Litchfield County real estate information, local events and more.

A gift we are sure to get a charge out of!

Surprise, surprise, my latest gift arrived! Connecticut Light and Power customers are getting a rate DECREASE beginning January 1, 2011! Whoda thunk! With gas prices on the rise, food prices out of sight, everything increasing, CL&P and United Illuminating in Connecticut have had rate decreases approved for their customers.

CL&P is giving a 7.8% decrease, an average savings of $10 per month to their customers, United Illuminating will be giving a 1.5% reduction which should show an average savings of $2.51 per month to their customers.

Wow, I had to listen twice! A rate decrease! Some reports claimed that the decrease was due to all those private power companies that inundate us with calls to switch. Many people have made the switch, 36% of Connecticut residents use these other suppliers for their electricity. It is still a good idea to check the rates, and things may become even more competitive now. You can view the different rates at this website: CT Energy Info.

A gift from our electrical suppliers in Connecticut! Whoda thunk indeed! Now I can leave that light on in the hallway so I don't fall down the stairs on my way to the bathroom!

WOOHOOO! Now I can buy 3 more gallons of gas per month, which means I can drive an extra 70 plus miles a month... wowoweeee!!!! I'm good to go!

It could have been a lot worse...

Of course we have all heard about the blizzard that hit the northeast. The snow blew so hard that it found a crack in a window and I ended up with a pile of snow on my floor, I was shocked! Guess I have to do something about that. Planning ahead I took the snow shovel inside.... I learned that early on. Many times we have to take the window out of the storm door and shovel the snow away from the door. Yesterday was no exception!

I live in a windy location, high up over New Milford. In the summer we have few bugs flying around as a result, in the winter, the wind whips the snow around the house like a snow globe. I have no snow on the front yard, a 6 foot mound of snow on one side, the cars are as clean as a whistle, yet the snow is packed up behind them. The front yard looks as if someone swept the entire front lawn off for me! And the back of the house has the rest of the snow from the back yard piled high, up to the windows. That is why I keep the shovel inside...

New Milford lost power yesterday at about 1:30 pm. We made it though the storm, then whammo, the town was hit hard, 11,000 homes and businesses lost power, 80% of us were in the dark with the wind whipping around. Some equipment failure on the part of Connecticut Light & Power. Even the downtown area, which hardly ever loses power went dark. My power was restored around 8:00 pm, my daughter got hers back around 10:00 pm. I was more worried about her as she had no other source of heat and a 12 month old baby. But they survived.

My family has always made fun of me, preparing ahead for storms. I always fill the bathtub with water, have bottles of water I fill up and keep on had for drinking, when I know a storm is imminent I make sure we have food on hand that doesn't have to be cooked. When you have a well that requires electricity to pump water you really have to think ahead. They aren't laughing now!

Candles, kerosene for the extra heater, extra blankets, extra batteries, all on the top of my winter list of things to keep on hand. Those who have wood and pellet stoves are certainly ahead of the game in my opinion!

And kudos to the town of New Milford, who opened The Maxx for an emergency shelter. They even picked up those who couldn't drive there. A challenge for many, but we survived our small ordeal in good order. It could have been a lot worse!

Now to get to the office for phone wench duties... 

I want to be outside the box for 2011! Yes, I am looking for something different to do with my work, something to shake things up a bit, make a difference, have more fun and of course, sell more real estate!

Ever think like that? And this might be the perfect time to shake things up, I have less than a week to put my thinking cap on and see what I can do differently that will light a fire in my belly and help me to do a better job. Being passionate about my work is important to me, and for whatever reason I have not been feeling as quite as passionate as I would like.

One of the things I do every year is to search for something interesting and fun to do on New Years Eve. I search the internet for local customs that sound like fun to me, or which seem to have a deeper meaning, and then incorporate it into our New Years Eve celebration. One year I had to throw dirt from the dustpan out the back door before midnite, then run back in and do the usual write out my wish on a small piece of paper, burn it over a glass and drink the wish at the stroke of midnight. I was very busy that particular year. (Burning the wish is my husband's thing, either just his family tradition or some Russian tradition, I am not sure.)

Last New Years Eve my daughter interrupted our celebration, I raced over to be with her and was given the honor of being present at the birth of the first child of 2010 in New Milford, CT. I don't know if I can top that this year, she is not due again until April. 

