DUTCHESS COUNTY REAL ESTATE

Do remember drive-in movies? Drive-ins have just about become extinct. Did you know that in the United states there are only a few hundred drive-ins left? Well, two of them are right here in Dutchess County. Load up the station wagon, SUV or mini-van with lawn chairs, pile in the kids lawn and call it a night out! This weekend I even made it through a double feature at the Hyde Park drive-in- yeah, 2 for one! The movie critic in me tells says I should warn you against seeing Get Smart but I'm giving 4 stars to Sex In The City. Both theaters feature a full-service snack bar and radio sound. Below is a link to the websites:

DriveInMovie.com/NY.htm

Hyde Park Drive-In Theater
Location: 510 Albany Post Rd., Hyde Park.
Contact: 845/229-4738
Hours: Apr.-Oct.

Overlook Drive-In Theater
Location: 126 DeGarmo Rd., Poughkeepsie.
Contact: 845/452-3445
Hours: Apr.-Oct.

There's no better place like the Hudson Valley when it comes to fresh produce. The Poughkeepsie Area Chamber of Commerce campaign to "Think Local First" has inspired me to do just that! Why not visit the local farmers markets this summer? You'll find that in addition to home grown fruits and vegtables there is a wide variety of other itmes offered too - including fresh breads, baked goods, wines, cheeses, meats, flowers, fresh herbs, salsas, local honey. You'll even find crafts for sale. Here is a list of the local farmers markets in Dutchess County - and remember - "Think Local First". 

                                  http://www.dutchesstourism.com/farmers.asp  

Lowball, lowball, lowball. I HATE lowball offers. I know, blame it on the market! I am partnering on a listing with another agent in my office. We were certain this house was priced right and would go fast! I got all excited when he told me a few days after listing the property that an offer was submitted. Then, imagine my reaction when he told me the offer was 75k less then list price (with only 3% down).

What? Wait, how can that be - when we were even considering suggesting a 10-25k higher price to start out? Thank goodness we have a very reasonable and not so greedy seller who isn't willing to only break-even....he's even much more willing to take a loss.

My partnering agent got on the phone and called the buyer's agent to discuss the offer before presenting it to our client. I hear him say that he reviewed the fax and noticed the price being offered was X dollars. He says 'I just wanted to be sure this is a real offer". I just about fell off out of my chair - a real offer? As if he was implying that this might actually be a fake offer??? Too funny!

But this was no laughing matter. It was confirmed - this was indeed a real offer. It's sad that we had to present this to our client who is a decent person and just being reasonable. Shouldn't he even get a bonus for being just that - a reasonable person!

I looked at my partnering agent and shook my head "shame on that agent for not providing comps to his buyer so he could make an educated decision and/or spinning his wheels with this type of buyer who just doesn't get it"! I hate lowball offers - whether I'm a listing agent or buyer's agent!       

They say to be careful for what you wish for! What is your idea of perfect? Wouldn't we all like to live in a perfect world?? When I was a young girl I would play with Barbie dolls for hours. I was privileged to have all the accessories too - Barbie's hair salon, Barbie's McDonalds, Barbie's convertible, Barbie pool...all these items, to go with the Barbie dream house. I would throw parties for Barbie and her friends - Midge, Ken and little sister Skipper. I fantasized about Barbie's perfect little world. Damn, she even had the perfect body!

Years later, when I bought my first house I was in euphoria. To save for home ownership. I moved back in with my parents for a year with husband and baby in tow. Always a clothes horse, I sacrificed a new wardrobe that year because to buy a house in the old days a buyer needed a hefty down payment (on top of excellent credit). We scaled back to one car for a period of time before buying our house so we would have less debt to show on our mortgage application. We scraped to put together a down payment - I was only 23 years old. When we finally purchased a new construction inventory home we realized it needed a lot of landscaping and I wanted furnishings to give the house a personality too. This required more sacrificing and saving, so we ate a lot of macaroni and cheese that year and I continued to postpone a new wardrobe. When we finally bought a 2nd car it was a budget model. We had to be very disciplined in many other ways to have the things we really needed to make our house complete. It was a modest home and I hardly felt rich because of all the sacrificing we were making.

