Stick Season In Montpelier and Barre I will admit, the phones aren't ringing as steadily, and I'm getting fewer email inquiries about our listings as I did throughout the spring, summer, and early fall...but it's not dead.  Not by a long shot.  Two weeks ago I had three offers come in (2 are accepted, one is a short sale, so you never know when that'll land).  Last week I added another offer and a new listing.  Today I'm headed out to see about a listing, and then this morning I had an email inquiry wanting to know about selling her house.  I'm not going to count any chickens before they've hatched, but this is certainly a busier November than I thought I'd have.  Back in January when I started (I can't believe this is my first year...I should've been doing this for a long time!), peopl... 11/19/2009

We just had a very interesting experience with a multi-family property in Montpelier, VT.  It gets pretty cold here in the winter, and, with this property there are two furnaces servicing the four units.  Ideally, they'd be split off and have each unit with their own separate heat source, but that's just not happening. I called Montpelier Construction, and Malcolm Gray came right out to do the blower door test.  Turns out the old building is leaking air like a sieve.  That's bad for the environment, and it's costing money.  I had Montpelier Construction spray foam the basement sill, seal all the basement penetrations (where pipes, wires, and ducts come through the basement ceiling and into the house), airseal the attic, weatherstrip the doors, and take care of a couple egregious air lea... 11/19/2009

Adventures in Septic Tanks                                                        Buyer loves the house.  Buyer and Seller quickly reach agreement on price and terms.  Things are moving forward swimmingly...foreshadowing... Wrench!  The buyers are using FHA financing, and, as such, the appraiser needs to know exactly where the septic tank is.  No problem, right?  I mean, the sellers know that, right? Wrench!  The sellers DON'T know where the tank is.  They're pretty sure, but never had it pumped.  No problem.  I'll just go back and find the previous owners and check with all the local septic pumping companies and see who did it, and where the tank is.  I like doing legwork, if it helps keep a deal on track. Wrench!  The previous owners never had it pumped.  Neither did the previous prev... 11/14/2009

What's It Cost to Heat Your Home in Montpelier, Barre, and Central Vermont? I like little tidbits of information.  Factoids.  Trivia.  Although there was a factoid in USA Today a couple months ago about what type of bread Americans prefer.  That was an eye roller. But here's something I found interesting from the Champlain Business Journal.  It's a breakdown of price per BTU for different heating sources.  Now, I have a couple of questions about the findings, but you know, it's a factoid.  The study apparently made some assumptions about cost per gallon/cord/ton/kilowatt hour.  Costs are the estimates for one million BTUs of heat.   Firewood:  $12.99 Wood Pellets:   $19.70 Oil:  $23.58 Propane:  $31.03 Electricity:  $32.24    Here are some of my questions and observations: We can more o... 11/09/2009

Spreading Gossip about Barre Street in Montpelier I learned in 2nd grade that it's not good to spread gossip. When I was a teacher (and yes, I taught 2nd grade), I tried to get the kids to understand the same concept.  Nonetheless... Word on the street in Montpelier--and I've heard this from more than one person--is that Barre Street, long the gritty, shuffling along cousin to The Meadow, College Street, and Liberty Street, is the new cool Bohemian place to live. Think of it as the Jamaica Plans of Montpelier. Now I'm not saying that Barre Street is without flaw.  But, if you look past a couple of interesting properties with accumulations of various holiday decorations, my source might be on to something.  Kismet is a great restaurant.  River Station condos have added a little more crit... 11/06/2009