Mike Tetreau - Sales Vice President ABR, CRS, GRI

Home Styles in Fairfield

Based on sales through the first eleven months of 2008, Colonials are by far the most popular home style. This style represents 51% of the homes sold this year according to data provided by the Greater Fairfield County MLS. Capes were the second most popular style with 20% of the sales. Ranch Style homes came in third with 10% of the sales.

It falls off quickly from there with Split Level homes accounting for 5% of the sales. Farmhouse style homes come in at 3% of the homes sold. And, Raised Ranches coming in at 2% of the homes sold. A combination of styles from Antique, to Contemporary, to Bungalow, to Barn style make up the difference.

So no question about it...Fairfield has a lot of Style!

The Christmas season has officially started. The Town of Fairfield joins in the spirit of the season starting with the official Town Christmas Tree Lighting on Friday December 5th. Stop by to enjoy the first lights of the season. The Tree is located on Town Hall Green on the corner of Beach Road and the Old Post Road. The Lighting ceremony is scheduled for 7PM. The Choir will start the singing of Carols at 6:15PM.

After, don't miss the Open House at the Fairfield Museum which includes the 3rd Annual Holiday Express Train Show and exhibit starting at 6PM. So join your friends and neighbors in kicking off the Official Start of the season.

See you there, Mike

Is that light at the end of the tunnel? In a Real Estate market filled with one tough forecast after another, Easton is showing signs of life. Here we go for a dose of good news. For the months of September and October, Easton sales are up over last year!

You read that correctly - UP. For September and October combined, there were 12 closed sales in 2008. This is compared to only 11 in 2007. This may not mean we are back but it does signal perhaps the beginning of the end. Keep your fingers crossed.

For the more numbers conscious, it was really the 2nd Quarter that killed the year for sales. In Q2 2007 (March - June), we sold 23 homes in Easton. However for 2008, we sold just 12 in the same three month period a decrease of 48%.

Let's hope the big flucuations are over and we can slowly work our way back to normal. Stay Tuned to a blog near you.

All the best, Mike

Fairfield Maintains Reassessment Timetable

The Town of Fairfield has decided not to change the timing of the townwide Tax Reassessment. The Board of Selectmen considered changing the timetable. State law allows towns to reassess property values every four or five years. This Board briefly considered moving up the reassessment to four years.

The concept of Reassessment is sometimes not clearly understood. The Town Reassessment is for one purpose only: To determine each property owners share of the overall tax the Town charges. The Town hires an Appraisal Company to determine "Fair Market Value" for each property. By State Law, this number is then multiplied by 70% in order to determine the "Assessed Value" or the Assessment for each property. It is this Assessed Value multiplied by the Mil Rate that determines the taxes that are owed on a property.

So every five years the town reassesses the property for everyone. The values generally go up considerably because there is five years worth of appreciation. Does this mean everyones taxes go up dramatically all in one year? No. The Town adjusts the Mil Rate down. How far down does the Mil Rate go. Far enough so that it again generates the tax revenue needed to run the Town.

This is all about Tax Revenue and how much everyone pays in Property Taxes. This process really has little to do with Fair Market Value. Let's explore an example:

If your Assessment is cut in half, does your tax bill go down? Only if all other property assessments stay the same. If everyone's property Assessment is cut in half, then the town would double the Mil Rate. The Town needs to generate the same amount of tax revenue to cover its expenses. So if everyone's tax assessment is lowered and the mil rate is raised, your tax bill would stay the same.

Your taxes go down in only two situations: your assessment goes down and all your neighbors stay the same or the Town expenses go down.

Residential Taxes generate 85% of the Town's Revenue. Commercial Taxes generate 10%. So even if our Commerical Tax base increased by 50% - a very unlikely scenario - the Residential Tax burden would drop only 6% for a given home owner. So transferring the tax burden from the Residential Homeowner to the Commericial Property owner helps keep taxes down but that alone is not the answer to lower property taxes.

If we build lots and lots of New Construction, we add homes to the Grand List and this generates more "shares" of the taxes burden. On average, we have been building 50-60 new or significantly renovated homes each year. We have approx 16,000 properties on the Town Grand List so while New Construction helps, it doesn't create enough new taxpayers or additional taxes to impact all the other home owners.

So the only way to minimize tax increases is to minimize expense increases needed to run the Town.

Ludlowe emerges victorious over Warde on last second field goal

Wow, what an exciting Thanksgiving Classic. Both teams came ready to play. Ludlowe scored first and lead 7-0 for most of the game. Warde finally broke into the scoring column with just over six minutes to go in the game. Their touchdown made it 7-6 and then rather than taking the safe route they gambled and went for a two point conversion. Warde made it to take an 8-7 lead. Things were looking gloomy for Ludlowe but with the help of a couple of penalties they moved the ball down to the 8 yard line of the Mustangs. They ran the ball three straight times only getting to the 5 yard line. On fourth and goal with 11 seconds showing on the clock, the Falcon kicker put it through the uprights for a 10-8 Ludlowe win.

It was a great football game. No one left early. The game was won on the final play. It doesn't get any closer than that. Most of all, the town won. There were several thousand people in attendance. Easily the largest crowd in over 15 years. They were treated to an exciting display of quality football by two very enthusiastic and competitive teams.

Special thanks goes to all the parents, players and coaches that made this such a memorable event. Thank you all!