Eileen's Blog

With gyms closed this spring, and summer activities canceled, we've had more time in and around our homes. If you're like me, you've walked/run/biked your neighborhood streets like crazy. Sunday mornings, Friday nights, sometimes in the middle of the night, I've been up and down the streets of  Hershey. I've gotten to know where the sidewalks dip, where hedges bulge and where you better look twice for cars. As a realtor, I love looking at the styles of the homes, the yards, the small touches that make a house a home.

I have my definite favorites in the neighborhood; "charm" being the number one criterion.

One of these favorites is 20 Maple Avenue, owned by Dennis and Betsy Phillippy. I've never had the guts to walk up to their door, knock and say, "I just love your house. Please tell me about it." B...

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Pricing a home is one of the toughest things I do as a real estate agent. It's an art, much like hitting a curveball or knowing what shoes to wear with skinny jeans. And like these examples, it's wrought with pain if done incorrectly.

An asking price too high can, after a messy bout of price drops, cause the home to sell for less than market value. Yet a price too low may cause you to miss financial gain.

You  may assume the best approach to pricing is to list higher than you expect to receive, like listing for $350,000 but really expecting $340,000. This may have been true in past markets, but in today's climate with homes selling in single digit days, pricing at (or even below) the true market value could sell your home for more than market value. Why? This price point will attract the most buyers, increase marketing momentum,...

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Millionaire who saved 70% of his income and retired at 35: 'We should all live by these 6 basic principles'

The article from the above link tells the story of a young couple who decided that it was more important to build wealth and retire young than to live a "normal" life (a life like most of their friends and family). They pretty much gave up eating out and spending on non-essentials, even while doing all they could to increase their income. For several years they lived off 30% of what they brought in and saved the rest.

At 35, they have more than $1,000,000 in in...

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Will your home sell quickly when that time comes? The short answer: It depends where you live.

A few key statistics help determine how fast a home will sell. One of these indicators is the average "days on market," or DOM within a given geographic area. This number is determined by citing the first day a home is "active" on the multiple listing service (MLS) and counting the days until it is sold, or goes "under contract." Looking at the DOM is a quick way to grasp the temperature or liquidity of a market. The lower the DOM, the hotter the market.

Recently released statistics now available at www.EileenVoylesRealtor.com indicate that North Londonderry Township (Lebanon County, Palmyra Area School...

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The gravel track down the street has been my good friend during the quarantine. My days are much happier and productive if I start with a quick walk to and from the track and a few laps in the morning air.

When I'm running on the track, keeping my head up and my eyes looking out, I see lines of lighter gravel clearly marking several jogging lanes. Although these lines are smeared and messy—it would be tough to find a definitive start and end to a given line—the division between lanes is surely visible.

But when I looked down directly below me in a section of the line as small as a square foot, the lighter stones and darker s...

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