Bob and Richelle Ward, Realtors, ABR

I was going to blog about Prudential Connecticut Realty's Third Quarter Real Estate Report. The report is broken out into two sections: Single Family Homes and Condominiums. Under each section is every town along with a year over year comparison of the Days on Market, Median Sales Price, # of homes sold and the percentage change for each. It's a really informative report which you can view by clicking here.

I thought it would be fun to look at the Greater Fairfield County Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for the town of Newtown as of today. The MLS changes contunually so this is a snapshot is time. Here goes:

As of this moment, there are 272 actively listed homes for sale in Newtown whose prices range from $49,900 for a mobile home to $1,999,000 for a Deck-Style home on 19.19 acres. Houses that are not mobile homes start at $154,900. There are seven homes that are marked as being under deposit. Ten homes are marked as pending sale - which means a contract of sale has been signed. Four homes have been sold in Newtown since November 1, 2008.

The homes that have sold so far this month are:

*12 New Lebbon Road was a home that we had listed for sale.

Earlier today, I heard that a local attorney had three real estate closings scheduled for today. So, the numbers above will be changing.

December 5th to December 7th is a BIG weekend in Newtown!

This year, Newtown's Holiday Festival will be held from Friday, December 5th to Sunday, December 7th! The Holiday Festival is an annual event that is the main fundraiser for Newtown Youth and Family Services (a joining of the Family Counseling Center and Newtown Youth Services). This is the Festival's 23rd year and there are many events over the weekend. Some of them include: a Festival of Trees (in the library) that are auctioned off, a Victorian Tea, performances of the Nutcracker and an original holiday play, an artisan's shop, children's activities including crafts and a gingerbread house contest (all at the town hall). On December 5th, Newtown's Christmas tree will be lit during a ceremony attended by many town residents. The roads leading to the Christmas tree will be lined with luminaries (decorative bags that candles in them).

There will be four homes on the Holiday Tour this year - all of which are located on Main Street. The Holiday Tour will be held on Sunday, December 7th. You will need to purchase tickets to see these beautiful antique homes. Below are descriptions and the addresses for each home on the tour. We will both be volunteer guides at 63 Main Street from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Sunday.

74 Main Street, Newtown - "Hillbrow" - Home of Dorothy and Richard Mulligan:

A colonial Georgian house built about 1720. It is a fine example of pre-Revolutionary architecture that has been restored and well preserved by its current owners.

The house's deed calls it "Head of Main Street" because it is located at the top of Main Street where many of the original Newtown settlers lived. The early owners called the house "Hillbrow" because of its location on the brow of the hill. They had a granite marker engraved with "Hillbrow" included in the front steps by the rock wall.

The house has two very unusual features; the rare side-by-side beehive ovens at the rear of the huge kitchen fireplace which helps date the house, and the curved entry staircase that splits in two directions on the second level leading to the front and back halls and then continues to the third floor.

The land the house sits on was acquired by John Blackman in 1715 and was passed down through several generations of the Blackman family. In the mid 1700's the house was acquired by Ziba Blakeslee, the famous Newtown clockmaker, silversmith and bellfounder. Blakeslee is credited by some as the creator of the rooster that sits atop the original Congregational Church.

It is said that a ghost inhabits the house. He is the ghost of a main who lived in the house during the Revolutionary War when Rochambeau and his men were encamped in Newtown. After refusing to give some of the soldiers food (the owner was a British sympathizer) some of the men made the elderly owner run up and down Main Street. He died that night and has been haunting the house ever since.

63 Main Street, Newtown - Home of Chris and John Reed:

This beautiful Bungalow-style home was built in 1900 as the town library. The Beach family donated the land to the town. The cornerstone was laid on July 23, 1900 by John Francis Beach. Beach was seven generations removed from his lineal ancestor, the Reverend John Beach for whom the library was named and the first Episcopal Rector of Newtown. The library was dedicated and opened on December 11, 1900 and remained the town library until 1932 when the Cyrenius H. Booth library opened.

