Main Line Homes Blog

We just listed a nice 1 bedroom condo with an additional bonus room or den off the living room in Old Forge Crossing located in Devon, PA. The current owner updated the bathroom with a jacuzzi bath and the home has a remote control gas fireplace as well. For full details simply follow the link. Or watch the video below:

We recently visited Charleston, SC and were wandering down King Street when we came across this interesting shop.

Why is it interesting....check out the sign

But look inside....

pretty cool, several seating areas for customers to look at real estate right there and search the MLS, help on site if needed. also just the decor is soooo coooool!

This screen had a video advert playing, and another had a video running about all the good things in and around Charleston, restaurants, golf etc.

there was enough screens for several customers to interact and private offices if needed, although it felt as if the spaces were far enough apart to give you the initial privacy for a quiet conversation.

This was one of three offices I believe the company had, the only one they had set up like this and it was on the main street of Charleston. Talking with the agent sitting at the "Concierge" desk she said they had many people come in to explore the cost of real estate in and around Charleston for retirement, or if they were considering selling.

Would this work on the main line outside of Philadelphia, I can think of a couple of places where it will work well West Chester, Bryn Mawr, Wayne or Chestnut Hill for example, downtown Philly on Chestnut or Walnut Street obviously. But what about your areas? Is this the future of real estate? Is this of interest to consumers? Let's hear what you think.

This past week, I have gone to make appointments for an out of town client only to find several houses that have just come on the market are under offer. Good news for our area, bad news for buyers as many still think it is a buyers market.

Now we don't know till they settle if these houses sold for asking price, or if they will make it through the inspections and mortgage contingencies without problems to settlement. However, it is an indication that there are buyers out there, with the low mortgage rates, who are prepared to get off the fence if the right house comes along. One of these homes even had three offers, something I know many buyers in this market don't like but may have to face if sellers are pricing their homes correctly for sale.

So, if you are buying along the Main Line, be prepared to move quickly, whilst I know we all like a deal act sensibly when making an offer and hopefully you will move through all the contingency periods to settlement smoothly.

Following what could have been a major disaster, a toilet that overflowed, the sellers recently, repainted the house, removing all the flowery wall paper and choosing neutral colors for every room. Then as some of the floor needed to be repaired on the ground floor, they chose bamboo floors and laid them throughout, choosing a brazilian cherry color, and replaced the baseboards with a classier deeper profile, what a difference.

This Radnor home on a flag lot, just opposite Coopertown elementary school has one of the quietest locations I have experienced in the Main Line Area. Usually there is always a road noise rumble in the back groud, here there is the sound of birds chirping, and silence. Current owner planted lots of perennials, and they have a raised bed for vegetables that is irrigated as well. Location is also wonderful for access to Bryn Mawr for restaurants, the hospital, train to center city or whatever you might need.

But don't take my word for it, stop by on Sunday 9/26 between 2 and 4 PM and let us know what you think, or take a virtual tour at 328 Highland Lane, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, just off Coopertown Road in Radnor Township

This is a very interesting idea. I have come to believe that stimulus money for housing is not a good plan as it is like crack cocaine with everyone waiting for the next hit. I think some rules need to be put in place for this proposal but to actually reward those who have kept up to date on their payments, and allow them to reduce their payments would be a big benefit, especially removing the appraisal issue which is what holds so many people back and would avoid so many foreclosures that are in the pipeline. However, isn't this what the banks were supposed to be doing with the loan modifications. Getting them on board without appraisals when it will reduce their profits will be a hard job I think, the greed element will kick in.

It saddens me that 9 years following the disaster of 9/11 America has moved away from the wonderful position they took immediately following that disaster and attack. Our fight is with terrorists who happen to claim to be Muslims, but not with Muslims. As was stated by George Bush himself. When Britain dealt with the IRA their fight was against terrorists not the Irish people, although many on both tried to project it as otherwise. But peace came when people, mainly women decided enough was enough.

Today, in a country founded upon religious freedom and tolerance, we have so called pastors threatening to burn the holy books of another faith, which shows little freedom or tolerance and seems more like small minded individuals just wanting air time. I recently have stopped going to church, and my primary reason was that I found "the church" had become a right wing mouthpiece, and if you had a different opinion you were viewed as a "backslider".

Church and state can be separated whilst at the same time realizing that our country was founded upon religious tolerance and freedom.

At the same time, I welcome the news I read today about my own community and how a mosque opened, next to a synagogue and across the road from a Baptist church, and just a couple of miles from Valley Forge National Park, a symbol of the freedom our forefathers suffered for and won generations ago.

Yes, I know, if the people who got us there cannot work it out how to save us, Nick why do you think you know how to solve the housing and banking crisis. But that may be exactly why. I look at it from the outside and with street sense.

So let's recap a minute some of the problems.

• Mortgages that no one knows what they are worth!
• Homes that are upside down, the owners owe more than they are worth!
• Lack of funds for borrowers

Every bank with foreclosure and short sale inventory knows at this stage from the statistics what they are earning overall on average from the homes that they are selling, and therefore know the value of the mortgages they hold. For example, if the home has a mortgage of $300,000 and they sold it for $200,000 it is worth 66%. So taking this information from each and every deal from each and every bank and crunching the numbers will allow us the people to know several things.

1 What houses are worth!

2. What the mortgages are worth!

If we know this, we know what to pay for homes and these so called "worthless mortgages". Rather than constantly pumping money and funds into the economy which is not making its way out of the banks, who all they have done is give themselves big fat bonuses and a pat on the back and tightened the requirements for those borrowing money so that it flows less and less. Next they will be complaining that their profits are down because they can't lend as profitably and they need another bailout.

However, I digress. by knowing the overall value of these mortgages, they can be bought and traded with a one time or ongoing auction at this stage. Either the government can in one enormous deal buy each and every mortgage at a discount below the average value or they can be traded.  Yes, it will mean that there is a resetting of the bar, a lot of people are going to lose money, but that is what is required and it needs to happen quickly, this problem is only exacerbated by how long it is being drawn out as the bankers keep saying they have no idea of the value of the mortgages. They have a very good idea, or how else do they know when to sell a home as short; and they are only making the situation worse.

It may very well be that it needs to be taken out of their hands so short sales can actually be quick and not long drawn out stressful deals. Maybe I am oversimplifying this problem but it is not hard to fix if you are not greedy.

The most recent Credit Suisse Survey on housing for Philadelphia shows a lot of negative information. Traffic is below expectations of agents and prices are declining with longer time on market for those homes that are listed.

75% of agents surveyed said traffic was below their expectations for the month of August, a generally slow month  usually in the housing market. Home prices continued to fall with sellers needing to reduce prices or offer incentives to create sales according to 60% of the agents surveyed. 75% of agents also said the time needed to sell a home had increased as well.

Some of the factors mentioned for this was a lack of urgency among buyers and a lack of confidence in the job market as well.

Whilst Philadelphia region has suffered less than elsewhere, there remains a large inventory of homes, allowing buyers to take their time and be selective and demanding when making offers on homes in which they are interested. The pressure on prices is expected to continue through 2011 and whilst many buyers when prices were rising rapidly were able to do what was required to buy a home, many sellers are unable to drop prices low enough or provide adequate incentives to encourage buyers to take advantage of the low interest rates and motivate them to make offers.