During my career in the corporate world, my favorite responsibilities were ones that involved customer service. It seemed a natural move to go into Real Estate. Last week was a prime example why I enjoy being a Realtor in spite of what some TV Talking Heads and some of the public say about Realtors. I had a listing where the sellers were moving out of state. Naturally they badly wanted to sell their home since they they had already put in an offer on a new home, contingent on selling this one. As luck would have it, some potential buyers saw the sign and set up a showing. Well, they loved the house and both buyers and sellers got along as if they were best friends all their lives. It wasn't an easy deal to put together. Both buyers and sellers had financial issues. Using some creativity, we got the job done and settled last week. The sellers got their new home out of state and the buyers got something they love. That's the reason I got into Real Estate in the first place. It gives me such a warm and fuzzy feeling when I can help out two well deserving couples to achieve one of their goals. I think that's why most of us put up with the ups and downs, the media bashing and once in a while, the public's distrust.

I was reading in the paper the other day about gas prices and what can be done about them. Every news paper or TV station has someone with an idea - and they are all different. We definitely need someone to search out the news for us since, in our busy lives, we don't always have time. So for that, I'm grateful to the reporters. My question is why is everything exagerated? The stock market either soars or plunges - what happened to went up or down? The housing market is in the toilet. Ok - where? Here in PA and from what I hear, in NJ as well, we didn't have the spike in prices as some other parts of the country, we had - for the most part - competent lenders so we don't have the bottom falling out here. Do we hear about that? Maybe on page E27 where on page 1 they talk about the "sky is falling". I heard an editorial the other day on the radio and I have to agree with it. We have a love/hate relationship with the media. We depend on them for our news source, but like everyone else, they are pushed into a corner with deadlines and too much to cover so they only skim the surface. The problem is, that we pay for it if we only rely on them for all of our news. I think we, as a nation, should take back the initiative and start researching on our own. Maybe we should only believe 25% of what we read? I'd love to hear other thoughts on this subject.

Yeah! The weather really cooperated on Saturday for the Amity Township Community yard sale that we sponsor yearly. I went around to the various houses and everyone seemed happy with what they sold. They told me the difference this year with the buyers was that they were buying up usable items instead of trinkets as they do in most years. It looks like the economy has filtered down to yard sales!

It was a great, busy day and alot of fun. If you're in the area next year about this time, ask about it. We had 225 homes last year and 226 home participating this year. Who knows how many next year? One thing is for sure - you can find just about anything at a reasonable cost!

My website is not currently doing what I want it to do, so I'm trying to investigate companies that specialize in Realtor's website design & management. Two of the ones I'm thinking about are Advanced Access and Top Producer. I'm looking for any and all feedback on different companies including these two. What's your opionion?

Our company hosts a community yard sale for all of Amity Township. Last year, we had 250+ homes that participated. This year it is currently at 226. Anyone in Amity Township can participate - the table(s) are at their homes, but we supply a yard sale "kit". This kit has a sharpie, stickers, a yard sale sign for their yard and whatever else the agent handling the area wants to put it. It's being held this year on Saturday, May 17. We advertise it in the local papers and there is a huge turnout!

If you happen to be in the area from 7:00 AM on on Saturday, May 17, stop by and do your browsing. Many of the local businesses and our office in the area at 1207 Ben Franklin Highway West, Douglassville all have maps that show the location of all the participants. It's a great way to get good bargains without spending a fortune in gas!

 See ya there!

I just wrote a blog on Amity Township (on another site. I'm sorry) and in doing so, I did some historic research. I'm not a big historic buff, but I find it fascinating that Berks Couny is so rich in history. I found most of it at www.timevoyagers.com and i would recommend others read it, too. It's fascinating. We've only lived in Berks County since the end of 2002 and my husband is part Native American. That website talks about the original inhabitants being fierce Indians belonging to the "Turtle", "Turkey" or "The Original People" tribes. Much of our streams, mountains and villages have Indian names - like Ontelanunee ("Little Maiden" - Maidencreek), Navesink ("Place of Fishing" - Neversink) and more. Although there are many PA Dutch folks living here, the original Dutch settlers didn't remain (yes, I know that PA Dutch aren't really from Holland. My mom was PA Dutch). The Swedes later came here and one of their buildings still stands near Douglassville. It was erected by Mounce Jones in 1719 an is the oldest buildling in the county. I strongly recommend that you visit this website. I printed the information for my husband to read (now he LOVES history) and it was 12 pages long. It really makes for fascinating reading.

I'd love to hear from someone who has read it and what their thoughts are.

Ever want to have your horse at home with you (or at least not far away)? It can be tough. On TV, you see places with hunderds of acres and you dream of one day being able to have something like that. That way, on cold, wintery mornings, you can just roll out of bed, throw on something warm and go out and feed them. Well, I'm here to tell you that you don't need hundreds of acres to do the same thing.

If the property is zoned agricultural, just about any number of acres is ok. If the property isn't zoned agriculture (or one of the various zoning names that means the same thing), you can probably have a horse on 5 acres. Some townships will let you have one on less acreage, but 5 acres is a good rule of thumb. If you have room enough to move your horse or horses between at least 2 pastures, they won't mind so much if you're late feeding them since there should be enough grass to keep them happy. Of course, if you fall in love with a property and you're not sure, you can always call the township and find out (or call me and I'll help you).

I moved here about 5 years ago and fell in love with the county. There's lots of rural areas where you can see all kinds of critters and/or farm animals. There's also places you can go to see some history (like our covered bridges and old farmsteads or some buildings that were used as mills, general stores, etc). You can be entertained in a variety of ways depending on what's going on at the Soverign Center. Drive the country roads and you'll probably see a horse drawn buggy. Want to get to somewhere fast? You've got those roads, too. This county is definitely the place where you can make most of your dreams come true.