Image via Gunstock

Visiting the Lakes Region this winter or just looking to try something new in the area?  Here are some suggestions for winter-themed activities to do while you’re here.  For a full list, visit the Lakes Region Tourism website.

Gunstock Mountain Resort – Gilford
One great option for hitting the trails is the Gunstock Mountain Resort which offers 220 acres of skiing and riding.  You can also go cross-country skiing and snowshoeing on one of their many trails.  Another option for thrill-seekers is snow tubing on New Hampshire’s longest tubing hill.  To find out more information or to purchase a pass, visit the Gunstock website.

King Pine Ski area at Purity Spring Resort - East Madison
If you are looking to do some skiing or snowboarding while in New Hampshire, check out the King Pine Ski Area at Purity Spring Resort.  They offer a variety of options for people of different abilities and skill levels.  Along with skiing and snowboarding, they also offer snowshoeing and ice skating.  Visit the King Pine website for more information on pricing and events.

SledVentures – Lincoln
Interested in experiencing the snow in a new way?  Rent a snowmobile with SledVentures!  You can take a guided or private tour as well as rent your own snowmobile for the day.  All gear is included in the price, so SledVentures provides a great deal for a day of snow adventures.  For more information visit their website.

Dexter’s Inn – Sunapee
Not only is Dexter’s Inn an affordable, family-friendly resort-inn, but it also offeres a variety of activities and adventures.  Spend the day skiing or snowshoeing with Dexter’s Inn Trails by Norsk.  If you are new to skiing, they also offer lessons and equipment rentals.  After a day in the snow, warm up by the fireplace at the Inn.  To find otu more or make your reservation, visit the Dexter’s Inn website.

For more suggestions on places to visit or activities for your New Hampshire Lakes Region vacation, visit the Lakes Region Tourism website.  Do you have any tips on places to visit in the Lakes Region in the winter months?  Share them with us!

Image via Santa's Village

Between winter-proofing your home and shopping for Christmas presents, make sure you find the time to check out some of these holiday events going on in New Hampshire’s Lake Region.  For a full list or more information on these events, visit the Lake Winnipesaukee Travel Guide website.

Kids Night Out: November 4th – December 16th
Sill need to finish your Christmas shopping without the kids? Bring them to the Laconia Community Center for games, crafts, and pizza with kids their age.  It’s happening every night November 4th through December 16th from 5:30-9:00PM.  The cost is $15 per child, per night and registration is required so make sure you sign up today!

Ho-Ho-Hobo Santa Express: November 25th – December 18th
Enjoy a holiday train ride every weekend from November 25th to December 18th with the Ho-Ho-Hobo Santa Express Train in Lincoln, New Hampshire.  The trip is 80 minutes and goes down along the Pemigewasset River to the Jack O’Lantern Resort south of Woodstock.  Kids get a chance to meet Santa, taste hot chocolate and cookies, and enjoy the scenery.  For more information, check out the Santa Express Train website or call 603-745-2135.

Santa’s Village: November 19th – December 31st
Visit Santa’s Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire every weekend from November 19th to December 21st to get in the holiday spirit with your kids!  There are plenty of sights and activities including cookie and ornament decorating.  You can also check out the shops, enjoy rides, and try some holiday refreshments.  Find out more on the Santa’s Village website.

Wolfeboro Festival of Trees: December 10th-18th
Visit the Wolfeboro Festival of Trees Charity benefit at the Wright Museum in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.  The event is being held on the weekends between December 10th and December 18th.  There will be plenty of entertainment, refreshments, and more than 65 Christmas trees decorated by local businesses.  Visit the Wolfeboro Festival of Trees website to learn more.

Wolfeboro’s First Night: December 31st
Enjoy a night of fun, food, and entertainment at Wolfeboro, New Hampshire’s First Night event on December 31st.  Performances begin at 2:00PM and continue on into the night.  Some events include ice skating, Doo-wop music, fiddle playing, a parade, and fireworks.  You can find out more information or purchase a button and entry to the event at the First Night website.

For a full list of events in the Lake Winnipesaukee area, visit the Lake Winnipesaukee Travel Guide website.  If you have any other tips on holiday events happening this year, let us know!

Happy Holidays from Prudential Spencer-Hughes!

Every four years, as the nation gears up for its next presidential election, our small state receives a large amount of attention from the media thanks to our early primary election.

(Photo Credit: CBS - www.cbsnews.com)

This time around, the Lakes Region is receiving some extra focus thanks to Wolfeboro property owner Mitt Romney, who also happens to be a strong contender for the Republican party presidential noimation.  CBS News recently visited with our own Kathryn Aitken, who discussed Romney’s fabulous summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee and what it’s like to have a presidential hopeful living among us.

