Brian French

Steps to Buying a Home

It is a funny thing when you talk to some people about buying their first home. They often have the impression that it's a couple of steps, find a home and get a loan. Not to mention that is the order of how they think it should go. Needless to say, the order is incorrect especially after the mortgage crisis that we have recently
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Happy One Hundred Years

Did you know that this year marks the 100th Anniversary for the founding of our Realtor Association? It was at that time that a group of real estate practitioners met in Chicago with one goal in mind, toestablish a licensed professional group with a list of priorities that included a code of ethics, continuing education,licensing laws and a
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Foreclosures Can be Everybody's Problem

Ijust read an article on MsnMoney.com talking about the affects that a foreclosure can have on a neighborhood. It is easy for people that are making their payments on time to notthink aboutthose individuals who may be living in their neighborhood struggling to make their payments. Unfortunately, everyone needs to stop and think about the
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Second-Home sales fall in '07

According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of vacation and investment homes fell with the overall market in 2007, but second homes still made up a third of all home sales. Investment properties accounted for 21% of the market in 2007 down from 22% in 2006. Vacation homes sales accounted for 12 percent of the market down from
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Can my Realtor help me get a loan?

In today's world there are a many options one has to choose from when trying to obtain a mortgage for their new home. The reality is that there are so many options that often times it can become confusing and that is where your Realtor can lend a hand. Because a Realtor is in the business of helping people buy and sell homes, they are
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Protect Your Money

With so many publications, television and radio promoting so much doom and gloom I thought it might be prudent to give some advise on how to protect yourself from the recurring nightmares that are being discussed. If you have forgotten or walkthrough life with your head in the sand, let me remind you of the big four. Let's start with the
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The Right Time to Buy

I recently went to a meeting attended by a number of successful real estate broker owners. I found it interesting the conversation we had about the market. The national media would have us all think thatour local market is all doom and gloom, when in fact things are moving quite well. Just like there is not a national weather forecast,
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Financial Intelligence

I have read a number of very good books over the years about money management and how things can work out extremely good or extremely poor for some people. With these books there is always an underlying theme, and that is for those individuals that live below their means who have a savings, and investment plan they will almost 100% of the
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It feels like Florida

Yes we have finally hit the weather jackpot today and this past week. The temperature has to be near 75 today and sunny. I think the weatherman said that we are about 20 degrees higher than the normal temperature for this time of year. It feels incredible. Everyone is in a good mood and I wore shorts to work today for the second time this
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Birds of a Feather

Yesterday I was outside on my deck whenI thoughtI heard something fall out of a tree. I turned around and saw a bird on the ground. I waited for a second and he was trying to fly but couldn't. he looked like he was caught in a branch. I snuck over and sure enough his leg was entwined in some type of string and it was wrapped around the
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Recession is Here?

I just read an article in the newspaper this morning that quoted our State's economist as saying that we are in a recession. Thank goodness they spelled that out for us, otherwise we would have been unsure what was going on with the economy. The Outlook, according tothe prognosticators, is that it will last to 2010. I am not quite sure how
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Home Sales to Stabilize

According to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors there is little change expected in existing home sales over the next few months. Although they are predicting nationally that in the next couple of months there could be a sustained increase in home sales. This is quite interesting because we have already felt the increase
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Flood Watch

It is that time of year when we start keeping an eye on the lake level. When your city borders such a vast body of water as Lake Champlain, I guessit is only normal to do so. The lake level is currently around 99 feet which is considered quite high, although our expectations are that it will probably reach 101 feet within the next couple of
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Friends

I was in a grocery store yesterday and I ran into my Economics professor from St. Michaels College. It's been 26 years since I had seen him and it was great. He is such a wonderful man who truly cares about the students he teaches. We had a great conversation about St. Mikes and he remembered that I played soccer there and we discussed the
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Rake Your Yard Now

If you live in Burlington and use the Intervale to dispose of your yard debris you better get your yard cleaned up this week. I just saw in the papera few days agothat the Intervale will no longer be accepting yard debris as of May 1st because they didn't get arequired permit renewed with the State. If I am correct the permit cost $300,000
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Play Ball

It is that time of year where the boys of summer have started to hone their throwing, catching and hitting the baseball skills. In fact they have been practicing for about 3 weeks now albeit inside because of the snow on the ground, but nevertheless they are doing what they love. My son is a freshman in High School and he just made the
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Northeast's Sales Lead U.S.

There was an article recently in our local newspaper that shows what the real estate markets are doing across the country, and it shows that the Northeast is faring far better than the other regions. In fact home prices plunged to record levels in January as foreclosures took their toll. In our area, we are seeing a stabilization of prices
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Extra Cash Anyone?

What would you do with an extra$1,000 or $2,000 a month or more? Would it improve the quality of your life and make it easier to plan for retirement? Would it make it easier to pay your bills? Of course it would. How couldn't it? There are many people out there who have taken advantage of the services that I offer to help them reach these
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Mortgage Payment Problems?

If you or someone you care about are caught in the midst of having a difficult time making your mortgage payment like thousands of other Americans and need help, give me call. I specialize in helping people save thousands of dollars by not letting the bank take complete control of your destiny.

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Economist Promotes Optimism

Therewas a conference this past week in Cambridge Massachusetts and the National Association of Realtors had Economist Yun Lay speak about the real estate conditions in New England. Interestingly enough, he supported what I have been saying for quite some time. The real estate market is not as bad as the media is making it out to be on a
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