Welcome to New England it's a common past time to see just how long you can wait to turn your heat on. With temeperatures in the morning hovering around 45 degrees many are caving. Since heating costs can take up a significant portion of your budget here are some things to consider:

Natural Gas: It appears prices are dropping due to an oversupply of inventory.

Oil: Do you lock in or not? That's hard to predict since prices at the gas stations have dropped in the last week.

Take advantage of the tax credit to add energy efficiency to your home that is older than 10 years old. Insulate and replace windows if needed.

Don't forget to get your furnaces serviced, there is nothing worse than having an issue in the dead of winter...

So.. how long are you going to wait or have you caved already? I'm still holding on..blankets and sweaters on hand.

I recently read The Travelers Gift by Andy Andrews and for the next 21 days morning and night I am reading Decision 1: The Buck Stops Here.

The book was powerful, about a man at the lowest point in his life, ready  to end it all who just as he is about to winds up “traveling” through history and meeting some of great historical men and women who each teach him a lesson.

This one is about accepting that you are where you are through your own doing and to stop blaming people, genetics etc for where you are. As I go about my day in Real Estate this is in the back of my mind. Here are a few changes I made because of it:

I was late for an office meeting that I thought started later. I could have sworn that’s what was written down and I was ready to go down the path of “it’s not my fault” but it was. I misread the calendar so I was late, end of story. Next time I will have to pay more attention.

I was  tired and didn’t want to go to the gym after a long day. Too bad most of my days are long and I knew that and didn’t get up in the morning. So I picked myself up and off I went. I felt more energetic the next day too… except.

My ankle started acting up again. Great reason not to go right? Nope ankle brace and the bike which doesn’t aggravate it. No more excuses.

The lesson is all about putting your energy in making the right decisions and moving forward on them. Not making rash ones and regretting them later. My favorite quote in the lesson “My life will not be an apology. It will be a statement.”

Stay tuned for Decision 2: I will seek Wisdom.

Recently I have had several relocation buyers looking at my listings and I've been asked to highight the features of Groton. I have lived here for 9 years and here are a few of mine.

• Farmers Market open Fridays through October
• Rail trail that goes from Ayer to Nashua - very popular with families
• Close to the Commuter rail in Ayer and Routes 2, 3 and 495
• Great library with many events for adults, teens and children
  
• Our old High School was recently converted to a 2nd Middle School and our High School was recently built. We share the school district with the town of Dunstable.
• Great recreational sports including soccer, basketball, hockey and so on.
• Canoeing on the Nashua River
• Many local stables for Horseback riding
• The Groton Country Club with a golf course and pool.
  
• The town in the last few years has purchased several acres to preserve the landscape.
• Gibbet Hill Grill and the scenic area around it.
• 2 renowned private schools: Lawrence Academy and the Groton School-both of which allow their facilities to be used by the town recreation.
• Town soccer fields, tennis courts and so on.
• Close to tax free shopping in Nashua, NH
• Sargisson beach and the Lost Lake area close by.
• Wonderful walking/riding/running trails throughout the town, well marked.

If you are considering a move to the is area, I would love to show you some of my favorite spots.

Where is the rush of Sellers listing their homes?

April is here and Buyers  are wondering when the Sellers are going to start listing their homes.

Here is the inventory of homes in Groton listed since 3/1/09 that have not been previously listed in the last year:

73 Deerfield Drive

15 Acorn Path - showing for back-up

34 Spaulding Ln

51 Overlook Drive

44 Drumlin Hill Road

40 Wallace Rd

337 Martins Pond Road

109 Nashua Rd

That's not alot of new inventory for buyers wanting to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit, if you have a home to sell nows your chance, give us a call.

Last week was a long week. We walked into our Monthly Meeting to find out we had been bought out by a much larger office. This was a shock to everyone in the room. Our small hometown office was now part of now 11 offices the largest in the state. Here are a few lessons I learned quickly:

I don't like change as much as I thought I did.

In my complacency I always thought as an independent contractor I made my own business decisions, that illusion was quickly shattered when my old company stopped existing 10 minutes after we were told.

