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Springville • Gowanda • Silver Creek Friday, January 8, 2021 Editor’s Note: Below are messages about the previous year sent in by area business owners. Their views and opionions are not necessarily representative of the views of the Springville/Gowanda/Silver Creek Pennysaver nor it’s parent company Bradford Publishing Co.
“This year has thrown us all into a tailspin. We all had to learn to pivot to adapt to the many changes this past year. The same was true for me and my team at Organize Your Life LLC. I had already been offering virtual services at a very limited basis when the pandemic hit and we were unable to provide in-person services due to government mandates, I decided to take an 8 week accreditation course in Virtual Professional Organizing taught by one of my former mentors from the Institute for Challenging Disorganization. I already have over 10 years of education in organizing and time management. I wanted to make sure I was at the top of my game when serving these clients virtually. The course was all virtual with other professional organizers and productivity specialists from around the world. We learned about neurodiversity and creating effective habits just to mention a few items involved in
this comprehensive class. During the course we volunteered our services with a pro bono client of our own and shared expertise and collaboration with a group pro bono client. We learned cutting edge technology and resources to help our clients keep on track to achieve their goals. I was able to help my client to transform her musty basement full of boxes from a move 5 years ago into a functional and aesthetically pleasing space including a media center, space for her children to play and make crafts as well as extra storage for large kitchen supplies, holiday decorations and a household tool room. All done with twice a week Zoom, Facetime, phone calls or emails. I was able to guide her through looking through the boxes, deciding what to keep and where, what to donate and how to trash the broken, stained or expired items. We discussed where and how to donate items they no longer needed and set up shelving and sys-
tems including bins and labels. We discussed her goals and challenges, broke her projects down into manageable steps with accountability meetings twice a week for 6 weeks to discuss, plan and create inspiration. The guide to combating overwhelm is to break down projects into tasks, use time blocking to adding setup and cleanup time to your projects and tasks. Say no, ask for help delegate and seek expert guidance. Practice selfcare - how important is this?! So IMPORTANT! I like to take a holistic approach to my long term organizing clients. We create habits around health, wellness, nutrition, schedules and of course their environment. What areas do you need to emphasize this year? What parts of your project do you need to delegate? What physical resources do you need? What experts?” -Sherri Papich, CPO-CD
Selling Real Estate During a Pandemic From a Realtors Prospective Despite a pandemic, people are still buying and selling homes in Western New York. Challenging yes, but it is possible to buy and sell. It might seem like a terrible idea, but now may be the perfect time with historically low interest rates. Nearly every industry has
been impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and real estate is no exception. Because the cornerstone of buying or selling a home is face to face interaction, the way we do business have been altered. Staying informed and working with real estate professionals, attorneys and lenders you can still achieve the American Dream of owning a home.
In March how we sell homes changed. Virtual showings, FaceTime zoom meetings became a part of how we do business. We still had clients that wanted and needed to buy a home and stay safe while navigat-
ing the process. Are real estate transactions more complicated? Yes they are. COVID-19 Has resulted in an economic downturn, stay at home mandates, and social distancing have created challenges. Now more than ever a Realtor is important to help navigate the process. Due to the economic crisis, lenders have tigtened underwriting requirements making it more challenging to qualify for a mortgage. Lenders want to be sure jobs re secure, credit score are acceptable and there are sufficient funds too close. Overwhelmed lenders and distancing restrictions mean that buying and selling real
estate during the pandemic may take longer than usual. Being as patient and flexible as possible will increase the likelihood of a successful purchase and sale. Depending on where you live and how we show property varies with COVID numbers. It is more important now than ever before to get pre-approved for a loan. Sellers want to know that a buyer can afford their home before they allow showings. Have had calls from buyers that couldn’t go on vacation and decided now is the time to have a second home that they can go to. Listings are low nationwide. So if you are thinking of selling you might want to give it
some serious thought. If you plan on staying in your home you might want to review with a lender to see if refinancing may help you lower your monthly expenses. I am beyond grateful to Howard Hanna Real Estate and 1st Priority Mortgage for providing us with all the necessary tools, marketing and guidance so we can work from home and especially appreciative of the opportunity to help buyers and sellers. -Kathy Komenda, Licenses Real Estate Associate Broker at Hanna Real Estate - Selling homes since 1986
“As it continues to be said over and over, 2020 has been a year like no other. Some businesses have thrived, some have maintained and others have not. Customers seem to be conducting their lives from home and foot traffic into a retail store becomes less and less except for that emergency or “gotta have now item”. People’s perspective about their priorities, their food and how they spend their money is changing and probably permanently. What did all this all mean for Shamel Milling? As an essential business serving the agricultural community, gardeners, do-it yourself homeowners and pet owners, we stayed open and did not miss a beat. Like every other business, we had to scratch our heads and ask “how are we going to do this?” We learned about and implemented bio security measures, we offered curb-side pickup, encouraged customers to take advantage of home deliveries and we have done our best to comply with NYS Covid mandates. We experienced an upsurge of interest from new customers and home gardeners, people who had never grown anything wanted to grow their own food. All the garden seeds and 2,300lbs of seed potatoes were sold out three
weeks earlier than usual. an e-commerce store was Canning supplies to store important, if you had a all that food also sold out presence, you had a chance early and restocking was but advertising through online exposures goes to impossible There was a surge in the highest and most agpeople “raising” their own gressive bidders who knew backyard eggs, chickens, how to get their products pigs and beef. This was an “in somebody’s face “ betopportunity to reach out and ter than most smaller businesses can. If you didn’t educate the newbies With more locally grown have a presence, you don’t products and grocery store stand a chance against the shelves limited in meat and “Amazon Machine.” Now produce, there was greater with the Christmas buyinterest to buy more local ing season, if you didn’t food than ever before. Net- use this pandemic to build working to put consumers an online presence, you in touch with producers probably won’t have many keeps customers happy and sales. People have become educated and “hooked” on producers producing. Keeping popular items being served online with stocked was a challenge. immediate gratification of Trucks hauling cargo have “great deals” put before not been moving as fre- their eyes and delivery to quently and shipping rates their door step. Why should are roughly 50% higher. they leave home? EveryFactories can’t keep up thing they need is of course with demand, truckers ar- at their fingertips. We have an online presen’t trucking, warehouses aren’t maintaining inven- ence dwarfed by the more tory, distributors aren’t re- aggressive competition and ceiving timely shipments the fact we don’t have the and customers are getting staff and resources to keep frustrated…frustration that up… having an online preshas led to a migration away ence consumes enough time from buying at local busi- to add yet another fulltime nesses to buying online for position to the staff. Not being able to maintain inless and free delivery. An online presence withRiddance ..............................................page 3
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