Despite economic stumble, luxury real estate market remains solid

By ADAM DRAPCHO
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN

A sunset over a beach in Laconia. For people quarantined in Boston or New York, real estate in the Lakes Region is looking more appealing than ever, according to local real estate agents. (Courtesy photo)

For a professional couple at or near retirement age who own an apartment in Manhattan, or a family stuck in a Boston home as they watch through social media as their neighbors ride out a quarantine at their lakehouse, the prospect of owning a weekend or vacation home in the Lakes Region seems at least as good as ever.

Those, combined with low inventory, are some of the reasons why prices in the local real estate market have held steady, even during a time of historic unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And that spike in interest is occurring when real estate professionals now have more tools at their disposal to show homes and meet with clients in a virtual capacity.

Real estate agents said that prices are being buoyed by a lack of inventory, which predated the coronavirus by months and has continued into the spring selling season.

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Local farmers see record sales, strain in labor

By ABBE HAMILTON
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Local farms have been slammed with demand this spring, and credit it to the appeal of shorter, more reliable supply chains in the face of a global pandemic. Many farmers hope the support will continue after their customers go back to work.

In Rindge, Craig Jensen of Sun Moon Farm said they’re selling four times the usual volume of salad greens. Sales didn’t falter at the Connolly Brothers Dairy Farm in Temple even after the usually lucrative Maple Month was canceled, co-owner Chris Connolly said. The farm stand is now staffed full time after traffic more than tripled.

Anticipating high demand, several farms have asked the Cheshire County Conservation District for help taking new forms of payment, District Manager Amanda Littleton said.

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COVID-19 and pets: A Q&A

By Paw Prints Heidi Bassler, veterinarian

Associated Press illustration

​The pet parents’ concern about COVID-19 and how it might affect their pets has heightened in the past few weeks. Recently, we have heard multiple news stories of animals contracting this virus.

​First, there were dogs in Hong Kong and a cat in Belgium. Then the infamous story of the tiger and other large cats at the Bronx Zoo. A mink farm in the Netherlands came next. Now more stories of companion animals — cats, dogs, hamsters, and ferrets — in the United States and elsewhere contracting the new coronavirus.

​What does this all mean for your pets? Let’s do a quick Q&A with some fact-based information.

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Beer Going Down the Drain

By Ryan Lessard
Granite State News Collaborative

When New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, ordered a halt to dine-in services at restaurants and bars the day before March 17th, it was a hit for local craft breweries that had already sold hundreds of kegs of beer to restaurants.

Since then, breweries have struggled with the loss of the wholesale market, and sales from their own taprooms, with some reporting that their wholesale revenue has plummeted 20 percent.

Now, after kegs they sold in early March have languished on unused tap lines statewide, brewers are faced with a new dilemma: many of those kegs are going stale. 

Since no brewer wants an inferior form of their product to be experienced by consumers, potentially harming their brand, they have little choice but to dump thousands of gallons of stale beer down the drain and replace the kegs at their own cost once restaurant business resumes.

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Pregnant mom of 3 still waiting for unemployment check

By Paul Briand
Seacoast Media Group

Jen Montgomery, a pregnant mother of three who lives in Dover, says she’s been unemployed since March 23 from her bartending job in Portsmouth. As of Thursday, May 7, she said, she has not received an unemployment check. Courtesy photo.

Jen Montgomery, a mother living in Dover, said she has been unemployed since March 23 from her job as a bartender at the Elks Club in Portsmouth because of the coronavirus pandemic. She began filing for unemployment with New Hampshire Employment Security right away.

As of Thursday, May 7, she had not received a single payment, she said.

“I’ve been applying for unemployment since then and it said pending,” she said in an email to Seacoast Media Group. “I’ve called the unemployment office five times and they say the state is looking into my wages. Then Monday this week I was denied again, so for the last seven weeks I’ve had no income, still no stimulus check. I have three kids and I’m pregnant with my fourth. How long is this going to keep happening? I was told again by unemployment to file a new claim again this week and see where it goes, and I explained to them that the system is not fair and I literally have nothing.”

NH residents trust science, state response more than federal

By KELLY BURCH

Granite State News Collaborative

New Hampshire residents have more confidence in the state government and scientific organizations to respond to the pandemic than they do in the federal government’s response, according to polls from the University of New Hampshire.

That could shape how people in the state behave as the government begins relaxing the economic shutdown despite scientists’ warnings that easing social distancing could cause an increase in new coronavirus cases, said Lawrence Hamilton, professor of sociology and senior fellow in the Carsey School of Public Policy at UNH.

“It’s literally life and death in this case,” said Hamilton, who authored the survey along with Thomas Safford, associate professor and fellow in the Carsey School of Public Policy.

People who trust in the federal government are more likely to go to restaurants or salons as the economy reopens, while people who are more confident in scientists will likely continue social distancing.

