Schuylkill County Real Estate: March 2008

I was amazed to read this morning that 41 Million Americans live within 4 miles of an EPA Superfund Site. That's the worst of the worst toxic dumps, according to the EPA

A Superfund site is an uncontrolled or abandoned place where hazardous waste is located, possibly affecting local ecosystems or people. Sites are listed on the National Priorities List (NPL) upon completion of Hazard Ranking System (HRS) screening, public solicitation of comments about the proposed site, and after all comments have been addressed.

Over the past 20+ years, Superfund has located and analyzed tens of thousands of hazardous waste sites, protected people and the environment from contamination at the worst sites, and involved states, local communities, and other partners in cleanup. Superfund measures its cleanup accomplishments through various criteria including construction and post construction completions of hazardous waste sites.

Do you want to know what's in your backyard? The EPA lists each and every site on its webpage. You can search by region and then by State. I cannot BELIEVE the number of sites in Pennsylvania!

Here's a link to the INDEX. Yuck!

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/index.htm

My signs have the company logo on them, my name and phone number.

Recently I've had 2 different properties where people questioned the sign: is the house for sale or rent, or are you a property management company?

I think it's pretty brain dead. But do you use FOR SALE riders above/below your regular yard sign to specify a property is for sale?

I'm using Realty Executives new metallic blue design. 

This may sound stupid, but then again, I thought the people questioning the sign were pretty thick. Am I crazy?  

Has anyone tried the custom domain name services for properties?

I have a HUGE lakefront listing coming up for sale and I threw this out there as a marketing technique.

I've been wanting to try this for a while and now this is the perfect opportunity.

I've been looking at various vendors online, and this one strikes me as having just what I want: 

http://www.epropertysites.com 

Has anyone else had any experience with this? 

If you're in NE PA this weekend, Girardville is the place to be...

March 29
5th Annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
Starts at Noon in downtown Girardville.
One of the largest St. Patricks Day parades in PA, featuring Pipe bands, community bands and floats ending at the Hibernian House.

Call 570-874-2719.

It's rumored that even Hillary may be walking in the parade this year!  

According to the latest calculations, announced today, the hike for residential ratepayers grew by another 2 percent since October. That means the price of electricity could go up overnight on Dec. 31, 2009 by more than 34 percent for homeowners.

The projected hike for small commercial and industrial customers now stands at 24 percent to 43 percent.

The actual size of the hike won't be finalized for another year and a half, after PPL Electric Utilities has bought all the power it needs for its 1.4 million Pennsylvania customers in 2010. That's when a cap on what the company can charge for electricity generation is due to expire under the state's gradual transition from a traditional regulated electric industry to one that is market-based.

CLICK HERE for the full story

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-ppl0327-cn,0,7406559.story 

I teach real estate licensing classes here in PA, and I also am on our local MLS's Fair Housing Committee.  This should be brain-dead by now, but read this HUD story and think about it. How ridiculous is the zoning committee / subdivision owners for not allowing a handicapped woman her footbridge to get her mail????

HUD CHARGES TEXAS SUBDIVISION OWNERS, ZONING COMMITTEE WITH VIOLATING FAIR HOUSING ACT
Owners allegedly refused to grant reasonable accommodation to disabled resident

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it has charged Crow-Billingsley Air Park, Ltd., Airpark GP, L.L.C., and Air Park–Dallas Zoning Committee, owners of Air Park Estates, with violating the Fair Housing Act for denying a disabled resident a request for a reasonable accommodation. The Dallas Zoning Committee is an incorporated association that serves as the governing body for Air Park Estates.

In the summer of 2002, Sheryl Pick asked Air Park’s zoning committee if she could install a footbridge over a drainage ditch in front of her property so she could have direct access to her mailbox. She also provided a letter from her doctor that substantiated her need for the footbridge. Mrs. Pick has a spinal cord condition that severely limits her mobility and causes her to easily lose her balance. According to Mrs. Pick, the zoning committee verbally approved her request, and she had a footbridge installed.