Read the full article, “Mitt Romney’s New Hampshire Getaway” and feel free to share your comments about what you think life in the Lakes Region might be like with the American president as a sometime neighbor.

New Hampshire waterfront property owners appreciate a clean beach

Location, location, location is the rule of thumb for much of the national market. However, like politics, real estate is local and here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire we will place a great emphasis on Clarity, clarity, clarity.

Waterfront property demands its own level of priorities, and a clean, sandy lake bottom with a pleasant swimming area is often at the top of the list. But, New Hampshire is not known as the Granite State for nothing and so the ideal beach is often a rarity. This does not preclude that most beachfronts cannot be improved by what I label “aqua landscaping.’’

The dynamics of each water body should be carefully considered by any buyer: average depth, nutrient recycling capabilities, dissolved oxygen levels, rates of decomposition and water temperature are the primary evaluative tools. Phosphorus is at the root of most beachfront problems; it promotes plant growth and is introduced to a water body by lawn fertilizers, soil erosion, sewage, animal waste and decomposing vegetative matter.

Over the past dozen years impressive technical strides in water treatment have led to effective means of improving or eliminating problem beachfront concerns. Ultrasonic procedures, electric powered mechanical weed rollers, chemical additives and tools that agitate the lakebed are being used effectively without any negative effects to the aquatic life.

The impact of The New Hampshire Shore Land Protection Act by establishing rules for waterfront property owners has become a valuable piece of legislation for maintaining the quality of the way of life for waterfront owners in The Lakes Region. I encourage you to contact our offices and speak with our knowledgeable realtors prior to making your buying decisions.
Jim Ferriman Jferriman@spencerhughes.com 603-520-5385

Image via Wikipedia

There has been some welcome, and overdue, legislation from the NH State Senate regarding the New Hampshire Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act, which clarifies and simplifies the 2008 revisions of the original 1991 act.  NH State Senate Bill #154 will allow the waterfront owners and builders in the Lakes Region to efficiently schedule and manage costs concerning waterfront property alterations by greatly reducing the confusion and unknowns of the state’s position regarding an owner’s project proposal.

The bill will also keep in tact all of the provisions that protect the water quality and waterfront beauty, hence the property value, upon which the purpose of the Act rests. I believe that this bill will eliminate what had been in my mind some of the unenforceable aspects of the earlier revisions and provides that most permits would be issued or denied within 5 days of the application date. This includes applications for new construction, landscaping, excavations, water runoff management, repairs and alterations to existing structures and general improvements to waterfront property beneficial to the goals of the Act. read more »

Image by Golden Eye via Flickr

Some believe the translation of “Winnipesaukee” to be “Beautiful Water in a High Place;” an apt description, and one that has been in use for more than just a short while. After all, the earliest known community along Lake Winnipesaukee’s shores was the large village of Aquedoctan, established by the Abnaki Tribe along the Weirs channel some 500 years ago, perhaps a great deal earlier. The historical evidence leads to the great mystery surrounding the “Big Lake”—that being how this large lake can maintain its water quality in such a confined watershed. Winnipesaukee is extraordinarily pure for a body of fresh water, in spite of heavy and sustained use. The continuous efforts of the past and current inhabitants to preserve its rare qualities account for this end result.

Winnipesaukee 101: Lakes Region Facts

The basic facts: Winnipesaukee has 183 miles of shoreline and a surface area of nearly 72 square miles, is 21+ miles long and up to 9 ½ miles wide, has a multitude of islands (300 or so, depending on who is doing the counting), and possesses some 600 navigation aids. It was born of the Wisconsin Glacier Period, when glaciers 2 miles thick gouged out fractured and less competent rock, leaving citadels of the more substantial host granite. At their end 13,000 years ago, the glaciers retreated, leaving their mark in the form of moraines, eskers, and kettle depressions, and in effect sculpted all of the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. read more »

I had a good friend who always seemed to be misplacing things. Out of habit I always replied that as space is truly finite it follows that chances for recovery of the item then must be infinite, always a optimistic view. A handy solipsism perhaps but not at all applicable to waterfront properties here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Why, because of an almost infinite demand for this particular finite resource.

The Lakes Region is a finite resource...

Last week, 4/12/10 through 4/18/10, our chief search engine, Google, reported that our website received 2,301 visits from 22 separate countries. This total is also broken down by new visitors, 47.85% and the average of 4 minutes 6 seconds per visit. Impressive to be sure and that reflects the broad international interest in what the Lakes Region of New Hampshire has to offer as a second-home haven. Though I have to suspect the sole visit from Fiji was likely a local on vacation and who was checking out the live web cam video of Wolfeboro or Alton Bay.

