New Curtains & Fresh Paint - An Easy Fix for Small Dark Rooms

A while ago, I wrote a blog titled Cheap Paneling Isn't the Kiss of Death. Here in the Poconos and particularly in Pike & Wayne county, paneling seems to have been very very VERY popular, though it's not seen in newer homes. It was a relatively quick and inexpensive way to finish a room, and probably seemed very "on edge" and "up to date" at the time...but things change.

Much like curtains. My mom was really big on having heavy, layered curtains on the windows (in our house with cheap paneling). Perhaps at the time, the curtains added a look of richness to a the room. I remember her poring over the Sears Domestications Catalog - finding burgundy panels, burgundy drapes, and a big puffy burgundy balloon valance to "treat" our small windows and block the sunlight from shining in.

I still see similar window treatments today, many of them in small dark homes with dark paneling and small windows, blocking out the last bit of light that could brighten and cheer the room.  They  may not be burgundy, but they do hide the window. My dad used to hate curtains and would grumble when mom "hid the view".  I think he was a man ahead of his time!  (Well, he just wanted to keep an eye on the deer, but hey!)

Light, Bright, & Airy is the Key!

If you like living in a semi-dark atmosphere, that's of course your choice, but when you are putting your home on the market you need to make it "light and bright". Even if your puffy, layered curtains are light colored, they can add an almost claustrophobic feeling of heaviness to a small room.

Putting in bigger windows is an expensive option; but you can maximize the window's impact and enhance the ambiance in the room by simplifying your windows with modern, minimal treatments and - gasp - painting your paneling!

Today's buyers generally do not want dark, cavelike homes. They are looking for light, bright, and airy!

Roman Shades Are a Tasteful & Inexpensive Alternative

This can be done fairly inexpensively, too. Roman shades are very attractive, much more so than dated and clunky mini blinds, and can be purchased as cheaply as $15 each from J.C. Penney. When you desire privacy you can simply pull the shade down...and unlike mini blinds, a Roman shade can stand alone, simplifying the look of your window and keeping the room from looking "heavy."

If you simply adore your curtains, just pack them away and use them your new home. You want your buyers to see the features of your house - not your personality all over the place.

Don't Forget That Dark Paneling...

Oh, and please...paint that paneling! Believe me, not many people ask me for homes featuring "dark paneling." In fact, most buyers say "I don't want to look at homes with dark paneling. I don't want to have to paint when I move in."

Finally...Some Added Reading....

For a fun, psychedelic trip down memory lane, visit It Came From the Sears Catalog. The scary thing is, I've seen some of that stuff from 1971, like mirrored glass tiles for your living room wall...in homes currently on the market here in the Lake Wallenpaupack area!  Thank you to Toonhead, the creator of the site & owner of A Perfect World for granting permission to use her photo of the red curtains and "Satan's Bedroom".  HA!

For more tips on preparing your home for the market, and learning about home staging, visit Sue Argue's home staging blog. She is a professional home stager in New Hampshire, and has a wealth of information and helpful articles for sellers, agents, and stagers.

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

UPDATED JANUARY 15 2008:  The Cabin is now UNDER CONTRACT.  Contact me to find out what else is on the market.

This is a great deal for PA residents.  Since it's a (cheap) yearly land lease, you pay minimal taxes on the cabin only - the land lease and taxes together are about $675 per year ($200 for the lease, $475 for the taxes).

No worries about maintenance as the cabin has vinyl siding - no need to bother with scraping and painting.  The cabin is heated (propane space heaters and wood burning fireplace insert) to keep you warm after being out in the woods all day.

At $64,900, this one (or two) bedroom furnished cabin is a steal - come to the Open House this weekend before someone steals it from you!

(Yes, the kitchen appliances come too!) 

More information about this Pike County cabin/hunting camp for sale on my previous blog. 

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

Smoking does more than kill your lungs - it can kill the sale of your home.

I grew up in the home of not one, but two chain smokers. I was so used to the smell of cigarette smoke, that I had no idea why kids on the school bus told me I smelled - I could not smell it. I never understood until I went to college, and the RA demanded to know who was smoking in my room!

Smokers, and the people who live with them, can't smell it anymore. My daughter brought home a cupcake from a birthday party at school - she said "I don't want to eat it..." even though it was all pretty, pink frosted with sprinkles. I could smell why - it smelled like an ash tray. But the birthday child and her mom probably had no clue how disgusting their "treats" were to the outside world.

