I have a home for sale on Dog Cove on Squam Lake and thought I would try to get a picture of  the home from the other side of the cove. Another agent was telling me about the trails near Dog Cove that he hikes and how nice they are. So the other day I decided to take off and go for a little hike to check it out. I picked up some info on Squam from the Squam Lakes Association which included a map of the Chamberlain-Reynolds Memorial Forest . This 157 acre forest is owned by the New England Forestry Foundation and managed by the SLA. It is located on College Road in Center Harbor, between Route-25B and Route 3. There are two parking spots with signs indicating where to enter the trails.

There are over four miles of well marked walking trails in this forest and for the most part the terrain is fairly level so you won’t break a sweat, particularly in December. I followed the East Fire Road down to Dog Cove, where it turned and parallels the shoreline. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good picture of my house across the cove, but no matter, there were plenty of things to take pictures of.

The trail wound through the trees, around the rocks, and over makeshift board bridges through wet areas and then veered away from the shore just a bit. On this little stretch of trail, I came upon a simple, yet comfortable lake home that is apparently (according to the sign) owned by Pooh, of Bear fame.  The home has natural wood siding and features a wonderful front door that appears to have been custom made. Many well know celebrities have second homes in the Lakes Region where they can relax, take in the beautiful scenery, and have a laid back vacation. I just didn’t think I would ever stumble on the residence of such a megastar.

Continuing down the trail I came to the Swamp Walk which takes you across the wetland area just inland from Heron Cove.  This elevated boardwalk  is really cool and I am sure the area is teaming with wildlife in the summer. It even has a place to sit down and rest about halfway across. 

The other end of the board walk puts you on Wister Point Trail which follows the shore line past three campsites and rest room facilities.  I would bet these campsites are pretty desirable in the summer months. The point offers some absolutely beautiful views of the lake any time of the year. The trail loops around to several fabulous beaches and another campsite with rest room facilities nearby. There you pick up the West Fire Road trail to take you back to College Road. There are numerous other inland trails that I didn’t get a chance to explore, but I am planning on going back soon to talk to Pooh about listing his house. I’ll check them out then…

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The snarling dog that had chased my car

There’s a shiny new gold door handle on the otherwise dull, drab front door. Obviously, it was put there to keep unwanted visitors out, or perhaps to keep something in? But I have a key. I work for the newly formed federal agency, that looks into this type of home. You know (re)possessed. I am an agent for an investigative unit that is part of HUD. HUD was recently reconstituted as Homes Under Distress. It was clear that the Urban Development part of HUD just wasn’t working anymore. Anyway, I’ve seen countless homes in the past year just like this one. Deserted. Distressed. (re)Possessed by something unnatural.

After opening the door and letting my eyes adjust to the low light, I could see that the former owners left in an extreme hurry. Though almost empty, there are broken pieces of a furniture, trash, clothes, and other debris scattered across the floor. I could see the outlines of a formerly happy life in the imprints that furniture made on in the dirty, faded carpets. But there is also outline and stains in the corner from something that wasn’t furniture or perhaps even human. A half eaten pizza is turning funny shades of fuzzy brownish green in a box on the kitchen counter. The smoke detectors are beeping every few minutes adding to the tension. Must be low batteries?

I notice a real chill when I go into the first floor bedroom. It’s sixty five degrees outside but much, much colder inside. The floor is wet and it appears that the water pipes have exploded. What happened here? How cold did it get? Several windows are broken; from the inside. The lights don’t come on in the basement, but I take my flashlight and head on down. Again, I hear that scurrying noise and something crashes at the far end of the basement. I step onto the floor and something soaks through my shoes. More water? I couldn’t tell, my light suddenly went out. The smell is overwhelming. The smell of death and decay? Maybe mold?

