The Summer Camp info is all updated on my website. Remember, we do not list every camp, just the ones I feel are the best and that I have or would send my kids to. There are links to every camp so you can get your Summer booked easily. www.staceymatthews.com Then go to activities and then kids corner and then camps. Good luck, I hope to see you at some of these!

You may not believe it, but there seems to be quite a pick up in activity in the last few weeks. I have had many showings at my listings in the past 2 weeks. At the showings I spoke with the other brokers, and asked them what was going on in their world. ALL said the same thing, that they saw a big pick up in interest. At open houses last week, every broker I talked reiterated the same sorts of comment. A friend with a high end apt for sale in NYC just left my house and although he expects pricing to be down 20% at least, his apartment has had a big pick up in showings in the last couple weeks. I am currently working an offer on my largest listing, and am close to offers on several others. I also have had several second showings, and more being booked in the next couple weeks. HOWEVER, even if activity picks up and people start making offers, I do not expect that pricing will improve for many years. For now, fingers crossed.

These two high end properties both went under agreement this week.

http://cmls.rexplorer.net/REX$PUB/82/3182/pub/pub_17134369.htm

This magnificent equestrian estate is a horse lovers dream! Comfortable gated manor house with 4 bedrooms, large deck, game room, 2 offices, media room & eat-in gourmet kitchen. The lavish barn facility includes: 8 stalls, saddle room, feed room, wash stall, barn office, full bath, caretaker's apartment, 3-bay equipment garage, 4 paddocks, 2 chicken coops, pond, and hay loft. 28 acres plus a large 10 acre adjoining pasture which is protected in open space and can be used for riding. Abuts miles of riding trails. This home has privacy but also has easy access to rte 67 and I 84 for horse transportation. Offered at $2,000,000. Come see!

I just recieved this from a great local mortgage broker that I thought was interesting....

Customers are constantly asking, 'I am waiting for the rates to hit 4.5%. They said on T.V....

In hopes of providing you with a better understanding as to why rates are where they are, below is an explanation of the what is happening with the Fed's buying program of Mortgage Backed Securitiies. This insight will assist you with the customers who may be sitting on the fence, waiting for the rates to go lower.

The Fed's been at it again, offering words that sound encouraging at first blush, confirming that their buying program of Mortgage Backed Securities is in full swing and will continue as needed. Of course, the media will pick this up and offer their own interpretation, saying "Good news, the Fed's words on continuing their purchasing program mean that rates will continue to drop lower, and remain low into the summer..." But is this really what that means? Not so.

Here's the truth.

Yes, the Fed has been buying Mortgage Bonds, but if you look at what they are purchasing, they are buying a lot of FNMA 30-yr 5.5% and 5.0% Bonds...which won't have much of an impact on present interest rates.

So why is the Fed buying these Bonds? Well if you think about it, it's very smart of the Fed...and maybe even a little sneaky...because 5.5% Bonds actually represent outstanding mortgages with rates of 6 - 6.50%, which are precisely the loans being refinanced at today's great interest rates.

Stay with me here...

With rates at present low levels, many of the mortgages in these FNMA 5.5% pools being bought up by the Fed will be refinanced and paid, thus giving the Fed a quick recoup on some of their investment. And this is likely a big reason why the Fed said they could continue this purchasing program beyond June, if necessary. Bottom line, the Fed buying these higher rate coupons will not necessarily help rates to move lower, as their actions do not impact the loans being originated at today's low rates.

Here's the most important part.

Sometimes I talk to clients who are in a situation where it makes sense to refinance right now, and save $250 per month for example. But when they hear the media throwing around teases of lower rates ahead, they decide to hold off on making the decision to save the $250 per month right now, in the hopes of gaining another $30 per month in additional savings with a lower rate than where we stand presently. Now clearly, rates could turn higher, and this window of opportunity could pass them by entirely.

The clincher is this:

Even if those clients ultimately are correct in timing the market, and eventually grab that lower rate and save another $30 per month - think of what they have lost by waiting. While they delayed, they lost the savings they could have gained by taking action sooner - or in the example used, $250 - for every single month they waited. So even if they got lucky and obtained the rate they were looking for, it could take years to make up what they lost by waiting.

I don't want anyone to miss an opportunity by either waiting, or not understanding what is at stake. Let's talk further on this - call or email me and let's discuss what this might mean for you.

Priscilla Loomis
Mgr, HLC Sales
CMD 1448 - Torrington, CT POB
Countrywide Bank, FSB

860-482-1664 Office 860-307-4497 Cell 866-409-6140 Fax

Mail Stop: MSN-BR1448 Torrington, CT 06790

I am constently viewing houses where well meaning owners have put their hard work and money into their houses in ways that they will be unlikely to see a good return off of.