One could say my New Years resolution is to live outside the box, to light a fire in my belly. Perhaps it is a bit lofty, but it sure beats making a resolution of eating less of this or that, or exercising more. I never do well at those anyway, it is only a matter of time...

What are you doing to ring in 2011? And what will you be doing to light that fire in your belly in the coming year?

Time to start the magic!

Time to start the magic! I am off to help my daughter with dinner preparation for this evening. With a one year old and one on the way she is moving a bit slower these days. This is my favorite night of the entire year, it is a magical day, I relish each and every moment.

In the kitchen here the NORAD Santa Tracker is on, my three year old grandson can hardly contain himself. He is sure he sees his very own gifts inside Santa's bag! I think I see them too, or could it be that all the wrapping we did to help Santa left visions of gifts dancing through my head?

McQueen this and that, Thomas the Tank Engine paraphernalia, Spiderman would not be left out, and of course there are various other items that will not be of very much interest once his hero's jump out of their packages! You know... pants, shirts, things that a three year old does NOT find very interesting.

It is truly my blessing to have two and a half wonderful grandchildren to fill my Christmas with. There is nothing as exhausting and as fun as the exuberance of a three year old on Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve to all. I hope you enjoy this wonderful, magical day as much as I do!

My Holiday Wishes...  to all my dear friends!

Imagine yourself going out to your mailbox. Inside is a greeting card from yours truly. You have to imagine it because as much as I wanted to do this, I wasn't able to get the job done. So... this will have to do. Imagine this is what you found from me, in your mailbox! I know we all have good imaginations, after all, we are in the business of selling imagination each and every day. So, from the bottom of my heart, straight to your mailboxes, here it is! I do wish you all peace, a joyous holiday season and the best year ever in 2011!

I was not aware that reviews of appraisals are being done for 2005-2007 to determine if any violations took place, over valuation, fraud. If you go to the original post you will get more of an explanation as to what Mr. Ferris is talking about.

This is rather like closing the barn door after the cows have already gone out to play. And we know that many of the appraisers were told to make it work, knew that their livlihood depended on it.

So, my real qustion is, after this is done will there be independent reviews of the lenders themselves? Or is this nothing more than the lenders trying to pin the blame on someone else. And will the scope of investigations move to include real estate agents?

And boy oh boy does this mean that E & O insurance rates will go up for all of us?

I have heard stories from mortgage people who were told to just get 'er done, at all cost. They knew the product they were hawking was risky at best. Will these guys be under the microscope too?

New Milford, CT Real Estate Market, where have the last four years taken us?

I know we have a few more days where we can bring up the sales, I just wanted a sneak peek at the overall picture. From January 1 through the current date, December 22 for each year I pulled the stats.

2007
Average List Price: $439,031, Average Sale Price: $422,600, Average DOM, 117, # Sold: 280
2008
Average List Price: $399,018, Average Sale Price: $378,427, Average DOM, 137, # Sold: 207
2009
Average List Price: $345,605, Average Sale Price: $325,818, Average DOM, 127, # Sold: 179
2010
Average List Price: $355,404, Average Sale Price: $338,725, Average DOM, 115, # Sold: 208

(DOM = days on market)

What to these numbers tell us? It is still a buyers market! No question about it.

If you need or want to sell your home in New Milford, CT, you must price your home aggressively. Gone are the numbers from 07 and 08, forget those, don't even bring those type of numbers up. You can see however, homes are selling, more than last year in the same time period. Agressive price, aggressive marketing plan, these are the key points to a successful sale.

If you are planning on purchasing a home, there are still some great buys here in New Milford, CT.

If you are looking to sell or purchase a home in New Milford, CT, give me a call. I will be happy to discuss the current market conditions with you.

Do You Believe? I Do....

I read a post this morning that jogged my memory of a Christmas many years ago. Navona Hart asked us to pray for one of her agents who is facing surgery today to determine if she is curable or treatable, or perhaps not. Please do take a moment to drop by Navona's post and leave her a message. When Your Heart is Wrapped Tight....

Years ago I worked in a hospital, at the time I was in pre-admissions. It was Christmas Eve day, I had issues of my own. 2 young daughters, an active alcoholic as a husband, on and on. I got a call from a surgeon that a young woman who just had a baby at another hospital was being admitted for a double mastectomy. They had found the fast growing cancer when she was pregnant, but were unable to do anything but wait and watch it grow as the hormones filling her body because of the baby inside were making the cancer grow faster. Her mother and aunt had died of breast cancer, and she was pretty much alone in life.

