Posts made by author 'Badger Peabody & Smith Realty'

Try and contain your excitement over my clever title today. I typically love to use a play on words or an alliteration, but today I just wasn't feeling it. I'm still (casually) house-hunting and honestly enjoying the process. In the past decade or so, when looking for a place to rent, I spent loads of time on the interwebs seeking out rentals. The home shopping process has been literally the same. I'm spending time researching neighborhoods and homes and eventually I'll work up to actually visiting the home..you know... like a real human meeting with other humans. Hard to believe, I know. Can we stop wearing hazmat suits to the grocery store yet? Ugh.

If you're still debating whether to rent or buy, this article is for you. If you are not in this boat, I suppose you can turn the page, take another sip of your coffee and enjoy...

Click Here to Read More...

When I first went to college, I registered, paid, bought a plane ticket to Minneapolis and arrived on campus having never set foot there (or in Minnesota for that matter). It was a little silly for sure, but I knew I wanted to attend there and nothing was going to change my mind. In the case of my college choice, it fulfilled all of my "must haves" and most of my "nice to haves". Were I buying a house, my confidence would have been on the same level.

In our current (mildly insane-but slowly getting better) global climate, buying a home site unseen is becoming more common. While working over in Lincoln, we had a handful of people purchase condos never having stepped foot in them. For a ski condo, I think that is a little less risky. You are basically buying a place to recreate a few times (weekends) a year. I read once that th...

Click Here to Read More...

I think it's in the Bible where it says children should be seen and not heard. Today I'm going to extend that advice to those of you currently (or about to be) selling your home. The reality is that most of us are not trained salespeople. We don't have the years of experience and smooth savvy of "Big Tom Callahan". We have encouraged sellers in the past to allow their real estate professionals to handle the showings and the subsequent questions. I'd like to share a few items today that might help keep you out of trouble if your agent is not around and you're stuck talking with those potential buyers.

First and foremost I would never encourage anyone to be dishonest. There are certain things that you are required by law to disclose about your home and there are other things that you may just feel more comfortable telling th...

Click Here to Read More...

Honestly, I do feel bad for the folks who are dangerously cold, without power or water or generally unable to handle frigid temperatures. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But for the rest of the Texans (and others below the Mason Dixon) I can't help but chuckle to hear their stories of horror and dismay that the temperature dropped below 80 degrees! For those of us born and bred in the northeast, we know a thing or two about cold.

My coldest day on ski patrol at Loon Mountain was 28 degrees below zero. We didn't take too many runs that day, but we completed our sweeps and even helped a few injured folks off the slopes. I actually rode the gondola with a guy who paid for a full-priced ticket! It turned out he was on vacation and was determined to ski regardless of the weather. I was proud of him.

The cold sn...

Click Here to Read More...

You say you want a revolution? (Can I say that!?) Anyway, we're not really going to revolt, but we are going to focus on renters today. I'm toying with the idea of getting my own place, so today's article is just as much a reminder to me as it is to you, my fellow tenant. I have had the fortune of owning 2 homes so far so I'm a little biased towards home ownership. But if you've never walked that path, today's thoughts will hopefully be a bit of encouragement for you. Buying a home is not as scary as it sounds and might be closer to your reach than you thought. Let's get started.

The first and most obvious myth we're going to squash today is that of the overwhelming debt that comes with buying a home. Sure, you are going to go from a few thousand dollars in debt to a couple hundred thousand. Yikes! But you...

Click Here to Read More...