Let’s Talk Local Real Estate & More!

Here we are, January 11 (my wedding anniversary and the reason for the beautiful bouquet of flowers for the blog photo) and when I’m asked “How’s the market?”, I reply, “It’s quiet.” That’s because, it’s quiet. New Listings are down in southeastern CT and Connecticut overall. Typical for January? Yes but it’s extra quiet. Dec. 2022 New Listings for Single Family homes were down over 25% from December 2021 according to National Association of Realtors. Due to rising interest rates, higher mortgage rates, inflation and elevated sales prices the predictions for real estate in 2023 will continue to keep things quiet. Sales will most likely continue to slow and home pricing will come down, but not a lot. The demand is still there. There are still plenty of buyers from Covid years who did not win a bid on a house along with new buyers to the market. This Buyer demand will still be more than housing inventory available which will keep listing prices up for sellers. As we go through the winter months, it’ll be interesting to see how January,  February and March compare to the same time in 2022. I’ll keep you posted on that.
(source: Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors)

For me, this past week has been busy catching up, learning, organizing and spending quality time with family and friends. This is the perfect time of year to focus on things I can’t during the busier times of the year. I’ve cleaned and reorganized my office. Updated office equipment with a more efficient printer & larger shredder. I’m taking a Brian Buffini 8 week real estate course to refresh myself with best practices to be an excellent Realtor. I’ve already completed my 2022 taxes and ready for my accountant. Lets see, what else have I done? I made Sourdough Bread from scratch! Two weeks to prep the sourdough starter and a full day and half to make it. It came out pretty good but not perfect. I’ll try again this weekend. We went to dinner with our friends Ted & Joanne and met their family and friends which was really nice. My husband and I have been taking extra good care of ourselves with exercising and making healthier choices. Lots of reading which I love. Oh! I won $300 on the powerball on my birthday and then went to Bingo with my mother and won $167.00 and she won $300! Wait, Whaaaat? It’s been quite a busy week and a great start to 2023 now that I reflect. Hmmmm, interesting. Pause here and take a minute yourself to reflect on the past 11 days. (If you need help, just scroll through your texts and photos and your history is all right there.) 🙂 Last but never least, my sons always have things going on that I’d love to share but, it’s so not cool to do that as their Mom so when I know they’ll approve, I’ll share a little here and there.

More – What’s everyone doing for fun these days? We went to see Avatar and will be seeing Plane and A man named Otto soon. We do have a gift certificate to go bowling. I love bowling! There are always plenty of fun things to do at the Mystic Seaport in the winter. We get together with our families on Sundays to make good food and play Yahtzee or cards. I do like to spend time at home on the weekends to relax and tidy up the house. I guess nothing exciting is planned yet but you never know what will pop up.

If you’d like any information about home pricing, mortgage rates, buyer and seller questions or even how to make sourdough bread, let me know. I’m here to help!

Have a great week!

Jacquie. 🏡