Fairfield and Westport CT Real Estate Guide

Local insights on buying, selling, and living in Fairfield County

Tag Archives: home sellers


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The Calm Before the Storm (Irene)… and a Quick Update on the Housing Market

I live a good 0.8 of a mile from the beach, so I wasn’t as concerned about flooding as I was about the wind.

By the look of Sasco Beach Friday at 7 p.m., it was hard to imagine the rough tides, flooding and high winds to come.

CALM 1   CALM 2

Nevertheless, I opted to pass the storm at my parent’s house in Westport. It so happened that our friends on Fairfield Beach Road were then able to spend Sunday night at our Fairfield house after returning from a Shelton hotel to find ample flooding around their home. The flooding extended more than a block inland from the shore!

CALM 3 CALM 4 CALM 6 CALM 5

A bit less dramatic this week, was our Fairfield housing market.

With 495 single family homes for sale at the time of this post, the inventory was lower by nine houses compared to last month and five homes compared to last year at this time. Seven percent of the homes had accepted offers which was consistent with binder counts at the end of August in the past three years and just one percent less than in July. Sixty listings were under contract for pending sale. This count was down by 74 contracts last month but up by five contracts from last year. Eighteen new single family listings hit the market during past week, and many more will likely follow suit as we recover from Irene and head into back-to-school mode.

Originally Posted on Fairfield Patch August 29, 2011 at 10:07 am


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Loyal Praying Mantis Loves Fairfield, Plus an Update on the Housing Market

The loyal Praying Mantis has returned to our front porch again this year!

I was working in the garden outside our front door on Sunday and suddenly felt something on my back, which I instinctively brushed off.  There on our front walk landed a beautiful bright green mantis. Oddly, every summer we see a mantis appear right at our front door. This year, he obliged me with a photo shoot and live video performance. Take a look…

The mantis knows a good town when he sees it!

PRAYING MANTIS

Let’s take a quick look at the Fairfield housing market. As of today (Aug. 16), we have 493 single family homes for sale, 34 (7%) of which have an accepted offer. This ratio of accepted offers to active listings has held steady over the last few weeks. Seventy-one more homes have a signed purchase contract.

Since January, 315 homes have sold compared to 422 during the same time frame last year, reflecting a 26-percent reduction. However, the average sale price during this time was $690,000, which is just 1 percent away from the average sale price  of $698,000 last year.

The average sale-price-to-list-price-ratio for these transactions was 94 percent last year and 95 percent this year — indicating an improvement. Attached is a chart showing how many homes sold in each Fairfield market area.

Sales by Market Area Aug 2011If you would like to see an upcoming blog post with a breakdown of sales activity in your market area, just send me a note!

Originally Posted on Fairfield Patch August 17, 2011 at 9:30 am


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Fantastic Fairfield Fireworks & A Housing Market Update

What a fantastic evening for the Fairfield fireworks last night!

After attending a picnic with some fine company and delicious dining, my husband and I visited more friends on the beach for the remainder of the evening. Low tide provided extra space on the sand bars this year for added festivities and some pre-show fireworks. As the warm pastel sunlight faded to dusk, the bejeweled horizon of sparkling lights from boats and waterfront homes became the new feature.

Once darkness fell, the DJ from the party next door created the perfect moment when he sang his own blues-inspired rendition of America the Beautiful just as the spectacular fireworks display was launched from the barge off Jennings Beach. Ah, there’s nothing like the Fourth of July in Fairfield!

Of course we’re all back to work now, so let me provide an update on the housing market for you – As of today, we have 491 single-family homes and 85 condos for sale in Fairfield, down from the count in my last post on June 22. However, there has been a jump since then in the number of binders and contracts, which is a positive sign.

One of the metrics I like to watch as a leading indicator of what’s to come is the percentage of active listings with a binder. A little over a week ago, 10% of the homes for sale had an accepted offer. At the time of this post, there are 70 homes with a binder equating to 14% of the available homes. Considering that the ratio had been 12-13% this spring in March through May, this is quite encouraging! The number of contracts is currently 133, also up from 105 a little more than a week ago.

Three more homes have sold since I last wrote, ranging in price from $450,000 to $875,000. The tally of sold homes in June recorded as of today is 23, with an average sale price of $600,000. Although there are sure to be more June sales recorded in the next few weeks, we are still quite far off from the single-family sales in June 2010 which totaled 71 with an average sale price of $658,000.

Okay, so who is ready to jump into the market to buy and sell, and catapult our numbers for July?!

Fairfield Boaters july 4 2011 Fairfield Beach & Barge July 4 2011

Originally Posted on Fairfield Patch  July 5, 2011 at 5:38 pm