Have a Contract? It’s Still not Time for the Bubbly!
Getting a house under contract can sometimes be challenging enough. However, it’s still not time to break out the champagne once it happens. According to a survey by the Nat’l Assoc. of Realtors, about 14% of pending sales don’t close and another 20% are delayed but eventually close. Most of the issues can be attributed to financing or home inspections.
So what can you do? Be mentally prepared that there most likely will be hurdles to overcome and the closing date may not be concrete. Have a home inspection prior to putting your house on the market and make needed repairs so you can avoid post-contract negotiations or worse, giving the buyers reason to walk from the contract. Be aware that tighter lending regulations can slow the process - anything from the house not appraising to last minute negotiations that create a 3-day delay due to new lending rules. It’s a complex process and that’s why you need a knowledgeable Realtor to help navigate your way to a successful closing. Give me a call and put my 15 years of experience to work for you. 603-526-4116
Donna Forest, ABR
Find out if your home is squandering precious energy and costing you money. By following up on problems, you can lower energy bills by 5% to 30% annually. What you’ll need:flashlight, screwdriver, paint stirrer, tape measure and, not just for serenity’s sake, a stick of incense. 1. Hunt down drafts. Hold a lit stick of incense near windows, doors, electrical outlets, range hoods, plumbing and ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and ceiling fans in bathrooms—anywhere drafts might sneak in. Watch for smoke movement. Note what sources need caulk, sealant, weather-stripping, or insulation. 2. Check attic insulation. Winter or summer, insulation does the most good when it’s overhead, so start with the attic. First, do you have insulation? If the insulation you see covers the tops of the joists by several inches, you probably have enough. If the insulation is only even with the tops of the joists, you probably need to add insulation. 3. Check wall insulation. Remove electrical outlet covers to see if your wall contains insulation. Shut off power to the receptacle before probing beside the electrical box with a wooden paint stirrer. Check some switch boxes as well. Their higher wall location lets you see if blown-in insulation has settled. 4. Look for stains on insulation. These often indicate air leaks from a hole behind the insulation, such as a duct hole or crack in an exterior wall. Seal gaps with caulk or spray foam insulation. 5. Inspect exposed ducts. Look for obvious holes and whether joints are sealed. Heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) ducts are made of thin metal and easily conduct heat. Consider insulating them. Uninsulated or poorly insulated ducts in unconditioned spaces can lose 10% to 30% of the energy used to heat and cool your home. 6. Check anything that goes through an exterior wall. Examine dryer ducts, plumbing lines under sinks and vanities, anything that pierces a wall. Any gaps around it should be sealed with spray foam insulation or caulk. Taken from an article by Jane Hodges for houselogic.com, a service of realtor.com
Back in the “good old days”, buyers who were pre-approved usually spent less than a month looking for a home; typically, they would see 15-20 houses. In today’s market, it’s not unusual for buyers to look at two or three times that number and still not say “yes” to one of them. With the number of homes available, buyers become overly concerned that they have not yet seen the “perfect” home. News media reporting has also helped convince them that there is a “better deal” around the next corner.
Here are some tips which might help buyers be more efficient in their search:
-Look at enough properties to get acquainted with the local market and its likelihood of meeting your expectations. Also, be sure to have your agent provide you with data regarding the performance of the market in your area, including sold statistics.
-Let your emotions help you. Too many buyers have forgotten that buying a home should be a satisfying and rewarding emotional experience, as well as a sensible purchase. Without emotion entering into your considerations, it will be much harder to make a decision. Go ahead, fall in love with a house! Then be sure it is a good purchase for you.
-Decide if a distressed property is really right for you. Purchasing a property which is under foreclosure or short sale circumstances can be a complicated and trying experience. Buyers will need a very good agent and a lot of patience and flexibility to be successful.
-Don’t focus too heavily on price. Yes, price is an important consideration, but it isn’t the only one. Sometimes focusing on getting the “very best” price keeps buyers from considering all the other benefits of purchasing a home
-Be ready to negotiate. The first step is to make an offer at a price you are comfortable with…but be prepared to consider a counter-offer from the seller. Negotiation is part of the process and can be the open door to a successful purchase. Typically, in the current market, sellers are still finding that they are the ones who need to do more negotiating, so, go ahead, give it a try, you never know where you might end up!
