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William James Walton, Sr. Greater Waterbury Real Estate

Where's The Love for Where We Live????

I think that one of the best ways to promote one's online presence is to make it a point to include your local area in your blogs. I've noticed that many of the more popular bloggers have some sort of line, link or reference to their city or town.

So why hasn't anyone done this for Waterbury yet?

This reminds me of a comment that my friend Karriem made when I went back to visit UPenn in 1998. "What's great about Waterbury?" His comment made me start and look around my city in a whole new light. Now, let me answer that 11 year old question by giving it a different spin:

The top five reasons why Waterbury is a great place to live:

1) The right size. Waterbury is not so large that you can't get from one side of town to the next in under 15, 20 minutes tops, and it is not so small that you have to wait 3 minutes before you see anything remotely resembling civilization.

2) You can actually see the sky, unobstructed. Waterbury happens to be nestled among seven major hills, with the Naugatuck River running somewhat west of the center of the city. Even in the lower parts of the city, you can look up and see the clouds and sun during the day, and the moon and stars at night. The view from East Mountain, Bunker Hill, Bucks Hill, and West Side Hill is absolutely breathtaking. Can you say that about any major city, unless you're in the outskirts?

3) The right atmosphere. Low crime rate, great neighborhoods, a comparatively decent school system and the feeling of suburbia with a touch of urban charm make Waterbury the ideal place to raise a family. It's one of the many reasons why I went back after 4 years of college.

4) The diversity. Sure, almost every city can boast about that - but I'm not only talking about diversity in terms of ethnicity. The neighborhoods are about as different from one another as you can possibly get. Some have mostly multi-families, others have only single-family homes, still others have mixtures of both single and multi-family housing, and condos. Unlike my college town, with its scores upon scores of rowhouses (seriously, all over the city, almost nothing but rowhouses - it was the one thing I hated about the place).

5) The birthplace of Timex. That was the answer to my friend's flippant comment about Waterbury being a "nothing, nowhere, unimportant" town. Who hasn't heard of Timex? What started out as The Waterbury Watch and Clock Company in 1854 became one of the most trusted and reliable makers of personal time pieces throughout the world.

Now for the best part: Any fellow Waterburians want to add to the list?

Waterbury, CT - Quarterly Market Report March 2009

Waterbury, CT - Quarterly Market Report

Here are some interesting stats on the current real estate market in Waterbury, CT as of March 6, 2009:

Active Listings

440

New Listings

202

Average List Price

$166,566

Median List Price

$159,900

Average Sq. Ft.

1579

Median Sq. Ft.

1448

440 single-family houses for sale, with 202 of them being listed within the last 30 days. The average home is almost 1600 sq.ft., for those for whom space is a must, this is good news indeed.

Closed Listings - 128

Average

Median

Days on Market

90

70

List Price

$127,485

$127,450

Sale Price

$120,028

$125,000

Sq. Ft.

1442

1365

LP/Sq. Ft.

$88.39

$94.84

SP/Sq. Ft.

$83.44

$86.51

SP/LP Ratio

93%

95%

Due to a combination of factors, homes in Waterbury are not staying on the market for longer than 3 months, on average. Being priced correctly, adding curb appeal, location, and amenities were some of the most important issues that were acted upon by these sellers in order to get their homes sold.

For more specific information about the following neighborhoods, click on the link:

East Mountain

Bunker Hill

Bucks Hill

Meriden-Woodtick

All other neighborhoods, send an e-mail request and I'll post them.

Wolcott, CT - Quarterly Market Report March 2009

Wolcott, CT - Quarterly Market Report

Active Listings

114

New Listings

38

Average List Price

$314,582

Median List Price

$293,500

Average Sq. Ft.

1578

Median Sq. Ft.

1367

Closed Listings - 18

Average

Median

Days on Market

107

64

List Price

$242,161

$234,900

Sale Price

$230,688

$226,750

Sq. Ft.

1711

1560

LP/Sq. Ft.

$143.96

$149.20

SP/Sq. Ft.

$136.04

$142.29

SP/LP Ratio

94%

95%

Watertown, CT - Quarterly Market Report March 2009

Watertown, CT - Quarterly Market Report

Active Listings

120

New Listings

54

Average List Price

$350,008

Median List Price

$289,000

Average Sq. Ft.

2133

Median Sq. Ft.

1852

Closed Listings - 16

Average

Median

Days on Market

98

81

List Price

$243,368

$239,900

Sale Price

$222,387

$223,250

Sq. Ft.

1466

1418

LP/Sq. Ft.

$166.31

$158.53

SP/Sq. Ft.

$151.02

$148.06

SP/LP Ratio

90%

93%

Outside of the Box...

What truly amazes me is the total depth and breath of the wealth of information that can be gleaned here on AR.

As many of us as there are, you would think that we could all share info, get referrals, and expand our customer databases without using this forum solely as a marketing tool for our listings, or to troll for buyers.

Yet I have found that many agents have not yet gotten outside of the box when it comes to AR.

To date, I have yet to post any of my listings on AR. Even if I had 100 listings, I wouldn't post them here (well, maybe if...)

One of the reasons why I would not is because there are soooo many other sites which are much more accessible to buyers and sellers alike to obtain the pertinent information on a house. Google, Realtor.com, Open House, the list is not quite endless, but all of you who are in this business know exactly what I mean.

Of course, time is a major factor for many of us. But seriously, how much time does it really take to write a quality post at least once a week? Thoughts on how to help sellers and buyers? Suggestions for fellow real estate agents? Sharing the triumphs of your day/week?

The power of Active Rain for many of you has yet to be discovered. In order to do that, you've got to step outside of the box!