Bucks County Basketball Charity Event - Philadelphia Eagles

Apr. 30, 2008

I had to write a blog entry about a recent basketball experience that I had.  As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a bit of a sports nut.  I love to watch sports, and have coached and played many sports over the years.  I play basketball several times a week, locally.  If anyone wants to know where there is basketball played in the Yardley-Newtown area, just ask me. 

My daughter, Rachel, recently won a bid at a local charity auction to gift to me that related to my love for basketball.  She was the top bidder for an opportunity to play in a basketball game with the Philadelphia Eagles, travelling basketball team.  The Eagles have a group of players, that plays a 7 or 8 game schedule in the off-season.  They do it as a fund raising effort, for local charities. 

As a result, on Friday evening, my wife Jane, Rachel and myself, travelled to a high school in Downingtown, so that I could play with the Eagles.  What a great experience for me!  It definitely brought back memories of my high school and college days, playing a variety of competitive sports.  I was given a uniform, warm up shirt, and shorts, and suited up with the Eagles.  We played 10 minute quarters, and for those interested, I did hit a couple of jump shots.  The gym was packed, and it was incredible fun!  The Eagle players who participated, were AJ Feeley, Hank Baskett, Juqua Thomas, Omar Gaither and Quintin Mikell.  All could play!  They were extremely supportive of my participation, and constantly encouraged me to shoot.  I had a great workout, and really enjoyed myself.  It was an event that I will not soon forget.

I realize this has nothing to do with real estate, other than to make anyone who plays basketball, aware of the fact that I can help find games, for those interested. 

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Bucks County Real Estate Trends

Apr. 16, 2008

First quarter statistics are in, so we are able to begin to develop a better indication of where things are with regards to real estate in the communities I serve, in Bucks County.  I have written many posts in the past, explaining that the market in Bucks County, is nowhere near as depressed as it is in some markets in the country.  I will address that issue, in another post to follow shortly. 

Here in Bucks County, looking at first quarter statistics, there is no question that we are continuing to experience a buyers market.  That means that there are lots of things on the market, not as many buyers.  One point of emphasis though, is that contrary to what the press would have everyone believe, foreclosures in our area, are still not influencing the market significantly.  I still have buyers who are under the impression that every house currently on the market, is being sold by a desperate seller, who is facing imminent foreclosure.  That is simply not the case.  Virtually every single seller in the market, that I am aware of, is selling for life style, or job transfer reasons.  I have sellers moving up, downsizing, and selling becuase of job transfers.  All of those reasons, are completely normal.

Here is what the statistics show.  The volume of sold/closed units through the first quarter was noticeably lower than last year, in virtually all of our markets.  Lower Makefield Township was actually down almost 30%, and Upper Makefield was down almost 50%.  Newtown Township was actually the exception, in that Newtown showed an increase of approximately 4% in closed first quarter units.

Inventory is trending as one would expect in a buyers market.  Inventory is up from February in all markets.  If you compare inventory levels at the end of March 2008, with March 2007, the results vary from market area to market area.  For example, Lower Makefield's inventory of homes was lower at the end of March this year, than last year, by almost 22%.  Newtown, Upper Makefield and Solebury are higher, as is Buckingham and Northampton. 

Average days on the market are higher over a year ago, reflecting tougher market conditions for sellers. 

Looking at sold/list ratios, shows slighly increasing discounts of between 6 & 10 percent in most markets.

Despite all of the above, the market contines to be extremely price sensitive.  There are still many examples of houses selling quickly, and selling for close to the asking price.  For example, I recently had a listing right in Yardley Boro, on the main street.  It sold in 2 days, for almost exactly the asking price.  Where is the press when that happens!

The message from looking at all of these statistics is that houses are selling every day of the week.  If it is priced correctly, and marketed correctly, it will sell.  It is still a buyers market, but there are still buyers looking, and buyers are making offers. 

In future posts, I will delve into the statistics a little deeper, and I will also reflect on some additional observations about the current market.

 

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Trenton Public Education Foundation Receives Grant For OutStanding Performance

Apr. 7, 2008

 Today's Featured Property

 I have been extremely blessed over the years, to have been able to develop a very successful, and busy real estate career.  Those who know me, know that I am also very committed to giving back to the community.  One of the areas that I feel incredibly passionate about, is education.  I can’t emphasize enough, how strongly I feel about the value of education, as a tool to solve many problems, both here in the United States, as well as problems across the globe.  Because I feel so passionate about education,  I am a board member of the Trenton Public Education Foundation. (http://www.TPEF.org)  For those who are not familiar with the area, the Trenton school district, is pretty much, a poor, inner city, district.  Despite what is often found in the newspaper, there are amazing students, faculty and administrators, in the district.  Our organizations mission is to broker, foster and leverage resources that enhance and promote educational opportunities for the students in the Trenton School District. 

At one of our events, I met am incredibly dynamic and committed teacher at Trenton High, who was teaching a course at Trenton High in media technology. We as a foundation, are trying to provide high school students with an opportunity to see life outside of their neighborhoods, and to get an idea of a future career path. This particular class is apparently very popular, at the school. Our foundation awarded the teacher, a 1000 dollar mini grant for her program. She elected to use the money to upgrade the software she was using. She wanted to purchase the latest version of Adobe photoshop, which is basically an industry standard, for anyone looking to get into any design related field. This all sounded great, except that the computers in the school were so old, that the new Adobe software would not run on them, which gets me to the point of my current blog post. Having met this teacher, and having met students, it was driving me crazy that here was a dynamic teacher, who could make a real difference in the lives of her students, who was being thwarted in her efforts, by outdated tools. The teacher reached out to our foundation, to seek our help in trying to find a way to upgrade the computers at the school. I am extremely proud of the fact that, through a contact that I have with a very large foundation, I was able to secure a grant for 10,000 dollars, so that we could buy 6 completely new, IMacs for the school. The teacher is able to enhance her program, and the students will be completely familiar with industry standard equipment, should they decide to embark on careers in any design type of work. I know that this class is extremely popular with the students. The teacher told me that because of the interest in the class, the students are often not ready to leave the class room, when the class ends. I have seen some of their work, and it really is amazing.

I was really proud of my involvement in securing this grant, and creating such a wonderful educational opportunity for the students.

 I understand that this post may not be directly related to real estate, but in a sense, all of our communities can be better places, if we try and make a positive difference in the lives of others. These kinds of efforts mean a great deal to me.

I have been extremely blessed over the years, to have been able to develop a very successful, and busy real estate career. Those who know me, know that I am also very committed to giving back to the community. One of the areas that I feel incredibly passionate about, is education. I can’t emphasize enough, how strongly I feel about the value of education, as a tool to solve many problems, both here in the United States, as well as problems across the globe. Because I feel so passionate about education, I am a board member of the Trenton Public Education Foundation. (http://www.TPEF.org) For those who are not familiar with the area, the Trenton school district, is pretty much, a poor, inner city, district. Despite what is often found in the newspaper, there are amazing students, faculty and administrators, in the district. Our organizations mission is to broker, foster and leverage resources that enhance and promote educational opportunities for the students in the Trenton School District.

View more entries tagged with: Martin Millner, Trenton Public Education Foundation, Coldwell Banker, Community Services, Grants Education