Archive for the 'The Valley' Category
Avon, CT: 2008 Real Estate Market Statistics
Recently I wrote a post covering 2008 real estate market statistics for the Greater Hartford area. This post focuses on data specific to Avon, Connecticut. All information came from the CTMLS and is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. All data is for single family homes only.
Median sale price for 2008 was $470,000, compared to $524,000 in 2007. The Average Days on Market for 2008 was 73 days, versus 64 days last year. The Average Sale Price per Square Foot in 2008 was $175.68, in 2007 it was $185.11. Finally, the Sale Price to List Price Ratio for 2008 was 95.8%, compared to 97.5% in 2007.
The following two graphs present the same data, the number of closed transactions by month. Typically the busy period is in the early summer which means the majority of the closings happen between May and August.
It’s also interesting to look at the distribution of sales by price point to get a better sense of what the Median Sale Price really means. This graph helps you understand how a town’s inventory is distributed by price range and can be compared to other towns.
As always, I’m available to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to post a comment or send me an email.
Leaf Collection and Disposal in Greater Hartford
Autumn is my favorite time of year, as I really enjoy the fall colors on the trees. I don’t enjoy the leaves quite so much once they’ve fallen on the ground.
We have 4 ginormous maple trees that hover over our postage stamp sized lot in Hartford. Our yard is also fenced, which causes challenges in getting our leaves to the street for vacuum pickup. But somehow we manage. Each year rakes, tarps, and an electric leaf blower are used to usher our collection to the street. One good thing about the impressive piles we create is the no one can park in front of our house for a few days. I love creating traffic chaos. 
Depending on where you live, you’ll have your own struggles with the leaves. The town may pick them up for you (bagged or with a vacuum), or you may need to bring them to an area landfill/waste site. Here are links to area towns in Greater Hartford and what you can expect this year regarding the schedule for leaf removal. Happy raking!
Avon
Bloomfield
East Hartford
Farmington
Glastonbury
Hartford
Manchester
New Britain
Newington
Rocky Hill
Simsbury
South Windsor
West Hartford
Wethersfield
Windsor
Vernon
Regionalism in CT
This Sunday’s Courant contained an excellent editorial about regionalism as a possible strategy for addressing the financial challenges our numerous local governments face. It is a very helpful piece because it not only introduces & defines the idea, but also looks at pros & cons. Finally, the article cites other US metropolitan regions that are already making strides with this strategy and articulates first steps for Greater Hartford.
Town finances impact all of us (even renters) through property taxes. They are a hot button issue for the traditional pro-school and anti-tax groups that emerge every time a budget comes up for debate. There is always lots of rhetoric, and there is sometimes cooperation and compromise, but there are rarely constructive suggestions or discussions that address the underlying issues. Which is not surprising because the established rules of the game are that everything is local.
The Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog has written about the financial stresses that local governments face on a couple of occasions. One post focused on West Hartford’s ongoing budget situation, while the other was more general and looked at the difficult economics of running a town. We see financial trouble on the horizon at all levels of government. And like many others have not been sure how best to work within the rules.
Rather than continuing to beat each other up at a local level, another way to address the challenges is to team up at a state and/or regional level and try to work together. The Courant has stepped to the front by making an initial proposal that includes the following:
1. Launch a study at the state level to identify whether or not core services can be more efficiently delivered on a regional basis (with the focus on federal metropolitan areas rather than counties).
2. Begin dialogs about regionalism at the town level immediately, and launch a major education campaign if the state study shows meaningful savings are possible.
3. Create incentives at the state level to encourage towns to participate.
4. Consider enhancing the existing entities that already think on a regional level so they can play more of a leadership role.
Regionalism is a new arrow in our quiver as we all go through the local budget balancing process. It joins tax hikes, reduced services, begging for more state money, and increased efficiency as the primary tools for making sure that town revenue matches town expenses. And of the five, it seems most likely to make a meaningful long-term impact.
So give the editorial a quick read. Talk about it with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. And if it seems as promising to you as it does to us, tell your elected officials to reach out to their counterparts in other towns.
13 Great Meadow Lane, Farmington
I recently listed a sweet townhouse at the Farmington Woods condo community. This gated complex offers beautiful landscaping surrounded by opportunities to golf, play tennis, and swim at its multiple pools.
The condo is privately located and is an end unit with 1388 square feet of living space. It offers 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths, an updated kitchen, and a combo living room/dining room with crown molding, a fireplace, and sliders to a patio. Upstairs there are two large bedrooms, a full bath, and laundry. The master bedroom features a balcony, dressing area, and double closet. The unit also offers central air and a 1 car garage.
13 Great Meadow Lane is offered at $199,000. If you have any interest, have your agent book a showing or call me at 860-655-2125 to arrange a visit. Here are some pictures of the unit and community…
Google Street View
Those Google folks are always working hard to gather and index information. On occasion it relates to real estate and is actually directly useful in the buying and selling process. The ongoing rollout of the Street Views feature of Google Maps is a helpful tool for buyers interested in getting a sense of how houses fit into the overall neighborhood.
The blue roads on the above map show where Street Views are available. Some towns in our area have much better coverage than others. Farmington, New Britain, Newington, Weathersfield, Manchester, Windsor all have very broad coverage. Avon seems pretty good south of Route 44, and West Hartford is good west of Main Street. Hartford has basically no coverage and Simsbury is very weak.Â
Using the feature is quite easy, and like most new things I discover on the internet, a little addictive. Click on the “Street View” button at the top of a map to access the feature. Roads where the feature is available turn blue, and a little yellow dude appears on the map with a picture of the surrounding area. You can then rotate around 360 degrees as if you are standing right there in the middle of the road.
As an example of why this could be helpful, consider the picture below. Â
Did you know that there is a cul-de-sac in West Hartford that has Victorian-style homes that were built in the mid 1980s? They are unique in town, and if you came across one in isolation listed for sale on www.raveis.com, then you could use Google Street View to see that it’s not an odd duck dropped in the middle of 1960s-era split-level homes.
I got to wondering how they actually got all these pictures. Rumor has it that there is a van that drives around with camera mounted on the top. Details are sketchy. More effort has been exerted in identifying weird scenes and situations captured by the van as it photographs the country. Enjoy!