Lancaster PA Real Estate Blog

I thought I'd post some photos of a new listing coming on the market early next week.  If you're looking for a home in the city look no further - this home is completely renovated with lots of extra touches.  Some features are:

• Gleaming Hardwood floors
• Huge kitchen with tiled floors
• Brand-new appliances
• Private landscaped rear yard
• Nicely-painted walls throughout
• exposed wood staircase
• 5 bedrooms, 2 on third floor connected
• 1 bath, upgraded
• 1,600 square feet
• nice basement with washer included
  
• newer windows and doors
• attention to detail!

Offered at $119,900.  If you'd like to see it before it's available to all, give me a call at 717-799-0851 today.

Some of the most desirable Lancaster County PA homes for sale are the ones in Grandview Heights.  A wonderful historic location combined with classic home styles make for a true destination neighborhood.

Grandview Heights consists of a fairly large network of streets in what is considered "old" Manheim Township, abutting Lancaster City in the northeast corner.  The majority of the homes were built in the 1930s and 1940s, but homes continued to be built right up until the mid 1990s.  The classic brick architecture can be found throughout the area, with both detached homes and townhomes interspersed.

Home styles in Grandview Heights varies widely, which adds to the charm of the neighborhood.  There are Craftsman bungalows with wood and stucco exteriors, brick postwar GI-bill homes, Large colonial brick examples and and newer sided homes.

Some colonial homes are quite grand, a reminded that Grandview Heights was once the home of the city's professionals and upper middle class.

The streets in Grandview Heights can be wide avenues or narrow alleys, some of which are one-way.  You have to know where you're going!

The homes are typically on smaller lots as was normal in the early part of the century, when we didn't need so much ground for our stuff...

Here are some examples of the now-gone architecture that typifies Grandview Heights:

Homes usually sell quickly in Grandview Heights, depending on condition.  The floorplans are typically small, from 1,000 square feet to 1,700 square feet.  The average home sales price for detached in the past year was $236,000.  For semis and townhomes the average was $143,000.  Currently there are  9 Grandview Heights homes for sale.  I'd be happy to email them to you if you are interested.

For more information on Grandview Heights, Manheim Township homes for sale or any Lancaster PA Real Estate question fee free to call me at 717-799-0851.  If you'd like to receive email updates of hot new listings in Grandview Heights, contact me grandviewheights@yourlancasterhome.com and give me your contact information.

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For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here.  Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and  an involved community member.  Jeff's work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal.  Jeff's blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured.  Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs. 

You may remember my post from a few weeks ago about some green-friendly products being sold at Costco.  I received several contacts regarding that post, but the most interesting just came in yesterday.  Here is the email:

Message details:
From: Bruce Baxter
Email: wellmadesales01@aol.com
Subject: Golden Arowana Bamboo Flooring

Thank you for mentioning our product that is sold in Costco. Bamboo flooring is the most environmentally friendly product used in flooring. In fact, it is the only readily renewable natural resource used in flooring, except for rocks! We also have rocks: Pebble Tiles.

Costco is the only retailer in the US (that I am aware of) that is offering a true premium bamboo flooring for around $2.00 s/f. The reason they can offer this premium bamboo for this price, is that they purchase very large quantities, do all their own shipping from China, and have a very low markup for profit.

Should you or others wish to learn more about Bamboo, please visit our Golden Arowana website at bambooflooringinstaller.com. On this web site I try to educate Costco Members on bamboo that is beyond the hype so they can make an informed decision with regard to purchasing bamboo. Please feel free to contact should you wish additional information. Thank You again!

Bruce R. Baxter
Manufacturers' Representative - USA

www.wellmadecorp.com
www.bamboofloorings.com

I emailed Bruce back to ask him if I could include his letter on my blog.  I you are looking for another option for flooring you home take a look at this product - it is an ideal option for a remodeler on a budget!

Considering the wide variety of fine neighborhoods and locales within Lancaster County, it may not come as a surprise that one of the favorite ones is located right in the middle!   Nestled in Manheim Township, PA is Wetherburn, a beautiful community of upscale homes.

