About Centre County, PA

For the second time in six weeks I've been interviewed and featured on National Public Radio. They found me the first time via a Localism post on Active Rain and last week they called again and aired another segment with me about market conditions and the health of the real estate economy.

Thanks Active Rain and keep blogging everyone.

Top Gun Tim Rogers of Keller Williams Realty just sold this beautiful home in Foxpointe. The home is new construction built by S & A Homes and had numerous upgrades and a relaxing, private master suite.

This well-appointed home sold with builder upgrades and credits for $331,508. There is a steady demand for homes in this subdivion and the builder is currently out of inventory in this area. More to come in the Spring of '09.

For more information on the Foxpointe subdivision or new construction homes built by S & A Homes or any local builder,

Listen to TOP GUN TIM every Saturday morning on 970 AM WBLF. Call the Coaches Corner hotline with real estate questions at 814-272-9700.

More than 400 feet of stream frontage on one of the most famous limestone trout streams in the Eastern United States and only 25 minutes drive to Penn State University.

There is a home with 3/1 and 3.5 acres with the original country store adjacent to the abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad bed. For mountain enthusiasts, Bald Eagle State Park is 1.2 miles up the road. There is hunting, hiking, mountain biking and snow shoeing available on more than 40,000 acres of state park.

You could live here, open a flyfishing shop, or turn it into a B & B. A creative owner could even build several cabins in the woods to rent to Penn State Alumni on all the big Penn State Weekends.

The EPA (not the Department of Agriculture) has decided that it would be in our best interest to start taxing livestock for their flatulent functions. Cattle ruminate and generate flatulence out the other side as part of their regular bodily functions.

The anointed class has decided that every American (no other country has signed on to this) farmer should be penalized for feeding the world and therefore their leading edge production methods should be penalized.

The proposed tax will look like this:

Dairy cow - $175 per year cow

Beef Catle - $85 per year for each cow

Hog - $20 per year hog

This amounts to about a 12.5% tax on dairy farmers and 25% tax on beef cattle and hog farmers as a reward for all their hard work.

Last week food prices were expected to increase 9% next year. If we add this tax, people will start to go hungry in our country and people in other countrues will die. I can assure you that the communist Chinese will not impose the same tax on their farmers because the Communist Chinese are better capitalists than we are in the year 2008.

It's just a matter of time before the EPA comes after Realtors. Look at all the hot air we blow (not to mention flatulence). Imagine if the EPA decided to tax Realtors an additional 12.5 to 25% on our income. It's coming to an agency near you.

The anointed class must be stopped before they completly destroy our country.

The drum beat continues in State College, PA about the lack of affordable housing or work force housing as the new enlightened like to call it. I, of course, march to a different drummer (the Little Drummer Boy in this holiday season) and I'm here to sing you a Christmas Carol about the availability of affordble housing in State College, PA and Centre County, PA.

Well, maybe I won't sing (my music teacher in high school was always happy when I didn't chime in) but I will share the latest CCAR MLS statistics as of December 5, 2008. The reality of affordability housing locally is as follows and is based on the purchase price of $179,900 that reflects the limit placed on most first-time and affordable housing financing programs in Pennsylvania.

705 - Total Active residential homes on the market

315 - Total number of homes under the $179,900 price threshold

Applying sixth grade math we see that 44.7% of all the homes currently being offered for sale qualify as affordable housing in our market.

This is not the politically correct thing to report but what consumers need to understand is that the press can't sell papers or gain listeners/viewers with good news. What the press needs to announce is a NEW (new to them) program that offers people in need of affordable housing (usually called potential buyers) a service that is available to them to help them find the homes and the financing programs that meet their needs.

This NEW to the media program is what I do each and every day in my business. I'm a Realtor and it is my job to understand all of the financial programs available to those in need. I take it a step further by putting those in need into my car and driving them around and allowing them access to those homes that may meet their needs.

While this NEW progam that provides a platform for critical affordable housing interchange is not NEW to me, it apparently has not been discovered by those in the media that need increased circulation or Arbitron ratings.

The headline should read:

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT

TIM ROGERS OF KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY IS AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING EXPERT AND PROVIDES A VALUABLE SERVICE TO REDUCE THE NEED FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN STATE COLLEGE, PA.

Well, maybe the headline is a bit too long but it is accurate. The enlightened class won't like it since it doesn't fit their agenda but the headline is accurate.

So. if you are in need of affordable or work force housing, call the expert and solve your problem.