The state is working on a level funding budget for next year. What does this mean for real estate in Vermont? Certainly there is a cautious feeling but we are seeing a strong interest in Vermont residential purchases as well as out of state second home purchases as a result of the clear opportunity these times offer for value priced purchases.

As this crisis eases, the unprecedented opportunities currently in the marketplace are becoming very apparent.

Vermont’s economy weakened but stable; new challenges loom

Driving through Stowe on my way home, I cannot help but notice the difference in traffic from when I first discovered this gorgeous community 44 years ago.

We got around in a 1965 Ford Mustang then. My parents had heard an announcement on the radio about the “quaint little town south of the border”. One day, we simply packed up for one of our occasional “nowheres” and ended up in Stowe, Vermont. It would some day become home.

Cars have changed, and so have our driving habits. We drove slower then. Also, it seems people did a lot more walking in the sixties, even though there were no sidewalks outside of the village at that time, and no recreation paths.

As tourists, we tend to be in our bubble. We are not aware of the occasional disturbances we may cause in traffic, even indoors standing in line at the grocery store. As tourists, we simply do not move about as we do in our home town, on our own turf and on our own time.

In this sense, when relocating to a vacation destination, amidst restaurants, inns and tourist-centric merchants and activities, the daily pace must bend to a new rhythm; much like water adopts and shapes the river shore.

How much of a difference in perspective is there for people who have watched their neighborhood develop into a full-fledged vacation destination, as is the case in Stowe, as opposed to those who choose to move here after having experienced it as a tourist only?

A March 2010 Front Door article observes that, “For some residents, Orlando’s popular tourist attractions are the reason they call the city home.” The same article quotes a resident. He says, “I’ve heard of people deciding to move to Orlando because they were such a fan of the theme parks.” Like Orlando, but in its own unique way, Stowe offers a wealth of experiences.

A resort-rich community is vibrant, for by definition it must evolve in such a way as to provide a culturally-rich array of activities, resources and entertainment. In this sense, living in a vacation destination also means we have the opportunity to experience a truly diversified lifestyle.

While some may set residency in a Walt Disney-esque community; others prefer the atmosphere of a New England town such as Stowe. Perhaps it is a sort of personality match. We are in search of the perfect community in much the same way, and perhaps for some of the same reasons we are drawn to the most compatible companion.

44 years later, Stowe is still gorgeous. Expansion and development, when done in a manner that adheres to the integrity of the landscape and the spirit of the community, add character rather than diminish it. And the diversity of people who come to the conclusion that this is home also contributes to the character of our town.

Living in a resort community, then, draws you out of yourself, because there is so much to be lived beyond your front steps.

You have the most impeccable credit history. Your finances are in good order. You were pre-approved even before you finished filling out the pre-approval paperwork. You’ve enlisted the assistance of the best Realtor. You have approached your home search with diligence and intelligence; there is no doubt about that. So don’t play head games with your gut!

I had a dream last night, about touring a home. Picture this…

The tour began as I soared over the land, discovering every hill and valley that led to a beautiful home, as though the entire world were anchored at its front door. The sky was clear; the land green and luscious, refreshing somehow. It does not matter that I was soaring without the assistance of a plane, mind you. Remember, this was a dream. But I digress.

From the outside, the house looked impressive, especially from above. The tour began in a gigantic living room. Moments after I entered, preceded by my Realtor, a knock at the door revealed a bus-load of home buyers. They swarmed the place, much like tourists who feel rushed to see everything, lest the bus leave without them. We sat on the couch, the only piece of furniture in the entire house, stupefied.

Moments later, my Realtor and I entered a room with poorly applied sheet-rock (it is an art, you know), no windows and a switch box on the wall. We flipped switches, curious to see what might happen. Each switch either turned on a cold breeze, or turned it off. We moved on, unimpressed, though wondering where the breeze actually came from. The next room was a giant, elongated bathroom with a huge tub at its far, very far end. The rim was so high that it reached shoulder height. The tub was filled with bubbling water. It all seemed grand, too grand, and utterly pointless. And to think that we flew such distances over such beautiful country!

Back to reality. Your desire to acquire a new home springs from a powerful, multi-layered dream. Your vision is so clear, your desire so earnest, that you may begin to see it even when it is not there.

There is a wide difference between discovering the fixer-upper that has the right feel and real potential, and settling for less. You may catch yourself mentally redesigning an entire house to match your dream. Precisely; catch yourself. You are playing head games with your gut. Only you can determine whether you are rationalizing or truly inspired. Settling for less will not ignite your creativity; it will only send you on a rationalizing spiral and leave you empty.

Ha! But you are not alone in your dream world. When you stand in the middle of the kitchen that could match your dream; if only it were facing south instead of north; if only it had adequate plumbing; if only the floor were level; if only it had a window… your Realtor can reach out and flip the switch that returns your attention to your real dream.

