Rhode Island - Real Estate

The real estate collapse was personally devastating and in 2009 I finally abandoned my house due to the intractability of CitiMortage and Citizens Bank aka RBS Americas. Despite the committed buyers I had located over the course of a year, the banks would not close even though I was taking nothing from the closing. I walked and the banks can do whatever they like with the place. I didn't have time to wait for those incompetents to resolve how to spend all the bail-out dollars. We assume they were spent at the golf course. We have no political comment and won't until such time as there is a politician from any party at all who isn't an embarrassment.

You will find some technology here that will not see anywhere else. It's very common for houses to be heated by oil burners. The oil is stored in a tank that will hold 200 - 300 gallons and the oil burner is remarkably clean and efficient at converting that to heat. In other areas of the country, heat pumps are quite common but they're useless much below freezing as those systems will then switch to an electrically-powered furnace. Very bad. Down South, many houses are heated exclusively by electricity and that approach would be incredibly expensive here in Rhode Island.

It's not as cold here as you might think. It seems like Winter temperatures are moderated by the oceans as it is not as harsh as Ohio where it can be savagely cold in the Winter. Despite being somewhat less cold, do expect to see snow and you will be highly pleased that you were wise enough to buy a snowblower. New England is ever so proud of it's nor'easters, huge snowstorms that are sometimes accompanied by thunder and even lightning.

Snow plowing is very efficient here. Expect to see snow plows going down residential side streets very soon after the snow has stopped falling and sometimes sooner than that. It is not uncommon to see snow plows running three abreast down the Interstate to clear the entire road at the same time. Also, be aware that it is illegal to block the passage of a snow plow. If you are parked on the street during a parking ban called because of snow, expect a ticket for about $100.

Cape Code style homes, not surprisingly, are quite common here. However, they are much more expensive than they appear as the upstairs of of a Cape Code home has much less available floorspace than appears on paper. This is because of the substantial slope of the roof on the front and back of the house. This can be mitigated by the installation of dormers but that is a huge expense. If dormers are not already installed, you would probably want to avoid these ones.

Something that can be a huge blessing in the Summer is a whole-house fan. These devices are mounted in the attic and they draw air from the interior of the home and blow it out through the vents in the attic. They are powerful enough to create a pressure differential and are quite capable of drawing air from the entire house. They are controlled by regulating which windows are open and they are a double benefit in that an attic will retain a great deal of heat but that will be blown out as well. The Summer air temperature in the evening is usually fairly pleasant so the problem is how to dispatch the heat from the house rather than preventing it from reheating from outside.