Real Estate Forecast For Newtown: Clear Skies And Smooth Sailing

By Nancy K. Crevier

Unlike the spring weather, the outlook for Newtown’s real estate market is bright and sunny, according to Lisa Hintzen, president of the Newtown Board of Realtors.

“I have two words: stable and alive,” Ms Hintzen said on Wednesday, March 30. “There is plenty of inventory, great prices, and great mortgage rates,” she said. Coupled with an “itty-bitty bit of consumer confidence,” the Newtown real estate market is seeing renewed activity already this spring.

Different circumstances affect different people in different ways, of course, said Ms Hintzen, meaning that it is necessary to look at each situation individually. Plus, she said, “It’s all regional. What’s confusing and sends people into a panic is reading these stories in large publications. They’re not talking about our region,” she pointed out. “You can’t lump Connecticut in with Oklahoma.”

The spring market normally takes a jump in February, but has been delayed slightly this year due to the winter weather and ice damming issues in homes.

“So some people have been holding back from putting their homes on the market,” Ms Hintzen said.

Even so, Newtown has retained a steady number of between 200 and 225 single-family homes in active inventory, with the traditional upswing in inventory expected as the school year ends. The homes cover a nice range of prices, she said, with no one price range dominating. The inventory includes properties that are in foreclosure, but does not include what she called the “shadow inventory,” those homes that will soon appear in the active inventory. This is due to properties being pulled from the market this winter. “Some are still trying to renegotiate terms now,” she said.

The number of foreclosure homes in the Newtown market is down from last year at this time, said Ms Hintzen, but with balloons of certain mortgage products on homes sold through 2006 coming due, an additional surge of inventory is still possible, she said, as homeowners unable to meet the new demands go into foreclosure or short sales.

(RealtyTrac lists 14 foreclosures in Newtown in April 2010, and only one in February 2011, with the number steadily declining this past year. On March 30, RealtyTrac listed 20 Newtown properties as bank owned, with three bank-owned properties in Sandy Hook. Eleven other homes were listed as being in preforeclosure.)

Sellers continue to take the hit in the real estate market, though. Average sales price in February 2011 dropped 22 percent from February 2010, according to data from Connecticut Multiple Listing Services. That can be attributed to prices coming into line with reality, said Ms Hintzen.

“The key word is stability,” she emphasized. The lower selling prices are offset, too, by other things that make the process a little less painful for sellers.

Homes are selling more quickly than in previous years. In the midrange in Newtown, between $300,00 and $499,000, houses are moving in just four to nine months. “The seller who has been in a home for many years and who has no mortgage, actually has the advantage right now, but they can’t be thinking of past prices,” Ms Hintzen said. Sellers who are buying up can consider it all relative: prices are lower now on the selling side, but they are getting so much more on the buying side.

For those who are getting out due to retirement, however, selling remains a “beauty contest. It’s whoever has the nicest house for the least price,” she said.

For a buyer who is preapproved, has a job, and can afford to be a homeowner, there is a house on the market that will suit his or her needs.

“It sounds repetitive,” said Ms Hintzen, “but for the buyer, right now, the prices are great. First-time homebuyers are finding homes to buy in Newtown. We are showing today that there are 18 homes active for under $200,000. Some of them may be ‘fixer-uppers,’ but they are there. And in the very high end range, the $900,000 homes, we are even having bidding wars right now among agencies,” she said.

The challenge for the buyer is in understanding the market, and being educated on housing prices in town. For the realtors, the challenge lies in conveying to their clients what is and is not a good price.

“These are good prices out there right now,” said Ms Hintzen, “and buyers need to listen to their agents. If your agent tells you the house is priced right at $349,000, don’t try to offer $300,000,” she said. Still, it is ultimately what the bank appraisal comes in at that will dictate a final price or offer, said Ms Hintzen.

The qualified buyer will find plenty of mortgage products available for purchasing a home this spring, said Ms Hintzen. “I do remind people, though, that while the mortgage interest rates are great, they are going to rise,” she said.

The real estate market, in Newtown or in any town, said Ms Hintzen, hinges on the job market. “It’s all about the jobs. And the job market seems a little better now, so people are starting to buy again, and make changes.

“People still crave home ownership,” Ms Hintzen said. “It’s still the American dream.”