Support Green Building!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for reading and following my blog! I am so busy these days, but all the activity in the office is a good thing for me. I wanted to dedicate a portion of this Blog to the builder I work with at Smithfield Construction, Joe Caldarola. His custom homes as well as subdivision lots have been so successful that I think he deserves some online attention!

Joe has brought green building into the limelight in Durham, NH with his excellent attention to energy saving building techniques and strategies. His company works to build Energy Star homes at the highest level of quality. Smithfield Construction uses geothermal energy which attributes to less fossil fuel burning and more efficient space heating, not to mention a cooler house in the summer.

Joe also works on details such as the arrangement and positioning of the house in order to attain the best level of energy efficiency. Just changing the direction that the majority of the windows face, can help to use what Joe refers to as passive solar energy. Joe?s company works to ensure that the homes he builds are cost efficient and that the price it takes to make a home energy efficient is actually worth it.

You can take a look at some of his previous work including subdivisions like Fitts Farm in and Peterson Woods in Durham, New Hampshire. As well as many other subdivisions, Smithfield construction is also well established in custom design. Check out some of the Smithfield teams work at,http://www.smithfieldconstruction.com/energy-star-homes.htm!

Thanks again for checking out my new blog!

Nikki Douglass

Lucky for those of that live in southern NH!

 

            Apparently the rising home prices that some of us have gotten used to over the last few months are not as glorious as we had imagined. Alyssa Katz, author of “The Coming Foreclosure Flood” tells us that far from glorious the rise in home prices is just an illusion. Katz calls the 1.8 million homes on the road to foreclosure, the “shadow inventory”, this is what has fooled us into seeing an increase in home prices. What we don’t see is the shadow inventory. Over a million American homes in which the owners have fallen behind on the mortgage or simply stopped paying. We are currently at a standstill as mortgage servicers’ as well as the courts are backed up trying to get through all the recent foreclosures. The shadow inventory is equal to half the size of the entire market, it will take almost three years to sell all the houses defined as shadow inventory. We should expect housing prices to plummet quickly when the entirety of the shadow inventory enters the market. What does that mean for us? Some areas of the country will be hit by these foreclosures much harder than others. Fortunately in the state of New Hampshire our houses have retained their value for the most part. Not feeling so sure? Take a look at the New Hampshire Association of Realtors January 2010 Residential Sales Report. Statewide unit sales have increased by 16.5 % and median sales have grown statewide by 7.5 %. This shows that most people are comfortable buying/selling in NH, let’s hope it stays that way. Good luck with your real estate endeavors!

Taxes and your House

Taxes!

Just thought I should bring this up since tax season has arrived. Congress wants to stimulate the housing market, which is lucky for those of you thinking about buying a home. This means that last fall congress approved the, Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit up until April 30, 2010. Even if you are a repeat buyer, you can now be approved for this credit.

If you are interested take a look at these facts:

            -Deadline: Binding written contract by APRIL 30^TH and close by JULY 1^st! (Now is really       good time to buy…)

            -Money: Maximum allowable credit for first timers is, $8,000.00, long time                         residents and repeat buyers is, $6,500.00

            -If your home is condo, town-home, co-op, or single family home, you are eligible.

            -The new law raises income limits for people who purchase homes after Nov. 6,             2009. It is now at a gross income of, 125,000 or 225,000 for joint filers. Those with higher incomes do not qualify.

If you have not owned a residence in the last three years you qualify as a first time home-buyer. If you have sold your home within the last eight years you qualify for a repeat buyer.

 Don’t let the feds take all your vacation money, be smart about what you owe!

 

Thanks to Realtor Magazine for the info…

You want to sell your home? Stage it.

Chances are if your house isn’t selling it doesn’t always have to do with the all of “those” people who simply refuse to recognize its beauty. Don’t be quick to take offense I’m not saying your house isn’t beautiful, because of course it is… but you might be able to acquire a couple of tricks that could make your house even more beautiful.

 Ok, honestly, if your house is on the market you have probably already come across the idea of staging your home. However, did you know that home staging costs LESS than your first price reduction? Usually by about Ten percent! You can even do it yourself for about 250.00 with a consultation and report. Even the ASP (Accredited Staging Professional) stats show that the average home sells in 182 days as opposed to a staged home which will sell on average in 37 days.

 Now when I say the words staging, inexpensive, do it yourself, you might think I mean decorating. I do not. I repeat I do NOT mean decorating. Decorating is when you love your home so much that you want to make it look like you love it. Decorating is emotional and personal. Staging on the other hand takes away that emotional element. You might have the false belief that a buyer will appreciate your little tokens of love scattered through out your home. They will not. What the buyer will see is a house which is yours not theirs, a cluttered home, not a future investment. You say, “but its not clutter,” not to you it isn’t but to a potential buyer anything that isn’t theirs is probably going to be considered clutter. No hard feelings. That being said, the trick does not involve emptying your house, you have to create a specific nature to sell. This is what an outside observer can do.

