HIMSELF into our home. It’s incredibly funny. “We listen and we don’t judge.” 😉 Back to the chicken story…

The desire for chickens seems to be a thing for many city residents though. And this week, they got exactly what they wanted!

The Commissioners voted 3-2 to allow residents to have backyard chickens within city limits, with some limits and restrictions, of course.

What are those restrictions? 👇

• up to 6 female chickens for personal use

• no roosters or other fowl

• may only be housed in the backyards of single-family residences

• must be kept in secure, predator-proof & ventilated coops that are odor free (YEAH RIGHT!!) and are a minimum of 3 sq ft per chicken in size

• must be at least 10 ft from property lines and at least 40 ft from other homes and businesses

What do you think about this new city ordinance? A fan of it? Completely against it?

My only concern is the sanitary conditions of the coops. I worry about the chickens not being properly taken care of (so many have people seem to have a problem taking care of dogs and cats, let alone chickens), but I know there are a lot of people who will treat them humanely and will do it right.

Thoughts?

🏠 Two Homes & 3+ Car Shop on 26 Acres!

It’s rare for a property like this to hit the market.

Such a unique opportunity in Ohio County that I just listed. I’m hosting an Open House this Saturday, Sept 20th from 10:30am - Noon. If you know of anyone who may be interested, be sure they know about it. I don’t think this one will last beyond the weekend so if you are interested, be sure your financing options are figured out and you have a mortgage preapproval letter (unless you’re paying full cash) just in case you love it.

💙 TWO homes (both 3-beds/2-baths) on one property
💙 Heated, 3-car shop
💙 Covered porch and large deck on 2nd home
💙 2-stall horse barn
💙 Mostly wooded 26 acres

You’re not going to believe everything this Ohio County property has to offer! TWO 3 bedroom/2 bathroom homes on one property AND a large 3-car shop on 26 acres!

The main home is a beautiful 1800 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath Champion modular home (year 2016) on a block foundation. You won’t believe your eyes when you see this incredibly beautiful kitchen. So much space to prepare your meals & entertain. Prefer a gigantic bathroom w/ walk-in shower in the owner’s suite? We’ve got you covered! If you were to ever lose electricity in the winter, this home is supplemented with a gas heater hook-up in the large living room.

The 2nd home is 3 bedroom/2 bathroom at the end of the driveway closest to the shop. It's a very cozy place with a living room, kitchen, full bathroom, bedroom and a bonus room on the main level. Upstairs you'll find 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. Peaceful covered porch and large deck. Very private, secluded backyard.

The property includes 26 mostly-wooded acres that have been used most recently as a hobby farm. The property hasn’t been logged in at least 45 years...if ever. Includes a great 2-stall horse barn with electricity, electric-fenced field & an INCREDIBLE heated 3 car garage with concrete floors.

The possibilities are endless! I’m really excited about this listing! This opportunity is only available because my sellers are being relocated to another state, which means someone is going to be REALLY lucky to snag this great property!

📍 6768 & 6770 State Route 69 N, Hartford
💲 $314,900

If you need more info about this one, reply to this email and I’ll send you a link to the disclosures, utilities, list of updates, property boundaries and more.

#VegaGroup #RealBroker

🍕 Owensboro Pizza Week Sept 19th-28th

Owensboro has learned to love, appreciate & maybe even obsess over Burger Week. And now the self-proclaimed “foodies” have something else to look forward to!

As of right now, there are THIRTY-ONE incredible restaurants participating! How fun is that?!

If it’s anything like Burger Week, these pizzas will pack a punch of uniqueness that’s sure to draw a big crowd and leave people with mixed reviews.

Owensboro Times is the organizer of this event. They are asking that you tip your servers well, that you order more food other than just the pizza (many of the restaurants don’t make much money off of pizza alone because they’re going to be putting so much more money into their slices….it is a contest afterall!) & they want you to use the hashtag #OTPizzaWeek when you take to social media with your photos and reviews.

There is a guide to the festivities that includes a list of all participating restaurants, a map of them, what each restaurant’s featured pizza is (and there’s a photo of each in the guide!) & more. I’ve made it easy for you. You can download that guide below! 👇

Have so much fun! I’m looking forward to seeing all the unique creations and seeing everyone’s reviews!

📦 Know Before Moving To Owensboro

I get so excited when people reach out to me who are relocating to the Owensboro area due to a work relocation.

It's especially fun to talk to those who have no ties to the area and I get to tell them all about our community. 🩷 What did I miss in this list that you love about Owensboro?! 👇

✨ Everything you need is right here. I grew up in a small town (which I absolutely love), but there's something about being in a larger community that I never have to leave if I don't want to. While Owensboro has everything you need, our special city somehow still captures that small town charm.

✨ Although I don't have children, the families I've worked with have raved about our school system. It's nice that the student-to-teacher ratio is so low, which means more one-on-one teaching, but it also means that students have more opportunities for extracurricular activities.

✨ Our downtown is absolutely charming and beautiful. And the live entertainment is seemingly non-stop. I love that our city works hard to provide so many things to do for everyone!

✨ If you love to be outdoors, Owensboro has so many options for parks, walking, biking, basketball, pickleball, disc golf and so much more! If you've not enjoyed our parks recently, I highly recommend!

✨ If you love community exercise or lifting heavy, Owensboro has plenty to choose from no matter what kind of athlete you are (or want to be.) I love the diversity in our gym scene.

✨ Just in case you are blissfully unaware, Malibu Jack's (indoor attractions/entertainment park) will soon be taking up much of the space in our old Towne Square Mall! (More info coming on that soon!)

👋 I'm Sam Ray, your local Realtor who also happens to love Owensboro and wants to be sure you are aware of all the fun to be had in our little city.

🏢 Development on 54 Next To Chick-Fil-A

The area highlighted above, formerly the Day Treatment campus on Highway 54 will soon look very different.

The team behind Heartland Crossing (the development that includes LongHorn, Meijer, Menards, etc.) has purchased this property for $3.3M with plans to turn it into another commercial development.

One of the requirements of this purchase is that this group must demolish the existing buildings within 6 months. These buildings have been vacant and have not been kept up with for several years. At this point, they present a safety concern for the city, which is the reason for deadline for the buildings to be demolished.

There are no committed tenants for this development yet. However, the developers are busy reaching out to national brands and hope to have a mix of retail, restaurants and other services.

What businesses do you hope to see open up in that spot? I’m glad that 54 will be widened by then (at least we hope so!) since this development will be right off the highway.

💭 Final Thoughts

It’s been a heavy week in the world. I hope you are doing well in all realms, but especially mentally and emotionally. It was a really nice break from the heavy things to put together this newsletter.

Steve and I are having a lot of fun working together in real estate. Some people assume that we see each other often, but we actually don’t. We divide and conquer. We’re not the kind of people that are going to go on appointments together unless it’s absolutely necessary. There’s too much to accomplish for us to work side-by-side. I must admit though, it’s kinda nice sneaking peeks at my handsome hubby occasionally when I run into him at the office. But let’s keep it real, I am NOT fun to work with as far as at the office. I have a million things I want to get accomplished so there is no small-talk…not even with Steve. 🤣

For those of you who have hired us to help you with your real estate needs or have referred us to family and friends anytime in the last 10 years, THANK YOU! It truly means the world to us. I hope you have a great rest of your week and weekend!

❤️ Sam

“OBKY News” is brought to you by Sam Ray’s real estate team Vega Group proudly brokered by Real Broker.

We would be honored to be your chosen real estate expert when you are ready to make a move. ❤️ 

We know that it can be fun to tour homes even if you’re not ready to make a move. So we’ve put together a list of the upcoming Open Houses just in case you’d like to tour them. 👇

** This is a “live” link which means it’ll update as Open Houses are added or removed. Be sure to check back closer to the weekend!