Sally Jacob\’s Blog

For not only first time home buyers    trying to climb onto the property ladder, the tax credit bill also covers homeowners who want to trade up and move. For those buyers, they can have up to $6500 for a tax credit on the sales price up to $800,000. It is a great time to buy a home! Contact me with any questions! Let’s go out to look at properties! You have until April, 2010 deadline.

Well, finally one of my buyers here in beautiful Bucks County went green! Their project began in the late spring when they worked at obtaining multiple bids to install a geothermal system into their new home ( their house is new to them, but actually built approximately forty years ago or so). They needed to have the existing heating and cooling systems ripped out first before having the new geothermal system in place. After selecting a contractor, they began their project in earnest in late summer. piles, mounds, and mountains of earth later, much later, they were the proud owners of a retro fitted geothermal system. Here are some snapshots of the work in progress. I will let you know as the temperatures change how they find their new system. So far, so good.http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=312150&id=511485322&l=079231b87c

Well, my first time buyer was able to close on his first home, an 1880′s stone schoolhouse in Bucks County after all. After FHA not being a viable option due to the requirement of having a well and a septic at least 100 feet or 50 feet away from the property, the property transaction went into limbo. Then, I thought of all the angles for my buyer who had a very high motivation to buy, to own his first home, but he was short on cash. Luckily, after the government decided to allow buyers to monetize the tax credit at the closing table, I thought perhaps, using state funding for this deal would be the answer. It was! So happy for my buyer who was my youngest buyer ever at twenty-two years old but one of my best buyers who really wanted to make this work:)

My wonderful first time home buyer is twenty-two, optimistic and patient to own his first home has undergone another setback this morning. With our home inspection being delayed fifty days from when he signed the agreement of sale, it has been a very long wait. Finally, this week, the seller’s agent gave his permission to go ahead with the inspections. These were delayed due to the fact the seller is an asset manager for the bank who took ownership of the house. When their plumbers went to de winterize the heating pumps, lots of leaks were found. That meant the additional repairs had to go through the bank’s asset manager to get bids and approvals eventually. Once the repair was approved, the contractors went back to the property. Yet, more leaks! Back to the process of obtaining bids. Well, today we set our sights on doing the inspection with also conforming to a rigid  restriction forced upon us by HUD guidelines. The well and septic systems had to be fifty feet apart with the leeching field being one hundred feet apart. Didn’t happen. We had the best septic person out there. He actually inspected the identical property last year. Buying a one hundred and fifty year old property is exciting but with FHA guidelines it is  a hopeless task. I was on the phone with the loan officer, the appraiser, and the underwriter=no go. So, back to the drawing board. My client does not qualify for the conventional loan because he is short on funds. Not an option…..and FHA guidelines do not budge. There must be a solution.

When I sold my “trade up” buyers their new, old house back in the spring, I asked them if they wanted to purchase a home warranty plan since the house was not new although in great condition. It was then they told me that they intended to rip out the heating and cooling systems and install it with a new, more efficient source of energy: geothermal! I was excited for them. The husband definitely had done his research and knew that he would get three proposals before he would select a green contractor. The couple are now finished with that stage. They have selected a contractor to do this rather thrilling installation. I might seem “over the moon” about this but I am a very green person who is just thrilled about my first clients ever who are taking on an older system and refitting it with a green solution. My clients have promised to keep me in the loop with photos and updates. Once, they do, I plan to share some of this with you. Stay tuned….

 Bucks County is   the only county in Southeastern Pennsylvania that lags behind the others in developing cycling trails to promote recreational and commuting use within the county.  Cycling paths   get the short shrift when it comes to these huge housing developments as well. I think all housing developers should incorporate commuting cycling paths in addition to sidewalks, but that is another issue. For now, the future for these paths will be placed on hold again until the county can make some quality time to have plans forge ahead. Sorry to say the current consultant who is a member of Central Bucks Cycling Club has resigned   recently since he was stymied by bureaucratic delays. We need these bike paths to encourage commuters and enthusiasts to take two wheels to the tarmac. The hope is to have mapping technology aid in the designing of what future paths need to become a present.

Well, finally a grocery store in Pennsylvania has seen a way around Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board’s iron clad  grip on granting liquor licenses. Instead of marketing itself as a place selling liquor, Wegman’s in Warrington was the flagship Market Cafe to actually buy a business license from a local business. Wegman’s other Market Cafes in Pennsylvania will also be selling six packs of beer and glasses of beer with a substantial meal at their cafes. They had to undergo strict inspections and regulations to pass the test of being a cafe, so Wegmans will continue to maintain a strict standard of their friendly, family environments. No booze-ups or drinking out on the patios to carouse. Simply having a civilized sip of beer with a meal is the plan. It is about time when you venture outside the state and witness that many atates sell alcohol in the grocery stores and have done so for years. I think this could be a step forward and   a door towards other grocery destinations to follow.

Although Pennsylvania has  tailed behind other nearby states with funding and promoting alternative forms of energy, Governor Rendell along with the federal government’s stimulus package to promote solar energy has catapulted this form of energy into the limelight. It is only fitting that the city should host the first solar convention. Make it to the convention center  today to  see the various exhibitors. The conference is open to the public today only until 8pm. If you miss this chance, you may be able to get on a tour Thursday be registering at www.mseia.net/SolarTours.html. What a great alternative to our old resources. Hooray! Her comes the sun:)

Yesterday I took a much needed break from real estate in the late afternoon. In between rain showers I escaped to to a gorgeous private garden where the talented owner cultivates over one hundred varieties of Chinese peonies including the slow growing tree peony. There are several colorful  fields of peonies.   Bursting in delightful hues of magenta, pink, pale pink, whites, and even yellow. I found serenity in walking the gardens with the kind owner who shared with me some choice gardening tips about how to grow peonies with lots of blooms and how to rid the cut flowers of dreaded headfuls of ants! These luscious Chinese roses are my all time favorite flowers.   Their blooms last for several weeks from late May or earlier for the tree peony and later for the shrubs. Sadly, by the weekend, most of the blooms will begin to fade and lay dormant until next season. I am thrilled to have had my dose of spring peonies in long blast of sensory explosion. Now, back to selling real estate.

Today will mark an unprecedented preservation deal in Whitemarsh township located on the northwest border of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. For the past decade preservationists have been hammering out a deal to save one of the last, largest remaining farmlands. The farmland is known as the Erdenheim Farm comprising 426 acres which boasts an original farmhouse with numerous fields and pastures. The parcel will be a real estate deal that closes today with ten buyers, sold with the help of the preservationist and also an executive of Airgas who intends to farm some of the land and to live in the farmstead. It is a lovely, verdant swath of land adjacent to the Morris Arboretum and Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It is truly a day to remember since so much of our open fields, farmlands, wetlands, and meadows have been indiscriminately gobbled up by developers. The land will remain farmland in perpetuity; something for future generations to appreciate. It is a most serene and pastoral site rarely seen in this part of Montgomery County that borders Philadelphia. Now, when I drive through Lafayette Hills, Erdenheim Farm will  delight me with  the Whitemarsh heaven of fields dotted with sheep and Angus cattle.