 I know, I know, it seems like you are the Kings and Queens of your home and you know what is best for it (chances are most of the time you do). You might be the all-knowing super-power of your home, but do not make the mistake of assuming you are also the emperor of the people coming to view it. You don’t know them! They could be anyone; a nice home to them might mean an aquarium inside your living room. You never know, and you will never be able to. A stager does not know either but they have a better strategic position to detach from the whole ordeal and move away from, trendy, cute, country, formal, ultra, traditional, or ultra modern and into the wonderful world of GENERIC.

 Good luck! Thanks to Kathy Cinquemani of ASP, Hampton NH for her Sell or Dwell Ideas. 

You want to sell your home? Stage it.

Chances are if your house isn’t selling it doesn’t always have to do with the all of “those” people who simply refuse to recognize its beauty. Don’t be quick to take offense I’m not saying your house isn’t beautiful, because of course it is… but you might be able to acquire a couple of tricks that could make your house even more beautiful.

 Ok, honestly, if your house is on the market you have probably already come across the idea of staging your home. However, did you know that home staging costs LESS than your first price reduction? Usually by about Ten percent! You can even do it yourself for about 250.00 with a consultation and report. Even the ASP (Accredited Staging Professional) stats show that the average home sells in 182 days as opposed to a staged home which will sell on average in 37 days.

 Now when I say the words staging, inexpensive, do it yourself, you might think I mean decorating. I do not. I repeat I do NOT mean decorating. Decorating is when you love your home so much that you want to make it look like you love it. Decorating is emotional and personal. Staging on the other hand takes away that emotional element. You might have the false belief that a buyer will appreciate your little tokens of love scattered through out your home. They will not. What the buyer will see is a house which is yours not theirs, a cluttered home, not a future investment. You say, “but its not clutter,” not to you it isn’t but to a potential buyer anything that isn’t theirs is probably going to be considered clutter. No hard feelings. That being said, the trick does not involve emptying your house, you have to create a specific nature to sell. This is what an outside observer can do.

 I know, I know, it seems like you are the Kings and Queens of your home and you know what is best for it (chances are most of the time you do). You might be the all-knowing super-power of your home, but do not make the mistake of assuming you are also the emperor of the people coming to view it. You don’t know them! They could be anyone; a nice home to them might mean an aquarium inside your living room. You never know, and you will never be able to. A stager does not know either but they have a better strategic position to detach from the whole ordeal and move away from, trendy, cute, country, formal, ultra, traditional, or ultra modern and into the wonderful world of GENERIC.

 Good luck! Thanks to Kathy Cinquemani of ASP, Hampton NH for her Sell or Dwell Ideas. 

You want to sell your home? Stage it.

Chances are if your house isn’t selling it doesn’t always have to do with the all of “those” people who simply refuse to recognize its beauty. Don’t be quick to take offense I’m not saying your house isn’t beautiful, because of course it is… but you might be able to acquire a couple of tricks that could make your house even more beautiful.

 Ok, honestly, if your house is on the market you have probably already come across the idea of staging your home. However, did you know that home staging costs LESS than your first price reduction? Usually by about Ten percent! You can even do it yourself for about 250.00 with a consultation and report. Even the ASP (Accredited Staging Professional) stats show that the average home sells in 182 days as opposed to a staged home which will sell on average in 37 days.

 Now when I say the words staging, inexpensive, do it yourself, you might think I mean decorating. I do not. I repeat I do NOT mean decorating. Decorating is when you love your home so much that you want to make it look like you love it. Decorating is emotional and personal. Staging on the other hand takes away that emotional element. You might have the false belief that a buyer will appreciate your little tokens of love scattered through out your home. They will not. What the buyer will see is a house which is yours not theirs, a cluttered home, not a future investment. You say, “but its not clutter,” not to you it isn’t but to a potential buyer anything that isn’t theirs is probably going to be considered clutter. No hard feelings. That being said, the trick does not involve emptying your house, you have to create a specific nature to sell. This is what an outside observer can do.

 I know, I know, it seems like you are the Kings and Queens of your home and you know what is best for it (chances are most of the time you do). You might be the all-knowing super-power of your home, but do not make the mistake of assuming you are also the emperor of the people coming to view it. You don’t know them! They could be anyone; a nice home to them might mean an aquarium inside your living room. You never know, and you will never be able to. A stager does not know either but they have a better strategic position to detach from the whole ordeal and move away from, trendy, cute, country, formal, ultra, traditional, or ultra modern and into the wonderful world of GENERIC.

 Good luck! Thanks to Kathy Cinquemani of ASP, Hampton NH for her Sell or Dwell Ideas.