Local Realtors Guardedly Optimistic

By Sally Quale

Reports show that 56 single-family residences in Norfolk are currently on the market, over 6 percent of its housing stock. “It’s by far the largest number of single-family houses for sale that I’ve known in my twenty-two years in Norfolk,” reports Betsy Little of Betsy Little Real Estate. Also on the market are 22 miscellaneous properties, including land, condominiums, and multiple-housing units. The figures are confirmed by other local realtors and by First Selectman Sue Dyer, as well as the online website, Multiple Listing Service (www.mls.com).

Echoing similar local reactions to this news, Libby Borden, Chair of Norfolk’s Economic Development Commission, commented, “I don’t understand why more houses aren’t selling. Norfolk has so much going for it.” A closer look at the situation reveals a number of factors that have pushed the current inventory of houses on the market up to the highest level in Norfolk’s history. First, there are the usual family and lifestyle changes that precipitate real estate activity: divorce, unemployment, retirement, illness, death, job relocation, downsizing, or the desire to escape seasonal weather. Tom McGowan of Elyse Harney Real Estate has observed a greater occurrence of these types of changes over the past few years.

Secondly, the sudden economic crisis of 2008 resulted in a good number of homes being placed on the market where they have remained off and on for the past five years.

Thirdly, this past spring, there was a spike in new listings due to the recently improved economic conditions. Properties withheld from the market earlier because of sluggish sales are now being offered on the theory that buyers will act now before interest rates rise further.

At least Norfolk is not alone. Published figures show that the real estate market in the entire northwest corner of the state is today similarly depressed, as are areas well beyond this small world.

Our local realtors have found making contact with clients these days to be most successful through word of mouth (proclaiming current contented residents to be their best resource), through their own websites and the Multiple Listing Service website, and through ads in Norfolk Now and local papers. These sources seem to attract customers who, having been introduced to the innumerable riches that we all know Norfolk has “going for it,” have purchased homes and historically settled in for a long stay.

Little describes Norfolk’s real estate business over the past two decades as “always pretty steady,” with the caveat that “the past few years have not been so steady.” As for the future, she and the other local realtors contacted are guardedly optimistic, predicting a steady albeit slow increase in activity, while advising all to have patience. Jill Vantine of Locust Lane Properties and Little report a continued mix of first- and second-home buyers.

While the market may continue to fluctuate, First Selectmn Dyer affirms, “Town business goes on as usual,” supported by the regulated collection of town property taxes from whoever owns the property on the due date.