Tracking the continuing progress of New Canaan’s sustainable home

Thursday, 03 September 2009 16:13

It has been several months since I last visited this celebrated home currently under construction in New Canaan.

Nate and Etta Kantor are continuing to make remarkable progress on their home and plan to move in this fall, hopefully by the end of October.

As you approach the property on Trinity Pass Road in the pastoral north area of New Canaan, you see a remarkably well sized and proportioned residence on 4.6 acres with much available space surrounding it.

Closings, buyer traffic on the rise

Tuesday, 21 April 2009 08:30

While the New Canaan Real Estate Market struggled in the first quarter of 2009, there is definitely more activity in open house visits and home showings to prospective buyers. Traffic is definitely increasing as we head into April with higher expectations as supported by the sales data.

There have been 12 closings to date this year with the median price of those sold homes at $1.3 million, but the average selling price of these homes was $2,317,083. The average price is so much higher because the four highest priced sales were all more than $3 million and two of them were more than $5 million.

Track the progress of New Canaan’s sustainable home under construction

Wednesday, 04 March 2009 16:07

This is the first article in an ongoing series which will follow the building and construction of what will be a “celebrated sustainable house” in New Canaan.

I met Nate and Etta Kantor three years ago after they had just sold their home in Weston and were looking for an equally nice home to rent. After they decided on the right property to rent with privacy, five-plus acres and a flowing river, they signed a three-year lease.

The reason for the three-year lease was to give them sufficient time to locate that perfect piece of land to purchase where they could build their dream home — a sustainable green house where they could live in harmony with nature.

After searching for quite a while for just the right setting, it became apparent when we found that perfect property. It is located in north New Canaan on a pristine, private and select 4.6 acres bordering on Pound Ridge and Stamford. The Mill River runs along the property.

The South Florida real estate market is not the New Canaan real estate market

Wednesday, 11 February 2009 18:41

I recently returned from a short trip to South Florida to visit parents. While the weather was certainly far better than we are experiencing here, there were more observations that were not as pleasant as the weather. I had the opportunity to view some properties on the market and to tour some areas hard hit by the current recession and was happy to return home to New Canaan, where people may be working harder and doing with less, but the overall atmosphere in South Florida is not very encouraging. While the nation's unemployment rate increased to 7.2 percent in December, the employment rate in Florida increased to 8.1 percent compared to 6.6 percent in December in Connecticut. The biggest job losses are in construction and the related trades but are expected to continue to banking, finance and real estate. Even Walt Disney Parks and Resorts are eliminating hundreds of jobs.

Why buy a home in 2009?

Wednesday, 21 January 2009 17:58

While all eyes are focused on our economy, it is no surprise that the current recession is causing serious concern for our country, our state and our town. Although there are many opinions about our economic health this year, we look forward to the future because the talent in our nation is unsurpassable and our determination for improvement, growth and change is immense. Our ability to overcome obstacles is what made our country the great and our eternal optimism and innovation will ensure that we prosper and grow intelligently. In fact, on the front page of The New York Times' Real Estate section on January 19, 2008, the lead article titled “For the Brave, The Moment is Now”, talks about buyers cracking open their piggy banks earlier than planned. Therefore, the concept of buying a home in New Canaan this year, after careful consideration and due diligence, is an opportunity worth considering.

The federal government has pledged to do whatever is necessary to end the longest recession in a quarter century. On December 16, The Federal Reserve has slashed its benchmark interest rate to between 0 and 0.25 percent and committed nearly $2 trillion to new lending programs, bailouts, and additional measures designed to bolster the financial markets. They are also working on a two year stimulus package worth as much as $850 billion in increased government spending and lowering taxes. With mortgage rates at multi-year lows, this now presents a welcome incentive for qualified buyers to step up to the plate.

A look back at historical home appreciation rates in New Canaan over the decades

Wednesday, 31 December 2008 22:35

Much is being speculated as to what has happened to the dependable appreciation rates of resale homes in New Canaan and how much those rates have been  affected this year in the economic downturn. I decided to take a look at the 163 sales of residential homes that have closed so far this year.

First of all, the number of transactions has decreased 36 percent from 254 sales during the same period in 2007 to the current date. This is the total amount of sales transactions, not the sales price. However, in analyzing appreciation, it is important to look at how long the seller owned the home before selling it this year.

In interpreting the data, I eliminated any sales that were previously bought as new construction, tear downs or land. The New Canaan numbers are skewed by new construction and I believe it is more informative to look at individual sales of resale homes to get a more accurate picture.

How to sell your home in New Canaan’s buyer’s market

Friday, 12 December 2008 15:57

Much has been said about the difficulty of selling your home in today’s challenging real estate climate. Gone are the days of multiple bids and homes selling for over the asking price. According to Promatch, the New Canaan MLS system, the number of home sales are down 35 percent from 247 last year at this time compared to 162 this year. Average sales prices are also down but only 7 percent.

The next four months will be extremely challenging for selling your home, but hopefully the New Canaan market will improve in the second quarter because of the proposed stimulus packages with aggressive interest rate pricing somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.5 percent.

However, to effectively sell your home in this market, a homeowner has to establish the right price from the beginning. Pricing is key to selling. As there is much competition in any single price range, making the home stand out with an aggressive price and an appealing presentation, the home is very likely to sell, and sell sooner. And remember, many buyers who have been on the sidelines want to get into the market to make a long term investment in their future. At the current time there are only 221 homes on the market in New Canaan,  so if you are planning to sell your home, sooner is better than later in staying ahead of your competition if the inventory of new listings coming on the market continues to increase.

New Canaan Real Estate’s Flight to Quality

Friday, 07 November 2008 10:56

The concept of a “flight to quality” is originally an investment term that is loosely defined as the action of investors moving their capital away from riskier investments to the safest possible investment vehicles. This flight is usually caused by uncertainty in the financial or international markets. Yet in light of recent economic events, the flight has taken on a much broader meaning. And we are seeing it played out in the real estate arena in a few different ways, all of which will hopefully bode well for New Canaan in the very difficult months ahead.