Lancaster PA Real Estate Blog

This from Joel Berg over at the Central Penn Business Journal:

New mortgage laws to require licenses

Exerpts...

By Joel Berg
8/29/2008
New state rules for issuing home loans will help restore confidence in a market burned by fraud and foreclosures, according to local lenders and brokers.

But faith could take time to come back, particularly among investors who buy mortgages from the brokers and lenders who originate them.

One sector hit hard by lost confidence is the market for upscale homes, said Jim Deitch, chief executive officer of American Home Bank in West Hempfield Township, Lancaster County.

"The cost of credit for high-end homes has skyrocketed solely because of the lack of integrity in the origination process," said Deitch, whose bank specializes in mortgage lending. "And it's going to take a very long time for investors to regain confidence in that area."

The road back begins Nov. 4 when the new state rules take effect.

The biggest changes will come for mortgage originators, who work directly with homebuyers to make loans. For the first time in Pennsylvania, originators will need to get state licenses. Under existing law, only companies held licenses.

Industry officials have long pushed for the change. They blame much of today's housing mess, particularly the defaults among borrowers with subprime loans, on the lack of oversight.

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This will go a long way, in my opinion.

 

I'm excited to be heading up a new Lancaster PA car show on Sept. 20th, 2008 at the Annual East Petersburg Day Festival, which is going to be bigger & better than even last year!  Check out our website at www.EastPetersburgDay.com. 

We're calling the car show "Cruise in 2008" and it will run from 2pm to 6pm at the site of the festival, the East Petersburg Community Park.

To encourage drivers to cruise in early, we're offering an "early bird special" - a coupon for a famous Brickers Fries to every car that arrives between 1 and 2pm!  For even faster service on the 20th you can register online at the website.

Drivers will be surprised at the events going on around the park during the afternoon.  There will be games for kids, including inflatable bouncies & a special "gladiator battle" inflatable (my kids will want to do that one...). We're expecting an aerial visit from the Maytown Sport Parachute Club. There will be prizes and raffles going off throughout the day, and live music onstage including a "battle of the bands" featuring 4 local groups.  Headline performers will be Times Two, Jealous Moon and the South Street Band.  This and lots more!  Look for the famous "golf ball drop" later in the afternoon.

Those who stay will be treated to the best fireworks display of the fall season - our professionally-produced show over the park at 8:30pm generates rave reviews from everyone from kids to the tower personnel at Lancaster County Airport!

There is a $10 donation for registrations which goes to the East Petersburg Day fund, that supports community causes and projects.  When you arrive you'll be directed to a parking slot off of State Street at the park.  Regsitration confirmation will be at the pavilion at the south end of the park.

So, come on by with your classic or show car and spend the afternoon with us in East Petersburg, PA - right in the heart of Lancaster County.  For more info feel free to call me at 717-799-0851 or visit www.eastpetersburgday.com and email me from there at info@eastpetersburgday.com

 

 

Well - Lancaster didn't make the cut.

Low cost of living, reasonably priced homes, and short commute times helps add to excellent schools and is what landed 10 communities at the top of Forbes magazine's best places to raise a family.

To be considered, the communities had to have populations greater than 65,000 and most of the school funding had to come from property taxes. Average SAT and ACT scores must top 1,050 or 22, respectively. These factors reduced the number of counties under consideration to 51.

After that, the magazine considered cost of living, graduation rate, home prices, property tax rates as a percentage of median home prices, percentage of homes occupied by owners, per-capita income, air quality, crime rate and commute times.

Here are the results:

* Hamilton County, Ind. (near Indianapolis)
* Ozaukee County, Wis. (near Milwaukee)
* Johnson County, Kan. (near Kansas City)
* Geauga County, Ohio (near Cleveland)
* Delaware County, Ohio (near Columbus)
* Morris County, N.J. (northern N.J.)
* Hunterdon County, N.J. (central N.J.)
* Waukesha County, Wis. (near Milwaukee)
* Montgomery County, Pa. (near Philadelphia)
* Chester County, Pa. (near Philadelphia)

Source: Forbes, Zack O'Malley Greenburg (06/30/08)

Now as far I'm concerned, Lancaster is just as good or better than either Chester or Montgomery County.  If you want higher taxes and home prices then those places may work well.  I'll take the quiet of Lancaster County any day!

 

Here's part 1 of the series - Building a compost bin

My next project was to find and install an effective rainwater harvesting system on my property.  It's always bugged me that I have to fill my pool and irrigate our garden with public water - all while the rainwater washed away.  I determined to find a solution to that challenge.

I got to talking to Michael Stark from www.starkenvironmental.com, who gave me some great ideas and talked about his services.  Me being a dyed-in-the-wool DIY'er, however, I just had to figure out a system I could build myself and install.  The biggest challenge was the barrell itself - too big to buy online, and the local options seemed unnecessarily expensive.  Then a friend turned me on to a local manufacturer who had surplus barrels they would sell.  Now I was getting somewhere!

I contacted the company and picked up my first barrel for $5.00. Then, I turned to the DIY'er's best friend, big orange, for the plumbing.  I replaced my downspout along the garage near the garden with some 2" PVC piping.