Sensing a sinister specter I spun stealthily around and surged straight up the stairs, stumbling, then suddenly shaking from that startling sound that I have heard so many times before. It was just a whisper. A barely audible utterance, but still clear and bone chilling. “Baaarrrrnnnneeeeeyyy, Baaarrrrnnnneeeeyyy.” I break outside into the daylight, catch my breath, and start filling out my report. It’s the same as many before. But at other homes I have also heard two other voices, ever so quietly calling each other; “Faaaannnniieee”, and then “Frrrreeddddiiieee”. I think Barney must have been the tormented step child? The owners of this home, like so many others, were driven to despair, desperation, and finally desertion by this demonic family of spirits. This evil dwells in the sinister shadows of these homes slowly, steadily, and systematically destroying the hopes and dreams of families. They tried to get help. It was promised. There were special programs for loan modifications and possible short sales. But most of the times those pleas for help go unanswered. Tormented, terrified, and trembling, the troubled owners of this home, like all the others, relented and left to start a new life somewhere else where they could be safe… something rented.

Now that’s my haunted house story and I’m sticking to it!

I thought you should also know what we have in the way of real haunted houses in the Lakes Region. According to NH.com you might find some mysterious things happening at the Alton Town Hall (besides the selectmen’s meeting that is). There are doors that open by themselves, furniture that gets moved around, and you can hear footsteps or hear someone talking when there is no one else in the building. Ghosts of taxpayers past? Kimball Castle in Gilford and the Temperance Tavern in Gilmanton also report strange occurrences of things disappearing, books falling off shelves, and doors mysteriously becoming locked or unlocked. The Colonial Theater in Laconia is also said to be haunted. They say that sometimes you catch the faint glimpse of a man and you get the feeling that you should leave the building as soon as possible. Before the city buys and restores this property, the mayor or the city manager should have to spend the night there to make sure it is safe. That would be Boo-tiful…

For more information on this fabulous property, click here!

Rarely does a property come on the market like this one. If you want privacy, views, a beautiful setting, and a convenient location then this remarkable property is like paradise found. This home is truly a showplace, but the grounds & view will equally captivate you.

Built in 1988, this single owner 2-3 bedroom home has been totally renovated & is in pristine condition. The home and grounds are lovingly and meticulously maintained.

Enjoy the open, soaring great room with beamed cathedral ceilings, beautiful hardwood and tile floors, hearth and woodstove. The high end custom kitchen & dining area are the perfect spaces to entertain your guests who won’t be able to resist the view from the expansive deck. Also on the first floor is a den/bedroom, a three season porch, & laundry.

Downstairs in the walk out basement is a family room,  a large bedroom, utility room with a double door leading outside, and a full bath.

The entire 2nd floor is dedicated to the luxurious master suite & a wonderful loft area that is perfect for your home office or computer area. 

There is a heated attached two car garage with plenty of storage overhead as well as a  heated detached two car garage with water that is perfect to hold all your special toys.

The mature landscaping, expansive lawn, and gardens are simply beautiful. There are several great seating areas to enjoy the vista  of the mountains beyond the church and steeple in Meredith Center. Wildlife abound in the area. There is even a wild turkey that will visit you on a daily basis for her lunch!

Only a personal visit can convey all that this property has to offer! You won’t want to leave…

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 show that you have at least qualified for a mortgage before you can make an offer on a home when you find one. Find out what kind of programs are available to you. Ask questions. The most important thing is whatever home you buy, you need to feel comfortable about your ability to afford the monthly payment that you’ll be making. Also make sure to compare different lenders to see what they offer and compare rates.

3. Meet with your real estate agent to begin your home search. If you don’t have one, meet with several REALTORS®. Ask them how they propose to work for you. You will probably want someone who is full time in the business. The agent will be working for you so treat it as an interview. Your home buying adventure is like a partnership and you should be confident that your agent is knowledgeable, professional, a good listener, and someone you feel comfortable working with over a period of months. Work with only one agent. You may want to engage that one REALTOR® as your Buyer’s Agent. A Buyer’s Agent works for you and has defined fiduciary responsibilities to you. Your agent should explain the home buying process in full. He will be your guide in finding a home, your negotiator, your sounding board, and will help you all the way through the closing process to make sure thing go smoothly. It can, and should, be a fun and enjoyable adventure.

