Week 81: Helping Your Kids. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
“How can we help our children buy their first home?” It’s a question people my age are asking. Generation X and Baby Boomers are long real estate, with second and even third homes, and we have (multiple) children of child-bearing years who now need help with the down payment buy a first home. What’s changed […]
Week 80: ‘Barbie’ Is So 2024 Let’s Play ‘Monopoly’ and Learn About Mortgages! John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
Barbie is so 2024. Let’s play Monopoly and Learn about Mortgages! Sun Tzu said, “Know your audience” and I’m writing for homeowners. My readers own their homes, sometimes several, and are expert in solving life’s problems. What real-estate advice can I possibly offer? This is part one, about winning, and next week part two: giving it to your […]
Week 79: What’s Normal Anymore? John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
What’s Normal Anymore? A graph of the last ten years of home sales in New Canaan shows 3,262 sales, 326 in a “normal” year, 4.38% of the roughly 7,434 housing units. 4.3% is the average turnover by the standards of the last 50 years. In the last decade the low was 243 sales in 2015 […]
Week 78: This Isn’t a Rally. It’s a Relocation. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
This Isn’t a Rally, It’s a Relocation Global Shocks, Local Spin Ray Dalio doesn’t forecast downturns. He forecasts breakdowns. “We’re not just heading for a recession,” he said. “We’re witnessing the slow unraveling of the old world order.” What he means: U.S. debt is unsustainable, trust in the dollar is eroding, internal conflict is rising, and the […]
Week 77: Smart Homes. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
Smart Homes What is a smart home? If “smart” means convenience, efficiency, security and comfort let’s start with something dumb, the closets, often overlooked. The smartest, most efficient closet I ever saw was Tommy Hilfiger’s in Greenwich back in 2009. I saw only a few white shirts. I thought this cannot be. It wasn’t. Turns […]
Week 76: Trust, Predictions, and the Recommendation Engine. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
60% of all sales are occurring above list price. Last month I gave examples of 20 bidding wars where houses traded for 120% of their asking price. A good buyers’ agent provides value when asked what is a house worth, and what will it take to get it? The first value is in their advice. […]
Week 75: March Market Report. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
1. How has New Canaan’s inventory changed in February 2025 compared to 2024?New Canaan’s inventory fell from 68 homes in February 2024 to 50 in 2025, a 26.5% drop. Darien declined 21.4% to 22 homes, Westport fell 10.2% to 79, Wilton stayed flat at 34, Stamford dropped 5.7% to 165, Norwalk decreased 10.6% to 118, […]
Week 74: 600 Granola Bars. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
Last week, I wrote about the resurgence of “pocket listings”—a practice that favors secrecy over transparency. Agents, like hostage negotiators and press secretaries, believe controlling the flow of information makes us better negotiators. However, lack of transparency leads to anxiety for both buyers and sellers who feel they might be leaving money on the table. […]
Week 73: Things I Think I Think. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
In today’s Gospel, Jesus, sounding annoyed, says “this is an evil generation, it seeks a sign” It made me wonder what He would have said about this generation and about the New Canaan real estate market. In the month or so since Trump took office, in the month since the Spring market started, it seems […]
Week 72: A Room With a View. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
A Room With a View is the 1908 novel by E.M. Forster and a 1985 Merchant & Ivory film starring Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands. The novel opens in Florence with the women complaining about their rooms at the Pensione Bertolini. They were promised rooms with a view of the River Arno but instead have ones overlooking a […]
