Main Line Homes Blog

If you owe more on your home than it is worth there are alternatives to foreclosure that allow you to avoid foreclosure. But you need to take action rather than just waiting for the bank or banks to decide what they want to do.

 What do you want? What are your dreams going forward once this situation is resolved? It is not just a matter of giving up, there is hope and many others have rebuilt their lives. It will not be easy, but if you take steps for yourself, you can control some of your own destiny as you move forward. Some of this will be dictated by your own local market and personal situation but these steps listed from best to worst are open to you.

• Credit Counselling
• Get Current
• Forbearance
• Loan Assumption
• Short Sale or Pre-foreclosure Sale
• Foreclosure

You can do a combination of these movinf through your situation, the earlier you act the more is open to you. If you decide to sell your current home and ask for a pre-foreclsoure sale or short sale, the terms mean the same but are are used in different parts of the country you will need to find a real estate agent who knows what they are doing to represent you. You do not need to be behind on your payments to ask your lender for a short sale, but you will need to qualify for some of the governmanet programs by meeting certain requirements.

You will need to be honest with this real estate agent, and you are going to have to get over the fear and embarrassment you may be feeeling to move forward. If this agent knows what they are doing they know what you are going through and will try to make you feel comfortable whilst at the same time explaining the process as you move ahead. This agent is going to become your best friend, and like any professional expert will at times have to tell you stuff you don't want to hear.

• To initiate a short sale you are going to have to make the first calls to your bank or banks. you will need to give permission to these banks to speak with your agent in writing, again your agent should have this form ready for you to sign.
• You will also need to write a hardship letter, hardship is not just financial, emotional reasons are just as valid, divorce, medical, loss of job etc..
• You will need to gather at least three past months of pay stubs to verify your income
• You will need to provide the past threemonths of bank statements
• Complete a financial information form
• Last two years of tax returns
• Provide any home owner or condo association information. Who is it? Telephone and address? When you made last payment?

Your agent will provide the following:

• All contact information
• Listing agreement
• Comparative Market Assesment
• and once you have an offer: Purchase Agreement/Offer
• A preliminary HUD1, the closing sheet

Your agent will contact the banks involved and provide all this information above to them with a cover letter. There is no guarantee that that the bank will accept the offer. Whilst many of the baks are trying to speed up the process, a short sale is anything but, so be patient, both as a seller and if you are a buyer, the whole process varies from bank to bank, and negotiations can vary in length. this is another reason for using the services of an agent who has handled short sales before as they know the process and can guide you through it without giving you undue expectations. Good luck and remember, there is light ahead, and it is not a train but the end of the tunnel. Once this is behind you, you will be able to rebuild your life and start again.

        Sales  have been fairly brisk this year, that is until July when the market slowed down again. Inventory accumulation along the Main Line is a good indication of where the market currently is and how long it will take to sell a home on average.

Montgomery County: 8   Days on market 83

Delaware County: 9        Days on Market 83

Chester County: 10        Days on market 85

In the tri-county area Montgomery seems to be doing slightly better, and sales over this year bear that out as well. Overall we have seen days on market rise compared tomprevious years, this is how long it is gooing to take a home to sell on average comparing all homes in each county. Chester County seems to be struggling, with a 10 month inventory accumulation and price per sq foot in Easttown and Tredyffrin townships has fallen compared to Radnor and Lower Merion where it had risen indicating prices have stabalized compared to Easttown and Tredyffrin where prices are still under pressure. Other local townships have been fairly stable. But always remember real estate is local and in many cases hyper local so each situation is different.

If you want help, feel free to contact us.

Feel free to subscribe to our blog to stay up to date with our latest posts and information on the Main Line Real Estate Market. 

New monthly condo fees for Old Forge Crossing condo units were announced in August. Single bedroom units will be $214, and two bedroom and townhomes will be $281.

