Wallingford Market Update

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The Wallingford market has changed in the past 60 days.  Today, the median price of a home is $319,000, while just two months ago it was $286,000.  The market has shifted toward a sellers’ market.

While there are 173 homes currently on the market, those home are not necessarily the kind the buyer wants.

The fastest and most popular selling home is the 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath and master bedroom suite.  These kinds of homes are the quickest selling and receive multiple bids.

If you are looking to sell, now is the time. Do not wait. There are buyers and decision makers who will buy your home fast.

So if you want to sell and want an honest opinion on what your home could sell for, call me at 203.980.6886 or email me at jonathan@carbutti.com

Carbutti & Co. Plans to Restore Historic Victorian Home for New Offices

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As we continue to grow, evolve and thrive – we are fast finding it necessary to expand our physical boundaries to support our ever expanding and growing business. So when we set out to find the perfect future home for Carbutti & Co. Realtors we thought “what better way than to directly support our local community?” And that’s exactly how we feel as we take on the project of restoring to its original glory, the gorgeous Victorian estate that overlooks our Wallingford Town Hall.

With over 6,000 square feet we will comfortably settle in and gladly revel in the gorgeous facility’s grandeur. It reflects perfectly the New England charm of our region and more importantly, the personality and character of our community.

Come visit us today! We will happily give you a tour of the new future home of Carbutti & Co. Realtors. We look forward to seeing you!

HUD Homes Offer Some Homeowners Once-In-A-Lifetime Deals

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As we move further and further away from the buyers’ market that so many buyers have come to know and love over the past several years, there is still some promise to finding great deals out there. The answer lies in HUD homes. Believe it or not, you can find a fantastic home that, with just a little bit of TLC, can be almost instantly converted into your dream home.

Now, I’m sure most homebuyers probably shy away from the sound of needing to do any work on a new home, but that “little bit of TLC” is simply cosmetic things like changing the floors or installing new carpet and putting on a fresh coat of paint. With the distressed property market still prevalent in some areas and with some (unfortunate, sadly) situations, we are still seeing some really nice, quality homes where the homeowners simply couldn’t keep up.

What are some of the benefits of getting a HUD home?

For starters, it will cost you a LOT less to buy a HUD home than it would, had it been listed at fair market value.

Second, you can expect to increase the value of your new HUD home very quickly once you make the updates needed.

Finally, as our market continues to change and the economy gets stronger – the chance of finding great homes at such discounted prices may not be as widely available as it is right now. Combined with today’s still very low interest rates, it’s a win-win situation.

A Few Tips to Keep In Mind When Considering a HUD Home

Be sure to have the home properly inspected. Look for structural issues, major plumbing problems or anything else that might take away from being a solid investment.

Request your Realtor® to study the neighborhood and provide reasonable comparable properties to gauge what you might expect in terms of value after you’ve fixed up the place.

Read all rules, restrictions and requirements before placing a bid online and if you need, run it by a real estate professional to be sure you’re not missing anything.
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If you’d like to sit down to discuss HUD homes, how you can find a great one and what next steps to take once you have found a great home – call, text or email me and I’d be glad to sit down to discuss it with you! Get started today at www.HudHomeStore.com.

Now’s the Time to Sell

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A shift has happened and it actually took place in January. The market has turned into a sellers’ market. In particular, there’s extreme demand for a 4-bedroom home with 2½ baths, a master bedroom suite and a walk-in closet. It’s the hottest commodity on the market.

Here’s an example of what’s going in this sellers’ market. I was working with a buyer in January who quickly sold their home. We had a challenging time finding a 4-bedroom home, which the buyer wanted, so we ended up in multiple bid situations on two houses, which we did not get, even though we had offered to pay full price! Keep in mind it’s a sellers’ market. We won the contract on the third house because we obtained a heads up on the home. We were able to bring in our buyers before the seller even put the house on the market. Ultimately, the buyers got what they wanted, and the sellers didn’t have to worry about people tracking dirt in the house because of multiple showings. A win-win!

This example is just one of many. It illustrates the importance of using an agent who can bring buyers and sellers together. As real estate agents, we’re in the know of buyers and sellers and that’s why you hire us. To get started in this new market, speak with a local expert who understands the market, knows home values from street to street and neighborhood to neighborhood. Your agent will be your best advocate. After all, investing in a home is the biggest purchase you’ll make so it’s important to have a professional by your side.  
What does this market mean for sellers?  If you’ve thought of selling your home, the time is now. Since there are fewer homes on the market, there are lots of buyers for available homes. Low inventory often translates into multiple bids, high list-to-sale price ratios and being able to negotiate better terms. It’s a great time for sellers.

If you want to get top dollar for your property, take advantage of the low inventory. Here’s the thing: supply and demand affect what you’ll get for your home. When everyone who has been thinking about selling their home puts their home on the market is not the time to dive in—if you want to get the most out of your home. At the end of the day, you have a better chance at success if you decide to sell now, instead of waiting until all the Joneses get into the market.

To learn how to be positioned in this sellers’ market, please call us at (203) 980-6886 or jonathan@carbutti.com.

The Spring Market is Here – But There’s No Reason to Rush

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You probably didn’t think you’d see this advice coming from a real estate professional but the truth is no matter how crazy it may seem out there, and trust me – it IS crazy out there – that does not mean you need to rush.

In fact, when I sat down to record this message for you today, I hadn’t really planned what I was going to say. I just knew that I had to share with you that within all the craziness that is our marketplace today, it’s important that you step back and carefully go through the process. Sure there will be homes jumping off the market. Sure you might fall in love with one, only to find that someone else snatched it up. But the important thing is to go into the process with your eyes wide open.

