A lot has happened since my last post. Barack Obama has been elected president, the stock market is in the toilet, banks are going under, car sales are in the toilet, the Big Three automakers are begging for a bailout and as Norm used to say in Cheers, " It's a dog eat dog world out there and I'm wearing MilkBone underwear!"

But not to worry... Here in the Upper Valley, real estate is still being bought and sold, loans are still being made and the sky has not fallen just yet. We're going to be working for those sales for the foreseeable future and prices are not going to be increasing at 25%/year like some years in the past. But values are certainly not dropping precipitously and, for properly priced properties, days on the market is longer than before but not impossible.

As always, but now even more so, pricing and value is key to a successful sale. Buyers have lots of choices and the well-qualified buyers, which are basically the only ones that get a mortgage these days are even harder to come by. But never fear, after what will no-doubtedly be a slow winter, I expect the spring-time rush to be on as usual. People are still retiring, moving for employment reasons, moving up, downsizing, buying for the first time and life will go on. We're just going to have to try a little harder.