Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog

Please take me to the Wethersfield Dog Park. Please take me to the Wethersfield Dog Park. Please take me to the Wethersfield Dog Park…

Maybe your dog is like Libby and likes to get out and frolic off leash with furry friends. Most towns have leash laws, so in order to avoid potential citations, you may want to take your pup to the Wethersfield Dog Park.

Located at Mill Woods park, there is a dedicated, fenced-in section of the park solely for dog play. With about an acre of space, dogs are free to run and play to their hearts content in a lightly wooded area. There are plenty of picnic tables and benches for owners to sit safely at while the dogs race around. If you have a small dog, no worries, there is a separate section for them so they won’t be overwhelmed by the larger hounds.

Make sure you read the rules before you go, and most importantly, your dog needs to be dog friendly! A couple of tips…

1. The park is busiest in the morning before work hours and after 6:00pm weekdays. If you’re not sure how your dog will react to the experience, try to visit at a less busy time- during the middle of a weekday or on the weekend.

2. No food allowed, for dogs or people!

3. Bring some water for your pup. Racing around is tiring business.

4. Stay out of the way of the dogs. They are there to play with each other, not you. If there is a pack running, they might take you out.

5. Directions are important…

6. Your dog needs to be registered with your town before you can visit the park. Your town clerk should be able to help if your dog isn’t currently registered.

Have a doggone good time!

This past Sunday there were 36 foreclosures advertised in the Hartford Courant. A few months ago there would only be one page of foreclosures advertised. Now we’re up to 3-4 pages of foreclosures every Sunday. This week, one of them was on my block in the West End.

The sign went up on the lawn 2 weeks ago. After it was listed in the Courant, I had 3 people call me to ask how they could go about purchasing the house. Here was my quick and dirty response… First, you should call the attorney managing the sale. They will give you specifics on how much debt is outstanding on the property (that they actually know about). The bank has also done an appraisal and you’ll need to bring a bank check to the auction in order to participate. The check is for 10% of the appraised value, or about $45,000 in the case of the subject house. There is no mortgage contingency allowed, so you need to have your money lined up if you were to actually win the auction, otherwise you can lose your deposit if for some reason you couldn’t secure a mortgage (the $45,000). Essentially, you have to be a cash buyer. There is no guarantee that you will actually be able to get into the house on the day of the auction in order to perform an inspection, so you may be buying the house blind. Who knows what the condition will be on the inside?

The takeaways from my mini-lesson: you need to have cash readily available in order to participate, you’d better be handy or have a contractor in your back pocket because the property may be a mess on the inside, and you need to have a market analysis done before the auction to understand what you’re willing to pay and the actual value of the property (the bank’s appraisal isn’t always accurate).

Everyone is fascinated with foreclosures now and think they’re a great way to make a quick buck. My advice, leave them to the savvy investors or contractors. But if it’s something you want to try and get into, here’s an excellent article from the New York Times that talks about someone that does short sales as their business. I personally hope my neighbor can save his house before it goes to auction.

This morning I was speaking with a friend that’s an insurance broker. We were talking about homeowner policies for a buyer that I’m currently working with. I mentioned something about a vacant house and the broker cautioned me that a homeowner should always contact their insurance provider if their house is going to become vacant, as their coverage may no longer be effective. I had never heard of this, and after polling several agents in my office, neither had they.

Apparently most homeowner insurance policies only cover owner occupied houses. So if you move out of your home and it’s going to be vacant before the closing, you’ll want to alert your provider. If it’s only a couple of weeks until the scheduled closing, they may be fine with it. You may not need a change in policy. If it’s a longer, indefinite time period, you may need to have a change in policy, or rider, attached to your current policy. It may add an additional expense to your insurance bill, but at least your home will be covered if there is a major issue (fire, vandalism, etc.). Disclaimer: Check with your broker/provider for specifics, as I am not an insurance agent…

Remember, it’s also a good policy to have a neighbor, your REALTOR, a family member, etc. check in on your home at least once a week once you’ve moved out if you’re no longer in the area.