Christina Bennani Realtor® The House For You

Here is a follow up video for buyers on when to do a Home Inspection on a Short Sale.

What is your buying strategy? Have you set up a game plan? Let's discuss one of the most important parts of buying a home, the home inspection.

Let's use buying a car as an example

Would you buy a used car without running a carfax?

Would you run it on each car you were thinking of purchasing?

Too often buyers are not prepared to have to spend money on more than one home inspection. I feel part of your game plan should include having the funds set aside for AT LEAST 3 home inspections. Why?

This is most likely the largest financial investment you are going to make.

Do you want to be in the position of having to move forward or not buy because you don't have enough set aside for another home inspection?

You are in a much stronger position to negotiate if you can walk away.

If you don't need the extra funds, you have them set aside for any improvements you'd like to make.

Just like with a car, you might not know if it's been in an accident, a flood or had a claim against it unless you run a carfax. Be prepared to invest in learning about a property BEFORE you make it your new home.

Welcome to New England it's a common past time to see just how long you can wait to turn your heat on. With temeperatures in the morning hovering around 45 degrees many are caving. Since heating costs can take up a significant portion of your budget here are some things to consider:

Natural Gas: It appears prices are dropping due to an oversupply of inventory.

Oil: Do you lock in or not? That's hard to predict since prices at the gas stations have dropped in the last week.

Take advantage of the tax credit to add energy efficiency to your home that is older than 10 years old. Insulate and replace windows if needed.

Don't forget to get your furnaces serviced, there is nothing worse than having an issue in the dead of winter...

So.. how long are you going to wait or have you caved already? I'm still holding on..blankets and sweaters on hand.

Recently I have had several relocation buyers looking at my listings and I've been asked to highight the features of Groton. I have lived here for 9 years and here are a few of mine.

• Farmers Market open Fridays through October
• Rail trail that goes from Ayer to Nashua - very popular with families
• Close to the Commuter rail in Ayer and Routes 2, 3 and 495
• Great library with many events for adults, teens and children
  
• Our old High School was recently converted to a 2nd Middle School and our High School was recently built. We share the school district with the town of Dunstable.
• Great recreational sports including soccer, basketball, hockey and so on.
• Canoeing on the Nashua River
• Many local stables for Horseback riding
• The Groton Country Club with a golf course and pool.
  
• The town in the last few years has purchased several acres to preserve the landscape.
• Gibbet Hill Grill and the scenic area around it.
• 2 renowned private schools: Lawrence Academy and the Groton School-both of which allow their facilities to be used by the town recreation.
• Town soccer fields, tennis courts and so on.
• Close to tax free shopping in Nashua, NH
• Sargisson beach and the Lost Lake area close by.
• Wonderful walking/riding/running trails throughout the town, well marked.

If you are considering a move to the is area, I would love to show you some of my favorite spots.

Where is the rush of Sellers listing their homes?

April is here and Buyers are wondering when the Sellers are going to start listing their homes.

Here is the inventory of homes in Groton listed since 3/1/09 that have not been previously listed in the last year:

73 Deerfield Drive

15 Acorn Path - showing for back-up

34 Spaulding Ln

51 Overlook Drive

44 Drumlin Hill Road

40 Wallace Rd

337 Martins Pond Road

109 Nashua Rd

That's not alot of new inventory for buyers wanting to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit, if you have a home to sell nows your chance, give us a call.