Current homeowners looking for a new home could also qualify for a $6,500 credit if they have lived in their existing primary residence for at least five years. However they must have purchased the new home after Nov. 6th 2009 to qualify for this tax credit.

Two publications from the National Association of Realtors provide detailed information:
Homebuyer Tax Credit Changes
Homebuyer Tax Credit Changes: Most Frequently Asked Questions

Locating a desirable spot to settle down means something quite different today than it did just three years ago. That’s when Americans flocked to coastal and Sun Belt cities like Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas, where properties were easy to acquire and home values were expected to noticeably appreciate.Now, with home prices nationwide down 29% from their 2006 peak, according to Case Schiller, areas that were left behind during the home-building and home-buying craze suddenly look more attractive. Buying an affordable home in a city with a stable housing market, among other pluses like reasonable property taxes and minimal travel time to work, is the new definition of bang for the buck.

Click here to see full list.

This year’s giant bicycling event takes place July 19th at The Inner Harbor.

Your support of Ride for the Rescue helps provide:

• meals for the hungry
• beds for the homeless
• clothes for the poor
• hope for those in despair

Ready to make a difference? Here’s how!

RIDE

Ride for the Rescue offers routes for bicyclists of all ages and skills.

• Take part in the 2-mile Family Fun Ride
• Challenge yourself to the 62-mile Metric Century Ride
• Choose something in between — 10 miles, 20 miles or 40 miles.

BECOME A VIRTUAL RIDER

You can be a part of this great cycling celebration and without getting on a bike! As a virtual rider, you will participate just like actual riders without all the pedaling!

SPONSOR

Support a friend, family member or co-worker through a generous gift. Your gift helps those who are served at the Rescue Mission, and may also help your sponsored rider win great prizes!

VOLUNTEER

Every event requires hundreds of hands to ensure success.Are you a worker bee?  Check out the Volunteer Opportunities.

Pei Lin Huang and the Pei Lin Team are proud to be a sponsor of Ride for the Rescue.

Ready. Set. Register.

We are proud to be one of the sponsors for the eighth Westcott Art Trail June 6-7, 2009

Join us Saturday, June 6th from 10-5 and Sunday, June 7th from 12-5.

Last year I discovered the ceramic butter keeper… local potter Meg Conner, a dear friend, recently made me my very own!
You fill the lid with butter, fill the base with water, and voila, fresh, soft butter all the time without fear of it going rancid. Meg will be at the Clayscapes booth (#15) at 241 Buckingham Ave.

There are so many lovely things…so much talent in our little neighborhood!
The locations include artists’ homes and studios.

Fourteen artists will be giving live demonstrations in silk painting, henna, watercolor, ceramic wheel throwing and firing, oil painting, origami, jewelry making and more!

Want a little “hands on experience”?

Visitors will be able to glaze and take home their own ceramic piece that has been fired in an outdoor Raku kiln.

The Westcott Community center will have a local Farmer’s Market that will include, refreshments, with a wide selection of Cabot Cheese and a bake sale for youth programming.

They will also host the Lost Boys of Sudan and their ceramic cows.

Be sure to stop by the Westcott Community Center on the corner of Euclid Ave and Westcott Street.

The Westcott Community Center has been serving the Syracuse area for over 13 years, providing many needed services and programming to everyone in the community. They feature monthly art shows for emerging artists in the community centers art gallery. Be sure to check out the Westcott Community Center Facebook page.

Come on out for a great cause, meet your neighbors, have some food, fun, make and buy beautiful artwork from local artists.

Bright yellow flags mark each artist location.

Download a map listing participating artists or pick one up at the Westcott Community Center.

Victorian House & Garden Tour in Syracuse’s own Hawley-Green neighborhood, Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 12:00 noon. Meet at the First English Lutheran Church at James and Townsend Streets for a guided tour of Victorian restorations, community garden, architecturally significant buildings and charming streets.

Catered by area cafes and restaurants this promises to be a delightful and delicious way to spend the afternoon!

Included in the tour will be our featured listing at 417 Howard St., a Victorian treasure with natural woodwork, stained glass AND updated mechanicals, 3 bedrooms, 1 full bath PLUS  a third floor apartment.

House and garden tour fee is $5, reservations recommended.

Contact Hawley-Green (at) aol (dot) com or 315-214-4340.