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 the announcement by NAR that, “Pending home sales increased in June following a wide swing down in April.” The Pending Home Sales Index, an indicator based on contract signings, rose to 90.0 % in June (from 88.8 % in May).

On average, it takes between one and two months for a property to close after it has received an offer. Yun suggests that, “The two consecutive months of rising activity should lead to overall improvement in closed sales in upcoming months.”

While for us in the Northeast the Pending Home Sales Index shows a 0.4 % dip down from May, it is actually 19.4 % higher than in June of 2010.

Existing-home sales, this year, are expected to rise slightly above 2010 totals, to reach 5.0 million. This is reassuring. When you consider the tribulations of market and regulations, home buyers and sellers alike might have good reason to feel insecure. However, it is clear that their determination and confidence remain a driving force, as revealed by the Pending Home Sales Index results.

This may also confirm that, increasingly, home buyers and sellers do not come to the market blindly. More have developed an action plan that is tailored to their true needs and means and that is founded on sound research and information.

After all, when it looks like the system (any system) appears to be failing us, it is only natural to turn to a creative approach. This requires an unwavering belief in possibilities. As a nation, we have long demonstrated that we do have that strength of character. This, also, is what inevitably leads to changes in “the system”, for it must eventually mold to our vision.

As individuals persistently make sound standards a part of their own personal goals and actions, they send a strong message in favor of better practices.

Click HERE to read the full NAR article.

Steeple on The Hill - Stowe VT - by Mehdi Fallahian - 25 July 2011

“I want my paintings to represent the atmosphere around me at the very moment I’m using my brush against canvas. This translates into painting climate, touch, and all the sensory aspects along with the actual scene.”

Mehdi Fallahian, author of these words of wisdom, silently set up his easel in the exact spot he knew would provide the perfect angle to capture the vibrant red façade of the Village Sampler, in Jeffersonville Vermont.

Patrons sitting in the front windows of the adjacent 158 Main Restaurant watched, mesmerized. Others lingered at a peaceful distance when they came out to their cars, transfixed, unable to leave just yet. A young boy stood by, at once daring to come closer, yet mindful of the need for space and silence. Art awakens humility. The artist tuned in to the scene and canvas, his rhythm and focus undisturbed.

I interrupted, briefly, for permission to take a picture (below) and to write about him. The agile hand continued to apply color to the canvas with precision, almost with kindness. “My name is Mehdi Fallahian. I am visiting from Washington State.” He wrote down his website address and promptly returned his attention to the easel, where it belonged. After all, the gallery on his website could do the speaking for him, and that it did.

What if, like Mehdi, each of us had the ability to capture all the moment to moment sensory aspects of the scene that unfolds before our eyes as we go to the market, to work, to school or as we awake in the morning and begin the day? What a colorful, mesmerizing world this might be! A world beyond description; not for lack of words, but because, as for Mehdi, words would be unnecessary.

This is how it is when we travel to new, unchartered (for us) territory. We enter a new town, a new home, with wide eyes, attentive ears and a childlike sense of anticipation. There must be something wonderful just around the corner. We don’t think about this consciously, of course, and it is precisely this that makes a difference. At such moments, we experience life without judgment. One thing is not better than another. Everything is new, bright and colorful.

Perhaps the trick to seeing the world with the eye of an artist is to come to our senses, literally; in each moment, to pay attention to the story that is revealed by our eyes, ears, taste buds and fingertips. Thus, in order to come to our senses on purpose, we need only change the itinerary once in a while, so as to become a visitor in our own world.

Visitors like Mehdi Fallahian remind us to see each moment with fresh eyes. In doing so, we see with a clear mind as well.

Click HERE to visit the artist’s website and discover how he sees our nation, from West to East.

Mehdi Fallahian - Visiting VT from Washington State

“Owning a house remains central to Americans’ sense of well-being,” begins a June 29, New York Times article.

The American Dream is an important part of what we value and we put a lot of efforts into preserving our values. Actually, we put a lot of effort into living our values. According to the same article, “Support for helping people in financial distress over housing is higher than support for helping those without a job.” This surely says a lot about values.

Recently, an acquaintance, who is also a former mortgage broker, made a comment that surprised me, knowing his background. He said, “A house is not an investment; it is a home.”

Investing in a house is risky only if you are not in a position to assume the responsibility, but do it anyway. I suspect and hope this does not happen as often as in the past. It seems we have learned the hard way. We value home ownership, but first, we value security and stability. With these values leading the way, we align our minds and hearts; our reason and desires. When this happens, we experience greater clarity, ask more and better questions, do our homework, find the best buyer’s agent and take every step with greater diligence and care.

