Rochester Real Estate - The Year in Review

Happy New Year Everyone! This is a perfect time of the year to reflect back and plan for the future. As I look back over 2008, the thing that keeps coming to mind is "The Day the Phone Stopped Ringing!" Literally! I was having a little slower than average year with about 20 sales when suddenly, around September 1, 2008 no one wanted to look at real estate, no one wanted to sell real estate, no

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Santa's sled should have no problem swooping from roof top to roof top here in the Rochester area as we have about 2 feet of snow on the ground. And once he gets inside, boy what treasures for his eyes! I put out an invite to my former clients and all blog readers to submit photos of their holiday decoration, and boy, what a treat it has been. I received several entries from Mendon, including

Fran and Pat (yes, the one and only from http://www.patandfran.com/ fame!) from the neighborhood of the arts e-mailed me a beautiful photo of their Christmas tree. It's been several years since I've been inside their home so it was nice to get a glimpse of it from the photo. I received several entries from the suburbs as well! Mark and Tricia of Mumford sent a photo of their beautiful red Isaac

Buying and Seller Real Estate During the Holiday Season

It is a question that comes up a lot this time of year, “should we keep our house on the market through the holidays?” One for thing is certain, you have a much better chance of selling it if it is on the market than off. That being said, keep in mind that there are fewer home shoppers during late November and the month of December. Those that are out there are generally pretty serious shoppers.

Let's Have Some Fun! Contest Time....Send me your photos.

Maybe it's your mantel. Or perhaps you have a knack at stringing garland along your staircase. Is your tree too pretty for words? Does your yard cause traffic jams? Maybe I'm just nosy but I'm just dieing to know how you decorate for the holidays. So I'm asking all readers of my blog, even first-time readers, to send me your digital picture of your holiday décor (inside or out) before

"Let's Say Thanks" In support of our troops

I found a wonderful web site and since it is Thanksgiving week, it is an especially good time to visit it. It is designed to allow the public to send postcards to the troops overseas. The post cards were designed by school children across the country and they are adorable. You choose a design, then choose a message or write one of your own, then hit the send button. Xerox then takes care of

What's all the Twitter About Twitter?

Do you twitter? I'm trying! I just signed up this morning and so looking for twitter pointers. Right now I've got one follower. It's Barack Obama! I guess things have slowed way down since the elections because I got a notice that he was following me about 30 minutes after I signed up to twitter. How's that for big brother watching over your shoulder!Anyway, I'm serious. My Twitter handle

A Winter Blanket

Some of my least favorite words in Rochester are "Lake Affect!" Well, we've had some lake affect over the past few days which left a nice blanket on Nathaniel Rochester. Photo taken at the Sculpture "Reflecting," located at South Avenue and Alexandria Streets, in the South Wedge. For more information about Nathaniel Rochester and his interesting life, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Difficult Economic Times

Usually, I can hardly wait to check my e-mail. You might say I'm an e-mail-holic! But it seems that in the past few weeks, I've found more bad news e-mails than good news e-mail. And pretty much all of the bad news has to do with employment, or more accurately, lack of it. All the scary news on television starts to hit home when you hear from a recent client that they no longer have a job or

M&T Bank Offers Up to $7500 for First Time Home Buyers!

Usually, the first home is the most difficult to buy. In most cases, you must still pay rent while trying to pull together the funds needed for closing costs and down payment. Well, M & T Bank has a very nice program to help low and moderate income buyers save for a down payment.The M & T First Home Club is a savings plan in which participants must make a monthly deposit into a M & T savings

When Things Don't Work Out

One of the very best things about being a real estate agent, is turning over the keys to excited buyers at closing. There is always such optimism about the new beginning.But sometimes things don't work out to be happy ever after, especially in today's economic climate. I just noticed a listing for a house I just sold a couple of years ago. It sold for $127,500 but is now being offered at $114,000

Please Vote!

To watch the media today, it's easy to conclude that the next president has already been chosen. But in the last few weeks I've asked hundreds of individuals if they knew who they were voting for and many, perhaps even most, were still undecided.I've found a web site that takes personality, race and even Saturday Night Live out of the mix and instead focuses on the issues. You answer 12 questions

Rochester Foreclosures

Last week I showed two properties back-to-back that were listed as potential short sales (the bank agreeing to taking less than owed, i.e., shortage) but when I arrived both had bright "Winterized" caution stickers and duct-taped toilets that indicate foreclosure. So I was surprised when I got an e-mail stating that in the state of New York, foreclosures are down 10 percent in the third quarter

Have a super Halloween!

I'm in the Capture Rochester Book!

Maybe you got an e-mail from me asking you to vote for my photos. Maybe I tried to bribe you with coffee and asked you to vote for my photos. Or maybe it was the tears as I pleaded with you to vote for my photos. Whatever it was, it worked because not only is one of my photos included in the Capture Rochester Book but it also won a People's Choice Award for being one of the top 25 photos in the