Our Own North Kingstown RI Elizabeth Beisel- World Swim National Champion- Wins Gold Medal. There has to be shout out for this 18 year old woman from our own North Kingstown RI backyard who won her first gold medal at the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China this weekend.  She is an amazing athlete, woman and person that as a fellow North Kingstown resident I am so proud of.  She is one of the most down to earth girls you would ever want to meet...what great spirit she has too for her sport.  Go Elizabeth! In the women's 400 meter Individual Medley she was trailing the Australian swimmer and then just picked it up to beat her by 2 1/2 seconds to win the event and the gold!  She just blew the competition away...What an exciting day for Elizabeth Beisel She is definitely gear... 08/01/2011

  Why I Chose Real Estate | Finding my Beat in Life.  As I talk with clients, family and friends about my journey in life to my final work destination of real estate, all I can do is smile.  Growing up in a very middle class area of Connecticut with a high powered 'ad man' for a dad and a stay at home mom, I had a pretty sheltered life.  What made me a person to proceed in all I did was the values, truths and respect for people that my family and especially my grandfather instilled in me. Even as a little girl he was my favorite person and I was his.  He taught me about financial sense, stock ownership, business success and failure, realities of the Depression and what it was to take risk in life.  I was a very lucky little girl.  I listened intently and learned.  He shared his real est... 07/25/2011

North Kingstown RI Parks.  The town of North Kingstown is located on the RI waterfront and is a centrally located town geographically speaking.  The town of North Kingstown has two well equipped parks it take pride in:  McGinn Park and Wilson Park.  McGinnn Park is located near the Davisville Middle School off of School Street.  This park has basketball courts, tennis courts, playgrounds and baseball fields for kids of all ages.  What is nice about McGinn Park is that in the winter they convert the basketball courts over to an ice skating rink  for open skate!Wilson Park is located in the heart of Wickford Village which is the quintessential New England and historic village by the waterfront and scenic harbor of Narragansett Bay.  Wilson Park is the primary park for the town and is the ... 07/23/2011

Can't the Heat?  Living and working by the RI waterfront just did not bring me any relief yesterday or today at this point.  I understand that we broke all high temperature records on Friday and today will not be too different.  There just is not any weather cold front to move in to the area yet.  Air conditioning is a blessing if you have it, fans just do not do the trick, the mind does not think clearly and the poor animals need hydration do not forget.  My son's girlfriend had to have her Persian cat shaved not only because of the heat but long hair matting problems (gee, i wonder if that would solve a bad hair day for me?) and Olive seems to be very content right now.Besides being in air conditioning the only better place to be is the beach if you can find a blanket spot or be on th... 07/22/2011

It is Now Hurricane Season - Think Smart.  There is no doubt about it we're already 6 weeks into hurricane season here in Rhode Island which lasts through November 30th.  So guess what - it is time to get your house in hurricane preparedness order.  Yes, we have been spared for a couple of decades here from hurricanes and their damage and so we have become complacent I believe. How prepared are you in the event of a hurricane?  I can say truthfully that I have not met one person yet in my RI real estate business or personal life who has an organized thought out plan of hurricane preparedness.  Not making a judgment but an observation that emergency planning takes a back seat when it should be on the front seat and ready to go.  Why don't you make a plan this week for your family. Here a... 07/18/2011

Life of Taylor...or the life of Riley. Sometimes it is good to leave the corporate job behind, the self sustaining self employed business or the homebody thing right behind you- just give it a good wave.  See one thing I find about my work life is that I never seem to step out of it.  Could I be a real estate business addict...have not seen much written about this one but it is me and I like my real estate business to be top notch and never understated.  It needs me.  Being ever present is important in my niche. Well one thing about my life with my family and friends is that my cat, Taylor, always seems to get it right.  He stays in the basement if I don't have the a/c on and begs to go out on the porch when the winds are whipping cool breezes on these hot summer days.  He knows how to ... 07/16/2011

Well You didn't Use me to Buy Your House.  Sounds like an upset agent doesn't it but it's just a lead in to a very positive story of what being helpful to buyers out there brings to you.  These buyers had a Massachusetts buyer's agent long before they heard of me and read my Wickford RI blogs .  But they reached out to me because as the buyer said  'You know your area', we can tell from your blogs and their agent although patient did not have a clue about my Wickford RI - North Kingstown geographic area where they wanted to live. So I did answer the email, gave some advice not once but several times, found them an appraiser and when asked my opinion on the house they had decided to buy told them they were offering to pay too much for the home.   All with this conversation went on with t... 07/15/2011