Wetherburn was built between 1979 and 1999 in several phases. 

Located along Fruitville Pike just north of Lancaster City and Route 30, Wetherburn is ideally located.  There is both Wetherburn & Wetherburn North, the north phase on the other side of Petersburg Road.  

Home styles in Wetherburn tend towards the neocolonial or colonial revival, with exteriors of brick-face or siding for the most part.  There are some stone-face examples but not as many, since Wetherburn was completed before the stone fad began in the mid 1990s in Lancaster County.

The streets in Wetherburn are very wide and have rolled curbs and landscaping trees planted, for a relaxed, quiet suburban feel.

The interior floorplans in Wetherburn run from around 2,000 square feet to well over 3,000 square feet.  Wetherburn homes tend to be on the larger side, with large lots as well (half to three-quarters of an acre). 

Wetherburn homes are part of the Manheim Township School District, located only a mile away in nearby Neffsville. The local elementary school is Reidenbaugh, which is about a mile northeast and a new facility. 

Parks near Wetherburn would be the Manheim Township Community Park and Landis Woods Park.

Wetherburn home prices run from the low $300K range to the high $400K range. Recent sales can be viewed here.  There are 5 Wetherburn homes for sale as of today.  If you are interested in learning more about Wetherburn homes for sale or would like to receive immediate email notification of new listings in Wetherburn, feel free to contact me at 717-799-0851 anytime.  I live right nearby and am available to show Wetherburn homes virtually any day.

For those looking for the same great location with a townhome community at lower prices, be sure to check out Cobblestone Court, only half a mile away.  

For a great Manheim Township New Homes community, try Landis Estates on Kissel Hills road nearby.  For those who are looking for brand-new luxury homes with a smaller lot for less maintenance, Landis Estates is simply the best choice for Wetherburn homeowners to move to. If you'd like to receive email updates of hot new listings in Wetherburn, contact me wetherburn@yourlancasterhome.com and give me your contact information.

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For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here.  Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and  an involved community member.  Jeff's work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal.  Jeff's blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured.  Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs. 

Continued from last week... 

This week the folks from UGI were out to install the furnace and coil, but not before another contractor contacted me to propose doing the work for $2,500.  UGI had originally quoted me $3,320.  I was a bit surprised and discussed the difference with Margaret from UGI, my estimator.  She agreed to reduce the price to $2,900, which I appreciated as I already signed the contract! 

My application for the Keystone HELP (High Efficiency Loan Program) loan went smoothly, although they made me fax my tax records in (oh well, the life of a commission-only businessman).

The big day came on Wednesday when a couple of UGI trucks showed up.  Away went my old clunker furnace...it's already in the truck when this photo was taken.  They were quick and efficient.  Two techs were there and they were not very chatty, which was OK with me. 

Another surprise - the unit was not the one that I had agreed to.  I knew that Goodman made the same model number (GMH95) under Amana, Goodman and EnergiAir marquees.  I was expecting an EnergiAir - they brought an Amana.  I was not unhappy, thought, as I think the Amana name will be better for resale (thinking as a Realtor).

This thing is SMALL compared to my old dinosaur!  And it's so QUIET.  Since it draws air from outside, I don't have to worry about CO buildup in my unfinished space.  It's so efficient that you can put your hand on the exhaust pipe (which is sch40 PVC) when the furnace is on.  Love it!

Unfortunately, the A/C broke that evening and we had to suffer through a sweltering night before their repair folks could come out the next morning.  The trouble was an old disconnect that the installers had decided to leave.  The second crew yanked it out and bypassed it.

So far so good.  Tessa from AFC First has been outstanding. Supposedly my paperwork is being sent to Margaret at UGI for completion.  I got a 6.99% rate, which is pretty good!  Tessa did say that the max loan amount is $10,000 - they may go to $12,000 in certain situations.  I commented that PV Solar and other upgrades would be well higher than that.  She replied that they were working on that issue, but the fact that the loans are unsecured makes high loan amounts risky.  AFC First will be offering HELP mortgages for bigger-ticket upgrades.  Interesting!

