Remodeling or Renovating While Your CT Home is On The Market

Sometimes, circumstances dictate that remodeling, removation, and/or minor alterations or repairs have to occur while your home is on the market.

This can be tricky, however, depending on what kind of construction is  taking place.

First, it is important to be crystal clear in the marketing of your home while thsi is taking place, so that agents and buyers alike know and understand that work is taking place.

Big repair jobs are better with no interruptions, and sometimes its  better to withdraw your home for sale for just a short time.

On the other hand, some buyers like to see the work in progress, and actually seeing work that is taking place can create a sense of urgency for teh buyer, especially, if they would like to tweak the renovations to better suit their taste.

Small renovations and minor repairs/remodels can be considered a big plus to see throughout the process, so keep your home on the market during this time if it makes sense to you.

HINT: Remember to take before, during and after pictures.

Buying or Selling a Home in Fairfield County?  Contact us!

If you have a question about buying or selling Real Estate in  Fairfield County, and are in need of representation, I invite you to contact me. I know the market like the back of my hand, know marketing inside and out, am a skilled negotiator- and I'd love to be on your side :) - Judy

Search for properties on any of our sites, or get the very best visibility available for your home. Visit us online wherever you like:

www.CThomesAndRealEstate.com      www.TheCTrealtyBlog.com     www.TheCTRB.com    and   www.CTfeaturedHomes.com 

 Email us or  call Toll Free (855) GET-JUDY

Are You Smelling Your Home, or Are You Selling it?

When you have been living in your home for as long as most people do before they put it on the market,  sometimes a homes odors can go unnoticed as you just may have become acclimated to them, however minimal they may be.

And no, not all homes have odors, but the ones that do tend to languish on the market, and tend to sell for less money, as the buyer (in his/her mind) is about to purchase something of an unknown entity- that is, whether or not the odor will go away, and how long will it take?

So paying attention to the "sense" in staging goes a long Way to sell your home. In other words, improving your home's "scents" is a  key element.

The two biggest offenders are pet smells and/or smoking odors, which can permeate the carpets, walls and furniture.

No one says that you have to break the bank to get your home ready for sale. One thing that you do have to realize is that those first impressions by the buyer's senses are simply HUGE, and will have a very strong determining factor in whether or not a prospective buyer will have interest in making your home theirs. And that's the point, right?

Sometimes, it's as little as ripping out a few carpets and painting the walls to give a home a fresh look... and a fresh smell. Check out this article on effective methods of handling odors in your home.

Rely on your professional  and experienced Fairfield County Connecticut Realtor (that's me) to let you know if it makes "sense" to be addressed.

Buying or Selling a Home in Fairfield County?  Contact us!

If you have a question about buying or selling Real Estate in  Fairfield County, and are in need of representation, I invite you to contact me. I know the market like the back of my hand, know marketing inside and out, am a skilled negotiator- and I'd love to be on your side :) - Judy

Search for properties on any of our sites, or get the very best visibility available for your home. Visit us online wherever you like:

www.CThomesAndRealEstate.com      www.TheCTrealtyBlog.com     www.TheCTRB.com    and   www.CTfeaturedHomes.com 

 Email us or  call Toll Free (855) GET-JUDY

Is The Town's Tax Assessment of Your Property an Accurate Indicator of Value?

Most people know that the property tax on their home is determined by its assessment. In Connecticut, your property assessment is equal to 70 percent of its appraised value at the time of valuation. So, if your home is valued at $1,000,000, your assessment (or the amount that you would pay taxes on) would be $700,000.

In Connecticut, it is mandated that towns review your property's value every five years. Sometimes the appraisal company will ask to gain access into your home, other times, and most often, they do not request an interior inspection.

The reason for the five year revaluation process is a constantly fluctuating real estate market. Years ago, the state mandated revaluations were every ten years. Each home was valued, and every commercial building was valued, or assessed. During the course of only a few years, the percentages of what is fair to tax homeowners, businesses, and commercial enterprises changed significantly, and one or more of the three different subsets could be paying much more, or much less, than their appropriate fair share.

So the short answer as to whether the town's official appraisal on your home is accurate depends on exactly when it was done. If you are one, two or three years out from the last "official" appraisal, then do not rely on that number for current market value.  Your agent (that would be me) can compare your home to more recent comparables that would be more indicative of your home's true value.

Buying or Selling a Home in Fairfield County? We'd be honored to represent you.

Feel free to email us here or visit our main  site at

www.CThomesAndRealEstate.com

If you have a question about buying or selling Real Estate in  Fairfield County, and are in need of representation, I invite you to contact me. I know the market like the back of my hand, know marketing inside and out, am a skilled negotiator- and I'd love to be on your side :) - Judy

Living in Fairfield County CT- Otherwise Known as Beverly Hills East

All you have to do is mention that you live in Fairfield County Connecticut to most anyone in the country, and they have probably heard of it- they may even recognize a few towns here, too- and that kind of notoriety can only come with what all Fairfield County residents know, but may not be able to explain very quickly. It's just that certain "je ne sais quoi" that maybe comes from having a consistently fine reputation for its wealth, property values, the public school systems, and its close proximity to New York City.

