Roanoke’s Festival in the park is an annual event in downtown Roanoke. Its a multicultural art and music festival that lasts three days.

Each day vendors from around the regon and nation set up their wares for sale. While the crowds are entertained by many different types of performeds. During the day the event is free and open to the public. it has a great family feel to it.

Once it gets dark, the kids go home the adults play! Each night has different acts performing.

Each year this event takes the local vote for best festival. If your in Roanoke around Memorial Day weekend, come check it out.

Quality photos make a difference

Point and shoot digital cameras have revolutionized the industry but they do not make professional grade photos.  If you want professional results, get professional equipment! A Digital SLR (DSLR) with interchangeable lenses is needed! Operating one of these cameras isn’t incredibly difficult, but it does take time and education. Not only do you have to think about the camera body but more importantly the lenses. The lens really determines the quality of the photo and how much of a room you can get into a frame. Smaller rooms can sometime be a challenge to get the room in one frame, point and shoot cameras will cut off part of the room or give lenses distortion making the celling look like its bending. A DSLR camera with a wide angle lens can get that photo! DSLR cameras also will accurately display colors. You spent the extra money for Brazilian Hardwood floors, you wanted the right color and look, and don’t you want it to be right in the photos?

Having an “eye” for images is something that can’t be taught! So even if two people have the same equipment the results will be dramatically different. Knowing the right angles or zoom level takes an “eye”.  Again, the goal is for your home to stand out in a positive way.

As a homeowner, you may want to really think about how much you have in a room. Clutter will distract a buyer and make your home appear small. See our post on clutter!

We have lots of great photos, now let’s get them online!

The Lynchburg and Roanoke Board of Realtors allows up to 30 photos of a property in their Multiple Listing Service (MLS). While this is a great place to shop for homes it is not user friendly such as sites like REALTOR.CO, homes.com, or Zillow.com.  Year after year more home shoppers use these three sites than anywhere else on the web with looking for a new home. REALTOR.COM only gives most agents 4 pictures per listing. So, only 4 photos of your home will appear unless the agent has subscribed to enhanced listings allowing up to 25 photos of each listing. Many area homes do not appear on Zillow.com and Homes.com because the agent doesn’t upload their listings to the service. That is right, two of the three places to best market your home many agents are not using! Therefore your home is only being shown to 1/3 of the market place.

Why Witt-Fogleman

Scott Fogleman is a published photo journalist. He work has appeared in many national, regional and local publications. Wendy Witt first started photography when she was in college, showing lots of promise she became an avid hobbyist. They use Canon DSLE cameras with a variety of Canon, Sigma, and Tamron lenses.

Wendy and Scott are a husband and wife Real Estate team who co-list everything (no additional charge). We serve Lynchburg, Bedford, and the surrounding area.

We subscribe to REALTORS.com enhanced listing service, giving each one of our listings up to 25 photos. We also use REALTOR.com featured homes, this places one of our listings at the bottom and the top of each page when a person searches inside our zip codes.

We offer showcase advertising on Zillow.com and homes.com, meaning your home will come up first in any search where your home means the criteria.

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What is the best way to go about finding your next home? Well, Bedford and the surrounding areas covers a lot of miles. Bedford County is the third largest county in Virginia. The best thing to do first could be to determine where exactly is it that you want to be? Where do you work and what kind of commute are you willing to commit to? What are the schools like in the different areas of Bedford and where do you want your children to attend? Are you a city or county employee? You may be required to live in the City of Bedford or in Bedford County. You may prefer views of the Peaks of Otter and Blue Ridge Mountains or maybe the southern county near Smith Mountain Lake will suit you better.

The best thing to do after being pre-qualified by a lender is to start looking around on the internet, maybe in the newspaper, ask friends and family if they know of any homes that they may know of that could meet your needs. Make a list. Plan a Sunday drive. Do some evaluating of neighborhoods, homes, locations, drive time to your necessities: groceries, gym, shopping, work, schools, etc.

When you have a solid list of homes that meet the “Curb Appeal” test: you like the house and you ready to see the inside and move forward in considering this property seriously, call your agent and set up a time to go see the properties that interest you.

Who should you bring with you?

If you’re married, bring your spouse. You will both need to see it. You may choose to make this life altering decision by yourself but it may not be a good long term move.

Do not bring your parents. No matter how old you are, your parents tend to have a hard time letting go and they will have a hard time approving of any property you may just love. This is YOUR home. You need to make this decision. Now, you may some great parents who just want to see where you’re moving and then, by all means bring them over. Your inspector will tell you if the house is solid.