Realtors® Don’t Find Your Dream Home For You – They Make Sure You GET It
For most  homebuyers, this is the single largest financial transaction of their lives. So it’s critical that you are working with a Realtor® that knows and understands the industry. As I mentioned in my video, it’s not about finding you the right home – we all know that only you will truly know when you set foot inside your perfect home. But when it does become time to make an offer, you need someone that is there for you to provide all the relevant information needed to make a solid, strong decision.

So Much Information – Too Much Sometimes – Is Available Online
With the Internet as vast as it is, it’s no wonder to me how sometimes buyers walk in and they are armed with what they think is “all they need to know” about buying a home. There is so much more to it than just what you might read online. In fact, I caution you to be careful with what you absorb on the Internet.

Find a Broker With YOUR Best Interests In Mind
What you’ll find when you do a search for new homes in our area – is that Carbutti & Co. Realtors is the first name to pop up on Google (or whatever other search engine you choose). There’s a reason for that. Time and again, we have been voted “Best Realtor®” or “Best in the Industry” or numerous other accolades.

Here’s why: we take our clients’ goal of finding the perfect home, very seriously. We go to great lengths to make sure our buyers are fully informed about all that is at stake in the buying process. In fact, we’ve developed comprehensive guides, in multiple media formats to help you gain the maximum amount of information possible.
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As you’ll see in this video message I recorded for you, there are some things to be wary of. I caution you to be careful of being approached by real estate agents that represent the seller’s interest in an open house, for instance. Or when you obtain your financing offer from mortgage lenders, are you fully aware of what you’re really paying?

As your trusted  real estate professionals that are right here with the common goal to represent your best interests, Carbutti & Co. Realtors takes great pride in that special relationship we have with our clients.

Come see us today – we’d love to meet you in our office, at Starbucks down the road or anywhere else where you’d be comfortable. We look forward to making your dreams of owing the perfect home – come true!

Introducing the Carbutti & Co. Realtors Love It or Leave It® Guarantee!

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I’ve always said that if a company can’t stand by its product or service, there is no use working with them. So naturally when it comes to providing the invaluable services that we pride ourselves in giving our clients, we stand by what we offer to each person.

That’s why we developed the Carbutti & Company Realtors Love It or Leave It® Guarantee. It sounds like it’s designed to protect our buyers’ best interests and that is exactly what this program does. In fact, with the inception of this new guarantee, we are further attesting our pledge of finding you the perfect home for you.

The Love It or Leave It® Guarantee applies to each and every one of our buyers that purchases a home through Carbutti & Company Realtors and it provides buyers the peace of mind that if they are unhappy with their home – for whatever reason – in the first 12 months of their purchase, we will sell it for free. We will not charge a single cent for selling your home if you are not happy with the purchase.

Now, that’s a pretty hefty guarantee – and the reason we are able to provide this added reassurance to all of our buyers is because of our sheer confidence in our abilities. We know that our team will do what it takes and take as much time as needed to find you the home that you will love for years to come.

Worried about fine print? Trust us – there isn’t any. To see just how sure we are of ourselves, visit our website www.Carbutti.com, click on the “Buyers” tab and along with a host of useful resources you will see our Love It or Leave It® Guarantee.

Of course, if it’s easier to just pick up the phone or shoot over a quick email, we’re right here to explain our services and this fantastic guarantee – in a way that is convenient for you.

Call us today so you can comfortably enjoy your new home tomorrow!

Wallingford’s Real Estate Outlook in the New Year

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One of the most active areas in our real estate market these days is the single-family marketplace and today, there are fewer homes available than buyers are willing to buy. This poses a significant challenge, of course, for the myriad buyers looking to lock in the still historically low interest rates and great prices, while sellers continue to enjoy an edge.

Wallingford Real Estate Market Needs More Single-Family Homes

Right now, we have approximately 156 single-family homes available for sale whereas just a few weeks go that number was significantly higher at 190. This clearly indicates the constant activity going on in our area despite some of the recent setbacks that Mother Nature caused us to endure collectively as a region.

List Price and List-to-Sale Ratios Are Strengthening

Our average list price is right around $289,000 in the Wallingford real estate environment with the average number of Days on Market hovering at about 278 days. Interesting to note is that in terms of price decrease from the time a home was listed to the time it was sold, has gone down for the most part – to the tune of 24% as opposed to 34% in 2012.

Wallingford Continues to Trend Upward Toward a Seller’s Market

With this New Year, other changes also seem to continue appearing on the horizon; our Market Action Index is trending upward, indicating movement toward a stronger seller-centric marketplace. With 30 being the mean, anything above that level points to a seller’s market and anything below begins to indicate a buyer-controlled environment. Right now we are at 15.4 with the MAI trending upward.

The Time to Sell Is Now

For homeowners and homebuyers, this means that the market is ripe for activity – particularly for new listings. If you have been waiting and watching before deciding to put your home up for sale, now is the time to do it. With a significant advantage over buyers since there are fewer and fewer desirable homes available to them, there is a lot of room for negotiation. In fact, well-priced homes in great locations that are in good condition are typically selling in fewer than 30 days. That’s well below the average DOM for our area.
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For an honest estimate of what buyers in today’s real estate environment can be expected to offer on your home – we invite you to contact us. Our strong team will share expert opinions, based on years of experience, extensive research and of course our straightforward and no-nonsense approach to doing business.

We look forward to helping make your goals become a reality today!