Real Estate Information Archive

If your idea of decking the halls includes a live evergreen heavy with lights and tinsel, you’re not alone. In fact, over 29 million households are getting a real tree this year to adorn their living rooms and twinkle through their front windows. Keep your perfect tannenbaum alive (with its needles intact) by following these easy steps:

Inspect the Needles
When you’re at the nursery picking out your tree, inspect the needles – they should feel flexible, not dry and brittle.

Trim Your Tree
Before you put your tree in its stand, cut off the bottom inch of the trunk to provide a fresh surface for water uptake.

Water the Tree
As soon as possible, get the tree in water. The base of the tree should never dry out, so make sure your water bowl doesn't become empty! A basic rule of thumb is that a typical tree will absorb a quart of water each day for every inch of trunk diameter.

Give 'Em Something Sweet
This is up for debate, but some people swear by adding sugar, aspirin or corn syrup to their tree’s water. While there is no scientific data backing these substances, we say don’t knock it ‘til you try it. If sugar has worked for you in the past, keep on adding the sweet stuff!

Block the Sun
Keep your tree away from direct sunlight, heaters and fans because these things will speed up the drying-out process.

Keep It Humid
If you have a humidifier in your house, put it in the tree-room. It will help keep the needles fresher long, as well as reduce the risk of fire.

If all of this seems like too much work, opt for a potted tree instead. You can find them at your local nursery. Bonus: Instead of slowly dying in your living room, potted trees can be donated to the parks department or replanted in your yard come January!

Information courtesy of BrightNest.com.

When you are buying or selling property in today's Harrisburg PA real estate market, it's important to have confidence in your real estate professional. Don’s commitment as your Harrisburg PA REALTOR® is to provide you with the specialized real estate service you deserve.

When you are an informed buyer or seller, you'll make the best decisions for the most important purchase or sale in your lifetime. That's why Don’s goal is to keep you informed on trends in Harrisburg PA real estate. With property values continuing to rise, real estate is a sound investment for now and for the future.

As a local area expert with knowledge of Harrisburg PA area communities, Don’s objective is to work diligently to assist you in meeting your real estate goals.

If you are considering buying or selling a home or would just like to have additional information about real estate in your area, please don't hesitate to call me at (717) 657-8700, complete my online form, or e-mail me at don@donroth.com.

Central Penn Business Journal has reported Harrisburg homes sales in October were the highest since 2009. Take a look:

The Harrisburg region posted its best October in five years with 761 home sales last month, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors.

That was up 12.2 percent from last year. The median sale price was $156,500, which was down 2.1 percent from October 2013.

Cumberland County led the way with 303 homes sold, a 25.2 percent increase from last year. It’s the first time this decade that the county cracked 300 home sales in October, according to the association.

The median-sale price in Cumberland County was $175,000 in October, a 4.2 percent decrease from last year.

Dauphin County home sales dipped 5 percent to 229 for the month. The median sale price fell by 7.4 percent to $138,000, according to the association.

The Harrisburg area saw an increase across all price points in October. There were 39 homes sold at $400,000 or more, an increase of 21.9 percent from last year, while the $199,999-and-under range posted a 13.8 percent increase with 529 homes sold.

The latter was the most since October 2009, according to the association.

Information courtesy of Harrisburg Realtor Don Roth.

A Tale Of Two Markets!

Actually, we refer to one market – the new-home market. But we say two, because we refer to the new-home market now and the new-home market in the future.

As for the here and now, the market appears somewhat languid. New-home starts come in at 893,000 units on an annualized rate in June. This is 9.3% lower than the revised 985,000 units posted in May. As for the important single-family segment, starts come in at 575,000 units on an annualized rate, which is 9% lower than the number of units in May.

The good news is that the future new-home market appears more robust – at least that's our take from the latest Home Builder Sentiment Index .

Builder confidence for new single-family homes surpassed an important milestone in July, rising four points to a reading of 53. Anything above 50 indicates that builders are more positive than negative on the outlook for new-home activity. This is the first time since January that the index has crested above 50. This suggests we should look forward to more new-home construction and more new-home sales in coming months. Let's hope that's the case.

We say “hope” because we'd be more optimistic on a pick up in both new- and existing-home activity if we saw a pick up in purchase-mortgage activity. Unfortunately, weekly activity across the country is down, and not by an insignificant percentage. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports its purchase index fell 8% for the July 11 week, more than reversing a 4% gain in the prior week.

Of course, we offer our usual caveat: all markets are local. So, what occurs in any local market doesn't necessarily jibe with a national number. (For instance, a large slice of fewer housing starts in June was centered on the South.) Still, we would like to see more purchase activity, especially purchase activity driven by the owner-occupied buyer.

Fortunately, rates are still very favorable for anyone seeking financing. Bankrate.com's national survey has the 30-year fixed-rate conforming loan pegged at 4.3%, about where it has been for the past month. Freddie Mac's survey has the 30-year loan at 4.13%.

To be sure, mortgage rates have shown little inclination to go anywhere, but another month or two of 200,000+ monthly job gains could easily (and quickly) set rates on a path to higher ground.

