Archive for the 'West Hartford' Category
Elizabeth Park Concert Season
Last Wednesday was the first of ten concerts in Elizabeth Park’s Summer Concert Series. Admission is free, and the music officially starts at 6:30. Call some friends, pack a picnic, and come on down to enjoy a different band each week. Our top correspondent, Grant, snapped a few pictures of the crowd and band this past week. Hope you can join the fun!
Grant, thanks for the pictures!
Hartford County Revaluation Schedule
Last week we gave an overview of the 2011 City of Hartford revaluation. Here’s the revaluation schedule for the rest of the towns in the County.
2010: none
2011: East Hartford, Enfield, Hartford, Manchester, Marlborough, Newington, Plainville, Southington, West Hartford
2012: Berlin, Bristol, East Windsor, Farmington, Glastonbury, Granby, New Britain, Simsbury, South Windsor
2013: Avon, Burlington, Canton, East Granby, Rocky Hill, Suffield, Wethersfield, Windsor, Windsor Locks
2014: Bloomfield
The process is basically the same everywhere. Towns review all the properties to make sure they have the correct stats – beds, baths, size, etc. Next they gather information on sales and feed all the data into the computer. A value is assigned to each property and the owners are notified – generally in the fall of the revaluation year.
West Hartford has an FAQ document on the part of their website related to the 2011 revaluation. Here is their answer to one important question that homeowners often have.
What will happen to my assessment if I improve my property?
While property improvements generally increase the value to your property, they may or may not change the assessment to your property. For example, while replacing a roof covering, a furnace, a water heater or updating your electrical main should have a positive effect on your market value they are not likely to increase your assessment. Landscaping your property should increase its curb appeal and could also increase its value, but would not increase your assessment. There are also improvements that would increase your market value and correspondingly your assessment. Some of these changes include adding central air conditioning, finishing off a basement, building an addition, and possibly remodeling a kitchen or bath(s).
Even after property owners receive their initial letter, they have an opportunity to challenge the new valuation. It usually begins with an informal hearing, which is basically just a meeting in which the owner can present their case. We always advise bringing data to support your argument. If the informal hearing doesn’t produce the desired outcome, then there is a more formal appeals process. This can vary by town, so be sure to check with your assessor to find out the exact process.
My Town Is Better Than Your Town
Today was an exciting day in the “My Town is Better Than Your Town” battle. First, we received our new copy of Hartford Magazine and it ranked the best towns to live in within Hartford County (note: I don’t know when they’ll update their website to show the current article). There are 29 towns in Hartford County, so it laid them all out for us, segregated by town size. They used 21 factors in the categories of education, economics, and quality of life to determine the towns’ scores.
What this now means for me when I show homes in East Granby (the small town winner), Avon (the medium town winner), and Glastonbury (the large town winner), is that agents and home owners will proudly display this magazine because, well, it reaffirms that their town is the best and you should just buy this house so you can be part of it.
If you live in one of the lower ranked towns you should probably burn the magazine. Surely don’t put it out on your coffee table for buyers to peruse- they might shift their search to a different town. I live in Hartford which is ranked 8 out of 9 for the large towns. Sigh. It seems like I should cancel my subscription to Hartford Magazine. Oh wait, they mail it to me for free…
Then later in the day I saw that Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine released a list of the 10 Best Cities for the Next Decade. One of our lowly Hartford County towns was on that list, West Hartford. That’s right, Hartford Magazine ranked West Hartford third out of the large towns within just Hartford County, but Kiplingers ranked it #9 out of all of the places to live in the entire United States. For the next 10 years! Huh, go figure.
I saw that Rick Green also posted about this. Most amusing were the comments on his blog post where you get the West Hartford haters and West Hartford supporters. As someone that lives in a city that’s always hated on, it was nice to see a neighboring town take some of the heat for the day.
So what does all of this mean in the grand scheme of things? Really, not much. People are smart enough to figure out what towns work best for their lifestyle, budget and needs. A town that may work for me may not work for you and vice versa. These types of “rankings” get people talking about the good and bad. At least with people talking hopefully folks will learn something new about their surroundings, which may even lead them to take a visit to another town to go exploring. And then, maybe, your rankings will change.