Connecticut is an area rich in traditions. This past weekend New Haven hosted the Yale-Harvard football game, which brought the city to gridlock - again. This is an event steeped in tradition, down to the wearing of those huge raccoon coats. Did you know that the game of football as we know it today, was largely developed by Connecticut native and Yale grad Walter Camp, class of 1880? Camp is known as the "Father of American Football". We locals know that, and it's why football still matters in New Haven, even if our universities don't come to mind as football power houses. This Thursday, when you sit down to watch your favorite football games after a hearty dinner, think of Mr. Camp and raise a toast to him.

What are your traditions? What family traditions delight and bring you closer together? Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, because it is all about family and friends, giving thanks and eating our favorite foods. There is no gift giving involved; just the love and attention we pay to each other. My kids always want our basic holiday menu, but keep adding to it. I have decided to write a cookbook for them, complete with goofy family photos that would only be appreciated by us. It is a way to keep memories and encourage future cooks. Our mac and cheese receipe has evolved over the years. It now includes jalapeno cheddar. I have encouraged some of my clients to do their own cookbooks or family traditions diary. They are enthusiastic, but think it is a daunting task. It doesn't have to be. Photos taken around the Thanksgiving table and some recorded comments can be the start of your tradition. Photos taken by Realtors at closing can be the catalyst for this family traditions record keeping.

What defines your family? Is it music, a family business, rugged individualism? Whatever it is - it is uniquely yours. You should discuss it and keep it dear. As families become more geographically scattered, holding on to traditions can be the glue that holds them together. I wish you a bountiful Thanksgiving, and a thoughtful appreciation of all that we have, as families, as Realtors and as Americans.

Today's blog is about a topic I hold dear: the joy of having a good neighbor. I grew up in a rural part of the Hudson Valley in New York State. As a child, I learned that a good neighbor was like gold. My parents couldn't stress it enough. Winters were harsh and you might need a neighbor to help if a car broke down or a house lost heat. My parents both worked and we had the basics, just like everyone else in town. Life was simpler then; it wasn't the suburban life I have now. Today, if I need something, I buy it. I don't have to bother anyone - but I know I can. I am blessed to have several good neighbors, and I am thinking about them as I affirm all the good things in my life this Thanksgiving week.

We live life at a breakneck pace. I think most Realtors have a turbo charged inner clock, which lets us handle so many things at once. Now and then, however, it is good to slow down and take stock of what we are doing and what things are important to us. We understand the value of relationships in our business, and we see the value of good neighborhoods, where the homes show that people care. This Thanksgiving, call a neighbor you cherish and tell them how thankful you are for them. If you don't have a good neighbor, perhaps you might want to list the houses on either side of you, and work on finding two wonderful new neighbors. Just a thought.....

The important thing is to give thanks. Once you get into the habit, you start to recognize things you are grateful for. The positive energy this creates affects everything you do and everyone around you. Stay away from negative people - they add nothing to your life. Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you recognize all the good things in your life.

In thanksgiving, I am going to write about things we should be grateful for this week. Today, I would like to focus on the volunteers in our local communities, who contribute so much to the quality of life we enjoy. In particular, I'd like to talk about the generosity of the people of Greater New Haven .

Last night my family attended a fundraiser at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven to benefit the Clifford W. Beers Child Guidance Clinic. Beers Clinic, founded in 1913, is the oldest mental health outpatient clinic in the United States. www.cliffordbeers.org.  It serves children by providing mental health and "wrap around" services which may include housing and food. In the past year, the Clinic saw over 2900 children from the Greater New Haven area. The Clinic, like many non-profit organizations, has been hard hit with funding cuts due to the recession. The need for services has never been greater. As a board member, I was very concerned that the event would not raise the needed funds. Imagine my surprise, when we had to limit the number of new reservations for the event, when the count reached 430. We set a new record for sponsorships. And the bidding was fierce for items in our silent auction. Despite an uncertain economy, people gave to support our neediest citizens - children.

There is a long history of giving here in New Haven. There are, however, unsung heroes in each of our communities. They quietly give to support individuals in need or organizations trying to make changes to benefit all. These are the people who fill backpacks with food for children to take home on weekends. They volunteer their expertise to change policies to benefit the elderly, the infirm or the voiceless.  Volunteers understand that a strong community benefits everyone. They see a need and are quick to respond to it. Realtors are among the most generous people in any community. We don't just sell the American Dream of housing; we help support communities through our volunteerism and giving.

So, cheers and accolades to those who donate their time, talent and treasure. Volunteerism and giving is as American as apple pie, and yes, Thanksgiving.

or is it the Fun House? Either way, we Realtors have to manoeuvre dips and turns and blurry images to figure out where the market and overall economy are going. The headlines seem to change every day. Today's news from the Commerce Department states that housing starts fell in October, due to a sharp decline in new residential construction. But it this a bad thing?

If we have too much unsold construction out there, doesn't it make sense to sell that first before anyone takes on new projects? I would think this dip could be positive, by helping us move the existing inventory. Here in Hamden, CT, the inventory continues to drop. We are seeing a healty number of "on deposit" signs as we drive around. As we all know, all real estate is local. National headlines inspire or alarm, but we need to look at our own markets to determine how the housing market is doing. There was lots of positive talk at the NAR convention this past week. Hard to believe it can all turn around in two days.