Information provided by Jessica Regan.

Search all Harrisburg PA homes for sale.

When you are buying or selling property in today's Harrisburg PA real estate market, it's important to have confidence in your real estate professional. Don’s commitment as your Harrisburg PA REALTOR® is to provide you with the specialized real estate service you deserve.

When you are an informed buyer or seller, you'll make the best decisions for the most important purchase or sale in your lifetime. That's why Don’s goal is to keep you informed on trends in Harrisburg PA real estate. With property values continuing to rise, real estate is a sound investment for now and for the future.

As a local area expert with knowledge of Harrisburg PA area communities, Don’s objective is to work diligently to assist you in meeting your real estate goals.

If you are considering buying or selling a home or would just like to have additional information about real estate in your area, please don't hesitate to call me at (717) 657-8700, complete my online form, or e-mail me at don@donroth.com.

Although in the greater Harrisburg/Central Pennsylvania real estate market we are experiencing the beginnings of a basing of prices, there are homeowners facing serious challenges with their home mortgage payments in an attempt to keep their individual homes. The recent action by the President and Congress through the recently passed legislation has given homeowners the resources to see through the various governmental initiatives a vehicle to save their homes. These programs are not going to save every homeowner, but these are channels to research the process and you have the ability to investigate what is available to you.

Here is a list of websites that offer tools that may help you if you are facing challenges with your mortgage:

www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov
www.fanniemae.com/homeaffordable
www.freddiemac.com/avoidforeclosure
www.portal.hud.gov
www.hopenow.com

In addition to these sites, please do not hesitate to go www.PHFA.org (Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency) as a site that can provide additional resources. BUT please do not go and pay for any credit counseling because all of the sites listed will provide the counseling at NO COST to you. ALSO REMEMBER, if you are having problems paying your mortgage payments, call your lender immediately because they are not in the business of owing homes and if there is a way, they and you are better off investigating the alternatives of foreclosure. Being proactive is the best alternative in the current environment.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at don@donroth.com.

The actions by the Federal Reserve this week have benefitted current homeowners and buyers that are looking to purchase a new home. Normally, the action by the Fed does not impact residential mortgage rates since a majority of those rates are established by the open market and private investors. This time the mortgage rates have dropped significantly in the Greater Harrisburg market, and in some cases 30 year fixed rates are now below 5% and with NO POINTS. What does that mean to the a current homeowner? The difference between a 5% and 6% mortgage of $100,000 is $63.00 less per month or $756.00 a year and naturally if your balance is more than $100,000, the savings are greater to you. And if you have been considering the purchase of a home and selling yours, the savings can be just as great on that purchase.

Why have the mortgage rates dropped so far? Well, the impact of the economic slowdown has not spared Central Pennsylvania, but the impact has not been as severe as in many areas of the country, but there has been a slowdown. Home sales in numbers in the Harrisburg suburbs of Dauphin and Cumberland counties for the month of November 2008 compared to November 2007 are down by 25% and the average sales price is lower by 5% over the same comparative period of time. Not good but nowhere near the figures of some regions of the country.

But I am optimistic going forward and you ask WHY? The Greater Harrisburg real estate market for the last 30 years has not seen the wild fluctuations in value, up or down, that many localities have experienced, with the exception of 2005. And I anticipate that we will return to normal valuation ranges very shortly – within six months. How does that impact you as a buyer or seller? Pricing in the market has slowed so there are deals to be had, and I do not anticipate the interest rate environment to increase within that time frame at a minimum so you are going to have extremely attractive interest rates, which in turn has a very positive impact on monthly housing costs. No one was able to time the market and intentionally find the bottom of a market, real estate costs or interest rates, so be on the lookout for value. If you need any real estate or interest rate information, please contact me. Have a happy Holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

The real estate market in the area continues to evolve, and although the number of homes sold for the month of August 2008 decreased when compared to August 2007, some interesting numbers begin to appear. First, the average sales price in the market actually increased in August 2008 over the same period in 2007 by approximately $6000 per home. Yes, the number of homes sold, as reported by the Central Penn Multi List, decreased from 1029 homes in 2007 to 750 homes in 2008, but the average sales price increased by 3% year over year. Does that mean that the market turmoil is over? Not yet, but this is positive news in the sea of bad news that has been reported in the national press for the last year.

With the market still attempting to find equilibrium, some other statistics are important to recognize. First, the type of financing that is being used has shifted somewhat from being dominated by conventional financing to buyers using FHA and VA loans to purchase a home (In 2007, these loans made up 9% of the financing and in 2008 that increased to 24% of the loans). Second, the average days on market for the period increased from 53 days to 70 days.

So, as a seller how does that impact you? There are more homes competing for buyers right now in practically every price range, so pricing is extremely important. Some people have said to me that their home is worth less this year than last and that may be true. But if you are moving up, the same may be true for the home you may be looking to purchase right now, so take advantage of the buying opportunity now and put the appreciation in your pocket now. And if you want to see if there are good values in the market, please give me a call.