Real Estate Information Archive

Welcome to Berkeley County in the Eastern Panhandle of WV!  We have so much here to offer you.  

Berkeley County Parks and Recreation has so much to offer you and your family all year long.  The facilities are well taken care of, and the calendar of events is quite impressive.  Click here for more information.

Our Convention and Visitor Bureau is quite involved in our community and promotes events, provides advertising for businesses, and of course is a wealth of information for all.  Click here for more information.

We are fortunate that Martinsburg is part of "Mainstreet" all over the WV and the US!  They host a variety of events to help promote downtown Martinsburg as well as working with downtown businesses to thrive.  Click here for more information.

And my personal favorite is our Chamber of Commerce.  I've been member for several years now and can't say enough good about the organization, it's members, and its leaders.  Tina Combs is the Executive Director and the perfect person for this job!  Lots of fun events going on all year long and they do a fabulous job of promoting our community.  Click here for more information.

We are just 100 miles from Washington, DC and 100 miles from Baltimore, MD.

For the outdoor fans, we have 23,000-acre Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area. Sleepy Creek contains more than 75 miles of hiking trails and a 205-acre lake for fishing and canoeing.  Or you can hunt deer, turkey, grouse, squirrel and raccoon, with wild turkey being the featured game species.

History buffs enjoy Harpers Ferry National Park, historic Shepherdstown (oldest town in W. Va.), Antietam Battlefield and Berkeley Springs (a favorite retreat of George Washington). Each summer, the Contemporary American Theater Festival comes to nearby Shepherdstown, offering new, cutting-edge plays from America's best playwrights.

Nearby outlet centers are favored by all. Great buys can be found in women's apparel, menswear, luggage, glass, collectibles and much more.

For the adventurous, whitewater rafting and kayaking, professional auto racing and thoroughbred racing are also available.

I'll feature the other two counties of the Eastern Panhandle in future blogs!

Proud to be member of this fabulous community!!!

If you are thinking of moving to this area, call me and I'd be honored to give you my "REALTOR Tour" - I'm a huge tourist at heart!

Sincerely,

Andrea Burke

Favorite clients...definitely motivated to make a decision quickly, and a whirlwind it is!!!

Typically they are new to the area  so it's a great opportunity to play tour guide while showing them homes that fit in their parameters.  Once we've established some "anchor points" I try to make sense of where they are in relation to the homes we view.  If they have children and schools are important, we take those in.  If they are interested in golfing, we include the many golf courses in our tour!  Shopping - that's easy, and if we don't have it here, we have it within 30 minutes. 

This time of year, we have to swing by the many beautiful orchards so they can see the trees in bloom!  If we are looking at all 3 counties, there are many incredible stops we can make along the way! 

I had a client in from Washington State this past week.  She had done her homework ahead of time and was pretty sure what she wanted!  We started with new construction and visited the various developments in both Berkeley and Jefferson counties.  Then we spent a couple of days looking at "resale" homes and after seeing new, that's what she wanted!  Her parents joined us the third day and more opinions lead to more confusion!!!  It came down to some tough negotiations with the big builders, and I was so proud of my Client!  She out-smarted and out-classed them all and definitely won!!!  We got a great deal on a brand new home that I will close on for her next month and we'll be ready for her and her family to move here late June!

We drove 300 miles most days and it was a whirlwind of sites, homes, and some great conversations!  We had a great time, got along famously and I'm excited to have a new friend coming to our lovely area! 

It all started last Spring when two gentlemen from out of state stopped into neighbor's auto body/paint shop.  Somewhere in the conversation one of them asked if they knew a Realtor, and our neighbor kindly gave them my name and number.  Since then we have been corresponding by email off and on.  This week we finally met!  They are still weighing their decisions as to where they want to retire, and it's looking like all signs just might point to our area!

He and his wife are just delightful.  We visited in the office for a short time, and then we headed out for my "real estate tour".  I showed them several areas of Falling Waters and we stopped for lunch in a sub shop that he remembered from years ago - delicious!!!  (Paesano's for any of you from this area.)  Then we headed through Hedgesville, stopped to visit with my favorite client, Brian Miller of Miller Homes, LLC who is beginning his next spec home.  Foundation is poured, and he's ready to continue building while our mild winter weather continues.  We talked about the possibilities of Brian building them a custom home and next time they are in town we will set up formal meeting to work out the numbers and see if it's feasible for them.  We drove through several Hedgesville neighborhoods and cut thru Back Creek Valley to Gerrardstown, then touched on Inwood and headed back to my office.  I talked them into one more tour - of downtown Martinsburg!  Because of my Leadership Berkeley class I was able to point out several businesses, organizations, and historical sites I would have never known about! 

Six hours later I brought them back to their car.  Delightful way for me to get to know new clients better and for them to get a better idea of the housing areas in the county.  We will continue corresponding on email and I will sign them up via my website to receive new listings as they become available.  With maps in hand, they will be able to better picture where the listings are.

Great day - and if I haven't mentioned this before, I LOVE BEING A REALTOR!!

Sincerely,

Andrea