Some of the most common mistakes include: you absolutely must have 4 bedrooms minimum. Do not build your dream house with 2 bedrooms. Do not put bedrooms in the basement, even if they are really nice and have their own baths, they don't count. Basements are for play rooms and gyms. Don't build a luxury house and then skip on appliances or countertops. Don't put in a new kitchen (at any price range) and then get a refrig that doesnt fit in the space and sticks out from the rest of the cabinets by 4 inches.It makes buyers think you skimped on everything. Don't do ANY faux painting or paint any dark colors on the walls. In fact, if you have anything with a faux marble finish, paint over it immediately. Don't build your house on the edge of a cliff (even if that has the best views).Buyers want flat land out the back. Set your house back a little.

This Saturday, February 7th, from 10am-3pm, once again, Washington Montessori School will be hosting the Kid Expo. This is a great opportunity for parents and kids to see what activities are available throughout the year. We have about 30 different children's activities participating, ranging in age from Pre K through High School, and includes sports, camps, theatre, equestrian, the arts. The event is free, open to the public, and thelocal radio station, FM 97.3 WZBG will be broadcasting live.

There will also be puppet shows at 10:30 and 12:00. Please come!

We will also be distributing booklets with listings of all the contributing camps. If you would like me to send you one, please forward your info. Send it privately to matthewss@raveisre.com.

The answer is that its impossible to know exactly when the National Real Estate market will bottom. Some say 2009 and other not until 2010. It will slightly different in each local market, and we won't know until we are way past the bottom that it is actually in place.

However, for savvy buyers who want a deal, now could certainly be the time. Pricing in Litchfield County is far from efficient. I sold a the highest sale in Roxbury in 2008 last February. He paid less than half of the original offering price of $7.5mil. The owner turned down offers in the $5mil range along the way. My client got such a good deal, there is no doubt that he got the bottom pricing, even though it was a year ago! I don't care if the market goes down another 20% from this level, my buyer would never have to sell this house for less than what he paid.

Similarly, I sold one of the highest sales in New Milford last August, that's right only one month before the meltdown. This house had been on the market for more than 5 years. Again, this buyer was able to negotiate an incredible deal, one which will hold up in any market!

By the same token, I am aware of another broker's deal that was recently done in Washington where I am firmly convinced the buyer got screwed, even though the deal closed in December and he knew what the market was doing!

The point I am trying to make is that you can make a good deal or a bad deal in any market. I just searched inventory between $2mil and $3.5mil for a buyer. I am astounded at the pricing variation. There are houses in the group which are 30-40% overpriced, and there are houses in the group which are fairly priced for today's market. You will need professional advice to sort this out! If you want a great deal right now, they are available. However, you will not find them by siting in NYC searching websites and telling your broker that prices are not stable yet. If you want a deal, you need to make a commitment to coming up several weekends in a row, getting familiar with the inventory, talking to your broker about which sellers are motivated, and submitting bids where you feel comfortable. A few sellers might not negotiate, they might even be rude and tell you to take a hike. Who cares? You don't know them anyway! If you are sensitive about this, bid under a lawyer's name. Its done all the time, and then the seller will have no idea who you are if things don't work out. Most smart sellers will negotiate any offers in this market. So come up and get your DEAL!

Even though the current economyis ugly, Spring is GORGEOUS in Litchfield County, and just around the corner!

I came across this interesting article by Gary Keller. I am definitely feeling this same way. Because we are in a real estate market where wall street weekenders make up a large proportion of our buyers, I have come to the conslusion, that things will not really start selling until the stock market has stabilized. It doens;t have to go back to the highs, but it needs to be clear that we have made the lows. Then I expect that there will be a real rush to get in. There are plenty of buyers around, looking and looking, just fearful to act.

"A buyers' market should be just that---a buyers' market. It's not a fence-sitting, waiting, loitering, delaying, dawdling, postponing, vacillating, hesitating, wavering, faltering, pausing, foot-shuffling market. It's a buyers' market. By its very name it means buyers should be doing one thing and one thing only buying. So where are the buyers, and why aren't they buying?

The great irony of a buyers' market is that even though the opportunity to buy is high, buyer urgency tends to hit an all-time low. The media becomes the excited purveyor of negative news and uninformed advice, and buyers buy it all. Actually, it feels like the only thing they're buying.