Does Being Heavily Endowed Allow You Certain Advantages as a Homeowner?  No, no not that kind of endowed now... no trash talk here people.  I mean home wise and mortgage wise for sure and especially if you have a home with a mortgage over $417,000.  Since short sales are steadily increasing in my North Kingstown area and around RI, I found this a newer revelation.  A leading foreclosure watch site (foreclosureradar.com) noted that in studying foreclosures of over 150,000 homes over the past 3 1/2 years that banks strategically wait significantly longer to foreclose on a home with higher mortgages than smaller mortgages...significantly longer say over 100 days longer. So being heavily endowed mortgage wise allows an underwater borrower to live in their home without paying a mortgage and ... 07/14/2011

Do You Understand the Bank's Short Sale Approval Letter?  The woohoo short sale agent out in Escondido CA, Melissa Zavalla, got me to thinking harder the other day about the short sale approval letter the seller receives from the bank on a short sale prior to closing. Sellers wait long and hard to receive this most treasured of letters. It is especially important because sellers are looking at the language to see if the Bank will come after them for the monies the bank has lost in the transaction. I hope I have impressed on all of my sellers to scrutinize that bank short sale approval letter very closely on the wording when received.  Not to say that my team of short sale lawyers doesn't- it is just I want to make sure my sellers are happy with the wording especially when it comes to th... 07/07/2011

Texas gunslinger arrives in Roger Williams homeland RI .  Well there had to be a gun smoking, trail blazing opening to this post.  Scott Hayes and family have made their blazing way to visit family near North Kingstown, Rhode Island this week. With pleasure I got to connect with him yesterday...it is so good to meet the Texas guy for real as well as his lovely wife Jody, his twin girls and Jody's mom. I knew he was coming up to RI and I told him he should give me a call.   Since it is his family's vacation and he is visiting his mother in law who lives in RI not to far from me, I wasn't sure he'd have the time but Scott was true to form and gave a shout out to me.  Where to meet ...well it had to be at either our famous Newport Creamery or Del's Lemonade...we chose Del's - famous RI lem... 07/07/2011

49th Wickford Art Festival - July 9-10 - Wickford RI 02852.  This historic waterfront community of Wickford RI 02852 is an amazing place to have an art festival. The show  runs both Saturday and Sunday from 10-6 pm.  It is run by the Wickford Art Association which was locally established a year prior to their starting the Wickford Art Festival and now it is one of the oldest Art Festivals in the country and recognized internationally.  In RI we are so proud to have this honor to see this festival in our own backyard and to be ranked as one of the top Arts Festival in New England!  Over 200 artists participate in this outdoor event and although there are spots for many of the Wickford Art Association members, other artists from around the world compete for the remaining spots- it's a wor... 07/05/2011

  North Kingstown RI 02852 Real Estate Market Stats for June 2011 is as follows:                              29 North Kingstown homes have been sold in the past month:                  1 home sold for over $1 million (North Kingstown waterfront home)                      7 homes sold over $400,000                      4 homes sold for between $300,000-$400,000                     17 homes sold for under $300,000    There were 218 North Kingstown homes for sale in June 2011 which was a  1 % increase over the prior month (3 more homes for sale).  The increase in North Kingstown home inventory benefits the home buyers out looking. If your are a North Kingstown home seller,this information on recent home sales will let you know where the local real estate market is.  My web site will give... 07/03/2011

Another Pending North Kingstown RI 02852 Home Sale by Ginny L. Gorman- 19 Glenwood Drive .  This one level ranch in North Kingstown RI for $190,000 was the right one for the buyers.  With a top rated school system and ease of highway access, this ranch is in the right location to sell. Well maintained and cared for this 3 bedroom, 2 full bath home with eat in kitchen with dining area flowing to the living room with fireplace, den with cathedral ceiling and wood stove all on one floor.  Vinyl sided with replacement insulated windows makes the outside carefree.  Newer roof, septic and electrical- ready to move in! 19 Glenwood Drive is less than 5 minutes from Route 1A and Route 4.  Conveniently located to shopping plazas less than a mile away.  Do not hesitate- call Ginny Gorman today at... 07/03/2011

