WILTON Market Trends Report March 2012   The Wilton, Connecticut real estate market held has been slowing over the past 12 months. The chart above show that both the number of sales and sale prices are declining. The amount of inventory that the market can absorb is down significantly. We use the 12 month absorption rate (see chart above) to determine inventory absorption, which means that it would take about 15-17 months to sell every home currently on the market in Wilton. It is still a strong Buyers Market in Wilton, more so than many other Fairfield County towns.  The green area on the chart shows one area of improvement.  We hope to see more green areas in next month's chart. If you are thinking of buying or selling in Wilton, Connecticut, please call Gail Robinson, REALTOR, at ... 04/22/2012

Garden Club in Wilton CT Comes to Dagny's to Raid Her Garden!     Kristen Begor and the rest of the diggers came yesterday and removed probably 50-60 plants, potted them, and then took them all home to water and maintain for the Garden Club sale, which will be in mid May!   The Garden Club is a group of gardeners, old, young, experienced, newbies......   and all in between.    It is a place to learn and to pass on information, enjoy gardening with others you have that and other things in common with.   I used to be a Garden Club member perhaps 35 years ago, and loved it.    Lately, in recent years, I have been contributing by donating plants to the Plant Sale in May.      We had already had Kim Young come in March to pull the ocean of bleeding hearts that fill my woods where I have thro... 04/19/2012

Another Great Meet Up in Wilton, CT!      We had a great turnout at my house tonight!   Everyone brought some fun food - some delicious and healthy, others not so much (Debbie ruined all of our diets with M&Ms).  When it was all said and done, we had hung out for 4 hours - who would have thought that we would have had that much to say?   Lots of pictures, too! Gail Robinson,Marilyn Katz, Debbie Gartner, and Dagny George Souto swinging a deal at the party! Barbara Altieri, George Souto, Marilyn Katz, Jim Quarello, Ed Silva, Scott Saradin, Gail Robinson, and Debbie Gartner Gail Robinson, Marilyn Katz, Debbie Gartner, and Brbara Altieri Gail Robinson, Barbara Altieri, and Marilyn Katz Ed Silva Scott Saradin and Jim Quarello Debbie Gartner, Ed Silva, and George Souto Scott Saradin and Jim Q... 04/16/2012

Are Home Prices Really Rising in Wilton?   Are prices really on the rise in Fairfield County? Let's just take a look at Wilton. If we look at the Average Sales Prices from 2002-2012 we definitely see that the market seems to be recovering in Wilton. Prices seem to be on the way up again. But is looking just at the Average Sales Price deceptive? In the first quarter of 2012 there have been 28 homes sold in Wilton. The average sold price is $788,360. However if you look closely you will see that 8 of those homes that were sold were over $1M. How much does that skew the average sales price? As it turns out - quite a bit! The average sales price of homes UNDER $1M in Wilton is $592,100. And in the past three years the average sales prices of homes under $1M in Wilton has been declining (the... 04/05/2012

NEGOTIATING OFFERS ON YOUR WILTON CONNECTICUT HOME Getting an offer is not the end of the sales process, it's really the beginning.  Up until this point everything has simply been paving the way for the right buyer to make an offer on your home.  An offer includes more than the price, it includes the terms of the sale, which can sometimes be more important than the price.  For example, if someone offers full list price, but makes the sale contingent upon the sale of their own home, this offer is less desirable than a slightly lower offer with no contingencies.  You need to look at the offer as a whole, not just at one or two aspects.  Sometimes getting the right price causes sellers to overlook problems that could arise from the close dates or mortgage contingency dates.  They are so ov... 03/31/2012

  Wilton CT, A Beautiful and Safe Town   This chart represents the crime rate index (for various crimes) in Wilton vs. the National Average. It basically shows the likelihood that these crimes would happen in Wilton. The national average for each of these crimes is 100 (represented by the red line).   A score of 200 would mean that the town had double the chance of a crime happening as opposed to the national risk, and a score of 50 would mean that the town would have half the risk of a crime happening compared to the national average.   What a wonderful thing this chart says about Wilton! Wilton is no where near the national average - in fact they are no where near being even half of the national average!!   In 2010 Wilton had ZERO of the majority of these crimes and ranked lower than ... 03/25/2012

