Lancaster PA Real Estate Blog

We spent the evening yesterday at the West Lampeter Fair, just south of Lancaster City and near Strasburg, PA.  The fair was packed and the weather was great - although the night before was quite rainy I heard.

Our boys had a great time watching the tractor pulls (yup, it's a country thing), petting the animals and playing in a "hay maze" which looked quite challenging (I wisely watched from the sidelines on that one).  We had dinner at the Lampeter Fire Company building, the proceeds going to the volunteer department. 

The fairs in Lancaster County, PA are all about the tractors!  Tractors, tractors, tractors.  They make a fun subject to photograph...

There was lots of funnel cake and events to watch while eating it.  One highlight of the night was the pig-catching contest, where groups of kids are let loose in the rodeo ring to attempt to grab 2 or 3 squealing piglets.  One catch - their hands are greased and so is the pig!  Fun to watch.

We ran into a lot of our Lancaster County neighbors- that's one of the things I really like about living here.  This county never feels that big.  The kids, of course, get tired of standing there while we chat with friends we bumped in to...

Eventually, time came to say goodbye to everyone.  Another great fair season is drawing to a close in Lancaster County, PA.  Now time for the leaves to change color!  My favorite time of year. 

With foreclosures on the rise nationally, Lancaster County was bound to be hit with increases in defaults as well.  Foreclosure listings have indeed increased over last year, 22% based on MLS data.  The trend, though, is not clear as the number dropped a few percentage points in 2006 over the year prior.

What is interesting, though, is the rise of the average price of these Lancaster County foreclosures.  In 2006 the average price jumped from $59,552 to $80,046, a 34% change!  This trend has continued into 2007 with another 23% leap, leaving the current average (as of Sept 2007) at $98,306.

What does this mean?  Lancaster PA Foreclosure properties are increasingly becoming suburban residential listings, with less flip potential and margin on resale.  City homes and townhomes with better flip potential are getting harder to find.

If you're looking for an investment property (or two) you'll need to do a better job of keeping your ear to the ground.  Homes with a good margin outlook come & go quick, with lots of "highest & best" scenarios that mean you need to keep your pencil sharp!  

Your best weapon as an investor in the foreclosure wars is a knowledgable agent who is looking out for properties for you, even when you're on vacation.  I am in touch with the investment market and can help you find, purchase and flip foreclosure properties for a profit.  Pick up the phone and call me today at 717-799-0851 to get started.

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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.  Jeff is also a photographer - view some of his portfolio.  Comments are welcome!

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For those who are auto enthusiasts, the annual Neffsville Car Show is a can't-miss event held every September at the Manheim Township Community Park. 

Hundreds of cars and trucks from every era crowd the large park, with the owners on hand to discuss their beauties and the work that went in to them. 

Area car dealerships and service organizations get together to put the event on, the highlight sponsor being the Rotary.  Lots of street rods, antiques and muscle cars were on display, and I snapped some shots for your enjoyment.  Here are a few:

The coming electric rate cap removal on electric usage in Pennsylvania has been in the back of everyone's mind in utility & government entities for a while now.  The general public, however, has been living in relative ignorance of the impending changes and many insiders expect that it will take the projected 75% to 100% bill increases to get their attention.  In a meeting today, I sat with A. Tamasin Sterner who is the owner of Pure Energy, a home performance company based out of Lancaster.  She described what happened when the PICO rates went up in eastern PA recently.  She had scheduled a seminar on home performance improvements for a particular home community that was to take place prior the rate caps coming off.  She had 15 signups.  For several reasons she ended up rescheduling the event for a time just after the new bills came in.  Her seminar was full to overflowing with irate utility customers looking for answers and options!  

This story is likely to be repeated statewide in the next couple of years as the rate caps come off.  I'm happy to say that my green-friendly approach to real estate is getting increased traffic these days, and customers are asking more questions about the energy-efficiency of homes I'm showing to them.  Green building home improvement inquiries are on the upswing as well.  At today's meeting was also Steve Mellinger of Blue Moon Enterprises, the premier solar resource in the eastern PA area.  Steve has enjoyed positive press recently and his work in energy-efficient home improvements is gaining momentum.

