WINDS OF CHANGE

Change is not always welcome. Lots of Newburyporters want to see the boatyard between The Black Cow and Michael’s Harborside remain a boatyard forever, and the eastern waterfront remain largely undeveloped. But it is private property and the owners will develop it if they can – and if the winds of the economy will support the change.
But the great thing is that Newburyport, Salisbury and Amesbury are all in line for some serious real estate developments that bode well for our local economies. Newburyport has the waterfront development I just mentioned. Salisbury Beach is looking at a major innovative rejuvenation, and Amesbury has the “Golden Triangle” hotel/commercial project as well as the Bailey’s Pond 148 unit condo development.
Each of these projects individually will inject new life into local business and real estate values. Together, their effect will be compound. Here’s why.
An extension of Newburyport’s central business district to include the riverfront, particularly if in keeping with the atmosphere of the rest of the city, will greatly enhance its attractiveness as a destination. Newburyport has yet to create a cohesive image to the outside world but that will come.
Salisbury Beach is slated for several million square feet of new development, spearheaded by The Thompson Design Group. TDG are urban planners, the same company that did Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market in Boston, South Seaport in NYC and Chicago’s Navy Pier. Who could possibly be better than that? Their plans for a 45 acre mixed use all-season development for living, work, and leisure will replace the approach to the Beach, Beach Center and the area immediately to its south.
The envisioned project is of mixed heights (2 to 8 floors) to maximize views, with diversified shops and commercial uses along streets. The plan provides for a hotel and a variety of residence types with an array of services, attractions and a central green including an open air theater. The plan recommends doubling the width of the beach inland, setting buildings back for storm surge safety, and reconfiguring public roads for ease of access.
The property owners, the Town, the State and its legislators have all rallied behind this new, beachfront mini-city and resort. Again, the economy is keeping this on hold, but patience will pay off. Such projects are always dependent also on receiving official approvals and permits, but all parties are optimistic.
Imagine a modern beachfront resort community with a meeting center and hotel on Salisbury Beach, tied by water transportation to new “old port city” style development and a hotel on Newburyport’s waterfront, not to mention the beautifully restored and vibrant old town. The two can complement each other greatly. Hope for teamwork between the developers!

Thompson Design Group is also working on permitting a sizable solar energy production park in an unpopulated area of Salisbury, and this appears to be currently economically viable. It will provide all the energy for the new Beach Center, but can also answer power needs for the whole Town now and in the future. By providing stable energy prices in the face of rising oil costs, this could benefit the Town’s economy in many ways.
To the immediate west, Amesbury with its newly thriving downtown will be riding on the beneficial coattails. Herb Sears’ proposed hotel and commercial development at the intersection of Routes 95, 495 and 110 (so-called the “Golden Triangle” because of its economic potential) and the long discussed 148 condo development at Bailey’s Pond will both inject much needed tax dollars into the community. Hopefully this will bring Amesbury’s woefully high property taxes into more manageable proportions and give real estate values and the Town a much needed boost.
When will all of this happen? Hopefully within this decade. Will it make everyone happy? No, because it will change the face of our area, increase real estate values and prices causing hardship for some, and certainly impact our now relatively minor traffic problems. But for most of us (including this Realtor, of course) it represents an opportunity for economic growth and prosperity. With the Thompson Design Group, at least, we are in excellent hands. Let’ s make sure greed does not override architectural beauty, sustainability, environmentally intelligent design and the needs of long term residents and existing local businesses.

Buying a House isn’t always Smooth Sailing
I’m working with a wonderful young couple who have four children and a fifth on the way! Needing to move to a larger home (duh!) they hired me to help them.
The price range is tight and the choices are few that will fit their needs. After a month a house came on the market that seemed perfect. The Seller’s Agent, a very experienced realtor, told us that the owner was in a nursing home and her children were responsible for selling it. We made an offer, negotiated it, and… suddenly it turned out the owner had a reverse mortgage and it was for more than the property was worth! So now we had a short sale that the selling agent hadn’t known about (but should have) and complications started… so we withdrew.
We found another house, this one an estate sale but we were assured that the estate was settled and there were no obstacles to the sale. One of the heirs had been in an accident and was incapacitated but his wife had been appointed guardian. We made an offer, accepted, drew up the P&S, and scheduled the closing for July 17th. No problem, the selling agent said! Well… the house was in MA and the guardianship was in NH. The Buyer’s Attorney, one I had recommended to them, immediately recognized that the NH guardianship had no validity in MA and started the Seller’s Attorney on getting it approved in MA. One month later, almost finished, the Seller’s attorney announces that there is a minor son and there needs to be a guardian appointed…
So still no closing date, I’m holding the poor Buyers’ hands, who are thankful for my sharing the frustration….
Sellers need to have their ducks in a row before they put a house on the market.

