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Philadelphia, PA Real Estate News

By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
19125 makes up Fishtown and New Kensington Contact Chris and Stephanie Somers at thesomersteam@yahoo.com for more information and market statisitcs and trends regarding Fishtown and the Fishtown real estate market. From January 2008 though October 2008, there were 807 units listed, of which 296 went pending and 286 sold. The average listing price was $210,158 and the average days on market is 69. For the properties that have sold in Fishtown, the average listing price was $182,304 and the average sold price was $165,016. The current inventory is 225 properties.  With the average being 28.6 properties selling per month, there are 7.8 months of inventory on the market. Outlook:  A lot of inventory remains on the market in Fishtown (225 properties).  Some of these properties are high price...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
19123 makes up Northern Liberties and Spring Garden East Contact Chris and Stephanie Somers at thesomersteam@yahoo.com for more information and market statisitcs and trends regarding Northern Liberties and the Northern Liberties real estate market. From January 2008 though October 2008, there were 522 units listed, of which 126 went pending and 119 sold. The average listing price was $416,049 and the average days on market is 105. For the properties that have sold in Northern Liberties, the average listing price was $377,165 and the average sold price was $351,867. The current inventory is 210 properties with an average listing price of $437,486.  With the average being 10 properties selling per month, there is 21 months of inventory on the market. Outlook:  A lot of inventory remains o...
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By Peter Lavelle REALTOR®, Your Home SOLD 4 Times Faster Than MLS Average
(eXp Realty (888) 397-7352 Ext:1148)
It is raining right now in Philadelphia and my two boys are volunteering, involuntarily, to clean their playroom; with the supervision of Mommy Gustapo. Ahhhh...I have some work to do, as that is always my excuse to sit in front of my PC, or sneak away for whatever; the good life of an independent contractor. Kinda like when the wife gets mad and I have to go camping, i.e. the sofa theory. No problem, my camping trips give me all the amenities needed, the TV, computer, chips and dip, etc, etc. Enough with my rant, let's get to the nitty gritty of this post. It is not a secret I hide, Yes I supported McCain/Palin for the presidential bid, and in a city of an overwhelming majority of Democrats, I am a registered Republican; sshhhhh, don't send the Sopranos after me. My support for the Rep...
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By Stacey McCarthy, @SmartGirlsOwn
(McCarthy Real Estate)
My husband, Big Joe, never watched so much baseball up until this recent Phillies season. I didn't understand why. I would listen to him spew statistics... actually scratch that... I would PRETEND to listen to him WHILE he spewed statistics since the spring training... ... I started to believe it could happen after driving behind a car that skidded off the road in a freak snowstorm Tuesday, as giant golfball size snowflakes came crashing to the earth and landing... after cleaning my car off of snow and sleet in October... BEFORE Halloween, mind you... while the leaves were still red and gold and orange, I thought to myself, "Hell has frozen over... ... Continued here on my Blog  
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By Jeff Belonger, The FHA Expert - FHA Loans - FHA mortgages - USDA loans - VA Loans
( Social Media - Infinity Home Mortgage Company, Inc)
  Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Champions   For those that are sports fans of baseball, many of you would know that the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series on October 29th, 2008. This is a tad late not only because I was so caught up in the excitement for a few days, went to the parade on Friday in the city of Philadelphia, but that I became sick for a few days because of the parade...  In any case, this was a long time coming and much needed for the fans of Philadelphia.  The last championship for the city was the 1983 76'ers. The Phillies won the World Series in 1980. So as you can see, it has been 25 years and 28 years respectively.        Just think if you were from the Boston area for the last 6 years or so. The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2002, 2004, & 200...