Down the street, a house went up for sale. It was a bigger and more expensive house, and secretly I felt this would have been a more ideal home for us. But we were happy and very focused on our new place. We were slaving with our landscaping project one day when the new neighbors pulled up at their new house in a shiny red corvette a week after they closed on the property. The blonde bomb shell and her handsome husband (dressed so nice and crisp) bounced out of the car very enthusiastically to greet us as we wiped the dirt off our hands onto our grungy kicking around clothes. A few days later, she was in her bikini cutting the grass on her new John Deere riding lawn mower while my husband and I took turns pushing our second hand Kmart special (with a broken wheel) in our sweat pants. A month later, our new neighbors installed a beautiful swimming pool. They seemed to have it all, and compared to them I felt like we had crap. It looked like they lived in the perfect world. They even had the look of perfect people. And, soon we dubbed them Barbie & Ken. The car, the pool and the dream house - and this pattern continued. They continued to add "things" to their perfect world.   

A couple of years later, when we sold our house due to a job relocation Barbie and Ken put their house on the market too and they were competing with us for a sale. We soon discovered that while their perfect world was growing more and more perfect - it really wasn't so perfect! You probably guessed it - they found themselves over extended. Seems they were living a little too much above their means and it all caught up to them. I was a little upset about their timing but our house sold fast because it was modest, was not over-improved for the neighborhood and because we had less invested in our property and didn't need to re-coop so much in the end. This enabled us to price our house right, for a quick sale.

I don't know what ever happened to Barbie and Ken after we moved away. But thanks to them, I learned at an early age why it's important to have less and be able to afford a simpeler lifestyle. I stopped fantasizing about the dream house and wanting to live in a perfect world. It's now many years later and I've learned a great deal more. See, it's not the kind of house that you live in that makes it a dream house - but it's experiencing love, happiness and good times - wherever you may live. Regardless of how big, small, stylish, clean, messy a place might be - it's all about the quality of life that makes it a perfect world!      

24/7 Wall St has reviewed a number of large public companies in order to evaluate the possibility of Chapter 11 filings by the end of 2008. First up is American Airlines (and many other airlines made the list too). Ok, so maybe this does not surprise you. The airlines have always been considered a vulnerable industry, yet some of the companies listed were ones I never would have expected to be in financial trouble today, but maybe it's because I don't follow the stock market so closely.

http://www.247wallst.com/2008/06/the-247-wal-st.html

For more than a year, the media spotlight has primarily been on the doom and gloom of the housing market. We saw subtle signs in my local market of things starting to change about 4 years ago and I had been remarking in all that time about the increasing cost of everything. Yes, for a long, long time prices have been climbing. For example, gas prices did not go up overnight. We only need to remember back to less than 10 years ago - wasn't it 1999 when I was paying less than a buck a gallon to fill my car? I had been saying all along that we were a nation in denial - this recession started long before 2008, but publicly nobody was bringing attention to the situation. I believe politicians were just sweeping the economy under the carpet until this year? Gosh, what did we ever expect would happen after the tragedy of 9/11 and a the commitment of war efforts that followed? Were we too proud as a nation to admit that it would have a devastating effect on our economy? Yes - and, why - because that was exactly what the terrorists wanted to hear! So, just like much of the debt our society has accumulated, the truth was also deferred - about the impact of those situations that brought our economy to where it is today and what has been evolving since 9/11. And, maybe the leaders of this country knew all along. Maybe they were being pretentious to all the other nations in the world and to us as citizens. While continuing to rack up a national war debt, they left the citizens and businesses of this country to think that nothing could bring us down financially as a nation - not even the 9/11 terrorists. The goverment painted a nice picture of the economy and every homeowner appreciated the housing bubble while it lasted. Were we as citizens fools to think we could be a healthy nation for so long after 9/11 and the onset of the Iraqi War? The Petagon and Twin Towers - there was a message. Loud and clear and gut wrenchingly painful - these were the very symbols of our goverment and economy that were targeted! While we have mourned as a nation, our leaders knew but were not about to admit until very recently how 9/11 and the actions that followed have hurt us harder than the obvious devastation shown on television that day. - And here we are today!     

Those of you who follow my posts might recall that I have mentioned that I worked for the airlines prior to changing careers. So, here I am reading the 24/7 report and I can't help but wonder about American Airlines and what will happen to my pension plan if they go under. SO, I guess I can at least find satisfaction in knowing that I am now in a business that doesn't require me to retire. I can semi-retire and sell real estate until I'm 100 years old - I know a few Realtors who seem that old and are still going strong, and they can - as long as they have a keen mind. Don't get me wrong, I also know some pretty old Realtors that are not just seasoned,  they're weathered! - and probably should have retired back when I was paying a buck a gallon for gas!