(note - the downspout pipe in this photo is the one attached to the gutter.  The other two are feeders for my solar pool heating system.  More on that in the next post in the series)

Then, I placed the barrel below on a pad that was there.  Cement blocks or pavers in the ground would work also. 

You can easily see the piping arrangement - the water fills the barrel and begins overflowing into the existing buried water line.  Works like a charm!  I also bought a second barrel (visible on right) which I'll connect to the first barrel with a cross-pipe to double my capacity to 110 gallons.  I used epoxy to affix the drain tube and screwed on a 1/2 inch brass hose bib.  Venting is handled because it's open at the gutter drain.  Oh, and I popped a mesh gutter drain cover in up there to minimize the debris flowing into the downspout.

That's in - my first rainwater harvesting effort.  So far, so good.  If you want any other details feel free to contact me.  As always, as your Realtor I will give you advice on "green" projects around the home you are purchasing or own! 

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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 is a great new listing in Grandview Estates - a nice community adjoining ever-popular Grandview Heights.  I really like this one for the price - lots of home and a great location close to everything in Lancaster PA.  Homes for sale like this one are few and far between these days - I'm glad to bring it to you!

 

Visit this home online right now at www.639oxford.com

Offered at $226,953 - 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 Master Suites, 1 great location!

Here's a great example of a local business making a difference in advancing the green building agenda in Central PA.  Everyone tends to focus on the "front end" - the builders, designers and installers of sustainable building techniques & systems.  But what about the "back end"?  Intelligent handling of jobsite waste is a prime area for green real estate professionals to tackle.  Mr. Frescatore is to be commended for his milestone.

Press Release:

10,000 Tons of Construction Waste Debris Recycled
8/7/2008

EAST HEMPFIELD, LANCASTER COUNTY, PA, AUGUST 12, 2008: Frescatore Consulting, LLC, reached the milestone of diverting 10,000 tons of construction and demolition waste debris from landfills in Central Pennsylvania. This significant volume has been accomplished by managing the flow of waste generated during construction projects seeking LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Certification. This volume represents approximately 2,222 large roll-off waste trucks being diverted from landfills since January 2006, or 117 large trucks per month.
Frescatore Consulting manages waste generated on construction sites by working closely with construction firms to design and implement detailed waste management plans. These Construction Waste Management Plans contain stringent measuring, reporting, and documentation requirements, as well as specific end-user markets for the waste targeted for landfill diversion.
"What makes this a particularly proud accomplishment, is the fact that not only are we doing what is right for the environment, and required by the LEED® Green Building Rating System, we are utilizing other hauling and recycling companies assets and employees to make it happen", states Richard Frescatore, President of Frescatore Consulting. "We are maximizing efficiencies for firms already in business, rather than adding more trucks to the road, and increasing carbon emissions in the air". Mr. Frescatore also added that the traditional cost of disposing of the waste is reduced by 20%-35% through his company's efforts.
Mr. Frescatore is a LEED® Accredited Professional, which enables him to provide other LEED® Certification Services outside the waste and recycling scope. His firm has been in business since February, 2005. "Our Consulting firm has grown rapidly since the company was formed, due to a huge demand for our wide ranging services. Consequently, we are currently looking to expand, and move our offices to a larger location.

 

 

The local Realtors association has posted the July market wrapup for Lancaster PA real estate:

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According to a recent report by the Lancaster County Association

of Realtors® (LCAR), the 1,395 homes sold in the second quarter of 2008 is a 14.8 percent decrease from the second quarter 2007 mark of 1,638. This year there were 399 sales in April, 462 in May and 534 in June; this compares to 490 in April of 2007, 531 in May and 617 in June. The five-year average of second quarter home sales is 1,637.  The average sale price for the second quarter of 2008 is $193,036, a decrease of 2.3 percent over the second quarter 2007 price tag of $197,591. The five-year average second quarter sale price is $182,382, and the average second quarter price ten years ago was $120,603.  The median sale price for the second quarter of 2008 was $176,000 compared to $178,000 for the second quarter of 2007 (half of the properties sold during this period sold above the number, and half sold below). For the first half of 2008, the median sale price was $174,000 compared to $174,800 in 2007.

For the second quarter, there were 2,484 new listings in 2008, an 8.2 percent decrease from the second quarter 2007 new listings of 2,706. The five-year average of new listings for the second quarter is 2,429.  "The local numbers over the last several months have begun to show signs of a recovery," said LCAR president, Jeff Funk. "The number of sold units is still lower than in 2007; however, the first quarter decrease when comparing 2008 to 2007 went from 25.7 percent to 14.8 percent in the second. We also posted gains in the average sale price in both May and June, the first montly increases in 2008.  Compared to the national figures, we have weathered the storm well, and hopefully our numbers will continue to show improvement."

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Somehow the average sale price going up is considered a mark of progress...do you agree with that?  I would think that, to begin to clear out the sitting inventory and close the book on this chapter of Lancaster real estate history, that prices should actually go down a bit more.  On the other side, buyer activity has certainly gone up in recent weeks.  This fall will be interesting - either a great season of sales or a famine for savvy home buyers.

 

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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!