Real Estate Opinion

A real estate opinion from myself, the owner and broker of Elliot Hansen Associates in business around the Lake Sunapee Region for over 21 years.  I have seen the market go up and down quite a few times over the last 30 years.  I remember our first home we purchased in Blodgett Landing, Newbury, NH was in 1978.  We had purchased a definite fixer upper at a great price of only $12,500.00 with three boat slips on Lake Sunapee included with the sale.  We worked on the house and made it presentable, had many new improvements and remodeling mostly done by us.  It gave us a learning experience on how to make something not so attractive, very desirable and easily saleable.  We had chosen, by luck, a superb location right next to and with access to a very nice 4028 acre lake called Lake Sunapee.  Over the next eight years the values increased by quite a bit because of the location.  We found another home in New London, another great location nearby that was a deal not to pass up, so we took the bull by the horns and decided to make an offer contingent upon the successful sale of our home.  We made that agreement on a Friday and the next day, Saturday, we had the house we lived in on the market including one of the boat slips and it was pending before noon.  This was the key so it enabled us to make the move to another residence and profit from our initial investment by quite a bit as we sold that home in 1986 for $104,000.00.  In the course of owning in Blodgett Landing we also purchased the small house just next door to ours for $30,000.00 and in 1988 we included a boat slip with that house and sold it before we even put it on the market for $104,000.00.  Both of those homes today are probably worth in the neighborhood of $285,000.00 to $325,000.00.  So as time goes on you can see that real estate values do appreciate, especially if you pick the right location they will even hold their values when the market slows down and it becomes a buyer's market.  Real estate has always been a good avenue for making money in our lives.

A good thought is "knowing when to hold them and when to fold them."  Making the property ready for the market and give the buyers what they want.  Make that property desirable and shine up the apple so to speak.  Pick attractive colors and put some quality eye catching details into your place.  Replace a roof if it's looking tired, paint or stain to freshen up, add plantings, top off the driveway, get rid of clutter, make the property show that you have cared for it and there isn't much of anything for the potential buyers to do.  The less they have to do to a property the more they pay you.

Stay tuned for more real estate ideas coming soon!!