Shop Till You Drop!!

If you love to shop, you'll love the Seacoast areas of New Hampshire and Southern Maine!!  We've got every kind of shopping you can imagine!

Shopping in New Hampshire is tax-free, but with all the outlet shopping in Kittery, Maine, you can save more at the outlets than the tax you'll pay there!!  And everyone likes to save money!! $$$$

If you take this bridge from downtown Portsmouth New Hampshire north, you'll cross over the Piscataqua River into Kittery Maine.  Kittery has about a 2 mile stretch on Route 1 where both sides are lined with outlet shopping of every kind you can imagine!  You can buy just about everything here in these outlets except groceries, but you can get food products at several shops.  Don't fear, you won't go hungry!

There's so much shopping, I can't imagine that everyone won't find something they've got to have.  The Maine Outlet plaza is the largest in the area.  Tanger Outlet Center in Kittery is loaded with great shops.  And there are several others as well.....plan to spend some time here and some money!

Don't forget to stop and enjoy some of the great area restaurants while doing all this shopping!  Fresh local seafood is everywhere, and some of the local favorites as well as favorites with visitors are Bob's Clam Hut and
The Weathervane Seafood Restaurant.  Both of these restaurants offer up the freshest of local seafood, including world famous Maine lobster served in a variety of ways. 

After all that shopping, you'll need to enjoy some sustenance, and what better way to do that than with our fresh local foods - lobster here is THE BEST!!  Fresh, sweet ....  oh I'm getting hungry as I write this!

Come to the Seacoast areas of New Hampshire and Southern Maine - I guarantee you'll have a fabulous visit and you'll leave wanting to come back for more.......perhaps you'll even want to make this slice of heaven your new home!!   ;-)

Ann Cummings

                     Credit Do's & Don'ts !!

Once you've found that special house and you've gotten a final written contract on it, there's still alot to do before the closing.  Emotions run high, excitement levels are running very high, and you're so excited about making your soon-to-be new house all yours.  The tempation to run out and buy new furniture, appliances, etc. is so strong........but DON'T!!!!

Don't do anything to jeopardize your credit report!  And that means don't buy ANYTHING until AFTER the closing!  Many buyers don't realize that not only do lenders pull your credit report in the beginning when they start your loan process, but they also pull another one just days before the closing to verify that nothing has changed substantially.  They look for big purchases on credit, new loans taken out, big influxes of cash into your accounts, etc.  Keep everything normal, as in don't do anything during the loan process that you wouldn't ordinarily have done before you started the loan process.

Here's a list of the Top 10 Do's and Don'ts that I prepare and give all my buyer clients.  I do this to help make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible and to ensure we don't encounter any surprises at the end. 

Ann Cummings

Portsmouth New Hampshire on Saturday mornings is a great place to be!!  We have a really wonderful Farmer's Market, put on by the Seacoast Growers Association.  Our market runs from early May to the first weekend in November, every Saturday, from 8am to 1pm.  The parking lot of our Portsmouth City Hall, 'up on the hill' is the place to be! 

What a wonderful way to meet new friends, catch up with old friends, and just pleasantly spend the morning checking out all the locally grown produce and fresh foods!   Everything for sale there is all 100% locally grown, and you can meet the owners there, proudly displaying their fruits, veggies, baked goods, flowers and plants.  You can also try (and buy) prepared foods there, as well.  Some of our now-famous locally grown companies got their start at the Farmers Market, giving out samples of their foods.  And, it's also a great place to buy crafts and fine arts as well - great gift-buying and fresh food shopping all in one place!!

This season was the 30th year of the Seacoast Growers Association.  They are a non-profit organization who put on Farmers Markets in 6 different Seacoast areas.  They grow and sell 100% of their products at these markets.   I can tell you, it does make a difference knowing you're buying locally grown really fresh products - they don't get any fresher than this!

To learn more about Portsmouth and the surrounding areas, be sure to visit my website - while you're there, check out real estate for sale in New Hampshire and Maine.  My other blog has some additional great information about Portsmouth and surrounding areas - feel free to browse my posts. 

Ann Cummings

Winter's coming, whether we want it to or not!  And that means it's time to get your house ready for cold weather.  Getting it ready now will help in several ways:

          - It will help save on energy costs;
          - It will help provide worry-free maintenance;
          - And it will help to keep you and yours warm & cozy
               inside.

 Inspect the exterior of your home, and create yourself a fortress:

     - Walk around the outside of your home and check for areas
          that might allow water to get in, things that are broken, or
          things needing repair.
     - Check your storm windows and your doors.  Caulk and
          seal any openings and gaps to keep cold air out and to
          keep warm air inside. 
     - Look for any overhanging or dead tree limbs and have them
          removed.  If these get coated in ice, they'll become
          heavy & break off and hit your home.
     - Shut off water to outside faucets, and drain those faucets. 
          This will help to prevent any freeze-ups in those pipes.

Create a warm and cozy home inside - you'll love coming home and knowing you and your family will be nice and protected:

     - Have your fireplace checked out professionally for dirt and soot build-up
     - Have your furnace serviced and any parts replaced that are needed
     - Have your air filter replaced if you have forced air heat
     - Have the fins vacuumed in your baseboards if you have baseboards for heating
     - Have your furnace replaced if it's old and not functioning as it should

Having your home as fine-tuned as it can be, before the cold sets in, will help to ensure a warm and safe winter for you and your family.

Ann Cummings
Portsmouth New Hampshire