Christian Real Estate Professionals : Pennsylvania

I was privileged enough to have received an invitation to the retirement party for Dave Evans, a lifelong banker and business associate and friend.

The gala was hosted by Phoenixville Federal Bank & Trust, indicating the mutual respect and admiration accrued over Dave's many years of service. He leaves behind a well-trained staff of mortgage professionals who will surely carry on his legacy at the consumer-friendly, local banking institution, more affectionately know as Phoenix Fed.  

Dave oversaw operations in the mortgage department at Phoenixville Federal Bank & Trust for many years.  

He is an avid golfer and a 'not so shabby' tennis player, I'm told. I'm sure Dave will pursue both those interests with much rigor and enthusiasm now that he has retired. Travelling with his wife will also be on the Evans schedule of things to do.  

The memories of many closings shared between us will last for many years. Stories, both serious and funny, fill our minds and provide much to talk about whenever we gather to eat or share a beverage.  

And the well-attended gathering last night to celebrate his retirement attested to Dave's popularity among notables in the real estate world in the Phoenixville and Southeastern Pennsylvania area. In fact, I never saw so many local title people gathered together in one place, not to mention the many real estate agents among his sphere of influence.  

I couldn't resist writing this post to memorialize his retirement and our friendship, both personal and professional.  

May The Lord be gracious to him and his family, and provide them with many more years of joy and happiness...!!!

It has been actively raining in Pennsylvania all year...  

In fact, the grass is so green this time of year...when we would normally be recovering from brown dormancy, we're mowing grass twice a week instead, and we're mowing it wet to boot...!!!  

Of course, my Scag Tiger Cub Zero Turn, which allows me to cut 2 acres of lawn in an hour and a half instead of 3 to 5 hours as with a conventional tractor, is still in the shop waiting for a small part from Kawasaki, the engine manufacturer...  

I thought perhaps by writing this post, I might get some productive Google Juice flowing with some of the key words in here...!!!  

The good news, however, is that the Berks County sweet corn crop is in and simply delicious...If you've never tasted Berks County sweet corn on the cob, you don't know what you're missing...  

It is so good you can eat it raw...!!!  

Have a great weekend and go out and grab yourself some of that great sweet corn on the cob...!!!  

In fact, there are a lot of Pennsylvania freshly farm grown products in season right now...go for a nice weekend family drive and hunt down one of those pleasant Pennsylvania roadside stands...they're full of local peaches, watermelons, cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers, corn, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, string beans, apples, pears, pumpkins, etc...!!!

 

 

 

The other day I posted about our new U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sonja Sotomayor, and in that post I referenced the idea of CELEBRATION...  

Well as of July 30, 2009, the faithful Catholics of the Diocese Of Allentown, Pennsylvania have reason for CELEBRATION...a new Bishop...a new shepherd...!!!  

May The Lord's blessings be upon him in this new mission...!!!  

Newly ordained a Bishop at the same time as his installation as chief shepherd of the Diocese, The Most Reverend John O. Barres, brings with him a youthful appearance and an interesting background...

The oldest son of former Protestant ministers, with four older sisters and a younger brother, and who was baptized by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and who played JV basketball at Princeton University, chose for his episcopal motto---'Holiness and Mission'...!!! 

Especially memorable at his installation homily were his words to the young people of the diocese:     

   "Know the hope and dreams I have for each one of you. Know that I realize that you want to understand and know the truth and person of Jesus Christ, the Truth and Person who will set you free.   

   Your deep and developing Catholic faith, your heroism in embracing the truth of the Gospels and Church teaching, and resisting negative peer pressure, helps to rekindle the faith of the generations that go before you. Thank you for that faith. Thank you for that heroism. Keep following the Light of Christ."  

We pledge our loyalty to Bishop Barres and wish him well as he shepherds the flock of the Allentown Diocese!  

And with initials J.O.B. he reminds us as Pope Benedict XVI did last October to study and pray the sacred Scriptures daily...!!!  

Bishop Barres, a warm and hearty welcome to you, and may God's richest blessings be upon you...!!!

