Lancaster PA Real Estate Blog

Those of you who know me well are aware of my penchant for American history.  One area in particular would be the American "Civil War" as it is popularly known.  Lancaster PA happens to be within driving distance of several key historic sites, principal of which would be Gettysburg National Military Park.  My two boys and I paid a visit to the brand-new Visitor Center last Saturday in a steady downpour - but the place was packed all afternoon.  Here's my take:

The building and grounds are very nice (with the exception of the stormwater runoff - drains were clogged around the grounds - can't help myself - I'm a Realtor after all).  I like the styling of the cyclorama building resembling the famous "Round Barn" nearby in Adams County, PA.

We were there right up until sunset so I got a nice shot of the Center with the lights coming on...

The inside is spacious compared to old Gettysburg Visitors Center, and looks like their promises of using environmentally-friendly materials was true - lots of nice touches throughout.  We paid ($7.50 for adults, kids over 5 were $5.50) and went into the museum portions.

The museum itself is a vast improvement over the old setup, and the exhibits and flow through the galleries was first-class with two relatively annoying issues: Everything seemed to be sponsored by the History Channel, and (for those closely in tune with the antebellum period) the over-emphasis on slavery as the cause of the war (there were other important factors that received little or no attention). 

The museum was only mildly crowded but still there were a few "choke points" were people stood to watch a video and others couldn't get through.  Still needs a bit of work, in my humble opinion.

The movie in the main theater was OK (narrated by Morgan Freeman - sigh) and rehashed much of the images and phrases from the museum.  Wasn't really worth the price of admission - but the centerpiece of the Gettysburg Visitor Center is the fully-restored Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg, created in the late 1800's and just as amazing today as it was when unveiled to actual battle of Gettysburg veterans at the turn of the century (it made them weep). 

They have done an AWESOME job with the restoration and are to be commended.  This makes the admission and trip worth every penny!  The viewing was over all too soon.  I was struck by how easily an 1800's "multimedia" presentation kept up with all the 21st century stuff in the museum next door.

We left the center at sunset and just HAD to drive through the battlefield - I had heard about the tree removal in progress near Devils Den and the Slaughter Pen.  We stopped there after cruising Cemetary Ridge...

We took a dusk walk through Devils Den before grabbing a bite downtown Gettysburg and heading for Lancaster and home.

If you get a chance, the new Gettysburg Battlefield Visitors Center is worth the day trip - the Cyclorama alone is worth it.  My boys & I took yet another trip through the history of our country and how men shaped it's destiny on the fields of south central Pennsylvania...

Tomorrow October 28, 2008 there will be a community presentation by a friend and advisor of mine, A. Tamasin Sterner, in Lancaster City regarding "Energy Solutions For City Homes". 

The event will be held at Southern Market, 100 South Queen Street (One block south of the city square).  Tamasin will talk on how urban homes and their occupants use and lose energy.  Tamasin is the owner of Pure Energy, a recognized expert in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states by public utility companies on "home performance" issues.  She will discuss how a residential energy efficiency & conservation expert would advise row home owners and tenants on how to use less energy and make Lancaster City more livable.

There's a $5.00 donation at the door.  Bring - your energy use (electricity, gas, oil) for at least 12 months.  Tamasin would be happy to review your "numbers" and make recommendations.  Leave with - A personalized action plan to help you deal with rising energy costs.

Event sponsored by LiveLancaster.org.  Contact Fritz Schroeder at 717-669-5990 or Fritz@LiveLancaster.org for more info and directions to the event.

Before we say goodbye to a crazy October 2008, I wanted to review the essential home sales stats from the September Lancaster PA Real Estate market.  Let's look at the local numbers:

We see that a couple of interesting things happened in September

• The sales of homes were down (no surprise there).
• The number of pending listings was up slightly (that's good news).
• The number of listings expiring shot up yet again (call my team if you want to start over, sellers).
• Prices actually went UP during the month. 
• Unfortunately, the "price gap" continued to stay huge at $37,583!

As I've said many times in this space, the price gap is going to HAVE to narrow in order for the Lancaster home market to reignite.  Prices will likely need to tumble another 10% on averge to get close to making buyers move.