Also announced was that the reserves of the condo association now amount to just over $1 million a goal of the association for some time.

Sales of units have been slow with prices dropping for condos and townhomes in the area. Competition is stiff with Chesterbrook and Drummers Lane prices being dropped aggressively to obtain sales. However, recently units have been starting to sell again when priced correctly and aligning with buyers being in the market and finding financing for their purchases.

One of the often overlooked roles of the real estate agent is to help buyers obtain their financing and guide the buyers and sellers through the transaction to make sure both the buyer and seller reach settlement as agreed in the agreement of sale, negotiating home inspections, mortgage appraisals and any other issues relating to title or condo rules that might arise. Don't overlook the experience that a full time realtor brings to the process, we have seen many deals falling apart in this difficult market due to buyers presuming that everything is moving ahead smoothly.

Everywhere you look right now, there are opinions on the real estate market. It is improving, it is getting worse. As we all know the real estate market is local and in some cases hyper-local. so how is the Main Line Real Estate market holding up?

We looked at several townships and did a survey of sales since the beginning of March for single family homes and compared the square foot price of homes in these townships. Obviously if the price per square foot is going up then prices overall are going up, if it is going down prices are going down.

As we said the real estate market is local so by township we show below the price per square foot for the three months prior to the beginning of March 2010 and sincce the beginning of March to the end of July in 2010:

Township                         December 2009-February 2010                        March 2010 - July 2010

Radnor                               $224                                                            $247

Lower Merion                       $216                                                            $232

Tredyffrin                            $213                                                            $205

Easttown                             $233                                                             $220

Haverford                            $182                                                            $171

Willistown                            $195                                                            $199

Sales by units have been very strong, especially in Lower Merion across all price points. Obviously strong sales in the lower price ranges allow sellers to move up, so strong sales in these lower price points have been reflected in sales at higher price points as well. Both Tredyffrin and Easttown saw price drops, Easttown especially having significantly fewer sales than previously, a reflection of the higher price points in the township.

We saw some short sales in all townships, but these are not a large element as yet affecting price per square foot, however we have seen a large drop in pending sales since the end of June which will be reflected in lower sold volume in August, September and October unless there is a change upwards as we begin the Fall sales season after Labor Day.

If you need help understanding your market, pricing your home, or even structuring an offer in light of the current market we are here to help, so don't hesitate to contact us.

Penndot and Chester County Commissioners announced recently that the slip ramp proposed for Route 29 will begin construction in March 2011. This moves forward the plan to make regional improvements.

The ramp has been backed all along by the Chester County Commissioners along with the support of the Paoli Transit Center, improvements to route 202 and the Chester Valley Trail.

The slip ramp priced at $83 million has been planned since 1995 and should be completed by Spring 2012. The ramp will connect Route 29 to the PA turnpike and provide access to and from the new Wegmans, and business parks in the area like Great Valley Corporate Center, The Commons at Great Valley, Atwater and other bsuiness districts in Malvern and Paoli. It will help to reduce the large numbers of cars currently travelling between the Downingtown Turnpike exit and Valley Forge. However, it will only be accessible to users of E-Zpass.

             Chester County is the first county in Pennsylvania to initiate a strategic planning process. Established by William Penn as one of Pennsylvania's three original counties, Chester County has been named by Forbes.com as one of America's best places to raise a family and is ranked the healthiest county in Pennsylvania by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

Last night we met friends at what I think is one of the closest things I have found in the States to an English pub. It is cosy with outdoor seating, wood panelling and a great choice of beers.

Located in Chester County in Springdell Village, The Whip Tavern is a great place for lunch or dinner as well as a decent pint. If you are a wine drinker, bring your own, the are only licensed for beer. TV's are tuned to sport and primarily Rugby as the local team is definitely connected.

