PEX Water Piping: A Thing of Beauty

This post will probably solidify my standing as a big house dork, but frankly, I don’t care. This is how much I admire, and envy those that have, PEX water piping. Unless you live in a new construction home, your water pipes are most likely made of copper or old galvanized iron. They run along your basement ceiling, sometimes cutting into joists, making various twists and turns before they disappear into the floor above and

The 2008 Mark Twain Holiday House Tour

I think the cold weather is finally here to stay and the 10 pages of Macy’s ads in the Courant today were also a blunt reminder that the shopping season is upon us. So that means it’s time for all things holiday to begin and one of the most anticipated events of the season in the Hartford area, The Mark Twain Holiday House Tour. For 28 years, The Friends of the Mark Twain House &

Take Your Offer and Shove It

One of a real estate agent’s jobs is to act as an intermediary between buyers and sellers. This part of the job becomes particularly difficult when the buyers and sellers don’t appear to be on the same page. One timely example is with low ball offers. Low ball offers suck. It doesn’t really matter which side of the table you’re on. They just suck. As a buyer’s agent they suck because there needs to be

Will Regionalism Ever Happen in Greater Hartford?

NOTE: This is going to be a long post, but hopefully informative. Grab a snack as you dive in… This morning I attended a Key Issues Forum focusing on the idea of regionalism, held at the University of Hartford. The event was co-sponsored by the Courant and UHart’s Center for Integrated Design. The panel of speakers was a good balance between academics and politicians, so the discussion focused on both theory and practice. The panelists

Renting Your Home When You Can't Sell

Right now, many sellers are finding that they’re not exactly getting what they thought they would when they try to sell their homes. In some cases, sellers are deciding to forego an immediate sale at a price they find less than palatable, and instead focus on renting their homes, as they try to wait out the market. Renting isn’t always the optimal choice for a seller because it doesn’t free up liquidity if they need