Next week we'll look at the NAR numbers and get a handle on how Lancaster compares to the nation.  Also, look for a sneak peek at the October sales numbers - should be eye-opening!

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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!

I had the exceptional pleasure of attending my first Coldwell Banker Global Management Summit last week, held in sunny Jacksonville Florida. 

Susan & I decided to make a trip of it since my folks live only 65 miles away near Daytona Beach.  We drove down and stayed with them while I "commuted" in to Jax for the convention events.  Since we're a new Coldwell Banker affiliate we were warmly received by all, and the presentations & fellowship really were a treat.  I had the pleasure of sitting under such luminaries as Dirk Zeller, Rick DeLuca and Matthew Ferrara reviewing the absolute cutting edge of real estate marketing and management.

I was particularly impressed with several things:

• Whatever network advantages I enjoyed at my previous firm, I now enjoy a hundredfold with Coldwell Banker's WORLDWIDE family of agents.  I know - I met them.
• The Coldwell Banker brand is alive & well with dedicated experts at the helm.  Their new Marketing Vice President (Michael Fisher) is particularly impressive and has incredible depth of talent in his stable.  They are pumping out innovation after innovation.
• There are enough new & emerging marketing tools to keep me, my team and my company busy for months to come.  I was finally motivated after the marketing seminar to set up a LinkedIn account - check me out.

At the end of the day my managers and I walked away with a full slate of initiatives to implement and gobs of new friends from the four corners of the hemisphere.  Exciting stuff!  In particular, I thought I would mention a few memorable names:

Bryan Sheppard - Coldwell Banker Select (awesome name) Tulsa OK

Drake Bratton - Coldwell Banker Willis Smith, New Bern NC

Heather Goodman - Coldwell Banker Islands, Turks & Caicos (yeah!)

Martha Barrick - Coldwell Banker Penn One Real Estate, Lewisburg PA

Dan Barnett - Vice President of NRT, Parsippany NJ

Jairo Avila - Coldwell Banker Afilliates of Latin America (covering all of south and central america!).

At the same time that we were in Florida, Jim Gillespie and our amazing senior staff were moving from news station to news station answering the media's questions about Coldwell Banker's groundbreaking "10-Day Sale" held October 10-19 nationwide.  We had over 30,000 homes commit to reducing their prices in order to stimulate some buyer action.  Locally in Lancaster PA real estate, we had 80 participating homes and sold 10% of them!  We were very happy with the results.

Thanks to everyone from Coldwell Banker.  Lancaster PA is Grateful for your diligent preparation and the event was a huge success!

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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!

Here's an interesting development in the real estate community...

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct 07, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- REALTORS(R) across the state are volunteering in their communities for the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS(R) (PAR) REALTORS(R) Reach Out week, Oct. 20 - 26. Gov. Edward G. Rendell issued a proclamation recognizing the state association and its 34,500 REALTOR(R) members for their volunteerism throughout the Commonwealth. "These dedicated professionals advance civil development and economic growth in the Commonwealth and among its citizens, work for economy and efficiency in government and volunteer their time to a variety of charitable organizations," said Gov. Rendell. "Pennsylvania REALTORS(R) volunteer throughout the year but we wanted to make a concerted effort to help out in our communities across the state," said Bob Hay, president of the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS(R). "I am truly overwhelmed at the support we have gotten from REALTORS(R)," Hay added. Across the state, 27 local REALTOR(R) associations have planned events to raise money, rehab homes or donate food for charitable organizations. For a complete list and the Governor's Proclamation, go to http://www.parealtor.org/content/RRO.htm . The Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS(R) (PAR) staff is also participating in REALTORS(R) Reach Out by partnering with Rebuilding Together(R) Greater Harrisburg, on Monday, Oct. 20 to refurbish the historic Rutherford House, a senior center in Harrisburg. Rebuilding Together(R) Greater Harrisburg is a non-profit chapter of the national organization Rebuilding Together(R). Its mission is to preserve and revitalize houses and communities for low- income families, seniors and people with disabilities. "We are so fortunate to have so many members in PAR who are willing to take the time to volunteer and we sincerely appreciate the support of Gov. Rendell in the REALTORS(R) Reach Out initiative," said Hay. The Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS(R) (PAR) is a 34,500-member trade association that serves as the "voice for real estate" in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A member organization of the National Association of REALTORS(R), PAR comprises residential and commercial REALTORS(R) who subscribe to a strict Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.