Sure, it's your home, your life, you can do what you want. HOWEVER - when you are putting your home on the market, while it is technically still YOUR home, you are trying to convince someone else to make it THEIRS. And chances are, a great deal of your potential buyers will be non-smokers who stop at the door and refuse to enter once they catch a whiff of your Marlboro's. Nothing will kill a deal faster on a home sale than a stench that makes you want to cover your face upon opening the door. Smokers may think non-smokers are overreacting - after all, the smell doesn't bother you! That's because you're used to it.

I imagine that even prolonged exposure to skunk smell would make it less offensive over time to the point that you don't notice it anymore either.

Apart from having only buyers who smoke express interest in your home, or handing out respirator masks at the door, there is some hope.

----->UPDATE: Unfortunately, the smoke smell will probably never be completely eliminated according to a local expert representative from Pro-Jan Restorations in Honesdale, PA. He said that thorough cleaning, followed by having a special odor elimination treatment (around $250 for the treatment) will probably bring the the smell to an acceptable level, possibly making it unnoticeable to most people.

Help Lessen Smoke Smell When Putting Your Home On the Market:

1. STOP smoking in the house once you put it on the market. Yes, it's a pain to go outside, but you want to sell your house, right? Get rid of all traces of smoking inside - no ash trays sitting around!

2. CLEAN everything - and I mean everything, from the ceiling down to the floors. Nicotine gets EVERYWHERE. When I brought an oak dining room set from my parent's home to mine, my husband wouldn't let me bring it in the house until it had been thoroughly cleaned - it took at least 4 good cleanings before the rinse water stopped turning YELLOW.

3. REPAINT - scrub the walls, apply a good primer such as KILZ, that will help block odors from seeping through, and repaint your walls and trim.

4. DECLUTTER and remove knick knacks & other items sitting around, collecting nicotine and giving off smoke smell..especially things that won't clean well, such as books and magazines.

5. Have all your carpets & upholstery professionally steam cleaned. Seriously consider a service that offers odor elimination such as Pro-Jan mentioned above - and have them clean everything, including your upholstered furniture. Here is a list of cleaning services near Hawley, PA.

I previewed a home the other day that is really nice. Just cute as cute can be. Nicely situated on a large, landscaped lot. Price seemed reasonable, perhaps a tad high...why was this house on the market for over a year?

Could it be that the home reeked of cigarettes once I went inside? Maybe? There were overflowing ash trays on every table. Even I was grossed out - in spite of the fact that I grew up with two smokers. I've been out of a smoky environment for 12+ years and man, I can't handle it!

I expect that any buyers who can get past the front door will make their offer much lower, considering all the cleaning that will have to be done after the closing.

Why not beat them to the punch, and get that cleaning and rehabbing done NOW - and get a better offer on your home? And perhaps - sell it?

Additional Reading on Selling a Smoker's Home:

Smoke Gets in Homebuyer's Eyes - by Douglas Brown, Denver Post

On Tobacco Road, it's A Tougher Sell by Antoinette Martin, New York Times

Getting Rid of Smoke Odors - Active Rain blog by Rick Bunzel

WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group "Independently Owned and Operated"

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

Wow, what a great morning. The sun is shining, the air is a little crisp (too crisp for August, I say! I want it HOT and HUMID! Fall comes soon enough!), the dog got to ride in the van with Daddy, and I'm going to take the family to the GDS Fair on Thursday night!

Jennifer Fivelsdal's blog about the Duchess County Fair made my mouth start watering for funnel cakes, sausage and pepper sandwiches, and cotton candy.

My kids love the rides...the rides make me ill, even to look at them.

Keep the ferris wheel, I want to see the LIVESTOCK.

The fair has been a tradition in the Newfoundland area for 90 years. Like most county fairs, its original intent was to promote the agrarian lifestyle and provide education, inspiration and fun. It has evolved to one of the main events of the year, one which the entire community looks forward to, including the Rice family.

This year, I am proud to volunteer at the Special Olympics booth, selling raffle tickets to raise money for this wonderful program. Neighbor, fellow REALTOR, and prominent businessman Joseph Paladino called me this morning and asked if I would be willing to help out with this fund raising event. Joe has been working with the Special Olympics for years - his son Matthew has been his inspiration and driving force.

