Real Estate Articles and Advice
Top 10 Reasons You Should Buy A Home
Why should you buy a home? Well, it’s hard to say without knowing a few details about your individual situation, but the below list will seek to cover some of the best reasons one might decide to become a homeowner. 10. It’s yours. Seems simple enough, but think of the greater implications of that particular statement. If you want to paint zebra stripes on your wall, turn y
10 Hiking Trails Near Pittsburgh
There are two types of people in this world. Numero uno: you’re #SaltLife. You like nothing better than the feel of warm sand between your toes, lying on a beach towel with a dry martini, and gazing at the ocean tide with a primordial longing, as if called back to the place where life itself began. Then there’s numero two-o: You can think of nothing more refreshing than the first gasp
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is often recognized as the beginning of summer (though technically speaking June 21st claims that honor), and that means sweaters are tucked away until late fall, the kids are in their last week or so of school, and the smell of your neighbor’s barbecue begins permeating the air. There’s certainly something magical about summer. Unless you’re like me and
What Type of Home is Right for Me?
There’s a lot to consider when buying a home. You’ve probably asked yourself a million questions already. What’s in my budget? What will my annual tax bill look like? How far am I willing to commute? How are the schools? Of course, that’s all incredibly important. Particularly if you think it might be your forever home. The next question most people will ask, or sh
The Value of Disconnecting
It’s 2023. We (the world) are hopelessly attached to our smartphones, tablets, and virtual assistant technology. The thought of leaving home without our iPhone is almost as terrifying as waking up in a room full of clowns. If we didn’t have Alexa on standby, how would we know a package had been delivered? Open the door and look? No thank you! Jokes aside, it’s easy to se
Is Now the Time to Buy a Home?
Is now the time to buy a home? To put it simply, yes. One couldn’t blame homebuyers for being hesitant based on last year's market, but that was LAST year’s market. As of this writing, inventory is up and there’s more variety in the market. Why settle when you can buy the home of your dreams? The odds of that happening are much greater than they were this time last year and o
The Pests of Summer
With April showers come… house centipedes? Yuck! It’s an inescapable fact: when the snow and ice melts and temperatures begin to reliably double the freezing point (32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius) bugs will become an unavoidable part of daily life. From warding off fruit flies to avoiding hornet’s nests in the corners of outdoor structures, you’ll want to d
Dig This! Gardening Tips Spring 2023
Confession: I do NOT have a green thumb. I did at one time. Or perhaps it was the kind of pure dumb luck only an 8-year-old could muster that allowed me to grow a 40lb pumpkin one summer. Problem is, I never matched my efforts and I’m willing to bet there are a number of you reading this right now that fall squarely in my camp. Or worse, you scouted out the perfect place to plant a finic
Hockey Mom of the Year: Jessica Webb
On behalf of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty and Stouffer Realty and The Pittsburgh Penguins, it was a great honor to recognize Jessica Webb as Hockey Mom of the Year at last night’s Penguins vs. Blackhawks game. Jessica was, of course, our Hockey Mom of the Month for February, 2023. A Greensburg native, Jessica is the current President of the Greensburg-Salem H
How Do You Say 'Berkshire?'
I know what you’re thinking: you mean there’s more than one way to pronounce Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty? Well, no, not really. The name is pronounced Berk-sherr Hathaway, not Berk-SHIRE. However, since the “shire” pronunciation is so ubiquitous, let’s take a few minutes to explain the proper pronunciation of the name and why it’s not pr
