Middletown, CT

I would like to introduce the Newest Loan Originator For McCue Mortgage. His name is Matthew Souto, and you might just somehow recognize the last name :)

Matthew went through the training program at McCue Mortgage for 45 days which prepared him to go through the National and State Licensing Test, as well as equipped him with some of the product knowledge that he will need. After a lot of hard work and studying Matthew passed the National Licensing Test a couple of months ago, and his State License Test a month ago. He then had to apply for his license and go through the finger printing and background checks by the Banking Commission, which took another two weeks.

After only being out on the road calling on Realtors and other possible referral partners, Matthew turned in his first loan this week. If I sound like a proud Dad, that is because I am. Matthew will be working along side of me, and together we hope to increase our level of service to our Borrowers, and Referral Partners.

If you are looking for an energetic Loan Originator that will work 24/7 for you and your Buyers, give Matthew a call at (860) 227-8236 and give him a chance to show what he can do for you. And of course he might even get a little help from someone who has been doing this for a while now :)

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Who To Call For Your Mortgage Needs In Connecticut:

George Souto NMLS# 65149 is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 gsouto@mccuemortgage.com, or visit my McCue Mortgage Homepage.

Well, this one hits a little too close to home. A mile and a half from home to be exact. Earlier this week, our city of just under 50,000 was rocked when reports surfaced of the use of "scream rooms" at Farm Hill Elementary School in Middletown. If a school in your town makes national media for a story like this, it's definitely not a good thing. Huffington Post , Fox news, and several other national media outlets picked this story up.

There will be many residents who say any combination of the following statements: "I don't have kids in school, it does not effect me," or" I have no grounds or standing to complain about this issue"........ My only response is YES YOU DO!

If you don't think this matter concerns you, just wait until you put your house on the market this spring and there are dozens fewer families looking to purchase a home in this city. I have had several buyer clients with children in the last 2 days express serious reservations about continuing their home search in Middletown, and another eliminating the city from their home search criteria altogether. That is just me, one Realtor! When there are fewer families looking to purchase homes in this city, it takes longer to sell houses, home values decline, less money is spent in local businesses, and the tax base decreases. In short, this affects everyone.

There has been no shortage of bad press involving our Superintendent's Office and the Board of Education over the past 2 years. There's the payroll position dispute, Board of Labor Relations dispute over the business manager position, arrest of the business manager on alleged assault charges, or the investigation into questionable accounting practices, and mis use of funds.

What has this translated to over the last year and a half? 2010 saw 408 total residential sales in Middletown, CT ( single family, condominium and multi family). 2011 saw a total of 355. A decline of 13%. What about surrounding towns? Portland dropped 11.4%, Haddam dropped off 8.7%, Cromwell saw a drop from 161 to 159 or 1.2%, and Middlefield actually saw an INCREASE in the amount of sales by 17.9%, 28 closed sales in 2010 compared to 33 in 2011.

Now certainly the entire decrease in sales is not due to the perception of our schools, but you can bet your bottom dollar it is playing a major role.

It was reported today that Superintendent Michael Frechette announced he has directed all administrators to end the use of "time out" rooms for students who are not special education students. Frechette also has acknowledged that " mistakes were made ". It doesn't take a doctorate in education to figure out that something was wrong here. It is not enough for Frechette to say that things will be done differently from now on, there need to be consequences for how things were done. It's time that Middletown residents speak up and demand that high paid administrators be held accountable for their poor decisions. Middletown voters ushered in all new members of the Board of Education for the 5 seats that were open in this past November's election. It's high time the Board of Education start ushering out a large portion of the current central office administration.

Patrick

Need to sell your home? Why settle for less than 5 stars? 2011 and 2012 Five Star Connecticut Magazine real estate agent.

Next Thursday January 19th is the regularly scheduled Middletown Area Tour Of Homes. This is a great opportunity to tour an excellent mixture of properties in Middletown and neighboring towns. I attend every month, and have sound the selection of homes to always be excellent.

This is also a great opportunity to Network with other professionals, and get their opinions of the houses on the tour. Hope those reading this who are in the area make an effort to attend.