The Special Olympics is a program for special needs kids and adults of all shapes and sizes and ability, designed to "develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of joy, gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community." The motto on the home page for Special Olympics PA says "Let me WIN but if I cannot win let me be brave in the attempt!" What a wonderful opportunity for the community to support this program!

Special needs children have always had a place in my heart - for years my mother and father were transportation contractors in the Wallenpaupack School District - most of the students they transported to and from school were special needs. I drove students as well for almost two years and I'll tell you - there is nothing more rewarding then to see them smile at you in the morning or at the end of the day, calling to you by name because they're so happy to see you. I particularly miss one girl I drove by name of Lori (but she called herself La La, and I was Kare-Kare.) Good memories. I'm proud to have another opportunity to touch my life with theirs once again.

Come see me at the GREENE DREHER STERLING FAIR, buy some raffle tickets, and save me some cotton candy!

Hey, the FAIR has a BLOG! Way Cool!

WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group "Independently Owned and Operated"

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

First of all, I need to apologize.  It's late and I'm in a rambly, slightly melancholy mood tonight - but this has been churning inside me and I need to get it out.  Remembering that I am but a "pilgrim" and "this world is not my home" helps a little, I am after all a child of the King - but the melancholy sadness for things lost is still there.  Barbara Streisand's song Memory, is a haunting melody of what we've left behind...

Another milestone achieved last week:  my 20th high school reunion.  In the weeks leading up to it, I have felt strangely old for some reason.  I didn't feel old until I realized that 2007 marked 20 years since I graduated from Wallenpaupack Area High School.

I've spent a lot of time reflecting on the past - most recently by writing a Sentimental Ice Cream Journey of sorts.  But the trip back in time started before then. On Saturday, after finishing up at an open house I manned in Masthope, I was on my way back to the office when I took a detour down Williams Road - where I grew up.

I stopped at the long, dusty driveway of my old home, unable to see much beyond the "POSTED: TRESPASSING FORBIDDEN" sign.  It hurt to think that where I grew up was now off limits to me, and were I to enter, I would be a trespasser.  I wondered...did the new owners visit the pet cemetery my family had in the little clearing near the old orchard?  Would the new owners find those graves, marked now only with some circles of stones; the crayon names of Misty, Bridget, Carla, and Junior long washed away?  Nobody would know about Tawny and how sweet she was, or how fresh and fiesty Pebbles was. 

Would someone find the time capsule I buried in an old Tang jar?  I still remember the pictures I included...a Polaroid (from my 1982 Christmas camera..) of my mom, holding the mixer, smiling for the camera (very rare; she hated to have her picture taken.).  There was a blurry picture from a Kodak 126 InstaMatic of my dad - sitting on the couch with his cigarette, probably in his green Dickies pants and ratty old flannel shirt, looking annoyed at the photographer.  I probably included pictures of the dogs we had at the time, (Midnight, Peaches, Casey, Phoebe...good grief we had a lot of dogs) and some biography of sorts typed on lined yellow paper with my dad's 1930's Smith Corona Typewriter that didn't have the #1, I had to use a lower case L.

No.  Probably  not.  The new owners tore down all that remained of us and started fresh - the past is not their past. I was no longer welcome to walk along the pond and hear the alarmed frogs hop into the water, nor could I breathe in the damp, earthy smell among the white birches up in the woods.

I moved on - followed Williams Road, noting how neglected and haunted Teresa M's old house looks now...on down to the Towpath - where my grandfather's old house stood, and where my brother used to push me on my tricycle from room to room in that big old farm house.  I envisioned Morfar (grandfather) sitting on the bluestone porch with his old radio by his side, listening to the news.  This was not my home any longer, either. 

The old swing bridge - spanning the lazy Lackawaxen River is another memory - it was destroyed in the flood of 2006.  That bridge was almost 100 years old, and in a heartbeat, it was gone with the rushing water.

The water rushes on.  Time goes on, things change. The good, the bad, the indifferent.

Following the Towpath back up toward the Tink Wig Fire Department, I noticed that some houses remained oddly the same these 20 years, and others changed slightly - some changed so much I didn't recognize them.  Amy's old house...wow, I never would have guessed it would look like that now..it's bigger!  Good grief...this is where old Orville Rose had his trailer before he died 28 or so years ago...now all that's left is the porch!  There's Lisa's house...it's yellow now.  It used to be green!

I remembered being at a birthday party at that house...when it was green...Lisa recently told me her mother used her special, fine china for that birthday party.  "I can't ever sell this house," Lisa told me.  "I need it to be here..."

