Full Moon over Hampton Beach, NH

Full Moon Over Boar’s Head at Hampton Beach

We Drove over to Hampton Beach last night just in time to watch the Full Moon Rising over Boar’s Head just north of Hampton Beach, NH. We could see the setting sun reflecting over the buildings as Moon rose proudly over the Atlantic.  We shot the first part of this video from the side of road and then moved further up the beach. The second part shows the moon slightly higher and of course not as orange as the sun had already set. We ended up at North side park in Hampton.

Hampton Beach Full Moon video by Jay and Monika McGillicuddy

I’ve been working on teaching myself video editing and this is the 1st time I’ve used some sound effects and voice over all together. It was very windy with wind chills below zero so the conditions were far from perfect but it was a nice clear night!

Full Moon Rising over New Hampshire

Hope you enjoy the video

New Hampshire Real Estate Blog

Jay and Monika McGillicuddy

Prudential Verani Realty

2 Main Street Hampstead NH

603-327-0246 direct line

603-434-2377 office

New Hampshire Real Estate Moving on up….

New Hampshire Real Estate Moving on up…

We certainly ended the year with all indicators showing that the New Hampshire real estate market is moving on up.  That was a very nice thing to see especially after a pretty dismal start to the year. We ended being up 6% over 2008 in residential units sold.

Prices declined 10%

While the median sale price continued to decline with a 10% decrease over last years median price of $235,000, when comparing Dec 08 to Dec 09 there was only a 1.9 percent difference. Hopefully that trend will continue.  While no one has a crystal ball it does seem as if we’re in the middle of a comeback. Thinking of buying real estate in southern New Hampshire, now is not the time to sit on the fence. Give us a call we’d love to help you find that prefect dream home.

The New Hampshire Association of REALTORS publishes a Market Trend report on a quarterly basis, which is reprinted below with permission.

Congratulations for doing so well in 2009; now for 2010

-By Peter Francese

New Hampshire REALTORS® have every reason to be extremely proud that they not only survived 2009, but in fact sold more homes than in 2008. That was a huge achievement considering the near-record depth of the Great Recession.

During 2009, the bad news just kept coming. New Hampshire’s unemployment rate peaked at 7.2 percent in September – the highest it had been in almost 17 years. There were over 3,400 home foreclosures in 2009, almost as many as the nearly 3,600 in 2008. As if that were not enough, total statewide employment fell by over 15,000 jobs between November 2008 and November 2009.

But that was so last year. What about 2010? Well, the consensus of most economists is that the recovery from this extraordinary recession will get underway this year, although they also predict that the recovery will be slow and that it may take two years for our state to get back to some semblance of normal, whatever that is.

Considering how well home sales went when the recession was in full swing, there is no reason why this year should not be one of recovery. The state unemployment rate is below 7 percent (compared to the 10 percent nationally) and dropping. And new unemployment claims are also falling.

But as we know now, traditional employment is only one indicator of housing demand in New Hampshire. In addition to over 625,000 people with jobs, we also have in excess of 100,000 more who are self-employed. They normally can’t collect an unemployment check, so they are not included in the labor stats. But they’re a critical part of the New Hampshire economy and will play a key role in this recovery.

And let’s not forget the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s index of state economic activity, which has been rising in New Hampshire since last September. It’s now over 193, still fourth highest in the nation and well above the 154 average for the other New England states.

Another New Hampshire advantage is that we have much healthier local banks than other states. None have been closed by the FDIC, and none are even on their watch list. That’s way better than in the early 1990s and bodes well for home sales in 2010.

All signs point to a reasonably robust recovery this year and next. But our state still has, shall we say, “issues.” We are now the fourth oldest state in terms of median age, and aging too rapidly for us to be complacent about future labor force growth.

One often overlooked aspect of the New Hampshire, however, is our residents’ very high level of educational attainment. Our state is among the nation’s top 10 in the percent of adults with a bachelor’s or graduate degree. Which of course explains why we are also in the top 10 in terms of median household and family income.

