Diamond River Currents...Monadnock Region...Keene, NH

I love the discount corner at my local grocery store.  Yours probably has one, too...usually hidden at the back of the store, you can find some shelves tucked into an out-of-the-way corner stocked with all kinds of things that have been discontinued, have damaged packaging or simply weren't selling, and they're typically marked way below their suggested retail price in order to get them sold. 

On my last trip I scored big time!  One-pound packages of imported pasta from Italy:  50 cents each. (MSRP:  $4 each)

Here at Chez Brown we go through a lot of pasta.  It's quick and easy, and, good mother that I am, I've made sure that everyone in the family is an accomplished water boiler.  At 50 cents/pound, I couldn't resist.  I bought 10 of them.

Would I have paid the manufacturer's suggested retail price of $4/pound?  Not bloody likely.

I bought them because they were very attractively priced, the packaging (in this case) was in perfect condition, and the pasta suited my needs.

My supermarket in Keene, NH offers lots of different brands of pasta, the vast majority of them competitively priced, and when it failed to sell, the fancy-shmancy Pasta Italiano was banished to the dark and dingy discount corner.

Clearly, somebody believed that consumers would pay a premium for their pasta.  Had it been the only brand of pasta available, or offered some special feature or rare ingredient, they probably would have been right.  In this case it was essentially flour and eggs wrapped in bilingual packaging.  Pasta is pasta in either language.

How many people are going to pay a premium for what, at the end of the day, is the same basic product that they can buy for significantly less?

As long as the pasta eventually moves through the check-out line and out the door, I suspect the supermarket considers it a win, although I doubt they'll be placing any more orders for that particular product.  I wonder how the manufacturer feels about that?  Definitely food for thought...

Buon Appetito!

JULY 2010 MARKET REPORT FOR CHESHIRE COUNTY, NH

The July Real Estate Stats are in!

Below you will find Real Estate Market statistics for July 2010, for Cheshire County, NH, broken down into four categories:  Residential, Condo, Manufactured (mobile homes) and All Properties.

Sellers will be encouraged to see that the average days on market for Residential properties from January through July 2010 are reduced by 13 days compared to the same time period of 2009, and the average days on market for condominiums has dropped a whopping 57 days during the same time period.  That's a reduction of 9.03% and 22.8%, respectively. 

Although the median sales price for residential listings dipped by 3.85%, the median sales price for condominiums increased by 23.05%, Year-to-Date.

If you would like further clarification on any of these figures, please give me a call or shoot me an email.  I'd be happy to go over them, as they pertain to buying or selling your property in Cheshire County, NH.

You've been biding your time...and it was worth the wait.

Your patience and persistence have paid off.

This beautiful colonial delivers the "wants" and the "needs".

 Granite and stainless in the eat-in kitchen.    

  Plenty of room to relax or entertain in the huge, fireplaced family room featuring gorgeous windows, oak floors and brick hearth.

Escape to your Master Bedroom suite which offers a spa-like bath with jetted tub, separate steam shower and dual-sink vanity.

(And there are 3 additional bedrooms and another full bath to keep the kids close, but not too close!)

Find your peace and quiet in the den with window seat and built-ins.

The basement level offers even more great family space..built-in office area plus large rec room for exercise or play, closets galore and mudroom entry from the 2-car garage.

Still want more? You've got it: formal DR and LR, huge deck w/built-in seating, separate rear entrance to an additional main level mudroom, beautiful landscaping, peaceful dead-end location yet still easy access to the association pool/tennis/clubhouse and just a few minutes from Downtown Keene, NH.

Truly a dream come true!

***Plus...there's still a little time left to qualify for the IRS Homebuyers' Tax Credit, but you'll have to have a contract in place before May 1, 2010. (note:  I said "contract"...you have through June 30, 2010 to close!)*** 

Visit www.18MorganLane.com for more pics and links or give me a call to set up a showing.  I'd be delighted to take you through, but I warn you:  once you get there, you may never want to leave!