If you cast you eye across the area in PA from the Main Line out to Carlisle, you see a largely similar landscape of small cities (Lancaster, York, Lebanon, Reading and Harrisburg as examples) connected by a network of boroughs (Strasburg, Lititz, Millersville, Hummelstown, Camp Hill, Carlisle etc). In between are townships of suburban or rural character. With the economic malaise development of raw land in these last areas has become problematic from a profit/marketing standpoint, edging out all but the largest concerns.

For the next phase of growth that will bring small and mid-cap players into the mix, look to the first two categories – urban and borough level opportunities. The chatter about “second story development” in the cities and borough rezoning for economic opportunity areas has been ongoing in recent years, but I think we have not yet seen the municipal/business/developer cooperation truly needed to jumpstart this movement in real estate.

As a Mayor, I am opening lines of communication with our Lancaster County agencies to explore ways of creating a bundle of benefits we can offer prospective businesses in our downtown district. As a real estate professional, I’m looking explicitly at how we can cater to the free market to make our “product” – a vibrant borough with incentives to develop there – the most attractive in the area.

Regionally, this interplay of governmental/non-profit collaboration and the real estate sales/lease community is critical… we can’t work separately or worse, at cross-purposes. Catering to large developers isn’t the answer either – it’s the small business looking to grow who will be most open to expanding in urban areas and small class A spaces.

It’s my opinion that the counties of Central PA need to focus energy on their boroughs and cities very soon if they really want to see a turnaround in property values (and tax revenues). And it can’t happen soon enough.

Hello and welcome! Today we’re talking about “seller help” – you hear about it but what is it? “Seller Help”, “Seller Assist”, “Closing Cost Assistance” all refer to the same financial concept – moving some of the seller’s proceeds over into the buyer’s side of the settlement sheet. So, if a seller is expecting to receive $20,000 in proceeds at a certain price point, they can offer $5,000 to the buyer as an incentive as part of the agreement. Naturally they would then net only $15,000. Normally, the buyer initiates the proposal to add seller help.

(note that the name doesn’t much sense – most people think it should be “buyer help” or “buyer assist”. Sorry, I didn’t make it up!)

In this buyers market a great number of offers are made including seller help. Generally, if there is equity to be used, a seller is wise in considering these offers. With the general scarcity of qualified buyers even an offer with large (6% plus) amounts of seller assist included are worth considering. By the way, the typical range of seller help is 3%-6% per mortgage guidelines, but it can be more.

Now you know all about “seller help”!

Are you looking to sell your home, or is your home on the market and you’re wondering if everything that can be done is being done? Look to the “Three P’s” for your answer…

Never mind what the market’s doing – how can you control that? Everyone chases their tail around trying to blame the market for houses not selling, but what good does that do? The listing agent’s job is to make sure the “three P’s” are handled – not perform miracles.

1 – Preparation

2 – Price

3 – Promotion

Watch the video episode (a whole 1 1/2 minutes) for the executive summary!

Everyone is asking around Lancaster County and Central Pennsylvania – what’s going to happen with home prices, and when will we see the “good times” for sellers? It all comes down to, would you believe it, economics…

Supply and demand. Demand and supply.

Let’s pretend the home market is at a certain level of activity – prices and supply of homes for sale. Now, something happens to change the level of buyer activity (rates dropping for mortgages, silly tax credits, etc) and homes begin to sell. Now, buyers become a bit frantic and sellers (and realtors) sense this and price start rising. Multiple offers, same-day sales, overall a sense of craziness. Sound familiar? That was 2003 -2007 in a nutshell.

Now, something happens to the market (say, a crash?) that puts a damper on buyer activity. All of a sudden there are “too many” homes on the market and the prices are still trying to go up, but the buyers are not playing that game (neither are the appraisers for the banks, BTW). As the number of signs in yards grows, the sellers are the ones who get frantic.

Finally, sellers give up and start lowering their prices to get the home sold and move on. Or, they default for whatever reason and the distressed property sells for a cut rate. Now the “race to the bottom” of the real estate cycle has begun.

Lancaster PA home sales are in this last phase now. Where is the bottom? No one can say for sure but I predict prices will have to fall another 10% to get close to a “reset” point in the market here (prices have already fallen about 8-10% on average). Obviously, good economic news and job creation through small business expansions will be a huge factor in resetting the market.

Thanks for watching! Please take a moment to subscribe here athttp://tv.yourlancasterhome.com and pop over to our facebook page to “like” it at http://www.facebook.com/lancasterhomes

Choose Jeff Geoghan for you next home sale or purchase in Lancaster! Thanks.

(c) 2011 Jeff Geoghan

Today we’re going to talk about the Arts & Crafts movement (also known as Craftsman Style homes) in Lancaster County and Central PA. Homes for sale that were built in the 1920’s and 1930’s can either be all Craftsman or use bits and pieces of the architectural style that was extremely popular at the time.

I shot this episode at my listing at 67 Valley Road in Neffsville, next door to Manheim Township Middle and High Schools. You can see the bright, big photos of this home at http://www.67valley.com

Craftsman homes in Lancaster PA or throughout Central PA were largely constructed out of masonry – that was the common base material at the time and while there are examples of stick-built Arts & Crafts homes in Lancaster County I would say they are few and far between. A major component of the style is the large covered front porch, allowing people to spend time outside in the environment. You can spot a craftsman home by the porch and also by the integrated square columns… no round columns. The column in this home I’m at are perfect craftsman columns.