Well-educated workers are far more likely to work after age 65. New Hampshire’s Baby Boomers, who will be turning 65 at the rate of approximately 20,000 a year over this decade, are likely to follow that pattern, and many will continue working. That will do a lot to boost future economic growth, as well as second home sales.

Table I below shows that home sales grew in nine of our 10 counties between 2008 and 2009, but that sale price was lower in all 10. Median sale price did rise slightly statewide between November and December, and increased 10 percent for the nearly 2,400 sales in Rockingham County.

Condominium sales, however, did not increase year-over-year statewide, and their sale price was lower almost everywhere. Statewide residential median sale prices were only about 28 percent higher than condo median sale prices, and in three counties condominiums prices were actually higher. This suggests that the recovery in residential sale prices is likely to occur faster than that for condominiums.

Congratulations again for 2009, and may 2010 be even better.

Table I: Residential home sales for 2009 compared to 2008

County	Units sold 2009	% change 2008-09	Median price 2009	% change 2008-09
Belknap	634	6%	$175,345	-20%
Carroll	714	10%	$185,000	-10%
Cheshire	598	-5%	$167,000	-7%
Coos	344	14%	$75,000	-25%
Grafton	697	7%	$169,000	-13%
Hillsborough	2,947	7%	$229,900	-7%
Merrimack	1,162	9%	$198,500	-12%
Rockingham	2,399	4%	$257,900	-10%
Strafford	965	8%	$195,000	-11%
Sullivan	372	3%	$149,750	-13%
Statewide	10,832	6%	$212,000	-10%

Table 2: Condominium sales for 2009 compared to 2008

County	Units sold 2009	% change 2008-09	Median price 2009	% change 2008-09
Belknap	154	-1%	$150,000	-10%
Carroll	123	-6%	$160,000	-10%
Cheshire	50	28%	$138,700	-22%
Coos	12	100%	$312,500	34%
Grafton	278	14%	$185,750	-9%
Hillsborough	992	7%	$159,950	-10%
Merrimack	181	-20%	$158,000	-9%
Rockingham	794	-4%	$177,700	-9%
Strafford	135	-19%	$150,000	-13%
Sullivan	29	-6%	$252,500	3%
Statewide	2,748	0%	$165,000	-8%



New Hampshire Real Estate Blog

Jay and Monika McGillicuddy

Prudential Verani Realty

2 Main Street Hampstead NH

603-327-0246 direct line

603-434-2377 office

Hampstead NH Community Page on FaceBook

Hampstead New Hampshire FaceBook Fan Page

Jay and I started a Hampstead NH Community page on Facebook. It is not a sales page or real estate type page but rather a community page. We’re hoping that people who live in and/or love Hampstead decide to join and eventually add pictures and posts to the page. It’s a totally opt in page with no spamming allowed. Just go to FaceBook and fan the Hampstead New Hampshire page by clicking right here >>>>  Hampstead New Hampshire Fan Page

Of course we’d also love it if you became a fan of our real estate page by clicking this link >>>> Jay and Monika McGillicuddy Prudential Verani

Take a video tour of Hampstead (make sure your sound is on)

New Hampshire Real Estate Blog

Jay and Monika McGillicuddy

Prudential Verani Realty

2 Main Street Hampstead NH

603-327-0246 direct line

603-434-2377 office

Hoops for Heroes~ Our very own Dave Cummings

Hoops for Heroes ~ Please help this New Hampshire man reach his goal

Dave Cummings who is a valued staff member of the New Hampshire Association of REALTORS plans to use the basketball court to help raise money and most importantly awareness for our veterans. A a sister of a disabled war vet this endeavor means a lot to me.

Hoops for Heroes

Dave is an awesome guy and I hope he makes his goal of sinking a total of 1 million free throws to raise $1,000,000 for The Fallen Heroes Fund .

Check out Dave’s Blog Hoop For Heroes to follow his progress or better yet how about donating to this very worthy cause.

From the Hoops for Heroes Website:

Every shot made shall serve as a reminder of the reverence
due those who have honored us with their selfless service to this country.
Every dollar raised shall serve to benefit those who now suffer for that sacrifice.
To all Veterans, though it will never be enough, this is our solemn thank you.