Snow Day

9 degrees at 8:30 a.m., 8 degrees at 9:20 a.m.  What?!!?  That's just wrong in Lexington but makes for a well-worth it Snow Day!  Congratulations Fayette County Public Schools for making a good choice in closing school yesterday. 

By the way, those are ducks and geese out on the lake late yesterday afternoon. 

and an attempt to see if the Lake really was frozen enough to stand on.  Answer:  yes.

There you go.  Blizzard in the 'hood.

...and the hill was fast!  We'll be off to Lexington's best sledding hill at Shriner's Hospital this afternoon. 

More snow, please!

Boones Trace...

I may have confessed previously to being an Inside New Circle Road snob when it comes to my personal life. But that said, I'm not above pretending that if I didn't like my own neighborhood so much, I'd live in ____________ (fill in the blank here).

I think today, I'd live in Boones Trace. This great neighborhood is just across the Fayette County line in north Madison County. My favorite part of Boones Trace is the drive across the Kentucky River which can be achieved on the big I-75 bridge or the little blue Clays Ferry bridge underneath. I prefer the latter. I have a wonderful listing there at 143 Gleneagles Boulevard which every time I visit wish was my house. Last week driving from there I slowed for three deer crossing the road to the Clay's Ferry-first deer I've ever seen in my life in Fayette County proper!



This picture is taken from Avawam Drive (i.e. The Main Drag through BT) looking over and across the river to the I-75 Bridge on a stark winter day. If you live on the right side of Avawam, you have the spectacular view of the Kentucky River.

If I lived in Boones Trace, I might even try to play golf.

Snow in Kentucky...

I try hard not to envy my friends in climates with oodles of gorgeous white snow but I'm happy to say that Kentucky winters provide just enough snow for adequate winter entertainment. With an insider's knowledge of the right sledding hills, you can achieve maximum sledding! And, with the right assistance, a good four-foot snowman is possible with just an inch of snow.

Bybee Pottery

My name is Gwen and I'm a Bybee Pottery addict. It started about 20 years ago. I had just graduated from college and I needed a few things for my new apartment. My sister suggested that we take a trip to Berea (I'll get to that in another post) and why not stop at Bybee Pottery on the way there. And so we did, and that's where my troubles began. A few coffee mugs, a butter dish, a pie plate or two from the seconds shelf. Today, we dine off Bybee plates, eat cereal from Bybee bowls and if you ever get a plate of cookies or a pie from me you can bet it's on Bybee!

Bybee Pottery, in Waco Kentucky, has been in business since 1809. Their distinctive primitive style is familiar to most Kentuckians in Bybee blue as well as their very attractive speckled finishes. While you can find Bybee at various gift shops around the South and at the occasional quality garage sale, the best way to get Bybee is to get it yourself. A worthwhile visit to Bybee means being out the door by 7:10 a.m. from Lexington to make certain you are in line for the sale room's door opening at exactly 8 a.m. Pictured above we stand with our recent Bybee purchases in mid-December. When shopping's completed you can give yourself a tour of the pottery (also pictured above). We always like to see what's being made, talk to the craftspeople AND as we discovered on our recent chilly morning -- stay warm from the fiery kiln. Little has changed in the way the pottery is made in the last 200 years. The clay still comes from a short distance away and rumours are always in circulation that the pottery is soon to run out of clay and will close its doors forever. I no longer believe those rumours but I like to use them as an excuse to stock up whenever I'm there. Did I mention my addiction?

Important to remember for shopping at Bybee: doors open at 8 a.m., what's there is what's there and that's it for the day. They don't take credit cards but they do take cash and checks. You can order things but don't ask when you can pick the order up, it's worth the wait anyway. Don't touch anything on the floor -- that's somebody else's stuff so make your own pile on the floor when your hands get full. You will get dusty. If you like something just take it and put it on the floor -- things go quickly and she who hesitates will lose that piece of pottery. So, keep in mind that some of your fellow shoppers are dealers on buying trips. Grab quick, because if you don't, they will. Oh and have fun, it's one of those things that make living in the Bluegrass special!

Happy New Year!

from chilly Lexington on this cold, cold Saturday morning!

