Simply Ledyard CT

Lambtown Road in Ledyard

I happen to think that Lambtown Road is one of the prettiest roads in Ledyard.  This is just another of many photos I’ve taken along the road. I’m sure the accent color is a bit shocking to purists but it makes me smile. I’m guessing this one must have some history but I can’t find it in any of the books written by the Ledyard Historical Society. If you have a clue, I’d love to know!

Ledyard CT Real Estate Update

Ledyard and Gales Ferry Real Estate Statistics for the week of March 21st.

There were 5 new listings and 7 pending sales to report this week which is certainly good news.The better news is that half of those homes  were priced over $300,000.

There are now 10 homes in Ledyard that are pending or sold over $300,000 and 9 of them have one thing in common. It appears that in order to reach the $300,000 price point, your home needs to offer over 2200 square feet. That trend will be interesting to follow but hopefully, the spring market changes that statistic!

Are we there yet? “There”, is the proverbial “bottom of the market”.  According to Zillow's Real Estate Market Reports for January 2010, Ledyard home values were up 0.4% compared to December 2009.

Zillow Home Value Index

More Ledyard Home Values

Ledyard Real Estate - March 28, 2010

Number of Ledyard Homes Currently for Sale: 112
Last week there were 115 active listings in Ledyard.

Number of Ledyard Homes Currently Pending: 23

Number of Homes Sold in 2010: 17

There were 149 residential home sales in Ledyard in 2009. 
There were 143 residential home sales in Ledyard in 2008.
There were 213 residential home sales in Ledyard in 2007.

The highest priced home to sell in 2009 & 2010:  $385,000  

Listing and sales reported by the members of the Connecticut Multiple Listing Serve, Inc and may not represent all sales. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

From my seat on the Ledyard Town Council

I’ve been involved in local government since the mid 1980’s and my frustration level has never been higher. When I read this morning’s editorial in The Day, Ledyard Must Tighten Reigns on Mayor, I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Maybe hit me in the head with a two by four is a better description. You see, I should have written that editorial or at least spoken those words. Doggone it, I’m mad at myself. For the sake of party unity and respect for the office of the mayor, I have remained mostly silent. Remaining silent isn’t the right thing to do.

The subject of the editorial was mostly about legal fees. I made a campaign promise that I would try to curb the town’s over reliance on using lawyers for routine matters. I happen to like our lawyers a lot, but speaking through them, or having a lawyer present for an interview with the newspaper, is not a prudent use of tax payer dollars. I complained privately, but I didn’t take action publically, despite the fact that, as Councilor Diaz has pointed out, the Town Charter lists overspending the budget by a certain percentage as cause for removal.

Legal fees are only the tip of the iceberg as to what is going wrong in the Town of Ledyard. It’s a mess. Honestly, some of the things going on, I couldn’t make up if I were writing a novel. For the past couple of months, I have warned that I was about to jump. Who would have thought it would be an editorial in the newspaper that would push me off the edge?

After each council meeting, an “action list” is prepared for the mayor and includes the following: In addition to the above actions, the Town Council would like to bring to your attention that the following items were discussed or have been discussed with you at previous meetings and a status is requested at your convenience. Dates are shown for previously identified, but yet unresolved, issues.

At your convenience?  Items on the list date back almost a year and include things like FOI complaints, Land Use issues, Staffing, WPCA, and the ongoing dispute of using a receptionist at the front desk, despite the fact the position was cut in the budget.  How is that possible? (Yes, I’m yelling!) As a start, I am going to request that a review of the action list be added on the next available council agenda for discussion.

The last paragraph of the editorial knocked me down for the count. “Through it all, Mayor Allyn has continued to thumb his nose at the council, walking out of Wednesday's meeting before members finished discussing the legal-fee issue. But while he's showing that lack of respect to the council, really it's the taxpayers who are short-changed.”

Yes, the taxpayers are being short changed. In these worst of economic times, The Town Council owes it to the taxpayers to provide leadership. If not us, then who?

Please note:  While I’m ready for the criticism this post may bring, especially from my party, I want to clarify one thing. I have no aspirations for higher office. None. I really enjoy my job, playing golf, and taking photos of Ledyard. I’d probably sleep better and have a lot more time for them if I gave up this council gig. I'm sure there are more than a few that would encourage me to do so. 

Ledyard Post Office – Ledyard Photo Friday

No, the photo below is not the Ledyard CT Post Office but it is the Ledyard IA post office.  This photo was sent to me by some nice folks from Ledyard IA. Sometimes Photo Friday is just for fun and since it is raining (again) I thought it was the perfect day for it!

For Sale: Plum Island?

Cross Sound Ferry to Long Island

One of my favorite trips is via the Cross Sound Ferry to Long Island.  For anyone who has made the trip, you’ll know that Plum Island is just part of the scenery along the way.  While most people are familiar with the light house that has stood on the property since 1869, the island is also home to the high security Animal Disease Center currently owned by the Department of Homeland Security. The Department has recently announced their intention to move their facility to Kansas and are planning to conduct an environmental study of the property to get it ready for sale.

I must admit my first thought when reading the news was what a great location it is for a For Sale sign!

947 Colonel Ledyard Highway

This home on Colonel Ledyard Highway was in the Geer family until 1996. Although records don’t exist to show an exact date of construction, a chimney brick in the home shows a date of 1769.