Now we know why the federal government extended the $8000 first time homebuyers credit. It needs to keep this economy stimulated, or things may slow even further. Each spiral down means fewer jobs, so you get the picture. Repairing this economy is a daunting task. Each step has multiple possible outcomes. The one good thing is that the slow economy is keeping inflation, therefore interest rates down. That's the one positive thing in this story.

Ever wish you had a chance to do it over again? Do you remember hearing just a few years ago, "I wish I had bought that house a decade earlier...." According to the economists at NAR, this period we are living in gives us an opportunity to do it again and get it right this time. Never has housing been more affordable. A combination of historically low interest rates and falling prices makes this a great time to buy. Now we have to let the public know, before reality sets in and interest rates rise as a consequence of our weak dollar.

NAR predicts that the rate of housing units sold next year will rise to 5.7 million units, up marginally from 5.5 million units this year. The housing numbers were dismal earlier in the year, but were helped dramatically by the $8000 first time buyer tax credit. The program brought 400,000 first time home buyers into the market. Anyone who is trying to close a mortgage right now can feel the crush. Banks are very slow to process all those buyers. It will be interesting to see the end result of all these sales, and if they will stimulate the greater economy as people buy furniture, flooring, appliances and decorations.

Sales are at the pace they were a decade ago, but our country continues to grow in population. What does this all mean? Pent up demand for homes. If you have a buyer, get them in now. Prices may drop next year, but what is to keep interest rates from rising? The government can only keep interest rates suppressed for so long. Eventually the foreign investors buying our debt are going to demand a better return to buy our treasury bills. This has been a tough year for real estate, but things are slowly looking up. I just returned from the Realtors Convention in San Diego, and the consensus among the CRS members I spoke to is that things are improving. Better banking practices, a population that now saves rather than spending every dollar, and a slowly improving economy should provide us with a brighter 2010. Happy selling!

This title may evoke a zen-like peaceful feeling, but it describes the opposite. It has to do with the frenetic pace of building in the cities of China. I just returned from a 9 day visit to Beijing and Shanghai with the New Haven Chamber of Commerce. As a real estate agent, I was astonished by the size and continued growth of the cities, the need for housing and China's approach to the problem. Look in any direction and you are going to see not one, but dozens of construction cranes builiding new office and apartment towers. Beijing is building new housing projects the size of cities in Connecticut. In Shanghai, there are over 5000 buildings 30 stories or higher. All this to accomodate a population of 22 million.

Our group was treated to a "snapshot" of China. I say snapshot, because if we return in a few years, the places we saw will probably be unrecognizable. They will have been swallowed by new, even bigger, construction. This is an economy on steroids.

Why do I write about this? Because what is going on in China is going to affect our lives and our livelihoods. China is gobbling up the world's resources for all this development, just as the United States did when it had its own industrial revolution and growth spurt. To see China today is to look at the rebirth of a nation. It is also a glimpse back to what it must have been like to see the U. S. a century ago. China now consumes 48% of the world's steel. (Mortished, Times Online 10/13/09) and almost an equal percentage of the world's cement. What I witnessed was limited to the constuction in the cities. Most of the construction is industrial, so we can only imagine what that looks like. China also has a lot of cash. It can pay whatever it takes to acquire the raw materials it needs.

There is opportunity here. The world comes to China to manufacture, because the Chinese can make anything. We visited silk, pearl and jade factories, and saw the remarkable skills of the weavers and carvers. The world also visits to learn about an exciting culture. The juxtapostion of ancient and modern is quite striking. My photo of an Buddhist temple shows cell phone towers in the distance. In the middle of modern Beijing we visited herbalists whose collective experince goes back thousands of years. Then there is the art and design - there is such beauty in the decorative arts and gardens.

As enjoyable as the trip was, we were happy to return home. When you travel abroad, you return with an added appreciation of the life we have here. The Chinese pay a steep price for all this development. The air is toxic in the cities. Most of us returned with respiratory ailments. When we first landed in Beijing, we saw what looked like a pea-soup fog. It was smog. The local paper in the hotel had an article about people dying of black lung disease, and they are not miners. On a real estate note: the government owns all the land. It will allow you use for 70 years. This may explain why the Chinese are buying up real estate in Hawaii, California and Vancouver. Despite this, young people want to own their own apartments for the freedom and extra space it offers them. 70 years for them seems a long way off. The weather is doing some funny things in China. On the morning of our flight to Shanghai, it snowed. Later we learned tht the government had seeded the clouds hoping for rain. The unforeseen consequence was a snow storm that eventually closed the airport. We got out just in time, but the second half of our group spent 7 hours on the tarmac before their flight was cancelled. Their experience may not be as joyful as mine. Hope you get to visit China someday. It is well worth the trip.

On Sunday morning I looked out of a second story window at home and saw something sparkling in the distance, where Quinnipiac University is building the new 250 acre York Hill Campus in Hamden. The sparkles were coming from the new "windmills" which the university has erected to generate power for the campus. On Monday, I decided to check things out. A few months ago there was only one windmill, and now it looks like there are a dozen or more.