Thinking back to the NO TRESPASSING sign, I totally understand.  Lisa, I need it to be there too. 

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

Okay, so this isn't a diary. I just liked the play on "dairy" and "diary." Chill out and have a cool moo.

The Lake Wallenpaupack area has changed a great deal since I was a little kid - some of it for the better, some of it "indifferent" (to me), and some of it, sad to say, for the worse (again, to me).

Once upon a time, there was The Char Bar, where you could get burgers and what my mom's friend Rose used to call "custard", but I called "soft ice cream." Now, that same building houses a rival real estate office which shall remain nameless, and a lawyer. Totally renovated some years ago, it looks nothing like the old fashioned drive-in that used to be there.

On main street in Hawley, what is now Joe and Lorenzo's Pizzeria, (above which you will find the WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group office, btw) used to be Smith's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor. Years before my time it was a different ice cream parlor, as I remember the old, slightly rusted Breyer's sign hanging there. But Smith's, which featured a delightful old fashioned decor and home made ice cream - is no more.

Smith's, like its predecessor, has gone the way of The Hawley Department Store, Drake's Hardware, Ungers Five and Ten, Brown's Drug Store...I think the only things on Main Street have been the same for decades is Teeter's Furniture, The Hawley Diner, and The Trading Post (though the new owners added WhatKnots to their name, they kept the old Indian sign and motiff). Even Teeter's looks different, since it was rebuilt after a terrible fire in the 1980's.

Following Route 6 out of town, we find a plain ranch style building that used to be called, simply, The Hut. My parents liked to go there for pierogies and Texas Weiners. I liked to go there for...duh, ice cream. The former Hut has been reorganized into two small apartments....a duplex, I think. Strange...I wonder if the place smells like old deep fryers and sugar cones when it rains?

Heading toward Honesdale, in Indian Orchard, was my favoritest place of all time: The Tastee Freez, a franchised establishment. There you could get very rich tasting soft ice cream with a heavy vanilla flavor. My family used to purchase a bucket of Tastee Chicken (with extra drumsticks) to take to Prompton Dam State Park for our annual picnic and fishing expedition. I remember the distinctive orange and white bucket, and the words Tastee had what looked like chicken drumsticks on top of the "e"s. Weird, the things you remember.

Next door to the Tastee Freez was some sort of buckskin shop, I forget its name, but you could get deerskin jackets, moccasins, purses, and little Indian girl dolls in PA buckskin dresses. My dad got my mom a deerskin jacket for Christmas. She never had the heart to tell him she wasn't the buckskin type!

Now, that building houses an outlet of the Scranton Times newspaper delivery center, and I think McMullen Painting. On another sad note, in addition to the loss of the Tastee Freez, Indian Orchard also lost the Maple Drive In Theater - it's now a Ford car dealership. The snack shop at the Drive In smelled exactly like the Tastee Freez, btw. Hot french fries and hamburgers!

Take a side trip down Rt. 652 to Beach Lake in Wayne County, and you will find The Carousel where you could ride Go Karts after eating your ice cream. Thank heavens, it remains. They've added "stuff" to it since I was a kid, but it's still The Carousel. I liked going there at night because of the funky yellow flourescent lights. I'll blog about that place another time. Let's go back down Rt. 652 and turn right on Route 6. Drive past the K-mart that hardly looks like it did 30 years ago, and we'll head right out of Honesdale.

Just south of Honesdale, on Rt. 191 (Sunrise Ave), was Sandercock's Dairy. Ahhh....Sandercock's. Like Smith's, they sold home made ice cream in delightful flavors that you rarely see in stores - such as orange pineapple. I remember crying until my dad figured out what I meant by "green ice cream" - he'd never heard of chocolate chip mint before, but I had seen kids with green ice cream, and I wanted some too! Dad, a butter pecan man, never understood. Alongside the ice cream store was a small pond with ducks and geese. Sandercock's eventually became Rothrock's - a store that didn't sell ice cream.

Weaving our way back to Hawley over Cherry Ridge Road (Owego Turnpike), we find the only remnant of my childhood ice cream passion: The Dairy Twist. Located near the intersection of Route 6 and 590, it stands like a frozen bulwark, determined to cool the masses for generations.

Even the sign is the same, brightly beckoning overheated pilgrims to come and find a frosty wonderland of frigid treats. The owners have changed a few times - but somehow, the vanilla ice cream has remained the same delicious creamy white fluff that I remember.

