Greenwich Time split reporter Neil Vigdor’s interview with our Assessor into two parts. Here’s the second. Waterfront homes held their value, the rest of the residential inventory has been hammered. I’m not surprised by the news that waterfront has held up, but I do hope that this time, the town recognizes that “waterfront” on a tidal creek (ahem) is far different from Waterfront on deep water. A couple of decades ago the town and no such distinction and we got hammered. Good article – check it out.
Gwartney is overseeing the first revaluation in Connecticut’s most land-rich town since the housing bubble burst, a yeoman-like task of adjusting values for 22,500 properties to reflect five years of market volatility.
The process, which involves three inspections of each property; splitting the town up into 53 separate neighborhoods and 12 sub-neighborhoods; and using computer models to come up with values for different sections, is drawing significant attention from homeowners and the real estate community.
“This particular revaluation is going to be a tough one because the real estate market has been through such a difficult tumble,” said Nancy Healy, a partner and president of Shore & Country Properties in Riverside. “We don’t know whether we’re steady or whether we’re still declining.”
On a multicolored map in his office, one that he said is a draft, Gwartney tracks changes in property values by neighborhood since the 2005 revaluation, most of which have declined.
Gwartney pointed to the shoreline areas of Old Greenwich, Riverside and Mead Point in Cos Cob as neighborhoods that have experienced growth in property values. Land values on the waterfront generally run about $100 to $200 per square foot, Gwartney said.
