Anne Curran
Darien, Wilton, New Canaan and Ridgefield have all been named to Rent.com‘s Top 25 Cities for Renters Raising Families.
The towns “boast some of the nation’s best school systems, beautiful parks and affluent communities,” according to a press release. Darien ranked the highest of Connecticut towns at No. 6. Wilton was ranked 12th, New Canaan was 18th and Ridgefield was named 24th.
Rent.com has assembled the Top 25 Cities for Renters Raising Families with the help of New York-based Onboard Informatics 2014, a data and technology company.
“This list is based on cities and towns with a high concentration of family households (greater than 70 percent), population greater than 10,000 and a median household income of $50K or more,” according to the release.
Rental data and median rental rates based on Rent.com data. Cities with fewer than 1,000 rental dwellings were eliminated.
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Buyers, don’t get your hopes too high about a less competitive housing market this spring.
Despite rising prices and bidding wars, homeowners remain reluctant to put up for-sale signs, creating a shortage of available properties that is frustrating buyers and real estate agents across Eastern Massachusetts. Many are crossing their fingers that a flood of new listings will materialize to ease the pressure on the market and prices as the crucial spring selling season gets underway.
But don’t count on it.
“The recent stunning lack of inventory of homes for sale is still stunning — and it’s even getting worse,” said Mary Gillach, a real estate agent at Brookline’s Gillach Group, affiliated with William Raveis Real Estate. “It’s not just in Brookline and Newton and other areas we cover. I’m hearing it from others all over.”
Tight inventories have been the story of the region’s housing market for more than a year, tamping down sales, driving up prices, and showing few signs of easing. Listings of single-family homes statewide have declined for 24 consecutive months — including a 19 percent plunge in February — while median sale prices have increased for 28 straight months, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and Warren Group, a Boston real estate tracking firm.
Sales, meanwhile, have declined in each of the past three months — not for want of buyers, but of sellers, according to industry analysts.
The tight supplies have been felt most acutely in Boston neighborhoods and close-in communities, where median prices, or midpoint prices, have climbed significantly above the prerecession peak in 2005. Gillach said she recently represented a client who bid $1.4 million in cash — $300,000 over the asking price — for a four-bedroom home in Newton and waived the home inspection.
“And we still lost,” she said. “There were 15 other offers — 15 offers.”
Industry officials say a number of factors could be contributing to the supply shortage. First, construction of new homes has lagged in recent years even as the population has grown. In addition, home values have yet to regain their prerecession peak in many communities, leaving homeowners wary of selling at a loss.
Tom Grimshaw, a realtor at Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty in Boston, cited another factor exacerbating inventory woes: homeowners worried they won’t be able to find a new home at an affordable price if they sell.
One of his clients wants to sell her South End condo and move, he said, “but she’s afraid there’s no place else for her to go in the area. She’s really balking at selling. This is a very intense market right now.”
You already know that content is important. Smart marketers are using quality content to build brand awareness and drive traffic to their sites. Many content creators dream of their content going viral.
Here are 9 tips for creating content that gets shared.
Before you begin writing, take a moment to identify your target audience. It is difficult to get people to share your content if they don’t care about it, so figure out who you target audience is and cater your content to them. All you need to do is ask some basic questions.
Who: Are you targeting stay-at-home moms, college students, retired couples, teenage girls, marketing professionals, engineers, musicians, or scientists?
What: What does your target audience need? Create something that will help them.
When: When is your target audience online? Publish with those times in mind.
Where: Where do they live, work, and play? Someone who lives in Paris doesn’t need a list of Calgary’s best restaurants.
Why: Why is your audience online? Are they looking for specific information, socialization, entertainment, or validation?
How: How does your target audience experience the internet? Are they using a computer, or do they do most of their browsing on a smart phone? Make sure your content is compatible.
First impressions are essential. It doesn’t matter how good your content is if no one bothers to read it. There are many different ways to write an engaging headline, but here are a few tips to get you started.
Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/03/31/9-tips-for-creating-content-that-gets-shared/#hoMxpQ6XRogU8lyM.99
Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages rose last week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.27 percent, up from 4.19 percent at this same time last week.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate surged early last week, peaking at 4.33 percent on Thursday before dropping down near 4.28 percent, where rates hovered for the remainder of the week.
“Last week, rates surged after the Federal Reserve suggested it might increase the Federal Funds Rate sooner and more significantly than expected, surprising many market observers who look to this rate for guidance on where mortgage rates are headed,” said Erin Lantz, vice president of mortgages at Zillow. “This week, we expect rates will inch up further on the momentum of last week’s direction from the Fed and expectations of positive news from economic data scheduled for release.”
Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 3.22 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 2.87 percent.
What are the interest rates right now? Check Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for mortgage rate trends and up-to-the-minute mortgage rates for your state.
http://homes.yahoo.com/news/30-fixed-mortgage-rates-spike-eight-basis-points-181437722.html
Environmental Leaders Learning Alliance (ELLA) Meeting
Teatown is seeking an EMT to act as Health Director for its science day camp, June 30th-August 22nd. Responsibilities include responding to camper illness or injury, coordinating first aid supplies and medications, and speaking with parents about camper health issues. Candidates must be at least 21 years old, physically active and comfortable navigating through a natural setting on foot or by an off-road vehicle. Please contact Lisa Baugh at 
Strap on your work shoes and grab a shovel! Teatown is offering trail volunteer workshops in April.
Ages 7-11, 8-week session