Karen Brewer

Darien Homes for Sale,Market Report,Week of October 13

Noroton Heights In Line for a Facelift,Darien Real Estate

Noroton Heights is a neighborhood within the Town of Darien.It is currently anchored by a series of strip mall style o retail establishments located across the street from the Noroton Heights Metro North train station. A local developer, Tom Golden, has submittedand been approved for new,mixed use  development zone that will incorporate retail,  office,and residential space.It’s a sorely needed project in an area of town with a dense population .See the details below as published online at Darien Patch.

P&Z Approves Golden’s Noroton Heights Rezoning Plan

The changes allow for a combination of retail, office, and residential development.

Darien Real Estate and Homes for Sale, Year to Date Report

Darien Real Estate,Let the Market Do the Talking…..

Interesting thing happened this week in the Darien Real Estate Market, twice.

Two homes came on the market (I cant ethically tell you which ones) very competitively priced. In one case, the owners just wanted to sell the home quickly and deliberately under priced the market.The second home, also listed by a motivated seller was priced at around 2004 levels because in fact that is where the Darien real estate market is at the moment.One was a home that is completely remodeled and the other was a small cape on a modest street that needed lots of work.

Both homes bindered within days of being listed with multiple offers.Pricing is everything. What both these homes had in common was a Realtor who knows the market and how to accurately price a prooperty.It didn’t matter what the homeowner wanted or needed to get for these Darien homes.It was strictly economics.

The buyers are out there if sellers will just allow the market to work.

Darien CT Real Estate Market Report,September 29,2010

Noroton Heights Commuter Parking, Town Seeks Fee Increase

This was published last week in the Darien Times.Seems kind of counter intuitive to me. The people hoarding the passes get squeezed out(and I suppose rightly so) and the guys who commute every day and play by the rules get to pay the increase on an ongoing basis.Seems like the clear winner here is the Town of Darien. Choo Choo…..http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/darientimes/news/local/71488-attn-darien-commuters-selectmen-consider-85-parking-hike.html

Around the World in 365 Days, Darien Homes for Sale

There must be a ton of people out there interested in Darien CT! Compliments of my Web analytics program, I can determine where the visitors to www.thegoldcoaststandard.com are coming from.

In the past year, this site has had visitors from six continents and 71 countries. Of course the greatest number of you are from the United States and Canada but  readers are  coming from the United Kingdom,Hong Kong,Chile Russia,Indonesia,The Philippines,Australia,Sweden and China,Ghana,South Korea and Indonesia just to name a few.

Pretty cool for a hyperlocal, real estate blog in Darien CT!

Darien Homes Sales Market Report September 15,2010

The New “F” Word…..”Fear”,Darien Ct Homes

This summer,I have had a bullish outlook on the local real estate market here in Fairfield County and anticipated a strong selling season this fall.Recent events in the news have caused me to think otherwise, however. It’s not the actual news that bothers me although there are some disconcerting numbers out there. It’s more like the media itself that I find troubling. We’ve all said at one time or another that the media has an unfair choke hold on the  on the tone of the news. Cable TV,print media and the Internet all have various agendas to serve regarding what they wish to report and how to report it.

It seems to me that the upcoming elections in November have caused the “spin” to pick up speed with bad economic news aimed at the Obama administration or the Republicans, depending on where you get your news. The local economic news here is Fairfield County and Darien is stable and home sales bounced upward last spring.I believe, in large part, because the “f “word….FEAR…was removed from the equation. People stopped feeling like the world was coming to an end,that the local NYC job market had stop hemorrhaging ,and therefore that maybe it was OK to dip their toes back in the real estate pond.

But here it comes again. According to various reports  we are either headed for a double dip recession or a recovery, however protracted.Is it a coincidence that there are mid term elections coming down the pike in 60 days and  that the natives are once again beating  apocalyptic drums.I think not.I wonder too if these guys realize that not all markets are like Las Vegas and Florida. Prices have stabilized. here and elsewhere.The media has the ability to kill the goose that laid the golden egg for everyone. A recent article on the Opinion pages of The New York Times by none other than Greg Case of the Case-Schiller index makes the point.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/opinion/02case.html?_r=1

In the article he makes a very persuasive argument for buying a home now as well as the fragility of the market based upon the news of the day.Interesting reading especially from a guy whose livelihood is statistical information.

Property Transfers, August 2010,Darien Homes