Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you have a most enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday!

Servicing the New Hampshire towns of Portsmouth, Newcastle, Rye, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter, Greenland, Newington, Dover, Durham and surrounding areas, and the Maine towns of Kittery, Kittery Point, Eliot, South Berwick, York, and surrounding areas.

Fun Stuff to Do While Shopping for Portsmouth NH Homes!

Are you thinking about making the Portsmouth NH area your home?
It is a great area to call home, that’s for sure!

So, while you’re here checking out the Seacoast area, you might want to take a break and check out a few of the really special places here for fun and relaxation.  And of course, you have to eat, so I’ve included a few restaurants along the way as well!

The Portsmouth NH Southern Maine Seacoast area is simply put – BEAUTIFUL!  I am a tad bit partial, but I have every confidence you’ll agree after you’ve been here for even just a day!

If you’re going to be up in York Maine, I’ve heard the York Wild Kingdom is a great place to go with kids.  I’ve never been so I don’t have first-hand knowledge, but I’ve heard plenty of others say it’s an enjoyable time.  While you’re in that area, go to the Nubble Lighthouse Park, in York.  It’s one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world.  They have a nice park, a little restaurant right there and a cute gift shop.  Here’s a little Nubble Lighthouse picture show I put together on this park.

A little bit north of there is Ogunquit, with the Perkins Cove area.  That’s a neat little peninsula with quaint little shops and great seafood restaurants.  Barnacle Billy’s is good, tourists and locals alike go there.  I think it’s a bit pricey but it’s in that great area and on the water with views that make you want to stay all afternoon.

As you come south towards Portsmouth, there are all the outlets on Route 1 in Kittery Maine.  There’s a great seafood restaurant there, across from the Kittery Trading Post – Weathervane Seafood.  Awesome seafood, they have their own boats and it’s very reasonably priced.  Locals eat there all year-long.  Very casual and great for families.  Bob’s Clam Hut is across the street, I’ve never eaten there but have plenty of friends who frequent it.  Wild Willy’s is a fun casual small restaurant for awesome burgers and hand-cut fries – one of my favorite places to go for burgers!

Portsmouth NH – a wonderful walking downtown area with lots of great little local shops, galleries, and restaurants all over the place.  We have a beautiful riverside park, Prescott Park, with gardens, plays, concerts, etc. that go on all summer long.  It’s a great park to pick up lunch somewhere and then go and enjoy a picnic there.  Across from Prescott Park is Strawbery Banke – an outdoor living museum.  This is a great place to go if you like history.  It spans over 350 years of area history, showing how families lived back then, gardens, shop, grounds, etc.  It’s quite interesting.

Restaurants in Portsmouth - there are so many, it would be hard to choose – for really good casual food (burgers, salads, etc.) the Rusty Hammer is good, right downtown. The Oar House and the Dolphin Striker are both famous restaurants – they’re a little pricey but the food good.  We have several restaurants right on the water downtown – The Old Ferry Landing is a fun place to go, they have seafood and sandwiches and you can eat out on their deck and watch the river traffic go by.  We have restaurants galore just in the downtown area alone – you’d be hard-pressed not to find something you’ll enjoy, no matter which ones you pick out.  The Portsmouth Gas Light and the Portsmouth Brewery are both fun places to stop and enjoy a bite to eat.

A drive through New Castle, just off Portsmouth, is a nice drive.  New Castle is an island town, dating back to the 1600’s, and you can see that by the antique homes and winding streets that you’ll go on as you circle the island.  The Wentworth-by-the-Sea hotel has a nice lunch, and is a beautiful place to stop.  They also have a restaurant right across the street, Latitudes, that has pretty much the same food, and there you get great harbor views as you eat.

A nice little tucked-away Portsmouth restaurant at the end of route through New Castle is BG’s Boathouse – locally owned and fresh seafood, with a deck that overlooks a river, a nice and relaxing place to eat and take in the views.  Just before you get to BG’s, on the left, is The Ice House – great seafood, burgers, sandwiches, and of course delicious ice cream, too.

The Bratskellar on Route 1 in Portsmouth is a great restaurant for pizza and sandwiches, very casual, and great atmosphere for just relaxing a bit.  Down in North Hampton on Route 1 is Abercrombie and Finch – another very good casual restaurant, lunch or dinner.  And right next door to Abercrombie’s is Wings Your Way – if you like chicken, they have a ton of different wings and sandwiches, along with burgers, salads, etc.  Again, another casual place to go.

