Why rent when you can afford this very well-maintained home. Located in the heart of Akron's Best Kept Secret. Portage Lakes! Dock access is available at the end of the tree lined street for the inexpensive fee of only $250 if you'd like. Can't get a better price than that. This 2 Bedroom home has had many updates over the past few years including vinyl siding, concrete drive, and plumbing. Carpet and new deck to enjoy the wooded backyard in '07. 21 x 10 finished basement can be 3rd Bedroom or rec room. Well maintained home in neutral decor. Stove, washer and dryer are included. Coffee-nook off master bedroom, and fenced-in concrete driveway. You can be a part of the Lakes community if you purchase this home at 355 E. Pace Ave. Move right in! It's a must see.
Portage Lakes offers, acres, and acres of no-wake boating, speed lanes, fishing, (ice fishing in the winter), swimming, Portage Lakes State Park for a sandy beach and boat launch, several golf courses in the area, including the infamous Firestone Course where the NEC is held. You can even pull your boat right up to several bars and restaurants that are right on the water. Portage Lakes holds community events such as, the annual Portage Lakes Fireworks, Antique Boat Show, 4th of July Boat Parade, sand castle contest, Sailboat Regatta, and Polar Bear Jump. It's a unique little community that is within 45 minutes of Cleveland, 20 minutes from Canton, and 5 minutes from downtown Akron.
This year for the Portage Lakes 4th of July celebration, you can buy your own "rocket." Yes, as a unique way to raise money for the fireworks display, you can buy a rocket for $25 or $50. You can choose your color, be it red, white, blue, yellow, green or gold. You can also select the size and type that you would like to purchase. The $25 choices include a six inch Fancy color Changing Shell, a six inch Multi-colored star or a six inch Chrysanthemum Shell.
If you'd like to purchase a $50 one you can choose from a 10 inch Salute or Boomer, a 10 inch Kamuros or a 10 inch Star Shell. Once you purchase a firework, you will also receive an official certificate saying that you bought a rocket for the 2008 Portage Lakes Fireworks Display.
You can join in the fun by buying one at the Manchester Rd. National City Bank or S. Arlington and Rt. 619 NCB. You can also get one at Dano's Lakeside Pub on S. Main St., Ayers Ins. on W. Turkeyfoot Lake Rd., Dietz's Restaurant, Dusty's Landing or Cole Industries. You may also go online and order from www.PortageLakes.com. Have a safe and happy 4th!
Word must be getting out that it is a great time to buy a house. I recently returned from a well needed vacation and just before I left, I wrote 3 offers, had a couple that wanted to look at new construction, and another couple coming in from out of state the weekend I would be gone. Doesn't it always work out that way?? Anyhow, that couple wrote an offer while I was gone with the girl who was covering for me. Two of these pending sales are luxury homes, of over $500k. One is in Summit County and the other is in Stark County. Both areas where the average price of a home hovers around the $120k - $130k mark. Another client just wrote an offer on a second home, lakefront property in Portage Lakes, and another buyer is taking advantage of a foreclosed property. Both of my Luxury Home buyers are from out of state, so those prices seem like almost a bargain to them considering the prices in the areas they are from. It is also great news to this area in Ohio where the employment rate is a little higher than the average. I'm happy that we have jobs in the area that are luring in the out of state buyer. Hopefully the rest of '08 looks as positive as May does.
I just posted these tips that are my favorite for maintaining or losing weight on a fitness message board under a best tips thread. I thought I'd share.
- Get dressed in front of a full length mirror. I've done this forever and have done it through my pregnancies. (now I'm just trying to tone back up after baby #2)
- Weigh yourself EVERYday - Must be a digital scale. It may get discouraging if it doesn't move downward quick enough, but you just want to be sure it doesn't go up. (your weight may fluctuate a little day to day) Weigh yourself first thing in the morning!!
- Eat 12 almonds everyday at 3:00. When I did South Beach before, I called them my diet pills!!
- www.Prevention.com has Fitday for free under My Health Trackers. It's just like journaling, but it tells you your calories. It was very shocking the first couple of days I did it.
- Drink 8 glasses of water a day and NO soda or pop. (You never want to drink your calories as Jillian Michaels says.) A great tip I read about years ago was to put 8 rubber bands around your glass. After each glass, remove a rubber band. I always thought I was getting enough water until I did this. By around 8 at night I was finding I still had 3 glasses to go!!
- Another great piece of advice I read...Eat like a King for breakfast, a Queen for lunch and a Pauper for dinner. Think back in the past when society was thin as a whole, people would eat pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, etc. for breakfast. Fuel to get you through the day.
Wow! 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning and my cell phone is ringing. I answer and a man starts talking about a 3 bedroom house with a white picket fence. Being a little early in the morning my mind is still groggy and I was thinking he saw a property that was listed that he wanted to take a look at, but I knew none of my listings fit this description. Still confused, I finally asked him where he got my number. He said, "From your ad in the paper." What ad I'm thinking?? Oh..... I DID have an ad in the paper. I got a call ALREADY??? 8:30 in the morning on the first day it ran!!! This is too good to be true! I have first page ranking on Google under Portage Lakes Real Estate and I get quite a few buyers looking for lakefront or lakeview properties. Being it is the first of the year, I'm always reading up on new ideas to generate business. I came across one that said to have a quick call to action ad. So I decided that since I have 4 buyers right now who are looking for lake properties and haven't found what they are looking for, I'd do a Wanted ad. My ad says, Wanted - Lakefront or Lakeview Homes. I have Qualified Buyers! I figured what the heck, maybe I'll get a call, find a house for my buyers or possibly get a listing from it. Not realizing how quickly it might happen.
It gets even better! After speaking with the guy for awhile, I find out that he has a total of SEVEN homes between he and his brother that they will need to sell in the next year or 2, so they can retire and head south. Granted they are all little cottage-type homes, but this could be a BIG deal if I can get the listings and then also receive a few buyers off of it. All because of a little $25 ad!!! I'm meeting with him next week.
Update - I received ANOTHER call from a man who bought a lakefront property at a Sheriff's Sale that he was working on fixing up. He said that he was putting about $275k into it and it would be selling around the $400k -$500k price range. He then mentioned that he wasn't sure he even wanted to sell it, BUT if I came across any fixer uppers on the water to let him know!!!! Ha!! I may have even gotten another buyer out of the ad! Woohoo!
Do you have an adventurous side? Do you have a generous side? Then come on out to the Portage Lakes State Park on Sat., Feb. 16 and join the other brave souls who are taking a leap into the frigid water for a good cause...raising money for the March of Dimes. Be there by 1:00 and the jump begins at 2:00. There will be a $25 donation to jump and feel free to donate more or have others sponsor you. Bring a big heavy blanket for after the jump and some warm clothes. Feel free to dress a little crazy if you want to, too. A good time will be had by all and lots of money will be raised for the March of Dimes.