I'm thinking Spring! Anybody have any advice on where to buy an attractive indoor compost bucket to sit by my sink? One of my 2010 resolutions is to be a better gardener which shouldn't be difficult. I'm resurrecting one of the nice composters the previous owners of my house had built (the other has had the wood salvaged by Will to build a ladder up one of our pine trees) and looking forward to some soil improvement!

Ideally, I'm looking for one that looks like a canister, not like a plastic compost bucket...

Sotheby's eGallery

As much as I always say that I love real estate for the people, the truth is some mornings I could stare forever at the Sotheby's eGallery houses playing in the widescreen monitor in our office lobby. In addition to beautiful Central Kentucky homes, the eGallery flashes Sotheby's listings from all over the world. Excellent fodder for the "if money were no object game" I like to play sometimes. If you had $5 million would you choose the rustic cabin home in Whitefish Montana or the Greek cliff side home over the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean. Tough call, I know! You don't have to actually stand in our lobby though (not that it's not fun to do that with a latte from the Starbucks next door) you can view the eGallery homes on-line at www.sothebysrealty.com -- click the title to access the site directly.

Today's interest rate

4.75% on 30-year fixed. Incredible. So, that plus an $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit. Could there be a better time to buy?

Cost vs. Value

One of my favorite real estate tools is out...Remodeling Magazine's annual Cost versus Value Reoprt. I'd love to put the whole thing here on my blog but apparently I'd be arrested by the internet copyright police if I did. I do have a link to the report though (just click on the title above) and you can research your area for average job costs and the percentage of return you can expect for individual home improvements. To research our Central Kentucky market, the best comparison is probably using Louisville as Lexington's not on there. That's my advice anyway!

Hmmm...interesting, maybe? The best return is on a new front door. Also, wood replacement windows rank pretty high -- plus you save on utility bills and they're just plain nice -- been there, done that myself! Worst return on investment...home office remodel!

Want to rent during WEG?

Surely you know what WEG is...Altech FEI World Equestrian Games...drive around New Circle or downtown and see the countdown numbers. While we've been talking about it forever, the games are actually in sight at less than a year away!

If you live in Lexington, you have undoubtedly had the thought enter your head that you should leave town and rent out your house. I have! I won't be doing it though because more than likely my children will need to go to school for those two-plus weeks. However, if you are serious about vacating and renting out your house and/or land, I can help do that now. Bluegrass Sotheby's now has a great system in place to rent your home. I can provide a market analysis of your home's rental value for the games, help you find your guests and help you rent your home as safely as possible for the extent of the games.

Emerald Ash Borer

If you live in Lexington, you probably know why all those trees around town have green, plastic ties around their trunks. If you don't live in Lexington but are thinking about moving here, look at for those green tags and learn to identify an Ash tree. Sadly, our native Ash Trees will soon be the victim of the exotic and evil Emerald Ash Borer.

For the homeowner, this means that you may soon have the expense of treating any Ash trees on your property (estimates I've heard are $10 per inch of the trunks diameter) or losing your trees and paying for their removal. None of it's good. Most of the street and front yard trees around Lexington have now been marked by volunteers armed with green ties, but backyard trees would not be marked. If you aren't familiar with which tree is an ash, click on the title above and it'll take you to an Ash tree link which can help you identify them.

As a Buyer's agent, I'm schooling myself to readily recognize an ash trees for my buyers. While an ash tree wouldn't put me off buying a home I loved, I'd want to know what I'm in for and if I need to factor a tree removal and replacement or treatment into my cost of home ownership.

Tax Stimulus extension

It appears that the home buyer tax stimulus credit extension is a done deal, as well as the passing of the $6500 credit to resale buyers who have lived in their current home for 5 out of the last 8 years. The new deadline is that a home must be under contract by May 1 and closed by July 1.

Call me or email me if you want more details. I have a great little fact sheet on the extension from a lender I work with that I'm happy to share!

Good news...

I'm flying to New York in 3 hours to hang out with my sister in the Big Apple, which is good news for me -- direct flight from Lexington's beautiful Bluegrass Field...truly one of the prettiest airports in America! Not that I'm biased or anything.

But before I leave, I want to share the really good news for homebuyers and sellers! The Senate passed the extension of the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit and has added a provision granting a $6,500 tax credit for resale homeowners buying a new home if they have lived in their present home for 5 or more years and have a combined family income of under $240,000. Now, the measure just awaits the President's signature. Let's hope he signs that soon!

See you Monday!