-Get plenty of advice but trust the professionals. Now, more than ever, buyers need the experience and guidance from a real estate professional who knows the market in his/her area. Friends and family can certainly offer good ideas for consideration, but, in the end, trust the professionals.
-Don’t let negative comments about the housing market scare you off. Despite the fact that there still seems to be bad news being broadcast about the real estate market, serious buyers should keep their eyes on the target. This is a “perfect storm” for buyers: historically low interest rates, high inventory, motivated sellers…you can buy more now for your dollar than at any time in recent history.
Go on out and buy a home! You won’t regret the decision!
Based on an article published on line, November 17, 2010, by RISMEDIA, the Leader in Real Estate Information Systems
I associate a treasury of colorful Sutton tales with a theatrical legacy dating back to Vaudeville performers. Many performers did live in and around South Sutton in the early part of the 1900s. Although most of the stories of their early acts are now forgotten, at least one tale lives on.
There is a snake charmer buried in an unmarked grave with a hollow iron pipe connected to his casket so his snakes could come and see him after his death. This otherwise unmarked grave is said to be near some vague landmarks in a patch of woods along a back dirt road; it’s an area I’ve come to know very well over the past 25 years.
As teenagers, we would invariably invoke the story of the snake charmer’s grave when walking along that dark road on moonless nights. That story was more than enough to quicken my pace, although I was sure it was just a myth, re-told by local kids to scare wide-eyed citified visitors like me.
Turns out, the story is true.
The snake charmer was Winfield Scott Littlehale, third generation of the Littlehale family to inhabit a now-vanished farm located at the foot of the steep granite knob where I live.
Littlehale was an eccentric, a farmer and a seasonal exhibitor of native wild animals, some of whom he had trained to perform simple tricks. He kept and displayed exotics: a prairie dog, an alligator, a parrot, and a monkey as well as some oddities in his traveling show including albinos and a “fox-dog” named Judy.
A 1956 memoir written by the late Chet Wright of Sutton, Sketches Here And There, recounts details of “Littlehale's Museum,” as it was known before the turn of the 20th century. As a boy of 10 or 12, Wright worked for Littlehale and eventually made a name for himself as a Vaudeville-era ventriloquist.
I remember Wright as an aged, nearly deaf proprietor of a general store overlooking Blaisdell Lake. His reminiscences are perhaps the only stories ever recorded about Littlehale’s menagerie.
According to Wright, Littlehale took his “Museum” on the country fair circuit in the fall and in the winter he rented a vacant store in a city and exhibited there for two or three weeks before moving on to another city.
“His show consisted of small animals such as mice, doves, guinea pigs, porcupines, rabbits, foxes, coons, woodchucks, crows, snakes, bobcats, turtles, monkeys, and a big alligator. He also had some very odd freaks such as a white crow, a white porcupine, white woodchuck, and a white squirrel. He had some small cages about three feet long with doors on each end, and by taking off these doors and putting the cages end to end, he made one long cage which he called ‘Littlehale’s Happy Family‚’…
Littlehale was quite a large man. He had a white horse and a buckboard, and when he got into the buckboard it nearly dragged on the ground… One of his attractions was a parrot whose talk was not exactly the Sunday-school type. He used to have a little perch on the side of his ticket box for the parrot to sit on, and when anyone came along and walked by instead of buying a ticket, the parrot would say ‘Cheap cus’.”
Littlehale died in March 1904. The circumstances of his burial are nearly as strange as his career. He was interred in the ox pasture behind his farm, somewhat diagonally due to difficulties in digging his grave. According to the obituary published in The Boston Globe:
“His burial in the pasture back of his home was in accordance with his expressed wish. He had selected the spot on the hillside, close beside two great boulders, and had buried some of his most cherished animal pets there, including the fox dog, which he had prized so highly. He asked that he might sleep with them in a casket of plain oak plank and his directions were faithfully carried out.”
