Vermont Real Estate takes one to the jaw: ferocity of Hurricane Irene leaves towns across the state in a state of disaster including particularly hard hit Moretown, Pittsfield, Rochester & Waterbury.
The Green Cup Ravaged, Shot by David Garten
Homes swept off their foundations, total losses, coffins floating out of the cemetery. While stagnant recessionary market conditions and historic drops in interest rates mark the last six months, it’s Irene that has indelibly tattooed Vermonters’ consciousness. Herculean relief efforts, exemplary citizenry mobilization and altruism and a model government response shine the light not just on the perils of living in a flood zone or watershed but even more dramatically on how amazing Vermont is a place to live.
Vermont Public Radio Image of Rochester Home Destruction
Never never land in more ways than one. Massive flooding and logistical relief challenges to a real estate market in a seriously extended bind.
Since the fall of Lehman Brothers and the sub-prime fiasco in 2008 that triggered the precipitous decline in real estate markets all over the United States, one pundit after another has forecast a burgeoning recovery, passage of the market’s bottom, and hopes for brighter times. This year it’s becoming clearer and clearer the recession is outlasting nearly all predictions, from our own Green Mountains to the European debt crisis, plummeting asian markets and well beyond.
2011 second and third quarters have witnessed a seemingly endless stream of media doom and gloom.
In April Vermont Public Radio reports that while Vermont avoided the most serious credit & housing market problems, home prices declined. The S&P/Case-Schiller Home Price Indeces show the high in 2004 with the most dramatic drop in 2009, and this year’s prices still off 4 per cent compared to a year ago.
2011 Year-to-Date VT Multiple Listing Service Sales, New Listings & Average Days on Market, Data Compliments of the Northern New England Real Estate Network
The National Association of Realtors publishes data showing existing home sales rose 7.7% in August relative to July, and were up an encouraging 18.6% from August 2010. NAR president Lawrence Yun cites positive market fundamentals including foreclosure absorption and inflation hedging despite Hurricane Irene sales disruptions. In Moretown, Vermont town office records were flooded delaying closings, forcing closing attorneys to scramble.
Today, with Q3 drawing to a close the morrow, this article from Bloomberg Pending U.S. Home Sales Decline 1.2% as Lower Prices Fail to Stoke Demand.
If you’re aiming to or trying to sell and thinking mon Dieu, as the French say, or asking will this ever end, the market is far from dead. Talk about mixed messages. While it’s hard to know who to believe, pulling out of this historic recession and stoking the associated recovery is a complicated tapestry without conclusions as easily drawn as in more common times.
MLS Listings Sold in Q2 & Q3 by Price Range
One thing is clear. There are also historic opportunities for the discerning real estate investor, primary and secondary homeowners, and those looking to take advantages of 1041 exchanges. Check out these oustanding values: an over 11 acre prime east warren parcel with a house to renovate or remove and start afresh for just $249,000, a gambrel home with a separate camp on over four acres for $285,000, a Mad River Glen 4BR ski chalet for $315,000, a sprawling open floor plan dormered Waitsfield cape with Sugarbush Lincoln Peak Views next to the Mad River protected by two large farms for just $575,000, and a cedar skylighted cape on 32.99 +/- acres including two extra already permitted lots with driveway roughed in for $669,000.
Maple Sweet Real Estate is enjoying a record breaking year of business with steady offers, closings and listings in the single family, condominium, commercial and land markets.
Connect to maplesweet.com, e-mail info@maplesweet.com or call toll-free 1-800-525-7965 to list your property, arrange for showings, or look further into Vermont’s real estate market.
Maple Sweet Quarterly 
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