Brent Bell, CRS, e-PRO, GRI, Hartford County

If you are thinking of buying your first home in West Hartford, why not choose a neighborhood that remains popular in these uncertain times. During 2008, there were 56 purchases of single-family homes in Webster Hill (MLS statistics). This is essentially unchanged from the 57 sales in 2007. These properties sold quickly, with 32 of the 56 sales going to contract in 30 days or less. The median time on market was only 23 days in this neighborhood.

Almost everyone can find a home in this elementary school district, with prices paid last year ranging from $120,000 (30 Elmhurst Circle) to $782,000 (215 South Main Street). In terms of sales price, the median price paid was $253,000 for 30 Boswell. This home offered an updated kitchen and family room. A 1,766 sf cape with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths plus a 1-car garage, this home is within easy walking distance of both Webster Hill Elementary School and Conard High School.

The Webster Hill neighborhood is near Blue Back Square and West Hartford Center, yet separate enough to escape traffic congestion from all our out-of-town visitors. Rockledge Golf Course (public, 18-holes), the Noah Webster House, and Angelo's on Main (restaurant, tavern) are all part of the neighborhood along South Main Street. Most of the homes are located on quiet streets with sidewalks.

For a virtual tour of a great home in this neighborhood, visit www.45BrightwoodLane.com.

For more information about the neighborhoods of West Hartford, try www.West-Hartford-CT.com.

For more information about the Noah Webster house, including photos and information on classes, workshops, special events, museum collections, visiting hours, rentals and special programs visit
www.noahwebsterhouse.org/

The spring market in West Hartford is moving briskly, fueled by a need for housing and the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers. During the month of March, 61 homeowners accepted contracts to sell their single-family residences (up from 57 for the same period in 2008). To put these numbers in perspective, there are currently 245 single-family homes for sale in this town of 65,000 people.

The price ranges and activity level:

Under $200,000 12 sales

$200,000 to $250,000 9 sales

$250,000 to $300,000 9 sales

$300,000 to $350,000 11 sales

$350,000 to $450,000 9 sales

$450,000 to $550,000 3 sales

$550,000 to $650,000 1 sale

$650,000 to $750,000 6 sales

Over $750,000 1 sale

For up-to-date sales statistics and expert real estate advice, contact Brent at Brent@BrentBellCRS.com.

For those of you living in greater Hartford, the Elizabeth Park Spring Flower Sale is today from 10 until 2. You can buy a pot of tulips or hyacinths in bloom at a budget price (last year's prices were between $5 and $10 per pot. Bring the scent of spring into your home or light up someone's kitchen or living room and support the park. The super savers will show up at 1 pm, when some flowers may be marked down by 50%!

For more details on all the activities available at Elizabeth Park, visit www.ElizabethPark.org.

To learn about homes for sale near Elizabeth Park, contact Brent Bell, CRS.

Preparation is everything. I counsel first-time buyers that their home inspection is primarily an opportunity for them to learn about their new home. The inspection will result in an owner's manual (the written inspection report) which they should save and review once each year that they own the property. This will help them keep up with the necessary maintenance of their home.

I remind them that their inspection contingency does protect them, in the unlikely event that the home has serious problems which we did not discover prior to making a purchase offer. If that is the case, the buyer can request that the seller either remedy the problem or make a financial adjustment in the buyer's favor. If a seller does not fix the problem, the seller risks losing the buyer plus has the burden of disclosing the property defect to any future buyer for the home.

With the benefit of also representing many sellers over the last two decades, I want buyers to concentrate on their top 3 priorities when making an inspection request. Over the years, I have seen most sellers are willing to correct 2 or 3 minor flaws in their homes. They are usually not willing to upgrade the house however (if they are not selling a new house, they won't be willing to bring the electrical system up to the current building codes for new construction).

Buyers who present the seller with a laundry list of 10 to 20 items to be repaired are not real buyers in the seller's eye. They are simply bad-faith negotiators, who offered an intial price and terms which they never intended to pay, planning to use the inspection results to re-open negotiations. In this instance, many sellers will refuse to do anything on the buyer's list, reasoning that since the buyer is not real anyway it doesn't matter how they respond.

The buyer ends up having to either walk from the property, be out-of-pocket for inspection and appraisal fees, receiving only their deposit back for their time and emotional investment (or move ahead with the purchase despite the seller's refusal to make any repairs).

Moderation in all things is still good advice (& applies to home inspection requests)!

Although you might not guess from the title, Douglas Andrew's latest bestseller, Millionaire By Thirty: The Quickest Path to Early Financial Independence, stresses the importance of real estate compared to the risks of the stock market for people dedicated to improving their financial situation. This book, which Mr. Andrew co-authored with his two newly-millionaire sons, Emron & Aaron, aims its stong financial advice at recent college graduates.

Several important ideas are discussed. First, not all debt is bad. Mortgage debt and student loans are desireable within reason. Credit card debt, on the other hand, is to be avoided. Second, once you build equity in your first home, that equity earns a zero rate-of-return. As a result, paying off your mortgage early is seldom the best way to increase your net worth. If you find a better opportunity for this equity (i.e. to finance a vacation home or investment property), you owe it to yourself to put this financial asset to work. This strategy of investing in real estate could work very well given our current real estate market!

You can listen to audio excerpts of this book by visiting www.MissedFortune.com/Millionaire-By-Thirty. Even for those of us over 30, there are compelling action plans.