Helping Linda from Rhode Island

Linda - if you were working in Pomfret is this the map for your driving distance?

Lowys visit Brooklyn

We just returned pre snow to Philadelphia from a short trip to visit friends Dave and Sarah in Brooklyn. They live in the Park Slope neighborhood. Really nice home. Saturday afternoon we arrived, we settled in and walked to the Brooklyn Bridge went across and back. Dinner at a local restaurant, Scottadito where the food was good and it was very family friendly.

Sunday we subway’d to Manhattan and SOHO for brunch with Julie and Olivia, We all then took the subway to Times Square, Toys are us Ferris wheel, then the M&M Store, then the Hershey’s store, farewell to Julie and Olivia. We then walked to the Empire State building – Up to the 86th floor observation deck, Lunch at the restaurant on the ground floor of the ESB. After lunch we headed to Macy’s for dress shopping, the cab to Sacks on 5th Ave for more shopping and Rockefeller Center, Back to Brooklyn and then the drive to back to Philadelphia. A great trip Pictures of the Trip

Willows Cottage and Skunk Hollow Community Farm

There will be a volunteer oportunity for you this Saturday the 28th of February to help work on restoring the Willows Cottage in Wayne PA. This cottage will be the eventual hub of the Radnor Skunk Hollow CSA. It will also serve as the home for the farm's farmer and his apprentice. For more information on the Radnor CSA please visit Skunk Hollow Farm

Obtaining an EcoBroker certification

I am in the midst of obtaining an EcoBroker certification so I may better represent my clients when it comes to environmental issues and their sale or purchase of a home. An interesting spot I have just found on a "field trip" in the course is at the USEPA.GOV site which is a guide to ALL ABOUT RADON

Open House @ 415 1st Avenue Canceled

The open house for 415 1st Avenue Scehduled for January 25 from 1-3pm has been canceled. The owners have accepted an offer on their home. All contingencies are not yet satisfied, so the house is still available to be seen by appointment. Please call 610-254-9292 to schedule your appointment.

Open House this Sunday 415 1st Avenue Newtown Square

415 First Avenue will be open this Sunday from 1 pm till 3 pm.

They know their home is small and they know the rooms are small. The house is the right size for you to begin raising a family. Or, maybe your brood has left the nest and you want a cozy place to relax and entertain friends which has low overhead, easy maintenance and which would make a great home base for you as you travel around the country or world. Then come see if this is the home for you.

WOW Factor -- Modern Extermination Company

I have to tell you how Modern Exterminating produced a WOW for my client and me. My client was closing on a home on a Thursday afternoon at 3:00 pm and the mortgage company which we had not used before required a termite certification at the last minute 9:00 am notification on the day of closing. My client had not had an inspection done. Once again , we were scheduled to close on the property at 3:00 this same day. Long story short, Modern was able to come out to the property, do the inspection, quote for the treatment AND on my clients say so and payment, do the treatment for active termites by 3:00 that day!!!!!! WOW. Their website is linked above.

Green Question

I am currently working on becoming GREEN certified as a Real estate agent. I am not sure where this will take me, but the more I study the better I feel about the type of information I am learning. It will enable me to help my clients find the information and the resources to let them create a greener lifestyle. I am learning about many websites which exist on the web such as the site Greenandsave.com or the reuse people .

The courses presents you with ideas about size of houses, site location considerations and about incorporating new ideas using new/ and old construction methods both for new construction and in retrofitting and remodeling. Shrinking your carbon foot print by using CFL (compact Florescent lights) and LED lighting and/or reducing you water consumption by using Dual Flush toilets and other methods are easy to implement. There is so much to talk about and it is really exciting. I will get you more information as I learn more.

Filter cleaning question

I was reading a column I recieve on a regular basis. In it the author was encouraging the home owners to change their heating filters one or twice a year. Once if your system is for heating and cooling only, twice at the beginning of each season change if your system is both cooling and heating. My thought on this was always check on the filter once a month, and if it is dirty, change it. The heat/cooling filter (according to the home inspectors I listen to when I tour home with my buyer clients) acts to keep the heating/cooling equipment clean and running efficiently. It is not an air filtration system for the house hold air.

A second cool thing I just found to help my listing clients is a web site called postlets. It helps syndicate the listing to many real estate based web sites like Zillow and Trulia as well as giving me other tools for marketing the property. Click her to view a sample

Teagarden Holiday Dog Picnic

Teagarden Holiday Dog Picnic - what a great time Sunday morning December 21st. More than 20 dogs brought their owners out to an early picnic in the park. The dogs were treated to pigs ears, a stolen doughnut or two and lots of cookie treats. Barks echoed off the hills and romping was the rule of the day. Big Thanks go to Liz High & Lori Friel who provided the donuts, coffee, hot cocoa, & other necessities.

Support a local business this Holiday Season

Hi all,

Seems there is a local business in Wayne which needs our support. The predicament of the Readers Forum on N. Wayne Ave may not be unique to Wayne or to independent small businesses, but our response of support can be. I would like to see the Wayne business district remain a vibrant-diverse collections of business which draws people from around the area to support our local economy. To me Wayne and it's character are important. By supporting the Readers Forum in Wayne when we buy or order books we as local consumers can make a difference to the survival of a small business in our community. The situation was brought to my attention by some friends who were kind enough to include me on their e-mail. Below is e-mail chain which was the catalyst for you receiving this note from me. Thank you for your attention.

Sent: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 9:19 pm Subject: Re: Readers Forum in Wayne
Books make such wonderful holiday gifts...hostess gifts...teachers...mail carriers...
Why don't we brainstorm this next week at our meeting for other ideas? I so agree with the sentiment in the email below.
Christi

On Nov 13, 2008, at 5:41 PM, name withheld wrote:
Please pass along- I'm wondering if there is anything That Book Club could do...

