The Urban Refugee

10 Things I Don’t Have To Worry About

OK, a very scientific & thoroughly researched post today (not really).  I am shooting the breeze with some friends who work at Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and as inevitably happens, someone brings up a horror story of a daughter/cousin/former roomate getting scammed out of something!  This opens the floodgates and by the time the next round comes I am pretty sure that the proverbial “END IS NEAR!”

So I got to thinking…how is that we can joke about this stuff happening to OTHERS?   Primarily because it seems so ALIEN to us in our little village life.  So here you go - the list of 10 Things I Don’t Have To Worry About:

1. 1. No Twin Towers - or rather no population density high enough to attract the attention of anyone looking to use innocent people to attract attention to their cause!
2. 2. No smog - EVER!
3. 3. No wildfires, no mudslides, no hurricanes, no tornadoes - in exchange for which we gladly navigate the 8 foot snowbanks that pile-up for 4 months of the year.
4. 4. No termites - who, like my dad, don’t do so well with the deep freeze. Continue Reading…
   

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Understanding Hanover House Pricing: Zone Approach

The three rings of Hanover houses can explain rational selling prices

Hanover Yellow Zone: Walk-to-Town Ring

Within 5 minutes of being in my car new clients will have been exposed to the “3 rings of Hanover houses” concept.  This handy device forms a framework for conversations and explanations on topics as varied as price justifications, zoning & variances, commute times, playdates and seasonal variations in social habits of the Upper Valley.  It very well may be the second most important concept for the incoming individual or family that is certain that they want to end up in Hanover, Etna, Norwich or Lyme.

On the surface it’s very simple - we can break the housing options into three concentric “rings” (or concentric polygons for those that who aren’t into the whole brevity thing).  The center of the rings focuses on the Main St, Howe Library, Dartmouth Campus (shown by a green “D” on the map above) and the Hanover Food Coop areas.  For short form that is the Walk-to-Town ring or the Yellow Zone on the map.  This ring is characterized by late 1800s and early to mid 1900s houses on lots of 1 acre or less but most often 1/3 acre or less.  The two car garage that actually fits two modern cars is a rare and enviable commodity in the Yellow Zone!  If we were to track Selling price per Square footage of houses in Hanover then this zone would certainly be the highest and probably so by a wide margin.

Life in the Walk-to-Town or Yellow Zone is characterized by… Continue Reading…

Noel Perrin: The Godfather of Thetford Bloggers

We are fortunate to have had the grandad of all small town bloggers live & work in our midst for 25 years.  Noel Perrin was musing on “this, that and the other” long before there even was a name for it!

See Perrin's Farm - Click for more

Mr. Perrin came to Dartmouth College in 1959 as a member of the English Department.  He was, by that time, a respected professor of literature however it seems that something in the Hanover air or water (or perhaps the maple syrup?) must have been inspirational to him.  He uncorked 10 books (6 of them about the very soil he worked) in the 25 years he called this home and another two which were published after his death in 2004.  And in his delightful writing you can trace the path from Mr. Perrin (intellect and New Yorker) to Farmer Perrin (intellect and Thetford, Vermonter)!

This guy must have been a character and I feel that I knew him just from the wit and the horse-sense he packs into a paragraph. One of  Mr. Perrin’s most endearing qualities is his quickness to point out how much he didn’t know and how clumsy he was to learn a rural way of life.  At the same time he was not shy to point out contradictions in the RUGGED & TRADITIONAL aspects of Vermont which he called the “Last Stand of the Yankees”.  Take this great section from his book First Person Rural (published in 1978 by David R. Godine):

Excess capacity to store all that maple syrup, don't you know.

“…the public image of Vermont and its private reality seem to be rapidly diverging.  My favorite example comes, of course, from the maple sugar business.  Suppose you buy a quart of maple syrup in the village store in South Strafford.  It comes in a can with brightly colored pictures on it.  These pictures show men carrying sap pails on yokes, sugar houses with great stacks of logs outside, teams of horses, and all the rest. They are distinctly last-stand pictures.

