Victoria Lorusso

Two district wide meetings on the magnet schools are taking place soon! Application to the magnet schools must be submitted to the Board of Education by March 2 at 4pm.

The Elementary meeting will take place on Thursday, Dec. 4 from 7 - 9pm at the Board of Education meeting room and will include school coice options.

The Middle School meeting will take place on Wed. January 21 from 7 - 9pm at the Board of Education meeting room.

The Board of Education is located at 888 Washington Blvd. in Stamford on the 5th floor.

Magnet school acceptance is based on a lottery system. All applications must be in by March 2. The drawing will take place on March 24 for the elementary children and on March 23 for the middle school children.

Applications for the Information Technology and Engineering School are due no later than Feb. 9 for all incoming 9th graders. The lottery drawing will take place on Feb. 13.

For information on the individual orientation times at the different schools, call the numbers below:

Hart Magnet - 977-5082

Rogers International School - 977-4560

Toquam Magnet - 977-4556

Westover Magnet - 977-4572

Middle Magnet - 977-2750

Academy of Information and Technology - 977-4336

Want more information from someone who has had 3 kids go through our schools? Call me, Victoria Lorusso at 203-324-9600.

For your home search, go to www.HomesofFairfieldCounty.com

As a successful agent of 14 years and typically working with the upper clientelle, I have shifted my business to where the business is and that is typically in the low end with first time home buyers, investors and those few taking advantage of the move up opportunities they have. Challenging yes but what I am finding more challenging is dealing with the publics perceptions.

Here's a typical conversation. " Hey Joe, so nice to meet you" (small talk) then he says "ohhh, you are in real estate, that can't be good right now". I say "Joe that depends on your perception, there are the best deals out there in years!!!" I give him a couple of examples and then he says, " wow, but it doesn't matter cause you can't get a loan anyway!" and I say, "truthfully Joe, you can. If you can document your income and have good credit, I can get it done. Example, I just did 95% financing for a single woman and secured the loan in 10 working days. From bid to closed was just three weeks and the best thing is that this market afforded her her dream."

So if you don't have a script, use me as an example. If you don't have a loan officer who can get it done for you, let me know, I'll share mine. The money is there, the deals are there. If you are content in staying in your old ways then be content in the slash your income has likely taken. If not, get busy, there is money to made! Moreover, if you want to the training to achieve this and more for free, contact me about Keller Williams. What's that old saying? "The proof is in the puding"? Meet these great agents that are thriving in this market and you'll know you found the absolute best puding.

Victoria

www.HomesofFairfieldCounty.com

Whether you are a builder or someone in search of the perfect property to build your dream estate, you should look here at these 12.5 acres that are mostly level, mostly cleared and offer a magificent landscaped pond.

The original home is still part of this property and included. A lovely, updated over 1700 sq ft home with loads of windows looking over the views of the magestic pond.

Looking to the future, this homeowner has had the entire property engineered to offer 5 lots. He's even gone through extensive EPB approvals, so it's set to go.

Set in an ideal location in the upper Newfield area of Stamford, offering city water and a cul-de-sac setting. This is a rare and great opportunity. An open house will be held this Sunday the 16th of Nov. from 1 -4 pm to view the property and the plans. If you are not able to make it and have interest, you can contact me at 203-324-9600! Seeing is believing!

Photos at www.HomesofFairfieldCounty.com

$$$ Are you waiting for your economic stimulus payment? It could be mixed in with one of the 383,000 pieces of mail returned to the IRS. Bad addresses caused these to be returned and have left taxpayers frustrated while the IRS tries figure out a plan to get the money into rightful hands.

The great news is that it's easy to let the IRS know where to send your check. Though note, if you are waiting for a rebate check, you must claim in by Nov. 28.

The money being returned is a combination of rebate checks and refunds against taxes already paid. The greater being the rebate checks. The average rebate check is $583 and the average refund check is $988, so don't delay.

The number of checks returned this year is 3 times the number of last year due to the economic stimulus payments. These were sent to taxpayers who were able to meet certain income requirements. A correctly filed 2007 tax return should have solved the problem but in 279,000 cases, the 1040 form addresses were wrong or people have moved since and failed to let the IRS know. I'm sure in some cases, hand writing was an issue as well. It was the same problem with 104,000 returns filed by tax payers that are due for refunds.

So is this you?

"People across the country are missing tax refunds and stimulus checks. We want to get this money into the hands of taxpayers where it belongs," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said in announcing the returned check problem. He added that as soon as gets correct mailing information, the checks go out.

Get your information to the IRS

Use the online options via the IRS and you will find the process very simple.

If you are missing a rebate check, go to the IRS's "Where's My Stimulus Payment?" online tracking tool. You can check the status of your stimulus check and get instructions on how to update your address. You can do the same by calling the IRS at (866) 234-2942.

Make sure you go online or make the call by Nov. 28!!

By law, the rebate checks must be sent out by Dec. 31, making the November date important for them to be able to close out the year.

Wondering about the Real Estate Market? Go to www.HomeofFairfieldCounty.com

By Victoria Lorusso

Despiste the turmoil in the rest of the country, Connecticut has been fortunate to have not lost nearly the amount of jobs as other states, but some economists are predicting that will change soon and especially here in Fairfield County.

Don Klepper-Smith who is the Chairman of Governor Rell's economic advisory panel, predicts the state could lose 60,000 - 80,000 jobs over the coming year and most of the jobs will come from Fairfield County as a result of the layoffs associated with Wall Street. Until now, Connecticut's economy has faired well due to a good mix of industries. But Klepper-Smith believes it will not be as bad as the 1989 - 1992 recession in which over 160,000 jobs were lost in the state.

Friday, the US Labor Department reported that 240,000 jobs were lost nationally in October, bringing the unemployment rate to 6.5% from 6.1%. Data for the state shows a loss of 2,300 jobs in September which actually was a lower number than August and bringing the over-all percentage down to 6.1% for Connecticut. Also, while the country has lost almost 1 percent of the total jobs this year, Connecticut lost only a quarter of 1%.

Other economists predict less of a loss of jobs. Either way, we are going to see more job losses through the next two quarters at minimum.

Curious about the housing market? Go to http://www.HomesofFairfieldCounty.com

Writen by Victoria Lorusso