CELEBRATE FAMILY FUN MONTH IN BUCKS COUNTY

August is Family Fun Month and Bucks County has tons of activities that guarantee a great time for the whole family, year-round! Check out any of these attractions for hours of nonstop fun and make some new memories with your loved ones.

Sesame Place®, the nation's only theme park based entirely on the beloved children's show Sesame

Street®, is right here in Bucks County! Join the party and celebrate the amusement park's 35th birthday all-season-long with exhilarating rides, cool water slides and all-new toe-tapping shows starring everyone's favorite furry friends. The fun never stops at Sesame where everyone can be a kid again! 

Mini golf is the perfect family-friendly activity and the course at Golf Adventure is one of the area's best! With 18 holes, four ponds and two streams as well as a 15-foot waterfall, the scenic course is the

ideal setting for a family outing. After you make your way through the 18 holes, snack on soft-serve ice cream, milkshakes, soft drinks, pizza, hot dogs and more at the course-side food court.

Peddler's Village is home to Giggleberry Fair, a spectacular indoor play center that's fun for kids and adults alike! Its centerpiece is Giggleberry Mountain, the area's largest indoor obstacle course at three-stories tall. Make sure to check out the game room, equipped with more than 40 of the newest games on the market and then take a ride on the vintage 1922 Grand Carousel. If you've worked up an appetite, The Painted Pony awaits with delicious fresh pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders and many more kid-friendly foods and snacks.

When it's hot, there's no better way to spend time outdoors with your family than at Bucks County River Country. Located in the beautiful village of Point Pleasant, they offer kayaks, canoes, river rafts and the popular river tube available to take for two- to four-hour trips along the scenic Delaware River. Come see the "World's River Tubing Capital" for an adventure the whole family will love!

Grab your family and a hammer and head to Ringing Rocks Park, an eight-acre boulder field and

geologic wonder. When struck with a hammer, the rocks give off a loud, high-pitched ringing noise so you can make your own music all day long. After you and your family take turns taking your swings, hit the trail to explore the rest of the park, home to Bucks County's tallest waterfall. 

All aboard the historic New Hope & Ivyland Railroad! Travel into a scene from the past as this 1925 steam locomotive pulls passengers from New Hope to Lahaska on a 45-minute ride through the beautiful Bucks County countryside. Journey back in time, learning what rail travel was like for your ancestors as you make new memories of your own! 

Family fun is always in season at Shady Brook Farm! One of the last working farms in historic Bucks County, Shady Brook offers tons of exciting festivals year-round as well as "Pick-Your-Own" Days where guests can head out into the fields to pick fresh fruits and vegetables. While you're there, make sure to get a scoop from Uncle Dave's Homemade Ice Cream. Since setting up shop at the farm in 2007, Uncle Dave's has been serving up super premium, hand-dipped ice cream to hungry customers of all ages!

My Appraisal Came in Low, Now What?

Whether you are buying or selling a home, the appraisal matters. Even when the buyer and seller have agreed on a price, the deal could fall apart if the appraisal comes in low.

In a sellers’ market when there are plenty of qualified buyers, multiple offer situations can drive up the purchase price higher than the sale price of the comparable properties.
In a buyers’ market, there are more properties on the market and there are fewer buyers purchasing, so values will be soft or falling.

Either way, the appraisal can be cause for concern.

There are several other reasons that an appraisal can come in low.  There could be an abundance of foreclosure or short sales that would drive values down. The appraiser could be from outside the area and not have local market knowledge, or they could be inexperienced.  Or the seller could have overpriced the property in the first place.

So your appraisal came in low, well here is what you can do. First, don’t panic because there are options so that the deal will not fall through. The buyer can make up the difference in cash by adding to the down payment to reach the agreed upon purchase price. If you are the seller, you could have a pre-sale appraisal completed when you list the property for sale.

The seller could lower the sales price to meet the appraised value. The buyer or the seller could order and pay for a second appraisal. You could ask the listing agent or buyers agent to provide a list of comparable properties that do support the value, and ask the underwriter to re-evaluate the appraisal. There is always the chance that they will consider new or overlooked information.

The deal doesn’t have to fall apart, but some do. If you remember that most problems are correctable
and address the problems one at a time, you should be able to work through them and get the deal to closing. If you have any questions on appraisals, feel free to call me directly at 215-519-1399.

The Perfect Time To Sell

Everyone – just take a deep breath and take a look outside. The snow is finally gone, and we can see the very beginning of little buds forming on our trees. Spring is here – soon our yards will have green grass and flowers will bloom!

Spring is the perfect time to sell your home. Potential home buyers enjoy the freshly-planted flowers next to your front walkway, the beautiful colors of flowering trees in your backyard, and the sweet smells which only spring can offer.

Selling your home gives spring cleaning a new meaning. If you are currently thinking of selling your home, be sure to pack up any personal items such as family photos. It makes it much easier for potential home buyers to picture themselves in the home when they are not looking at your child on the refrigerator. If a room is cluttered, place some excess furniture in a storage unit to provide more space – this step will also allow a room to appear larger.

Outdoors, be sure to rake up your yard, plant some flowers, pick up fallen tree branches, and repair any damage that may have occurred during the winter.

Thinking of selling your Bucks County home? Looking for a new home in Bucks County? Call me today at 215-519-1399 or visit my website for more information.