  Beautiful Wilton Hills Colonial Condominiums, Wilton CT 06897 Wilton Hills Colonial Condos, Wilton, CT 06897 is a group of 18 cluster single family homes, located in Wilton, Connecticut. Colonial in style, units are from 2,800+/- square feet to 3,637+/- square feet of open and light living space with nine + foot ceilings. The three bedrooms and two and a half baths provide top of the line fixtures and ample room for storage with walk-in closets and many built-in cabinets. More storage is provided in your full basement from which you can walk out to your lawn and plantings. Many homes at Wilton Hills Colonial Condos, Wilton, CT 06897 offer two wood burning fireplaces in both living room and family room. An extra rarely offered. The eat in kitchens have easy to maintain hard wood floors... 03/23/2012

SHOWING YOUR WILTON CONNECTICUT HOME After you have set the price, staged your Wilton Connecticut home, and agreed upon a marketing plan with your listing agent, the next step is to make your home easy to see and to show off your home in its best possible light.  EASY TO SHOW These are important words to busy buyer agents.  When your home is "easy to show" buyer agents may include your home in their schedule even if it isn't quite what their buyers say they want.  This is good because buyers sometimes fall in love with a home outside their stated criteria.  "Easy to show" means that the sellers are very accomodating in terms of showing times and are forgiving if the agent runs a bit ahead or behind in their schedule.  The more restrictions you put on showings in terms of times, days, or... 03/18/2012

Relay For Life in Wilton, CT 06897 - March 2012 Update This message came to me in my email - thought this was good information, and also time for us all to wake up to the fact that the Relay is around the corner!    May is coming soon! Hi all--please join me in welcoming Christine Chalfant as the newest Community Executive for Relay For Life.   Christine will be starting on Monday, March 26 and will serve as staff partner for the Relays of Newtown, Ridgefield, New Milford, and Wilton. Christine has been a fan and supporter of Relay since high school, growing up in Monroe.  She has been sitting on the planning committee for the RFL of Milford for the past few months lending her expertise as the Publicity Chair.  Christine served as the school and youth campaign intern and then assistant ... 03/14/2012

MARKETING YOUR WILTON CONNECTICUT HOME Print advertising is dead.  Well, almost!  Newspaper circulation is down and newspapers are shutting their doors across the U.S.  In tracking my Return on Investment (ROI) in advertising, I have seen print advertising decrease in effectiveness and Internet marketing increase.  MARKETING VS. ADVERTISING Let's talk a bit about the difference between marketing and advertising.  Advertising is when you pay the media to announce details of your product or service, such as when your agent takes an ad out in The Real Estate Book, a publication that is distributed at grocery stores, gas stations, and other public places.  Marketing involves all other methods to bring attention to your home and encourage its sale.  Open Houses are one form of marketing, pos... 03/13/2012

STAGING YOUR WILTON HOME You've seen HGTV. You know that staged homes sell faster and for more money, staging works, but it requires an outlay of money that you may not have. If you can't afford a stager, you can still apply some of the basic principles of staging to help your home sell faster. First thing you'll want to do is to walk through your house room by room with your listing agent. Your agent may not be able to give you the design advice of a stager, but he/she can give you advice about which room colors might cause a problem (e.g., a bright purple dining room) or furniture pieces that should be moved or rearranged. Don't make the mistake of painting the entire interior off-white on the premise that buyers can choose their own colors. Well-chosen wall and trim colors can make t... 03/04/2012

Wilton, CT 06897 - Silvermine Woods Luxury Golf Community   Silvermine Woods is a group of luxury homes, in a spread out fashion of a cluster of single family homes or PUD (Planned Urban Community).  Usually, the homes are clustered close together, and have "wild" space to share.   Here, you have a lovely golf course all around you, space everywhere, and lovely grounds!  The residents all belong to Silvermine Golf Club - there are no membership fees, and you can play year-round golf.  The homes are lovely, and each is built with its own style and individuality.    The HOA maintains the landscaping directly around each home for a very low monthly cost, since so much there is being maintained by the Golf Club.   Most of these luxury  homes have decks overlooking the beautiful views - gorg... 03/03/2012

PRICING YOUR WILTON CT HOME TO SELL This is the second article in a six-part series about Selling Your Wilton CT Home in a Buyer's Market.  In the first article we described the characteristics of a buyer's market.  We will now talk about pricing your home to sell in today's buyer's market. IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU The most important thing to understand about pricing a home to sell is that the market determines the price.  The market doesn't care how much you paid for the home or how much money you put into upgrades or repairs.  Your home will sell for the price that buyers will pay for comparable homes.  If you price your home too high, even if a buyer comes along who is willing to pay above market value for your home, the mortgage company will whittle the offer down to the market value duri... 02/28/2012

