Central VT Real Estate Listings on your phone: Now it’s time to speed up the house-hunting process with a real estate search for any cell phone
Feb 23rd
Montpelier, VT—Century 21 Jack Associates is introducing a way for clients to view all of the central vt real estate listings for sale in the area with any cell phone. www.montpelierhousing.com is providing clients with a mobile real estate search created by Smarter Agent that makes it possible to search all local property listings from their mobile device, regardless of whether it is listed by Century 21 Jack Associates or another broker or agent. Century 21 Jack Associates’ mobile real estate search is the only house-hunting tool that works on 95% of cell phones across all carriers.
With the Smarter Agent application, interested home buyers can be in any neighborhood and view detailed property information about real estate listings through the MLS at the touch of a button. The GPS technology in the mobile phone, when available, locates users and pulls up addresses and information on listings in their immediate area. Sales price, square footage, tax information, beds/baths, interior and exterior features, pictures and more become available instantly in the palm of their hand. This is part of a new trend towards “augmented reality“, where mobile devices are starting to practically replace our brains!
Consumers can also search by address, community name, city or zip code when GPS is not available, or if they want to search for real estate in an area other than their current location.
The “Call to See” feature within the mobile application will connect users to a Century 21 agent if they have questions or want to schedule a tour of the property.
The fully downloadable application is free to download on Sprint devices, BlackBerry devices, the iPhone, and Google’s Android G-1. The premium mobile web version is free to access.
Land for sale VT: New Waterfront Property Listing in Cabot, $199,000
Feb 19th
As one VT realtor had said it best to me back at the start of the real estate recession in 2007, “pretty much the only thing that you can count on as a good investment right now is waterfront property”. This 3 acre parcel of land is situated on West Hill Pond and has 205′ of water frontage. A public dirt road leads right to the access for this property, along which this land has 150 ft of frontage as well. The actual access road that leads to the house site is through a right of way on the grantor’s property, a small slice of land that was retained for a common access to the other 2 lots of the subdivision, each with their own generous piece of the waterfront. You may swim, canoe, and fish at this 46 acre pond, the only thing you can’t do, according the vt department of fish and wildlife is use a boat with an internal combustion engine, or land a plane there. This property is marketed by Ben Thomas of Century 21 Jack Associates. 802-279-3738
Northfield Realty: New Listing, Northfield, $199,900
Feb 4th
Proximate to Norwich University, Interstate 89, this Northfield realty offering adds rural privacy to boot! The set-up consists of a 2006 built 3 bedroom ranch, sitting on 3 acres of land. To the side of the home there’s a large area of yard, with views to the west through the trees. The house itself is exquisitely clean, and feels just like a brand new home, because it practically is. Property highlights include detached 2 car garage with space above it that the current owners had envisioned to be either an accessory apartment or an at home office, top of the line mechanical systems including buderus direct vent high efficiency boiler, rinnai tankless hot water heater (only heat as much water as you’re actually going to use, but never run out either!), and a state permitted, professionally engineered 4 bedroom septic system (one extra bedroom in the event that the space above the garage becomes completed and occupied). These are items that set this property apart from the many of the older homes on the market. But there’s so much more to notice…Living in Vermont, a detached 2 car garage is the best way to go. Store your paint, car, and household chemicals in a separate structure, away from the living space. This home provides that, and more, since the space above has had significant improvement and with just a little more effort could be rental income, or accessory apartment space for family members.A quality home is the summation of so many small details crafted with competence and aesthetics in mind. And at this home, everywhere you look, you are constantly reminded of this fact. From the oak threshholds and trim, to the 100% hardwood high gloss flooring (not laminate or engineered) that runs throughout the home, to the solid porch in front, situated to take in the sunset views through the trees to the west.
Looking for Land For Sale VT? MLS in Vermont might save you some time.
Jan 15th
As you may or may NOT already know, looking for land for sale in VT can be a very rewarding process. There are some good deals out there right now! But there are some things you really want to consider before committing yourself to one place in space.
First off, assuming that you want to eventually live at your new location and build a home there, you will need to have a septic system to get rid of your plumbing waste. Some of the land for sale around here has already been surveyed, designed (well and septic), and subdivided. Note the order of wording in the previous sentence. And since all septic matters are now handled through the state, the towns have nothing to do with this anymore. However, actual subdivision approval will occur at the municipal level. Hopefully, if you have succeeded at finding a good realtor, they will be doing some investigation at the town hall to beat the bushes a little and make sure this is a viable purchase.
Our MLS in Vermont has coded features that allow us Realtors to focus only on the land that has been surveyed, designed, or even has a septic system in place. This allows us to spend more time looking at land that is worth our time!
And for buyer clients of mine, I usually recommend and advocate that state wastewater and water supply permits are to be in place prior to closing. This is because you don’t want to buy a piece of land in Vermont, only to find out that needs a 60,000 mound system after the fact when you only paid half that for the property itself.