Middletown Area! Middletown &Cromwell listings featured for the January Tour

Thursday,January 19th, 2012

55 High Street, Middletown

For coffee at 8:30 a.m.

Tour starts promptly at 9:00 a.m.

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Who To Call For Your Mortgage Needs In Connecticut:

George Souto NMLS# 65149 is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 gsouto@mccuemortgage.com, or visit my McCue Mortgage Homepage.

2011 saw 246 closed residential single family sales in Middletown, CT. Here is a deeper look into the sales numbers:

Overall Sales Numbers - 246 sales

Low sales price - $20,000

High sales price - $590,000

Average Sales price - $226,924

Average days on market - 85

Short Sale Sales Numbers - 16 sales

Low sales price - $49,000

High sales price - $535,000

Average sales price - $189,525

Average days on market - 166

Current active and under deposit inventory levels - 214 listings

Low list price - $10,000

High list price - $1,250,000

Average list price - $260,054

Average days on market- 116

Current short sale inventory - 31 listings

Low list price -$89,000

High list price -$463,500

Average list price - $209,945

Average days on market - 112

Sales / List price Closed last year - Active/under deposit - Months of inventory

$500,000 + 4 5 15

$400,000-$500,000 12 15 15

$300,000-$400,000 41 42 12.29

$200,000-$300,000 83 68 9.83

$100,000-$200,000 93 77 9.93

Under $100,000 13 7 6.46

Important Summary Notes:

Short sale inventory, while up 10% statewide, is up nearly 100% in Middletown.

The first and 2nd time home buyer market ( Homes under $400,000 ) is returning to some semblance of health with a year or less of inventory, while homes above $400,000 are seeing an increased inventory of 15 months.

What to expect from the Middletown, CT real estate market in 2012:

Expect further downward pressure on prices due to excessive inventory in the higher price ranges - $400k+, and inventories under 400k to remain fairly stable, and less downward pressure on prices due to a supply that is approaching healthy levels.

Expect short sales in Middletown, CT to increase this year. Further price declines combined with stagnant job and wage growth will drive the number of short sales up this year, and short sales will most likely account for nearly 15% of all 2012 closed sales in Middletown, CT, as opposed to 6.5% of all 2011 closed sales.

Patrick

Need to sell your home? Why settle for less than 5 stars? 2011 and 2012 5 star Connecticut Magazine real estate agent.

The Middlesex Chamber of Commerce has announced the speakers of their Monthly Member Breakfast Meetings. Since I am a huge UCONN Basketball fan the March 12th and October 1st Member Breakfast Meetings really stand out for me, and will most likely be sold out.

If you have never been to a Middlesex Chamber of Commerce Member Breakfast Meeting, then you are in store for a surprise if you attend one. The Middlesex Chamber of Commerce Member Breakfast Meetings generally pull 600 to 800 attendees every month, and with speakers like the ones listed below it is easy to see why.

Member Breakfast Meetings
7:45 to 9:00 a.m. @ Crowne Plaza, 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell, CT

• January TBA

• February 13th - Senator Richard Blumenthal, sponsored by Pratt & Whitney

• March 12th - Geno Auriemma, Women's Head Basketball Coach, UConn, sponsored by Saint Francis Hospital

• April 23rd - Dr. Robert Kennedy, President, CT Board of Regents, sponsored by Liberty Bank

• May - Edison Liu, M.D., President & CEO, The Jackson Laboratory

• June 19th - Travelers Championship Breakfast, Speaker TBA, sponsored by Travelers

• August 23rd - Paul Pasqualoni, Head Football Coach, UConn

• October 1st - Jim Calhoun, Men's Head Basketball Coach, UConn, sponsored by ConnectiCare Inc.

• November 5th - Support the Troops Honor the Veterans Breakfast, Speaker TBA

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Who To Call For Your Mortgage Needs In Connecticut:

George Souto NMLS# 65149 is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 gsouto@mccuemortgage.com, or visit my McCue Mortgage Homepage.