The Morning Call du lieu suivant : Allentown, Pennsylvania • 57

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2007 TI IE MORNING CALL CLASSIFIED LISTINGS BEGIN ON G9 iVfj themorningcall.com VISIT OUR REAL ESTATE PAGES ONLINE THE NATION'S HOUSING class 01DO fits 1L Comment KENNETH HARNEY Valley's Assist 2 Sell franchise is nation's No. 1 for the past 18 months Some housing oases defy downturn If- HIPS '3T uitW 1 WASHINGTON Though real estate sales and prices are flat or down in dozens of metropolitan areas, micro-markets within them are performing very differently: Prices and sales are up this year over last, and plenty of buyers still want to move in. Call them real estate oases neighborhoods and ZIP codes that defy national and regional downturns, and remain in demand as long as the local economy keeps generating jobs and rising incomes. Housing analysts say they can be found in most major markets whose local economies display moderate to strong fundamentals. As a group, oasis micro-markets share some key characteristics.

They are often: Close-In, established neighborhoods convenient to the urban center's employ- HARNEY PAGE G6 -iVif-' VilWuiTifYMll Monica Cabrera The Morning Call GEORGE AND CAROL KRAUSE sold their home in South Whitehall for $350,000 through discount broker Assist 2 Sell and paid $3,495 to the agent at agent was Dale Sadler, who for the past 18 months has been tops in sales among the franchises in the United States and Canada. By Beth W. Orenstein Special to The Morning Call In early July, George and Carol Krause sold their home in South Whitehall for $350,000, $100 Survey shows most buyers choose an agent on reputation direct-to-buyer, they paid $3,495 to the agent at closing, a savings of more than $17,500. Their agent was Dale Sadler, who opened his first Assist 2 Sell office in the Lehigh Valley in 1997, when the concept of discount brokerage was relatively new, especially in this area. His original office was in a tiny building near his home in Allen Township.

He since moved that office to a former greenhouse in East Allen Township and opened two more one in South Whitehall and one in Palmer. Today, Sadler has 38 agents who work as independent contractors and is planning to open a fourth office in New Jersey. over asking price. It sold quickly, too, in 41'2 weeks. Had the Krauses used a traditional broker, they typically would have paid a 6 percent commission on the sale price or $21,000.

INSIDE BUSINESS For sale by owner doesn't always pay, PAGE Dl How do home buyers and sellers find their real estate agent? The most recent survey of home buyers and sellers by the National, Associa- However, on a friend's recommendation, they chose a discount broker, Assist 2 Sell, and opted for its flat-rate plan. Under the flat-rate option which Assist 2 Sell calls SURVEY PAGE G2 ASSIST PAGE G2 7 WHAT LEHIGH VALLEY HOMES ARE WORTH Home sales by school district, June 2007 compared with June 2006 SMART MOVES Remodeling spending that pays off By Ellen James Martin Some nervous home sellers have a sky's-the-limit approach to making their property seem irresistible to would-be buyers. They should realize that not all outlays pass the cost-benefit test. "People can be so fearful about their neighborhood market that' they'll grasp at any potential improvement. But unless you're savvy on how you spend your cash, you won't recoup much of it when your house is sold," says Dorcas Helfant, a Coldwell Banker broker and a former president of the National Association of Realtors (www.realtor.org).

Some improvements more than pay you back at the closing table. These include minor upgrades to kitchens and bathrooms, replacement of worn carpet, and the repainting of interior and exterior walls and trim. But Helfant says nearly all sellers would be foolish to install new high-end European kitchen appliances or to splurge on designer paint colors or finishes. Nor should they go overboard on built-in cabinetry or exquisite bath- A Pen 7 County Sty Northampton Nazareth JT. Northern v.

Schuylkill Lehigh Ir--v coumy Va-, Easton Lehigh uf s. County I Whitehall- smT Coplay 4 Northwestern Lehigh Xatasauqua Bethlehem Parkland VA''entown 4 "-Saucon PA jkr Valley' i A-j Palisades' V- EastPennX $ffy Quakertown 7 Berks County Upper PerklomenNj A Vt-. MonAnery 1 PennridgeV School Houses Average Change Change district sold price in sales in price Allentown 154 $144,000 -18 10 Bangor 31 $202,000 -6 -15 Bethlehem 125 $135,000 -21 0 Catasauqua 16 $152,000 33 -7 Easton 91 $254,000 -22 0 East Penn 77 $257,000 18 -1 Nazareth 25 $356,000 -32 3 Northampton 37 $210,000 -16 -7 Northern Lehigh 19 $195,000 6 -10 Northwestern Lehigh 15 $313,000 7 0 Palisades 18 $383,638 20 3 Parkland 66 $316,000 -30 -2 PenArgyl 11 $141,000 -27 -38 Pennridge 55 $361,606 16 -1 Quakertown 64 $348,099 16 32 Salisbury 18 $261,000 0 -2 Saucon Valley 26 $349,000 13 -7 Southern Lehigh 23 $460,000 -4 11 Upper Perklomen 32 $258,943 -6 4 Whitehall-Coplay 33 $224,000 10 1 Wilson 13 $169,000 -38 -18 Sources: Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors, Trend Multiple Listing Service SMART PAGE G6 ELUCA -'-y-J ft HOMES Designed for living. Built for life. I 1 DeLucoHomes.com.