As you can see, there are no blades on these structures. They are verticle axis turbines, manufactured by Mariah Power. Not only do they have a distinctive look, their design allows them to run silently. There will eventually be 42 of these 40' turbines at the site, adding architectural interest to a garden below. It should be a fascinating gathering spot for students and visitors alike. And an example of what new energy can look and sound like. Eventually this campus will be one of the "greenest" in the United States.

 We neighbors of Quinnipiac U. watch   with fascination as the university continues to gobble up and develop large tracts of land. There are now three campuses - two in Hamden and one in North Haven. Quinnipiac University is known for its excellent health science majors. The school is well positioned to meet the growing demand for health professionals. Graduates with majors in physical therapy have their pick of jobs anywhere in the country.

 Hamden enjoys many benefits being a college town. Quinnipiac U. is the largest employer in town. The school hosts cultural events open to the public, and thousands of students bring life to the many small business in town that cater to their needs.

It is worth a trip to see the York Hill  campus, which currently boasts two stadiums, dormatories and a parking garage. The views of the surrounding countryside and New Haven harbor are magical. It will be fascinating to see this campus develop over the years.

Despite billions of tax dollars poured into banks that are "too big to fail", bank lending is down for the year. TARP money flowed to banks in the heat of the banking crisis a year ago, but the government placed no specific  requirements for the use of the funds, other than for banks to have adequate reserves. The FDIC has released some statistics, and they are troubling, particularly to real estate agents. The largest banks in the U. S. have curtailed lending this year, despite a large growth in deposits. Tight lending affects small businesses that hire, and home buyers.

The top five banks in the U. S. now control 37% of the nation's deposits. Their deposits rose by 29% for the year ending June 30th. (Colin Barr, Fortune) Only one bank, PNC of Pittsburgh, increased lending in proportion to increased deposits. Lending at Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo was less than their deposit growth. The prize goes to the bank that received the most bail out money - Citibank - which reported a decrease in lending.

Are the banks really the culprit here, or is it lack of government oversight? Sadly, both are to blame for bad decisons. The economy was in dire straights last year and something had to be done to keep the financial system from collapsing. On a side note, the British economy is in the tank right now, and economists are placing blame on their government's lack of an agressive response to their banking crisis. France and Germany poured money into their economies, and are on the mend today. Our government requires banks to have adequate money in reserves as more loans continue to underperform. These were bad loans to begin with, so this is the banks' responsibility. Sadly, we are the ones to pay. and pay we do. Banks are getting "fat" from the increased level of savings and huge overdraft fees. We need a return to fair and logical banking and governance.

Whether attributable to the $8000 tax credit or an improving economy, NAR announced today that sales of previously owned homes rose to their highest level in over two years. There is always a pickup in sales in September, when kids go back to school and parents re-focus on house hunting. This year, however, featured the perfect trifecta: the tax credit, low prices and historically low interest rates.

According to NAR, home sales rose 9.4% from August levels to an annually adjusted rate of 5.57 million units. Sales were highest in the West, but we are seeing inventories drop here in Connecticut too. This has to benefit our local economy. More buyers mean that our sellers can finally move out and/or up. This creates momentum that I hope can carry us through the next few months.

These government incentives are obviously very expensive. It would be wonderful to see the expected pay-off come to fruition. I don't think our economy can afford to extend or expand this tax credit program for purchasers, but am delighted with today's news. It shows optimism. The sky is not falling. We will see our way out of this recession in the coming year.

People often ask me what is takes to be a successful real estate agent. The above referenced skill set comes to mind. In a market like this, it takes experience to know that the economy will eventually turn around. We need to convey that sense of hope to our clients, and particularly to our buyers who are frozen with fear at the thought of putting their hard earned dollars down on a property that may drop in value. We seasoned agents have seen downturns before. Over time, the market bounces back.

Here in Connecticut, there is a sense that the dark clouds are lifting. We may have dodged the bullet, economically speaking. It feels like we will survive this downturn and start the slow climb back up. This is not to diminish the realties of people undergoing foreclosure or job losses. Our unemployment rate was at 8.1% in August, according to the Connecticut Department of Labor. At the time, the U.S. rate was  9.7%. According to Realty Trac, there are 7640 foreclosed properties in the state, but the trend is down. Check them out at http://www.realtytrac.com/states/Connecticut.html. What gives me hope, is that lots of those foreclosed properties are being bought up. There are real buys out there, low interest rates, and great incentive to buy in urban areas.

I am working on a deal right now, where the buyer is a professional in New Haven. He is going to benefit from the $8000 tax credit and a City of New Haven program that will give buyers like him up to $20,000 to repair older homes they are buying. The program is called the CHFA U R Home Program. It encourages people who work in New Haven to buy in New Haven. There may be similar programs, backed by the FHA, in your local markets. There is more paperwork involved with these mortgages, but it is well worth the effort. These incentives can go a long way to ease the worried minds our our buyers. Even if the market drops a bit more, they have made a wise investment. Happy selling!