While you can do some searching online and find out information about the individual towns in the county, it's not that easy to get an  overview of the County itself, which we have found quite interesting, and have put together some information for you  in order to fill that void.

A little demographics and history:

Fairfield County is located at the southwestern part of the state of Connecticut,  and one of eight counties with a land area of approximately 626 square miles, Although it is the most populous county in Connecticut, it is fourth in the size of its land mass. (Litchfield is the largest county, and Middlesex is the smallest)   There is roughly about 211 square miles of water area within the county which does not include Long Island Sound. Cost of living index is at 142.8 as of January 2011.

One of the original four counties settled  during colonial times in 1666, Fairfield County is the wealthiest county in Connecticut and sometimes referred to as "Beverly Hills East" or "The Gold Coast". While Connecticut still refers to counties, there is no countywide government. Each municipality manages itself. In 1960, the state abolished county government, and  it is used mostly now for geographical reasons, with the exception of the organization of its judicial and state marshal systems.

This southwestern portion of Connecticut is comprised of  twenty three towns, which include Bethel, Bridgeport, Brookfield, Danbury, Easton, Fairfield, Greenwich, Monroe, New Canaan, New Fairfield, Newtown, Norwalk, Redding, Ridgefield, Shelton, Sherman, Stratford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport and Wilton. Check out each town's Facebook Fan Pages, too. We have a dedicated page  For our Facebook Town connections with links to all the towns that we service.

There are so many great places to explore in Fairfield County, they would be too numerous to list. A few highlights include the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium and IMAX Theater, The PT Barnum Museum. The Beardsley Zoo and The Arena at Harbor Yard located- the latter all located in Bridgeport,  The Audubon Centers in Greenwich and Fairfield are popular, and there area as many historical sites as you could possibly imagine. VisitFairfieldCountyCT.com has a comprehensive list of attractions broken down by Art & Antiques, Points of Interest, Recreation & Activities,  Shopping, Touring by Car, Foot, Boat & Bike, Vineyards and Farms.

So where to buy your next home?  Get a feel for the majority of  Fairfield County towns right here on our website. Just click the town of your choice that is listed above to get interesting history, facts and demographics about each town, and even search the MLS for your dream home- right on the town's respective page. When you are ready to buy or sell your home in Fairfield County Connecticut, just contact us and we'll get you the very best deal possible!  It's what we do best.

Buying or Selling a Home in Fairfield County? We'd be honored to represent you.

Feel free to email us here or visit our main  site at

www.CThomesAndRealEstate.com

If you have a question about buying or selling Real Estate in  Fairfield County, and are in need of representation, I invite you to contact me. I know the market like the back of my hand, know marketing inside and out, am a skilled negotiator- and I'd love to be on your side :) - Judy

Buying or Selling A Home in Fairfield County with Facebook is Easy!

Our town-based Facebook Pages are THE place to go in your social media travels for all things real estate! We've improved our Facebook presence and upgraded every one of our  twenty Town-based  pages. We service home buyers and sellers in most of Southwestern Connecticut, including most of Fairfield County and parts of New Haven County. 

 Enhanced Facebook Town Pages !

Each town page already features free MLS access, local news specific to the town, a town bio, relevant real estate articles, and our blog posts, besides the latest listings. We JUST added new tabs for school and education information, the town  website,  and Judy's professional bio, if you haven't seen it already.

We invite you to stop by any one of our town pages. Just click on the little "F" next to the town (or towns) below to stay current  on the real estate market in that town, or for your favorite town related websites all in one place.....and please tell your friends - we would truly appreciate a "Like' .

When you need to buy or sell a home in any one of our towns, please give us a call, and get  "The Facebook Advantage" to work for you. 

.. in Fairfield County

   Darien
   Easton
   Fairfield
   Greenwich
  Monroe

  New Canaan
  Newtown
  Norwalk 

  Redding
  Shelton

  Southport
  Stratford
  Trumbull
  Weston
  Westport

  Wilton

and New Haven County

  Ansonia
  Derby
  Milford
  Oxford
  Seymour

* * * * * * *  * * * * * * *  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * * *

Buying or Selling a Home in Fairfield County Connecticut? We'd love to represent you.

Feel free to email us here or visit our main  site at

www.CThomesAndRealEstate.com

If you have a question about buying or selling Real Estate  in Fairfield County, and are in need of representation, I invite you to contact me. I know the market like the back of my hand, know marketing inside and out, am a skilled negotiator- and I'd love to be on your side :) - Judy