"This market is all about lifestyle," says Michelle Genovesi, owner of Michelle & Company at William Raveis Real Estate. "What's hot about this part of Connecticut is that it gives you whatever you want: waterfront, country, suburban, or small-town. The higher-end properties are starting to move again."
-- Michelle Genovesi
If you have been thinking about a quieter life in Fairfield County-or even a more remote location in Connecticut-this might be the time to buy. Prices are climbing, but slowly, and there is a good selection of properties on the market. Brokers are predicting brisk sales for 2007, though, so the supply may not last long.
Despite its proximity to New York City, very little of Fairfield County's diverse real estate offering can be classified as urban. Greenwich is perhaps the classic suburban town; Stamford has a more businesslike ambiance; the unique coastal town of Norwalk offers a nautical flair. Smaller towns such as Rowayton, Westport, and New Canaan all appeal to different tastes.
"This market is all about lifestyle," says Michelle Genovesi, owner of Michelle & Company at William Raveis Real Estate. "What's hot about this part of Connecticut is that it gives you whatever you want: waterfront, country, suburban, or small-town. The higher-end properties are starting to move again."
As you would expect, the farther from the city you go, the more value you'll find-and it appears that most activity now is taking place in the farther-flung towns and villages. If you don't mind the long commute, bargains can be had in several communities that are more rural than suburban in character.
Bill Larkin, sales manager at William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty's New Canaan office, says, "We have a great diversity of product, including walk-to-town condos, newly built homes in the $4 million to $6 million range, and a good selection of midcentury moderns, which used to be hard to sell, but we find that many younger people are interested in them now, and they're enjoying a renaissance."
Larkin notes that the glass-intensive style that was popular in the 1960s originated in the New Canaan area, and another one or two of these modern classics will be hitting the market soon.
"The more recently developed condos are priced in the $600,000s up to about $2 million, depending on the amenities," he adds. "They give you a turnkey lifestyle, if you want a small-town experience without having to deal with maintenance. We never have to sell this town. It's smaller in scale than Greenwich, and zoning has maintained its old New England character."
Nancy MacDonald, senior vice president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, remarks that new construction in New Canaan led to a glut in 2006, driving prices down. Prices have also dropped in Wilton and Greenwich, she notes, but this is leading to more active bidding.
"Homes that have taken price deductions are now selling well," she says. "Wall Street bonus money is coming into play in Greenwich, and I'm seeing more multiple offers than I'd seen for a while. In Wilton, we have a 6,500-square-foot home that overlooks several acres of conservation land that had been on and off the market for several years at $2.8 million; it's now a bargain at $ 1.775 million. On the other end of the market we have a waterfront property in Greenwich, four acres in a two-acre zone, for $28.9 million-and even at that price it's getting a lot of lookers."
Kathleen Packer, realtor at William Raveis in Trumbull, gives high marks to the town of Bridgeport, which she says is one of the most affordable in Fairfield County.
"Bridgeport is undergoing a lot of redevelopment, with various efforts to make the town more attractive," she says. "The town's arcade is being redone, artists' lofts are being added, and first-time home buyers will be able to find something that's nice and affordable. Investors are noticing the changes also, and they're looking for multifamily homes that they can renovate and flip.
"The Black Rock section of Bridgeport, on the water, is very hot, with a community feeling to it. I also love Trumbull, where we're based. It's affordable but without the traffic and congestion of other towns. Our business centers are on the outskirts, rather than in the middle of town."
Jill Bregy, broker at Prudential Connecticut Realty, is offering several properties in the Westport/Weston area. She agrees that prices dropped noticeably in 2006, but she sees some recovery, particularly in the $3 million-plus range.
"Prices were off about 10 percent last year," she estimates, "but this spring we're seeing more activity. I recently listed an estate in Westport at $3.485 million, and we've had many showings to qualified people. At the other end of the pricing scale I have a 3,000-square-foot five-bedroom Colonial in Weston, on two acres, for just $899,000. The Westport property is the Frazier Peters estate-the personal home of a local architect-which is a stone construction with pool, pool house, tennis court, waterfall, totally renovated. This is still a buyer's market, but for a specialized property that's well presented and well priced you'll have plenty of interest and probably a bidding war. Towns like Weston, Wilton, and New Canaan attract people from all over the world: not just Wall Streeters, but people who work here in Connecticut or in Westchester County."
Westport is "the easiest town to sell real estate in," testifies Patsy Sutherland, broker at Nicholas H. Fingelly Real Estate. She admits that rumblings in the press about a possible economic downturn temporarily hurt pricing there, but she reports that the market is back in full swing.
"We have beaches, a country club with a golf course that's open to residents, wonderful restaurants, and a famous playhouse that Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward have renovated, as well as Mr. Newman's restaurant-and the phones are ringing again," she says. "The average price is up from $1.7 million in 2006 to $1.8 million so far this year. Interest rates are low and all's good to go. The buyers are back and we'll have a great year."
Just a bit farther out, in the town of Fairfield, Sutherland is offering a four-bedroom, three-and-half-bath home for $1.499 million.
