For Sale: Maple Avenue

According to Realtor.com, there are 100 houses for sale right now in Montville.

And nine of them are on the 2.2 miles that make up Maple Avenue.

There are 171 houses on Maple Avenue. The nine that are for sale range in price from $75,000 to $189,000. They range in size from one bedroom to five bedrooms. They sit on pieces of land as small as .17 acres to 7 acres.

And standing in the front yard of most of them, you could throw a rock and hit another one that is for sale.

HOLLY POWELL, of Prudential Realty, has the listing for 118 Maple Ave., which is under contract but has not yet closed. At $185,000, it’s the most expensive house for sale on the street.

Powell says that for Montville, Maple Avenue is a microcosm of “the market that we’re in” right now.

There’s a lot of inventory in the housing market, she says. Properties that are for sale are short sales, estates, foreclosures – “different selling situations.”

And Montville is pretty typical of many markets at the moment.

FOR THE BUYER, the large selection helps, she says. Like anything else, when supply outpaces demand, prices fall. “You have your pick of what’s available,” Powell says.

For the seller, she says, a market like the one we are in means more competition.

On the other hand, the fact that there are so many houses for sale in one place does mean that there are more potential buyers cruising the neighborhood.

But Powell says that that influx might not be the godsend that an optimistic seller might consider it to be.

Buyers, she says, often have criteria that help them make their decisions. If they require a walk-out basement, for instance, and the house doesn’t have one, they're probably not going to look at it, no matter what the price.

ONE RESULT OF SO MANY HOMES for sale in such close proximity is that any sale is going to affect the appraisal values of the other houses in the neighborhood.

When a house sells, a buyer generally gets an appraisal of the value of the house.

When a seller goes to put a house on the market, his or her realty agent generally does an analysis of sales of comparable houses in the area.

So if a home in the neighborhood has recently sold for a high price, it is likely to raise the general price level of homes in that neighborhood. And if the home has sold for a low price, it is likely to do the opposite.

ANNEMARIE BELLENOIT, a Realtor with Realty World on the Norwich-New London Turnpike, says that in a cluster like Maple Avenue, short sales can really drive prices down.

In a short sale, the lender agrees to take less than what the owner owes on the house. The sale is far below market value, and affects the appraisals, and therefore the prices, of the nearby homes.

In Montville right now, Bellenoit says, the market is busy. "There are tons of buyers out there looking right now," she says. "It's a very interesting time."

But buyers' expectations are high, and it is difficult to get mortgages.

The average time on the market, she says, is four to six months. But "ones priced really right are going fast," she says.

Powell says that while Montville is suffering from a glut of homes for sale, and suffering also from relatively high taxes – compared, she says, to Waterford, New London and Groton – “what you do get in Montville is a … sense of community.”

And, she says, “For a certain amount of dollars, you get a whole lot more house than you would in Waterford or in Groton.” There’s also “a more rural feel – there certainly is desirability there,” she says.

TOWN PLANNER MARCIA VLAUN says that Montville's housing market is typical of the region. There's a fair amount of older housing stock, with all the issues and joys that older houses bring. While foreclosures have slowed, she says, it's still a tough economy.

Buying a house is a huge commitment, and "People are hesitant to make that commitment," she says. "A house these days makes you much less mobile than in the past. Still, you can see some things starting to pick up."

MARTHA AND ARMAND GIONET built their home on Maple Avenue in the 1970s - right beside the house where Armand grew up. He had been in the Air Force, and she had moved all the time when she was young. They wanted their kids to grow up in one place.

When they built the house at 131 Maple - built it by hand, with Armand and a friend's father doing the bulk of the work - his parents still lived next door. Eventually, they moved to Florida, and the house became a duplex. For a while, Martha's mother lived next door. The Gionets have stayed friendly with the people who live there now - and this seems to be one of the hallmarks of life on Maple Avenue.

Their next door neighbor was Armand's godson, the neighbors across the street moved in 30 years ago - and "we all grew up here," Martha says.

"There aren't many now," she adds.

It's sad, watching the houses come on the market. Some owners have died. Others have moved away. The bottom line is that the neighborhood is changing. She blames some of it on noise and racket from the asphalt business behind their home, and says that if she thought she could get "a decent price" for her home, she might think about selling.

But, she says, "I guess we're going to be here for a while."

For sale on Maple Avenue:

• 330 Maple Ave., $100,000 - 3 BR, 1 BA; 1,044 square feet; 0.17 acres; taxes $2,057
• 191 Maple Ave., $149,000 - 4BR, 1 BA; 1,694 square feet; 0.55 acres; taxes $2,780
• 165 Maple Ave., (under deposit) $89,900 - 2 BR, 1BA; 1,368 square feet; 0.64 acres; taxes $3,071
• 126 Maple Ave. - $75,000, 2 BR, 1 BA; 936 square feet; 0.36 acres; taxes $2,902
• 119 Maple Ave., $149,000 – 4BR, 1 BA; 1,694 square feet; 0.55 acres; taxes $2,780
• 118 Maple Ave., (under deposit) $185,000 – 2 BR, 1 BA; 1,058 square feet;  0.60 acres; taxes $2,902
• 110 Maple Ave. - $179,900 - 3 BR, 1 bath; 1,200 square feet; 7 acres; taxes $3,866
• 109 Maple Ave. –  $189,900 - 4 BR, 2 BA; 1,656 square feet; 0.41 acres; $3,625 taxes
• 47 Maple Ave. - $135,000 - 5 BR, 2 BA; 1,586 square feet; 0.99 acres; taxes $3,619