The house has a fieldstone foundation and upper story covered by a hip-roof with gables and an arched eave over the front door. A hearthstone in the house is said to have been original to the Caleb Baldwin house at 32 Main Street.

This home is currently owned by Chris and John Reed. Some may know John Reed from the twenty years he served as Newtown's Superintendent of Schools. The town named the Intermediate School in his honor.

51 Main Street, Newtown - Home of Lucy and Chris Sullivan:

This property was originally part of one of the 1709 home lots of Joseph Gray. The house was built in the latter part of the eighteenth century as a gable-roofed Colonial with a centered chimney. The front porch and exterior shingles probably date to the Colonial Revival period, 1900-1930.

In 1867 the house was one of two buildings, the second being 53 Main Street, owned by C. Fairman. It is believed that 53 Main was built to house the married daughter of this home's owner. The property just to the south of this one, 49 Main Street, was originally part of this homestead. The house that currently sits on that lot was moved from across the street. In the 1930's a Judge who was also a Justice of the Peace lived here. He kept his law books on the mantle in the home's dining room and there counseled residents on legal matters. The house was recently used as a two-family home until the current owners purchased it in 2000 and opened up some walls to create a single-family living space.

12 Main Street, Newtown - Home of Deborah Munday:

This beautiful seven-gabled home began its life with a holy obligation. In 1874, toward the end of its rector's lengthy tenure, the Trinity Church built the home for The Reverend Dr. Newton E. Marble. Pallister and Pallister of Bridgeport, respected architects of the era, designed this Eastlake gothic style house. The staircase is an impressive feature to the architecture. Built of Georgia pine with a newel which extends to the ceiling of the second floor, the staircase is a featured object of pride in the architects' writings.

There is a corner fireplace between the parlor and the dining room. Although many Pallister clients desired a fireplace in the center of a side wall, the architects spoke pragmatically to the infeasible economics of this idea. The architects won the debate.

The house originally had no "water closet" (i.e. lavatory facilities), but it did have a well-ventilated "earth closet" in the rear hall. Floorings boast Georgia pine also.

The current owner, Deborah Munday, purchased the house last year.

Why not visit Newtown during the Holiday Festival & get to see New England at its best?

At 60 square miles, Newtown, CT is the largest town in Fairfield County. The town is spread out over a large area and so are the kids! Over the years, Main Street has become the central place to celebrate Halloween and for trick or treaters. This year, 3,000 trick or treaters were anticipated.

Many of the homes on Main Street are highly decorated for Halloween. There are lights, pumpkins, spiders and other assorted scary things all along Main Street. I think one the best decoration is at 74 Main Street (pictured above). The spider crawls along it's web all day and there is usually a crowd out front watching. It's rumored that 2008 is the last year of the spider

This year, Bob and I spent Halloween at a friend's house on Main Street. Like last year, our friend's husband purchased a large number of pumpkins and invited friends over to help carve them. There were over 60 carved pumpkins this year - all with lights in them and they were set along the rock wall and the steps coming down to the house. People talked about which was their favorite pumpkin, how they were arranged and how pretty they were.

There were tons of different costumes this year with many repeats. I guess they these are what's popular:

• Superheros: Batman, Spiderman, Superman and The Incredibles
• Princesses (especially the little ones) and Pirates of all sorts
• Harry Potter, Hermione and Luna Lovegood
• Skeletons, hippies, Jason and Minnie Mouse

The house I spent Halloween at was heavily decorated. There was a spiderweb on the front porch, decorations on the second floor porch and many yard decorations (including the pumpkins). The photo shows the animated yard decorations. The witch was big hit with everyone. She is animated and has a wireless microphone that someone can talk through. Six different people were the witch's voice Halloween night.

The character dressed in the black and red shirt is a real person. He spent the night imitating an animated figure and then he would jump out at the people standing on the front yard and make noises at them. This set the kids off running in all directions! It was pretty funny!

Trick or treating began this year right after school with the heaviest concentration of kids being between 4:30 and 8:30 pm. The amount of candy given out at the house I was at was staggering. Homeowners are not solely responsible for providing all the candy for Halloween. People drop off bags of candy to the houses on Main Street and there are a few collection points - Town Hall being one of them.