To some extent, values depend on individual circumstances. Distressed homes around us enter the process of foreclosure and thus diminish the market value of neighboring houses. This, however, does not diminish the value of our quality of life, the value of all that we have accomplished and created to acquire, improve and maintain our current home, as well as our sense of belonging there. This, does not diminish the value of the search for a new dwelling when we know what we need and that it is time to acquire it.

This is our real investment, at a deeper level. The down payment and subsequent mortgage payments are but an extension of our commitment into the future. It is the time, planning and labor we invest in creating a home that constitute the true investment. We realize this when, on the first day we truly have time to stop and share a meal in the new kitchen, we suddenly become aware of a sense of being grounded. We have brought all of our energies into this one place and we savor it.

Click HERE to read the full NY Times article.

The Lamoille River attracts fishermen, artists and photographers, as well as canoe and kayak enthusiasts. In Wolcott, Vermont, Fisher Bridge, an authentic railroad covered bridge, stands as a reminder of history, on the tracks that serviced the local industry when Wolcott was home to several mills and about 1,500 sheep roamed its pastures.

Wolcott was chartered in 1781. Population by 1830 was estimated at 492. It had grown to 1,798 by 2009, making Wolcott a well-established community offering both proximity to neighbors and a sense of great privacy.

General Oliver Wolcott, the second-named grantee, was held in very high esteem by Vermonters. He was a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Early Vermont leaders, the Allens and Chittendens, knew and had great respect for General Wolcott.

Today, Wolcott is home to other adventurous and entrepreneurial spirits whose endeavors have a significant impact on the economy of the region, granting it special recognition with area residents, seasonal residents, students and outdoors-men.

One notable example is Buck’s Furniture. The facility comprises 200 showrooms on three floors, making it an impressive landmark in the heart of Wolcott village. Beginning its original operations as a groceries and dry goods store in 1957, the family-owned and operated establishment offers one of the most diverse and expansive selection of furniture, meeting the needs and whims of seasonal and permanent home owners, families, apartment dwellers and students alike.
Sterling College also has a foothold in Wolcott via the Center for Northern Studies. This unique establishment houses renowned professors with decades of experience conveying their knowledge of the fauna, flora, peoples, natural history and processes of the Circumpolar North to earth-minded students. The Center’s remote location and habitat provide the perfect background for research and learning. The Northern Studies library contains an impressive 4,000 volumes on topics ranging from sociology to botany, native art and northern literature.

Also remote, but of great significance to area children and families, is the Magic Garden Waldorf School. The Waldorf method has a well-established reputation as a nurturing environment. Its curriculum evolves with each stage of the natural development of students from preschool to high school. It puts arts and activities at the service of academics, thus providing hands-on motivation to learn.

Wolcott offers a peaceful, out-of-the-way community life for the homesteader and for those who favor a sense of seclusion. However, it is also ideally situated for easy commute to nearby Morristown, Hyde Park, Hardwick, Johnson or Stowe, their schools and amenities. It has maintained the qualities of industry, learning and peaceful living that were established by settlers who had a sense of the practical and a love of community.

Ben Hewitt,  author of “The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food” and back-to-the-land activist,  brought great attention to the town of Hardwick, VT with his book. Some senior-level English, Hazen Union High School, students have been discussing Hewitt’s book. They believe there is more to the story.

Nancy Demers, from our Morrisville Office, brought this to our attention after her son, Derek, was interviewed for the NPR report entitled, “Vermont Town’s Food Focus still a Growing Concept“. Derek, who works at the local grocery store and has direct awareness of customers’ concerns and needs, points out, “He only covers one side of the town. There’s the side of the town that’s for the local food movement, but I think there’s an even greater side of the town, with more people, that can’t afford the local food.”

Pete Johnson, owner of Pete’s Greens, agrees. He believes we must rely on locally-produced foods for several reasons, and this means making it more accessible. “For me,” says Pete, “one of the biggest ones (reasons) is the cultural aspect. These hills used to be populated by small farms… And now, even with this resurgence that we have going on, we don’t have the culture that we used to have.”

But this is changing. More and more, local food producers are hearing what their own communities have to say about their practices. It is not criticism, after all. Sending locally grown produce abroad is a sort of tangible invitation to be recognized, celebrated and ultimately to attract visitors and business. Everyone recognizes this, but the idea of being “locally produced” must also imply locally accessible.

Thus the community’s invitation to local producers says, “We appreciate how wonderfully you transform and enhance our community. Let us be a part of this too. Make it possible for us to adorn our tables with your produce.” And this is what is happening in Harwick and other similar communities. In the words of Dan Charles, author of the NPR report, “In this small town, at least, food is moving from the fringes of local life back toward its heart.”

A broad vision does not look beyond the land to market its local fare; it looks within the land first, and expands from there, quite naturally, just as the roots of a plant begin at the hub that is the seed end reach out from it, traveling every inch of the land that gave it birth. Perhaps in the midst and excitement of starting something big and meaningful, we get ahead of ourselves and momentarily forget our roots, until we feel the tug and remember.

