Essex and CT Shoreline Blog

Recently, a customer found a house on the Internet that was bank owned, partially constructed, and badly in need of repair.  When we made our first visit to the house, he liked the house a lot and his wife loved the location and the room layout.  That's about all that was good about the house - i...

In previous blogs, I talked about my Ecobroker Certification and how this has had an effect on my involvement in local community here in Essex, CT Went to my first Essex Town Planning Commission meeting as an interested citizen and member of the "Essex Committee for Clean Energy".  My purpose was...

For this time period, the number of sales (closings) decreased slightly but the absorption rate INCREASED from 10.6 to 17.5 (months to sell existing inventory -- a change of +65.1% compared to the same period last year).  We compared MLS data from 22 towns along the shoreline from Branford to New...

When ever I read an article in a national newspaper (like the Wall Street Journal) about real estate, I pause and count to 10 because my clients may be reading the same article and draw the same conclusions – after all, the writers are talented journalists who do extensive research and write info...

Concerned about global warming and the effects of green house gas (carbon dioxide) emissions on our atmosphere?  Want to get involved with the local community and be on the cutting edge?  Here's your chance!  It's been reported that the Obama administration's second highest priority (after fixing...

Fewer home sales (closings) and a longer absorption rate (number of months to sell existing inventory) are the two statistics that show the largest decrease through October comparing 2007 and 2008.  We compared MLS data from 22 towns along the shoreline from Branford to New London and discovered ...

About 3 weeks ago, I received e-mails from 3-4 buyers saying that they were going to put their home searches on "hold" to wait out the financial crisis.  From the shortness of their comments to the tone of their words (not sure about my company's future;  may need to save more for a down payment;...

Everybody is watching their energy costs these days and your electric bill is no exception. I read about a gadget (called a “Kill A Watt”, model P4400) that you can plug into a wall outlet and then plug the device into the Kill A Watt and read the watts being consumed by the device. For example, ...

Having completed the Ecobroker course, I became interested in what the community was doing to promote green building and clean energy.  After a Google search, I found that there is a committee in my own town (Essex Committee for Clean Energy, ECCE) and that they were looking for members!  It turn...

Now that I've earned my EcoBroker® designation, now what? There's a lot to learn from the Ecobroker® course, but one thing you don't learn is to be an expert on the environment or an expert on energy efficient windows, or what heating system to use for maximum efficiency, or how to best insulate ...