2009 Maryland Home and Garden Show, Friday Saturday and Sunday

The 2009 Maryland Home and Garden Show is going on right now at Timonium fairgrounds. The theme this year is “The Joy of Color”. The show this year runs for the following dates: March 6^th through March 8^th and again the next weekend March 13^th through March 15^th. There is the Maryland Spring Craft show that runs simultaneously. The show opens at 10am each day and closes at 9pm on Friday and Saturdays and at 6pm on Sundays. The craft show closes an hour earlier than the garden show. Admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors, $3 for children ages 6-12, free for children under 6. Free Admission for Active Military, Police & Fire Employees with ID. Pizza Hut has some $1 off coupons.

Hhere is a link to a dollar off coupon: http://www.mdhomeandgarden.com/0_HG/01_HG_coupon.html

Here is the link to the show: http://www.mdhomeandgarden.com/0_HG/01_HG_show_info.html

I always enjoy a visit there, you can usually pick up some interesting primrose pots and some forsythia and pussy willow branches to force and bring spring inside a little early. I still have some Quick n Brite cleaners from a couple of years ago, it’s good stuff, and the home and garden show seems to be the only place to find the kind of mops with the rubber head, great for dust bunnies.

Photo credit, Brian Snelson.

A tip for negotiating on new construction and getting the best deal.

Q: Can you negotiate price on new construction homes?

A: Yes you can, but you are fighting an uphill battle. One thing I suggest when negotiating new construction, is to ask for free upgrades. In a development, the builder has constraints other sellers don’t. Price is very important to maintain so existing owners don’t feel like they bought at the wrong time. A common strategy is to hold the best lots for last. The other strategy is to include more upgrades. So ask for the upgrades, and you are speaking the builders language. Ask for price reductions, and the builder has more than this deal to consider.

Photo credit, Bart Everson

Gandolfo’s New York Style Deli is offering half price gift certificates

Hagerstown Gandolfo’s New York Deli is located at 1580 Wesel Blvd, Hagerstown, MD 21740.  They currently have a promotion where they are selling $50 gift certificates for $25. They started with 100 certificates, but it looks like they have 86 left. Go to Fredrick for Less for more information and ordering.

Southern Sales Services sells building materials at auction.

I wanted to have more “s” words in that title, but it just got too silly. If you type in the domain name from memory like I did, you might make the mistake of skipping the double “s” for the end of “Sales” and the beginning of “Services”. That just takes you to an advertising squatter page. The domain address is www.SouthernSalesServices.com.

So what is Southern Sales Services? It is an auction held 10 times a year for new and damaged new building materials. There are plenty of high end items for sale, but it is an auction. At auction you are not always going to get a deal. Still, I think a lot of people are getting a deal here. The inventory changes, but I have seen Pella windows, Viking stoves, Kohler fixtures, 3/4″ cherry flooring, fancy European front loading washers, tile, doors, kitchen cabinets, and more.  There are multiple auctions going on at the same time, so it can be a little confusing. You sometimes feel like you have to be in two places at once. The crowd can get a little overwhelming too. Around the appliances space can get pretty cramped.

If you want to bid, you have to preregister for a bidder number. It is a lot easier to preregister the day before the auction which is the preview day. Don’t get caught up in the excitement of an auction and bid more than you planned. And, if you want to bid on a Sub Zero refrigerator or other appliance, “camp out” ahead of the crowd in front of the item you want, or be prepared to push your way to a spot where the auctioneer will notice you. If you are bidding on an item, and don’t win, the auctioneer will usually let you have second choice after the winner has chosen the items they want. If you don’t bid, and the winning bid is low, sometimes the auctioneer won’t let anyone else have the deal. He is trying to make sure the crowd doesn’t adopt the strategy of not bidding in hopes of keeping the prices down. I thought the prices were pretty good, but there are some better deals out there. In a future post I’ll tell you about some other auctions.

Maggie and Peter Baumbach are Realtors with Long & Foster Real Estate Inc.  If you are in the market to buy or sell a home, then hire us to guide and represent you. We are client focused. We are here to help you make good decisions.

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