CHECK OUT MY NEWEST WEB SITE!

http://www.statecollege-pa-realestate.com/

Searching for a new home? Need comparable sales for your home or neighborhood? Just curious about the sales price of your neighbors home?

It's all there so use it as a tool to increase your local real estate knowledge.

http://www.statecollege-pa-realestate.com/

August Surprise Impacts September Mortgage Rates!

Just when mortgage rates had ticked down a bit and it appeared they would remain in the low 6% range the Labor Department played a trick on the mortgage market. Last week the Labor Department released the September jobs report showing an increase of about 110,000 jobs for the month. No surprise there. The surprise came in the next paragraph when the LD announced a revision of the August jobless numbers. A huge revision.

In August the LD reported a loss of about 4,000 jobs (the first negative trending in years) and a trend that caught the attention of the mortgage market and led to lowering of 15 and 30 years mortgage rates. The revised August numbers reflected a 93,000 job swing since the real number was 89,000 new jobs created in August. This large number took the financial markets by surprise and immediately long term interest rates jumped.

30 year fixed rate mortgages rose to a national average of 6.5% versus 6.2% four weeks ago. National averages for this week's rates are as follows:

30-year fixed - 6.5%

15-year fixed - 6.18%

5 year ARM - 6.37%

If you need information about current rates in the local market feel free to give me a call.

New Construction Log Cabin

30 Minutes to Penn State

New construction log cabin on 20 acres in Northern Centre County and close to Penn State University. Adjacent to Sproul State Forest and surrounded by woodland with several acres of open fields offering beautiful views of the surrounding valley, the new log cabin is the perfect spot for a weekend getaway.

Wildlife abound and the location is known for excellent hunting. There are snowmobile trails and miles of ATV trails right out the front door.

The log cabin features one bedroom on the first floor and an open loft on the second floor. There is a fireplace and a beautiful front porch built for relaxation. This is a turnkey build and includes gas refrigerator and range, Bosch endless hot water, gas heat and electric generators. There is a new well and new septic system.

Just bring the kids and the toys and enjoy the best in outdoor recreation. Visit http://www.campsnowshoe.com/.

TOP RETIREMENT PLACES TO LIVE

STATE COLLEGE, RANKED #5

According to a just published report on top retirement towns to live in, State College, PA was ranked the 5th best place for retiree's. Following is a preview of the article or go here http://money.aol.com/usnews/general/great-retirement-spots for the complete story.

The following recap is taken from the article and are not my words.

State College, Pa.

The flagship campus of Pennsylvania State University dominates this central Pennsylvania city. Retirees can enroll in Penn State classes free of charge without worrying about exams or grades.

Total Pop. 38,720

Med. Home Price $195,000

Med. Income $38,799 Avg.

Jan./Jul. Temp 25.4° / 71.2°

Climate
State College has a humid continental climate, with four distinct seasons and rapidly changing weather.

Cultural Attractions
Retirees can enroll in university classes free of charge, and the Penn State Center for the Performing Arts presents music, dance, and theater.

Economy
The university has helped make the town an attractive place for families and retirees.

Geography
The town is located in the Nittany Valley.

Recreation
The town’s recreation is centered on Penn State's sports teams.

Of course those of us living here already know what a great town this is. Don't wait. Move to State College, PA. and give me a call to assist in the relocation.

BELLEFONTE COUNTRY LIVING AND MINUTES TO EVERYTHING!

Garbrick Rd. Features

* 4 BR 2 Bath
* LARGE COUNTRY KITCHEN
* HARDWOOD AND PINE FLOORS THROUGHTOUT
*GORGEOUS WRAP AROUND DECKS FOR OUTDOOR LIVING
* GAS FIREPLACE
* PARTIALLY FINISHED BASEMENT

VISIT http://www.buybellefonte.com/ for all the details and photo's. This is a completly updated home in a great location adjacent to the Payne Soccer Fields and minutes to Bellefonte schools, Nittany Mall, and Penn State University. Perfect setting for entertaining with the large wrap around decks and lush landscaping. Large country kitchen with warm oak cabinets.

Take the chill off crisp Fall evenings with the gas fireplace surrounded by custom built-in Oak mantle and cabinets.

RAVING FANS REDUX

One more satisfied client and another RAVING FAN. I try to live my life in real estate as reflected in the famous quote by Vince Lombardi:

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen profession"

-Vince Lombardi

Dear Tim,

We can't begin to express our gratitude for all of your help during what can only be described as a difficult transaction. We firmly believe that your unending patience, negotiating expertise, communication skills, and professionalism were often the only things holding this contract together. You never pressured us at any juncture, and you were always willing to intelligently discuss issues with us instead of telling us exactly what we wanted to hear. Both of those qualities are difficult to find in a buyers agent, and they distinguish you as an honest and outstanding Realtor. We won't hesitate to recommend both you and Keller Williams to everyone within earshot.