We’ve got a lot of chain restaurants, so if you like those, you’ll find plenty of other places to eat in addition to the local places I mentioned above

I love a drive along the coast, all 17 miles of it!

You’ll see rocky coastline and sandy beaches mixed in.

Hampton Beach is a fun place to go, if you like summer beaches and people-watching.  They have the regular beach-type shops and restaurants there that you’d expect.  All summer long, you can find all kinds of activities going on in Hampton Beach, and be sure to check out the famous Hampton Beach Casino to see what concerts are going on there.  Enjoy the Sand Sculpture Contests, Seafood Festivals and more!

This is just the tip of the iceberg for all the activities and restaurants in the area!  I hope you’ll enjoy your visit, and that you’ll come to think of the Portsmouth NH area as your home if you’re relocating here.  I love it here, and I’m sure you will, too!

Servicing the New Hampshire towns of Portsmouth, Newcastle, Rye, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter, Greenland, Newington, Dover, Durham and surrounding areas, and the Maine towns of Kittery, Kittery Point, Eliot, South Berwick, York, and surrounding areas.

Portsmouth NH Homes – Homes Sold in May 2009

 

Our local Portsmouth NH real estate market has been showing an active pace for the last few months, and we had some great sales this month.

If you’re curious about which homes sold and what the details were on those sales, check out the Portsmouth homes sold information below:

 

 

Homes Sold Portsmouth NH – May 2009

1483 Islington St – list price $169,900 – sold price $170,000 60 days on the market
450 Middle Rd – list price $183,000 – sold price $174,000 107 days on the market
261 Raleigh Way – list price $199,900 – sold price $195,000 167 days on the market
32 Mariette Dr – list price $229,900 – sold price $219,900 52 days on the market
16 McDonough St – list price $234,432 – sold price $199,000 126 days on the market
5 Osprey Dr – list price $234,900 – sold price $228,000 194 days on the market
287 Austin St – list price $260,000 – sold price $247,000 160 days on the market
1 Garden St – list price $263,500 – sold price $235,000 105 days on the market
181 Grant Ave – list price $274,900 – sold price $278,500 81 days on the market
77 Burkitt St – list price $319,000 – sold price $304,500 130 days on the market
33 Cliff Rd – list price $324,900 – sold price $305,000 373 days on the market
150 Buckminster Way – list price $414,900 – sold price $396,666 319 days on the market
202 Dennett Rd – list price $419,900 – sold price $400,000 60 days on the market
536 Marcy St – list price $442,000 – sold price $446,000 68 days on the market
281 Sagamore Ave – list price $577,000 – sold price $525,000 124 days on the market

The homes sold in Portsmouth for the month of May had an average asking price of $303,209 and an average selling price of $288,238.  The average days on the market on those sold homes was 101 days.  Sellers received an average of 95% of their last asking price.

We currently have 57 homes for sale in Portsmouth, with an average asking price of $680,651.

 

If you’re looking to buy a home in Portsmouth, your dream home may well be for sale now!  I’d be happy to send you a list of Portsmouth homes for sale, and as your Portsmouth NH REALTOR I can help you find that special home just for you – I love helping people find their piece of the American dream of homeownership!

 

Would you like information on the New Hampshire or Maine real estate market?  Do you have questions about the buying or selling process? Give me a call at 1-888-349-5678 x 3839 or send me an email and let’s talk Portsmouth NH real estate!

 

 

      

                   

   

 

Servicing the New Hampshire towns of Portsmouth, Newcastle, Rye, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter, Greenland, Newington, Dover, Durham and surrounding areas, and the Maine towns of Kittery, Kittery Point, Eliot, South Berwick, York, and surrounding areas.

Memorial Day – Honor and Love of America

To many, Memorial Day means the start of summer and the long holiday weekend means barbecues, parties, family gatherings, etc.  It seems that the true meaning of Memorial Day seems to be losing its real significance.  I truly hope that never happens, but it feels like it is…..

I read a couple of blog posts on Memorial Day written by friends of mine, and I thought I’d share the links to their posts, as well as a few quotes and reminders from them.

