Here’s an interesting tidbit from Realtor Chris Fountain, of Greenwich, CT.  Up until last week, he also wrote a real estate column in the local Greenwich paper.  Seems as though some of that paper’s real estate advertisers didn’t cotton to his rather honest assessments of the difficult local market, so they figured out a way to shut him up.  You can now check Chris at his blog, http://www.greenwichrealestate.blogspot.com/

Just in case you don’t trust print media to give you the true story on real estate, here’s further confirmation that they aren’t.  Of course, while every print media stock in the US continues to plunge toward 0, they aren’t going to alienate their biggest remaining advertisers: real estate companies.  Read and enjoy: 

Fired!
My publisher, Greenwich Post, has just fired me - according to the owner, it came down to a choice between my readers, who liked me, and certain real estate agencies who did not. The latter pays bills, the former does not, so I got the heave ho. Fair enough, but I question the wisdom of eliminating one of the few items in a newspaper that, according to my readers,anyway, made the paper worth perusing. If you have no readers, who will advertise? Oh well. I’ll be punching up my posting activity on this site, so please check in regularly for truthful reporting on the real estate scene. If you’d like calm, reassuring news that your real estate investment in Greenwich is doing just fine, feel free to check the Greenwich Post each week.

News Flash
One reason I was dumped was, I believe, my reporting a New York Times report that Realogy, parent company of Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and Soetheby’s, was in danger of going bankrupt. I hear from other agents that staff members of at least one of those firms haven’t been paid in 4 weeks - they got flowers on their desks this past Friday. That’s a nice touch, but try placating your landlord with a bunch of wilted orchids.

The following table contains closed residential real estate transactions in Branchburg for the first calendar quarter of 2008 (January 1 to March 31). However, unlike the inaccurate information promulgated by most agents and media sources, the “DOM” (Days on Market) column indicates the sum of days-on-market accrued through serial listings of the same home (it is a common agent “trick” to withdraw and re-list a home, in order to create the public impression of a “fresh” home that has seen fewer days on market). In addition, the “OLP” (Original List Price) column reflects the list price of each home at the time it was first offered for sale.

Note that there were only twelve closed transactions for the entire quarter. Even in 2007, most single months produced more closed sales. There is no more graphic indicator available of the accelerating sales slowdown in the local market.

Sales statistics posted at Branchblog will always be cross-checked to provide the most accurate and unbiased housing market snapshot possible.

Please direct specific inquiries to Chip Hughes at (908) 334-2329 or chip.hughes@att.net. Better yet, leave a comment!

All information is deemed accurate, but not guaranteed, and is provided courtesy of Garden State Multiple Listing System:

AVERAGES: 199 Days-on-Market; SALE PRICE: 89% of original list price.