If you are shopping for a home in the Lancaster region and am concerned about making an environmentally-friendy (and utility bill friendly) choice then give me a call at 717-799-0851.  

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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.  Jeff is also a photographer - view some of his portfolio.  Comments are welcome!

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On Saturday, September 29, 2007, Manheim Township will be hosting a Fall Open House at their Compost Park from 9:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M. Composting is a great activity which I'm a big proponent of.  In my backyard compost, I've managed to dump all of my grass clippings for two years - gone!  Leaves too.  That's a lot of waste bags that don't have to be picked up.  Composts do not smell, and are easy to hide away in a corner of the yard.  This spring we laid a thick layer of nice composted material on our organic home garden.   

A Penn State Master Gardener will be on hand at the Manheim Township event to teach a home backyard composting workshop. This workshop will outline the basics of composting, issues of temperature and moisture, as well as what materials should be used.  There will be plant giveaways, tours of the Park, samples of materials, and refreshments provided. 

The Compost Park is located at 2775 Oregon Pike. For additional information, or to register, please contact Wendy Herr, Recycling Coordinator, at 569-6406, ext 129.

The big Day in East Petersburg is over - for this year.  And what a day it was!  Here's a few photos from yours truly of the events of the day:

Thanks to everyone who made East Petersburg Day a big success!  I'll post some more photos this week - stay tuned!

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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.

(Activerain Members Only May Subscribe. For a Subscription to my monthly email newsletter click here)

While out in North central Lancaster County this afternoon, I couldn't help but stop and compose a few shots.  The weather was perfect, and the light was bright but not overbearing.  We're going into the best season to photograph the northeast - fall!  

Here are a few of the shots I put together.  Hopefully, through these, you can get a sense of how nice a day it was today:

Thought I'd post a short clip of Carys "singing" back to Susan this morning:

(and no, she doesn't have her daddy wrapped around her finger... um hmm).

She's doing wonderfully and has already finding her voice!  It's like starting all over again after the 4 1/2 year gap between kids.  Wouldn't trade this for the world, though!

Today I showed a pair of city homes to an investor client.  He & I have been in some pretty bad places together.  We're both pretty good at looking beyond various damages to see the potential in a home.  Today, however, the two homes we looked at were just not worth redeeming.

It bugged me.  I really wanted to have my guy buy them - to make them beautiful again.  But they are just too far gone and the slumlord owner is asking too much, so that we know he'll never drop the price in a satisfactory manner.   Well, I've been there before and we're able to just keep on looking...

...but this time we met some of the tenants.  Let me tell you, they were living in conditions that were just above animal.  The two "apartments" we visited were cramped, dirty, full of junk, with all manner of broken and worn-out parts.  One unit held a little girl, who smiled as us as we toured the place.  The mother pointed out the damaged ceiling where water pours in when the rain is heavy.  She also claimed that the building was heavily infested with roaches - "more that I've ever seen" she commented.  The property management company has not made a serious attempt to fix either issue.  The landlord doesn't live here and obviously couldn't care less.

That's what made me want to tell my customer to just buy the homes and fix them up - save these people!  I did make mention of my frustration, but some things we just can't fix.  We got back in the car.

I'm contacting the property management company today, though, to make a comment about the condition of that building.  

Sometimes it's frustrating, this business of ours.

OK, I was reading over a Worldmagblog.com tonight and came across a post about the latest TIME top-ten list.  This go-round it's the top 100 TV shows of all time.  Since I couldn't resist, I checked it out.  I thought the list was pretty good although it seems to favor recent shows a bit much (the new Battlestar Galactica?  Come on!). 

I thought we could have a little fun and talk about the shows you'd like to see added (or removed) from this list, and any shows you have fond memories of.  For me, an easy one would be M*A*S*H.  I feel like I grew up with that show - it was popular during the ten years I came of age.  I remember every episode, and the finale (really) made me teary-eyed.

How 'bout you?