Since the start of the pandemic, the housing shortage around these parts has going from drought conditions to extreme drought.
People have been gobbling up house sight unseen. A few years ago we sold our house in Etna, NH and it took over a year to sell it. The buyers had and agent and after the house inspection came back with all sorts of demands. We ended up selling it at a loss.
Flash forward just a few years and it’s back on the market and sold in a few weeks for about 20% more than they paid.
When we moved to our community in Eastman, New Hampshire, a planned community with about 300 condos and 900 houses – mostly second homes and summer homes – there were about 35 houses on the market. Today there are none and a few empty lots considered “unbuildable” years ago went back on the market have been sold.
License plates from New York, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey are common as are the questions from the former city dwellers – what is this animal? What is this plant? Is this a weed? Why can’t be use Chem-lawn?
The rental market is no different. Friends from Connecticut have a son who recently graduated and got a job in the Manchester, New Hampshire area. He had a really tough time finding a place to rent.
Long gone are the days when the farm house was simply expanded to make room for the growing family.
