Last-minute sales surge inspires hope

January 24, 2012

While prices and sales declined for all of 2011, an end-of-year jump in sales leads Realtors to believe that the light at the end of the tunnel may become visible in 2012

A 10-percent jump in the number of houses sold in the fourth quarter was a positive end to another rough year for Rhode Island’s housing market, as foreclosures continued to drag median prices down in 2011.
Median house prices fell nearly 12 percent in the fourth quarter, to $185,000, and 7 percent overall in 2011, to $195,000, thanks to the continuing stream of foreclosures and short sales. The number of these “distressed” house sales was up slightly in 2011.

There were 1,715 houses sold in Rhode Island in the fourth quarter, up 159 from the 1,556 sold in the fourth quarter of 2010. But 103 of the 159 additional sales in 2011 were “distressed,” either foreclosures or short sales. In short sales, properties are sold for less than the outstanding loan balance.
States have been negotiating with the nation’s largest mortgage lenders about foreclosure-related irregularities. If a settlement is reached, it “may unleash more foreclosures,” Retsinas added, and that would exert more downward pressure on home prices.
“There’s not going to be a robust recovery,” he said.
But Realtors hoped that the late-year surge in the number of sales was a signal of the beginning of the end of the housing crisis.

“Sales increased in the second half of the year without the aid of any homebuyer tax incentives,” Jamie Moore, 2012 president of the state Realtors’ association, said in a prepared statement. “That’s what we want to see.”
“I think 2012 is the bottom,” said Richard Godfrey, executive director of Rhode Island Housing. “At some point, prices are going to start to go up.”
Godfrey said rents are high in Rhode Island, and many people who are renting now can afford to buy a home. He said Rhode Island is “poised to see a housing recovery as soon as people start feeling secure about their jobs.”

Rhode Island’s median house price for all of 2011 was $195,000, down 7 percent from the 2010 median of $210,000. Despite the 10-percent bump in the number of houses sold in the fourth quarter, house sales were down 2 percent overall in 2011.
Of the 6,701 house sales in Rhode Island in 2011, about 27 percent were distressed.

Keeping you informed every step of the way.

Deb Grimaldi

Re/Max 1^st Choice

980 Reservoir Avenue

Cranston, RI 02910

(401) 837-9633

http://www.debg.remax-newengland.com

Looking to move to Rhode Island & need some help sorting out the areas that are best suited for your family, call Debbie to help make your move more enjoyable.

Sales Continue to Grow in Home Market

December 20, 2011 - Warwick, RI...Single family homes sales continued to rise in November, according to sales statistics released today by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. Five hundred and thirty-three (533) homes sold in November, up from 505 in November, 2010, a six percent increase. Pending sales – homes under contract but not yet closed – also increased 14 percent from the same time last year. The distressed market remained stable with 117 homes sold through short sale or foreclosure, the same as the number sold in November, 2010.

The median price of single family homes declined eight percent since the prior year but rose six percent from the previous month. The median price of single family home sales last month was $193,000 and the median price of single family homes sold through conventional means only, meaning not through short sale or foreclosure, was $222,500.

"We’re still in a recovery period and increased sales are helping to stabilize the market," said Jamie Moore, 2012 President of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. "We won't see an increase in prices until we see a balance of supply and demand so the more homes that sell, the better off the market will be," she said.

Condo sales rose one percent since November, 2010 and pending sales increased six percent. Distressed condo sales increased 23 percent however, leading to a decline in median price of 17 percent. (Low-priced foreclosure and short sales tend to drag the median price down.) The median price of non-distressed sales was $231,000, compared to the overall condo median sales price of $163,500.
"The condo market is struggling a bit more now than the single family home market but we did see some progress in November. The November median price was 16 percent higher than it was in October," relayed Moore.

Multi-family properties also saw a rise in sales of 11 percent from November 2010 and a rise in pending sales of six percent. Distressed sales rose 11 percent from the year prior as well, helping to drag down the year over year median price by four percent. The median price has risen in recent months however, with October's median of $100,000 increasing 20 percent to $120,000 last month.

Recently, the National Association of Realtors announced that it will downwardly revise sale and inventory data recorded since January 2007 due to benchmarking revisions. The change has no bearing on RI Association of Realtors statistics which are derived from raw sales data input into the State-Wide Multiple Listing Service and are not benchmarked for seasonality or other variances in any way.

WOW, $5,000 for First Time Military Buyers, Active personnel, veterans, retired members of the military, and

employees of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security are eligible to apply

for up to $5,000 in down payment and closing costs in the purchase of a first home. The national nonprofit

Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation is offering the assistance through its Dream Makers program and

says the grants can be applied to a mortgage from any financial institution. More information is at

http://www.Pentagonfoundation.org Click on the "Dream Makers" link.

Keeping you informed every step of the way.