The second description of Littlehale’s grave at the end of Chet Wright’s Chapter titled “My First Job in Show Business” contained an important missing clue to the location of the grave.
“Littlehale left full instructions for his burial. There was to be ‘no flowers, no singing‚’ and the coffin was to be made of two-inch oak plank… the town carpenters made the coffin according to instructions and the village blacksmith made the iron handles… Littlehale wished to be buried on the hill back of the house, between two rocks, under a big pine tree. A pipe was to be put into the ground so the snakes could come and see him. The details were carried out as he wished. Thus ends the story of one of Sutton’s best known showmen.”
The snake charmer story was re-told by successive generations but was nearly forgotten by the time that I first heard it. New residents of town don’t seem much interested in old local folklore. I hadn’t suspected there was any truth to the tale at all until I met Dr. Chan Blodgett, Littlehale’s great grandson.
Blodgett shared family photos of Littlehale’s cape house that burned in 1909. He also shared old postcards of a Victorian style inn subsequently built on the Littlehale house site by the Blodgetts. More importantly, Blodgett shared my desire to find the actual location of his great-grandfather Littlehale’s grave. We compared the two, slightly different descriptions of the gravesite. Fitting the pieces together, Blodgett and I soon found ourselves in the woods with a metal detector.
We spent a late autumn afternoon using the metal detector to search for the hollow iron pipe or any indication of buried metal - barbed wire, an old horseshoe, tin cans, shotgun shells, iron coffin handles - whatever. At the last possible site located between two great granite boulders and under a huge and ancient pasture pine, the metal detector beeped and flashed as we traced a rectangular pattern resembling the outline of a buried coffin. Late afternoon was rapidly fading to dusk.
“Maybe you ought to poke around here some more?” Blodgett suggested. “See if you can find something more convincing? Maybe you’ll find the iron pipe?”
“No thanks” I said. With the hair was bristling on the back of my neck as it grew ever darker, I was convinced we’d found the grave. Instead of digging around in the woods further, I contacted the absentee landowner to see what he knew, if anything, about the grave.
He purchased the tract of forestland 20 years earlier from Realtors who had no definitive knowledge of an unmarked grave - at least no knowledge they felt the need to disclose to potential buyers. Perhaps in the absence of a grave marker, the true story was in the process of becoming a local myth? An old iron pipe stuck in the ground is a feature that could easily disappear in a century. Obviously, stranger things had already happened.
Then the landowner produced an old survey map from his files with a handwritten notation: “Supposed location of the grave of W.S. Littlehale.” Case closed.
That night, I had a vivid dream of a white porcupine. Then about a week later, I actually saw one!
A pure white, albino porcupine with little pink eyes and pink palms perched in a roadside tree not far from Littlehale’s grave! The whole affair was getting creepy. Poke around that grave some more? I don’t think so! I don’t need the wrath of any ghost of a former inhabitant of the place where I now live.
Besides, I’d become fond of old Littlehale.
According to Chet Wright, “Littlehale had a great by-word ‘Yes I swear damn my soul!’” On occasion, I say that incantation aloud while working around our farm. The effect is immediate and electric.
It feels to me like Littlehale is ever just around the curve in the road, his buckboard wagon springs sagging under his weight. In pre-dawn gloom, Littlehale manifests in the creaking sound of the old-fashioned hand pump on our well, or the whinny of our horse, or the chatter of a squirrel.
A former neighbor named Don Lowe, once told me how the show people originally came to populate South Sutton. He said sometime before 1900, a rickety, horse-drawn wagon from an asylum for drunken performers broke an axle on a steep curve, spilling its passengers along the road. The liberated performance artists who literally just fell off the wagon performed a collective escape act, eluding authorities that made only a cursory search of the rugged countryside. In time, the harmless eccentrics founded a colony of Vaudevillians in the sleepy hollow of South Sutton.
And to that, Lowe raised his glass and winked.
Lowe knew that a good local story should end with a wink. The very act of telling a tale well gives it the quality of legend – even when it’s true. Perhaps the finest crop ever raised in the hill-farms and villages of once-rural New Hampshire is a handsome crop of local folklore; the stories that lie yet unharvested, their edges just touching like two great boulders deep in the woods of an old abandoned hillside ox pasture.