Agriculture is, by nature, an ever-changing, ever-growing industry. From the crops we choose to harvest and distribute both locally and abroad, to the very practices in place to ensure a full cycle of growth and distribution, innovation and community are the true fertilizer of our land.

I invite you to read the full NPR article, or listen to it to hear what truly local voices have to say. Click here: Vermont Town’s Food Focus Still A Growing Concept

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, Internet search engines work with words.

The extra challenge is an added criteria that requires a new level of rigor and thought. Creative writing does not mean “absolute freedom”, and stricter guidelines can lead to more creative writing because they demand even more creative thinking.

Think of your entire house. Imagine a giant search engine, sweeping your house for endearing features. Not only that, but it will sweep the entire neighborhood. The criteria for the search is broad. The home buyer may have the words “I want a new home with more space and privacy” in mind. While you cannot be certain that a buyer would be interested in your house only, you can be sure that your house will be of interest along with others if and when you share the features that matter most to the buyer. Tricky? Not so much.

If you are selling your home, you must appeal to the Internet search engine and the real-life search engine; the buyer. Your home must stand out on the screen as well as on the street. The thought of two levels of search frightens you? Fear not. You have two heads; yours and your Realtor‘s.

In many ways, your criteria is the same as the search engine’s criteria: facts and features. These translate into keywords; the language of search engines. Really give this some thought. With your Realtor, visit each room and list significant features, impressions of how you feel in a special corner of your house and so on. Do not censure yourself. This will be your springboard for composing a property description that will speak directly to the buyer’s imagination with words that capture search engines’ attention as well.

Thus, your description of how the ability to spend evenings in front of the fire at the end of a hard working day has always been one of the main reasons you originally purchased your home, can become the blueprint to more selective language that will bring your home to the top of the list for more buyers to see.

Based on your impressions, your description could include these words: “An impressive Hearthstone fireplace lends the perfect atmosphere to the spacious living room”. Notice the key words: Hearthstone, fireplace, Hearthstone fireplace, spacious, living room, spacious living room. All basic, yet powerful, property marketing terms. From an abstract impression, specific words can emerge that match the vocabulary of the buyer and search engines.

Here is another example. If, during your exploratory conversation with your Realtor, you  commented on how you thought someone might appreciate the large windows, this is a good start to spinning search engine friendly phrases such as, “Large windows throughout the house allow natural light to brighten every room.” Key words: large, windows, large windows, house, natural, light, natural light, bright (variation thereof), room.

You would not tell a prospective home buyer that your living room is about ye wide and ye long. The buyer, like a search engine, wants facts, real measurements and the real cues to spark his or her imagination and match their dream.

Because it is a creative process, finding the right words to describe your property, with the assistance of your Realtor, will take your mind off the “what if’s” and uncertainties associated with selling your home and refocus it on what is certain; that someone else will love it for the first time, as you once did.

“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 based on sound judgment, it is also true that we have the ability to think for ourselves. We are not victims of circumstances; we have the means and responsibility to seek to be better informed and to make decisions based on this knowledge.

Yes, loose lending practices played a role in the events that led to the current housing circumstances. We can learn from this. However, the lesson involves more than learning to establish better practices. The lesson must be more personal than this; it must involve higher standards of personal choices and personal assessment.

In the end, the market is not the first factor that moves the economy in one direction or another. The first step always begins with an individual. Whether it is the managers of financial institutions deciding on lending criteria, the loan officer interpreting these criteria and applying them to a borrower’s circumstances or the borrower himself, each of these individuals has a choice and the choice lies between greed, common sense and self-preservation.

This does not mean one has to forgo any sense of creative thinking in pursuit of the dream of home ownership; it simply means that integrity must drive the process. When integrity is at the forefront in the minds of home buyers, sellers, borrowers, loan officers and those who operate financial institutions, the creative process embarks on a whole different route. When integrity is at the forefront, loose practices are not possible because the mind is open and able to perceive a better path.

So, back to the quote I introduced at the beginning of this article. Home buyers must choose their own level of integrity and insist upon it. Ultimately, this may require compromises, patience and the ability to think outside of the box. Precisely, home buyers must take the lead to ensure a sensible process, much as a parent might take the lead to ensure proper shelter and care for their children.

Utopia? Why should it be? It is simply a variation on the theme. If lack of integrity and loose practices are possible now, it stands to reason that the opposite is possible as well. It is a matter of choice. Market trends truly inform the process, but they are not tailored to individual needs and reality.

Home buyers have the responsibility to insist on integrity from lending institutions, but also from themselves. By applying high standards of personal behavior, personal choice and personal integrity, we reflect back to institutions whose support we depend upon the level of integrity our relationship with them demands.