Oct. 22, 2007 - The End of an Era

On Saturday night, just after midnight (okay okay early Sunday morning) SEPTA removed the watch-box that has stood guard over Main St in Lansdale for over 150 years. Recent track work has realigned the rails and added advanced signaling to make the movement of trains more efficient and safe. This new technology made the watch box obsolete, so the manual human control of the gates across Main Street (thought to be one of only a handful of locations in the entire country still controlled manually) ended earlier this month.

The watch box as seen on Saturday afternoon before it was dismantled.

According to John Almeida the watch box has been moved to the Borough's Public Works facility on 9th Street until a permanent home for the historic structure can be found.

Let's hope the one of the benefits of the modernization (improved traffic flow through Lansdale and it's notorious traffic lights) will soon be realized.

Check out pictures of the dismantling on John's website here.

Learn more about Lansdale Real Estate here.

- And the walls came crumbling down

The former Guardian Fire Company building on Hancock St in Lansdale has been demolished. The site is being prepared for the construction of Andale Green, an age restricted retirement community. Andale Green will consist of Single Level attached residences on the 14.5 acre parcel that is bordered by the former Reading Rail Road Bethlehem Branch, now SEPTA's R5, the Stony Creek Branch (also owned by SEPTA), and Hancock Street.

Remaining buildings on the site also be demolished in the near future. The site was listed as an EPA Superfund site, but has undergone extensive environment remediation in the 90's to bring it up to standards for residential construction. Across Hancock, the Borough of Lansdale is working on renovations to the Stony Creek Park. When completed the park with feature a new children's playground and a pond.

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For information regarding plans and pricing for Andale Green. Click Here

To search for Lansdale PA homes for sale. Click Here

Oct. 10, 2007 - Mortgage Conditions Bode Well for Housing

Here is a press release that was put out by the Nation Association of Realtors. Given the low interest rate available to borrowers and the wide selection of homes available on the market, now is an excellent time to buy. Click here to search for homes for sale in Lansdale, Hatfield, Montgomeryville, North Wales, Towamencin, Upper Gwynedd, and so much more. If you find something that interests you, contact me.

Conditions in the mortgage market are improving for consumers, which should help to release some pent-up demand in early 2008, according to the latest forecast by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

Lawrence Yun, NAR vice president of research, notes that widening credit availability will help turn around home sales. "Conforming loans are abundantly available at historically favorable mortgage rates. Pricing has steadily improved on jumbo mortgages since the August credit crunch, and FHA loans are replacing subprime mortgages," he said.

Yun said it's important to place the current housing market in perspective, and that 2007 will be the fifth highest year on record for existing-home sales. "Although sales are off from an unsustainable peak in 2005, there is a historically high level of home sales taking place this year - a lot of people are, in fact, buying homes," he said. "One out of 16 American households is buying a home this year. The speculative excesses have been removed from the market and home sales are returning to fundamentally healthy levels, while prices remain near record highs, reflecting favorable mortgage rates and positive job gains."

He emphasized all real estate is local with naturally large variations within a given area. "Markets like Austin, Salt Lake City and Raleigh have been outperforming recently and will continue to do well next year," Yun said. "Other areas like Denver and Wichita will likely move up in the price growth rankings due to very positive local economic developments."
Existing-home sales are expected to total 5.78 million in 2007 and then rise to 6.12 million next year, in contrast with 6.48 million in 2006. New-home sales are forecast at 804,000 this year and 752,000 in 2008, down from 1.05 million in 2006; a recovery for new homes will be delayed until next spring.

"A cutback in housing construction is a positive sign for the market because it will help lower inventory and firm up home prices," Yun said. Housing starts, including multifamily units, are likely to total 1.37 million in 2007 and 1.24 million next year, down from 1.80 million in 2006.
NAR President Pat V. Combs, from Grand Rapids, Mich., and vice president of Coldwell Banker-AJS-Schmidt, said, "Housing is still a good long-term investment, and we'll be seeing a broad, modest improvement in home prices in 2008. With widely varying conditions, the best advice for consumers is to consult a REALTOR® in their area to learn about local market conditions because supply and demand can change from one neighborhood to the next."

Existing-home prices will probably slip 1.3 percent to a median of $219,000 in 2007 before rising 1.3 percent next year to $221,800. The median new-home price should drop 2.1 percent to $241,400 this year, and then increase 1.0 percent in 2008 to $243,900.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is expected to average 6.4 percent for the next two quarters and then edge up to the 6.6 percent range in the second half 2008. Additional cuts expected in the Fed funds rate will help to keep mortgage interest rates historically favorable.
Growth in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated at 2.0 percent this year, below the 2.9 percent growth rate in 2006; GDP is likely to grow 2.7 percent next year.

The unemployment rate is forecast to average 4.6 percent this year, unchanged from 2006. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, is expected to be 2.8 percent in 2007, compared with 3.2 percent last year. Inflation-adjusted disposable personal income will probably increase 3.6 percent in 2007, up from 3.1 percent last year.

Source: NAR