The above figures do serve to underline the strong market interest in Lakes Region properties as well as the accessibility of complete and timely information available to browsers, investors and homesick expatriates on the PSH site. But a leading website is more than just the result of a large amount of invested capital and skillful design. Anyone with the means and commitment can achieve a semblance of success and turn out an attractive product. We strive to surpass this worthy goal by additionally pledging our negotiation skills, time saver methods and efficiency expertise to our clientele. Our teamwork is unmatched.

So, where are we? The knowledge and ability to account for that large “Invisible Hand” of Adam Smith, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek and connecting with it in a way helpful to both the seller and buyer is what we offer at Prudential Spencer Hughes. No more, no less, only better than anyone else.

Jim Ferriman
603-267-9866

No time is better than the present for second home buyers

Realtors are certainly becoming popular, at least at gatherings and parties. Not for their entertaining personalities, perhaps, but for what opinion they might venture regarding the direction of the real estate market.

Now, man is a gregarious social creature, not a herd animal mind you, but one who is aware of time and therefore timing. Is this the “bottom”?  I don’t know. I do know that home prices have come down significantly in the past year or so, while financing rates have been more or less firm. While I embrace time, I prefer to exclude timing, championing Newton over Leibniz.

Buyers seeking second homes usually do so for the fundamental desire of establishing a personal alternative to their familiar routine, no matter how interesting and stimulating. Picking the absolute market nadir for a second homebuyer becomes almost antithetical to their true interests. And, the total variables determining a “market bottom” are so numerous and diverse that picking it becomes more a matter of chance than any realized action.

At the same time, sellers have their own time tables and they may be quite different from most buyers. They, if they wish to follow classic market precepts, need to position their property competitively to the general market to attract the buyer. But, waterfront homes in the Lakes Region present unique market conditions; for the buyer pool is large, diverse and can exert unanticipated influence on the actual selling prices on the local market.

My advice, therefore, which I offer to one and all, is that if you see something you like and have the means, don’t hesitate, but make it your own. After all, time as we experience it proceeds in only one direction.

Jim Ferriman            Jferriman@spencerhughes.com (603) 267-9866

I reviewed a new study of 90 global equity investors last week. The report by Prequin, a London group, indicates that institutional investors intend to commit more capital to private equity funds in 2010 than they did in 2009. The long term view is predominantly bullish and rather than chase emerging property markets in Asia and India they are likely to shift their interest to debt-burdened and distressed property.

Foreign investors, 51% of respondents, view the U.S. market as the best opportunity for real estate appreciation, according to the Association of Foreign Investors (AFIRE) in a report released January 18, 2010. One of the significant portions of the survey detailed that of the top 5 U.S. cities reflecting the best investment opportunities 3 are on the East coast; Washington D.C., New York, and Boston. Multi-family properties led as the preferred investment type followed by office, industrial, retail and hotel properties. read more »

Lake Winnipesaukee in Winter (photo courtesy of The Lake Winnipesaukee Watershed Association)

The very names are beguiling, intriguing, beckoning – Bearcamp, Shellcamp, Mirror, Crescent, Crystal, Great East, Dan Hole, Halfmoon, Hermit, Huntress, Lily, Locke, Merrymeeting, Sunrise, Suncook, Sunset, Loon, Province, Silver, Horn, Rust, Wentworth, Pine River, Saltmarsh.

The Indian names – Chocura, Wicwas, Pemigewasset, Winnisquam, Paugus, Winnipesaukee, Waukewan, Winona, Ossipee, Squam, Kanaska, Opechee.

They all can be found in this area. By this area I mean the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Glacier gouged, spring fed, interconnected by subterranean rivers each lake carries a history and fondness in the heart for those that have spent time on their waters, be it a vacation or a lifetime. Second home buyers immediately feel they somehow belong here, have always belonged here. The capacity for the homing sentiment is not something to be denied.

I have no complete information but the newspaper at times makes reference to various famous residents of the Lakes Region, usually in the obituaries. People who have, or had, the wherewithal to live anywhere yet chose New Hampshire. Not surprising to me, after all I did. Our Spencer Hughes website, recently remodeled, is a very good place to start a search for your ideal Lakes Region home or property. I look forward to assisting you in your discovery of what some believe to be the most beautiful place on earth. Check the comments section to register your opinion.

Jim Ferriman
(603) 267-9866