My New Blog

Spring time in Vermont. Well for many sellers it can be the absolute worst time to market their properties. Why? We call it Mud Season; so many of our roads are full of frost and moisture. The paved roads are like riding on a roller coaster with all the frost heaves and the dirt roads take us back to the days of the old west with the wagon wheels getting stuck in tremendous ruts.

Many sellers will wait to put their homes on the market until late April to avoid this messy time. Others, however have been on the market through the winter and are ready to sell. So, at worst your potential buyers now know what to expect and they should be aware or they could become quite surprised next year.

Some helpful hints: keep an easy place for people to remove their shoes and boots, make sure you have a good rug to catch all the dirt. Make the inside of your as bright and cheery as possible. Good lighting, flowers, clean and picked up. Curb appeal can be difficult this time of year out here in the sticks so you want to keep the inside looking great!

As a Realtor, I have a very small house, only 1400 square feet (with a finished baement 400sq.ft). This is a modest sized home, as are many of the homes in my neighborhood. This past holiday my husband's sister and her family of five came for a long weekend. So add five to three (us) and eight people are now sharing 1400 sq ft and one bath.

Fact of the matter is we showed them a weekend in the life of a Vermonter. We skied, we brought them to a friend's Sugar house and then tasted fresh maple syrup. They got to pick out eggs from the chicken coop, and use these eggs and the new syrup on their food the next day. We also took a trip to Casey's Hill here in Underhill  Vermont and did some great sliding. Not to mention an Easter egg hunt. What fun we had!

I was so greatful that relatives drove (6-7hours) to spend time with us this winter. We finally had time to show them what we do. So, the small house was not so small especially as we stood outside one evening roasting s'mores over the fire. We live out here because of the outdoor opportunities available. We ski, hike, bike, swim,walk, garden, we work on our yards and houses. I think that our New Jersey contingency throroughly enjoyed their stay.

Should you ever deside that country living is for you come see us out here in Chittenden County's Eastern boder and se what you think.

Lea

Do you want people to remember your house as outstanding or is it forgetable? Best words of advice I can give in this market is...

Get rid of clutter, clean up and fix deferred maintenance  if you can. If you can't fix it, price your property to reflect this.

Our Vermont Market is in very good shape. we are however, dealing with some simple economics of supply and demand. so, we have a larger supply and a lower demand. Generally that means prices come down some. so, to stand out in the crowd make yourself the shinny new penny and see your property 'move off the shelf' faster than your neighbors'.

Think of the grocery store and the dented can sitting in front, do you take that can or push it aside to find a 'fresh' can, one that is unmared. Well if you are like most of us we push that one aside and pick the best one we can. So it goes with houses.

Remember the shinniest penny sells first!