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Covid-19 forced a chaotic transition to telemedicine in New Hampshire

By Annie Ropeik
NH Business Review

Physical therapist Cristin Zaimes meets remotely with a patient, whose picture is blacked out to protect their privacy. (Courtesy Cristin Zaimes)

For some healthcare providers in New Hampshire, the Covid-19 pandemic has jump-started a move to something they’ve wanted for years: more telemedicine.

But the state’s insurance system has been slow to catch up – and it’s still unclear if it can last.

Cristin Zaimes runs Oceanside Physical Therapy, a clinic in Stratham focused on pelvic health. She wants people to think of telehealth as more than just a lesser substitute for in-person care.

Zaimes says a lot of her clients come in with pain or symptoms that they’ve had for decades without knowing why. Their first appointments are mostly just conversation.

“People come to us and then don’t quite understand their condition, how it’s connected, what they should be doing, the modifications they should make,” she says. “So there’s a lot that can be done – education, watching movement, guiding exercise.”

Zaimes says all of that can happen easily through a screen, making care more accessible and comfortable for people in their homes. She’s wanted to do more of this for years, and she sees a huge opportunity right now.

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Nursing evolves during COVID

The Conway Daily Sun

Staci Colbath (right) of Flatbread Co. of North Conway presents gift certificates for VNHCH nurses to Kelly Peckham, RN. Joe Viger photo.

CONWAY — On the front lines of a world health crisis, nursing professionals need our support now more than ever.

Their skill and commitment during the coronavirus pandemic make a lifesaving difference every day.

Nurses have played a major role in healing humanity — from war and disease to poverty and starvation. They continue to steadfastly do as they have always done — care for the ill, the injured, the infirm, the dying.

The American Nursing Association has designated May as Nurses Month. May was selected as May 12 is Florence Nightingale’s birthday. This recognition seeks to honor the individuals known as the heart of health care.

Visiting Nurse Home Care and Hospice this month is celebrating their dedicated nursing staff and has been joined by local businesses Sherman Farm, Flatbread Co., Fields of Ambrosia, McSherry’s Nursery and 302 West Smokehouse in providing gifts of thanks and recognition to these dedicated health-care professionals. “We wanted to do something for the visiting nurses,” said Michelle Dutton of Sherman Farms of East Conway. “We considered donating meals but realized everyone has different preferences. So we decided to donate gift cards instead. That way they can pick up what they need.”

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No, it’s not business as usual for Makris Lobster and Steakhouse

By RAY DUCKLER

Concord Monitor

Jimmy Makris, owner of Makris Lobster & Steak House in Concord on May 7, 2020, talks about the police visit after a person complained about too many cars in the parking lot. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

Jimmy Makris is getting fed up.

His popular restaurant, Makris Lobster and Steakhouse, has been shackled. The bills are piling up and not enough money is coming in, just like every other non-essential business since the coronavirus surfaced.

He’s closed, except for takeout, just as the governor ordered. In a little over a week, he could open at 50 percent capacity as the state begins to lift restrictions on businesses, but that’s still a losing proposition. Revenue won't be enough to cover expenses, he said.

Adding insult to injury, Makris had a pair of surprise visits – from the State Liquor Commission and Concord police – in the past week as yet another consequence from the pandemic appeared: The case of the nosy neighbor.

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New Licenses, Drivers Ed, On Hold During Pandemic

By Kelly Burch
Granite State News Collaborative

Rather than cruising around in the Mazda truck that he bought himself, Anthony Witfoth, 18, of Winchester finds himself stuck at home or calling to arrange rides. Courtesy photo.

WINCHESTER — Anthony Witfoth, 18, walked into the Keene branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles in mid-March, excited to get his license. But when Witfoth handed over his paperwork to take the written portion of the test and book his road test, he got bad news: the computer system wasn’t working.

“They said they needed to talk to IT and I should call back,” Witfoth says. “Then, they closed.”

Weeks later, Witfoth, a senior at Keene High School, has no license and no idea when he’ll be able to get it. Learning to drive is one of the many rights-of-passage for New Hampshire teens that are being put on hold by the coronavirus and the accompanying shutdown. On March 18 the Department of Motor Vehicles suspended all road tests (other than for commercial driver’s licenses) for the duration of the governor’s stay at home order.

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Newly opened Newburyport gallery rides the wind of change

By Terry Date
The Eagle-Tribune

Vintage Chic Anew owner Kimberley Wilson, left, and Newburyport artist Karen Fitzgerald wear their face coverings as they check on the gallery in the story. Bryan Eaton.

The fledgling Pleasant Street Gallery has aged beyond its mere two months, plying, as it has, coronavirus currents.

Framed art fills the walls in neat columns like sails on masts.

Fields, streams, skies, cityscapes and seascapes hang inside the gallery in the Vintage Chic Anew store in downtown Newburyport.