So, once the home has passed the curb appeal test and you are going to see the property, take a quick look through to see if there is enough room, you like the floor plan, your furniture may fit. Don’t worry about the carpet and paint right now. That can be changed. Do you like to cook? Make sure the kitchen is big enough. Don’t like to cook? You may want a smaller kitchen so you don’t have to clean it. If there is something going on that is small: light fixtures, a rip in the vinyl flooring, that can be fixed. If the rooms on either side of a load bearing wall are too small, that is an issue we can’t get around easily. Whatever you’re looking for, be sure to keep an open mind because you may be surprised at what you thought you wanted and what you ended up buying.

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www.WittFogleman.com

or Discover Bedford

If you looking to invest in real estate and your considering a Short Sale or a foreclosure in Bedford VA, then contact Witt Fogleman.
The Bedford, Lynchburg, Roanoke area has not been hit nearly as hard as other areas for short sales and foreclosures. This area didn’t have the real estate bubble that existed in other areas but needs less to say we do have several foreclosures and short sales.

Selling a Short Sale in Bedford

The difference between a short sale or a foreclosure on your credit could impact you and your family for many years. If your home goes to foreclosure you will have a hard time buying a new home, renting, purchasing an car, or getting credit for any purchase.

Negotiating a short sale can be very difficult and timely, there are many factors to consider including getting the right price, how the bank reposts your account, and potential taxes after the sale. You need an agent who understand the process and can help you all along the way. If your a seller, what are the implications of a short sale for you long term? We can help.

Purchasing a Short Sale or a Foreclosure

If your wanting to purchase a short sale, contact us. Short sales may not fit your particular needs or situation. During our buyers consultation, we will review all your needs and make the best recommendations.

Sometimes foreclosures can be a great investment, buying a property and having equity from day one is a great thing. However, there are pitfalls to buying a foreclosure. Having an experienced real estate agent on your side to help guide you o make good decisions. Ultimately every decision is up to you, but we will advices you and help you avoid the pitfalls.

Scott Fogleman and Wendy Witt are the founders of Witt Fogleman of keller Willaims Realty, both SFR agents. SFR is a certification provided by the National Association of Realtors and stands for Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource.

To read more please visit WittFogleman.com

Last weekend a group of friends and I jumped into the car and drove from Bedford Va to Wintergreen VA to visit a couple of breweries. usually we visit are wineries but today we wanted something different.

Wintergreen is a short drive from Bedford VA, only about an hour and half, of driving with fantastic pastoral and mountain views. As we approached Blue Mountain Brewery, we spotted the most unusual car accident (if someone had been injured I wouldn’t post the picture).

Cheese and meat platter

Blue Mountain Brewery had a great selection of beers and we ordered the sampler of their beers. The building was great, nicely decorated with a small lounge area with sofas to relax and have a cold beer. There was also patio seating and a great menu for food.

We choose the cheese plate to eat with our beer, there was a mix of fresh fruit, bread, and unusual cheeses that were amazing. One of the cheese was a mustard cheese, never had it before but really enjoyed it.

Blue Mountain’s beer was great. It was a nice mix of different styles but I have to admit it was excellent and pared nicely with the Rockfish Wheat Summer Weiss Beer on a hot day.

Beer samples

Next, we traveled to Devils Backbone Brewing Company in Roseland VA. Wow, what a place. The building alone wasvery impressive, a stone and wooden structure. Equally impressive was the beer which is produced on-site! We ordered the 10 beer sampler and were delighted with the choice of beer offered by the brewery. I enjoy Hefeweizen and the Wintergreen Weiss (a Bavarian-style Hefeweizen) was much to my liking.

After finishing our sampling, we were escorted to our table table on the patio, where we had a great view of the mountains at sunset and the man-made koi pond.  The food selection is comfort gourmet food.

Fish Tacos!

A great mix of high quality and comfort. Everything looked great and inviting. Several members of our party got the fish tacos, some got the Veggie Burger, I opted for the meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes. Based upon the lack of conversation while eating, I would say everyone enjoyed their food.

What a great night we had! This week I also learned a new brewery is being built in the same area. So now we will have three to choose from and I haven’t even mentioned the wineries in the area.

Meatloaf and Garlic Mashed!

The Bedford Community Resource Center needs a little help. The Bedford Community Resource Center is part of the Bedford Community Christmas Station. Among the many great things they do for the community, each year they put together a backpack of back-to-school supplies for area school children.
These supplies are the basics (pencils, paper, glue sticks) children need as part of the learning process. it is estimated each backpack full of supplies costs about $10 per student. Over 300 students have applied, without theses backpacks many children will come to school empty handed this year. Often we hear of teachers using their own money to buy supplies, but our teachers already give so much.