After the footbridge was installed, the composition of the zoning committee changed and, in September 2004, the new zoning committee sent Mrs. Pick a letter asking her to remove it. In the letter, the zoning committee claimed that the footbridge extends into a right-of-way owned by Air Park. In the months that followed, Mrs. Pick received several additional letters asking her to remove the footbridge.

HUD’s investigation found that other residents had placed similar structures in the right-of-way without previous authorization, including a flagpole, trees and shrubbery, but none had been asked to remove them.

“It’s important that the owners and the zoning committee understand their responsibility to make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities,” said Kim Kendrick, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). “For persons with mobility impairments, receiving a reasonable accommodation is often the key to being able to fully use and enjoy their home.”

A “reasonable accommodation” is a change, exception, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary for a person with a disability to fully enjoy their apartment or house. Common accommodations include providing a mobility impaired person with an accessible parking space, allowing a tenant who is blind to have a service animal, and allowing tenants with mental disabilities to designate a friend to mail their rent payment.

Housing discrimination charges heard before an administrative law judge carry a maximum civil penalty of $16,000 for a first offense, in addition to actual damages for each complainant, injunctive or other equitable relief, and attorney's fees. Sanctions can be more severe if a respondent has a history of housing discrimination. Parties also have the right to elect to have their cases heard in federal district court.

FHEO and its partners in the Fair Housing Assistance Program investigate approximately 10,000 housing discrimination complaints annually. People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777 (voice), 800-927-9275 (TTY). Additional information is available at www.hud.gov/fairhousing. Stay on top of the most up-to-date news regarding the Fair Housing Act by signing up for the FHEO RSS Feed at www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/index.cfm.

Click This Link to View: www.dashpoemmovie.com

I had a pretty tough day today. Filled with lots of problems (a seller who needs to come to the table with over $1000 to get OUT of their house, a young couple with kids who are so deep over their heads in debt and about to lose their house, a past client with a major problem now, and to top it off a huge fight with my 12 year old who's just pushing his boundaries).

Then I opened my email to find someone emailed me the above link.  

Click on it to bring you back to earth. All our problems, all our fights with our loved ones... well, click on the movie and reflect.

We have a property in Berks Co that is being sold with a LIFE ESTATE (elderly woman must be able to live there till she dies).

What in the heck happens with financing on that one?

Buyer is interested and write an offer… accepted… then what?

What kind of loan can a buyer get? 

I don’t have a deal yet, just getting prepared. 

I was on the phone with another Rainer who called to give me a lead ... and bragged that she'd just been "knocked up" on active rain. I almost choked when she said this. She was so excited...

Then she explained she meant she rose one rank in the system and so was knocked up from page 3 on the system to page 2 in her area. When she realized what she said and how it sounded, we had a good laugh! 

Happy Easter... hope you get knocked up on Active Rain! 

On this Easter morning, I'm up early at the computer thinking about what I have to do to get this business ROARING back to life this spring. I've been busy throughout the past few months... saw a little slowdown but for the most part I'm blessed with a steady flow of business. Others are not so lucky, I know. My plan of attack for the next few weeks ...

REFLECT: 

What is going RIGHT in my business?

What is WORKING?

What is not working?

Where is most of my business coming from? 

Where am I wasting my time/efforts? 

REFRESH:

Go back and look at all my listings with a fresh eye.

Take new photos if necessary, and freshen up the MLS info/data sheets.

Create new flyers for properties if the old ones look dated.

Contact all sellers  and show them the new marketing materials. 

Make sure my website is updated regularly (not when I have time!) 

RECHARGE:

Log on to Active Rain every morning first thing, and get my blogging done before I head to the office.

Contact that circle of people where most of my leads come from with a consistent campaign.

Touch 15 people every day: 5 old clients, 5 current clients, 5 new prospects (phone/email/mail).

HAPPY EASTER!