4. Build your home buying database. By viewing a number of homes and comparing them you will begin to increase your knowledge about the market and the relative values of the homes that you have seen. You will learn something at each house you visit. You’ll notice things about the homes and neighborhoods that you like and dislike and begin to formulate what it is that you really want in your new home.

5. Don’t decide on a home by the price, decide by the value. Many buyers today seem to gravitate toward the perceived “deals” they think they may be getting on a foreclosed property. While the prices may be low on bank owned properties, many times it will cost more to bring the home back up to standards than buying a more expensive home that is in move-in condition.

6. Don’t be short sighted. This home may not be the last home you ever own. It seems like most people move every seven years or so. Thinking about resale is extremely important. Location, location, location is always a big factor when selling so considering that is very important. Also, if you definitely think that the house you are purchasing is going to be your first step of many, try to buy a home that will suit the needs of many buyers rather than a few. For example, a small to medium size ranch works well for first time buyers, retirees, and buyers looking to downsize and can be a much easier home to sell down the road.

7. Make sure you get a home inspection. Don’t buy a home unless you have the home inspected by one of the many qualified home inspectors we have in the Lakes Region. Be there for the inspection and ask questions. This is your time to learn more about the house you are buying. If undisclosed issues are revealed in the inspection you can ask for the seller to correct them or negotiate a reduction in the purchase price. If an agreement cannot be reached on correcting the defect, you can get out of the deal and continue your home search.

8. Don’t wait if you want to buy a house. If you are considering buying a home and can afford to do it now, don’t wait. You can start building equity, gain tax advantages, or stop paying rent. Buyers sitting on the fence waiting to make sure that we have reached the bottom will only know that the bottom has been reached after the prices start escalating again. Even more importantly, interest rates are not going to remain this low for much longer. Additionally, the $8,000 first time buyer credit and the $6,500 credit for qualified repeat home buyers are going to expire on April 30th. There may be no better time to buy than right now…

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 individual communities faired over the past four years. Both the average and media sales prices peaked in 2007 and in the last two years slid lower ( 20% and 14% respectively) than the numbers shown in 2006. Of all the towns in this report, New Hampton was the only one to stay in positive territory with a slim .57% increase in the average sale price. The smallest decrease since 2006 occurred in Gilford with a 4.7% drop and Gilmanton with a 9% drop. Gilford’s strong waterfront market probably helped stabilize the average but then again Moultonborough, which had the highest number of waterfront sales (but not the highest waterfront average), dropped 28%.

The biggest decline in average sales prices was in Barnstead at 37.7% . The median sales price (the amount paid for a property where half of the properties sell for less and half sell for more) in Barnstead was also down the most since 2006 at 37.7%. This indicates that there were a lot more low priced homes (and a large number of foreclosures) being sold and thus the lower average sales price. The same scenario is true in Laconia where the average sales price dropped 22.8% and the median price dropped 28%.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, these averages and percentages don’t necessarily mean that if you live in Laconia, for example, that your property is worth 22% less then it was worth in 2006. The average sale price is reflective of market conditions, what homes sold and for how much, and in what price bracket. You might have to living on another planet not to be aware that home values have dropped, but the question is how much? I believe that this is on a case by case basis. Desirable, nice quality homes still sell in any market and bring fair and reasonable prices that are usually above the averages. The best way to determine the value of your home is to have your REALTOR® provide you with a current market value analysis based on recent similar sales in your area. But, like anything else, the real value is of your home is ultimately determined by what someone is willing to pay for it…

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 water boiler.

The basement has a finished room complete with a hot tub, palm trees, and island mural that will warm you after a day out snowmobiling. Park you sleds in the one car garage so they will be warm and ready to go the next day.

The owner has done extensive landscaping outside on the 1.07 acre lot,  yet the property offers  a low maintenance  exterior so that you can spend you time enjoying all that the Lakes Region has to offer. So whether you are looking for an affordable primary or a vacation retreat you should check this home out…

This country location is easy to reach from Interstate 93 and is close to schools, shopping, and all Lakes Region attractions.

MLS #28115301 -11 Wakeman Rd, Belmont,NH 

Offered at $249,900

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.

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