This tale was written by Dave Anderson for the Concord Monitor, date unknown. Dave is director of education for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. He can be reached via e-mail at danderson@spnhf.org or through the Forest Society web-site: http://www.spnhf.org
You can find this tag line on the NH Department of Resources and Economic Development’s web site at Welcome to New Hampshire. If you’re planning a visit to NH for a vacation or house-hunting, it’s the perfect place to start. You can make your reservations right on line. The site is designed around the current season and, there is an absolute wealth of information to be found. Some of the many subjects covered are Arts & Entertainment, Shopping and Antiquing, Family Attractions, What to do, Where to Eat…etc. For example, in the Arts & Entertainment section, you’ll find a brief description of NH’s music and arts scene, but there are also separate links to “Music”, “Galleries”, “Museums”, “Theatre”, “Film”, and “NH Made”. There’s even a NH Brewery Location Map! There are plenty of pictures and even some suggested itineraries suited for the season, and what could be more appropriate than “Yankee Dollar Stretchers”? You’ll find yourself going back many times. Come visit us in the New London-Lake Sunapee Area when you get here!
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and that means that Christmas will be coming quickly on its heels. Then, before we know it, it’s time to start pulling together all our tax information. Sure, taxes aren’t due until April 15th, but we all know what a process it is. We also all know that some of the frustration and “pain” can be avoided by getting a jump on it. So, to help give you that early start, here are some web sites which will give you some great tips, whether you’re a first time homebuyer, someone who owns a vacation home, or an investment buyer who has purchased a home at foreclosure. Remember, always check with your own tax advisors, but these articles might provide you with some discussion points. Good luck!
Home sweet homeowner tax breaksTax Tips for Homeowners | DoItYourself.comTurboTax® - Buying a Second Home - Tax Tips for HomeownersTax tips for Homeowners of short sale or foreclosed properties12 Tax Tips for Homeowners in 2010
The following information was released November 9, 2010, by the Department of Environmental Services (DES), Concord, NH –
The NH Carbon Monoxide Work Group announced November, 2010, as the state’s first Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month, as proclaimed by Governor John Lynch.
Carbon monoxide is a serious public safety concern, and poses the greatest risk to people in their homes. Nationally, CO is one of the leading causes of accidental poisoning deaths, and accounts for more than 50,000 emergency department visits each year in the US.
Carbon monoxide poisoning becomes a greater risk as we enter the heating season as people spend more time indoors. Protect your home and family by following these simple do’s and dont's:
DO have your fuel-burning appliances – including oil and gas furnaces, gas water heaters, gas ranges and ovens, gas dryers, gas or kerosene space heaters, fireplaces, and wood stoves – inspected by a trained professional, and make certain that flues and chimneys are connected, in good condition, and not blocked.
DO read and follow all of the instructions that accompany any fuel- burning device. If you cannot avoid using an unvented gas or kerosene space heater, carefully follow the cautions that come with the device. Use the proper fuel and keep doors to the rest of the house open. Crack a window to ensure enough air for ventilation and proper fuel-burning.
DO install at least one CO detector in the living areas of your home, preferably one on each floor.
DO know the symptoms of CO poisoning, which even at moderate levels, includes severe headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea or faintness.
If you experience symptoms that you think could be from CO poisoning: get fresh air immediately. Open doors and windows, turn off combustion appliances and leave the house. Call 9-1-1 or get to an emergency room immediately.
DON’T idle the car in a garage -- even if the garage door to the outside is open. Fumes can build up very quickly in the garage and living area of your home.
DON’T use a gas oven to heat your home, even for a short time, and DON’T ever use a charcoal grill indoors – even in a fireplace.
DON'T sleep in any room with an unvented gas or kerosene space heater.
DON’T use any gasoline-powered engines (mowers, weed trimmers, snow blowers, chain saws, small engines or generators) in enclosed spaces, including the garage.