After all, we love telling the story how you turned a potentially nightmarish transaction into a successful home purchase!

To thank you , we were going to include.....with this card.

Enjoy and Thank You,

Sara & Jasun

I edited the information that describes the gift the buyers wanted to bestow upon me. Certainly an unnecessary action on their behalf. I must say that you were probably the most educated buyers I have ever worked with and Sara knows more about real estate than most agents in this town.

I do look forward to working with all of your friends in the coming years and I will be honored to receive any referrals from you.

THE INCREDIBLE TRIPLE CLOSING HIGH WIRE ACT or,

(In the words of Dierks Bently) WHAT WAS I THINKIN'?

So there we are squirming at the closing table at 10:45 a.m. on a Friday morning. The sellers are anxious because they must step into their U-Haul and drive three hours to a walk-through and the closing of the new house they are purchasing. The closing company told us we could pop in at 10:00 a.m. and sign the HUD-1, drop off the deed, collect the proceeds from the sale of the clients existing home, and have them off in time for them to attend the closing of their new home hours away.

A funny thing happened on the way to the triple closing. No, that is not a new sport in the upcoming Olympics. It is a daring high wire act performed by Realtors, attorneys, and closing agents when there are three contingency contracts in play and all scheduled to close on the same day.

The single overriding important factor in maintaining your balance on the high wire and not tumbling to earth in agony in this situation is HONESTY. A secondary factor in this performance is for the type A personalities to take a chill pill and allow the professionals do their jobs. Unfortunately in the real estate business, the population of successful pros seem to be littered with overbearing type A's. I'm not sure the cause but that will be a post for another day.

A quick description of the choreography involved in our high wire act is as follows. Client A is relocating 3 hours away and agrees to a contingency purchase offer from client B. Client B must sell their existing home prior to purchasing client A's home. The contingency is removed in a week and client A places a contingency offer on a property hours away owned by client C. Of course the flaw in the performance exists because all three homes must close on the same day. Another problem arises with the Client C property 3 hours away. Since the Realtor representing client C does not know any of the actors in the first two transactions, and because she is an overbearing type A personality that treats other Realtors she doesn't know as school children, she constantly harasses and complains to the parties involved in the first two transactions.

For all of you type A Realtors out there I offer the following. Just because they do "IT" a certain way in your market, and just because certain lenders, attorneys, Realtors, and mortgage brokers are oily in your market, does not make it "SO" in my market. So, in an effort to improve our professional image I suggest that you take a chill pill and allow the pros to do their jobs. Enough of the editorial and back to the main feature: the high wire triple closing on a single day.

After awaiting the HUD-1 that turned out to be 45 minutes late, the broker walks in with the correct documentation and a big fat check for my sellers. They happily jump into an overstuffed U-Haul truck and head down the highway to the final closing of the day.

A successful triple closing pulled off by a group of professionals in State College, PA. with a bit of static coming three hours away. It is incredible to think how real estate transactions are so connected and what a web they weave.

The pros pulled off a triple contingency closing on a single day without any difficulty and at a total value of more than $700,000. Of course some of us never doubted the outcome.

INTERNET AD SPENDING SET TO OVERTAKE ALL OTHER MEDIA

That is not a headline I created but it dovetails with my last post relating to the source of buyers in a real estate transaction. A recent article (http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=65282&Nid=33013&p=204904 ) detailed the emerging trend in advertising. The headline was in the industry periodical, ONLINE MEDIA DAILY, and the article describes the trend of advertising dollars flowing away from printed media and traditional television and into the new media relating to the internet.

The most important point to remember for sellers of real estate is quite simple. By 2011, spending of advertising dollars will reach $61.98 billion dollars and overtake newspapers as the number one medium for advertising dollars.

Sellers, please remember this point. If you want to reach buyers for your homes you will continue to reach them via the internet rather than in the printed media. Find a Realtor that has the best internet strategy and have them detail the strategy to you. If they tell you their internet strategy is a listing on Realtor.com run quickly away.

Of course you can find an internet savvy Realtor by calling Tim Rogers at Keller Williams Realty in State College, PA.

ATTENTION HOMESELLERS!

WHERE DO BUYERS COME FROM?

OR

WHY DO REALTORS SPEND HUGE DOLLARS IN THE NEWSPAPER?

A recent AP story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20025015/) highlights the trend of real estate advertising away from print and classified advertising in newspapers. This comes as no suprise to those of us at Keller Williams but I know it may be a shocker to sellers in the local market.

