Heather Oberhau, Bucks County Real Estate, e-PRO

I was out the other day with my super-fabulous clients, Jim and Kelly. We were checking out houses and started to talk about how acreage does not equal privacy.

When my husband and I were looking for our first home, I had strict guidelines about what I would look at. Nothing less than an acre. Period. In my mind, an acre = privacy. It was an acre, how could anyone see you in all that land? (I grew up in Levittown, so an acre sounded like a ranch to me). What I really wanted, though, was a private lot. I didn't want anyone living behind me. I wanted a treed property line. I wanted secluded privacy. Because I was focused on the wrong thing, my agent fruitlessly showed us home after home, with no chance of making us (ok..me) happy. I finally "got it" and loosened my standards a bit, and was better able to articulate what I wanted.

On my home shopping trip with Jim and Kelly the other night, we saw 5 houses. One had a huge lot. The bulk of the property was located to the side of the home, which was a corner lot. Here's a picture of the yard. Note that the corner of the front of the home is in the right corner of the picture, and if you look closely, you'll see the street outlining the yard:

Although this home had a smaller property, you'll see the difference in the yards immediately:

If you're really looking for a private back yard, make sure you don't lose focus by concentrating on acreage.

I took a webinar today on some seriously cool real estate data software. Exclusive to Prudential Fox & Roach for Bucks County, this software can do all sorts of neat tricks that will help my clients and me navigate the market. I'm really excited to start giving you, my blog readers, some information that will help you understand the real estate market today, and identify trends for moving forward.

As a special little treat, I'm giving you this...

Our median price of sold homes (meaning 1/2 of the homes sold for higher, and 1/2 of the homes sold for lower) in Bucks County has RISEN 2% over the past two years. In August of 2006, our median sold price was $365,000. In August of 2008, our median sold price was $372,000.

Don't get too excited, since some of the other news isn't so rosy. Months supply of inventory has risen 75% in the past two years. However, in general, I'm finding that the information supports what I've been telling my clients. Most of Bucks County isn't seeing precipitous price fallouts, but rather we're seeing lots of inventory, resulting in longer days on market.

Much more to come as I continue to play with my new toy. Want to see what your local area is doing? Shoot me an email! I'd love to send you some spreadsheets reflecting YOUR real estate reality.

Here in Bucks County, we do have a Selling "Season." Take a look at the table below, and you'll find that May, June, July, and August are our strongest months, while November, December, January, and February are our slowest months. Remember that these are sold properties, and that the properties actually went under agreement prior to the sale date (most likely 30-60 days prior). So, following this, our heavy selling season ramps up in March/April and peters out again in September/October.

What does this mean if you have your house on the market right now? It means get real, get aggressive, and get sold! Now is not the time to be testing the market or clinging to a certain price point. It's the time to attack the market aggressively before we lose more Buyers to holidays, bad weather, and the general "settling in" of winter time.

What if you don't have to sell your home right now? You might want to think about taking it off the market for the winter months, making any repairs that came up as concerns to Buyers who looked at your home, and re-list in the Spring with a fresh perspective.

Numbers don't lie, and there are fewer properties sold in the winter months. Good pricing, marketing, and easy showings can give you a fighting chance at grabbing those Buyers who are still looking during this time.

Residential Sales per Month in Bucks County*

*Information from TREND, our local Multiple Listing Service. Information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

Ahhh, Summer.

Swimming in the pool, day trips to the shore, and lazy afternoons suddenly turn to bored whining, sweaty kids, and fighting siblings mid- August.

After a rushed two weeks of buying school supplies, getting haircuts, and yelling ... a lot ...we started school today. My younger son starts Kindergarten, and he finally admitted today, over his bowl of strawberries, "I'm a little nervous, but really excited."

When I met them getting off the bus today at school, I could tell he was still a little nervous, but SO EXCITED. All the kids were so excited. Excited by their new backpacks and notebooks, excited to see their friends, excited to see the teachers out front. It's a beautiful this to watch.

I'm excited too. I'm excited that our routine will be back in place. I'm excited for the kids to be with their friends, and to learn from the wonderful teachers at Wrightstown Elementary. If I can't honestly say I'm excited about sports starting up (they aren't my deal), I can say I'm glad to see the kids involved in them again.

I'm also excited to re-focus on my work. I've been busy getting the kids ready for school, and haven't been able to blog as frequently as I would like. I have a lot of ideas for posts running around in my mind, and I'm excited to get them out there for you to take a look at. I have some great clients who are really jumping in there. I'm throwing the idea around of doing another flip project.

So, it's back to work, kids!

And back to work for this Mom.

I'm excited!

For another of the "Gotta Get Out of the House" days that seem to proliferate my writing, take a trip to Kid's Castle in Doylestown. Located in Central Park on Wells Road, this wonderful park offers all sort of activities: tennis, soccer, picnic pavilions, and walking trails.

The crown jewel of this park, however, is the 8 story wooden castle located in the biggest, baddest, most age-range-pleasing playground I've ever been to. My 7 and 5 year old scrambled through the castle, went down the enormous twirly slide, and completed the scavenger hunt, while my one year old ran around the farm themed toddler playground. There is also a HUGE toddler playground, but, well....it's got sand as the base and it didn't feel like dealing with sand that day, so we stuck to the farmyard.

There's also a cute little stream, with big fat toads, where the children can wade and splash. Boys....can't resist....dirt and mud...

Honestly, though, a hot day with sweaty kids, and this looks like nirvana - toads and all. We packed a lunch and there were plenty of picnic tables available (even with two school groups).

Bring the kids' bikes because they have 1.5 miles of walking and bike trails. The one walking trail is a real challenge - it's a huge hill and would make a great once a week "tough test" for someone looking to kick up their walking or running.

Take a look at this gorgeous trail that loops around a pond. There are various stations that tell you about plant species, native birds, invasive plants, etc. You can see in the background that there are townhomes (Doylestown Station - Cornerstone Court)that back to the park. Now, I like my privacy, but how wonderful would it be to have this park, with all these amenities, right out your door? There are a few on the market right now, priced below $400,000. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions or want more information on them.

Totally free, and impressive to even the most hardened playground connoisseur, keep this in your arsenal for a way to burn off all that extra energy.