Deb Grimaldi

Re/Max 1^st Choice

980 Reservoir Avenue

Cranston, RI 02910

(401) 837-9633

http://www.rhodeislandrealestatenow.com

Looking to move to Rhode Island & need some help sorting out the areas that are best suited for your family, call Debbie to help make your move more enjoyable.

Para-triathlete Picard among field of Amica Ironman 70.3

This is truly an amazing story, we have a tendency to complain about many little things in our lives and look at what this inspirational man has done, not an easy challenge.

July 9, 2011

LINCOLN — Whether it’s a half or the full boat, a triathlon is a true test of one’s mental and physical endurance, combining long-distance swimming, bicycling and running into a single event.
There will more than 1,300 amateur and professional athletes from 40 states and 20 countries at today’s fourth annual Amica Ironman 70.3 triathlon — a 1.2-mile swim at Lincoln Woods, a 56-mile bike through the Blackstone Valley region and a 13.1-mile run that finishes at the R.I. State House. Among those participants is Hector Picard.
For Picard, it will be his 39 triathlon since 2009. While that in itself is an impressive feat, there’s another thing that makes the 43-year-old Florida native’s appearance in the Providence event so remarkable.
He’s a double-arm amputee.

Defying the odds since a tragic near-death accident two decades ago forced doctors to do the inevitable by amputating his arms, Picard will be at the event’s starting point at Lincoln Woods ready to take on another challenge. He’s not just there to finish either. He’s done that plenty of times in the last two-plus years.
Picard is aiming to once again be competitive among his peers despite his obvious disadvantage.
“My goal is to be the best that I can be,” said Picard, who is residing with his wife and her former in-laws at their house in Lincoln before the big event. “Nobody should take me lightly. I want to beat them.”
Why the triathlon? What was the reason that Picard decided to focus his attention on competing in the ultimate endurance race despite never participating in any of the three sports involved?
On his way to Boston Thursday morning for some sightseeing, Picard explained that it’s all about living. It’s all about not giving up when life has not followed the usual route, whatever that may be. His primary motivational factor to get from Point A to Point B is to prove that no matter what, nothing is impossible.
“From the beginning, people have always been supportive. They call me an inspiration,” he said. “That makes me feel good. That gives me motivation.”
It was on March 31, 1992, at age 24, that Picard saw his life altered. While working for a power company in Hollywood, Fla., as an electrician on a substation transformer, a two-story structure that supplies power to an entire neighborhood, Picard was electrocuted. It initially happened to his right arm with the bolt so powerful through the right side of his body that it blew out the top of his right foot. While falling the two stories, he grabbed the transformer with his left arm and again was zapped by a strong bolt of electricity.
“I was hit by a double jolt of 13,000 bolts and fell about 15-20 feet,” he said. “It burned over 40 percent of my body with second and third degree burns.”
Picard mind was blanked from the mishap, receiving his information from observers at the sight. He laid in a coma at Shands Hospital in Gainesville. During that time, doctors were forced to amputate his arms after thermo burn had destroyed all the tissue inside. The right arm was cut at the shoulder while the left arm was cut just before the elbow.
Picard came out of his coma not realizing what the doctors had to do to save his life.
“I woke up and I couldn’t talk, couldn’t move. I was in a lot of pain because of the burns,” he said. “I looked down and saw that both my arms were missing. My wife told me they had to do it or I wouldn’t have lived.”
Picard initially went through the “Why-me attitude,” but all he had to do was look at his young daughter at the time and knew he could not feel sorry for himself and had to keep on living, despite the challenging situation that he now had to face.
“I had a one-year-old daughter at the time,” he said. “I had to live to take care of my daughter, to be a father, to be a husband.”
The first sport that Picard took part in after his accident was basketball where he created a device made from a bucket and shaped like a ring that attaches to a sports prosthesis.
“I could actually shoot better than most of my team,” he said.
Picard also coached his daughter in Little League softball and actually pitched and was able to conduct batting practice with a number of other contraptions that he invented. He would pitch an average of 350 balls a night.
In late 2008, Picard had to deal with a divorce from his first wife after 20 years of marriage and two children. He used the gym as a way cope with the depression. He is now happily married again to Providence native Wendy Marquard, but during his first divorce working out provided some mental relief.
While at the gym a couple he befriended during a spinning class suggested he try a triathlon. The rest is history.
How can a man without arms compete in a triathlon? Picard found the answers.
Never backing down from adversity, he bought a $100 Huffy bike at Toys R Us, went to Lowes and purchased sprinkler parts, bolts and some plumbing parts. He rerouted the brakes to the frame so that he could use his legs to brake. He placed the plumbing devices on the handlebars to enable him to steer. Originally, he had to keep his bike in one gear. But his bike was soon altered again, thanks to the I Will Foundation – a non-profit organization that assists people whose lives have been affected by life-changing illness or traumatic injury. The I Will Foundation installed an electronic shifter that does not require the use of hands.
“I didn’t use gears at all the first few races,” he said. “I was going up hills at the highest gear possible.”
As for swimming, Picard does that on his back, using a reversed breaststroke.
“I just propel myself with my legs,” he said.
The determined athlete considers bicycling his strongest event and running his weakest.
“I am usually in the top 40 percent after biking and the last 20 percent after running. My right foot was damaged from the electricity. It’s not so much painful but the movement is not the same. But I don’t like to use that as an excuse. I think I can definitely improve on my running if I train a little harder.”
Picard’s first triathlon was the Ameriprise Financial Independence Day Sprint Triathlon in Coconut Creek, Fla. on July 4, 2009. He placed 344th out of 375 finishers. After the Amica event, he plans to compete in the Nautica NYC Triathlon/Paratri National Championships in New York on Aug. 7. He also has the World Triathlon Championships in Las Vegas on Sept. 11 circled on his calendar. In that race, he was one of four physically-challenged athletes selected to compete.
In 2012, Picard is hoping to compete in a full triathlon — a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile marathon. He’s looking to finish today’s triathlon in a personal-best clocking.
“My best time is 6:45. My goal is 6:30 in this one,” he said. “I just want to give it my best.”
***
In addition to being a realtor, Picard is also a motivational speaker, telling his story and inspiring people nationwide. His website, no surprise, is www.dontstopliving.org...The Amica Ironman 70.3 officially begins at 6 a.m. with the first swim wave at Lincoln Woods. The winner is expected to arrive at the State House at around 9:40 a.m. The age of the competitors, which includes 100 athletes from Rhode Island, ranges for 18 to 74-years-old. The prize purse for the professional athletes is $15,000.