Awnings have been added, and some new picnic tables; the menu has changed somewhat. You can still get an upside down banana split, a cherry sundae with extra cherries, a root beer float. Besides the token vanilla, chocolate, and twist soft ice cream flavors, The Dairy Twist has added frozen yogurt, and some cool additional flavors to make the choices of soft ice cream well over 25.

My favorite change to The Dairy Twist though is that they open before Memorial Day, and stay open until at least Columbus Day. When I was a child, not only did I mourn the passing of summer with Labor Day, but all the soft ice cream joints shut down when the goldenrod became yellow... what a horror; the start of school and the end of ice cream for nine long months!

Every time I pull up to The Dairy Twist, I contemplate some of the cool flavors. Root beer. Caramel. Java. Orange Pineapple? (nah, it could never be like Sandercock's!)

I'll take a medium vanilla cone, please.

If you've been wanting to find a cute little "home town" town to "chill" in, or if you've left the Hawley - Lake Wallenpaupack region  and long to get back to your roots, contact me today - don't let another season disappear!

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Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Email me and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains. Registration is NOT required to search the Pike/Wayne MLS. You may create an account to save your searches and keep track of your favorite listings.
WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group Independently Owned and Operated

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.


Lake Wallenpaupack

Dairy Twist by Lake Wallenpaupack © 2007 by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

As a REALTOR working in the Lake Wallenpaupack area of Northeast PA, I have been asked the same question numerous times: "So, how's The Market?"

My first reaction is to say "It really depends!" And it does.

From what I have observed - a home that is in good condition, and is reasonably priced for the condition that it is in - will usually sell. If it's in good condition, and priced according to what The Market tells us, and it still hasn't sold, maybe you need to reevaluate the marketing plan.

WEICHERT, REALTORS - Paupack Group recently put a Lake Wallenpaupack home under contract within days of putting it on the market - it was the right price, and a savvy buyer pounced on it (he saw our beautiful yellow sign...). Another one of our office listings recently went under contract after a flurry of activity - because it was priced right.

What many people don't understand about these "national reports" put out by the media, is that real estate is local. What The Market is doing in Detroit, Duluth, Cincinnati, or Hackensack is completely irrelevant to what is going on in Lake Wallenpaupack.

When sellers list at market value -prices that The Market will support - a home is so much more likely to sell in a timely fashion. Listing "high" with the idea of coming down will result in finding higher end buyers who are looking for more amenities and features than your home may have, and you end up missing the boat - as the typical buyers for your home are not looking in a higher price bracket.

Reducing your price later will leave your home still on the market and buyers either assuming there is something wrong with the home, or they may think you're desperate now and will take an even lower offer. Pricing it right the first time will make it more likely to sell for market value.

I do encourage my buyers to look at homes slightly out of their declared price range, simply because they CAN always "make an offer..." but not all buyers are willing to do that.

Interesting tidbit: I noticed that during the last 8 months - the average sold price of homes around Lake Wallenpaupack (in both Pike County and Wayne County) was around $18,000 below list price. And a great deal of listings expire.

Hmm.

If you're planning on selling your Lake Wallenpaupack home, and are interested in finding what The Market says your home is probably worth, I'll be happy to help.

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Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Email me and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains. Registration is NOT required to search the Pike/Wayne MLS. You may create an account to save your searches and keep track of your favorite listings.
WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group Independently Owned and Operated

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.


Lake Wallenpaupack

Lake Wallenpaupack Real Estate Market © 2007 by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

Weichert Realtors, Paupack Group has several open houses scheduled in the coming weeks, but I think we will be hard pressed to surpass the smashing success of last weekend's Open House Bonanza in Wallenpaupack Lake Estates...

Weichert Realtors Paupack Group REALTORS hosted open houses on 13 different properties, from majestic lakefronts to cozy chalets and everything in between!

This weekend, we will be hosting an open house in Tanglwood North, which is a Lake Wallenpaupack lake rights community (featuring a private beach on the lake!) located in Tafton. This development is also built around the locally famous Tanglwood Ski Area.

Come see what's "NEW" in Tanglwood North...discover a cute raised ranch on nearly a half acre of pretty Pocono land! Recently remodeled inside and out; some of the features include a NEW roof, a spacious NEW deck, full, finished, walk-out basement with NEW family room & fireplace, NEW up-to-date kitchen, NEW wood floors, NEW bathroom, NEW cheery paint...and more. 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, dining area, great yard...it's a great house for the price of $222,000.