Signage provided by the contractor will divert traffic along Comstock Avenue to either Euclid Avenue or Stratford Street, and drivers will be encouraged to use Ostrom Avenue.  Drivers should consider alternate routes and allow additional time for travel. Parking regulations will be strictly enforced. Attached is a map detailing the signage and detour route. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Office of Government and Community Relations at gcr@syr.edu or (315) 443-3919.

Map of Street Closing on Comstock Avenue

Pei Lin helped me buy my house and she helped me sell it. To put it mildly, buying and selling a home can be a trying experience. Pei Lin made the process clear and walked me through each step. When I bought my home she listened to what it was that I was looking for, and only showed me homes that I was interested in. And at the time I had to sell my home, I was living 400 miles away. She took care of details that I would never have been able to handle and marketed my house like it was her own. Pei Lin’s team was also a wonderful asset for a person who was doing all this for the first time. They were always available to answer questions and were very conscientious in assiting me. I never missed a deadline, my paperwork was always complete and they knew every detail of the laws and regulations I had to follow. They helped me with the ins and outs of financing and proved to be a great source of knowledge when assessing the physical characteristics of the homes I looked at. My experience with them was nothing but enjoyable. I highly recommend Pei Lin Huang and her team for anyone buying or selling a home.    —  M. Maguire

View homes I have sold here.
Search the MLS here.

The Westcott neighborhood is hip and bohemian, offering tastes of Mexico and the Middle East in restaurants Alto Cinco and Munjed’s. There’s also the Westcott Theatre, Boom Babies (for great vintage clothes), and the fine aromas of Recess Coffee shop, just to name a few of the offerings.

Then there is the Berkeley neighborhood, butted close to the Syracuse University campus, with stately homes along a divided street. You can walk and jog to SU, walk around Morningside Garden, and admire the various home styles, from Tudor to Chinese Pagoda!

Friends and neighbors meet along Sherman Park, watch the ballgames and allow their four-footed friends to sniff out their territory. Its proximity to Barry Park and the trails along the adjoining drainage basin are a haven for walkers and joggers. Neighbors often start the day with a quick stop for coffee, shopping or quick banking at the nearby shops at Nottingham Plaza.

Whether you are a block from the university or further out, there is a strong feeling of neighborhood and community. During the famous Labor Day Storm of 1998, student neighbors and owner occupants alike worked side by side helping each other haul out downed trees and clearing out yards, sharing their food on the grill during the week-long power outage.

Anonymity is a rare occurence–neighbors are friends and friends are neighbors…a wonderful friendship between young and old, student and homeowner.

Come take a tour, and see for yourself!

Image via Wikipedia

With Green Lakes State Park as a backdrop, residents of Fayetteville can enjoy golfing, swimming, camping and cross-country skiing right in their own back yard.

If you’re more of an indoor exerciser the new YMCA East offers first rate facilities and classes for all ages and abilities.

Top ranked Fayetteville-Manlius schools and an active Park & Recreation program round out this resource-filled town.

Downtown Syracuse, an easy few-minutes drive away, offers superb medical centers, professional theater, charming Armory Square and is home of the Syracuse University Orangemen. Also close by are downhill skiing at Toggenburg and Labradore Mountains, New York State Fairgrounds, the Finger Lakes Region and other recreational areas, all easily accessible.

With a great choice of shopping opportunities, diverse dining options, summer concerts in the park with the Syracuse Symphony, excellent schools and scenic delights, you may never leave Central New York again!

Manlius has something for everyone: attractive neighborhoods, an easy commute to downtown Syracuse, its own Manlius Art cinema, proximity to downhill skiing at Toggenberg and Labrador Mountains, numerous golf courses, public and private, and several State Parks with lakes and waterfalls, as well as a good choice of eateries.

An active Park & Recreation Program for all ages keeps local soccer fields filled with young stars and bus trips to New York City offer adventures for “seasoned” travelers. Summer concerts and outdoor movies at the Manlius Village Center followed by ice cream at Sno Top is a summer ritual.

Boating on nearby Oneida Lake, trail riding at Highland Forest and day hikes at Pratts’ Falls are for the adventurous. Patio dining along Cazenovia Lake, strolls through historic cemeteries and wine tastings at The Wine House are for the quieter types.

With its historic past as the bustling “Cherry Valley Turnpike” and its eye on the future through the support of excellence in education and the arts, Manlius is the right combination of town and country, preservation and development, adventure and refinement.