But suppose you decide to go into the sugaring business for yourself.  When you write away for advice, you get a go-modern or private-reality answer.  You are told not to hang pails at all, much less to carry them to the sugarhouse on a yoke.  Instead, install pipes.  Don’t bother to cut any four-foot logs, oil gives a better-controlled heat. And finally, your instructions say, the right way to market the stuff is to put it in cans that show men carrying sap pails, sugarhouses with great stacks of logs…”

He loved poking fun at how the urbanites he left behind viewed and misunderstood life in small towns like Thetford, Norwich, Lyme and Hanover.   Take this paragraph from a letter to the editor of The New Yorker magazine in 1963 regarding a cartoon that Farmer Perrin didn’t see as quite accurate:

“I think there’s something I shall henceforth call The Wooden Bucket principle at work here.  By this I mean a tendency to imagine almost anything in the country as simpler and more primitive and kind of nicer than it really is. Picture calendars are the most familiar example. Every time I see a calendar decorated with a photograph of a New England Village, I look, and I am never disappointed. There’s a little village nestled among the hills. There’s the white church. There the majestic maples. What about the filling station? It’s been cropped. There are never gas stations in pictures of New England villages. Those big orange school buses don’t generally get into such pictures either nor does the town shed, with a couple of modern of road scrapers lying around out front.”

This guy had things nailed, didn’t he?  A kind of “everyman’s” urban refugee!  These are WONDERFUL reads on a chilly winter night.

With thanks to Terry S. Osborne (who lives to this day in Noel Perrin’s farmhouse in Thetford VT) for prompting my sister & me to read these wonderful books!

Do’s & Don’ts For Real Estate Buyers: Tip 3

Idealism Fades…or “Live-it but Budget!”

My sister and I are in the enviable position of spending lots of time with people in the midst of seriously life changing decisions.  Creative juices flow…the possibilities are REAL…boundaries are questioned and often discarded!  And we are PART OF the process - Brave New World, Damn the Torpedoes, What Color is My Parachute?  (Choose your own spin!)

Our opinions, parables and cautionary tales often affect the decisions that set a family or individual’s trajectory and knowing this, we don’t take our positions lightly.  Not to be a BUZZKILL or anything but sometimes we have to play a moderating role because as the subtitle suggests (neigh, clearly states) idealism can WEAR OFF and it’s best to have planned for this reality!

Better Budget for that Front Door, OK?

An example or two may be in order:   Let’s take the family that falls in love with the A-frame or old Hunting Camp converted to a year-round home.  Hmmm, this one is heated exclusively by wood (albeit a central wood-fired hot water boiler).

Too true - wood heat is efficient, is typically lower cost than fossil fuels and admittedly nothing feels as “warm” as wood heat.  But what about going away for 3 days in heating season?  The house will go down to ambient temperature and HELLO, welcome home to 10^F and frozen toilets!  What about loading the wood larder when you have the flu and your partner is on the couch with a strained back?

Wood is a wonderful source of heat but “live-it and budget”.  Make sure you factor-in the cost to make the conversion to a back-up source of heat.

There can be Limited Demand for converted hunting camps!

That converted A-frame or Hunting Camp (or Schoolhouse or Grange Hall) may remind you of your childhood in Vermont and that  is clearly a good thing.  Unfortunately it was impossible for the original builders of these places to anticipate our INCREDIBLY HIGH STANDARDS for functional layouts, large and uniform room proportions and the ability to support modern heating and wiring.

When clients are in-transition mode and the notion of a “converted” anything is a possibility I always say “Feng Shue” and they answer with a blank stare.  What I mean is that you may or may not believe in the idea of Feng Shue but when you walk into a hotel lobby or waiting room of an office that has been professionally designed and decorated to give it’s occupants a sense of serenity and warmth YOU JUST KNOW IT.  Isn’t that what you want in a home?  Will you get that when you have to get to your washer / dryer using a hatch in the kitchen floor?  Is this a plausible long-term arrangement?