I met her in my office and prepared her for the admission. She was holding the baby, they had just been discharged from another hospital. She was scared to death, my heart was breaking as I prepared the admission. No money, no family, the babys father had left her during the pregnancy.

After taking her upstairs and depositing the baby in the nursery, I went back downstairs and cried. Then I decided to do something about it.

I called a friend who worked at IBM and told her I needed help to make someone's Christmas just a bit brighter. She shifted into high gear and managed to bring me, within hours, a car full of gifts and cash. One of the gifts, I remember, was a brand new crib! I went to my co-workers, they opened their wallets and within hours I had $400 in my hand. Word must have spread quickly as people were dropping by my office, doctors, nurses, financial people, the maintenance staff, the housekeeping department, they all pitched in.

One of the departments in the hospital gave me their Christmas tree for her room. The peds nurses pitched in and agreed to help, along with the nursery, to keep the baby with her as much as possible.

When she came back from the surgery, the room was decorated, there were presents piled under the tree, I gave her the cash to help her out when she got home. The baby was brought to her, and the surgeon came in to tell her it appeared as if he got all the CA. Of course only time would tell, but he was very optimistic. He and I stepped out of the room and we cried together. He was blown away by the generosity of all those at the hospital and at IBM that gave so much in such a short time. I was too.

It would seem that she was going to be fine. I lost track of her over the years, but she did beat the cancer at least back then.

I had forgotten about this until Navona's post jogged my memory. I remember how determined I was to give her and the baby a good Christmas as we all thought it would be her last. Everyone was awesome, the prayers went out, people gave so much of themselves. The whole day was a miracle for me. In a matter of hours we had seen a broken, scared young woman with a brand new baby who thought she would not live a month, with nothing to give her child for Christmas, become a brave young woman full of hope who was able to spend a wonderful first Christmas with her new baby.

Do you believe? I certainly do. And I thank Navona for reminding me of this very special Christmas so many moons ago.

Holiday on the Green in New Milford CT another success!

Yesterday's Holiday on the Green in New Milford, CT was a rousing success. The lines were long, the smiling faces brought warmth to my heart. Of course there are a few faces in here that make my Christmas a whole lot brighter and very, very special.

Thank you to Housatonic Valley Insurance, who co-sponsored the event with us, to all my fellow agents at Prudential Adams & Associates, REALTORS, to Utopia Percherons, to all those who braved the cold and came to see Mr. & Mrs. Claus and take a ride in the hay wagon, and of course, thank you Santa and Mrs. Claus for taking time out of your very busy schedule at this time of year to make this a very special day for each and every one of us.

Is there a 2 year clause on laptops or what???

I should preface this with the fact that I use my laptop ALL the time. I take good care of it, but now she is showing signs of being rode hard and put away wet, if you know what I mean.  She is dying a slow and torturous death. First I noticed the plug was loose, that is a $200 - $300 fix if I send it out to a certified Toshiba repair place, a $3 fix if someone is brave (and good) enough to follow some directions I found on the web. They involve solder (not for me), breaking through the plastic on the side and resizing the current hole and a whole lot of nerve, if you ask me. A wing and a prayer type of scenario....

Second thing I realized was that Windows is having problems. At first almost imperceptible, then being true to form almost crippling at times. I can reload Windows to solve this problem, I will not reload Vista... I would have to purchase Windows 7.

Next I noticed that the DVD drive is suffering from some ailment. Perhaps it is this (not so) wonderful version of Windows Vista that I got with this computer, I am not sure. Perhaps the wiring is loose... since it is right next to the plug maybe somehow this knocked a wire around.

This is the second laptop I have had, and the second one that started to have serious and expensive issues after 2 years. First one the screen died at 2 years old. At the time that was a $400 fix, for just a few dollars more I got a new one instead.

Guess I better finish getting all my files off onto an external hard drive before the worst happens. Now the decision, do I let someone else try to fix the plug, then should I replace the current Windows disaster that Vista is with Windows 7? Or will it be more cost effective to purchase a new one. And a new one wasn't in the budget. It is looking like I need to add a new one in every 2 years to my budget.

And I certainly didn't ask Santa to bring me one this year. He is not prepared...

Is there a 2 years clause on laptops or what?