We started with a pint whilst we waited, I enjoyed the rugby on the screen, being an old prop forward and playing for Middlesex in England when I was 16, a long long time ago, and we asked for a table outside on the patio. When our friends arrived we had a relaxing drink, and then sat at our table. We had great and friendly service, food selections were varied and everything served was good. Trudy and i had the soup special a wonderful cold yogurt and cucumber soup, which had a little kick to it, very nice, our friends had mussels and the smiked fish plate, both said they were very good. Main courses, II had the Bison steak au poivre, medium rare cooked to perfection, pink in the middle with fresh vegetables, Trudy had a Cottage pie, and our friends had a curry, spicy but not killing, and the rack of lamb. We skipped on dessert and although we lingered over coffee and chatting were not made to feel rushed. A great summer evening. worth visiting, but come a little early as the parking is limited and it fills up pretty quickly.

Berwyn is a big place stretching across two townships, Easttown and Tredyffrin. I was driving along Swedesford Road in Tredyffrin and saw that the new hhgregg store, where circuit City used to be was Now Open. So stopped off to check it out.

I will give them the benefit of the doubt that this is an early opening, and maybe they don't have all their inventory in place, but the store did not feel attractive. Very bright, too much empty open space, prices did not seem that competitive compared to Best Buy, Walmart, Kmart or Sears.

But what do you think? Let me know.

I was out jogging yesterday and briefly watched as I went past Hillside elementary school in Tredyffrin Easttown School District,(T/E) as they were watering their roofs. I realized that the roofs are green and this is an interesting step for the local school district to reduce costs and teach students about the environment as well.

The local paper, The Wayne and Suburban Times has an interesting article with photographs that you can view.

Green elements are growing in our area, with many residential homes being fitted with geo-thermal heating and cooling units, solar panels, new energy star appliances, newer windows and doors all reducing costs over time for the homewowners and helping out our environment at the same time. But I applaud the local Tredyffrin Easttown school district to take this step on one of their buildings and be such a good example to the community.

Berwyn, PA on the border of Easttown and Tredyffrin Townships is hotting up. A new Bathroom and Kitchen shop is opening soon on Lancaster Avenue in the vicinity of the old Berwyn Hardware store. Alfredo a new restaurant is going to fill the gap left by San Nicola. Curves moved location a while back to have a more visible store front on Lancaster Ave. We have Medi-Weight Loss and an architectural firm filling the old Masonic building on Lancaster. A new emergency care doctors office is opening next to the state liquor store, not sure if that is related, probably not but not a bad location just down from the CVS. Jennifer on the Avenue moved next door when Beadeologie closed their store front and now have a nive large space. A gold and jewelry purchasing store has also filled the old spa on the corner of Walnut. So slowly our empty store fronts are filling up.

Wawa is moving ahead with planning permission for their gas station and store on the corner of Bridge and Lancaster, a plan with 12 pumps and a large convenience store location. There has been opposition to this from the Berwyn Fire company with concerns for access to Lancaster and several local residents with concerns for students and pedestrians in the area with the increased traffic congestion.

Now if we could get the old Pearl of the East store front filled and some of the shop fronts and building fronts painted and spruced up a bit the whole village would look better. Any ideas anyone?

Landmark in Chesterbrook, PA

This is another well placed development in Chesterbrook with several homes backing up to woods and Open Space with access to the trail system that contains over 7 miles of trails and gives access to Valley Forge National Park. These homes have a New England feel and have two, three and four bedrooms with garages, several have walk out lower levels. end units with wrap around decks give the feel of much larger homes. There are two roads in here, Newport Drive and Wellfleet Lane.

Size varies from 1900 to 2500 square feet and prices have ranged from the low $300,000's to low $400,000's over the last two years. There have been a few homes in this development in the last year but they are few and far between. A 2 bedroom home sold for $320,000 in November of last year and there is currently a 4 bed 2 full bath and 2 half bath home pending listed at $444,900 on Newport Dr.

Access to the trail system and being close to open space make this a very desirable neighborhood.