Day of Caring

Every year, we close all of our offices for a day and work at non-profits in one or more of the communities we serve.  This year, we chose to work at Connecticut Hospice in Branford, which had been battered by winds and tide during Hurricane Irene.  Over 50 of us went with rakes, paintbrushes, chain saws, and leaf blowers to clean up debris, repaint furniture, wash windows, and remove wet leaves from the bottom of the swimming pool, as well as to work indoors on materials for Hospice's big annual service for families in late September.  We estimate that we worked about 250 man (person) hours, and did the work that contractors had bid large amounts to complete.  We astounded the maintenance staff at Hospice, who were skeptical about the work ethic and expertise of a group of volunteers, and we once again proved that we put our muscle where our mouth is. 

By the end of the day, eating pizza on the patio and looking out over what we had accomplished, there was a wonderful feeling that comes from honest work and tired bodies, combined with the knowledge that we had made other peoples' lives a little bit better.  Thanks to all who participated, most of whom don't get paid and do it out completely out of the kindness of their hearts, and thanks to Hospice, which welcomed  us and worked alongside us to meet our goals.  It's one of our favorite days of the Pearce year, and one that we will look forward to again next September.

When the Heat Goes On, the Price Comes Down

As I put on my first long-sleeve shirt of the season to go running this morning, I reflected on what the changing weather means for real estate.  Although spring is the traditional listing and buying season, based on the school year schedule, Labor Day brings a bump that lasts until about Thanksgiving.  For sellers, the first time that they think about heating a home that's empty, or one that's too big, they also begin to worry about freezing pipes, snowplowing, and all the downsides of winter.  We are not unaccustomed to getting calls from sellers, who previously had been saying that they were not in a hurry and didn't have to sell, asking why there have been no offers.  At that point, they are often willing to get serious about pricing their property to move quickly.  Of course, we remind them that they have a window before winter, which is quickly disappearing.

If you are a buyer, this is when you should be serious also.  It can take longer to close during holiday season, so don't take too long to make your offers and sign your contracts.  The end of the year is rapidly approaching.  Take advantage of this time to buy a great home at a good price with a low mortgage rate!

Lowest Rates in 60 Years!

Remember this time, folks, because you won't see it again in your lifetime.  CHFA rates are at 3.625% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage.  Compare that to when I bought my first home--my state-subsidized first-time homebuyers rate in 1982 was 17.75%!  Mortgage rates are the lowest they have been in 60 years.

If you add that to the fact that homes are down 5% in price, with vacation homes down 11% in price, this is a great time to buy.  Counterintuitively for many people, the period after a hurricane is an excellent time to buy property on the shoreline.  Just as with the spring after a bad winter, people often get spooked and decide that it's time to decamp for a condo or assisted living, and they are willing to be reasonable about their price.  If you add that to the discount that waterfront property often goes for in the fall, as well as the general rule that the best time to make an offer is between Halloween and Thanksgiving, everyone should be out scouting right now! 

Do you really trust the stock market more than the real estate market?

The calm after the storm

Well, I'm writing this on the first full day that I've had both power and Internet.  It's been a long ten days!  We were very lucky, considering that our house was right on the water, to have had no damage, and I would take a little power interruption over damage anytime.  However, when the cell towers started fading and my Blackberry stopped working, and I had to think about whether I wanted to do a training run if I couldn't take a shower, and we had our third meal of packaged Indian eggplant curry in a row, we did start dreaming about electricity!  There was a lot of damage in our neighborhood, but fortunately no one got hurt.  Because the weather was exceptionally beautiful last week, an amazing amount of cleanup got done in a short time.  The crew that turned on our power came from Ohio, and others I know welcomed crews from Canada, Kansas, and other far-flung places.

The whole experience reminds us how powerful weather can be.  We saw buckled parking lots and patios, smashed garage doors and broken seawalls, all from water at high tide.  The wind did far less damage around us than the tide did.  Roads washed out and kept us home, reading by flashlight. 

The calm after the storm includes closings.  Some of the banks are requiring that things set to close get reappraised.  I cannot imagine why, as any buyer would check before he/she plunked down money; that would seem to be protection enough.  Regulation comes to everything, and, where it doesn't, the opposite of common sense seems to prevail.  In the end, we had no closings cancelled after Hurricane Gloria, so let's hope that Tropical Storm Irene proves to be the same. 

And let's give a cheer for power!