Week 86: What Hartford Gets Wrong About Housing in New Canaan. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
What Hartford Gets Wrong About Housing in New Canaan As a Planning & Zoning commissioner, I sit through every application. As a Realtor, I walk clients through the results. That gives me a front-row seat to how housing policy plays out—not in theory, but on the streets of New Canaan. From mixed-use conversions to infill […]
Week 85: New York from Brooklyn Heights. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
“Daddy, tell me a story.” “Ok, it was December 1990 and First Infantry was…” “No daddy, not that kind. I mean one of your real estate stories. With a little economic theory, some obscure historical reference, maybe a personal anecdote. Like the ones you write for the New Canaan Sentinel. And hurry, you have 2 […]
Week 84: A Game of Inches and the Butterfly Effect. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
The phrase “a game of inches” has its roots in sports, particularly football, and has evolved into a metaphor for high-stakes situations where small differences determine success or failure, whether in sports, real estate, leadership or life. The phrase was immortalized by Al Pacino’s electrifying locker room monologue in Any Given Sunday, “You find out that […]
Week 83: How Will the Market Move Me? John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
How’s the Market?“How’s the market?” It’s the question I get asked most often. Sometimes I reach for data—graphs that show trends over time. I might point out that prices are above the highs of 2007. But that kind of information, while factual, often lacks meaning. It’s like saying the stock market is down 8% from […]
Week 82: The Power of Habit. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
Ryan Serhant says he won’t stop until he’s #1 in the world. The real estate agent turned star of the #3 Netflix show “Selling New York” says his drive to be the best demands every minute of his day be scheduled and monetized, what he calls the “1,000-minute rule” Pretty intense. It all began in […]
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 […]
