Bobbie J Smith, CRS

POCONO SOLD DATA by township for Monroe County (rounded to the nearest thousand), the average sold price is reflected in the chart below. Some townships had their average sold price rise above last years average. WOW! That is some good news and we love to see that. The averages for the County were $169,000 for Sept. of 2009 and $195,558 for Sept. of 2008, a 13% drop in the average sold price. So although our numbers are not quite reflective of the national as a whole, we will get there, we always do. Our area is just a little bit slower than others to catch up and we have always been this way it seems.

These statistics were taken from flexmls for Monroe County and are deemed reliable however I am not responsible for typographical errors. Thanks for looking!

POCONO SOLD DATA FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER 2009 VS. SEPT. 2008

Here are the stats for Septemeber. My apologies for getting them out to you so late. I actually forgot to do them this month. Sorry.

We are seeing a few townships where their sales were above last years sales for the month. Wow! That's wonderful news. The total number sold for Monroe County for September for 2009 was 123 which was 15% down from 2008 which had a total number of sales for September of 147.

As usual, stats were taken from flexmls for Monroe County and are deemed reliable however I am not responsible for typographical errors.

You know you love a property when. . . . . you see it in pictures on the Internet. . . . . . . you go out and view the property in person along with numerous others but you just can't get this one property out of your mind. You start laying out your furniture . . . . couch here, table there . . . . . . you begin to picture in your mind how all your favorite knick-knacks and grandma's keepsake will look in the house . . . . . you think of all the things you want to do to make the home your own. . . . . . . . you just can't get this property out of your mind. It is just over the limit of your price range but you want it anyway, you want it bad. . . . . . . . bad. So you start to rationalize that maybe you should stop thinking about this home, maybe you better look around some more. . . . . YOUR GETTING TO WRAPPED UP IN THIS ONE HOUSE!. . . . . . . . . so you go and look at several more homes and stop back into your favorite one more time just to refresh your memory. . . . . there it is again I GOTTA HAVE THIS HOUSE!. . . . . . . so it's time to go back and talk to friends and relatives and find someone who too is interested in an ideal vacation home, like you . . . . you know you can convince them why this house is the one for all of you and then you can afford to purchase it and make it your own... . . . so you do it. YOU'VE DONE IT. You've figured out a way with the help of family to this house. . . . . . you make your offer. . . . you are so excited, you just can't wait to move in and fulfill your dream . . . . THEN. . . . bang! bang! bang! . . . . . .the house appraises for less than sale value. . . . .you just can't justify overpaying for a property in today's market. . . . OH MY GOSH, I'M GOING TO CRY, I LOVE THAT HOUSE!, I WANT THAT HOUSE!. . . . .what am I going to do.. . . must move on. . . . . . got to find another house that I love as much so I can get over this one. . . . . . you go look at more houses, some have possibilities. . . . . . it's no good. THEY JUST ARE NOT MY HOUSE!. . . . . . I'M GOING BACK AND GET MY HOUSE - I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE DOLLAR VALUE - THAT'S THE HOUSE FOR ME - IT'S ME! - I'LL CHERISH IT FOR YEARS TO COME AND IT WILL PAY ME BACK, PROBABLY THREE FOLD - IT'S WORTH THE PRICE. . . .. . . . that's it. WE CLOSED!! THE HOUSE IS MINE, ALL MINE. YOU KNOW YOU LOVE A PROPERTY WHEN . . . . .. . . . .

TO CRAWL SPACE OR NOT TO CRAWL SPACE, that is the question. As a Realtor in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania I have seen numerous homes whose owners have never been in their crawlspace, except maybe once in the ten years that they have owned the home. Now comes the sad fact that they are ready to sell their home and have found out that their floor joists and their main beam are rotted out and need to be repaired.

TO CRAWL SPACE OR NOT TO CRAWL SPACE. Homeowners need to be taught right from the start that their crawl space needs to be maintained as much as the rest of their home. If you do not have a sump pump in your crawl space you need to get one right away, keep that water out of that crawl space, and put an alarm on the sump pump so you know when it stops working (they only last so long). Next, depending on the moisture level of your crawl space you may need a dehumidifier running in the crawl space during the summer months. Next, install some type of heat in your crawl space, this area needs to be kept warm in the winter time also.

TO CRAWL SPACE OR NOT TO CRAWL SPACE. How is it that it is not a mandatory part of the building code in our HIGH WATER TABLE AREA, that all homes with a crawl space must have a sump pump? I have seen many new homes without a sump pump.

TO CRAWL SPACE OR NOT TO CRAWL SPACE. Let's build more of our homes on a slab. The continual expense and maintenance of the crawl space are a royal pain. Full basements can be just as much trouble as crawl spaces.

TO CRAWL SPACE OR NOT TO CRAWL SPACE. I vote for NOT TO CRAWL SPACE.

Here are the stats for POCONO SOLD DATA by Township for Monroe County in the thousands, Aug 08 vs Aug 09. As you can see, again like last month, some areas sold better this year than last year. The overall totals (Avg sold price for Aug of 08 was 182 whereas Aug of 09 the avg sold price was 167) still signifying that our prices continue to drop, the monthly drop being 8%.

POCONO SOLD DATA for the year (1/1/09 to 8/31/09 - Monroe County - residential sales) reflects the number sold for the year of 2009 is down 17% from the year of 2008 and the average sale price for 2009 is down 14% from the year of 2008.

SAD, SAD NEWS FOR MONROE COUNTY.

Stats are for Monroe County and are obtained from flexmls on 9-1-09 and are deemed reliable. I am not responsible for typographical errors.