About Centre County, PA

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from potential buyers is, "Are there any building lots close to Penn State University?" The answer is fairly easy since land in the Penn State area is at a premium and there are few building lots available for buyers to build custom homes. The lots that are currently available are controlled by local builders and must be purchased as part of a home and lot package. In other words, you can't simply buy a lot and hold on to it for the next three years until you decide to build a home.

S & A Homes (http://www.sahomebuilder.com/state-college-pa-home-builder.asp) has several neighborhoods that have building lots available but you must buy them as part of a new construction home purchase. Phase 7 of Hunters Chase at Foxpointe will open this weekend and will offer new building lots with homes priced between $285,000 to $350,000. See the layout below of Hunters Chase.

If you are looking for buiding lots close to Penn State but are not ready to build you may want to head east away from campus and look in the small village of Millheim, PA. Brookside Homes has a small development of nice rural building lots right in the village and within walking distance to town and the famous Elk Creek Cafe' (http://www.elkcreekcafe.net/). Mensch Estates provides public utilities and the exclusive builder is Brookside Homes (http://www.brookside-homes.com/). Brookside Homes builds stick built the old fashioned way and builds energy efficient homes. At Mencsch Estates you can buy your lot today and hold it until you are ready to build. Lots are priced from $38,500 and there are 13 lots available at the moment.

There are a variety of scattered building lots available in Penns Valley just east of Penn State University with no ties to builders and no deadlines for buyers to build their home. Wildfire Lane subdivision offers building lots starting with 2.9 acres and going all the way up to 10 acre parcels and they are within walking distance of the blue ribbon trout stream Sinking Creek. I was showing a buyer the lots last week and we were greeted by a wild turkey and her brood of six young hatchlings walking up the road toward the entrance of the subdivision.

WILDFIRE LANE SUBDIVISION PHOTO

Finally, for more excluded building lots close to Penn State University you should check out the lots on Siglerville Millheim Pike adjacent to Rothrock State Forest (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/Forestry/stateforests/rothrock.aspx). There are 6 building lots left ranging in price from $59,500 to $69,500 and in size from 2.8 to 5.5 acres and there is owner financing available.

LOTS ON SIGLERVILLE MILLHEIM PIKE

There are building lots available close to Penn State University but they are at a premium and you need to search carefully if you are trying to find a scattered building lot not committed to a builder in the area. The demand for buidling lots will continue to grow so now may be the time to consider purchasing a lot for your custom dream home. Feel free to give me a call or tune in to Top Gun Tim's Coaches Corner Radio show every Saturday morning from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m on 970 AM WBLF radio to discuss all things real estate in Happy Valley. Call the show on the Coaches Corner hotline at 814-272-9700 to join the discussion. You can always call me directly at 814-280-0054.

So I dropped my son off at soccer camp and needed to get a run logged in the book so I had to decide between the pavement of Centre Hall (my last run on Monday) or the soft trails of Rothrock State Forest. It was an easy decision and I headed up the mountain on Rt. 322 into Seven Mountains. If you turn left on Decker Valley Rd. and park in the former DHL building parking lot you can run on Decker Valley Rd. or you can do what I did which is to cross Rt. 322 and run towards Penn Roosevelt State Park.

This section of Rothrock is part of the Tussey Mountainback 50 Mile Ultramarathon and Relay (visit the site here http://www.tusseymountainback.com/) and is known as A Flash of Civilation since this segment of the race pops out of the forest along Rt. 322. From Rt. 322 to Penn Roosevelt is 6 miles but I wasn't ready for a 12 mile run so I traveled the soft gravel roads for three miles before turning around and heading back to the car. The trail in this area is rolling with uphill, down hill, and level running that provides a nice mix of running. To find the three mile mark it is pretty simple. You will come upon a farily steep hill just after a sharp 90 degree turn to the left in the road. You run to the top of the hill and there is another sharp 90 degree turn to the right. You will run about 300 yards beyond the second hard turn and will you will hit the 3 mile mark.

I love this run in the forest. Though I saw no wildlife other than birds, the forest is lush, the trails are easy to run and comfortable, and I didn't see a single car during the entire run.

Don't miss this run.

As many of you know, I love to run -- as in lace up the Nike's, Adidas, etc. and shuffle quickly forward while breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

I re-started my running life a few years ago after ballooning to more than 220 pounds and knowing that I was on track for disaster. I took up running to lose the excess weight and I got hooked on the endorphin rush of running. Having success losing the extra weight didn't hurt either.

I've had some tough times along the way with an over-scheduled calendar and a variety of injuries mostly caused by my insane belief that I can run around a soccer field for two hours with high school athletes several times a week. I'm able to run around the field with them but invariably the old bones don't mix well with highly trained 17 year old bones.

In recent weeks I have overcome several injuries that have prevented me from running for the past five months and I have started running again with a half marathon goal in mind for later in the Fall. As I travel Central Pa I'm always looking for good places to run and I love to run in the mountains and on trails rather than the dull pavement of suburbia.

Several days ago I found myself near Snow Shoe, PA. and I remembered that there was a Rails-to Trails just west of town. I found the parking lot about 3 miles west of town on Rt. 144, laced up the running shoes and headed through the tunnel (pictured above) shuffling North through deep forests and a stream not too far from the trail. I thought I was running on the level but as I made the turn to head back to the parking lot after about 20 minutes it was clear I had been running down hill the entire time. There was no confusion in my mind as I headed back to the car -- I was clearly running up hill and it was up hill all the way to the end.

It was an exhilarating workout and I finished strong and refreshed. I would do this run again on this trail. I didn't see a single human but I did see three deer and a variety of birds. This trail allows ATV's and some runners may not appreciate them but I didn't see a single ATV. It was total tranquility.

Check out this trail when you are in the area. It is the Snow Shoe Rails to Trails and the sign says that it is the Gillentown Trailhead. It is well marked and the sign is on the left as you travel west on Rt. 144.

Happy running.

The contrarian that I am I love to continue to tell the folks in Happy Valley that despite media reports to the contrary, there is AFFORDABLE HOUSING available in the shadow of Beaver Stadium.

To that end I am updating the affordable housing statistics based on the USDA maximum purchase price of $189,900.

Current active single family listings - 735

Total Single family Homes priced under $189,900 - 305

% of Affordable homes as a percententage of all homes for sale - 41.5%

Affordable Housing by School District

State College - 57

Bald Eagle - 29

Bellefonte - 47

Penns Valley - 15

Philipsburg - 53

CCAR MLS DATA

In reviewing the data we see that 41.5% of all homes in the market qualify as AFFORDABLE HOUSING. This is a story that needs to be told to potential home buyers and the local media that continue to sing a tune to the public about the lack of affordable housing.

Is the affordable housing walking ditance to Penn State? Probably not. Can you walk to the nearest Starbucks? Probably not. Are there great homes available for the first -time homebuyer? ABSOLUTELY!

Call me to find out more about AFFORDABLE HOUSING in Centre County or to discuss the first-time homebuyer $8,000 tax credit.

This Saturday Morning on Coaches Corner Radio Top Gun Tim Rogers will continue the foreclosure discussion and it's impact on real estate. We will review Team Obama's campaign promises about solving the foreclosure issue.

It was announced today that Foreclosures reached a record high in the first half 2009 despite aid promised by the government. What went wrong and what can be done about it?

To join the discussion join me live on the air by calling the Coaches Corner hotline at 814-272-9700 from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.