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      • 507 Baird Rd
      • 223 Valley Rd
      • 17 Shirley Road, Narberth
      • 3 Narwyn Ln, Narberth
      • 405 Merwyn Rd
      • 208 Woodbine Ave, Narberth
      • 225 Marlboro Rd, Ardmore
      • 112 Elmwood Ave
      • 262 Barwynne Rd
      • 526 Dudley Ave
      • 120 Merbrook lane
      • 219 Conway Ave
      • 19 Woodside
      • 105 Price Ave
      • 225 Iona
      • 381 E. Montgomery
      • 503 Valley View
      • 509 Monroe
      • 123 Elmwood
      • 157 Merion
      • 9 Chestnut
      • 311 Gypsy Lane
      • 225 Price
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NEWS & NOTES

Spring Cleaning

4/6/2021

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Ready to do some Spring Cleaning?  Both Narberth and Lower Merion have special opportunities for disposing of your extra stuff!  Keep reading for details on both.

​Before you throw it away, always try to re-use and recycle whenever possible.
​See details below on the NCA's Pop-Up Recycling, April 18-24. More ideas here. ​
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Lower Merion Clean Up Weekends
Free Disposal Of Refuse And Recyclables at:
Lower Merion Public Works Complex

1300 N Woodbine Avenue, Penn Valley
610-667-1952 or 610-667-1953

Saturday, April 10th & Sunday, April 11th from 9am – 4pm
Saturday, April 24th & Sunday, April 25th from 9am – 4pm
Saturday, October 9th & Sunday, October 10th from 9am – 4pm

Note:  Until Further Notice: Masks and Social Distancing will be required to enter the Transfer Station. Staff will not be available to unload items in order to adhere to distancing requirements and for the safety of our residents and staff.

Dispose of your unwanted refuse and recyclables — household appliances, textiles, plastic, glass, newsprint, and plain old trash — without charge!

Proof of residency is required (such as a driver's license).

Recyclable material must be separated from other household trash.

No hazardous waste. You can drop off hazardous waste, like fuel, pesticides, and oil-based paint on specific collection days throughout the year at different Montco locations.
Hazardous Waste disposal details 
here. 

Also at the Transfer Station: Take advantage of the Township's recycling drop-off center. Recycle mixed paper, textiles and commingled items.

Several non-profit organizations will have representatives on hand to collect, bicycles, furniture, clothing and more:

- Harmonious Volunteer Center (furniture, toys, clothing)
- Neighborhood Bike Works (bicycles)

​Official LM Cleanup Weekend website here. 

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Narberth's 2021 Spring Cleanup Week - June 7-11

Also known as "Junk Week", this is the week the Borough schedules extra trash pickups, so residents can put out any large items, extra trash, or clutter. See the map for the collection schedule, and review the list of restrictions below. 

Items that are NOT collected include: 
- building materials 
- hazardous waste, like paint and pesticides (learn more)
- electronics (learn more)
- appliances 
- metals 
- tires
- lawn & garden waste (collected on Wednesdays)

Regular trash routes will remain the same during this week. 

Questions can be emailed to info@narberthpa.gov.
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Unofficial Instruction manual for Narberth’s Junk Week:
  1. Pull all the stuff out of your basement;
  2. Have a garage sale - get your neighbors to join in and make it a street-long sale;
  3. Recycle items in good condition with your favorite charity; 
  4. Put everything that’s left (see restrictions above) out on the curb for your neighbors to browse through. Cover the “good stuff” with a tarp if it looks like rain; 
  5. Tour the neighborhood under the guise of "taking a walk" to see what good stuff your neighbors have.  (A dog is useful but not necessary for this.)
  6. Leave whatever remains out there for the Borough to pick up.
  7. *** And Remember *** Do NOT leave bikes, scooters, or other items you want to keep anywhere near the curb this week. You don't want any misunderstandings about what is up for grabs and what you intend to keep!

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle!
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The Narberth Civic Association celebrates Earth Week 2021, April 18-24, with earth-friendly activities like Pop-up recycling. See more at the Civic's website.

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Used Books?  Local Girl Scout Troop 7886 is collecting books for students in a Philadelphia school.

More info on LM and Narberth Disposal and Recycling rules and regs. 
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Local Shredding Events

3/18/2021

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Rep. Mary Jo Daley is hosting two local shredding events. From her office:
​"I am co-hosting a pair of free shredding events this spring. These events allow you to safely dispose of unwanted personal documents such as bills, tax forms, credit card applications, etc.

There are limits of four grocery bags or banker boxes per household, and attendees are asked to transport their materials from their vehicles to the bins for shredding. Newspapers, magazines and journals will not be accepted.


The first event is from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, April 17, at the Magisterial Courthouse parking lot, 925 Montgomery Ave., in Narberth, Pa., 19072. The next will be Sunday, May 23, from 10-12 a.m. at Welsh Valley Middle School, 325 Tower Lane, Penn Valley, Pa., 19072."     
​Rep. Mary Jo Daley
For more information about Narberth or Lower Merion trash collection, recycling, hazardous waste collection, and other waste disposal/recycling topics, see this post.
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Local Real Estate market in Spring 2021

3/15/2021

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The early start of the Spring market has seen some of the most intense competition for homes this region has ever experienced. The combination of low inventory, low interest rates, and pent-up demand from a pandemic-interrupted 2020, created the perfect storm for a seller’s market.