I handle change better than I thought.

Once I did get over my initial shock and realized I had choices I began immediately researching the new technology and benefits of my new company. I decided to give them the 3 months they asked for because change under pressure just isn't the way I prefer to do business.

Change can be good

Watching Century 21 close their office next door had me concerned about the future or our office. We are now part of a strong network of offices and agents whose benefits far exceeded what our old small office could offer. Our new management is vibrant and offers cutting edge technology. We have access to new territories, use of any of the offices and a great support system.

So I guess the real theme of this blog is about change and how to handle it. I had a range of emotions over this but in the end my optimism prevailed and I choose to embrace it and find new opportunities that may not have been on my radar if this opportunity hadn't presented itself. I hope if you find yourself in a similar situation you can do the same.

I don't know about the rest of you but I have decided not to participate in this recession.

Monday: I got short sale approval on one of my closings, set to close in 3 weeks. The whole process took about a month.

         Tuesday: I wrote up an offer on one of my istings, cash deal.
       

         Wednesday: Screened 2 new buyer leads, had an offer accepted on another of my listings.

         Thursday: Negotiating the offer from Tuesday, 2 other offer on our listings were accepted.

       Friday: Remains to be seen...

Could I have accomplished that if I believed our economy /industry /future was in doomed? Probably not, so I choose not to participate in this recession. I chose to keep working every day believing Sellers want to sell, Buyers want to buy and my job is to put them together.

I am working on my own Open House Kit, I have the paperwork and signage but these days some homes could use a bit of freshening up before the Open House and here are a few of the items I've pulled together. I would love any suggestions that other agents have used

.

• Clean fluffy neutral colored bathroom and kitchen towels
• Decorative soaps
• Swiffer wet
• Various plugins
• Toilet Paper
• A couple of differnt floral accent arrangements
• A neutral blanket and pillows
• A couple of fancy place settings

I would love to hear any of your ideas as well.

I am hoping this doesn't become a trend. The town of Shirley, MA is facing a huge deficit and looking for ways to generate income. They have decided to charge a sign permit of $25 for any Real Estate sign in the town. This doesn't apply to political signs, but those for Real Estate.

So.. I want to hold an Open House this weekend, it takes on average 3 directional signs plus the one at the house, should I be writing a $75 check each time? This is an unfair burden on our industry and the Sellers. Local Realtors have been very vocal on this issue and Mark Tavenner in my office was interviewed yesterday for Channel 5 news. Here is the link:

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/money/18996006/detail.html

Please make sure that if this happens in your area that your voice is heard. I sympathize with towns facing huge deficits but this is an unfair burden on an industry that is already struggling.

So you’ve made an offer on a foreclosure and now you want to have a Home Inspection. The only problem is the home is winterized and it’s the middle of winter. You know the property is sold “As Is” but you want to make sure the pipes haven’t frozen and the heating system is functional. If you are getting a loan on the property your appraiser is going to want to see the water and heating system are all functioning as well. So what are your options?

First you need permission from the bank through the listing agent that they will allow the property to be un-winterized for inspections. If they will, most likely you will need to use their plumber. The cost can be around $250 to un-winterize and $250 to re-winterize it depending on the type of property. Make sure you negotiate who pays for that in your offer. At this point you really only have 2 options:

1) You do a dry inspection, test everything else in the property, even run compressed air through the pipes to see if there is any freeze damage. Have the appraiser come out and test everything but the water and heat. About a week before closing, have the property un-winterized, pay for the appraiser to come back out and if the bank allows it leave the heat on until closing.

2) You will need to have the property un-winterized and have your home inspection and apppraiser come out to the property on the same day. Some lenders are not coopertative, check with yours. The property will be re-winterized within 24 hours until closing. You will be responsible for un-winterizing it again after closing.

These issues can be tricky, make sure you have an agent who is familiar with selling foreclosures to walk you through the process.

Originally posted on www.theforeclosurehouseforyou.com

Here's our Inaugural Video, I'm interviewing my one of my team members who went to the Inman Conference in NYC.