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Community Corner

Wheee! Ledyard's Real Estate Roller Coaster

Up And Down, And Upside-Down

I happen to be a big fan of roller coasters. For someone that gets car sick rather easily, I don’t seem to have a problem when I’m speeding  up and down and upside down clutching the safety bar. I’ve ridden quite a few of the great ones. Usually nobody gets hurt. Sadly I can’t say the same for Ledyard Real Estate.

I can spew out Ledyard Real Estate statistics as well as anybody. In fact, I publish a weekly Ledyard Real Estate Market Report where today it tells us that a total of 74 contracts have closed in the last six months, with an average sold price of $226,723. Despite reporting statistics, I dislike them.

It seems that you can’t open the newspaper these days without being blasted with the latest real estate statistics. Here’s one reported by the National Association of Realtors this month:

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“Single-family home sales rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.69 million in January from 4.58 million in December, and are 4.9 percent higher than the 4.47 million level in January 2010.”

Huh? What does this mean to Ledyard homeowners?  Absolutely nothing.  Like politics, real estate is local. 

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Recently one reader of my Simply Ledyard  blog gave me the idea of following a particular style home in a subdivision to see how prices have changed over the past 10 years. I was able to find a perfect example in my listing at 41 Partridge Hollow Road which closed in January. 

This home,  in the Pheasant Run subdivision, has sold four times in 10 years and has been in very nice condition each time it has been on the market.  Just under 2,000 square feet, it offered four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths plus a screened porch.  A nice bonus was the central air conditioning. 

Here is the history of 41 Partridge Hollow since 2001:

Closed Date 2/28/01 - $197,000
Closed Date 7/14/03 - $269,000
Closed Date 7/20/07 - $319,000
Closed Date 1/12/11 - $252,500

Who needs statistics? That history pretty much tells the story of the Ledyard real estate market over the past 10 years.  A Roller Coaster.  Unfortunately one where people are finding themselves upside-down. Pretty depressing, huh?

I could end this article right here but that wouldn't be the whole story.  Step back, reread those numbers, and look at the big picture. Since 2001, the price of 41 Partridge Hollow Road increased over 25%.

 Not bad at all.

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