Overall I'm very happy with the upgrade and financing.  My payment is $60 per month and I can pay it of at any time.  The rate is subsidized by the State of Pennsylvania, so I guess I'm just getting some of my tax $$$ back...fine with me!

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For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here.  Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and  an involved community member.  Jeff's work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal.  Jeff's blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured.  Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs.

I went to the first-annual "Great Green America Fest" which was held this past weekend at the site of the PA Renaissance Faire, just off the PA Turnpike at the Lancaster/Lebanon Exit (Route 72)

I took my kids on Saturday afternoon.  I had not heard about it until Friday in the afternoon when a neighbor who works for a sponsoring firm clued me in to it - was surprised as I hear about these things.  I was glad to see some big names sponsoring it such as Amerigreen Biofuels and the PA State DCNR.  Right away, though, I was distressed at the relative lack of regional companies working in the green and sustainable markets.  There were a bunch of schools as sponsors, but not LCCTC which is actually building green homes right now.  New Holland Concrete was listed as a sponsor, but no display was evident.

The event seemed to be geared more for kids, which was OK after I got used to it.  They gave my boys "passports" to take around and get stamped at stations throughout the property.  We only managed to find 4 out of 12?  stampers - many stations appeared to be non-existent.  I must admit, I was pretty confused by the layout of the festival. The Ren Faire property is really big and the map provided was hard to read as a first-time visitor.  After about 10 minutes of walking aimlessly I figured out where we were.  Hmm.

One vendor I was really interested in was Environmental Homestore out of Lansdale.  I'll post more on them later.  The DCNR displays were neat, mostly kid-oriented.  The music seemed to be going on everywhere all the time - but we didn't stop at any one stage because there was so much walking to do...all the Ren Faire food vendors were open, but we had some really good "orchard freezes" instead - they were all-fruit vendors there for the festival.

There really wasn't a whole lot of truly "green" vendors there.  Amerigreen had a tent with good displays, and a solar manufacturer had a lonely display at the far end (near the dog-jumping show...).

Finally we got tired of wandering about and decided to head home.  

The creators of this show are to be commended for trying something new to raise awareness of greener living here in southeast PA.  I would suggest the following for next year:

1. Invite more alternative-energy and sustainable living firms and visionaries - see my blog for some ideas.
2. $16 per adult was too much - try for $10 and have a family rate.
3. Get the LCCTC involved - they are really doing "green" as a school.
4. Push promotion earlier & utilize the regional organizations as a marketing outlet (GBACPA, etc).
5. Please, please don't spread the event out across the whole property.  Perhaps use the bowl area around the chessboard only?  If the event was well-attended it was hard to tell...

Looking forward to 2008!

A key area of focus for any homeowner or business looking to make an immediate impact on the local environment is that of water usage.  There are many new technologies available today to empower even the casual advocate of "green" changes...so as an addition to our national green resources directory, we are:

Looking for resources in the following water-conservation technologies:

Grey-water reuse - filtering, recirculating systems, dual plumbing

Rainwater Harvesting - landscaping, garden, in-house applications

Hot Water Heating - point of use, instant-on heat, tankless systems

Water conserving fixtures - low-flush toilets, low-flow showers, minimizing wastewater

Sustainable Landscaping - low water usage, indigenous plantings, micro irrigation, irrigation controllers

If you have experience with a resource in any of the above disciplines and would like to recommend them, please use the comment section below to do so.

You may also provide a link to your blog regarding any of these disciplines.

Well, I decided to bite the bullet and get our really old, inefficient gas furnace yanked out in favor of a new-tech furnace.  We are redoing our basement and it's a great time to remove the old clunker (literally) and move into the 21st century.  I'm excited!  I decided to make this a project for my blog (are you REALLY surprised?) and will report on the changes in my bills and air quality. 