Many Thanks to STEVE MAZZONE from the Woonsocket Call for this great article and truly and inspiring story.

smazzone@woonsocketcall.com

Keeping you informed every step of the way.

Deb Grimaldi

Re/Max 1^st Choice

980 Reservoir Avenue

Cranston, RI 02910

(401) 837-9633

http://www.rhodeislandrealestatenow.com

Looking to move to Rhode Island & need some help sorting out the areas that are best suited for your family, call Debbie to help make your move more enjoyable.

When you are on vacation and you would really love to experience the Rhode Island feel, stop by and visit the famous, House on the Rock -Clingstone, A Rhode Island Treasure, You will be happy you did.

Clingstone is an unusual 103-year-old mansion in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay which survives through the love and hard work of family and friends.

Henry Wood, the owner, runs the house

like a camp:

All skilled workers welcome!
The Jamestown Boatyard hauls the family's

boats and floating dock and stores them each winter in return for a week's use of the house in the summer.

Mr. Wood, a 79-year-old Boston architect,

bought the house with his ex-wife Joan in 1961

for $3,600. It had been empty for two decades.

It had been built by a distant cousin,

J.S. Lovering Wharton. Mr. Wharton worked with

an artist,William Trost Richards, to create a house

of picture windows with 23 rooms on three stories

radiating off a vast central hall.

The total cost of the construction, which was completed in 1905, was only $36,982.99!

An early sketch of the house...

Mr. Wood is as proud as any parent of

his house and keeps a fat scrapbook

of photographs and newspaper clippings

that document its best moments. Many

of the historic photos he has were

provided by the company that insured

the house for its original owners.

The Newport Bridge is visible from the windows of the Ping-Pong room ... which is

to the left of the fireplace.

The house is maintained by an ingenious method:

The Clingstone "work weekend" is

held every year around Memorial Day.

It brings 70 or so friends and Clingstone

lovers together to tackle jobs like washing

all 65 of the windows. Anne Tait, who is

married to Mr. Wood's son Dan refinished

the kitchen floor on one of her first "work

weekends" at the home.

There are 10 bedrooms at Clingstone ....

all with indecently spectacular views.

The dining room table seats 14.

Refinishing the chairs is a task on

the "to do list" for a future work weekend.

A sign by the ladder that leads to the roof reads:

"No entry after three drinks or 86 years of age"

"It used to say 80 but we had a guy on a

work weekend who was a wonderful contributor

at age 84... so I changed the age on my sign"

said Mr. Wood, ever the realist.

"It would have been a shame to curtail the activities of a willing and viable volunteer.

No lawn to mow - No neighbors No solicitors - No busy streets - No traffic Now that's what I call the PERFECT GETAWAY! THIS TRULY IS A RHODE ISLAND TREASURE Keeping you informed every step of the way. Deb Grimaldi Re/Max 1st Choice 980 Reservoir Avenue Cranston, RI 02910 (401) 837-9633 http://www.rhodeislandrealestatenow.com Looking to move to Rhode Island & need some help sorting out the areas that are best suited for your family, call Debbie to help make your move more enoyable.