“Memorial Day and A Moment of Remembrance”, written by my good friend in California, Kathy McGraw.    Kathy reminds us of the original purpose of Memorial Day – honoring Civil War soldiers who lost their lives while fighting in that way.  She also reminds us of The National Moment of Remembrance, signed into law in 2000 by President Clinton.  I had forgotten about this, so very much appreciate Kathy’s reminder to all of us about pausing to remember all those who serve and have served to protect our freedoms.

“What are You Talking About Around the Picnic Table?” , was written by a friend of mine from Ann Arbor Michigan, Missy Caulk.  Missy also reminds us of the origins of Memorial Day, and includes some wonderful quotes from President Ronald Reagan that I thought were so important for us to remember.

These poignant quotes came from President Reagan’s farewell address, and I’ve included some here:

“An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?”

“So, we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important–why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. ”

And from another speech of his:

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same”.

My dad, Harold Cummings,  served 29 years in the Air Force, my grandfather, R. Oakley Seaver, served in the Army, and my mom’s brother, Charles Robert Seaver, served in the Air Force.

I am most thankful to them for having served our country, doing what needed to be done to protect America, and fighting for our freedoms that we often take for granted.

My deepest thanks and appreciation to all who have served, all who currently serve, and all who will some day serve – thank YOU from the bottom of my heart.

Servicing the New Hampshire towns of Portsmouth, Newcastle, Rye, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter, Greenland, Newington, Dover, Durham and surrounding areas, and the Maine towns of Kittery, Kittery Point, Eliot, South Berwick, York, and surrounding areas.

US Companies Failing At Customer Service BIG Time!

I don’t usually use my real estate blog to rant about things, but today that’s just what I’m doing.

This week, in just the last 3 days, I’ve had the ‘opportunity’, and I lose that word quite loosely, of having to try to get some customer service from 2 companies.  The first company was one that I thought was local, LOCAL, like right here.  Until recently, I had always been able to make a call, get a real person to talk to and then be transferred to another person in the office here in Portsmouth NH.  Not anymore!

I dialed their phone number, got the same person who always answered, and then was transferred to the ‘department’ that was going to help me.  When the person came on the phone, I could tell right away I had ended up off-shore somewhere.  I asked the person on the other end of the phone where they were, and that confirmed what I suspected.

 

The second ‘opportunity” was just today, which set me off on this post.  I had purchased a major appliance earlier this year, and have had need to have repair technicians come out several times to get it to work properly.  Well, once again it’s not functioning properly so I called to schedule a service call.  They were supposed to come out today, sometime between 1pm and 5pm.  Yep, that infamous time window – you know full well they can narrow that down a bit more, but they don’t even try.  Anyway, 5pm came and went, and no service person.  At 6:15pm, I called the service line, asking when the technician might be showing up, if at all.  Lo and behold, I found I had traveled time zones and countries to another off-shore servicing center.

Why does that continue to happen?  Do American companies think that’s better servicing for their consumers?  No doubt it’s cheaper for them, and it undoubtedly provides jobs in the off-shore countries.  But at what cost?

 

When you try to get help from those so-called ‘service centers’, they really can’t help you at all.  If you ask something that isn’t on their script, they’re lost.  They go right back to repeating their script, and that’s just flat useless to me, the consumer on the other end of the phone trying to get help regarding the product I plunked a lot of money out for.

 

I wish there was some way that would allow you to know in advance that the ‘service center’ for whatever company you’re thinking about doing business with is here or ‘over there somewhere’.  If I could know that in advance, I would think long and hard about whether I really wanted to buy that product or those services from that company, or not.

 

In real estate, we’re all abuzz about transparency.  How about the same thing in the general marketplace of regular goods?  I think that’s only fair and right – for my money, I want to know who’s going to help me when/if I need help, and what kind of rigmarole (sp?) I’m going to have to go through just to reach someone who really can help me.

Off-shore servicing centers – BIG-time FAIL!!

What’s been your experience with servicing centers?  I’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below.

       

                     

     

Servicing the New Hampshire towns of Portsmouth, Newcastle, Rye, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter, Greenland, Newington, Dover, Durham and surrounding areas, and the Maine towns of Kittery, Kittery Point, Eliot, South Berwick, York, and surrounding areas.

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