Archive for the 'New VT Listings' Category

Consider Purchasing a Summer Camp for Equity

This camp in St. Albans is for sale - what a GREAT Get-away

By now, cabin fever has hit me full force.  I wistfully look at my friend’s pictures of St. Maarten and desperately want to plunge my toes in the sand.  I even tried plunging my feet into the snow on my deck, but alas, the sensation just wasn’t the same.

So to keep me placated until the snow melts, I started remembering summer camp.  My folks rented a camp for a week on Lake Champlain and it was one of the best summers I’ve ever spent.  With the economy the way it is, many families are looking for ways to make their vacations pay for themselves and owning a great getaway is not only a treat for yourself, but an obvious equity builder.  Here are some tips when shopping for your summer retreat and how to rent it out to ensure a tidy profit at the end of the season.

1)  Location, location, location.  This is a no-brainer, but still, people will look at the “great deal” and neglect the essentials.  You want to make sure your retreat is close to entertainment, hiking, biking, kayaking. Is it easy to find?  Is it in a desirable spot?  Does it overlook the lake or a swamp?  Remember, you get what you pay for.
2) Accessible – Sometimes, summer camps aren’t plowed out in the winter.  Make certain you know who takes care of the plowing, road maintenance, and how often it’s done.  You don’t want to book a December get-away if your guests can’t access the driveway.
3) Year-Round or Seasonal Retreat – If it’s seasonal, what exactly does that mean?  What maintenance needs to be performed each winter to protect your investment?  Are there other vacation properties rented out close by and what’s their rate of fulfillment?
4) Show Me The Money – Check with the local town zoning laws to make sure you can even rent it out in the first place.  A top-notch real estate agent will go to the town clerk’s office to check over the deed, zoning, etc to make certain your intentions can be followed through on.  NEVER go blindly into the deal assuming you can just “do it under the table.” 
5) Right-of-Ways – If you’re getting a summer lakefront camp, make sure you know who has the right-of-way not only to the driveway, but to the dock, beach and lake access.
6) Water and Septic – Some summer camps may have a shared well or septic.  A good realtor will have already done their homework and can tell you what the story is with the property.
7) Get an Inspection – Especially with a 3 season property, you’ll want to make certain maintenance has been done to avoid headaches down the road.
8) Tax Impact – Make certain you know the state tax laws concerning second homes and see if it outweighs the equity you’ll be building over time.

So if you’re still suffering the throes of cabin fever, snap yourself out of it by checking out this beauty of a summer camp right on the lake.  If you’d like to view it, we’d love to show it to you (we get cabin fever too!)  Just contact us for a viewing.

Happy Spring! It’s that time of year in Vermont where people start remembering there is a giant lake in our back yard (or front yard, depending on how your internal map is oriented).  I’ve noticed people in these parts like to jump the gun on the whole summer thing a little prematurely. Can you blame us?  We’re snow and cloud covered for a good portion of the year so when it hits 50, out come the shorts. The funny thing is that after a blast of warm air like we had a couple of weeks ago, it usually drops back into the 40′s and people still sport the shorts and flip flops. 

In the spirit of jumping the gun on summer, I’d like to introduce a new listing right on the lake in Colchester, Vermont.  It’s actually not a summer house but it would be awfully fun to live here in the summer! Also, it’s not really a new listing. It was on the market last year and now we are putting it back out there.

This home has been recently updated with fresh carpet and paint. It has absolutely stunning views of mallets bay and sits on 130 feet of private sandy beach.  Below are a few pictures of the home. Click on any picture for additional information. Offered at $440,000

Quite some time ago I posted something about new apartments in Burlington VT that we are going to be building.  At the time of posting I wasn’t sure if they were going to be condos or apartments but I think we have finally settled on condos.  I am proud to announce that we have started building and we should be ready to sell by June or July.  This is a picture showing some of the progress so far.  As a reminder, this is what the building looked like before the renovation.  The building will feature 8 units, each with a generous sized storage locker in the basement.  Two of the units will be town home style meaning they will be two stories with the kitchen and living area on one floor and the bedrooms on another. The rest of the units will be Flats with everything on one level.  We are thinking the prices will range from the $180,000′s to the low $200,00′s depending on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. We are pretty excited to get these on the market.  Condos in Burlington Vermont usually sell very well and this is sort of a unique project for Burlington. Most of the condos on the market in Burlington and surrounding areas fall into two categories. One is the converted apartment (which was most likely converted from a single family house). There are tons of these condos, especially in the downtown area and around the university.  The other is the Condo complex. This is a more common site outside of the downtown area but nonetheless, they make up a good percentage of the condo market. This project is being built as a condo building so your entrance won’t be up some sketchy staircase to the roof where you climb through a window to get in. I’m exaggerating a little but I have seen some crazy things out there. Also this building is a classic example of infill. It is right in a neighborhood so you still have all the conveniences of city life unlike many of the aforementioned condo complexes.  The bus line is just a short walk to the end of the street and there are tons of amenities right across the bridge in Winooski.

I will post more information and photos as it develops.