9 things first-time home buyers shouldn’t have to deal with, and how to avoid it
Dec 18th
Here are 9 things that no first-time home buyer should have to deal with in the first couple years of homeownership:
- Frozen pipes
- Total roof replacement
- House fire
- Major construction in the areas surrounding the property for more than 2 years consecutively
- Major ice dams on the roof
- Flooding in the basement
- Unruly neighbors
- Non-disclosure of major issues by seller
- Health code violations
Here’s how to prevent situations like above (some or all) from taking over your life:
- Have an inspection!!! It is foolish not to have an inspection. Your view of the potential property will change drastically, I pretty much guarantee it. You will probably save the cost of the inspection just from the helpful tips you receive from the inspector alone. Also, make sure you are present for the inspection for this reason.
- Take your time prior to writing your offer. Make sure you have all the facts PRIOR to sitting down with your agent to write an offer. Remember how big of an investment this is, and you don’t want to have regrets.
- Drive around the property. Walk around the streets. Check it out on google maps, aerial. Talk to the town for known future development. I know you think that if there’s something major going to happen that the seller will know, but usually, folks will claim ignorance, and even if it is known that there was some serious non-disclosure, do you want to put yourself in that position to have to go after somebody?
- If it is a public building as defined by vt laws, clearly spell out in the contract that the seller is to carry out fire and safety inspections and that the property is to pass these prior to closing. Trust me on this.
Especially for somebody who has not owned a property before, try to be more prudent than you naturally are inclined. This holds especially true for folks that know how to work on things and are handy, because being one of these people myself, the COST (both in time lost with family and materials) of fixing a place up is TREMENDOUS!
Give me a call, I will keep you from being “up the creek without a paddle”!
Real Estate Property Search in Central VT… Pretty much where you need to go!
Dec 15th
I know that people REALLY like to make things more complicated for you, but, if you are looking for property in Central Vermont, there are only a few places that you will need to go. You see, all agents and consumers alike have access to the same information these days. When property information is uploaded to the MLS, this information is then in turn sent out to the internet world by way of an IDX (internet data exchange). John Smith real estate is listing the same information as the real estate company down the street.
Here are all the links you need:
| northwest vt listings: | vrein.com |
| central vt listings | nneren.com |
| fsbo listings | picketfencepreview.com |
| commercial listings | loopnet.com |
| Iphone app for property info on the go | trulia.com |
And don’t forget your local newspaper!
If you want an auto-email function, call me, and I will set you up and you won’t get constantly bugged by somebody who now has your email in their database.
What to Look for When Purchasing a Foreclosure?
Dec 11th
I have listed and sold quite a few of the foreclosures in my day, and here are just a few helpful hints for the hearty soul looking to cut their teeth on this wonderful circus
1. Are you paying cash or are you financing this deal? Your loan officer may be extremely conservative, or at the other end of the extreme, just eager to get that next deal and not really care very much about whether your deal is likely to go through. Financing rough properties with FHA loans is, well, tough. Is there any mildew that an
appraiser could think is a dangerous mold? Is there a working stove? Is all the TRIM there? You had better hope so, because any of this is out of place, you are in trouble when that appraisal comes back. First-time homebuyers often are drawn to the foreclosures because they don’t know how much it will actually cost to fix these places and are unaware of the problems that will be encountered in escrow. I had one deal where the cooperating agent (working with the buyer but not representing them) had advised the buyer to give their landlord notice, only to find out that there were numerous issues from an appraisal standpoint. A lot of times in this market, cash buyers think that they have all the power, and put in low offers, only to get beat out by the deal that is financed and higher in dollar amount. Many times banks don’t care about the cash deal as much as they should, and that brings me to another thing to look for:
2. Who is the bank? This is important! Some banks are easy to work with, and some are definitely not! Hopefully your agent has explained to you that many banks do not respond in a timely manner. But it seems that no matter how convincing I try to be of this fact, people just forget, and get upset at the bank when often times it is not their fault. Here’s why: Buyer, buyers agent, listing agent, foreclosure coordinator at our company, asset management company, 123 asset holdings llc (holding debt in portfolio), and finally, john smith who ACTUALLY owns the property. It’s like a high liability game of telephone with a buggy web-based internet entry form twist.
3. What is it really going to cost to fix? Many of the problems are going to be moisture related, especially in the northeast. Once the heat has been turned off, these places get pretty musty, damp, and stagnant. The buyers tell me, “it looked a lot better in the pictures.” This is common for the real estate practitioner.
4. Is all the work going to be worth it? Even if you are successful with all of your rehabbing (if needed), does the location and future market value warrant all that hard work? This is always a question you need to ask yourself.
Good luck, and happy hunting!