Most of my neighbors in Amity Township spent the weekend cleaning up the damage caused by an intense storm which swept through our area on Friday evening around the dinner hour...  

According to the weather 'experts' no tornado was seen to touch down by local radar...  

Except Amity is literally within a valley surrounded on all sides by substantial hills...in fact, I'm always kidding my children by saying we live in a former volcano or a large meteorite-caused crater... and lest I'm mistaken, radar, is only able to detect line of sight occurrences, and the damage to our area was focused mainly on low lying areas, particularly those in heavily clustered treed areas and densely wooded areas along creeks and gullies...  

Hence the term 'flying under the radar' typically applies to this one hour duration, mile and a half wide, catastrophic storm...  

Our home suffered a screen panel torn off our french doors and two major limbs brought down on two trees...even though our Star Spangled Banner continued to wave atop its twenty foot mast, unmolested by the ravages of Mother Nature, attesting further that we live in the home of the brave...  

Only by the Grace of God were lives spared and damage to residences kept to an unbelievable minimum...  

In any case, tornado or no, Amity residences are counting our blessings, and thanking God that the powerful winds and bigger than golf-ball sized hail didn't damage our most precious possessions...our family members...!!!  

In just a few days, no one but us will know that anything unusual and so devastating occurred in our resilient and lovely neighborhood...!!!  

Amity lives...!!!

 

 

and I know that old addage to be true in most things in life. It's really because what we knew as home turns out to be something so totally different when we've been away from it for a while. Well, I've been away from ActiveRain for a while...a long while, and now I find myself back at the computer, peering at the screen and trying to align my thoughts in some sort of order that will make sense to anyone who stumbles across my blog in their search for knowledge, comic relief or an escape from something else they'd rather not be doing right now.

Hello ActiveRain readers, my name is Andrew Trevino and I am a blogger...

I feel like I have to introduce myself, like the first day I posted a blog on ActiveRain many, many months ago. No, I'm no newbie, but it's been so long since I've written a blog post that it feels brand new to me. Brand new isn't a bad thing, is it? Maybe it's more like that alcoholic who has beaten their addiction, for now, and is able to stand up and say that they've been clean for 5 months, 21 days, 8 hours and 46 minutes. Yes, I still remember those anxious moments, at 2:38am where I was sitting in bed, my laptop beginning to make my legs uncomfortably sweaty under the covers while artlessly ignoring my wife's almost continuous moaning because my incessant typing and the dull glow of the screen was keeping her awake. I just had to get that post out and then I just had to wait a few minutes to see if my post was worthy of some other blog-addicted writer's comments.

Am I the prodigal son returned to his blogging home? Where's my ring and fatted calf? I guess in a way I am. I did a Google search today and found, not unexpectedly, that I am on the 4th page. Tucked away in no-man's land like the 100,000 other returns on "Realtors in Wilkes-Barre PA". Might as well be the last, right? It's a good thing that I have a steady referral base or I just might be in some serious trouble!!

I haven't checked yet, but I imagine I may have lost a few of those faithful readers who seemed to get something out of my posts day in and day out. For you, I apologize for my extended absence. If you are still there, I'm grateful and I hope to have some worthwhile reading for you soon. In the meantime, bear with me while I get my, ahem, groove back.

It will certainly take me some time to catch up on my old friends' blogs, see what's going on in the lives of those who definitely impacted mine through their writing and figure out what I've been missing since I've been gone. I imagine that my blog will be very "old-school" for all of you. Maybe I should have read a few of yours to see just how old-school I'll appear, but I've never been known for being pragmatic.

I will take some time over the next few days to get back in the groove and update you all on what's been going on in my life over the last few months. A lot has changed...some for the better and some for the worse, but that's life after all. In the meantime, let me assure you of a few things...

1. I am still a Realtor in Wilkes-Barre, PA.I still work with TradeMark Realtors Group and am enjoying a very busy schedule these days. I guess all that work at learning to be a good buyer's agent is paying off. It is a buyer's market after all, so I'm perfectly in my element.  