Also, simplicity and staying true to the original materials (wood, block etc) was key to the craftsman home style. You’ll notice that this porch is very clean, with no extra details in the flooring or millwork. Arts & Crafts homes arose as a response to the overbearing european styling that was heavy on “fluff” in the design – therefore it follows that craftsman period home designers would keep it simple.

You can read more about the period online – it’s a favorite home style of mine and, interestingly, since these homes are a)older and b)smaller than most homes for sale in Lancaster, the price to buy a decent craftsman home can be very affordable! This home in Neffsvile is only $149,000. Keep an eye out for those big porches and square columns…

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Thanks for watching! Please take a moment to subscribe here athttp://tv.yourlancasterhome.com and pop over to our facebook page to “like” it at http://www.facebook.com/lancasterhomes

Choose Jeff Geoghan for you next home sale or purchase in Lancaster! Thanks.

(c) 2011 Jeff Geoghan

The last reassessment was in 2005, when the real estate market runup was in full swing.  Since the assessor uses prior year values as a key determinant, most owners got increases.  Appeals of these continue today (yes, you can appeal your assessment).  It was clear to everyone in the room at the commissioners meeting that a reassessment in 2013, which would use sales figures from 2008-2010, would likely result in many owners getting assessment increases – precisely when market values are falling here (Since the last assessment in 2005, the assessed values have run about 70% of market value).

According to sales data, home prices peaked in Lancaster County in 2007.  It’s my observation that that last 12 months (late 2010 and into 2011) have seen the most precipitous drops in price as buyers get ever more insistent about the issue.

Since county law requires an eight-year assessment cycle, commissioners will repeal that requirement with the intention of reinstating it after 2017.

Today we examine what price brackets are selling better than others…

The biggest increase was in homes priced under $100,000, a whopping 36% increase over last year!  The “meat & potatoes” bracket of $100,000-$199,999 was essentially flat (4% up to be exact).  The losers?  Everything over $200,000…

As we can see, homes sales are indeed off this year – 17% to be exact.  Without any tax gimmicks to shore things up, we’re looking at raw sales trends.  New listings are also off by almost 10%.  The listings trend most likely reflects homeowners sitting on their houses in the face of financial uncertainty of various sorts.  Pending sales are also down, by 6%, over 2010.

Of course, prices are also down.  The burning question is “how much?”.  Well, the median sold price was down 6% over 2010 prices – that’s covering all price ranges and all over the county, all residential properties.  Sellers listed at 4% less on the median, too – a welcome trend as sellers finally come grips with the real estate downturn.  Lastly, average days on market was WAY up, 34% in fact.  Frankly, it’s taking a lot longer to get houses sold.

Here’s the historic home sales graph.  The lavender line shows how sales this first half of 2011 have been low.  Important to see is the red line, which shows how the last tax credit affected the market in 2010.  We need to get past July’s skewed numbers to see where sales will go in the second half of 2011.   Hopefully these Lancaster PA real estate market stats give you a truer idea of how sales are going.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the sales by price range – very interesting how the Lancaster County home sales market is shifting pricewise….

If you’re looking at buying a home you’ll likely come across the phrase “privacy violation” somewhere. In a nutshell, a privacy violation occurs in real estate where you have to pass through one room to get into another, specifically with bedroom spaces.

This is a common issue in homes for sale in Lancaster City, PA and also in older farmhouses around Lancaster County. I was just in one such home this morning showing it to some buyers from New Jersey. Privacy violations can be a significant issue when listing agents don’t disclose them properly and buyers are led to believe that there are 3 bedrooms (for example) when in reality you have to walk through 1 of the them to get into another. The real estate convention is that, for a room to be counted as a bedroom, it must have 2 things:

1) Independent access to a common area (hallway, living room etc).
2) A closet space of some sort.

Rooms with privacy violations are commonly included in the MLS and advertising as “bedrooms” – there’s just so many of them and the county tax records generally note them so why not, right? As a buyer you’ll need to know that before setting up the showing, though.

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Thanks for watching! Please take a moment to subscribe here athttp://tv.yourlancasterhome.com and pop over to our facebook page to “like” it at http://www.facebook.com/lancasterhomes

Choose Jeff Geoghan for your next home sale or purchase in Lancaster PA! Thanks.

(c) 2011 Jeff Geoghan

I think the Clash may have been on to something (although they probably would never have guessed) regarding the mental state of some homeowners right now.  Recently I delved into a few reasons why an owner who wanted to sell might want to think twice.  This week I was reminded of those other homeowners who’ve decided to invest in their current home rather than endure the vagaries of a home search/purchase/listing/sale/move.

In my neighborhood, just this past weekend, a young family commented to me about their decision to add a large deck & redo their kitchen/living areas rather than move. They’ve followed the local property offerings and come to the realization that they would rather keep their current surroundings and make the home changes necessary to accommodate their changing lifestyle.

Just around the corner, a retired couple I know who are empty-nesters decided against moving and added on to their home of many years to update the floorplan and provide a place for holiday gatherings, etc. for the extended family.  His statement to me was that they had looked for months at the MLS and found nothing that could replace their home’s location and feel to them.

I think this is great – people who know what they want, and who are willing to want what they have.  Isn’t that the definition of happiness?  And a line of credit can be a lot more painless than a move and new mortgage with costs…

For many people, making the move is pretty sensible (that’s where I come in): expanding family, job change, new priorities etc.  For others, though, it may make sense to re-envision their current home anew.  Have you ever made the decision to stay and remodel rather than move?