As licensed real estate professionals we provide much more than the service of helping you find your ideal home. Realtors® are experienced in arranging fair deals. We can assist in negotiating an offer, acting as a mediator to head off potential conflicts between you and the seller, and draw up a legally binding contract. We are members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and must abide by a Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice enforced by the NAR. A professional Realtor® is your best resource when buying a home.
·    As knowledgeable Realtors® we can save you endless amounts of time, money and frustration. We will discuss your motivation to buy, and we will also discuss any time constraints you might have, your financial situation and any future plans.

·    As knowledgeable Realtors® we know the housing market inside and out and can help you avoid the “wild goose chase.” We have access to the Multiple Listing Service, which is exclusive to Realtors®.

·    As knowledgeable Realtors® we know the best lenders in the area and can help you understand the importance of being pre-approved for a mortgage. We have broad and current knowledge of the financing options to home buyers-and there are many of them. At your request, we can assist you in evaluating mortgage options and obtaining financing at the most attractive prevailing rates and terms.

·    As knowledgeable Realtors® we are an excellent source for both general and specific information about the community such as schools, churches, shopping and transportation-plus tips on home inspections and pricing.

·    As knowledgeable Realtosr® we are experienced at presenting your offer to the listing agent and can help you through the process of negotiating the best terms, including price. We can bring objectivity to the buying transaction, and we can point out the advantages and the disadvantages of a particular property.

If you are looking for a property to buy or a rental, contact us at Pinkham Real Estate today. Our team is eager to help you in your homesearch!

On Being Prepared for Lowball Offers…

You’ve decided you’re ready to list your home for sale. You find a REALTOR® you trust, and together you set what you both feel is a fair and realistic list price. After a few showings you get an offer on your home. When your REALTOR® presents the offer to you, you’re stunned and disappointed to see that it’s 20% below your list price. (more…)

Valentine’s Day is only 2 weeks away, and flowers and chocolates are nice, but what gift really says, “I love you”?

The answer of course is a home or condo in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. So this year, why not treat your Valentine to something they can enjoy not just for a day or for a week but for many years to come? Here are our recommendations for a happy Valentine’s day: (more…)

The short, cold days of winter are upon us once again. While those who live here may relish the falling of snow and warmth of a fire during wintertime, the season does present challenges for sellers. Yet winter home sales can and do happen. Here are some tips for getting your home or condo sold during the winter.

1) Turn on the lights. With daylight waning before 4 PM these days, you can’t count on a sunny day to make your home look bright. Make sure all of the light bulbs in your home are working and all of the lights are on (even in closets) before a showing. It may be a little extra electricity, but buyers view well-lit homes much more favorably than dark ones.

2) Make sure driveways and walkways are clear. Talk about a bad first impression! If a potential buyer slips and trips walking into the house it’s unlikely they will want to see the positive features of the exterior of the home or walk through the elements to a detached garage.

3) Clean entryways and (for condos) common areas. Make use of coat racks, boot trays, and hooks to keep winter clothing organized. In condos, cleaning the entry way will give the appearance of a well-run association.

4) Keep wood burning stoves and fireplaces neat and tidy. Everyone loves to sit and watch a warm fire. However where there’s fire, there’s ash, sawdust and dirt. Emphasize the romantic side of burning wood by keeping the area around the wood stove dirt and ash free and by making sure the fire is burning brightly when the buyers come through for a showing.

5) Clean and deodorize. Cooking  and pet smells have nowhere to go during the cold months when we keep our doors and windows closed. Unless they are the smells of freshly baked cookies, it is unlikely they will contribute positively to a showing.

6) Show buyers what the house looks like in fairer weather. Leave a photo album or some other type of display showing the home and landscaping in the summer and fall months.

Homes and condos can and do sell during the winter months, and if you are currently trying to sell, hopefully this advice will help. For a free market analysis, please contact us here at Pinkham Real Estate. We are happy to chat with you and will work hard to sell your home. Think snow!

