Westport, CT, Home Sales Sept. 3-7
October 6th, 2012 | Published in Life in Fairfield County, Market UpdatesHere’s a list of paid Westport property transfers from Sept. 3 to 7, as reported by the town clerk’s office, and published in the Westport Daily Voice.
▪ 232 Compo Road S.: Sold by Jerilyn Medrea and Kathleen McHugh to Sara Carrol for $1,651,500.
▪ 8 Keenes Road: Sold by Peter and Juliet Harker to Patrick and Susan Hendricks for $895,000.
▪ 319 Post Road E.: Sold by Westport Country Playhouse LLC to JL 319 LLC for $1.1 million.
▪ 9 High Point Road: Sold by Joyce Singer to Mattera Construction 9 High Point for $1.15 million.
▪ 10 Compo Hill Ave.: Sold by Richard and Cynthia Sher to Susan and William Filonuk Jr. for $1,695,750.
▪ 59 Crescent Road: Sold by Fazal and Danielle Merchant to Gilberto and Fabiana Carvalho for $1.225 million.
▪ 146 Lansdowne: Sold by Robert Miller Jr. to Phyllis M. and Henry Lee for $637,000.
▪ 14 Compo Hill Ave.: Sold by Ronald T. and Susan D. Benizio to Patricia J. Rost for $1,162,500.
▪ 12 Juniper Road: Sold by Keith M. and Nicole D. Lombardo to Frederick H. and Greer D. Kneip for $1.314 million.
Lisa M. Bender
Connecticut Classic Homes
Weston, Wilton, Westport in Top 10 Schools in Connecticut
May 9th, 2012 | Published in From Urban to Suburban, Life in Fairfield CountyConfirming what we proudly boast about, U.S. News & World Report’s recent study names five Fairfield County high schools as top in the state. The report uses student/teacher ratio, participation in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and proficiency in both math and reading.
Ridgefield, ranks third, with a 14:1 student teacher ratio, a 61% participation rate in Advanced Placement courses, 99% proficiency rate in math, and a 97% proficiency rate in reading.
Weston ranks fourth, with a 14:1 student teacher ratio, a 60% participation rate in Advanced Placement courses, 98% proficiency rate in math, and a 99% proficiency rate in reading.
Westport ranks fifth, with a 13:1 student teacher ratio, a 57% participation rate in Advanced Placement courses, 97% proficiency rate in math, and a 99% proficiency rate in reading.
Darien ranks seventh, with a 11:1 student teacher ratio, a 56% participation rate in Advanced Placement courses, 96% proficiency rate in math, and a 97% proficiency rate in reading.
Wilton ranks eighth, with a 14:1 student teacher ratio, a 57% participation rate in Advanced Placement courses, 98% proficiency rate in math, and a 98% proficiency rate in reading.
Complete U.S. News & World Report
by Lisa M. Bender, Lisa@CTClassicHomes.com
Fairfield County’s Minks to Sinks Rummage Sale This Weekend
May 2nd, 2012 | Published in Green Living, Life in Fairfield County
by Lisa Bender, Lisa@CTClassicHomes.com
The beauty of discovering Fairfield County includes uncovering treasures like Wilton’s Minks to Sinks, semi-annual rummage sale, which benefits the Family and Childrens Agency (FCA).
This spring’s sale begins at 9 a.m. this Saturday, May 5. Hours are Saturday, 9 to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. (1/2 price bargain day), Monday, 9 a.m. to noon (1/2 price and fill a bag bargain day). Parking is always at a premium on these days, and lines wind around the tent as anxious shoppers wait for the sale to open.
Items are donated and consigned by local residents the week before the sale. I make it a habit to fill up the trunk of my car at least once or twice during the drop-off days with items that have worn out their welcome at my home. It’s like losing five pounds. The trick is donating more than you actually purchase!
The name Minks to Sinks was coined in 1952, when a volunteer donated a mink, and another donated a sink. The name stuck, and each sale, has at least one mink and lots of sinks, not to mention an overabundance of Cozy Coupes, sporting equipment, outgrown bikes and cleats, furniture, kitchen ware, fireplace tools, stuffed fish, coffee mugs, and, well, you get the idea.
Minks to Sinks has its roots in the first rummage sale organized by volunteers in Wilton in 1931 to benefit the Nursing Association’s Well Child Program.
