Find a good buyer’s agent

What buyer’s agents do: When you go to an open house and meet a real estate agent showing the property, that agent represents the seller’s interests. So you might be better off using a buyer’s agent whose job is to represent your interests. In addition to showing you homes that meet your criteria, a buyer’s agent can help you negotiate a contract and may help you get a better deal on title insurance.

Ensure your interests come first: A buyer’s agent typically shares the sales commission with the seller’s agent. So keep in mind your agent may want to push some houses over others if they offer a higher commission or bonus on top of the commission to get a deal done. That’s why Tom Early, spokesman for the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, told Money Magazine that buyers should ask their agents to sign a contract before looking at houses that stipulates that any bonus being paid by a seller be used to pay closing costs. (Here are other ways to make sure you get the best house for the best price.)

Source – CNN.com

#1            $11 million           36 Burnell Street               Vacant lot/8.8 acres

#2           $9.1 million           77 Low Beach Road           House/2.9 acres

#3           $8.95 million        248/250 Polpis Road        House/1.2 acres

#4           $8.9 million           24 Washing Pond Road    House/1.2 acres

$5            $8.4 million          33 Low Beach Road          House/.82 acre

#6            $7.425 million     47 Pocomo Road                Vacant lot/3.07 acres

#7            $5.625 million      27 Brewster Road             House/1.5 acres

#8            $5.3 million          118 Main Street                 House/.40 acre

#9            $5.25 million         5 Eat Fire Spring Road    House/2.8 acres

#10          $4.83 million        12 Galen Avenue               House/.15 acre

Average House Sale Price $2.85 million– year to date

Average Lot Sale Price $1.9 million–year to date

source: The Nantucket Independent /   www.acknews.com

Sorry, but I just took an extended “lunch break” and went to the mountain and skied 4 runs.  The conditions were great!  The temperature is around 30 with no wind and blue skies.   Hayride, Lord, North Slope and Standard could not have been in better shape!

The base is huge, the conditions are great for a long spring ski season.  Last weekend, we had great powder on Mansfield and Spruce.  The Mountain has received over 12 feet of snow since Valentine’s day!

How the Subprime woes affect you
The impact of rising defaults is already being felt on Wall Street.  Here’s the impact on home buyers and sellers.

By Gerri Willis, CNN

March 15 2007: 1:23 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Stock markets have been struggling because of worries about lenders who underwrite mortgages for people with bad credit. Some two dozen companies have been affected.

Worse, the crisis is also hitting better known banks and Wall Street brokerages that invested in these loans. The reverberations are being felt from Tokoyo to London.

Video More video CNN’s Gerri Willis how a meltdown among U.S. subprime mortgage lenders affects consumers. (March 14) Play video

A recent study predicted that one in five subprime mortgages issued in 2005-2006 will fail.

For home buyers…

For this consumer, this means, there will probably be a tightening of credit.

It will be harder for you to get a mortgage, if you have less – than – perfect credit.

And if you do, the terms won’t be as favorable (think higher rates and more money down).

In addition, It could be harder to get an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) because it can be seen as risky.

For home sellers…

If you’re trying to sell your home, there will be fewer buyers out there – and those buyers may have less to spend because they have less favorable mortgages. All that could lead to a lower selling price for your home.

The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts that housing won’t even regain its footing until near the end of 2007.

And there is an impact beyond the housing market. Remember, people don’t just borrow to buy homes. They take out home equity loans to pay for college education for their kids. Or home repairs, or to buy a new car.

Stowe gets a needed lift

By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY

STOWE, Vt. — Rod Kessler doesn’t mince words when he talks about the old chairlift to the summit of Spruce Peak.

		Small-town Vermont: The Stowe Community Center looks peaceful under a mantle of snow, which typically blankets the village from Nov. through April.
		Gene J. Puskar, AP

“It was a tough ride,” says the head of operations for Stowe Mountain Resort, recalling the infamously frigid crosswinds that would buffet skiers on the 13-minute trip to the top.

Like so much else in this aging grande dame of New England resort towns, once known as the Ski Capital of the East, the slow-moving Big Spruce lift hadn’t gotten an overhaul since the area’s heyday in the ’50s. It wasn’t just old; it was a relic.

	SKIING STOWE
	Vertical drop: 2,360 feet Skiable acres: 485 Annual snowfall: 333 inches Trail mix: Beginner, 16%; intermediate, 59%; expert, 25% Ticket prices: One-day adult pass, $74; five-day pass, $224. Information: 800-253-4754; stowe.com.

But now, as Kessler eagerly points out in a midday ski tour, things finally are beginning to change — and change big — both on and off the mountain.

Big Spruce is gone, replaced this year by a new high-speed lift that reaches the summit in under 6 minutes. And that’s just a small piece of a $300 million, 10-year extreme makeover of the ski area now underway that developers hope will catapult Stowe back to the top spot among Eastern resorts.

“There’s not a resort in the world that we will not compete with,” boasts hotelier James Horsman, the Ritz-Carlton veteran tapped to run a new ski-in, ski-out luxury hotel and spa that will form the cornerstone of a posh new pedestrian village. It’s designed to lure vacationers from across the USA and even Europe.

The 170-room property, now under construction at the base of Spruce Peak, won’t open until next year. But already, the first elements of the new base area — luxury ski-in, ski-out cabins — are beginning to bustle with well-heeled skiers.

And there have been significant changes on the mountain over the past year, Read the rest of this entry »

The second half of winter has continued to be a blessing.  Stowe received almost 3 feet of snow since Friday.  The conditions on the mountain are tremendous.  With a bit of snow Monday/Tuesday, spring skiing will be excellent this year.�

Low Season rates are approaching!!! April 16th prices drop, and the weather in the Northeast is still cold!!!-the perfect time to take advantage of a trip to St. Barth’s!!