Archive for May, 2008
Selling Real Estate in the Slow Lane
May 31st, 2008 categories: Real Estate Industry
I drive for a living. In a typical week, I drive about 500 miles mostly for business and with gasoline notching up and up, my once weekly fill up of $30.00 is fast approaching $50.00.
I can’t drive less. I can’t take public transportation. I already drive a reasonable car that gets about 25 MPG on average and can’t turn it back in until February.
So, I thought I would try to reduce the amount of gas I need to buy by changing my driving habits: driving the speed limit, accelerating slowly and laying off the brakes.
For two weeks, I’ve been that annoying car who is slow to speed up to get through a changing light, that idiot going 65 MPH in a 65 MPH zone and that twit taking a corner slowly. You’ve probably seen me and maybe even flipped me the bird.
In two weeks, I’ve managed to get about a total of 80 more miles out of filling up my tank than driving the way most everyone else does. That’s about two gallons and $8.00 or so in two weeks. At $4.00/week, I’ll save a little more than $200 in a year. Nothing earth shattering but $200 is still $200.
It would bother me normally to be the slow driver but I look at it this way - all you drivers stuck behind me aren’t paying my bills. When you do, then you get a vote.
A few other things I’ve learned in my two-week experiment:
I have to plan ahead to make sure I get to my appointments on time. No longer can I “catch up” on the highway.
Everyone drives like maniacs - just to get someplace 1 minute before me.
Not only will I save on gas but I will be less likely to have to pay any whopping speeding tickets. One more and I will have to go to driving school - echh!!
Other drivers expect you to speed up really quickly after a stop and brake really quickly for a stop so actually obeying the laws means you have to really watch the drivers behind you.
See you in the slow lane…
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Help Homeowners - Not Towns and Allow Conveyance Tax Increase to Sunset
May 29th, 2008 categories: Central Connecticut News & Information
Home sellers in Connecticut pay a conveyance tax when they sell. The median home in CT sells for about $250,000 and the real estate conveyance tax on the median home would be about $2000, more if you live in one of the 18 towns that can charge you an extra .25% or an extra $500.
The tax was raised a few years ago, temporarily, to help solve a budget shortfall but keeps getting renewed. Municipalities are desperate not to lose this tax because it’s easy money and most home sellers forget about it until the closing table.
The increase in the tax is supposed to sunset, rolling back to its original amount - saving future home sellers around $400 based on the median sales price of $250,000. It’s not a lot of money but the principle is simple:
If the tax was supposed to be temporary, legislators have an obligation to roll it back.
And with all the talk about rescuing homeowners these days from subprime mortgages, what about rescuing homeowners who are responsible enough to sell their homes before the bank forecloses on them but have to walk away owing the bank and the government money?
From whom do they need rescuing?
In Tuesday’s Hartford Courant, a letter to the editor appeared from the Exective Directors of the CT Conference of Municipalities and the Capitol Region Council of Governments - two groups that lobby for town and municipal governments. Here’s what they had to say:
“…the special-interest real estate lobby which seeks to portray itself as the homeowner’s friend by lobbying to deprive municipalities of up to $40 million in needed revenue next year.
That’s right - the same for-profit Realtors who take up to a whopping 7 percent cut of any home sale want to slice $40 million in non-property-tax revenue by reducing the municipal share of the conveyance tax. That means a direct shift of that amount onto the back of the property tax - Connecticut’s most overused and income-insensitive tax.”
Well, I was pretty mad so I wrote a letter to the editor and it appears in the Hartford Courant today, May 29. Here is most of my letter:
‘Although Mr. Finley and Mr. Wray tried to dismiss Realtors like me who disagree with them as part of the “special-interest real estate lobby” and “the same for-profit Realtors who take up to a whopping 7 percent cut of a home sale,” Realtors are leading the fight to protect our clients’ home equity.
Note: Realtors are often the only professionals involved in a real estate transaction willing to negotiate their fees, which, for the sake of accuracy, are not typically 7 percent of the sales price.
However, I would like to present the only opinion that really matters - that of the homeowner and, in particular, the homeowner selling today.
In today’s market, more and more homeowners owe more on their homes than the homes are worth. More often than not, these are homeowners in areas with a high rate of foreclosure, a declining median sales price and a shortage of qualified buyers. These homeowners face some tough options: come to the closing table with money, negotiate a short sale, which affects their credit, or allow the bank to foreclose, which affects their credit even more.
What do I say to homeowners who want to do the right thing and pay what they owe on their mortgage? Should I tell them that the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, a powerful special-interest lobby representing the expanding budgets of towns and cities in Connecticut, has been fighting tooth and nail to keep the increased real estate conveyance tax, which robs them, homeowners in trouble, of their equity, possibly forcing them to pay a tax when they walk away with no money?
The real estate conveyance tax should be rolled back to its original amount - not because it will help Realtors but because it will help homeowners.’
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Enfield Real Estate Market Report April/May 2008
May 10th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Market
Although Enfield is in a balanced market, with less than 6 months of inventory on the market, the median price of single families and condominiums has decreased slightly for single families homes and more significantly for condominiums.
Both single families and condos are spending 37 days on the market, on average.
Single Families
Median Sales Price: $195,000
Average Days on Market: 37
# Sales in April: 29
Active Listings: 132
Closed Listings in Last 3 Months: 83
Months of Inventory: 5 or Balanced Market
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Central Connecticut Housing Market Report 5.9.08
May 9th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Market
Hartford County Real Estate Market Statistics
The market in Hartford County picked up a little in April with 1299 Single Family Sales, Vs. 1103 in March.
And in comparison to last year, April 2008 wasn’t a whole lot different. The median sales price stayed at $259,900 and homes that sold in April took an average of 38 days to sell. The only difference was that sales volume was down.
And if you read the Hartford Courant on May 7, my favorite punching bag, you’ll notice that my news differs from theirs. The story, Median Sales Price Falls in Connecticut, states that
Hopes for a strong spring home-buying season in Connecticut received a blow Tuesday with a report that sales in March plummeted and that prices slid for the fourth month in a row and by the most since the mid-1990s.
The report they are reporting covers the entire state so my numbers don’t include any of the other counties in CT. But as you can see from my numbers below, the Median Home Sales Price in Central Connecticut is EXACTLY THE SAME AS LAST YEAR for both March and April.
I’ll be the first to put a link on my blog when the Courant writes a new story, saying that sales picked up in April and that prices have not dropped universally. And note to the Courant - Spring began on March 20 so technically, March’s numbers don’t count as part of the Spring Market. But who cares about accuracy? Read the rest of this entry »
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East Windsor Connecticut Real Estate Market Report April/May 2008
May 9th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Market
East Windsor is experiencing a buyer’s market. Compared to April 2007, homes are on the market longer and there is approximately 15 months of inventory on the market.
Single Families
Median Sales Price: $325,000
Average Days on Market: 44
# Sales in April: 7
Active Listings: 62
Closed Listings in Last 3 Months: 13
Months of Inventory: 14 or Buyer’s Market
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