You probably CAN get that serene and warm feeling (the one that really “sells” a home) with this structure as the starting material.  Consider the limitations and the costs carefully, talk to pros and if it really is your dream then follow your path, paint your parachute any color you like and most definitely “Live-it but Budget” because whether you do it for yourself or for a future buyer - SOMEONE’S slightly tattered idealism will demand  it!

Hanover Parties at the Dartmouth Outing Club:

Occom Pond Party 2009

As always, a good time was had by all but we WERE NOT USED TO such incredible weather!  32^F / 0^C and a cloudless sky - what world are we living in?  Years past have seen blizzards, thaws and a bit of each in the same hour!

Let’s set the scene for you…

Gold Medaling in Fun in the Sun !

Occom Pond is a 10 minute walk from Main St in Hanover and a 5 minute walk from most places on the Dartmouth Campus.  It is bordered on one side by the Hanover Country Club (a public-private course) and ringed by a series of lovely houses built mostly between 1920 and 1940.  This GREAT skating, sledding and nordic skiing spot is the winter home of the Dartmouth Outing Club which is run by Michael Silverman, a wonderful individual who you will meet if you EVER ride a bike or strap-on skis in Hanover!

Getting Pulled Across the Ice by Joanna

Continue Reading…

Ask The Urban Refugee: Should Non-US Residents Jump-in?

“I live overseas and am thinking it may be a good time to invest in real estate in the States.”

Is it Bargain Hunting Season?

I am living overseas but being from New England I am looking at NH in particular. The thought of searching and purchasing from so far away is daunting…. Any advice?  Is this a good idea?

Thank you,
Elektra, Singapore

Dear Elektra,

Thanks for your great question & in true Urban Refugee form I am going to say “Yes…and No!”  What I mean is that currency differences argue strongly for spending Yen, Pounds, Euros - just about ANYTHING in land of the weak greenback.  The parallel phenomenon of sliding prices and increasing numbers of foreclosures also seem to argue for jumping-in.  I recently heard a radio talk show host speaking about real estate say “America is On Sale!” and I tend to agree.

So where is the NO part?  I have two reservations, Continue Reading…

Oooooh, I Should Have Bought the Farm!

With warm thanks to Austin “Bud” Gedney, III (Dartmouth College class of 1948) who sent us this real estate classified ad from the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, circa 1950.  Anyone who has ever met Bud knows what a gentleman & a sharp mind he is!

Etna Green in Hanover

Now, lots of people have a story that goes something like this:  “It was a perfect fall weekend and I was happily enjoying a weekend away from my city life in Hanover.  My spouse and I attended a gathering an old classmates house and noticed that the house (or farm) next door was for sale.  Everyone joked that we should BUY THE PLACE and by the end of the party I was half-serious about doing so.  I went so far as to call the agent to find out how much they were asking.  We walked the property and it was quite a perfect spot but we just went home and got caught up in ‘life’ and didn’t think too much about it again.”

The story typically transitions to the epilogue…”I see what the prices of properties that are half the size of the one we looked at and MY JAW DROPS!  Oh how I wish we had Followed Through.”

So it turns out that when you test the veracity of these histories , yeah - they shoulda bought the farm…check out these properties and their prices:

Continue Reading…

Community Profiles: Etna, NH 03750

Etna, Hanover’s sibling ?

Just Another Hard Autumn Day in Etna !

More than one plan has gone awry with the agreement “We’ll meet in Hanover Center.”  At the appointed time one party stands on Hanover’s busy Main St and waits (then waits some more).   Meanwhile the other party is some 4.5 miles away on quiet patch of green bordering a historic church, an old New England cemetery and a handful of beautifully restored antique houses looking across to the peak of Moose Mountain.

That green patch would be Hanover Center in Etna and the person standing there would be the one more clued-in! It’s true.  Hanover Center has  nothing physically to do with Downtown Hanover but in another sense it has everything to do with it!

When friends and clients looking to move to the area ask “Is Etna farther from the Dartmouth Campus than other parts of Hanover?” the answer is “Yes…and No.” To the question “Are the houses cheaper?” we answer “Yes…and No.” And when asked “Is it like a bunch of old farms?” we also have to say “Yes…and No.” Continue Reading…