Here are some photos of the trick or treaters - Enjoy!

The real estate market is made up of many parts or pieces - like a puzzle. To see the whole picture, you need to look at all the separate pieces. One of the pieces is called an absorption rate. Absorption rates have been around for a long time, but over the past few years was infrequently look at. I thought I'd write a short entry on my blog to explain what this is and why it's important.

What is an absorption rate? This is a hypothetical estimate of the number of months it would take to sell the inventory of houses on the market. An absorption rate can be by town, county, state or even a neighborhood. Obviously, inventory is replenished, so it would not happen in the real world. The absorption rate is based on sales and current deposit levels. It is generally broken out by price range.

What is an absorption rate used for? When looking at absorption rates, Realtors can see what price range is moving in the given market. For instance, there may be a 3 month supply of homes in the $450,000 to $499,999 price range and a 10 month supply of homes in the $500,000 to $549,999 range. If you were going to list a home for sale, do you think it would sell quicker if it was listed at $495,900 or $509,900? Given the aforementioned absorption rates, it would take 3 times longer to sell the home if priced over $500,000.

Absorption rates are a great tool for builders. When planning a new subdivision or building a new home, the absorption rate will tell a builder what price he should build in. If homes priced between $600,000 and $650,000 are selling with a 2 month inventory supply and homes priced $700,000 to $750,000 have an inventory supply of 8 months, what price range would suggest to the builder?

In conclusion, an absorption rate is a guideline used to assist in pricing homes for sale and to gage how the real estate market is doing.

Email us for absorption rates for Newtown, CT, Danbury, CT, Brookfield, CT and Bethel, CT. These are updated every each month.

This is my backyard in Newtown, CT. Coming from Long Island, I find it fascinating! It's an odd shaped yard with wetlands at the end of it (it's a little swampy, but confined to the reeds). Beyond the reeds is open space that can never be built on. I think it's 20 acres, my husband thinks it's 50 acres. Some day, I'll go to Town Hall to find out.

My backyard has a life all its own. When my dog, Riley (the real estate dog), is outside, I see him in the backyard. He runs around and checks things out. What they are, I don't know, but he's very busy checking them out.

We have two feral cats that hang out in our yard. They look the same, but one is bigger than the other. Sometimes, they just sit in the yard - other times, they are stalking prey. They are usually in our yard together, but not close to one another. Then there is the orange cat. It used to be in our yard everyday in the later part of the afternoon. I haven't seen him in awhile. I hope he's okay.

We have deer in yard. One morning, I watched a momma deer with her two babies. The babies were frolicking in the yard. One went over near the momma who then chased it away. Ends up that momma was in the tall grasses to the right of my yard. The other deer was not the momma and she soon left my yard. The babies went over to their momma and I watched the one nurse. It was so cool. Many nights, I come home and there is a whole herd of deer in my yard. I frequently see them in the open space beyond my yard. I call them "my deer friends".

I have seen all sorts of birds in my backyard. In the morning, the crows are on the ground checking my yard for whatever they eat. I have seen many types of hawks in the air flying over my home. They circle and glide around in large circles. Every once in awhile, I see them swoop to the ground for their prey. One day, a hawk I was watching circle overhead grabbed its prey in its talons & flew to the top of neighbor's roof.

This summer, baby birds were sitting on the rail of my deck. I think they were chimney swifts (yes, I have those, too). The momma bird would fly in with food for her babies, feed one and then leave again. She did this a few times. The babies were there for hours. I didn't see them leave - I assume they flew on their own. I always wondered.

Just a few days ago, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a woodchuck back by the high reeds. He was rooting around in the yard back there looking for something to eat. I thought he was cute. This was my first sighting of a woodchuck in my yard (I've seen them near my office

I realize that blogging about my backyard might be conceived as being corny or silly, but it's a pretty amazing place. I love to watch the seasons change and the different animals who pass through it. My backyard has a life all of its own and I'm glad that it's mine.