This from the paper today - good news for Carlos and SACA - They are doing great work!

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A much-welcomed infusion of cash will help spur revitalization of Lancaster's South Duke Street corridor.

At a news conference scheduled for 11 a.m. today at the Spanish American Civic Association headquarters, SACA Development will announce receipt of a $672,000 grant from Wachovia Regional Foundation. The money will be used to continue SACA's efforts to improve the city's southeast neighborhoods.

"(The grant) will allow us to continue the work of pushing forward with housing rehabilitation and new construction projects for working-class families," SACA executive director Carlos Graupera said.

Wachovia's "investment in our community," Graupera said, also will spur more corporate partnerships and open other funding sources.

SACA Development has been busily transforming the city's southeast quadrant into a more livable area. SACA created the $1.2 million La Academia Family & Student Center at 38-42 N. Ann St., opened in 2007, and transformed the former Conestoga Elks building at 452 S. Duke St. into the South Duke Business Center. The $973,000 project is now home to Belco Community Credit Union and Myers and Bell Insurance Agency.

SACA also is rehabilitating two neighborhoods by creating 27 new town houses, to be ready for occupancy in spring 2009.

The object of the redevelopment project, Graupera said, is to convert the homes from mainly rental units to "a very strong homeowner base."

In addition, the 5.7-acre lot at South Duke and Chesapeake streets, site of the former Miguel's night club, will be cleared to make way for an urban shopping mall.

Graupera said the mall, which will cost between $5 million and $7 million, will provide services and jobs to the neighborhood.

"When that gets done, it will provide us with an economic development base for the southeast quadrant of the city," Graupera said. "That economic base is lacking."

In addition to revitalizing buildings along the corridor, The Inner City Group, a SACA subsidiary, has been pushing ahead with a $1.4 million streetscape improvement, which includes traffic-calming devices such as divided roadways and bulb-out curbs, plus new street lighting, traffic signals and replacement of damaged sidewalks.

The group previously spent about $1.5 million on improvements to Roberto Clemente Park and other investments in the area.

Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said the new Wachovia grant is "a continuation of the commitment SACA has made in southeast Lancaster."

"It's exciting to see this kind of thing happening in the city," Gray said. "It's exciting to see that millions of dollars are being spent in an area of the city that holds so much potential, but has so often been ignored in the past."

Graupera said interest in revitalizing Lancaster's southeast neighborhoods has been building momentum.

"It has been slow in building," he said. "But it has slowly but surely picking up over the years."

Here's the latest sales report from our local realtor board - straight off the presses less than an hour ago!

According to a recent report by the Lancaster County Association

The $197,230 average sale price for August is a 4.1 percent decrease from the August 2007 price tag of $205,702. In August 2007, 29 homes sold over $400,000, compared to only 13 in 2008. The fiveyearaverage sale price for the month of August is $193,570. In August of 1998, the average sale price of a home in Lancaster County was $127,445, a 54.8 percent increase compared to today's price.

The median sale price for August of 2008 is $177,000 versus $182,500 for August of 2007 (half of the properties sold during this period sold above that number, and half sold below). For the first eight months of 2008, the median sale price is $175,000 compared to $176,900 during the same time period in 2007.

New residential listings for August decreased 12.4 percent from 831 in 2007 to 728 in 2008. The average number of new listings for the month of August over the last five years is 722.

"August sales were lower due to the tight mortgage credit and higher interest rates that were in place before the government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae," said LCAR president, Jeff Funk. "Locally homes that are under $250,000, priced right and in good condition are selling quickly-61 percent of the sales from August took place in less than 60 days. Another encouraging sign is our year-to-date average sale price which continues to hold fairly steady with 2007 since it's less than a 3 percent decrease."