We recently attended a Women Business Owners Network conference in Manchester, NH. One of the keynote speakers was Barbara Morrow, from the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester. Barbara shared her story with us and near the end of her presentation she read a quote from a recent e-Newsletter. The following was written by Barbara’s son, Chris Morrow, who runs the shop:

“A recent Vermont Public Radio commentary by author, businessman and public servant Bill Schubart entitled Vermont Elegy got me thinking again about what is special about Vermont, about bookstores and about civil conversation. There is tremendous pressure these days to commodify everything. We are pushed to think of our interactions in transactional terms – what can I get for what? But the richness of human experience, of relationships, cannot be commodified. We need to be vigilant in finding a balance between transactionalism and genuine relationship, between facelessness and community. As things get more virtual and competitive, we need to nurture our learned habit of connection so it will still have opportunity to grow.”

We were moved by Chris’ ability to structure his thoughts into such eloquent phraseology.  It expresses much of what we believe to be true about our real estate business.

The last couple of weeks have proven to be quite interesting. Buyer activity is on the rise and the number of properties being listed for sale seems to also be on the rise. Sellers are “coming to market” at reasonable prices and we’re starting to see price adjustments to meet the marketplace.  Don’t get me wrong, there aren’t too many “fire sales” here in Addison County, but I do believe that Sellers are taking into account the fear factor and the hesitation of buyers to make huge decisions about purchasing real estate.

A buyer that I’ve been working with wrote something very interesting in an email to me the other day. I asked his permission to share it on the blog and he said sure.  What he said was:  “Buying a house in this market reminds me of a rope swing at a lake in my hometown. Never wanted to let go of the rope and swing out over the water, even though I was always happy once I did. Right now I feel like I’m standing up on that ledge at the shore, rope in hand.” 

This is so very typical of how buyers are feeling right now and we get it.  We understand that given the current state of the economy on a national (and international) level that spending money is scary.  We understand that emptying your savings account to buy a house might seem like an unnecessary move.  We understand that you might work in an industry that’s been hard hit and you’re not sure you’ll have a job in 6 months.  Trust me, we understand completely.

We want to be your resource for everything real estate.  If you’re thinking you’d like to own a home, or land or are interested in a business opportunity we want to help you.  There are some incentives out there and we can tell you all about them.  Are you a first time buyer?  Did you know that the definition of a first time buyer for some loan or incentive programs means that you haven’t owned a home (that you’ve claimed on your taxes) for the last three years? 

So, the first rope to let go of is the one where you call and ask how we can help.  We’ll take care of the rest of the letting-go-of-the-rope stuff later.

I had a closing this morning.  I almost didn’t…

Early this fall, clients of ours decided to make an offer on a property in Hinesburg.  The offer was accepted, contingencies satisfied, and the Sellers even let the buyers move in 2 months before the closing.  Everyone was happy, everyone was amicable and everyone awaited a closing…for Thanksgiving. (more…)