4 Sandpiper Road, Westport
Highest sale for August – Sale Price: $3,375,000

NORWALK
Total Sales = 64
Median Sale Price = $470,000
Sale price per square foot = $251
Sales closing at 96% of asking price.
YTD Sales down 19% from August 2016.

  WESTON
Total sales = 20
Median Sale Price = $798,000
Sale price per square foot = $186
Sales closing at 92% of asking price.
YTD Sales down 36% from August 2016.

Total sales = 58
Median Sales Price = $1,144,250
Sale Price per square foot = $336
Sales closing at 95% of asking price.
YTD Sales up 16% from August 2016.

My may newsletter has just been posted with the market statistics for Fairfield, Norwalk, Weston and Westport.   View now.

Enjoy!

Spring is here again and landscaping is now at the forefront of our minds. A beautiful yard frames your home like a picture, adds visual delight and, most importantly, adds value to your property. Buyers will recognize the value and pay the price when they see well designed gardens and well groomed lawns. Investing in landscaping is money well worth spending…..unless you prefer living in this kind of home…

The Connecticut Conveyance Tax – often an unexpected surprise at the closing.  When selling a home in Connecticut, home sellers are responsible for paying a conveyance tax at the time title passes to the new owner.   There are two conveyance taxes due:  one to the state and one to the municipality where the property is located.

Some real estate transactions are exempt from conveyance tax, including transfers between spouses, sales to certain non-profit entities, and foreclosures by sale.  The state conveyance tax is .0075 (.75%) of the sales price up to $800,000.00.   Any amount above $800,000 is taxed at .0125 (1.25%).  The municipal conveyance tax is 0.0025 (.25%) for most towns. There are 18 eligible municipalities that are permitted to impose a tax of up to 0.005 (.5%).  Norwalk is one of those.

When preparing to sell your home and calculating the proceeds you will likely get from the sale, don’t forget to include the conveyance tax.  On a sale of $800,000 the state portion would be $6,000 and the municipal tax would be $2000 ($4000 if you are selling in Norwalk).

Our curatorial committee has just put on another great show at the Kershner Gallery featuring the work of Bruce Horan, Dan Lenore and Trace Burroughs.  Don’t miss it!  The gallery is located in the Fairfield Public Library.

Knowing the value of your home, whether you are selling or not, is good information to have.  But relying on sources such as Zillow to provide a “zestimate” is not the best source.  Zillow uses a computer algorithm  to value homes which can be close to accurate some of the time, but is often way off.   Valuing real estate requires real people.  Condition, views, curb appeal, surrounding homes and neighborhood all affect the value of your home and cannot be calculated without personal assessment by a professional.

What is your home worth in today’s market?  Find out now. 

As of today, March 21, 2016, there are 496 properties on the market in Norwalk and 24% of them have accepted offers.  In Westport, there are 364 properties on the market – 10% of those have accepted offers.  In Fairfield, there are 603 properties on the market and 16% of them have accepted offers.

The bulk of the activity in Norwalk is between $200k and $600k.  For Westport, most activity is in the $800k to $1.8m range.   In Fairfield, most of the activity is under $800k.

The two words are used interchangeably regarding many topics.

When discussing real estate, modern and contemporary mean the same thing to most people, but there is a difference.  “Classic modern” homes,  such as the Frank Lloyd Wright designs, have a definitive style with architectural features that are recognizable – linear, low pitched roofs, overhanging eaves, central chimneys and open floor plans.  The term “contemporary” can refer to any non-traditional style home which features a combination of modern and traditional elements.    They are often designed to take advantage of light, views and landscapes.

When discussing art, modern and contemporary mean two very different things.  Modern art refers to a period following the era of Impressionism.  It started around 1880 and continued until the 1970’s.   Contemporary art started around 1970 with the “postmodern” movement and refers to art created from then until now.  They both have very different roots.  The modern art movement was born out of the artists desire to express their visions, use real life social issues as subject matter and experiment with different mediums.   Contemporary art was the beginning of more socially, economically and politically conscious art and is the last of the artistic movements to be formally classified.

Check out my March Newsletter for the latest market statistics on Fairfield, Norwalk, Weston and Westport.