Mark VanBuskirk PA REALTOR Specializing in Carbon & Monroe County

grabbed this from some comments in a blog I was reading and thought it would be appropiate for the season!

This came from Alice Held, a wonderful agent in Arizona.

Six Gifts That Don't Cost a Cent

The Gift of Listening...But you must really listen. Don't interrupt, don't
daydream, don't plan your response. Just listen.

The Gift of Affection...Be generous w/appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the
back. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family &
friends.

The Gift of Laughter...Clip cartoons, share articles & stories. Your gift
will say, "I love to laugh w/you."

The Gift of a Favor...Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.

The Gift of a Written Note...It can be a simple "Thanks for the help" note
or a full sonnet. A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a
lifetime.

The Gift of a Compliment...A simple & sincere, "You look great in red,"
"You did a super job," or "That was a wonderful meal" can make someone's
day.

When starting the first time home buying experience there are four Individuals that will help you in your quest to obtain the American dream!

• A Real estate professional that will help you find that perfect home and help in finding the other folks you need!
• A Banker that will help you get the best possible Loan at a reasonable price.
• A Home Inspector that will help you from buying a lemon and uncover any major deficiency that should be addressed.
• An attorney or abstract company that handles the fine details of the transactions and will either make your experience a nightmare or a walk in the dark.

So how do you the new Homeowner find the right individual up to the task? several suggestions!

1. Referral from someone that has had good experiences with these folks in the past! Past history is a good forecaster for the future.
2. Ask a friend if they had a good experience when they bought their home? Which professional did they use?
3. Interview several people? Sometime you click with certain people or they have the tools that you like! Choice is always good? I always recommend at least two people and will give more names if the people are not comfortable with the ones I have given them!
4. Try them out? Ask for some information and see how they handle a question for you? It might be a search for Homes! It might be a bank question? Do they have to get paid before they say boo! Be careful signing your life away before you have a trial relationship!

In my personal dealing with people I try to get people to see what I can do for them and how I will help them in the experience before getting them to sign on the dotted line!

COME ENJOY & SUPPORT OUR LOCAL LIONS CLUB ...

Franklin Township Lions Club proudly invites you to the Franklin Festival of Lights

During the Festival of Lights, the Phifer Ice Dam Park takes on a magical holiday glow with more than 400,000 lights in a giant outdoor walk-through display as the sounds of the season are heard throughout the park.
For 2009, visitors will enjoy walking through candy cane lined lanes to see a magical winter wonderland. Our penguin village display will come alive during the synchronized musical light show. Watch out for the sea monster that has moved into the dam; don't worry, he's very friendly! See deer jumping and Santa's train, the inflatable display and much more.

During your walk through the display, plan on stopping at the Christmas Café and warm up with a cup of cocoa or a tasty treat.

When: Every weekend in December from Friday - Sunday starting from DUSK til 9PM

Where: Phifer Ice Dam Park
Main Rd and Penn St
Lehighton (Franklin Township, Carbon County)
Open days in white (Dusk) 5:15 - 9:00 PM
Saturdays (Dusk) 5:15 - 9:00 PM

Who : The Festival of Lights is a community project of the Franklin Lions Club.
All proceeds benefit the following programs:

• For the sight impaired
• Franklin Kids Creation, a unique handicapped accessible playground
• Maintains the Phifer Ice Dam Park
• Supports the local Fire Company
• Supports Dream Come True
• Carbon County Fair
• Franklin Township youth recreation
• Fire Victims
• Community Projects
• Scholarships for deserving students
• Bucks for Books (childrens literacy program)
• Aluminum can recycling program

Enter Park at Penn Street Entrance, Donations Accepted at Entrance !

For more information click http://www.franklinlions.cpals.com/community.html or Call Lions Club
Tom Zellner 610 377-6444
Robert Maholick 610 377-5559
Rich Schirer 610 377-0314

Call me if you have any interest! Really just Taking a break from my honeymoon to do some real estate ! Have to so I can take this trip off on my taxes! LOL !

Reblog of My Wife's Blog

http://fieldsendart.blogspot.com/2009/12/blue-lights-blue-hair-and-eiffel-tower.html

I'm sitting here sipping a glass of wine, the wide window of our flat open, letting in the cool evening air...whew, what a day!

We woke up rather late, and had a breakfast of juice, fruit and croissant, and headed off to the Musee de Orsay. We're now pretty savvy with getting around on the Metro, so we got there with ease.

It had started to rain, but no problem, we have our umbrellas...as we get to the Musee, we see the lines--I mean, it's like nothing you've ever seen in the States--only if you were waiting to get into a pro football game or top billed concert--there were literally hundreds of people, with the lines wrapping city blocks...I was completely aghast looking at what would be a several hour wait to get in--and we are not working with alot of time on this little holiday, so as the rain began to rain on us in buckets, we began to wander along the Siene, with no idea of what to do now that our plans were thwarted--even the Eiffel Tower had disappeared into a shroud of fog...As the rain pelted us harder and harder, we began to bicker and wander, growing more frustrated by the minute--just as the rain began to hit us full force, and our arguing grew a little more heated, a cab rounded the corner and literally threw a waterfall of water onto Mark--I laughed so hard, I almost wet my pants--even after his initial shock and rage, he had a good belly laugh at it...and then, the rain stopped as quickly as it started.

