As we head into 2012, one of our New Years Resolutions is to blog more about our properties. At RPL we list some truly interesting and unique homes, worthy of recognition, so we thought it might be fun to exhibit what you can get for $650,000K. We will feature different price points in the future.

WHAT: A four-bedroom, two and a half bath home in Scituate
HOW MUCH: $625,000
SIZE: 3,500 square feet
SETTING: The home is in Northern Scituate, just over fifteen miles west of downtown Providence. The community is rural; known for its apple orchards, hearty farms, and stone walls, and major fall art festival. The dominant geographical feature is the Scituate Reservoir—the largest freshwater body of water in the state, with forests and ponds filling the rest of the landscape. The property is about five miles away from the historic village of North Scituate—known for its annual art festival over Columbus Day Weekend.
INSIDE: The home itself is a historic reproduction of the 1683 Parson Capen House in Topsfield, MA. The house is done in the post and beam style, and incorporates wide brick fireplaces, hardwood floors, and paneled walls into the design. The living room, dining room, kitchen, library, and family room are on the entry level. The four bedrooms are upstairs, and there is a study on the third floor. Several of the rooms have built in bookshelves.
OUTDOOR SPACE: The home sits on 1.58 acres. There is a large stone patio and a bird bath. A walkway weaves throughout the gardens.

WHAT: A four bedroom, three and a half bath townhouse in the Wayland Square neighborhood of Providence
HOW MUCH: $639,000
SIZE: 3,900 square feet
SETTING: This building is in the affluent Wayland Square neighborhood of the East Side. The neighborhood, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, features a mix of colonial revival architecture and Queen Ann style houses. The building is within five bocks of Wayland Square, a commercial area lined with restaurants and shops, amidst residential homes. It’s also three blocks from Blackstone Boulevard, a 1.7 mile green space for jogging and walking, and about half a mile from Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design.
INSIDE: This unit, a townhouse, is one of only two in the 1915 building. The interior features hardwood floors, beamed ceilings, and crowned moldings. The entire building has been renovated within the last two years, including the kitchen, washer, dryer, bathrooms, windows. The living room, dining room, and kitchen are on the entry level. Three of the unit’s bedrooms are on the second level, and the fourth is on the third floor. There is a sitting room on the lower level.
OUTDOOR SPACE: There is a common area outside with a large stone patio and white gazebo.

WHAT: A four-bedroom, four bath historic farmhouse in North Kingstown’s Harborview Farm Preserve.
HOW MUCH: $650,000
SIZE: 3,687
SETTING: This house is in a private compound less than five minutes from Calf Pasture Beach and the Quidnesset Golf and Country Club. Goddard Park—about four miles away—features a nine hole golf course, a horse barn where the public can rent and ride horses, a beach with a bathhouse, sprawling open fields, and a carousel building for functions. Wickford Village—about ten miles away—is anchored by a natural harbor lined with historic buildings and locally owned shops, galleries and restaurants.
INSIDE: The house was built in 1800, and recent renovations accent the original hardwoods, five fireplaces, and exposed beams. The home now includes skylights, kitchen-and-bathroom updates, and central air, along with a new roof and heating system. The living room, dining room, family room, and kitchen are on the entry level. All four bedrooms are on the second floor. The master bedroom has a fireplace.
OUTDOOR SPACE: The lot is on well over three fourths of an acre, surrounded by stone walls and wooden fences. There’s a backyard patio, accessible from the family room. There are views of the fields in every direction.

As you may know, I’m one of the professionals on the new Fox Providence show The Money Pro$. My last appearance was on the episode about the real estate market, which ran in August. You can catch a replay of my segment on buying in today’s market below.

This Sunday, The Money Pro$ will debut a program on Business Succession Planning. Only 30% of small businesses survive to the second generation, so this is a very relevant issue. Maintaining the continuity of the business for stakeholders including co-owners, employees, family and customers is a major issue for large and small companies, and an important aspect in retaining employment in the state. Owning a family business, the topic is of interest to me. Estate planner Karen DelPonte, Esp. partner at Cameron & Mittleman, LLP., and CPA Greg Porcaro, partner of Otrando Porcaro & Associates, will weigh in on the matter. They will be joined by Russ Towers, Esq. of Broker Service Marketing Group, at the round table discussion.

The Money Pro$ is aired weekly on WNAC 64 at 11:30AM. Check your service provider for the channel locations. As a future programming note, I will soon be in the studio recording the December show. I’ll announce the airing date in the next few weeks.

Here’s a clip from the real estate episode:

Advice: buying in today’s home market: foxprovidence.com

The Money Pro$ provides Southern New England with easily available information on personal finance. If you’re interested in this subject, their website has video from all the episodes, including that of my good friend/radio co-host Steve Tetzner.

This Sunday, Residential Properties Ltd. is throwing a luxury open house event on the East Side of Providence and Edgewood. Agents will be opening up 13 very special properties between the hours of 11:30AM and 3:30PM, and we’ve created  some interactive maps to help you customize your tour.

Open Houses on the East Side:

View East Side Luxury Condo Event in a larger map

Open Houses in Edgewood:

View Edgewood Luxury Condo Event in a larger map

Individual open house times and details may be viewed either on the map or at ResidentialProperties.com, for a list of all open houses in the Edgewood and East Side areas.

Well, we made it to the end of 2010. The question we all have is: “What’s in store for 2011?” We will soon find out, but the only certainty is what happened last year. So, let’s recap what we saw and compare. Unit sales were lower than in 2009 but the average sales price was higher. Overall sales totals by dollars of properties sold were roughly the same. Therefore, a flat market. With these statistics, one can only write a boring article.

But here is something to ponder. Ten years from now, the buyers of properties this year may be seen as the intelligent investors. That makes one big assumption – a return to some normal growth in the economy will occur. There are indicators to make one think this will happen, but the past has made everyone cautious about making predictions of better times.

Why should you believe that statement about the buyers? Prices have started to stabilize and it seems that is partly due to people having a perceived value of what a particular property is worth. The perceived values and the actual prices are converging to the same number. This is not a perfect science or evaluation of prices, but it seems to be occurring.

As the economy in the area (and I include the Massachusetts and Connecticut economies in the “area” label, because so many of our residents work there) recovers to better levels, so will the conviction of buyers to come back into the market. At the same time, sellers will be less likely to move. That will begin the next climbing trend in prices. Then, more people will think about moving and the volumes could rise to past levels. Thus, the start of a new cycle.

Looking into the crystal ball, will this trend start in 2011? I’m still looking for that person with the accurate crystal ball.