Full page real estate print ad's in the Sunday paper sure look nice and provide sellers with an insurance policy, but the truth is the printed "BLING" does little to actual sell houses. In fact it is little more than comfort food for sellers. They open the paper and feel comforted to know that their Realtor is doing everything they can to sell their home.

The truth is sellers need to start ordering their comfort food from a different menu and the menu is the internet. Statistics show that more than 80% of buyers begin and continue their home search online. Yes, that's 80%. Sellers, the big question you need to ask your Realtor is, "What is your internet strategy and how will the internet sell my house?"

For those sellers that take comfort in opening the Sunday paper to see a photo of your residence, I would hope that photo doesn't lead to a nasty case of indigestion and an unsold home.

Of course, cutting edge Realtors interested in selling homes quickly will be spending advertising dollars in places where the buyers will be spending their time; online. So, don't be too concerned when you open the Sunday CDT and you don't see a full page ad sponsored by Tim Rogers or Keller Williams. Rest assured that we are ahead of the trend and we are selling houses on the internet.

We will leave the printed indigestion to the competition.

ARE THEY CRAZY OR JUST UNEDUACTED?

Several days ago I was driving through Georgia when I stopped to run in Savannah. I found a nice subdivision on the run and as I ran around the lake I had a chance to read many of the real estate for sale signs. Most of them had a sign rider stating: PRICE REDUCTION. No great surprise in the current real estate market. You could say it is a sign of the times in real estate.

The sign that grabbed my curiousity and would not let go for the balance of the sultry run (humidity had to be 100%) was the FOR SALE BY OWNER. Not the FSBO sign itself; that would be unremarkable. The note scribbled on the bottom of the sign pleading for a buyer and prohibiting realtors-that grabbed my imagination and held on tight. The hand-written note on the bright red FSBO sign stated, "MUST SELL IMMEDIATELY, ABSOLUTELY NO REALTORS!"

My first thought:

OXYMORON

defined by Wikipedia as - An oxymoron (plural oxymorons or more rarely oxymora) is a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms.

That sounded about right to me but (in full disclosure) I'm a licensed Realtor in Pennsylvania. So as I continued to pound the pavement and have the blanket of humidity squeeze my lungs, I wondered what may cause a rational person (probably a professional) to be desperate to sell a house but prohibit Realtors from assisting him? That would be akin to needing a root canal but refusing the services of all dentists. Heart surgery but declining the help of all physicians, etc., etc, you get the point.

The story gets better. It bothered me so much I drove back to the house after my run and caught the owner at home. He saw my PA plates and Penn State Nittany Lion Club sticker and thought it was safe to talk to me. Long story short. He is facing foreclosure but had a bad experience with a Realtor once so he thinks we are all evil. He is going to show us (Realtors). He would rather lose his house to foreclosure than seek out the assistance of a professional Realtor that may just bring him the buyer he so desperately needs.

So, I continue to ponder the original question, "ARE THEY CRAZY OR JUST UNEDUCATED?" I have my own biased opinion of course but I've never filled one of my own cavities.

What do you think?

ANNOUNCING

Keller Williams Advantage Realty

State College, PA.

Last month Keller Williams opened it's newest Pennsylvania office in State College, PA. Keller Williams, a Texas based franchisor is the 4th largest and fasting growing real estate company in America. More than 70,000 agents have joined the company in the past dozen years and KW is on track to become the largest real estate franchisor in the next three years.

The growth and business model have been noticed by corporate America as well as some of the best business schools in Academia. Yale has just announced it's intention to include the KW business model in it's business school and Stanford will do so next year as well. Both schools will teach the business model in addition to studying the phenomenal growth generated by the business model.

I am proud to have affiliated with the local Keller Williams office and look forward to growing the KW franchise into the number one company in Centre County.

To learn more about the KW business model and how it can help buyers and sellers please feel free to give me a call.

Testimonials

or

RAVING FANS!

There is no greater compliment in business than an unsolicited "YOU ROCK" from a satisfied customer. Following is an e-mail I recently received from a satisfied client. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent (or guilty).

Tim,

I just wanted to let you know that you are the man.
I really appreciate all the time you have given us with this move. I am sure we were a little more high maintence then the usual buyer.
I can't thank you enough for going to bat for us with ***** homes. Your email definitely got the job done. S***** has not responded so quickly since we have started this whole process!!
I will make sure to tell EVERYONE I come in contact with what a fantastic real-estate agent you are and can't thank you enough for all your time and effort.( I don't know if M*** told you but I have a really big mouth!).

Thanks again!!!!!

