There were 993 residential homes on the market in the communities in this Lakes Region of NH market report as of March 1, 2010 or about 15.5 months worth of inventory. The average asking price stands at $583,496 and a median of $289,900. This compares to 941 homes last March at an average asking price of $547,575 and a median price of $299,000.

It won’t be long and we’ll be back into the spring buying season. Ah, the smell of flowers blooming, the sound of birds chirping, a warm spring breeze, and the rustling of buyers as they come out of their winter hibernation. Well, we can hope, can’t we? If you are buying a home, and particularly if you are a first time buyer, here are a few tips to keep in mind as you look for that perfect place to call home:

1. Educate yourself, particularly if you are a first time buyer. Take a first time home buyer class or read some books on home buying and ownership (there are plenty available at Borders or Amazon.com). A little knowledge will go a long way in giving you some confidence about the home ownership adventure you are about to start.

2. Meet with a local lender to find out if and how much of a mortgage you qualify for. There is no sense in looking at $300,000 homes if you can only qualify for a $200,000 home. And, you’ll also need a letter from the bank to (more…)

February is here and the days may be getting longer but the home inventory in the Lakes Region of NH is getting larger. We edged up from 869 homes on the market last month to 926 homes listed as of February 1 with a current average asking price of $590,214. That is on par with last February when the inventory stood at 923 homes, but the average price was lower at $548,470. Currently, we have a 15 month supply of homes on the market based on sales numbers over the past year. That is still about three times what is considered a normal or good inventory level.

As reported previously, the average sales price of homes is definitely down in the Lakes Region as well as the rest of the country. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to break the numbers down a little further and see how the (more…)

If you are looking for a vacation property in the Lakes Region of NH that offers Winnisquam water access across the street and access to snowmobile trails nearby then the meticulously maintained four bedroom cape could be just for you!

This single owner home was built in 2002 and shows pride in ownership throughout. Two new bedrooms and a 3/4 bath were recently added on the second floor making this a great primary or vacation home option.  There is even a partial view of the lake to greet you in the morning from one of the upstairs bedrooms.  There is a bright, well appointed eat-in kitchen and ample size living room plus two bedrooms and a bath on the first floor.

This home is large enough to offer space for everyone yet it is very economical to heat with an oil fired, forced hot (more…)

So the holidays are over and we are headed into a bright and prosperous 2009! Right? Over the holidays there were plenty of articles about the state of the real estate markets and the economic world. One of the typical “Big Loser” and ”Big Winner” lists about real estate  was on MSN.com which you can take a peak at if it is still there. In a nutshell though the big losers according to this article were:

1. the homeowners who lost their homes to the bank (enough said).

2. home builders who obviously have homes in inventory and can’t move forward building more (I think that needs to be expanded to all their suppliers and subs).

3. home sellers– if you had to sell it was obviously not the best time and you probably sold for less than what you really wanted.

4. real estate agents–fewer or no sales means many are getting out of the business or finding part time work (we are all self employed so there are no unemployment benefits to fall back on).

5. mortgage brokers–they say that the ranks of mortgage brokers have dwindled by a third.

6. the US taxpayer–who is going to share the burden of all the bail outs that really stemmed from this whole sub prime mortgage mess.

I would add a #7 to include home inspectors and title companies as they have been hit hard as well by the decrease in home sales. A #8 should be the local and state governments. They will surely feel the pinch with less revenues coming in as people struggle to pay their property taxes and with less property sold here in NH the revenues from the transfer taxes on property must be significantly off.

There is always someone who wins when someone else loses no matter what the situation. MSN’s list of big winners include:

1. first time home buyers–there are unbelievable deals out there right now on entry level homes. (I would expand this to include any homebuyer as there are great deals in every price category).

2. REO agents and asset managers. REO agents are the real estate agents that handle the bank owned properties. Not a glamorous segment of the business but obviously those sales are up so at least these agents are doing well. The companies that provide property services to the bank owned properties like winterizing and plowing also have seen their businesses boom.

3. attorneys–I know, who cares? It is their list not mine. Attorneys usually thrive in any market but those handling evictions, bankruptcies, and foreclosures did particularly well this past year.

4. small banks did well because they never bought into doing risky mortgages, stayed true to their business model and now will thrive in 2009 as well. That is no more evident than right here in the Lakes Region. We are extremely lucky in that there is plenty of money locally for those with good credit that want to purchase a new home.

5. loss mitigation and default management workers for the larger lending institutions saw increases in pay as they had to handle the flood of non performing loans.

I would also add a #6 to include investors. Yes, I know these types of buyers that bought and flipped property for a quick buck helped drive up values and they might have been part of the original problem, but I would bet anyone who bought property in 2008 as a longer term investment will come out feeling like Warren Buffet. I am sure there are other winners that belong on this list that really aren’t evident right now. 

Hopefully in 2009 the economy will begin to show signs of being the up and coming big winner as we get back to basics with people living within their means, saving money for the required down payment on a house, and buying only what they can afford when they can afford it.

Merry Christmas…

Residential sales in the towns included in our Lakes Region report took a pretty good nose dive in November. We posted only 38 sales compared to 56 last November. The average sales price came in at $259,817 compared to an average of $409,913 last November. The average sales price was down mostly due to the fact that there were no sales at all last month that exceeded $1 million. That is pretty unusual for our area but sometimes it happens and it does wreak havoc with the averages. In November 2007 there were five sales for a total of $7.3 million in sales volume. Sixty percent of the homes sold last month were under $200,000 which once again shows there is a lot of affordable housing out there and it is selling.

I don’t think anyone is going to be sad to see this year come to a close. It has been a long, long year with mostly bad news every day and on every front. The economy is in the tank. We have had the housing crisis, the mortgage crisis, a financial crisis on Wall Street, an auto industry crisis with a potential bankruptcy of two of the big three auto makers, and now here in the Northeast a weather crisis. One thing that struck me this past weekend when I was out getting supplies at Home Depot and the hardware store (like just about every other person in the Lakes Region) was that for the most part everyone seemed to be coping with the fact that their heat was out, that they were cold, that they couldn’t take a shower, and that they didn’t know when they’d see the power come back on. Most people seemed to have a pretty positive attitude that they’d get through this latest hurdle before Christmas.  I think it is because even though we could do nothing about getting the electricity back on we could take some positive actions and do something about the situation ourselves. We can figure out how to get some heat in the house to stay warm and get some candles or a generator to get the lights on.  So while individually we can’t solve the current national financial crisis, collectively with positive attitudes we can and will get through these tough economic times. Despite what they are saying about 2009 on television and in the newspapers, I’m taking the position that it will be a better year. Doing anything else is like sitting in the cold and dark.

I’d like to thank my clients and customers for a successful year in real estate despite the bad market and I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and prosperous, yes prosperous, New Year. I hope that Santa brings a buyer to everyone that has their home on the market and a 5000 watt generator to everyone else. Ho. Ho, Ho…

Residential Homes Sold November 2008

Report covers the towns of Aton, Barnstead, Belmont, Center Harbor, Gilford, Gilmanton, Laconia, Meredith, Moultonborough, New Hampton, Sanbornton, and Tilton