In a July 28 National Association of Realtors press release, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun spoke true words of wisdom when he said, “The best way to ensure a more solid recovery in housing is to simply return to normal, sound credit standards so more creditworthy home buyers can get a mortgage.” Yun’s comment follows [...]

No tags

A recent conversation with a colleague led to further investigation and brainstorming. We were discussing how finding the right words for our audience can be a bit tricky. If that were the only concern, it would not be much of a challenge, but social media bring a new perspective to the picture: positioning. In short, [...]

No tags

“Loose lending practices seen during the housing bubble allowed 5 million renters to become homeowners …the market is in the protracted process of evicting this group.”- Bloomberg Businessweek This statement offers much to think about. While it is true that all of us, at some point in our lives, make decisions that are not necessarily [...]

No tags

A young couple entered the office lobby with a spark of excitement in their eyes. You could sense that the prospect of an important new step in their lives was causing some measure of uncertainty, overshadowed by the exhilaration of knowing they had reached a place in their lives where this sort of venture was [...]

No tags

I asked Elaine Flynn, founder and president of Stowe Mountain Concierge, what sort of services she offers home buyers and sellers? Elaine – For prospective home buyers, I can arrange accommodations and logistics when folks come to town to look at properties, and can help answer many questions. Once they actually own a home, I [...]

No tags

What was quaint and attractive and featured in Better Homes and Gardens? The 140-square-foot house Gregory Johnson, co-founder of the Small House Society, inhabited from 2003 to 2009. A WalletPop article makes an interesting observation: “As home values sink and utility costs climb, tiny houses have captured the imagination of devotees of diminutive living… Clutter? [...]

No tags

She had always known this: Some day, it would happen to her. She would be walking up to a home with prospective buyers, and everything would stop. At that precise moment, the professional suite pant, the brand new, state-of-the-art Netbook tucked under her arm, and her natural talent for making sense of details and numbers [...]

No tags

“I don’t think this recession is anywhere near over,” he said, “I was going to try to sell my house this year, but am afraid I won’t be able to buy again. You probably can’t relate to this so much since you’ve been renting for so long. I never liked renting. I don’t know what [...]

No tags

Allergen-free, antimicrobial synthetic turf – Install it in your backyard, and you can eliminate most of the allergens and truly enjoy the great outdoors… without birds, butterflies, flowers and everything else that makes the Vermont landscape unique and enjoyable. An allergy is an increased sensitivity to ordinarily harmless substances. The symptoms associated with allergies occur [...]

No tags

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? In today’s economy, well, let me rephrase this, in any economy, it is easy to take one stance over the other. It depends on what we hear from the media and from others and how we respond to this. Massachusetts Mortgage Broker and friend, Bill Nickerson, recently made [...]

No tags