We found we had wandered, quite unintentionally, within a few blocks of the Eiffel Tower--much to our delight and surprise. We just followed the direction of the tower, and just kept moving, every few blocks seeing it would loom larger...as we got very near to it, it seemed to disappear--we were dismayed, and as we contemplated stopping to check our map, we turned the corner, and there it was...I mean, THERE IT WAS. Magnificent and beautiful, it stunned me with it's size and grace...it was quite a moment for me.

We entered the park around it, and it was rather empty due to the earlier weather. We had a little language barrier trying to buy our tickets in...and Mark and I, in our American naivete, thought the line for "escalators" meant that--as if there would be an escalator in the Eiffel Tower! Well, the Eiffel tower has two levels, and then the "summit"--we began our ascent, and it was SCARY, since the steps are metal and wet, but the French ran up like it was nothing, so we tried also. We were literally ready to drop dead by the time we reached the first level, which is about 300 feet. The observation deck was a welcome reprieve, and we tried to catch our wind and with much trepidation, would scale the next 200 or so feet to the second deck...if we survived, and there, take the elevator, or "terror" to the top. Mark looked at me anxiously and asked, "Are you quite sure you want to do this?" I laughed and said, "Sure...I guess.." I mean, how could we say we chickened out of going to the top? But, the weather decided our trip for us--much to our secret relief, the "summit" was closed due to high winds, so we smiled, took some pictures, and moved on from there.


After leaving the Eiffel Tower, we wandered the local streets, a beautiful, wealthy quarter, and we were pretty hungry after all the walking and climbing, so stopped in for authentic "Chinois"--after all, we had to try French Chinese. It was surprisingly good, and after a pot of hot tea to reheat our soggy forms, we were off and running to find the Arch of Triumph and Champ Elysee--we figured out the route with our metromaps, and went looking for the nearest metro station. After hopping on and realizing we were heading in the wrong station, we jumped off and reboarded, and got off at Charles DeGaulle Square, right in front of the Arch of Triumph. The square was insane with people and cars, and Champ Elysee was lit up like a blue Christmas tree--it reminded me of Times Square with the thousands of lovely blue lights, bustle and stores. Pretty neat, but very congested. We spotted the second McDonald's we saw in ALL of Paris, that's right, only two in all of our travels, and decided we had to taste a burger just to see what a french Micky D's tasted like. Guess what--exactly the same as America. It's like they fly their hamburgers over here...not an appetizing thought, lol. The array of characters was enormous, from street performers to boys walking around in blue dresses, with blue hair. What that is supposed to mean, I don't know, but at least it doesn't have much chance of catching on with any of our sons in America LOL.

We made our way through a huge Christmas fair on Champ Elysee in full swing--we smiled at the different food stands--chestnuts and wine, duck "sandwiches", foie gras, crepes, and of course, more wine. We extracted ourselves from the crush of people, and made our way to the Palais, and the famous Pont Alexandre III bridge, and then headed to the Metro, since we were now pretty exhausted. After a grueling last set of stairs, and a stop in the local supermarket for some eggs and groceries for tomorrow's breakfast, we were barely able to crawl up the two flights of stairs to our flat.

Moral of the story--if you come to Paris, you'll see why the Parisiennes are all so thin--you're going to walk and climb about 30 miles a day if you go it the "Parisienne" way...wow...lots of footwork, but well worth it.

So, now time to soak my poor feet ;-)

Do you remember the Kevin Costner movie where he built the baseball field out in the corn field and dramatically the players appeared. Is there a home that if we build it and market it the buyers will come?

Today's Flop in my market...

• Massive Colonial
• All the bells and whistles
• Little bigger than the Jones next door
• 3000 square feet or more
• Big Price and Big Taxes
• Yes just a few short years ago this was the house to buy,build, and everyone wanted one!

Today's Home that is selling...

• efficient ... smaller utilities, smaller taxes, smaller home...People want to downsize from the Colonial to the Rancher or Bi-Level
• economical .... In my neck of the woods that price is hovering right around $200,000 and is approximately 1500 to 2000 square feet.
• Expandable... People want the basement or room above the garage where they can add on if needed.

I believe the folks that are buying and building include first-time homebuyers and the downsizers... So my plan is encourage my builders building spec homes to build the ranchers,the bi-levels, that are smaller can be expanded but right now they are affordable. How about your area? Build what they need and want and they will come! People will always need a roof over thier head... Realtors will always be needed to help renters, builders, folks reselling! We just need to evolve as the market dictates.