"It's only five more minutes from Westport to Fairfield, and the value is so much greater," she notes. "It's just a matter of people not wanting to commute those extra five minutes. If you want a home that's walking distance to everything, you might wait anywhere from three to five years for just the right property to come on the market, and it'll sell very quickly. Weston, also, is a little bit of an extra commute, and consequently the prices are a little lower there, and sales happen a little more slowly. You have to drive everywhere you go, but it's a great town. It's home to a lot of people who work in Stamford, but if you're commuting to Manhattan it might be inconvenient."
The larger and better-known towns of Fairfield County, such as Greenwich and Stamford, are also seeing increased sales action these days, according to Diane Dutcher, sales associate at Coldwell Banker Curtis in Greenwich.
"A new property is going up in Stamford with 15 condo units," she notes, "close to all the banks. They won't be big, or family-oriented, but they're good for couples, and that area is going gangbusters in terms of development.
"Greenwich slowed a little last year, with prices staying about the same. People weren't able to take the money and run quite yet. It was the first year in some time in which we had to be patient. We usually ended up getting our price, but people weren't jumping on whatever came available."
The Greenwich area still has a plentiful inventory, Dutcher says: everything from single-bedroom condos to "mega-mansions."
"A starter house will cost you about $1 million," she says, "and if you want to pay less than that you'll have to settle for something small, less than 1,500 square feet and maybe only two bedrooms. More likely, though, you'll have to expect to spend $1.3 to 1.4 million. Go farther out into the country where there's more land, and you'll pay more. Land isn't plentiful here. But Greenwich has a lot of attributes that you don't have elsewhere: low taxes, good schools, beaches.
You'll find anything you're looking for-but you'll pay a premium. One property that's attracting a lot of interest right now is a five-bedroom house with pool on one-third of an acre in Riverside, for $3.895 million."
If you don't mind traveling a little farther afield, specifically into New Haven and Middlesex Counties, the Guilford/Madison area offers several amazing bargains, according to Lorey Walz, realtor at Prudential Connecticut Realty. As always, she reports, direct waterfront property is the most desirable, and it goes fast, but for the moment a couple of great buys are available.
"In Madison, we have a five-bedroom direct waterfront home with a sandy beach, double cabana, three-car garage, and full basement, in pristine condition, for $3.5 million," she reports. "It's on a bluff, so flood insurance isn't necessary, which is very unusual for this part of the country. Also in Madison, right between the beach and the village, we have a six-bedroom, five-bath home on four acres, for $1.2 million, which has to be the buy of the century. It's a contemporary, with glass walls that really take advantage of all that land, plus a tennis court and a putting green. In Clinton, we have a water-oriented home for $975,000, and you can have a deep-water dock there.
"We have a lot of inventory, and Fairfield County doesn't have the deals we have. We're starting to see some price stabilization, with mortgage rates as low as they are, although many of the people who are looking here are cash buyers. Inventory is reducing, but I don't expect any major appreciation in price."
Walz explains that waterfront property in that area is relatively worry-free, since that part of the shoreline is well protected from storms, and the area offers a surprisingly long list of amenities and recreational options.
"All the town greens have fairs, art shows, antique shows," she says. "Madison has Sunday night concerts on the green, and the boating is wonderful. Long Island Sound is pristine this far east. We have a bluefish festival in August, and the Fourth of July has a real small-town spirit to it. And it's an easy commute on the Shoreline East train: about three hours from Madison to Wall Street."
Strict zoning has kept commercial development to a minimum, Walz adds. The Madison/Guilford area is mainly zoned for one acre, with bigger parcels available inland.
"But this isn't an area where you'd be likely to buy 20 or 30 acres," she notes.
If you're looking for land, you might find more to choose from in Litchfield County, which lies just to the north of Fairfield County. According to Seymour Surnow, director at Sotheby's International Realty, the Litchfield market is resurgent, and the overall economy is picking up there-but not to the point where it will price home buyers out of the market, or lead to overdevelopment.
"This year is starting off the best I've seen in five years," he says. "Litchfield County is not suburban in nature like Fairfield County, and there's less direct access to the city by train, so here's where you'll find the second-, third-, and fourth-home buyer. It's also a market where you'll expect more land for your money.
"Thegrowth is interesting but it's still not suburbanized here at all. Litchfield County is all small towns, one town very different from the next, and what's so special about the area is that so many of the people here work in the private school industry, so you have not only excellent schools but unique access to amazing people you'd never otherwise have met. You could be invited to a dinner in blue jeans and find Nancy Kissinger or Stephen Sondheim seated next to you. We have a very relaxed lifestyle that draws quite a different element from the Hamptons crowd. You can be as social as you want up here but the atmosphere is not aggressively social."
Surnow says his market is basically the $2 million home, "which is like $8 million or more in the Hamptons."
"The big-bonus Wall Street people are more likely to spend their bonus money on an upgrade to their residence in the city, or they'll go to the Hamptons or Palm Beach or Aspen," he says. "Our clientele has money but it's quieter money."
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