You are on the private e-group of Adrienne "Abe" Wagner and Robert "Wags" Wagner, Realtors of Prudential Preferred Realty, Laurel Highlands Office, Donegal PA, in the Laurel Highlands of SW PA, USA. If this message comes to you in error our apologies. Please let us know and we will clear you from this group. This update is not an attempt to solicit the offerings of other brokers and is for informational purposes only. Properties referred to are those listed or represented by our team and do not represent all properties in market area. All opinions are ours alone.

Thank you to all who enjoy our updates! Always know that we do post these updates on our Newsletters Page on our website so if in the future we may seem to be late please check our site, your spam system may be blocking our message.

1. Market Overview After returning from our mid year national and our state REALTOR meetings here is the message, "When you hear that the national average temperature is 68 degrees for today, you automatically stop and adjust it to fit your home town." THAT'S what you need to do when it comes to the real estate market! Adjust accordingly! Right now, buyers won't be happy to hear, but so far both resorts are fairing way better than the National statistics! Just to prove once again that all markets can not be lumped into a 15 second sound bite!

Once again though we caution you to make sure your REALTOR is representing you! Both of these markets are setting new trends during their adjustment phases. Hidden Valley is seeing great turn over for sales with days on market getting smaller. Seven Springs now has the most resale inventory in recent history with sales lagging behind previous records.

2. SEVEN SPRINGS: Buyer's heads have been turned to Hidden Valley for less expensive properties and way more living space. Just look at the difference in recorded resales through May compared to Hidden Valley! Sellers now need to consider competition in their own community as well as the offerings at Hidden Valley. When the price offerings at Hidden Valley become comparable with the Seven Springs properties we believe buyers will begin to make their way back to Seven Springs. When that happens buyers SHOULD be factoring in property taxes (HV at 44.36 mils vs 7S at 28.57) and available amenities.

Here's how the recorded transfers break down for the past two years in the price categories just at Seven Springs through MAY of the year. Remember these are only RESALE properties.

Erasing History There used to be a "Dupre" meeting room. If you were headed to the slopes down the convention stairs it was off to the left. Inside were pictures that captured the history of the resort. Family pictures that shared the story of the Dupre's life as they created the mountain gem known as Seven Springs embellished the walls. That room is now called "Wintergreen" and all memorabilia of the family has been removed. Helen's restaurant (the original home) is the only place you can still find some of the family pictures. Our BLOG shares a tribute that was written in honor of Helen Dupre. We hope you enjoy it!

Airport Temporarily Closed Truthfully, with the winter weather, it has never been a year round amenity. In years gone by many of the Dupres and their management team had their own planes and flew. But in todays market let's consider the value of an airport that is only 3,000 feet long and only ever accessible during warm weather. If you have ever been up to this part of the resort you know the views are breathtaking. As Southwind is being built out and the new Sport Shooting Center is still under construction you have to wonder if developing this area is a better financial strategy. We won't be surprised if it's more than a temporary closing.

SOUTHWIND Finally a long awaited pool for these home owners! So far only 4 resales have been sold ( 2 of our listings, 1 FSBO, 1 other office). Inventory continues to grow with 4 of the 10 listings priced over a million! We have one under that number, 113 Chipmunk Drive.

We'll be happy to share details about specific designs and their prices. E-mail ABE@ABEandWAGS.com or give her a call at 412-897-8535 if you're interested in what's happening with properties like yours!

3. Hidden Valley: The numbers speak for themselves. Seven Springs saw tremendous appreciation in 2006 and now Hidden Valley properties are finally getting their turn. What's very exciting is to see movement in properties over $300,000 Since Jan 1 there have been five recorded transfers. Three of those five were over $500,000! These resales are through MAY of the year.

We've heard that pricing for new construction is to be around $400,000. Time will tell but that could very well send buyers back to Seven Springs properties. Buyers will be factoring in real estate taxes and available facilities. Buncher's progress for new amenities is moving slower than expected due to the permitting phase of the process. They are installing new snow making lines and are focusing on the winter amenities.

Inventory stands at ONLY 35 listings with 17 over $300,000. Appreciation is happening with prices of similar floor plans seeing immediate bumps in asking and selling prices. Especially if there is LIMITED inventory of that particular design. Our Ridgeview listing closed recently for $745,000. That's the highest resale recorded that we've been able to document. Times they are a changing!