I settled on letting a highly reputable company handle the install - UGI, our regional gas provider, who does sales and service of gas heating and AC systems.  The estimator, a Margaret Wenger, came out yesterday to price my replacement. The price came in at $3,320 for a new furnace, AC coil and related work (which is fairly heavy as old as my system is).  I was happy knowing what I know about system prices, but to get a second opinion I called my friend Steve Iseman, who is an analyst for Metropolitan Edison over in York County.  He agreed that the price was good, so away we went!

The unit I am getting is an EnergiAir GMH95, which is made by Goodman Manufacturing for UGI, who renames it.  It's a 95% AFUE efficient unit (wow!) with 2 stage operation and multispeed functionality.  Pretty cool (pardon the pun).  The 2 stage feature is neat - the blower slows down as the load on the unit decreases, to save energy.

One interesting thing came up that I hadn't planned for - UGI offers the "Keystone Help" financing program for it's energy-efficient upgrades.  The 95% efficiency units qualify.  The program is an up-to-10 year financing term for only 8.99%.  It can go to 6.99% in certain cases of reduced income.  As an example, a $2,500 loan would be $32 per month for 10 years.  There is no prepayment penalty.  All this is underwritten by the PA Treasury Department.

I was interested.  I'm going to do the financing so I can write about how it works for the benefit of my readers who are considering an energy-efficient upgrade and can't pay in full.  This could be great for the bigger-ticket items like PV solar or Geothermal.

The install date is the 18th, so I'll give an update then!

If you are cruising east on Chestnut Street past Lime, look to your right for the newly renovated Musser Park. 

Musser Park originally opened in 1949, a bequest to the City of Lancaster by Henry Musser, maker of umbrella handles.   It's a 3.1 acre green space within a beautifully historic city district.  The park had been unimproved for many years before a the Musser Park Civic Association embarked on a well-deserved upgrade.  Renovations included new grading and seed of the well-known "bowl" in the center of the park, a new water fountain, concrete game tables with checkers, etc. etched in, new signage at the park entrance points, a new rubber surface for the popular playground, and nice new brick and concrete walkways throughout.  New, attractive light poles have been strategically placed about the park as well. 

The work has taken five years, but the park looks great!  Look forward to the fireworks returning to the bowl for Independence Day '08...

The Lancaster Museum of Art is located along the Lime Street side of the park, with exhibits and green space to relax in.  Founded in 1965 and relocated to Lime Street in 1979, the museum is housed in the Grubb Family mansion circa 1845.  

For kids looking for a place to run in the city, or for adults looking for a place to stop running and relax with a picnic or a book, H.M. Musser Park truly is a great location.   

Consider stopping by and taking a stroll through the trees, or visiting the museum, or swinging on a swing at the playground with your kids...enjoy!

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For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here.  Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and  an involved community member.  Jeff's work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal.  Jeff's blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured.  Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs.

The latest Lancaster County Association of Realtors report has come out today - for the 2nd quarter 2007.  The report has the following statistics:

1. 1,526 Homes sold in 2007 versus 1,690 = a 10% drop.
2. 2,706 new listings in 2007 versus 2,489 in 2006 = a 9% increase.
3. Average sales price for 2007 was $198,600 versus $189,690 in 2006 = a 5% increase.

 The comments by our association president admitted that the sales have slumped recently, but the higher average sales price shows a trend towards a healthier Lancaster Real Estate market.

Sales in certain price categories for June caught my eye.  For example:

1. Homes in the $80-90K bracket doubled in sales from 2006 to 2007.
2. Homes in the $180-199K bracket jumped from 60 to 72.
3. Homes in the $300-400K bracket fell precipitously from 61 to 47.
4. Homes in the $250-300K bracket fell from 61 to 47.

What does this tell us?  I'd venture that homes in the lower priced brackets - under $100 up to $200K detached homes - are doing OK and the higher average price might indeed be a help to sellers.  Buyers will pay more for homes that are in desirable areas and in great condition.  On the other hand, middle high-end homes are suffering.

We'll see what the summer brings us.

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For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here.  Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and  an involved community member.  Jeff's work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal.  Jeff's blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured.  Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs.