Congratulations to Ron Sumner for receiving the award for being GTAR’s 2009 Realtor of the year.

Ron started his career in real estate back in 1980. He has been with Coldwell Banker Select (formerly Coldwell Banker Radergroup) since the start. Currently he is the manager of the Coldwell Banker Select office located in Broken Arrow.

During Ron’s time as a Realtor, he has served on numerous GTAR and NORES task forces and comittees to include keybox, RPAC, Finance. He has been the chair of the Data Systems Committee nd GTAR strategic planning Task Force. Currently Ron is serving on GTAR’s rofessional Standards and Stanndards Forms Committess, and NORES’ bylaws, rules and regualtions commitee. Read the rest of this entry »

In yet another ranking, Tulsa is No. 1 for having the best cost of living among areas with a population of more than 500,000 and No. 2 for its quality of life, according to lists that appear in the August edition of Business Facilities magazine.


“One of the things that continues to be an attraction is the low cost of living, which translates to a low cost of doing business. People can have a better quality of life in Tulsa than they can in places in the East or West Coast … and that’s important in helping those people to make a decision of where they want to live and where they want to work,” said Jim Fram, senior vice president of economic development with the Tulsa Metro Chamber.


Business Facilities magazine is one of about a half-dozen publications that targets a small, niche audience of corporate real estate executives, site consultants and company CEOs who are seeking to gather information for possible expansion or relocations, Fram said.


For its 2009 Metro Rankings Report, the magazine looked at several categories that serve as benchmarks for any economic development program, including quality of life, cost of living and green-building initiatives.


The metro report also evaluated emerging growth sectors such as film production and food processing, and growth leaders like aerospace and the top-wired metros as well as economic growth potential.


The magazine states, “MSNBC.com has perennially listed Tulsa as one of the lowest-cost cities to rent in the country, with spacious homes available for as low as $500 per month and low-cost apartments available to students flocking to this college town; average home sale prices also are among the lowest in the country.”


It goes on to state, “Anyone tired of traffic congestion in their current location will be pleased to learn that the average one-way commute in this Oklahoma city is about 20 minutes, third fastest in a recent survey of 65 major metropolitan areas.


“Salary.com, meanwhile, ranks Tulsa as one of the most favorable cities to build personal wealth, which residents can hang on to thanks to state and local taxes that are among the lowest in the nation,” the magazine adds.


Oklahoma City also receives a nod in the magazine and is ranked No. 7 among the top 10 metro economic growth potential.


Lawton ranks No. 9 for having the best cost of living among metros with a population of fewer than 500,000.


This latest recognition for the Tulsa area follows many others that have cropped up this year.


Earlier this week, Tulsa was named the third-best city in the nation for minor league sports, according to a new survey from Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal.


And earlier this year, Relocate-America ranked Tulsa the top place to live in the country out of 100 cities and towns.


Additionally, Forbes magazine has come out with sundry lists this year that have place the Tulsa area No. 2 among midsize cities for being “Best Cities for Job Growth” and 47th out of 200 large metro areas for Best Places for Business and Careers.”


The magazine also has ranked Tulsa No. 5 on a new list of “America’s Most Livable Cities.”


Recently, Tulsa and Oklahoma City both received high marks in fDi magazine’s list of the top “North American Cities of the Future.”


“The compilation of those lists is very important because economic development has become a sophisticated business in the last several years … I think as we come out of the recession work force will be an area for opportunity,” Fram said. “If you read census tracts, the workers are going to dictate where the jobs and capital investment happens.”


In the last several years through a comprehensive economic development program, Tulsa really has begun to work on building a community where people want to live and work, he added.


Tulsa tops list


“Top 10 metro Best cost of living” among areas with a population greater than 500,000


1. Tulsa
2. Memphis, Tenn.
3. McAllen-Mission Texas
4. Little Rock, Ark.
5. St. Louis
6. Nashville, Tenn,
7. Louisville, Ky.
8. El Paso, Texas
9. Cincinnati
10. Dallas

Approximately 973 homes changed hands during the month, up 6.7 percent from April’s figures though down 15.3 percent from May 2008, according to the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors.

The year-to-date home sale total now stands at 3,993, down 13 percent from the first five months of 2008. Through April, the difference was 8.9 percent.

Still, Gloria Allred, president of Northeast Oklahoma Real Estate Services — the multiple listing service that compiles home sales data — said the monthly increase is an encouraging sign.

“We’ve been gradually coming up every month this year,” she said. “The stimulus program has helped us a lot.”

She was referring to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which gives an $8,000 incentive to first-time home buyers. Allred added that the warming weather and a relatively strong local economy also helped sales in May.

May’s home price median — the point at which 50 percent of homes sold for more and 50 percent sold for less — held steady with the year-ago level, though the average price dropped nearly $7,500.

Allred said the latter number may have been influenced by the surge in first-time buyers. “First-time home buyers tend to buy smaller properties,” she said.

Across the nation, home sales rose 1.9 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.25 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. The number, however, is 3 percent below May 2008’s sales rate.

The national median sales price was $173,000 in May, down 16.8 percent from a year earlier.