And the original message
Sent: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 2:27 pmSubject: Fwd: [Fwd: Fwd: Readers Forum in Wayne]


I stopped by yesterday to pick up a book and was distressed to see the shelves=2 0looking a little bare. Ed, one of the two staff members who is always there, mentioned that things were a little touch and go financially. How sad to see not only a Wayne icon on shaky ground – but one of the few independent bookstores still left perhaps in its last days. So of course I bought two books and luckily had enough cash so that I didn't need to use plastic. (More profit for them). This is just a simple plea, that if Wayne is convenient for you and you will be purchasing books in the near future, that you give your business to Readers Forum on North Wayne Avenue – right In the hub of town…..walking distance to the movies or a number of good places to eat. If you feel even remotely as strongly as I do about this, will you please spread the word.

Halloween Parade was Great

There was a bit of a competition for parade space. In Philadelphia there were approximately two million people trying to get a view of the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Back on the Main line in Wayne parents were stacked two or three deep craning to get a look at their child as he/she paraded around the oval in front of the school. What a great day!! Laughs, sighs and there were some awesome costumes too. I think the parents around the oval had the better idea. Here is a link to the album of shots

415 First Avenue, Newtown Square 19073--Price reduced by $9000

The owners of 415 First Avenue in Newtown Square want to move. They have just reduced/adjusted the price of their house by another $9000 down to $265,900. Please check this link pictures of 415 First Avenue to see more pictures of this wonderful value.

410 Oak Lane Wayne Pa 19087 Open house 10-26-08

There will be an Open House at my 410 Oak Lane listing this Sunday 10-26-08 from 11:00 am till 1:00 pm. I look forward to seeing you there.

Tom Lowy Awarded a 2008- 2009 Pennsylvania REALTORS Education Foundation (PREF) Scholarship

PREF Scholarship Winners Announced
The Association would like to congratulate the following members on their award of a 2008- 2009 Pennsylvania REALTORS Education Foundation (PREF) Scholarship:
Terry Kirkwood
Thomas Lowy
Carol Martin
Barbara Mastronardo
These four recipients were selected on the basis of their REALTOR activities, real estate courses, community activities, business accomplishments, and statements of scholarship value. The scholarship will provide each recipient up to $500 which can be used for tuition to any REALTOR designation or Broker course. Congratulations again to the recipients!

How big is your carbon footprint

Many of the items posted here have to do with Real Estate as that is my profession and my passion. I do have other passions as well and from time to time something interesting pops up that I like to pas on. I was reading this morning with my coffee next to me when I came upon a link I would like to share - a calculator by UC Berkley for estimating your carbon footprint. I did not have all of the information handy at first, but will be going back to fill in the rest. See how you do. Go to http://bie.berkeley.edu/calculator.html - Good luck. This is one time having a small foot is good. On my end, my inefficient home heating is something I need to work on.

Apples to pick near Wayne Pa

I sent out a list of Apple picking places in Pa. One of the recipients of the e-mail responded that too many of the places were too far away. He also clued me in on two other fun things to do which are nearby

"On Fri, we had an interesting time picking apples at Hopewell Furnace Nat’l Hist Site (fascinating if you’ve never been – I often find the closest things are the things I’ve never seen) – they have ~40 varieties on ~200 apple trees, up to 100 years old – some real heritage varieties. The apples are $1 a pound.

We rented a cabin in French Creek State Park for the a recent fall Holiday (Weds nite, Thurs, Thurs nite + Fri). $50 a nite! ! It slept 6 in two rooms. Electric stove + fridge, plus flush toilet + hot water showers, all in the cabin. And only a gallon (or two) away! "

Maybe these two places will help you create some great Fall 2008 memories

Regards,

Bill Gardiner- Wayne PA

Bird Habitat created at Wayne Elementary in Wayne PA

Thank you to the Audubon Pennsylvania, The Radnor Conservancy, The WES PTO, and all the teachers, children and parent volunteers who worked this past Saturday October 4th to create an experimental classroom/ native plant bird sanctuary and a separate bulb garden for the kids.

A big thank you to Ginny Kreitler from the Radnor Conservancy, Steve Saffier from the Audubon PA, to Heather Reilly and Helen McGrane from the WES PTO and to all the parents and kids who volunteered to spend their Saturday for all of their support.

Here is a list of the native plants donated by the conservancy
Large Circles =Small Trees Eastern red cedar (1), Pitch Pine(1), FloweringDogwood (1)
Row 2 – Large Shrubs Staghorn sumac(2), Red Chokecherry(2), Inkberry(2)
Row 3 – Medium or Slow growing Shrubs New Jersey Tea(3), Coralberry(2), Arrowwood viburnum (1)

Also worked on this day was the revitalization of the outdoor classroom and and the schools bulb garden located between the other second grade class rooms and the cafeteria. Teachers who helped here and on the other projects were Mrs Kniffen and Mr Gray. Here are a few shots of the Bulb Garden. Just wait till spring!!!!!

This corner will be an area where many students will get their little hands in the dirt!!!

Mortgage Rate Links

If you are interested in current Mortgage Rate links here is one source. I am working on more.

http://www.acqhomeloans.com/MortgageRates.aspx Link to Acquisition Home Mortgage

Open house at 27 Pine Street Newtown Square

The owners of 27 Pine Street in Newtown Square are have their house open to the public on Sunday September 27th from 2pm till 4pm. This is a home where seeing is believing. The owners have upgraded the floors the windows, the porch, the deck, the appliances, the closets and the bathrooms, kitchen and bed rooms. Refreshments will be served.