Photo by Pear BiterIt’s been well nigh a year and a half since I last updated this real estate blog. A lot has happened in home buying and selling and right now we’re on the end (hopefully) of this recession, the job market is slowly starting to stabilize (and the last report from March showed positive indications), and lots of you are considering this year as the time to buy a new home and/or sell your existing home or investment property.

Springtime is always the best time to be getting your house ready for sale. The flowers are blooming, the feel of warm breezes on your face and the sweet fragrance of blooming things abounds heralds warmer weather to come. Folks are thinking about their gardens (and already planting, yikes, I better get a move on!) and making outdoor plans for the coming months.

And while I haven’t gone anywhere in Roanoke, I’ve still been selling with the best/rest of them, I haven’t given much attention to this site (sorry!).

My wife and I have a new baby (4 months old), our oldest is heading off to college this year and there are promising things on the horizon for everyone.

I’m looking forward to talking with you through this medium again!

Best wishes for a warm, happy spring!

Folks are looking to buy and sell real estate this year, contrary to the nay saying we hear in the media.

“I know he’d be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly“
John Denver from Rocky Mountain High

Although not a Smith Mountain Lake real estate story per se, I felt that writing about the delisting from the endangered species list today of the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) was definitely a topic worth writing about. The Bald Eagle has always held a special place in my heart as the symbol of our great country and also having earned the rank of Eagle Scout as a younger me in the Boy Scouts it holds even more significance (did you know only 5% of boys who enter Boy Scouts earn the Eagle Scout rank?).

Several news organizations wrote on the delisting today-

Washington Post – U.S. Declares Bald Eagles No Longer Threatened
CNN – Bald eagle soars off endangered list
New York Times – Bald Eagles, Thriving, Settle Into Suburban Life

You can read more from the Roanoke Times and this Botetourt County blog.

Visit their site: www.retailmenot.com

From USAToday-

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) said Thursday that it would slash prices of 291 generic prescription drugs to $4 starting in the Tampa area with plans to expand the plan to all Florida and other states in January.

You can read Wal-Mart’s press release here.

This is really great news for the insured but also the uninsured as this offer will also be available to individuals without insurance who have a valid prescription.

In my defense, I didn’t mow the grass the last time it needed it, I was on vacation and my dad surprised us by mowing it himself while we were away! Wasn’t that nice! (Sorry for the graininess of the photo, I snapped it with my cell phone camera.)

I was instantly taken back to my childhood. My grandmother used to save her old coffee cans for me to hold the crawfish, red-spotted newts and other fauna I would pull from the creeks at Camp Bethel near Troutville. I would spend Labor Day weekend at camp and never venture much further than 100 yards from any particular creek. By the end of the weekend, I had more cans, cups and containers with critters in them than you could shake a stick at. I always enjoyed letting them go though; they had been unwillingly brought me much joy over that weekend and even now the memories are fantastic.

To be a Virginian either by Birth, Marriage, Adoption, or even on one’s Mother’s side is an Introduction to any State in the Union, a Passport to any Foreign Country, and a Benediction from Above.

-Anonymous

No matter where I’ve been, I love crossing back into Virginia.