J***** and M***

M*** and J*****

I must say it was a pleasure working with you and I will donate a percentage of my commission in your name to a local school library in Bellefonte to support literacy in your community.

Several Sobering Market Statistic's

224

2001 - Q1

24

224 - Total closed transactions in the first quarter 2007.

2001-Q1 - The last quarter that total closed sales in MLS recorded a smaller number.

24 - Total number of quarters that exceeded the number 224.

Is there anything else to say about the current market?

WE'VE GOT LOSERS....
....WE'VE GOT WINNERS

We appreciate the following markets or....

THE TOP 10 MARKETS W/GREATEST 2006 HOME APPRECIATION

Market 2006 Appreciation (%)

1. 
   
   
   Salem, OR. 19.8



2. 
   
   
   Virginia Beach/Norfolk 19.4



3. 
   
   
   Spokane, WA. 17.7



4. 
   
   
   Salt Lake City, UT. 16.7



5. 
   
   
   Eugene/Springfield, OR. 16.7



6. 
   
   
   Baton Rouge, LA. 15.9



7. 
   
   
   Gainesville, FL. 15.9



8. 
   
   
   Ocala, FL. 15.5



9. 
   
   
   Dover, DE. 14.7



10. 
    
    
    Portland/Beaverton, OR. 14.7

Source: NAR Existing Home Sales Report

It's interesting to note that 4 of the Top 10 markets are home to large universities. Only one market is in the northeast (barely) and half of the hottest markets are in the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps the stampede is on as California "Goldrushers" abandon ship for the tranquility to the north.

Compare the winners with the previous list of losers. 6 of the top 10 losers markets were in Ohio and Michigan and 9 of the 10 biggest losers are in the rust belt. So as things rust in the upper midwest, the boom is on in the Pacific Northwest. Or so it appears for at least one year;2006.

WE'VE GOT WINNERS....

WE'VE GOT LOSERS

TOP 10 MARKETS w/ Greatest loss in home value

2006

Rank
Metropolitan statistical area
One-year loss (%)

1.Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. -7.4

2.Toledo, Ohio -6.2

3. Sarasota-Braden-Venice, Fla. -5.6

4. Akron, Ohio -4.9

5. Youngs-War-Brdman, OH/Pa. -4.8

6. Bloomington-Normal, Ill. -4.4

7. South Bend-Mishawaka, Ind. -4.0

8. Indianapolis -3.6

9. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio -3.2

10. Lansing-E.Lansing, Mich. -3.2

Isn't it interesting that three or four of the markets are home to large universities? I think that should help put the Centre County market in perspective. Although we are home to a large Big 10 University, we are a small market removed from the metro areas and insulated from the huge price fluctuations of larger metro areas.

NEW LISTING - BELLEFONTE SCHOOL DISTRICT

First Time Homebuyers

1.51 acres surrounded by woodland

Great starter home! Cute 2 bedroom 2 bath house on 1.5 acre wooded lot - perfect for first time buyers. New windows, new hot water heater.

NEW LISTING

THE COUNTRY LIFESTYLE BUT CLOSE TO PENN STATE

Gorgeous saltbox style 3/2.5 on 3+ acres in the Penns Valley School District but minutes to State College and Penn State University. Located on a quiet country cul-de-sac and surrounded by a thriving fruit orchard and lush perennials, the spacious interior lends itself to a growing family. First floor master bedroom, dining room with french doors and woodburning fireplace, and a beautiful country kitchen with cherry cabinets and an island, make this home the perfect country farmette. Post card views of the surrounding countryside and breathtaking view of Egg Hill. $269,900

What’s selling in Millheim?

The data reflect primarily E. Main St. and not the entire town for calendar year 2006.

$953,700 is the value of the property sold in your neighborhood in 2006.

$125,564 Average selling price

$69,000 Low Price

$146,500 High Price

83 – Average Days on Market

HOMES SOLD FOR 92.2% OF LIST PRICE

COMING SOON


An overview of the real estate market in Steeplechase.

What's selling in PARK VIEW HEIGHTS Real Estate?

$2,154,500 is the value of Property sold in your neighborhood in 2006!

9 HOMES SOLD AVG DOM-39

AVG PRICE-$239,389

Low Price - $161,000 High Price - $319,000

923 Woodland Dr. - $161,000 951 Tanney - $178,000

1239 Shady Ln. - $219,500 1239 Sylvan Cr. - $222,500

901 Woodland Dr. - $220,000 1308 Laura Ln. - $262,000

1316 Joanna Dr. - $285,000 1316 Joanna Dr. - 287,500

1209 Sherwood Ct. - $319,000

Note: 1316 Joanna Dr. sold twice in 2006.

HOMES SOLD FOR 97.5% OF ASKING PRICE