Have we started on the upturn in real estate? We have in North Conway. And Bartlett. And Jackson. As you know, all real estate is local, so what’s happening in Palm Beach , Chicago or Cucamonga could be up, down or sideways to us. We do know that inquiries at Pinkham Real Estate here in Mt. Washington Valley, NH turned the corner in June and have increased every month since then. How much an increase? Well, Google says our September inquires were more than double July’s. Our sales have shown the same trend, though percentage wise, at a higher rate. (more…)

It’s going to be a busy week in western Maine and the White Mountains! The leaves are reaching their peak, fall sports are in full swing, and the Fryeburg Fair is in town. (more…)

-By Kyla Brustin

Last spring a robin came to make a nest in the corner of our front porch. We watched from the kitchen window as she brought grass, straw, dog hair, and mud into the corner under the roof, trying to weave it all together into a cozy place where she could lay her eggs. For a solid week she worked tirelessly, but the nest never materialized. Instead, every day the materials she brought the day before would be on the porch in an increasingly larger pile. (more…)

by The KCM Crew on April 8, 2011 · http://kcmblog.com/2011/04/08/rental-costs-are-about-to-takeoff/

We are often asked whether it is better to rent or buy in the current housing market. The answer to that question is: “It all depends”. There are certain situations where renting short term probably makes sense. It may make sense if you are retiring to a different region of the country and are not yet sure where you want to set down roots for the next 25 years. It may make sense if you have a one year employment contract which will probably require a move to another place upon termination. (more…)

-By Kyla Brustin

A client of mine has an offer in on a bank owned property in Bartlett, NH. It’s definitely a fixer upper, and as a result, its low list price has attracted a lot of attention. Because of the work it needs, his initial offer was low. Unfortunately, the bank has responded with a counter offer that doesn’t demonstrate a whole lot of motivation. The listing agent has told me that another buyer is drafting an offer to submit as well, which will be competition for my buyer. He plans to make a counter offer, but how much should it be? Should he submit his highest offer in hopes of getting the property before another offer comes in? Or should he take his chances that the other offer will not be better than his and only increase his offer incrementally? (more…)

-By Peter Pinkham

Ambling through North Conway Village on a February afternoon in the year 2010, with bare grass showing through the thin frosting of snow around the edges of Schuler Park, yet, amazingly, a crowd of skiers, shoppers and out-of-state cars making the Village appear to be the center of the vacation world, I wondered what the same scene would look like if Mt. Washington Valley ski areas hadn’t snowmaking on their slopes and trails.

There was a time they didn’t. Forty years ago the only snow in Mt. Washington Valley came from the heavens. And in February of 1970 the heavens hadn’t provided more than dustings all winter. Inns and motels were next to empty; restaurant owners gazed through their steamed windows at empty streets. One North Conway innkeeper, who could see that the only melting that would take place that spring would be his business, had had enough. He called other innkeepers and restaurateurs, and together they visited Herbert Schneider, the maestro of Cranmore Mountain Ski Area to see what could be done to help.

With a poor town and no funds anywhere to be seen to cure the problem, the conclusion of the little meeting was: all we’ve got are our bootstraps. That’s what we had to work with; so we did. Without the voice of the Conway Daily Sun, which would make its appearance in future years, the Manchester Union Leader was prevailed on to get out the word. Neighbors were called, posters were printed, and, struggling as they were, the Valley’s many small businesses and ordinary citizens all got behind the effort. A new firm, Resort Development Corporation of Mt. Washington Valley, was the vehicle, financed by the nickels and dimes of many small stockholders. It raised enough dollars to help Mt. Cranmore install its first snowmaking system.

While too late to save the winter of 1970, the knowledge had been acquired that it could be done. That with cold enough temperatures, nothing more was needed from the heavens. Snowmaking grew at Cranmore, Attitash Bear Peak, Black Mountain and Wildcat ski areas. New and better systems were installed, and every year improvements were added. The Valley had responded. And at no time was it more obvious than a winter 40 years later when the snow went south, yet guests and customers streamed north to Mt. Washington Valley, confident of some of the finest skiing and riding snow anywhere, with 100% of its Alpine slopes and trails covered.