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By Peter Lavelle REALTOR®, Your Home SOLD 4 Times Faster Than MLS Average
(eXp Realty (888) 397-7352 Ext:1148)
"Trick or treat!" a woman yelled to me as I walked down the street to get home and gather my family to go to "Uncle Bob's" Halloween party. Kinda crazy someone yelling this to me, more especially me a 38 year old man dressed as a ghostly mortician. I noticed another woman placing orange Jack'o lantern style bags up the drive heading toward the mansion. "What's happening at the mansion tonight?" I yelled back as I started to cautiously cross the street. "Be careful", she replied. Hmmm...I guess I got a little more attention than I hoped for from the gaper effect. I safely arrived and we started to have some small chat, when she told me they were having the mansion open for trick or treaters. She also told me this was the second year they had this. I did not know this, and I live just abo...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
Cantina Dos Segundos is an awesome addition to Northern Liberties !My wife Stephanie and I took a break from our workaholic schedule and the craziness of the philadelphia real estate market to enjoy dinner at Cantina Dos Segundos (otherwise knows as the restaurant that replaced Azure ) at 931 N 2nd St - see google map.What a treat !  We used to go to Azure at least once a week so we were very sad and disappointed when Azure closed.   We just figured that the new restaurant would be the run of the mill Mexican joint.  We were pleasantly suprised !We were started with delicious nachos and salsa - very fresh and appealing - was a great way to break in with a drink.  Stephanie really enjoyed her red wine !  We ordered mini octopus for an appetizer and carne asada for an entre.  Both dishes ...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
Finally, a local hardware store in Northern Liberties ! Stephanie and I love to shop and support the local businesses where we live in Northern Liberties.  Today instead of going to our usual locksmith's store to get keys made we popped by Metro Home and Hardware, in Northern Liberties at 618-20 N Front St - see google map. We met Ben, the owner who is the store's sole employee during store hours on Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6 pm, Saturday from 9 am to 6 pm and Sunday 10 am to 3 pm.  Wow - this guy must be a workaholic (like us) !  The store is awesome and large.  He has every possible item that one would need from a local hardware store.  He also does repair service for screens, windows, lamps, small appliances, sharpening and of course keys are made.  Ben's phone for the stor...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
Using Trulia.com to generate more business When we first started blogging on Active Rain, we immediately saw the importance of having a presence and profile on other sites as well.  We learned a lot about this through subscribing to blogs by  Bill Gassett and Justin Smith (2 highly recommended blogs to subscribe to) . One of the sites that we have had success with is Trulia.com .  Trulia has become one of the premier consumer sites - it has a wealth of information for consumers and it also provides tremendous resources for realtors too such as setting up a profile, adding listings, having a blog and much much more.  There is also a lot of info regarding statistics and analytics.   If you have not checked it out, do so ! In any event, as an example, we just picked up a listing in our are...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
Short Sale Success in Fishtown / Old Kensington - Philadelphia Real Estate We had a settlement today that was a short sale for a property in Fishtown / Old Kensington .  This was a tough deal as the first 2 buyers backed out - one to cold feet, the other lost the money he was going to use for the purchase in the stock market !!   Of course, we did not give up. We planned for the short sale (if not familair with a short sale, please read "what is a short sale ? " ) right from the beginning and had all the documentation from the seller and had it approved in the first month !  When we received the approval letter, it reminded me of a post that Nestor and Katerina Gassett wrote that they do a twirl and dance when they get a short sale approval that comes in via a fax !  (If you have not re...
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By Lauren Herlich
(US Spaces Inc Real Estate)
Following my last post, Liens, Grantors, Grantees, Mortgagor, Mortgagee........., I think it is worth also explaining Title Insurance and Foreclosure in an attempt to get to the subject of short sales. If you did not read the last post, it may be helpful to read it before reading what is outlined herein.As a buyer or if you are refinancing, you will hear about or deal with title insurance. It has been my experience that most people have little understanding of what title insurance actually is. In the simplest terms, there are two basic types of title insurance. The first type is the Owner's Policy, and the second type is the Loan Policy. There are other types of title insurance, but these are the two types you, the home owner, will need to be concerned with in 99% (not a scientific numb...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
Short Sale Specialists in Phildelphia It is amazing how many realtors and sellers are listing properties just based on what is owed on the property at prices that are unrealistic and will never sell.  A recent short sale we did was in Northern Liberties where 3 other realtors had the listing before us and just listed it hoping to get a sale to clear title !  When we met with the seller, we realized it was a perfect candidate for a short sale and got the property sold within 30 days !!! If you are not familiar with short sales, refer to our previous post "What is a short sale ? " When you do a short sale it is imperative to plan ahead and prepare in the very beginnning to have all your documents and paperwork in order.  As a seller, it is critical to gather the information as quickly as ...