2. I still own my own Property Management Company. Maybe some of you didn't know that at all, so it may be news to you. My company is called ADT Property Management Company. This company has grown tremendously over the last year, from 7 properties to almost 60 now. If you can imagine, this takes up a lot of my time and is the main reason for my absence. There are only 24 hours in a day, I've found.

3. I have gotten no better at time management, so my start may be as stop and go as that '67 Dodge Dart, with the bad carburetor, I owned many years ago. But, much like that car, I'll manage to keep moving forward as well as I can.

4. I still enjoy writing very much. Well, I think I do. I've learned that you don't always get to do the things you like every day, but I've made it my goal to spend time on this each and every day. So, like pulling the old bike out of the basement each Spring, I will pull out the keyboard and loosen up the typing fingers to put some of the gazillion thoughts that run through my brain each day on the proverbial internet paper that this blog has become.

Oh man, is this becoming a top ten list? I better stop before I get too deep. Anyway, thanks for checking out my blog and bearing with me as I shake the dust off. I hope you have tissues handy and aren't allergic!! I imagine there'll be much more shaking to do before I get it right.

Until next time...

It was about a 40 minute drive from our home to the recreational area in Leesport, Pa., where Schuyllkill Valley Girls Softball Association would host a 10U (age 10 and under) girls softball tournament...!!!  

It was a double elimination tournament beginning at 9 AM, and so you lose two games, and you're out...!!!  

And so, the discussion in the car between my 8 year old daughter Emily and me on the way to this early morning sporting event revolved around self confidence, having fun, playing hard, and reminders that there are probably plenty of teams worse than ours, who, up until this point, hadn't won a game yet...  

Heck, regardless, it would be a great Daddy/Daughter bonding event, and we'd probably be back home by 1 or 2 PM...  

In true form, our team (The Thunder), lost the first game even though they showed brief flashes of brilliance...one more loss and we could head home and have some Saturday fun...  

Well, we got a little lucky, and pulled the second game out in the last inning...our first win of the season...  

Now the girls got a little taste of success, and you could tell by their facial expressions and general behavior that they liked this feeling...!!!  

Long story short, they proceed to win the next two games...each game showing greater skills, enthusiasm, self confidence and team spirit...!  

We end up finishing third in the tournament, and barely made it home in time to watch the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird pull off an upset of immense historic proportions...  

And so did The Thunder...!!!

 

 

We bloggers here on Active Rain are being challenged to post a content-rich consumer post for prospective buyers...SO...  

Prospective purchasers of real estate, listen up...!!!  

Before you even look at your first home consideration, let me describe briefly the transaction process...  

A real estate transaction is a fairly complex, significantly important, and usually financially straining process...focus on the word STRAINING...  

Now don't look at STRAINING as meaning STRESSFUL...  

Look at the transactional process as a giant filter or, better yet, a series of filters, designed to separate out all the impurities and eliminate them from the transaction...we begin with the offer, the agreement of sale, the single most important document in a real estate purchase...this document gives us the course through which we must steer this ship, and the filters we must navigate through, in order to arrive safely at our destination...our goal...FINAL SETTLEMENT...and accomplished in a filtered, streamlined, minimally stressful, efficient, and hopefully pleasant manner...  

The Title Company is the single most important FILTER in our analogy...WHY???  

Because the Title Company is the last line of defense against avoiding an unpleasant and even possibly corrupt closing experience...THE LAST FILTER in the series of filters...the filter stops here...  

This analogy only works if you have an independent title company whose ultimate allegiance is to its INSURED (usually the buyer)...  

If you opt for a ONE STOP SHOP closing transactional experience, your title company is really only a facilitator to protect the closing from going south and thus protecting lucrative commissions to real estate agents and/or affiliated lender entities...  

Is this always the case...???  

By no means!  

There are many caring ONE STOP SHOP title operations that operate in an ethical manner...problem is...can we the consumer determine which to trust and which to stay clear of...You'd better have a great 6th sense to make the correct discernment in this regard...  

Consumers...Have I frightened you...I apologize, but I am passionately involved in assuring pleasant, efficient, ethical and stress free closing experiences to every customer...  

Only then will my goal be realized and consumers really be king...!!!