What Motivates Your Realtor: Buying

You hire a Buyer’s Agent to find you the property that best suits your needs for the best price. While the Agent does much more for you than this, there should be no other motivation for showing you a house.
Realtors offer other realtors open house luncheons, extra commissions and other motivators to try and push their property. Why any good realtor should be influenced by that is beyond me. As a Buyer’s Agent I sign a contract with my clients agreeing to a 2.5% commission; offering me more money is no reason for me to try and convince my clients to buy a particular house.
Realtor open houses were very important before we could find out almost everything about a property on the internet, and luring realtors to it was important. Not anymore. If a selling agent wants to help me sell the listing, make sure all of the attributes are correctly described in the MLS. Give me the room measurements. Tell me if there is room for an in-law apartment. Describe the lot or the waterfront. When I am picking houses to show to my clients, I am looking for the house that will meet their needs. See how we do this at www.virtualhomes.com. If offering me a higher commission or a fancy luncheon makes a difference, shame on me.
And if you offer me a lowball commission, my clients and I will change that. You aren’t doing your seller any favors.

This is very encouraging so I posted it for further distribution.

MARKET RECAP
The signs are pointing to an economy in full-recovery mode. The leading economic indicators (LEI), which attempt to forecast the economy six months hence, posted a third consecutive monthly increase, with seven of the 10 indicators improving during June. The annualized six-month rate of change of the LEI is now up 4.1%. It’s worth noting that since 1950 there have been nine recessions, and the LEI has reliably foreseen the end of all of them. No wonder many economists are now calling for an end to the recession by the fourth quarter of 2009. Guess what? The fourth quarter is less than six weeks away.
Nowhere is a recovery more apparent than in housing. Prices increased 0.9% in May from April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported. That might not sound like much, but two hard-hit areas – California and the South Atlantic region, which includes Florida – posted meaningful improvement, with prices in California increasing 2.7% and prices in the South Atlantic states increasing 1.4%.
Further evidence of a recovery is seen in home sales, which rose 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units last month, from a revised pace of 4.72 million units in May. Sales have risen for three straight months in 40 of 55 major metropolitan areas tracked by the Associated Press-Re/Max Housing Report. It appears increased sales are finally putting a dent in inventory, with the supply of homes falling to 9.4 months from 9.8 months.

Source: Blue Water Mortgage

Newburyport Nightlife

I love this city. I lived in Europe for 18 years, and when I came back to live in New England, I briefly lived in my home town of Winchester before discovering Newburyport in 1999. Newburyport has all of the great qualities of a small American seaport, combined with the walkability and atmosphere of some of the European cities I have lived in. I have lived here ever since.

OK, I like good food, and Newburyport has plenty of it. There are some great restaurants in town – I think Ten Center St. is handsdown the best. It has a cozy, pub-like atmosphere in it’s downstairs wine bar and an imaginative cuisine. I hear complaints about the service but have never had a bad experience there myself. The waterfront location of The Black Cow is its claim to fame; my personal feeling is that the food is mediocre, but that is not agreed to by all. Another famous waterfront location is Michael’s Harborside, until recently great food, but now slipping into mediocracy also. Glenn’s Bar and Grill, a great place with great food, but on a busy night it can take some time to be served. Joseph’s Winter Street Cafe has great atmosphere and Chef J.P. has turned the place around from the hit-or-miss experience it used to be.

Great night life too, and it’s not Boston, which is fine with me. The Thirsty Whale is a real local hangout, very popular with a very talkative crowd in the weekends. The Grog is the “nightclub”, very good live music Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for a mostly younger crowd, with a blues band paying Sundays starting early in the evening for a great night of endless dancing, heavily populated by an older crowd and plenty of singles.

There a plenty of other good restaurants, clubs and bars that keep Newburyport alive all year long. I’ll talk about more of them in future blog postings.