Dan's Bucks County Real Estate Blog

A bridge in Tinicum Township that has been closed since the Delaware River flooded in June has been reopened five weeks early. Originally, PennDOT had expected the bridge to be rebuilt by mid-November, so it's a bit of a break. However, River Road is still cut between Greenhill and Fleecydale Roads below Lumberville and work on that bridge is not slated to be finished until November. That is not good news for Lumberville. The Black Bass Hotel restaurant, which I think is one of the best in Bucks County, is still closed.

River Road also has problems in Bridgeton Township. The flooding washed out the northbound lanes of the road. Only traffic going south can use the road between Route 611 and Narrows Hill Road. That job is going to take a while.

A real estate transaction will generally go pretty smoothly if one side isn't trying to screw the other. -- Jack Bodden

Mortgage interest rates are continuing their slow decline. Most appear to be hovering around 6.25 percent for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, but I have seen them for even less than that. Last week in the Philadelphia Inquirer, one mortgage company advertised a loan for under 6 percent, with no points. Mortgage rates and gas prices going down at the same time -- life is good.

To compare mortgage interest rates, you can go to Bankrate.com and click on the compare rates tab at the top center of the page. Then follow the prompts.

These statistics from the Trend MLS will give you an idea of just how much the market has changed. In August of last year, 1006 homes sold. In August of 2006, 712 homes sold. That a decrease of 29 percent. Yikes! Days on market rose from 36 in 2005 to 50 in 2006. And one final number, in August of 2005 there were 1133 listings. In August of 2006, there were 1305. That's an increase of 15 percent.