Stacey Brown, REALTOR®

ibanezplayer. That is my Twitter name. I'm a guitar player and it is a brand of guitar. What does this have to do with real estate blogs? nothing. It has to do with Twitter. Now, my Active Rain blogs will be posted to my Twitter account. This is cool. So, all of my followers, please remember to read my blog once in a swhile. You may actually learn something.

Here's a lesson that I learned today. In Microsoft Powerpoint, there is an option hen you have dual displays to tell it which monitor to output to when you are running the presentation.

Over the 5 years from 2001 - 2006, did you ask yourself, "if only I bought this properties back then... they were so cheap!" I do not know if any of us has a crystal ball anymore, but I believe we are nearing a bottom. The amount of land we has is constant and more people are moving into the US than leaving it. The supply-demand principal states that if there is a limited supply with an increasing demand, the value of the asset tends to rise. In 2020, you will be hearing people same, "I should have bought this properties when..." It's time to get off the fence and buy. Be a bottom feeder and grab the low hanging fruit. The only real estate I have owned in the last 2 years is my primary residence. That was until this week. I'm back in the game, baby! There are great opportunities waiting for people with some wherewithal to come along and start shaking up the system.

Buy foreclosures. Bring your firneds to the table. Has anyone looked at the numbers on multi families lately? They are starting to work again. Let's get back in the game!

I'm not sure who's seen it, but there is a good report out there from Remodeling Magazine which shows the 2007 average ROI on projects. I'm curious, with all of the changes in the market and home prices this year, how is anyone going to calculate something like this?

Nationwide, a wood deck offered the best ROI in 2007, while a home office remodel was deamed the lowest. For 2007, none of the projects they listed had an ROI over 100%. That coincides with the concept that a home is not an investment - it's a place to live. Investment real estate is a whole different game.

People do not build a deck for a return on investment, but many sure do factor the return into the equation. If I spent $10,000 building a deck which offers an 85% ROI, it really only cost me $1,500. When I look at it that way, it sure is worth it to put the deck on the house!

I have a summary of the 2007 survey available on my website, as well as a link to further information.

http://www.ilmct.com/home-improvement-roi.asp

Here are a few facts just published about housing in the greater Hartford, CT area. These facts have been published by GHAR (Greater Hartford Association of REALTORS)

• Year-over-year house inventory has gone up by 7%.
• Year-over-year housing prices dropped 3.53% from $255,000 to $246,000
• Year-over-year shows a drop in pending sales for the month of May while the averages days-on-market has gone from 63 to 67 (up 6%)

On the more positive side...

• May pending sales are up compared to April by 6%.
• Closed sales are up 17%
• With the inventory levels up and rates still low, it's still a great buying opportunity

Of all the things I do in my "spare time," I have enjoyed a seat on the Colchester zoning and planning commission for about 3 years now. I have seen a lot of subdivision approvals come across the commission's desk over the last few years. I keep wondering, "where are you people going to sell all of these houses?"

The new homes and subdivisions have sort of slowed down for now. The next big waive - commercial real estate. Colchester has recently rezoned a few hundred acres of prime land to commercial and business park. This land is right in the areas the Route 2 and Route 11 interchange. There is no more prime place in our part of CT in my opinion.

Once this land is developed, it will position Colchester for a more balanced tax basis. Right now, 90% of the burden lies on the residential property owners. The town's goal is to get to a 70/30 split. Therefore, with the extra commercial development and tax revenues which will be brought in without as much of a hit to our infrastructure and maintenance costs as residential development, home owners will see thier property taxes decrease.

What does all of this mean? Well, to begin with, forget about paying 10% higher prices in our local grocery store, as the new development will likely bring in some competition. You know that 20 minute trip you need to make everytime you realize you need to go shopping? Well, now it will be 5 minutes. All of this increased interest in our town, along with lower property taxes, will mean INCREASED PROPERTY VALUES.

There is a trade off to all of this. Colchester is loosing a part of its rural character. It has been only a matter of time. We are 30 minutes to Hartford, (the insurance capitol of the world) and 30 minutes to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos (amongst the largest casinos in the world), 30 minutes to the Groton sub base and then there's the Pfizer world headquarters in New London. Basically, Colchester is in the middle of it all. It is natural for us to grow next.

At the end of the day, Colchester offers many reasons to live here. If you or someone you know are considering moving to the area, consider talking to me.