Their reluctance is ironic since not so long ago buyers were incredibly excited about buying and it was a sellers' market. Prices were escalating and it was perhaps one of the most difficult times to buy value and yet people were buying like there was no tomorrow. Buyers were afraid of losing out by not buying, even though the advantage was all to the seller.

Now a shift has occurred. Fear is still in the driver's seat but the tables are turned the fear of paying too much seems to stop most in their tracks and immobilizes them. When they should have been afraid of paying too much they weren't, and now that they shouldn't be afraid of paying too much they are.

It's one of the great paradoxical moments of any market and the herd instinct at its most pure. Reluctance in the face of great opportunity becomes an agonizingly defining characteristic of a shift. But those who do not follow the herd and take action are the winners in this market."

During the three years of the boom (2003-2006) they said it would never stop. And it did ..now three years into the decline they say it will never stop . But it will ..

I always enjoy Craig Cooper's perspective in his monthly letters, so I decided to pass this along:

Dear Colleagues,

On January 10^th, I was invited to Rumsey Hall School to see the Rumsey Hall Blue Dogs play the Taft School Rhinos in the inaugural game in the Lufkin Rink. It was a great game with a lot of cheering from 200 spirited fans, and Rumsey won 5-3.

What was really striking to me about the game was this . . . I have not seen that many happy people gathered together in a good long time. It was just a totally upbeat scene. And the feeling was contagious; I had a great time at the game, and walked out of it feeling . . . optimistic.

Perhaps you are not feeling optimistic today. You may say, What is there to feel optimistic about? I will respond with two quotes. The first is from Theodore Roosevelt, who said in 1894: We Americans have many grave problems to solve, many threatening evils to fight, and many deeds to do, if, as we hope and believe , we have the wisdom, the strength, the courage, and the virtue to do them. But we must face facts as they are. We must neither surrender ourselves to a foolish optimism, nor succumb to a timid and ignoble pessimism. And I will also quote Winston Churchill, who lived in even more challenging times and said For myself I am an optimist it does not seem to be much use being anything else.

I choose to be an optimist because it is better than the alternative choice. And here is what I find to be optimistic about:

1. When the going gets really tough, so do Americans.
2. Adversity breeds creativity. The most recent issue of Forbes lists ten great companies started in rotten times, including General Electric (1892, one year prior to the panic of 1893), Disney (recession of 1923-24), Hewlett-Packard (1939), Microsoft (1975), Apple (1976), and Genentech (1976).
3. I have never in my lifetime seen better buying opportunities in the real estate and stock markets. I dont say that we have reached the bottom I do not make any pretensions to be able to time markets with precision but I am putting my own money into the stock market.
4. Interest rates are low.

With respect to the mortgage markets, I noted in my last letter than todays mortgage markets are tricky, in that they are both inefficient and volatile. If you or your clients are looking for mortgage financing, I encourage you to call me. Hourglass can guide you and your clients past the shoals of this market. There are safe harbors with truly good deals, including some of the best mortgage rates that we have seen in years.

Sincerely,

Craig M. Cooper

President, Hourglass Mortgage

4 Titus Road, P.O. Box 566

Washington

Depot, CT 06794

Telephone 860.868.2810

Fax 860.868.2610

Today I received an email from a client who has been looking to buy for over a year now. She said she has been going to my website regularly and loves it . (thanks!) But she was wondering why she didn't see new price reductions in this market. Since I have recently done many, this made me realize I was not marketing my price reductions well enough. So I'm changing things, thanks for the feedback J.J.! From nowon I will put the original offering price of the property on the main page as well as highlight any recent price reductions in red.I will be the only area website to show the original offering price of a property, so buyers can get a better idea of what is going on. This comment from my client is important asit indicates what buyers are looking for. Theyare shopping by price reductions only.

I received another email from a buyer this week wondering if there is something wrong with a house as it has not sold in 2 years. This particular house is fantastic. However, the owner spent a lot of time offering it at $3.3mil and was too slowto lower it. Its nowdown to $2.3mil and its agreat deal!They have turned down several offers on the way down.So keep in mind, that just because something has not sold quickly does not mean there is something wrong with it.In this area, it can often take a year or more to sell a house. Houses are unique in this area and it takes some time to match up the right buyer with the right house.

If you are a serious buyer, you need not sit around looking at websites and wait for prices to be lowered. Come up and look, make an offer, and you may very well get hit! Keep in mind that sellers have egos too, and don't want to keep lowering prices in a vacuum. Show some interest, and in most cases, they will respond. Give me a call if you would like to discuss area houses that are likely to sell for good discounts off their asking prices. 860-868-9066

If you have comments on my website, or can think of some info you would like to see there, please let me know!

Fondly,

Stacey