With Spring here, there is so much to enjoy in our beautiful area.  Whether you live here or just visit, odds are you haven’t taken advantage of much the Moultonborough area has to offer.  If you do live here try experiencing the area as if you were visiting.   Why not take the time to do a local activity that you’ve always wanted to do?

Ample recreational opportunities abound in this NH Lakes Region township.  In winter, enjoy snowmobiling with the Moultonborough Snowmobile Club or skiing at Attitash, Wild Cat , Loon Nountain, Waterville Valley, or Gunstock Mountain…all within an hour of many Moultonborough homes.  (Waterville Valley has world-class cross-country ski trails).    If you don’t want to drive the 30 plus minutes to a ski resort,  for cross-country skiiting or snowshoeing, there is conservation landopen to the public in Moultonborough and Center Harbor.  Why not go for a hike?  Moultonborough’s Red Hill is right off Route 25.  

Fine dining is always nearby at Canoe A Restaurant and Tavern , The Woodshed, The Coe House, and The Corner House Inn.  Try Lemon Grass Restaurant and Sake Bar for delicious organic cuisine. Lagos and The Common Man Restaurants are all within minutes.   Church Landing in nearby Meredith NH has not only a popular restaurant, but a fantastic Spa (the Cascade Spa).

In summer Enjoy sailing water-skiing and seadoo  riding on Lake Winnipesaukee, Squam Lake and Lake Kanasatka.  For kayaking enthusiasts,  Lees Pond and Wakondah Pond offer quiet waters.  Center Harbor and Moultonborough  have reciprocity with their town beaches, making both Squam Lake’s and Winipesaukee’s  beautiful public beaches available to Moultonborough NH residents.  Moultonborough Marinas include Quayside, Harrilla Landing,  and Ambrose Cove Marina.  Moultonborough’s DaSilva Motor Sports has Seadoos and Skimobiles.  The nearby Meredith Marina carries the popular  Sea Ray  and Doral boats).

Other entertainment opportunities include The Mt. Washington Cruise Line, which docks in summer in nearby Center-Harbor Bay.  The friendly Center Harbor Fire Department floods a spot in the Center Harbor Park in the winter for skating.   The warmth of our locale is seen in other events such as the Halloween Party at the Center Harbor fire station.  In summer, the Center Harbor bandstand has concerts on Friday evenings in summer.  Keep Sake Quilting’s gorgeous fabrics and great values are popular internationally as are Emily Dolls.

  The Lakes Region Symphony performs nearby and The New Hampshire Music Festival headquarters is in Center Harbor.  The Winnipesaukee Players, Plymouth College Theatres, and the little Holderness Theatre are all minutes from Moultonborough.  Walter’s Basin will feature a dinner theatre presentation of Ernest Thompshon’s play “The Constituent” this March.  The Holderness School in Plymouth also presents plays and Art Exhibitions.  In March the Holderness School has its “Artward Bound” program and features thought provoking presentations, which are the March projects of students, and some Holderness Alumnni.   This March Jay Mead, a Holderness graduate worked with students to present a shadow show on the effects of climate change and what we can all do reverse the effects of global warming and create a sustainable future.  With 48% of Greenhouses gases said to be caused by man made buildings, there is much that can be done towards Green Building.   According to  the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of New Hampshire’s Green Building at a Glance pamphlet, green building “is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment.” 

The topic of green building brings us back to real estate.  Real Estate:  Moultonborough real estate is diverse.  From starter homes to estate properties, from ranch homes to colonial style homes, Moultonborough NH property encompasses it all.  Very good values are available right now.  The large inventory has motivated some sellers to reduce their prices to beat the competition.  Condos range from $200,000 -$1,200,000.  Popular Moultonborough area  builders of exquisite lakefront new construction include Flanders Enterprises, Cargill Blake, Lakeside Builders, Skiffington Homes, Fenton Varney and others.  ( Email Nicole@Nicolewatkins.com for  more information on area builders).  Moultonborough has septic designers and surveyors who are highly  respected statewide such as Dolan Associates and Associated Surveryors and Chip Bollinger and Dave Ames Septic Designers.  Watermark Marine Construction and Matt Woods can lend their expertise to getting your dock permits.   There is no better time to get your toes wet in the real estate market than the spring.  Look for the best values before most of the Buyers are out in the warmer weather.  Contact Nicole@NicoleWatkins.com to start your real estate search or call me at (603) 707-7575.

2007 versus 2006.

We all hear more bad news in the national media every day concerning the slowing real estate market, right? It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Moultonborough, New Hampshire saw a median selling price for its Lake Winnipesaukee waterfront homes that was lower in 2007 than in 2006.

What did surprise me though, when I ran the statistics, was just how dramatic the drop in median selling price was - 3 of the 4 quarters in 2007, saw a median selling price 1/3 to 5/11 lower than in 2006. *

I think part of what happened is that a number of verifiable facts about a slowing national real estate market spiraled out of proportion in the media. Just because the market was tanking in parts of Florida, and elsewhere in the country, people saw the possibility of prices dropping to well below the current assessed value on most Lake Winnipesaukee waterfront real estate.

In my opinion the Lake Winnipesaukee waterfront market, in Moultonborough, and throughout the Lake Winnipesaukee towns, has merely been adjusting closer to the assessed values of properties. No longer is it common for selling prices of waterfront homes to be well above the assessed value. The Lake Winnipesaukee real estate market that had been galloping away for so long had to slow down eventually.

A market has been created in which, many of the Sellers won’t sell unless they get their price, so they just aren’t selling. Many Buyers, growing increasingly wary from the constant bad news about real estate, and the decreasing value of the dollar in the global economy, decided in the past year to wait out the real estate market and see where prices settle. I think the stabilization of prices in the 4th quarter so far, shows that many buyers decided that prices had settled, and finally went ahead with their purchases.

I predict that the median selling price of homes will be up again next year. Some of the Sellers will bring their prices down, closer to Town of Moultonborough assessed values. I also see more buyers deciding to go ahead and make a lakefront purchase. I’d like to know your opinions on the Lakes Region real estate market. Please write an entry on my blog to prove or to disprove this theory. We’ll test it in the months to come and see how closely we can predict the future market.