Here are 10 updates from the local real estate scene:


Spring came early. The Spring market is a “thing” because families want to buy in the Spring, and move in the summer, so they are settled before the new school year in the fall. The 2021 market started warming up well ahead of the weather outside - it was already well underway before Superbowl Sunday this year!

There are way more buyers than sellers right now.  Homes for sale, especially those listed by experienced realtors, are attracting unusual levels of buyer traffic. With Covid safety measures making it important for parties to distance from each other, it’s become common for available showing appointments to be booked up for days in a row, and for a (distanced) line of prospective buyers waiting for their turn to enter an open house. 

Many homes are selling for over the asking price. Often, the list price is just the starting point for negotiations. Sale prices are often much higher, and can substantially exceed appraised values. 

Cash offers have become much more common. As sellers are looking for certainty and finality, a cash or “no mortgage contingency” offer is viewed as stronger and “cleaner” than an offer with a mortgage contingency. For this reason, at lower price points, prospective homeowners often lose bidding wars to investors looking for properties to rent or flip.

Appraisals are still catching up with sale prices. The publicly-available data doesn’t tell the whole market value story because the MLS doesn’t show the final price of homes sales that haven’t closed yet. Now more than ever, it’s important to have an agent who is an expert in the neighborhoods you’re targeting. The best agents have been in all the recently sold homes, and they can best estimate what a house “should” go for.  

Unrepresented buyers and sellers are at a disadvantage. As the seller typically pays the agent’s commissions, there's almost never a good reason to be an unrepresented buyer. It’s like turning down a good free lawyer on your day in court, and just hoping for the best! Plus, some properties are actually under contract by the time an unrepresented buyer sees them on syndicated websites like Zillow. Sellers need agents more than ever, too,  because the “market price” for homes is changing so fast. FSBO sellers, trying to save on commissions, can end up netting less on the sale because they don’t know how to handle multiple offers, and because they don’t have an agent’s insight about local market changes that month, that week, or even that day. Agents who are experts in your neighborhood are worth every penny, and then some.

Some winning buyers are dropping contingencies. Contingencies are the “unless” clauses that give buyers a contractual right to back out of an agreement.  For years, in our local market, it has become commonplace for strong offers to be free of home sale contingencies - that is, the offer to buy the new house is not contingent on the sale of the buyer’s old house. Now, in this ultra-competitive 2021 market, agents are helping clients with creative strategies to win bidding wars. Some buyers are dropping all contingencies to win homes, including inspection contingencies! Contingencies protect the buyer’s deposit money, so make sure you understand the implications before you waive them.

Some of the higher price points are the most competitive. While all budget levels are popular right now, recently we’ve seen some of the fiercest competition for houses $1M+ that we’ve seen in years.

“Done” and “new” command a real premium. People move to the neighborhoods in and around the Lower Merion School District for the schools, walkability, and easy commutes, and they usually just accept the fact that the local home inventory is mostly older. In the few cases where this great location is combined with new construction, those homes command a high premium. Buyers are likewise choosing to pay a premium for homes that have been renovated with new kitchens and bathrooms, luxurious bedroom suites, or finished basements. With interest rates so low, buyers are choosing a bigger mortgage over the inconvenience of living through a project.

Interest rates are still near historic lows, but have recently started to creep back up.  One of our lenders, Tim Lowry, of Prosperity Mortgage, gave us the following March 26 interest rate update.  See their website for details or email Tim. ​
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Main Line Beauty

2/25/2021

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See all the details and photos from 401 Baird Rd, Merion Station here. 
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cindy@lowermerionhomes.com
215.370.4830
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4 E. Montgomery Ave,  Ardmore, PA  19003
610.822.3356 (office)  
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site search:

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Testimonials
    • Read Reviews
    • Leave a Review
  • Listings
    • 401 Baird
    • 123 Glenwood
    • 127 Chestnut
    • Previous Listings >
      • 53 Schiller Ave
      • 101 Conway Ave
      • 314 Grayling Ave
      • 29 Hansen Court
      • 311 Gypsy Ln
      • 8 Brynwood Manor
      • 507 Baird Rd
      • 223 Valley Rd
      • 17 Shirley Road, Narberth
      • 3 Narwyn Ln, Narberth
      • 405 Merwyn Rd
      • 208 Woodbine Ave, Narberth
      • 225 Marlboro Rd, Ardmore
      • 112 Elmwood Ave
      • 262 Barwynne Rd
      • 526 Dudley Ave
      • 120 Merbrook lane
      • 219 Conway Ave
      • 19 Woodside
      • 105 Price Ave
      • 225 Iona
      • 381 E. Montgomery
      • 503 Valley View
      • 509 Monroe
      • 123 Elmwood
      • 157 Merion
      • 9 Chestnut
      • 311 Gypsy Lane
      • 225 Price
  • More
    • Start a Search
    • Our Team
    • Compass Concierge
    • News and Notes
    • LMSD Schools >
      • Elementary Schools
      • Middle Schools
      • High Schools
    • Narberth >
      • About Narberth and Narberth Real Estate
      • Narberth Calendar