By Sally Quale

“Skittish; Very, very flat; Not bad – just not there; Not a good picture” and
“In a word—terrible.”
Not since the early 1990’s have local agents used such gloomy terms to
describe the health of the Norfolk real estate market. By the mid to late
1990’s the market had taken off again, peaking in 2005 when the bubble
burst, sending it spiraling downward. (There was a brief blip of interest from
nervous New York City residents following 9/11, but little follow-through).
One explanation for current doldrums, offered by Betsy Little, owner of the
eponymous Betsy Little Real Estate, is that, in the flush of 2005 activity,
sellers of larger Norfolk properties chose to set very high-end prices
targeting New Yorkers seeking second homes.
Buyers balked, and, although some prices have come down to more realistic
levels in the past year and a half, reports Anita Mathewson, owner of Locust
Lane Realty established in 1980, most buyers are still “Hesitant. They are
sitting on the sidelines, waiting for lower prices, while, in the meantime, the
banks have tightened up on loans.”
According to Tom McGowan, in the Norfolk office of Elyse Harney Real
Estate in Salisbury, as of mid-August, “There were 41 for-sale listings in
town, more than double the number of a year ago, with only three showing
any signs of activity.” A few of the sellers have foreclosures pending.
Asking prices run from $99,000 to $4.2 million.

As to the town’s relative position in the greater NW corner, current statistics
indicate the market in 06058 is no worse off than in the neighboring zips, but
statistics do not convey the whole picture. The truth is more complicated, as
Barry Rosa, V.P. for Prudential Connecticut Realty admits in his 2 nd Quarter
Market Report for July, 2008. “There is really no such thing as a
Connecticut real estate market. There are 169 communities within our state.
There are 169 markets, and there are sub-markets within each of these
communities.”
Norfolk is a prime example. Tom McGowan describes it as “a specialty
community…off the beaten path.” Betsy Little concurs: “Norfolk has a
unique place among the neighboring towns. It is a different kind of
community, characterized perhaps best as individualists.”
Other unusual factors that might affect Norfolk’s market stats: most of the
listings are for second, not primary homes; some properties, such as those on
Doolittle Lake, are not included in the stats since they are not multiple-
listed; and many realtors from other NW Ct. towns show prospective buyers
available properties in Lakeville, Salisbury or Twin Lakes first, often
omitting or downplaying those in the Icebox.
Rosalie Fanelli, owner and manager of Raynard & Pierce agency on Station
Place, considers “a recent flurry of inquiries a good sign, but it’s not a good
picture for Norfolk and probably won’t be at least until the spring of 2009.”
The other local agents agree with her, advising both buyers and sellers to
hang in there.