Information from Historic Ledyard, Volume III published by the Ledyard Historical Society

Ledyard CT Real Estate Update

The 2010 Ledyard real estate market has certainly been a disappointment in regards to home sales, especially if you consider the interest rates and availability of the tax credit. Curious about what other markets in the area are experiencing, I did a little bit of research.

Here is what I found: Ledyard currently has a total of 33 pending and closed sales for 2010, which is significantly less than our neighboring towns of Waterford (44), Montville (48), Stonington (50), East Lyme (57) and Groton (77).

What is the reason for that difference?  I can only guess that high taxes are a contributing factor, and perhaps one of the reasons that Ledyard's average sales price is one of the lowest in the area.

As far as last week, 7 new listings were quickly absorbed by 7 pending sales and that is good news!

Ledyard Real Estate - March 21, 2010

Number of Ledyard Homes Currently for Sale: 115
Last week there were 117 active listings in Ledyard.

Number of Ledyard Homes Currently Pending: 16

Number of Homes Sold in 2010: 17

There were 149 residential home sales in Ledyard in 2009. 
There were 143 residential home sales in Ledyard in 2008.
There were 213 residential home sales in Ledyard in 2007.

The highest priced home to sell in 2009 & 2010:  $385,000  

For even more Ledyard Real Estate Information,
sign up for a Market Snapshot of your neighborhood.

Listing and sales reproted by the members of the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc. and may not represent all sales.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

 

The Geer Hill Schoolhouse – Ledyard Photo Friday

This one room school house on Colonel Ledyard Highway was built in 1813 and according to a Ledyard Historical Society publication, stands today on the site of a “20 foot square of land” donated by the Geer Family in 1735.

The Art of Packing a Lunch

Ledyard High School has a hot lunch program but is it as good as mom's?

When I attended in Pittsburgh way back in the 1960’s, I carried a brown bag for lunch. I didn’t walk up hill both ways to school but I did walk down a steep one to catch a street car.  Since most of us used public transportation to get to school, we rarely had a day off due to weather. I remember there was an informal rule that if your bus or street car didn’t arrive after waiting an hour, you got the day off.  That almost never happened.  I guess public transportation was pretty reliable back then.

My mom, like many in that decade, was a stay at home mom. One of her most important jobs (at least to me) was packing lunches and she was particularly good at it.  Being Italian, my brown bag offered some hidden treasures that other brown bags didn’t include, like home made biscotti, rolled cream cheese finger sandwiches, and stuffed artichokes. Leftover cold pizza made with rolled out dough from scratch was a weekly favorite and I’d often sneak a bite for breakfast. We didn't have all the pre-packaged snacks you can buy today so it wasn't unusual to find a piece of fudge or some pizzelles wrapped in aluminum foil.

You could only buy white milk at Sacred Heart High School. Soda, or “pop” as it is known in Pittsburgh, wasn’t available for sale. For a few weeks one year, a bunch of us packed frozen pop in our brown bags. We discovered that by lunch time, the pop would thaw and our drink would be at the perfect temperature. Unfortunately one day during lunch, my can exploded from the pressure and the spray targeted a nearby nun.  An intercom announcement declared the end of the frozen pop experiment forever. Bummer.

My son Jeff was also a brown bagger. Ledyard High School didn’t resume their hot lunch program until several years after he graduated. I tried to be as creative as my mom but I’m not sure I ever reached her level of perfection. In fact, I’m sure I didn’t.

I haven’t thought about brown bag lunches or soaking a nun with pop for years.  What made me think of it today was seeing  the March menu posted on the Ledyard High School website. Besides the typical choices of salads, grinders, pizzas and hamburgers, there are daily specials like Chicken Fajita’s, General Tso’s Chicken, and Pasta Primavera.  The $2.75 menu seems pretty reasonable and I'm sure far better than the typical brown bag ham and cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was pretty happy to see the return of a hot lunch program to Ledyard High School while I was on the Board of Education.

We had a hot lunch program at Sacred Heart High School. I vaguely remember macaroni and cheese and meat loaf on the menu. I never even considered buying lunch as an option. No one could pack a lunch better than my mom.

Eva Antoinette Mannella died in 1969, a year after I graduated from high school. I still love stuffed artichokes and cold pizza for lunch.

Ledyard Mortgage Monday

The tax credit of up to $8,000.00 for first time buyers and up to $6,500.00 for previous homeowners expires in 46 days on April 30, 2010.  You must be under contract to purchase a home by April 30th and be closed by June 30th to take advantage of these tax credits.

Ledyard and Gales Ferry house prices are more affordable than they have been for about 5 years.  30 year fixed interest rates came down to 5.125% with 0 points for FHA, Conventional and VA mortgage loans this past week and CHFA loans stayed at 4.375% with 1 point.  With the combination of reasonable house prices and low interest rates in addition to the tax credits it doesn't get any better than this.

We will help you every step of the way regarding your home financing needs.  All of the dollars involved are disclosed right up front in order to make sure that there are no surprises when you go to closing to sign the papers and take ownership of your new home.

IT'S TIME to make the move !!  Only 46 days to go.

Since 1980, Phil Turner has helped over 10,000 clients achieve the dream of homeownership. If you are planning to buy a home, please contact Phil.  You'll find his professional service and years of experience exactly what you need in Eastern Connecticut's current housing market.

Phil can be reached at McCue Mortgage, located at 8 Union Street in New London, by calling (860)444-0650 or (800)781-1180 or By EMAIL.