Thursday, August 31, 2006
They're sinking
Interest rates for a 30 year fixed rate home mortgage are dropping. Rates had been as high as 6.75 or 7 percent. Recently, they have dropped to about 6.375 percent. I have seen some mortgage companines advertise mortgages for as low as 6.125 percent, which is a pretty good deal. Hopefully, rates will continue to decline. I will keep you posted.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Searching for equilibrium
In a recent article in the New York Times about the real estate market in New Jersey, the author made a very interesting point. He said the two biggest problems with today's market are sellers who price their houses too high and buyers who offer too little.
In the latest issue of Realtor Magazine, David Lereah touches the same point, saying of buyers... "For them it's a waiting game. Once sellers price their homes right, sales will pick up.''
Sometimes we need to be reminded of the two necessary ingredients to any real estate deal. A willing buyer and a willing seller.
Once we get closer to that point of equilibrium between buyers and sellers -- when both sides become more willing -- things will pick up.
In the latest issue of Realtor Magazine, David Lereah touches the same point, saying of buyers... "For them it's a waiting game. Once sellers price their homes right, sales will pick up.''
Sometimes we need to be reminded of the two necessary ingredients to any real estate deal. A willing buyer and a willing seller.
Once we get closer to that point of equilibrium between buyers and sellers -- when both sides become more willing -- things will pick up.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
The flood still hurts
Nearly two months after the Delaware River flooded, the impact is still being felt in Bucks County by homeowners, merchants who have business alongthe river and by real estate agents who have listings and clients who want to buy and sell properties there.
Keep in mind that River Road is cut intwo places: south of Lumberville in Solebury and north of Point Pleasant in Tinicum. Many people are not driving on River Road because the detours make it difficult and time consuming. Houses are not being seen because people are not driving by and not asking their agents about them. Houses are not being sold because many people incorrectly believe all of the properties along the river were flooded. Hopefully, the situation will be rectified soon. PennDOT is working on rebuilding the bridges that have been washed out. The target date for completion is November, at least three months away. That's going to hurt.
Keep in mind that River Road is cut intwo places: south of Lumberville in Solebury and north of Point Pleasant in Tinicum. Many people are not driving on River Road because the detours make it difficult and time consuming. Houses are not being seen because people are not driving by and not asking their agents about them. Houses are not being sold because many people incorrectly believe all of the properties along the river were flooded. Hopefully, the situation will be rectified soon. PennDOT is working on rebuilding the bridges that have been washed out. The target date for completion is November, at least three months away. That's going to hurt.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
The strangest thing that ever happened
I was almost struck by lightning, twice, on the same night, while sitting at my desk in the newsroom at The Daily Intelligencer in Doylestown, Pa.
I've had some odd things happen in my nearly three years as a real estate agent (and you'll hear more about them later), but nothing like the things that happened in my 26 years of working at a newspaper. I've endured bomb threats, blackouts and blizzards, but by far the strangest was the lightning incident.
It happened on a hot, humid summer evening. A summer thunderstorm was rolling in, and I could hear the thunder getting louder as it neared Doylestown. I could tell by the increasing noise of the thunder that is was a bad storm. Here's what happened next. I heard two things at about the same time. A huge thunderclap that sounded as though a bomb went off on the roof. Then I saw a flash of blue light out of the corner of my eye that appeared to have just missed my head. I heard a zap sound and smelled something like an electrical fire.
I sit at a cubicle, the kind you see in many offices, and when that bolt hit I managed to leap over the cubicle in one move. I don't know how I accomplished it, but I'm sure being scared to death helped.
Around 11 p.m. I was sitting at my desk and heard another thunderstorm approaching. I thought about moving eslewhere, but I believed that adage about lightning never striking the same place twice.
I was wrong. I heard another explosion, this one even louder and more frightening that the first, a second blue flash whizzing by my head, the zapping sound and the smell of an electrical fire.
I could not believe it happened again, but it did, and I was really shaken up. It seems that the lightning had struck an unused radio antenna that was connected to a police radio near the city desk, where I sat. The lightning bolt hit the antenna, went down through the building and arced to something else near my head.
There is still a burn mark on a piece of metal that marks where the lightning bolt arced. The company has since taken down the antenna. I moved to a new desk.
I've had some odd things happen in my nearly three years as a real estate agent (and you'll hear more about them later), but nothing like the things that happened in my 26 years of working at a newspaper. I've endured bomb threats, blackouts and blizzards, but by far the strangest was the lightning incident.
It happened on a hot, humid summer evening. A summer thunderstorm was rolling in, and I could hear the thunder getting louder as it neared Doylestown. I could tell by the increasing noise of the thunder that is was a bad storm. Here's what happened next. I heard two things at about the same time. A huge thunderclap that sounded as though a bomb went off on the roof. Then I saw a flash of blue light out of the corner of my eye that appeared to have just missed my head. I heard a zap sound and smelled something like an electrical fire.
I sit at a cubicle, the kind you see in many offices, and when that bolt hit I managed to leap over the cubicle in one move. I don't know how I accomplished it, but I'm sure being scared to death helped.
Around 11 p.m. I was sitting at my desk and heard another thunderstorm approaching. I thought about moving eslewhere, but I believed that adage about lightning never striking the same place twice.
I was wrong. I heard another explosion, this one even louder and more frightening that the first, a second blue flash whizzing by my head, the zapping sound and the smell of an electrical fire.
I could not believe it happened again, but it did, and I was really shaken up. It seems that the lightning had struck an unused radio antenna that was connected to a police radio near the city desk, where I sat. The lightning bolt hit the antenna, went down through the building and arced to something else near my head.
There is still a burn mark on a piece of metal that marks where the lightning bolt arced. The company has since taken down the antenna. I moved to a new desk.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Hello
Hello, this is a test post.
