Lia Gerke

Pioneer Crossing in American Fork, Lehi, and Saratoga Springs Pioneer Crossing is a large intersection that will be built where the over pass currently is located just off of Main Street exit in American Fork, Utah. This incredible intersection will include a 5 lane highway from 300 East in Lehi and Main Street in American Fork to Redwood Road in Saratoga Springs. This UDOT project is a much needed improvement to the Utah County road systems. There are only a few usable streets that lead to and from Saratoga Springs currently; Lehi Main and a few back roads that are consistently congested with traffic and make a 7 mile commute take between 20-50 minutes of drive time. Once the Pioneer Crossing is complete it will allow much more traffic to flow from I-15 to Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. Why is this such an important improvement you may ask? As a Saratoga Springs or Eagle Mountain homeowner this will make our towns significantly more desirable. With home prices still be considerably lower than other cities and now being more accessible to I-15 and Lehi this will drive a large number of buyers to these areas. This is also a quick project with a projected completion date of October 2010, it is already 25% complete! For a great video of where the crossing will be located and how the road will look once all is said and done please visit the link below. http://www.udot.utah.gov/pioneer/

Beautiful Front Yards-Curb Appeal Curb appeal is one of the most important steps in selling your home. It is the first impression you have to make on a potential buyer and just like all first impressions you only get one, so make it count! Here are some tips to making your yard shine and attracting more buyers than you imagined.

1. Keep your lawn mowed and edged on a weekly basis. This is such a common item that can be overlooked. Keeping the lawn well manicured will show a buyer that you take care of what you have outside and in.

2. Add some color! Adding several flowering perennials will make the green lawn pop and whatever shrubs you have really stand out.

3. Keep on top of the weeds in your flower beds. Seems like a no brainer, but also gets overlooked more than it should.

4. Add two or three containers with flowers and greenery to your approach to liven up the entrance. This will make a huge difference in your porch or front stairs.

5. Add fresh mulch or bark to flower beds. If you really want to give your yard a wow factor adding this contract to the flowers and grass will make all the difference.

There is a huge day coming this month in Saratoga Springs, Utah on April 29th, 2009. Our new Super Wal-Mart will be opening it's doors and bringing in many new jobs, money into the city and convenience to the community. We will no longer have to make the long trek into American Fork, Utah to go grocery shopping to Wal-Mart and typically Wal-Mart brings more retail and commercial businesses along with it. This is great news for Saratoga Springs. As a relatively small city on a huge growth pattern we have needed some new businesses to help continue to grow our great city. This will help bring in some much needed tax revenue as well as increase property values. If history repeats itself, which it often does, once commercial and retail businesses are established the home values rise due to the convenience of the location. Now all we need is Redwood Road construction to be complete and we will be made in the shade! See you at Wal-Mart!

October 13-17 is National Boss Appreciation Week. Well for me and my fellow business owners, I think it's high time we appreciate our bosses, OURSELVES! We put in more hours, more sweat blood and tears than any boss I have ever worked for. This would be a great time to reward yourself with that sweater you have been eyeballing or that that new set of golf clubs that would really improve your drive. Or perhaps you need to reserve one day this week to sit and read that book to have been meaning to get to for the last year. You have a wonderful privilege of being your own boss, so take this week to give yourself a pat on the back and say "heck of job you're doing here boss!"