  As you can see from the graph, Wilton CT has been slightly slower to gain momentum this year.   We had a few tough months last fall with severe storms, and that affected the sales totals for the first two months of this year.   It will be very interesting to see of the trends are to bring those numbers up as we move into the spring market.   02/28/2012

Challenge Your Assessment In Wilton CT 06897 Do you feel that your real or personal property assessments are too high in Wilton, CT?  Do you think that property values and assessments all around you have been reduced, and yours are still sky high? The time is here to file your petition with the Board of Assessment Appeals - must be in their hands by March 20, 2012 to be scheduled for a hearing.   Not postmarked by March 20 - IN THEIR HANDS by 4:30 pm on March 20.  The board will notify you of the times, date and place of your hearing.  Petitions are available in the assessor's office starting March 1st.  (I have heard rumored that the process goes a little smoother if you have a real estate professional and an appraiser along to help.)     Challenge Your Assessment In Wilton CT 06897 02/23/2012

1. INTRODUCTION   This is the first installment of a six-part series on Selling Your Wilton Connecticut Home in a Buyer's Market.   What is a Buyer's Market?   A buyer's market is one in which there are more sellers than buyers. Nationwide we are in a real estate buyer's market, which means according to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) that there is more than six month's worth of inventory (homes for sale). However, if you look at different locations, neighborhoods, price ranges, and even home styles, some niche markets are doing better than others. Low interest rates and FHA low down payment mortgages have encouraged sales at the low end, downsizers are spurring sales in the mid-range, and at the high end, there are buying niches, such as luxury, waterfront and water view hom... 02/22/2012

  WILTON Market Trends Report January 2012   The Wilton, Connecticut real estate market held its own during the first six months of the year, but has been slowing over the past six months and the slowdown intensified over the past three months despite the mild winter.  The chart above show that  both the number of sale and sale prices are declining.  The amount of inventory that the market can absorb is down significantly.   We use the 12 month absorption rate (see chart above) to determine inventory absorption, which means that it would take about 12-13 months to sell every home currently on the market in Wilton. Although it is still a Buyers Market in Wilton, it is in line with many other Fairfield County towns. With low interest rates and an improving economy, we are expecting a goo... 02/18/2012

Wilton CT 06897, Average Sold Price vs Average List Price and Total Sales 2005-2011     2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Ave Sold Price $1,038,432 $1,070,047 $1,017,817 $1,001,892 $856,333 $812,112 $905,593 Ave List Price $1,072,956 $1,094,566 $1,061,010 $1,065,366 $914,273 $863,639 $963,193 Total Sold 363 271 245 181 154 189 194  As you can see from the chart above, the real estate sales for Wilton CT did fall off for the years of 2008 through 2012.  The saving grace for yearly sales for 2010 was the buyers' credits that were being given in the first half of the year.                                                                        In spite of Hurricane Irene and the heavy huge snow storm of the fall, Wilton did seem to hold its own with the real estate sales.        Wilton CT ... 02/15/2012

 Beautiful Wilton Crest - In Town Condominium Complex in Wilton, CT 06897  The Wilton Crest condominiums are located in the center of Wilton,on River Road, a short walk from all of the great amenities that Wilton has to offer.    There are sidewalks all the way to town (¼ mile) for easy access to the library, movies, banks, train, market, restaurants, shops, and parks. Enjoy a safe walk along picturesque River Road! Wilton Crest has 109 units in all, ranging from studios to 3 bedroom units.    The square footage ranges from 530 square feet in the studios to 1,782 for the three bedroom units.   The complex was built in 1989 with nice bluish grey wood siding, forced air heat and air conditioning. Wilton Crest is a well maintained, beautifully landscaped complex that is located close to to... 02/12/2012

Wilton CT 06897 on Recovery Path?- Sales Price vs. List Price 2005 to 2011   These figures speak much loader than words!      I think I may reserve judgement, but sure looks like a good pattern going on here in Wilton!    Let's keep it coming this year in 2012, please....       2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Average Sold Price 1,038,432 1,070,047 1,017,817 1,001,892 856,333 812,112 905,593 Average List Price 1,072,956 1,094,566 1,061,010 1,065,366 914,273 863,639 963,193 02/12/2012