Pricing Waterfront and Water View Wickford RI homes - Lessons Learned - Part II.  If you missed Part I of my blog on pricing waterfront and water view Wickford RI Homes, please click here to read.  Are you investing in the real estate mythology of 'Realty Company' names as if the company's name makes a home sell?  It is the Wickford RI realtor who makes or breaks the successful sale of your waterfront Wickford RI home! Don't be sold out by a real estate company which tells you what you want to hear on PRICE so that they obtain the listing - and then works on you every week to reduce it.  Scrutinize the marketing strategy of the realtors courting your listing.  What is the their internet strategy? 90% of all buyers search on the internet to buy - if your home does not have a strong inter... 06/29/2011

Pricing Waterfront and Water View Wickford RI homes - Lessons Learned -Part I.  When a seller asks me how I came up with a selling price for their waterfront Wickford RI home, there is no simple answer to give since it depends on the home... but I price a home to sell and not languish on the market for 365+ days like many other Wickford RI realtors do.  I take the seller through the comparables that sold, the expireds that did not sell or remain on the market at the price point the seller 'thought' was right.  In addition, I look at the pricing of the current waterfront/water view Wickford RI home competition and where they are currently priced and weigh the similarities and differences between the homes. It is a known realtor fact that stale dated inventory of waterfront and water view... 06/28/2011

It was Sunday and the Blue Angels were going to put on their incredible flying show in our RI skies and I decided to walk the beach and lo and behold there were a gaggle ( is that what herons are when there lots of them?  please let me know?) of large herons and baby herons...certainly a dozen of them in the saltwater in the waves.   It was a beautiful picturesque site to capture.  One I have not been able to glimpse before in North Kingstown RI. It was the beauty of the habitats that surround our Narragansett Bay that contribute to this natural sighting.  It may be a wordless Wednesday but it is my share today with all of you...have a great day and find some part of nature you can delve into today.  Isn't life just grand!     !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ginny Lacey Gorman is a North Kings... 06/28/2011

North Kingstown Seller Stories Gone Wild!  Another North Kingstown seller story of listing property the wrong way...  This family bought a home 3 1/2 years ago in North Kingstown RI and had not sold their home in another state.  However, they had hired a local agent there who appeared to know her area.  Besides they said they had waterfront on a river and had a well maintained older home.  The realtor priced it at $319,000. I looked at the home a couple of years ago on line and told this family based upon what I could research on solds in their town, they probably should be much lower in price.  No, they said, we think we will stick with our price for a bit.  No internet marketing done by the realtor just a sign out front & listed on the state's multiple listing service is all that was ... 06/25/2011

Burden of Proof- Seller's Thankfulness- Short Sale Gone Right.  So all I can say is that some short sales are extraordinarily hard due to the banks, lenders, investors, attorneys, buyers, sellers, realtors but at the end of the day the burden of proof is the seller's thankfulness.  It was another North Kingstown short sale success for a seller who hung in there with the North Kingstown short sale agent of their choice.  Remember what a short sale is?  A homeowner owes more on their house than it is worth and can no longer afford to pay the mortgage due to a hardship and the bank (lender) has agreed to take less money at closing for the home than the mortgage amount. The buyer's agent on the other side of this short sale helped the buyer through the ordeal we had with the banks....multip... 06/23/2011

Is It Animal Art Performance on the Wickford RI Coast?  Wickford Village is captivating in all that it offers...the quaint shops similar to Nantucket (without the boat ride and hordes of vacationers), waterfront and water views from the shops as you walk the Wickford Main Street, ease of parking with a large parking area along Wickford Harbor, kayaking right from your car (rentals readily available) and good eats (small restaurants abound the Wickford RI Main Street).  Let us not forget the historic homes from the 18th and 19th century that line all the Wickford side streets either.  But today I am capturing the ducks and geese in action because similar to the metal art work displayed along the waterfront, the ducks have figured out that the more they perform for us humans the more they... 06/22/2011

  21st RI National Guard Air Show- Quonset Point- North Kingstown RI 02852- June 25 - 26th- Free Admission! The Quonset State Airport is gearing up for a phenomenal weekend of fun in the sky and down below at Quonset. This RI National Guard air show is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their aircraft to spectators in aerobatics and great flying skills.  It is a FREE event!  It is an amazing day of entertainment on the ground with the aircraft displays that you can go on & into and experience the thrills of being up in the blue sky.  It gives kids of all ages a chance to see close up what our military personnel use in the air protecting our country.  Then the amazing aerial shows are just happening all day entertaining everyone and because it... 06/20/2011