4. Local Activities: Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau Backyard Adventure. We try not to miss this yearly event of selected members establishments! Here's where we toured! We started with a visit to John Harvards Restaurant and pub and then went to Hidden Valley, from there we went to the Rockwood Mill Shops and Opera House and the Great Allegheny Passage Biking Trail Head in Rockwood. Right next to the trail head is a great bike shop and B&B. On to the Driscoll Center in Somerset featuring local and regional artists, then lunch at the River's Edge Cafe in Confluence. What a wonderful place to have a meal! Across the street to The Parker House, This is a huge B & B property that has updated conveniences! Also, we had a chance to try the rental recumbent bikes available for the trail. Easy to ride and too much fun.

Next stop was the Flight 93 Memorial, Even though we've been here several times the emotional impact is still overwhelming. The Somerset Historical Center featuring displays on early agricultural development then on to the Green Gables Theater and Restaurant. Thanks so much to Quest Coach for providing the transportation! Go to our Blog and Website for way more details on these attractions and venues.

5. ATV TRAILS Twenty minutes from Somerset you'll find Mountain Ridge Trails Resort, LLC. With 2,500 acres to play on and an additional 500 if you really need! It's a family friendly facility with trails marked like the ski slopes. It's so awesome that the GNCC will be there July 5-6. Our BLOG has much more!

6. Get rid of your PMI: If you bought your house with less than 20% down you are probably paying Property Mortgage Insurance (PMI) that is costing you several hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year. With property values up over recent years at both resorts your home could have a value that makes your mortgage less than 80% of the property value, allowing you to request removal of the PMI. Although banks have a requirement to remove PMI when your mortgage is paid down to less than 78% of the mortgage amount they do not take into account property appreciation. You have to pled your case. Call us to get an idea if your home value is such that it merits an appraisal and request to remove your PMI. CLICK HERE for an article on PMI.

7. Virtual Mapping: We have been expanding the Microsoft virtual mapping system to include Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Developments, Attractions, and our listings. Use the link on our website page. Open the collection and highlight the property with your cursor, then zoom to street, and use the aerial view. Really neat, if you take the time you can measure out how many feet it is from your front door to the pool, get directions, and more.

8. Buying and Selling Tips: Over the years we have collected checklists and tip sheets on how to buy or sell property. They are FREE to you as a download on our Free Reports webpage. If you plan on taking one of these actions don't reinvent the wheel, use our great lists of tips and tricks to doing real estate the right way.

9. Team News: Our National REALTOR Association is working on a REAL ESTATE data base program that will put all others to shame! Sites like Zillow and Trullio all pull from static records or rely on individual input. This system will work with MLS systems, public records AND the REALTOR to create records of ALL properties in the USA. This program will be for REALTOR eyes ONLY and will give us great insight to help our clients around the world! We hope to see the beta site out later this year.

Abe attended her first International Operations Committee and was surprised at the involvement NAR has around the world! Through our National Association we have negotiated brokerage agreements with most of the world and are making it easier for people to safely purchase property anywhere in the world.

Blogging. For those of you who like to be updated more than bi-monthly check out our BLOG. We try to keep this e-mail update easy to read and often have to edit to keep it from getting too long. Our BLOG allows us to add more content but YOU have to go there to read the info! We update it when mountain news happens with property sales and activities weekly. Try the RSS feed for keeping current! This e-mail update eventually will become a much shorter recap of what we have posted there. What's nice about the BLOG is that you can be interactive by adding your comments. Try it out!

10. Tek Tip: Real Estate Wiki Following suit of Wikipedia there is now a site devoted to real estate! Real Estate Wiki is a tremendous resource for the consumer with lots of links on just about every real estate topic you could imagine. Try it out!

As members of the Real Estate Cyber Society we have a Monthly Newsletter with really neat Internet tips and tricks. Get free links to sites that let you know if your e-mail was opened, upload and transferring big files, the "walkablitiy score" of your neighborhood, and more. Enjoy!

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Resales 2008	HV	7S
<100,000	2	0
101-200	32	1
201-300	8	4
301-400	2	3
401-500	0	2
>501,000	3	2
TOTALS	47	12

2008	2007	2006	7S Resales
0	0	0	<100,000
1	1	5	101-200
4	8	8	201-300
3	6	10	301-400
2	2	0	401-500
2	0	0	>501,000
12	17	23	TOTALS

2008	2007	2006	HV Resales
2	1	5	<100,000
32	12	15	101-200
8	2	4	201-300
2	0	0	301-400
0	0	0	401-500
3	0	0	>501,000
47	15	24	TOTALS