Sounding the Alarm

Last week we received a notice from the City of Hartford. It is time to renew our house alarm registration with the City’s Department of Emergency Services and Telecommunications. Residents of Hartford are required to register their alarm with the municipality. We pay $15 per year, which not only gets us into the systems, but also buys us free emergency responses for the first two false alarms within a 12 month period. There is no

Interest in Landlording

Landlords are required to follow rules while handling the money of their tenants. One of them relates to the security deposits that they collect when someone first moves in. Tenants are supposed to earn interest on their deposits at a rate defined by the state. For many years (since 2002) the state held the required security deposit interest rate at 1.5%. This page on the CT Department of Banking site shows the historical interest rates

Gardening in Greater Hartford

The snowless winter has made sledding nearly impossible this season. We got a few runs in after the Halloween storm, and a few more after a modest snowfall in January, but since then the sleds have been idle. Instead we’ve been thinking about spring and the upcoming gardening season. And it seems like others are on the same page. Last week we learned about an updated plant hardiness map from the USDA. The map for

News from West Hartford

At the end of last week there were two news stories in which we had the opportunity to contribute. First was a piece in the West Hartford News about the market conditions in West Hartford. The 2011 revaluation and associated grand list are almost complete, just waiting on the final appeals by individual property owners. That process has not seemed to be a big concern to home buyers as sales activity is up over last

11 Common Drive, West Hartford

Just steps from Veterans Memorial Ice Skating Rink, Cornerstone Aquatics Center, and the golf course, this newer construction home in Buena Vista is located on a quiet cul-de-sac. This property offers 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths over 1,599 square feet. Inside you’ll find the floor plan on the main level has an eat-in space kitchen which is open to the living room and dining room. The space is light and bright, has freshly painted