Well I was away in the Cayman Islands last week for the first vacation alone with my husband in 10 years since our daughter was born!  (She was at sleep-away camp.)  Now that I’m back, I have three random bits of advice to offer that you may find useful:

1) My GasBuddy.com App tells me that the cheapest gas can currently be found at The Sunoco Station at 322 Post Rd East in Westport for $3.969 per gallon and Gulf at 975 Kings Highway East and Chambers in Fairfield for $3.979 per gallon.  

2) Remember to register your child for the fall soccer season at the Fairfield Recreation Center before the end of July to ensure a spot on the their team from last year.  And last but not least,

3) I would highly recommend Zumba on Thursday morning at 11:30 with John L. and Monday and Tuesday nights with Kellie B. at 8pm at the Edge in Fairfield. It’s a great workout mixed into an entertaining fiesta with men and women of all shapes and sizes!

Finally, a word on the market-  We currently have 503 single family homes for sale in Fairfield.  This inventory level has held steady since May but is lower than the May – July levels in both 2010 and 2009 which had ranged from about 580 to 515 homes for sale.

The end of the second quarter resulted in 149 sales with an average sale price of $663,000 and a median of $565,000.  In the same timeframe of 2010 we saw 220 sales with an average sale price of $734,000 and a median of $569,000.  Last year’s average sale price was artificially inflated by a six million dollar sale on Harbor Road, but the median was very close to what we have seen this year.  The number of sales dipped 32% though.  This may become a less extreme difference as more June sales are recorded.

As the summer heats up and people take vacations, the housing market typically slows down.  Binders and contracts are both down since my July 5^th post.  The tally of single family homes with an accepted offer (binder) is 34 today which equates to seven percent of the active listings. This is down from 14% at the time of my last post.  There are 84 homes with purchase contracts in place which is also down from 133 a couple of weeks ago.  On a positive note, the price of homes under contract ranges from $140,000 all the way up to $5,500,000 demonstrating that there is something for everyone here in town!  

So after all your summer travels are over, remember to focus on housing again, and re-energize your buying and selling agendas!

Originally Posted on Fairfield Patch  July 25, 2011 at 12:03 am