Below, are a few pictures to whet your appetite. 

Stop by to see us on Sunday, August 19 2007, anytime from 12 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Davos Lane.

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Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Email me and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains. Registration is NOT required to search the Pike/Wayne MLS. You may create an account to save your searches and keep track of your favorite listings.
WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group Independently Owned and Operated

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.


Lake Wallenpaupack

Tanglwood North by Lake Wallenpaupack Open Houses © 2007 by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

Even though I am friendly and talkative with people, I joined Jennifer Allen's "Introverts Are Sales People Too" group for a reason...

I don't have too much of a problem making some silly small talk with people, and I usually get past my shy feelings/discomfort/nervousness with jokes and clowning around, making people laugh with me ON PURPOSE.  

I do have a problem talking to people about what I do for a living though, not because I'm ashamed of being a REALTOR but because I don't want people to think "Oh dear, she's going to try and sell us something!"

One of the greatest things for people like me is the name badge provided by my broker, WEICHERT, REALTORS - Paupack Group!  I love this thing and wear it EVERY TIME I leave the house.

I have had more than one person approach me and say "Oh, you're a REALTOR?" or "You work with Weichert?  I see them ALL over the place!  You must be BUSY!"  and open up the dialog with me - thereby releasing me from any fear that they will misinterpret what I say, as THEY are the ones bringing it up.  Conversations began with my name tag almost always end with me leaving my business card with someone and a possible new contact in my future.

If your company does not have name badges, and you are not always comfortable just introducing yourself and starting off with a "pitch", I strongly suggest you approach your broker or company's owner and ask about it.  IMHO, even if they refuse to purchase such a thing, go ahead and invest in it on your own, even if it just says your name followed by REALTOR (check your state laws re: that, though! you  may need to have your brokerage on it).  

Here is a quick Google search for "Custom Name Badge" companies.  If anyone has any companies they are happy with, post them in the comments section!

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

I am very excited to announce my new Wallenpaupack / Northeast PA real estate website.

This has been in the works for some time and is finally ready to be launched.

While it's not 100%, complete yet, it offers what consumers are looking for: quick, easy access to the Pike Wayne MLS, and the ability to sign up for automatic email alerts of property available for sale - from Wallenpaupack lakefront and lake rights property, to rustic cabins and chalets in the woods of Pike or Wayne County, to old farm houses and Victorians in Hawley and Honesdale in Wayne County.

The most helpful page may be Lake Wallenpaupack page. It is not just more of the same information that is everywhere else on the web; it offers a chart of most of the homeowner communities on Lake Wallenpaupack (communities with lakefront or lake rights access).  There is also a link to my Lake Wallenpaupack Communities map, which shows you the approximate locations of many of the communities that surround Lake Wallenpaupack.

This is extremely helpful to visitors to the area; there are so many communities and associations and it's difficult to keep them all straight. In the future I plan to have more info on each community. Right now, communities with have their own websites have are linked.

If you are interested in Fawn Lake Forest homes, you can use the customized link to find them. Maybe you prefer The Hideout in Lake Ariel, PA.   What about Masthope?

Perhaps you would rather have available property in Pike and/or Wayne County emailed to you...subscribe here (do tell me what you are looking for though, so that I don't send you links to thousands of properties for sale!)

I designed the website to be as user friendly and easy to use as possible. Watch in coming days for it to be fleshed out and completed.

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Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Email me and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains. Registration is NOT required to search the Pike/Wayne MLS. You may create an account to save your searches and keep track of your favorite listings.
WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group Independently Owned and Operated

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.


Lake Wallenpaupack

Lake Wallenpaupack's New Real Estate Website © 2007 by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.

 

Do you have a home in Pike or Wayne County PA to sell? Visit My Seller Website and learn about my innovative marketing plan which will be personalized specifically for your home. Are you interested in Pike or Wayne County PA homes for sale? Visit my real estate website to see all the property for sale in Hawley, Honesdale, Greentown, Lackawaxen, Hamlin, Lake Ariel, and the entire Lake Wallenpaupack region of Northeast PA's Pocono Mountains.

Please become a Fan of Wallenpaupack Real Estate on Facebook

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Poconos. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Pike & Wayne County PA Real Estate - Home Sales ©Copyright by Karen E. Rice. All rights reserved.