Salem, CT

Today is Referendum Day in the town of Salem, CT. This is the day that residents can vote to approve or disapprove of the budget for the town this coming year.

Traditionally, voter turnout for this vote has been poor. VERY poor, in fact. And when you realize that less than 1000 votes often decide whether the budge passes or not, it's a little scary. If you don't vote, it means you're letting the minority decide your taxes. Period.

That seems like a pretty bad decision to me. The poll is open at Salem Town Hall today from 6AM to 8PM, so take the few minutes out of your day at some point, and add your voice to the others who care what happens in town, and VOTE!

Okay, so today is a sunny Sunday in Salem, Connecticut, and it's a traditional Open House day in these parts. If you're thinking about trying to buy your first house, this is the perfect day to venture out and dip your toe in the friendly-to-buyers ocean called House Hunting.

Here's what you should do at any open house: first, drive around the neighborhood. Not just down the street, but around the surrounding area. See what's one street over, what else might be for sale, write down the address and the phone number on the sign.

Then go and see the house. Don't be afraid to ask the realtor hosting the open house as many questions as you can think of! She or he is there to answer your questions, tell you about the house, and yes - hopefully interest you enough to enlist her as your realtor. You don't have to commit to that,. but you should at least take a few minutes to engage in some conversation and ask some general questions. You're entitled to do that, even if you don't think you have enough money or credit to qualify for the mortgage yet.

Bring pencil and paper, and take notes. First impressions are worth writing down, because you may forget them later. And remember not to let things like paint colors or decorating schemes deter you from seriously considering a house! Try to envision your own things in the house, and remember that during the course of your years in any house, you will probably repaint numerous times yourself, and more than likely if you're there longer than a couple of years, you will be doing some remodeling. Don't think that the house has to have everything already done for you in order to buy it. Most first-time buyers can't afford to buy their parents' house, but part of home-ownership is making it your own over time.

Whatever you do, don't wander wordlessly around the house, say nothing, wonder about lots of things but not ask about them, and leave without saying something to the realtor. We really aren't there to just hold up the kitchen counter, and pass out our cards. I, for one, like "just lookers" and am happy to talk to you, even if you're the neighbor who always wondered what the house looked like inside.

This sign was at the end of my street last year, along with others like it around town. I think it's a good point, and as the Moderator at the polling station in Salem this year, I guess I should be reminding people to vote.

More people tend to vote during a Presidential election, but it's true every year for whatever offices have candidates running. You can take a few minutes yourself to come to town hall and cast your own ballot, or you can let someone else decide for you....

If your voting in Salem, the polls are open on Tuesday from 6AM to 8PM. Bring some form of ID with you, and take a couple of minutes to vote!

The other night, I heard someone assert that there are three businesses in Salem who are, by far, the largest taxpayers in the town, and that I would probably never guess who they are.

Now that I know who they (supposedly) are, I bet you won't either. I'd have to do a lot of checking on facts and figures before I would say this was fact, but for what it's worth, here they are, in no particular order:

1. The New London Water Authority

2. Salem Farms Campground

3. Witch Meadow Lake Campground*

We have other businesses in town, and ones that are more recognizable, like Salem Country Gardens, but no one really contributes a lot to our tax base in as meaningful a way. It's a problem that we are wrestling with now - how to bring in businesses that won't impact the town and it's more rural character but will help the tax base and increase some services to residents. I just thought this was a pretty surprising concept, and one that most people probably don't realize.

*There's a third campground, near Gardner Lake, called Indianfield Campground, that doesn't appear to have the land base that the other two campgrounds have, therefore I haven't included it.

Now that the spring selling season is over, and we're heading into the holidays - and traditionally fewer buyers in the marketplace - I thought it would be a good time to take a look back and see what has actually sold in Salem this past season.

Right now there are 49 active single-family homes on the market in town. Since April, 17 homes have actually sold, and there's one under deposit. Now let's look at a couple of details: the price ranges of the homes actually sold this spring/summer, for one.

The most popular price range that resulted in a sale was in the $200,000 to $300,000 range - 6 homes, to be exact, closed in that range. A close second was the $300,000 to $400,000 range, with 5 homes selling. The least expensive sale was in the $100,000 to $200,000 range - one house - and the same statistic shows up in the highest range of $601,000 and above. Between $401,000 and $500,000 and between $501,000 and $600,000 were 2 sales each.

Now lets look at the style of homes that sold. Does it matter if you're trying to sell a raised ranch or a colonial? Apparently it does: of the sales in this same time period, twice as many colonials sold as raised ranches, capes or splits. But temper that by noticing that the largest number of homes actually for sale in Salem is usually a colonial, and it makes sense that more of those would also sell.

The last criteria is location, often as - or more - important than price or style of home. In Salem, there really isn't anyplace anyone would call "undesirable", although families often prefer a neighborhood setting to a home on a main road. Since we have a very small downtown, we're a community of suburbs. But there are popular neighborhoods, either due to price or style of home, in addition to being off the main roads. The least expensive home sold in Salem in the last 6 months was in the Horse Pond area, and was a raised ranch. The most expensive home sold was in Emerald Glen. The interesting part about this little statistic is that these two neighborhoods are right next to each other. Anyone who knows Salem probably knows why.

As for sale price vs. list price, let's be clear: all the homes sold in Salem have gone for within 3 or 4 % of their asking price. If you're thinking about selling right now, your best chance may be to come in within the $200,000 to $300,000 range, and you might want to think twice if you're hoping to sell for anything over $400,000, because that range just isn't moving in this market.