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By Jing Chen
(Exit Realty Waterfront Group)
Today EXIT Waterfront Group just gave away a home to a single mother with 5 children! It was amazing to see that a local real estate company is so committed in making a difference in the world. Marie (Owner) spend over 8 months looking and preparing this special home. The process for obtaining this home: you must write fill out an application and submitted on time EXIT agents like myself volunteer our time to read hundreds of application and note out oppinion on the applicant Final 3 applicants then is selected and reviewed by Marie The winner was announce in radio live  The winner have a choice of where she/he wants to live EXIT finds the home and start looking for sponsors and help from the fellow agents Everyone is asked to donate their time to clean and stage the home The house is t...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
Protecting Your Listing from break-ins Have you or your seller ever had one of those properties that was a difficult sale due to vandalism ?  Our poor seller overpaid for a property in Fishtown (did not have us as buyers agents), tried to sell it several times with different realtors, ended up having a bad tenant who did not pay rent, had to restore the property after the tenant moved out and then gave us the listing... Property was on a challenging block next to an abandoned property which makes it a difficult sell.  Still, Chris and Stephanie Somers hunkered down and got it under contract.  We were nervous about a FHA loan but we worked with what we had. On the day of the FHA appraisal, we get a call from the termite inspector that the property was broken into.  We drove to the proper...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
Are you letting your clients know about the $7,500 tax credit ? There is a great opportunity for first time homebuyers to take advantage of the $7,500 first time homebuyer tax credit !!  Just in the last couple of days, when we have spoke to buyers about purchasing a property, they were so pumped up to learn about this.  This is a great way for realtors to educate their past clients and inform new clients about this opportunity !! We think it is so great we just added a link on The Somers Team site - please check it out here ! In the meantime to highlight some of the items, our friend and colleague Patrick Lopez at Cardinal Financial in Philadelphia (who works in our Philadelphia office) put together this very informative flyer on the tax credit . Highlights are as follows: Amount of th...
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By Jon Currier
(Springer Realty Group)
Ive been working with usres and still havent seen any listings after over 30 bpos.  Does anyone recommend somebody in the Philadelphia area? I see if they pay between $75-$100 then I should still fare pretty well based on the time that it takes me.  Any suggestions from anyone?  
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
Charlie is taking a break from blogging on Active Rain !  He was in the process of checking out one of his favourite groups on A/R ! Charlie has become a hit per se on our blog as we have several posts and blogs of wonderful cats - Charlie and Ashley.  They have a special places in our lives ! Philadelphia Real Estate - Chris and Stephanie Somers Philadelphia Real Estate Blog Click here to receive our future email updates
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Salem County in New Jersey posted the largest percent increase in median sale price in the tri-state region, rising three percent DEVON, PA - Greater Philadelphia region* median home prices decreased 2.2 percent to $225,000 in the first nine months of 2008, according to Prudential Fox & Roach, REALTORS'® HomExpert Market Report©. The median sale price in the first nine months of 2007 was $230,000. In the first nine months of 2008, the region saw 44,439 homes sold, a 26.3 percent decrease, compared to 60,280 homes sold in the first nine months of 2007. The average number of days a home remained on the market increased from 65 days in the first nine months of 2007 to 76 days in the first nine months of 2008. Additionally, monthly average inventory for the first nine months of 2008 was 62,...
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By Lauren Herlich
(US Spaces Inc Real Estate)
Another blogger reading my last post, Why Should You Understand Terms a Realtor Uses?, suggested I should write a post on SHORT SALES since it is a term used quite often these days in the news. In order to write such an article, I think there are a few other ideas I should write about first to make the idea of a short sale clear. Since I am writing about real estate, I will address the idea of a mortgage. First and foremost, a mortgage is a lien. Of course, the next question is: what is a lien? A lien is a right to retain the lawful possession of another's property until the owner of the property fulfills a legal duty or obligation. In the case of a mortgage, the legal obligation is to pay off the loan. When the loan is paid off, then the lien/mortgage/obligation is removed from the pro...
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By The Somers Team, Delivering Real Estate Happiness
(The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia)
A Slow Market - how to strategize ? We held 2 open houses in Northern Liberties today.  We helped coordinate an open house blitz with other offices.  The whole neighborhood was alive with open houses - basically if your realtor did not take advantage of this, you might want to fire them since every house was pretty much open today ! But wait a minute ... did it really matter ?  I have not seen open house traffic this slow in a long time.  Were the buyers just taking the day off ?  Gearing up for the Phillies ?  Maybe still paralyzed by the doom and gloom of the media ?  (See Gag the media ? Or Hang the DJ ?) . Is this a sign of things to come ? A crawl into spring ? Or look deeper - what it is is a sign of and a reminder that for the properties that will sell should be priced below mark...
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