Week 66: Inauguration Day Reflections. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
Inauguration Day is a moment for looking forward, and for reflecting on the past. This is a look-back over the bigger ideas in this column, reexamining some, correcting others, knowing some points were better made the first time around. What did we learn? 65.2024 Review. Despite national downturns, Fairfield County’s real estate market remained robust […]
Week 65: Market Report for 2024. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
As the father of identical twins I get the question, “Are they different?” To me they are very different. To the casual observer not much. I feel that way about the end of year market report: Not much different from 2023. I find myself squinting hard to tease out some brilliant insight, some reason that […]
Week 64: Winter Light. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
It snowed here this week, so I want to talk about the impact of snow (and reflected light) on real estate sales. Traditional wisdom is, wait for the snow to melt then launch the listing with beautiful spring photos. Let’s rethink that. The problem with this approach is that when the trees leaf out and […]
Week 63: How Much Are Good Schools Really Worth? John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
“I’m fascinated by the art of decision-making, especially when it comes to where to live, where to go to college, and where to send your kids to school.” —Luke Skurman, Niche founder. Real estate values correlate highly with school quality in this area. We spend a lot of time thinking about real estate values and about […]
Week 62: Decision-Making, Fast and Slow. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
This week we explore timely Decision-Making and Commitment as we reflect on 2024 and set goals for 2025. December is when the phone rings. “What’s my house worth?” and “When should I list?” and “How can I prepare?” people ask. Sometimes the timing is not to our liking; buying and selling is a reaction to […]
Week 61: On Closing Costs and Taxes, this Boiling Frog Has Had Enough! John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
In the wake of the election the nation’s attention again turns to taxes. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2018 (TCJA) was the most significant tax change of the first Trump administration, profoundly affecting housing markets across the country. At the end of 2025 the TCJA is set to expire, and its extension or […]
Week 60: November Market Report for Fairfield County – Five Towns. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
We used the rolling 6-month average to strip away some of the month-to-month volatility. Nevertheless, there are many clues as to what the Spring market holds. Greenwich – FLAT. The median price of a single-family home has been between $2.4 and $2.5 for the last 6 months and is only up 2.17% year over year. […]
Week 59: Now What Trump? A Look Forward to Housing Pressures. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
Last week we talked about the empirical effect of elections on real estate. We observed soft even years and stronger odd years. Elections represent inflection points before which we freeze with indecision and after which we exhale, and life goes on. Now that we know the results of the election what does the future hold […]
Week 58: What People Fear Most. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
Times of crisis, of disruption or constructive change, are not only predictable, but desirable. They mean growth. Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most. -Fyodor Dostoevsky I’ve been thinking about datamining a lot these days, what it means and how it is changing in the context of elections, business […]
Week 57: Election Effects on Real Estate. John Engel’s Real Estate Column for the New Canaan Sentinel
Past performance is often used as a warning label to caution against assuming an investment will continue to perform well in the future: “past performance is not a guarantee of future success.” But this is election week, the correlations are strong, and you can take my predictions to the bank. First, let’s look at activity […]