Below the oils, watercolors and photographs sit painted dressers, woven baskets, candlestick holders and vases.

Replicas of vintage signs invite nostalgia.

Seated in chairs at opposite sides of a long table are Newburyport artist Karen Fitzgerald, in a red mask, and store owner Kimberley Wilson, in a blue mask.

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N.H.’s local meat processing has avoided national turmoil

By DAVID BROOKS

Concord Monitor

Workers cut beef into sections at PT Farm meat processing plant in North Haverhill, N.H., in September 2012. (Valley News — Sarah Priestap)

New Hampshire’s small but thriving meat-processing industry, the creation of years of effort accompanying the state’s resurgence in small farms, seems unaffected by the turmoil in the vastly larger industry in other parts of the country.

The state has four USDA-approved sites that can slaughter, cut and package beef for sale through stores, all of them tiny by the standards of national corporations. None has been reported to have shut due to COVID-19 or had reported outbreaks of the disease, perhaps in part because they have small, local work forces.

“People are taking it seriously,” said Peter Roy, owner of PT Farm in north Haverhill, who has about 15 employees at peak times. “There’s a guy who never missed a day of work in five years, he wasn’t feeling well so he stayed home to be sure. Nobody wants it here.”

The contrast with industrial meat-processing facilities, which hire seasonal labor, often new immigrants, and have high turnover, is striking, he said.

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Home-buying is still going strong in N.H. even though it’s gotten more complicated

By DAVID BROOKS

Concord Monitor staff

Tom and Judy Clark get the sold sign after the closing at BHHS Verani Realty in Concord on April 30. The Clarks are moving up from East Boston to be closer to their children and grandchildren. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

As you would expect, COVID-19 has created a lot of change in New Hampshire’s economy. But you might not have expected what those changes are for the real estate industry.

“We’ve been open for 15 years; March was our single best month for new orders,” Matthew Neuman, owner of Absolute Title, a property title company with offices in Concord, said last week. “And April – we’re not even done with the month and it’s our second biggest month ever.”

Despite economic uncertainty caused by business closings and the complications that social distancing has placed on document signing and house tours, the business of buying, selling and refinancing residences hasn’t slowed at all.

“I’ve had four drive-through (closings) today. … Real estate is booming in New Hampshire,” said Robin Mooney of Broker’s Title of Londonderry, speaking at a closing in Concord’s Fisherville neighborhood on Thursday.

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Quarantine cooking with your kids? Here are 5 recipes made by budding chefs

By Sharyn Jackson
Tribune News Service

Now is a great time to get kids involved with the cooking. It can also entertain them at the same time. (Dreamstime/Tribune News Service)

My 2-year-old, Milo, has recently begun stringing short sentences together, and my favorite of his newfound phrases is this declaration of pride: “I did it!”

That’s what he said when he helped me make pizza dough by kneading the flour, water, yeast and oil with his chubby little toddler hands. Later, he sprinkled cheese over the dough and waited (OK, impatiently) while the pie baked and then cooled. Sure, he tried to nibble the raw dough a couple of times and downed a handful of mozzarella before I could stop him. Otherwise, our little kitchen adventure went pretty smoothly.

When he finally got to eat a slice of homemade pizza, he used another of his new sentences: “I made this.”

Nothing has ever tasted better.

With schools and most day cares closed and many parents working from home during a shelter-at-home advisory, sometimes the easiest way to get food on the table and entertain our kids is by cooking together.

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What two New Hampshire business owners think about reopening

By Daniela Allee

Kae Mason is owner of Salon K in Concord (Courtesy photo)

The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since Friday afternoon for Kae Mason, who owns Salon K in Concord.

She says since Gov. Chris Sununu announced that some businesses can reopen this month with restrictions, her salon has booked over 175 appointments.

“I was concerned as to whether people would feel it was too soon, and what I was seeing is that they’re more ready than too soon,” she said.

Under the new stay-at-home order, barber shops and hair salons can begin to serve the public again on May 11.

To prepare for reopening, Mason has sterilized the salon, prepared sanitizer for each station and ordered masks for her 18 employees and clients to use.

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On the front line

 By Krysten Godfrey Maddocks

ParentingNH

Kaylie Stewart of Londonderry is a registered nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Courtesy Photo

With New Hampshire schools closed and remote learning continuing through the end of the school year, parents are juggling more now than ever. And it’s tougher still for those essential workers who must commute to their jobs at hospitals, police stations, grocery stores, banks or newsrooms. Some receive hazard pay and protective equipment for their work, while others do not. Not only are they potentially exposing themselves to COVID-19, but they worry about introducing the virus to their families.

While working on the front lines is par for the course in professions such as health care or law enforcement, it’s new territory for others. Even for those professionals used to working during a crisis, COVID-19 brings with it new challenges and fears.

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