DON’T ignore symptoms, particularly if more than one person is feeling them. You could lose consciousness and die if you do nothing.
For a comprehensive source of information on carbon monoxide safety tips, emergency generator usage, health risks, and more, please see www.nh.gov/co.
The New Hampshire Carbon Monoxide Work Group is an interagency task force dedicated to keeping the public informed of the many safety and health issues related to carbon monoxide. The group includes representatives from the state’s departments of Environmental Services, Health and Human Services, and Safety, the Poison Center, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the City of Concord, Concord Regional Health Care, and Powers Generator Service.
Here is some good advice for those folks who have sold their homes and need to pack up and move on.
First decide if you are going to do it yourself, or hire a full-service company or, relatively new, hybrid, of the two. Then, get recommendations from friends and relatives on the best choices and solicit two or three quotes. Like most undertakings, working with a high-quality, customer-service oriented company can make all the difference in how you feel during and after the move. Sort your belongings into categories: keep, throw out, recycle, donate, or sell. Try to be flexible in the timing of your move; you can save a lot of money by asking the mover for the different rates for different times. Save on packing materials by packing a lot yourself and using your own belonging as breakage buffers. If you have a large collection of books, check into mailing them; it might be cheaper than the movers. Lastly, decide ahead of time where your furniture and belongings will be placed in their new location. All of these suggestions can help save you time, money, and worry.
Source of information: based on an article originally posted on RISMedia, July 13, 2010. (c) 2010, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Daylight Savings is this weekend. If your home is on the market in the New London/Lake Sunapee Area, many would be buyers will only be seeing your home in the dark. Well-executed outdoor lighting will cast your home in the best possible light and add an abundance of curb appeal. It can also add value. However, it's not just about aesthetics, lighting for security is also important. Here are some elements of successful outdoor lighting: Mimic moonlight: The "moonlight effect' is a naturalistic look that features light no more intense than that of a full moon, but still strong enough to make beautiful shadows and intense highlights. Highlight trees: Illuminated from below or with a light mounted in the tree itself, trees make stunning features. Use up-lights: Up-lighting is dramatic because we expect light to shine downward. Have a focus: The entryway is often center stage, a way of saying, "Welcome, this way in." Stick to warm light: The purpose is to showcase the house and its landscape rather than create a light show. Add safety and security: Stair and pathway lighting help eliminate falls. Motion-detecting security lighting is helpful when you get out of your car at night, and it also deters intruders. Landscape lighting on timers can also illuminate shadowy areas. The moonlight effect can have a security function as its soft, overall lighting eliminates dark areas that might hide an intruder, unlike overly bright lights which create undesirable pockets of deep shadown. Switch to LEDs: Now the light source of choice for lighting designers. A little attention to some outdoor lighting options could make your house stand out from the crowd, especially at this time of year. And that's just what's needed to help you get it sold! This article was based on one by Dave Toht for NAR's houselogic.com, published in March of 2010. Visit the site for more great ideas. Toht has written or edited more than 60 books on home repair and remodeling, including titles for The Home Depot, Lowe's, Better Homes & Gardens, Sunset, and Reader's Digest.
In 1952, some attendees at New London's Old Home Day conceived the idea of founding an Historical Society to mark the upcoming 175th anniversary of the town's incorporation. A committee was selected to begin the undertaking. On July 31, 1954, the day of New London's celebration of its 175th anniversary, an organizational meeting of the New London Historical Society was held at the Town Hall. "The purpose of this new organization was to develop interest in the history of the area, to collect and preserve memorabilia and historically significant objects, and to educate and inform a growing population of the importance of our past to present day life." For a number of years, since they had no site of their own, the members of the Society met at a variety of locations in town. However, in 1963, Walter Bucklin donated some farmland on Little Lake Suanpee Road where the Society began to assemble its collection of original and reproduction buildings (a total of 16) which host exhibits that depict aspects of 19th century life in the New London area. The Historical Society offers a series of programs year-round, including a Holiday Open House, dessert socials with speakers on a variety of subjects, school visits, and many other special events and exhibits, all of which are open to the public. Visit their web site at A window to the past: New London Historical Society.