Greenwich, CT Residential Real Estate Blog and Analysis: May 16th

  FOR A MORE VIEWER FRIENDLY EXPERIENCE PLEASE VISIT WWW.GREENWICHREALESTATEGUY.COM/BLOG AS SOME OF THE GRAPHS AND CHARTS DO NOT TRANSFER OVER AS WELL

Spring has finally sprung.  We are in the middle of May and finally Spring is upon us as you can tell by the beautiful apple blossom at my listing 10 Palmer Terrace in Riverside.  I will be hosting an open house 1-4 p.m. on Sunday.  Please come see this beautiful home in a phenomenal location:

Exceptional Colonial on Private Cul-de-Sac in Coveted Riverside Neighborhood

Exquisite 4 bedroom, versatile multi-level farmhouse style colonial, completely and masterfully rebuilt and expanded with brand new construction in 2005, boasts antique Australian cypress floors, a custom-designed chef's kitchen, and a wonderful outdoor granite stone patio with level lawns.   Ideally situated on a very quiet cul-de-sac steps away from the train station, Riverside elementary and Eastern middle schools.

A remarkable gourmet kitchen affords top-of-the-line appliances with rich granite countertops including a center island with breakfast bar seating, a side wet baking station, large farmhouse sink and plenty of well-appointed storage which gracefully unfolds into a family room, with French door access to the large sunny patio, a spacious dining area and living room, anchored by a gas fireplace and enclosed custom granite wet bar, cabinetry and wine refrigerator. A powder room sits just off the entryway.

Ascend half a flight of stairs to the quiet sleeping quarters, with copious closet space, one en-suite bedroom as well as two additional bedrooms with a shared hall bath.

The top floor offers a private oasis, with an incredible master bedroom highlighted by a vaulted ceiling, skylights and full bath with steam shower and separate office space. This sundrenched room affords countless possibilities such as an artist's studio or playroom. A separate staircase leads to a hardwood floor attic, easily converted to more living space.

Descend a couple of steps to an additional family room, also well suited as a media room or home office, complete with outdoor access to a blue stone front terrace and manicured front lawn.

The lower level features optimal space for relaxation (or as a possible in-law or au-pair suite) with a full bath, laundry facilities, a 500 bottle naturally cooled wine cellar as well as backyard and two car garage access.

A great opportunity to own in the best location in Riverside!

The listing price is $2.375M.

As you will learn when you look at months on average and the graphs, we have seen trends in the market that can help us understand what is currently happening.  Quick synopsis is that the under $1.5M market has become increasingly more competitive, the $1.5M-$4M is becoming less competitive, the $4M-$7.5M is at a stand still and definitely a buyer's market, while the luxury over $7.5M is doing much better than last year.

We currently have 666 total properties for sale in Greenwich.  That is up another thirty eight from three weeks ago  However, still down from the 687 we had this time last year based on my May 17th article last year.  The most surprising data is the amount of sold properties this year. As you will see in the graphs, January was incredible, which set the expectation of a great year.  However, since then we have been either at or below last year's number.  April was actually the worst so far with only 55 properties sold, compared to 65 last year down 13%.  May is trending below as well with only 30 properties closed halfway through the month when we had 90 in May of last year.  The saving grace is that we have 190 properties either under a contingent contract or pending.  120 of them are pending which means all contingencies have been met.

The newsletter has had a lot of new subscribers over the last month so I wanted to take a second to explain the sections.  The first section is the featured property, with a short weekly roundup of the market.  The next couple of sections are charts and analysis of the market concluding with a months on average chart so one can see how their price range is doing compared to other price ranges as well as compared to earlier months and years.  Following the analysis is the Open house list.  I use a myriad of sources including the Greenwich Times, Greenwich Multiple Listing Service, Fairfield County Multiple Listing Service, as well as Real Estate websites such as Trulia and Zillow.  

I have invested in my own MLS Search for my readers.  This will give access to a lot of the listing information I have.  Also, if I have already set you up with your personal portal, you will now be able to search your own searches outside of what I set up for you.  Feel free to test out and search properties.  I feel the best attribute is that you can save your own search and choose to get alerts as new properties come on to the market, properties are sold, or change in price.  All specific to your customized search.  Hence, you will speed up your learning curve, becoming an expert in the specific market you care about.

Please let me know if you would like me to provide customized information or statistics for you based on your criteria.

**The information on the featured property and all statistical information is from the Greenwich MLS.

**All opinions garnered from the statistics are my own

As mentioned above we finished April with only 55 properties sold down 13% from last year.  May looks even scarier with only 30 sold halfway through the month. 

We have 90 new listings already half way through May.  A little concerning that new listings are up and sales are down.  Luckily, we do have the 190 properties under contract or pending.

In an effort to define the different markets as a good time to buy or sale I believe one needs to look at the months on average it would take to sell through the inventory we have.  This one below is the amount of months on average to sell through our current inventory based on 2014 ytd sold numbers by price range.

I find these two charts to be very intriguing.  One can see the huge discrepancy based on the 2013 numbers between the luxury market and under $3M.  However, at the top if we use the inventory based on the ytd sold numbers it is not as definitive. The luxury market is doing much better than last year and each market seems to be doing relatively well.

There are two individuals I feel most confident about when it comes to home mortgages.  One in Manhattan and one in Greenwich.  They are Jeff Ihrig of First Republic in Manhattan, and in Greenwich I prefer Treena David-Chirico of Wells Fargo NMLSR ID 404288.

Jeff can be reached at 646-372-5181.  Treena's phone number is 203-618-3923.  You can go to her website to input your specific information to receive rates.  Her website is www.wfhm.com/treena-david-chirico.