All of us need to start worrying about the current economy and how it might effect our future. I probably need to start thinking of my own retirement - Plan B....move somewhere where the cost of living is cheaper and work until I'm 100 years old! I'm not sure I'll have the energy or be as enthused about the business then as I am now. Forced to work until I'm 100 years old could make me a bit resentful. I tried to visualize me living in a retirement community in Florida one day and being a 100 year old Realtor. The picture that popped up in my brain was the cartoon character Maxine. Now, how can you give a 100 year old lady like that an attitude adjustment? If I am as crabby and bitter as Maxine it will probably be because I lost my pension, my social security and trust in my goverment.   

My husband was tagging along this week with me on a real estate related errand! We were sitting in the car while stopped in traffic and noticed the guy in front of us, in his car bouncing all over the place. My husband noticed him first. It was evident a bee had gotten inside this guy's car and he was trying to swat at his buzzing enemy from the driver's seat all the way to the back window. It seemed like a long shot, but he had a determined look on his face. I couldn't tell if he looked pissed or just frightened, but it was getting somewhat comical. Then my husband who is the all-time scaredy cat of bees (his phobia) makes a comment. "Oh, what a sissy...afraid of a little bee, why don't you act like a MAN"! I turned to my husband and laughed - "see what you look like when you freak out in front of other people over a little bee?" So, I wonder if this is common - can we improve in our own behaviors just by observing other people? Do you ever look at others and see youself???     

The Hudson Valley is known for a different festival almost every week during the summer - It just so happens that there are three festivals scheduled right here in Dutchess County for this weekend - you'll probably find me at one of them - guess which one! Hint...Opa! 

Greek Festival - held 11 a.m.-11 p.m. June 12-14 and noon-8 p.m. June 15. Food, games, music, dancing, vendors. 845-452-0772. Kismisis Greek Othodox Church 140 S. Grand Ave - Poughkeepsie

Strawberry Festival to be held at the Hillside Lake Fire Company which includes a Chicken Cordon Bleu dinner with strawberry shortcake for dessert. You can come just for the dessert. Take out is available. Adults - $8.50. 845-226-4083. Hillside Lake Fire Co# 3 207 Hillside Lake Road - Wappingers Falls

Strawberry Festival Annual event sponsored by Beacon Sloop Club. Music, food, crafts, farmers market. Guests may sign up at the sloop club's booth for one of five free sails aboard the Woody Guthrie. 845-831-6962. Riverfront Park - Beekman Street - Beacon

Imagine being only three counties north of NY City and having only one interstate highway! Then, imagine having only 3 bridges to navigate back and forth over the Hudson River! This afternoon my journey began at around 4:15pm. I had a 5pm appointment to meet an appraiser on the other side of the river (one county over). As I was on the entrance ramp to I-84 my cell phone rang. It was the appraiser letting me know he was one exit ahead of me - but stopped in traffic. As I entered the highway I began to see the traffic backed up. I-84 was a parking lot! In good traffic, I would have been 30 minutes away from the property. We both agreed that our Friday evening schedules were more open than our weekend and early weekday, and being that we were stuck in the same traffic snarl we would continue on with our plans - knowing we would arrive in relatively the same amount of time...whenever. Well, an hour later the appraiser called me. He made it to the property on the other side of the river. I made it only one exit in that amount of time and then I was detoured off the highway. Yes, they shut down the highway and now that everybody and their brother has GPS all the back roads were a mess too. Every route I attempted in Southern Dutchess County just put me into another traffic jam, something unheard of in these parts! Now, the radio reported this as a traffic delay because a truck carrying hay caught on fire. So, as I sat in traffic I had nothing else to do but wonder - how long could it possibly take for a bunch of hay to catch on fire, burn and be cleaned up? With each attempt to go a different route I contemplated just getting back on the highway. I had to believe it would open up again soon. Wishful thinking - according to the Poughkeepsie Journal's website some people sat in that traffic for three hours this evening. Fortunately, the property is vacant and the listing agent gave the appraiser the combo so he was able to let himself in. I spent 2 1/2 hours in the car for a journey to nowhere! I could have covered many miles in that amount of time! I guess you know you're in the country when.....a truck carrying hay catches on fire and closes down the only interstate highway in the county!   

  Poughkeepsie Journal Website Photo

A hay fire on a tractor trailer caused a massive traffic jam on Interstate 84 and surrounding roads in Wiccopee and Hopewell today. (Photo by Darryl Bautista)

A couple of weeks back a colleague's mother passed away. I attended the calling hours along with some other friends. As we sat in the funeral home talking to her son (my colleague) he became reminiscent about the life lessons his mother taught him. That night I came upon a statement I had never heard before but will be sure to pass on to my own children...and, I'd like to share it here on Active Rain.   

Do something for yourself and it lasts 5 minutes. Do something for somebody else - and it lasts a lifetime!