And the organization is lucky to have more than 160 volunteers, many who have donated their time for more than 30 or 40 years. They’re hard at work–often in the rain that inevitably falls that week–pricing, ticketing, hauling and displaying the thousands of donated treasures, the days before the sale.
This weekend’s sale is under the the tents at Danbury Road & School Road in Wilton, 1 mile north of Wilton Center (Town Tennis Courts). I dare you to find only one thing you can’t live without!
Wilton Go Green Home Tour on May 20
April 29th, 2012 | Published in From Urban to Suburban, Green Living, Life in Fairfield County, Maintaining Your Home, Uncategorized
Thinking green homes means ugly or out-of-reach? Think again. Improvements can be simple or extensive, depending on your budget and willingness to undergo a little unconventional planning. Wilton Go Green, a group of volunteers whose goal is to develop sustainable initiative, is sponsoring a tour of four local green homes from 1 to 5:30 on Saturday, May 20, in Wilton and New Canaan, CT. Tickets are $20/person or family.
1. This Wilton home reflects the owners’ desire to avoid the excesses and waste of an oversized house, and to live comfortably with an eye to environmental responsibility. Thoughtful planning, including thorough insulation, a heating system run by a computer that senses the outside temperature and regulates the high efficiency boiler, “low e” glass in the windows, and a heat recovery and air exchange system all contribute to an energy-efficient residence. The owners’ love of history, structure and sculpture and their desire to recycle rather than throw away is reflected in the remodeled, attached 1850′s barn that serves as guest quarters for visiting family.
2. A Craftsman style ranch home, also in Wilton, includes options available to the average homeowner, including a geothermal system. The old siding was removed, new insulation installed, the house re-sided with a maintenance-free concrete/wood by-product, and a composite decking material included.
3. A 1775 home in Wilton’s historic district required special consideration when its owners decided to remodel and add a new wing. The addition, barely visible from the front of the house, hosts updated mechanical systems, and the entire home is now thoroughly insulated. A geothermal system heats and cools the home, and photovoltaic solar panels provide supplemental electricity. This historic home has been successfully retrofitted to be more energy efficient while maintaining its architectural integrity.
4. No details were overlooked in an Adirondack style LEED platinum-certified home in New Canaan. The “envelope” of the home is as airtight as possible, and native, natural, and sustainable materials, including stones on the fireplace, chimney and the chimney, were used in its construction. The house is extensively insulated, most windows are triple pane, and reclaimed lumber and FSC-certified Northeastern wood products were used for the structure and other interior items. The home includes countless other details, including solar thermal panels on the roof and pole-mounted photovoltaic solar panels,
All participants must sign in, present photo ID, and pick up maps at Old Town Hall, 69 Ridgefield Road, Wilton, beginning at 1 pm on May 20th. Everyone may tour the three Wilton homes. Tours of the New Canaan home, at 2:00 pm and 3:30 pm, are limited and are by reservation only; reservations may be made the day of the tour at Old Town Hall beginning at 1 pm. Parking at Old Town Hall is available behind the building, accessed off Belden Hill Road.
The Spring Green Homes Tour has been sponsored by the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority through the Community Innovations Grant Program.
Lisa M. Bender, Lisa@CTClassicHomes.com
Lilac lovers in Fairfield County: Tips for your blooms
April 21st, 2012 | Published in From Urban to Suburban, Green Living, Life in Fairfield County, Uncategorized
There’s nothing better than walking outside and smelling, ah!……..the first lilacs of the season. Well, the only thing better than that is bringing in a bouquet of your gardening bounty to put on the kitchen counter.
If you want that nirvana to last for more than an afternoon, here are some easy-to-follow tips to extend the counter life of those heady blooms.
1. Leave the leaves on the plants. They’re loaded with chlorophyll, the stuff that feeds them and makes them green. And the leaves create suction to pull water up the vascular system to those luscious blooms. However, don’t let the leaves fall into the water, and fill the vase up just shy of the lowest leaf. Leaves + water = bacteria.
By Lisa M. Bender, Lisa@CTClassicHomes.com
Best Connecticut Towns 2012
April 12th, 2012 | Published in From Urban to Suburban, Life in Fairfield CountyEach year, the Connecticut Magazine releases its “Best Connecticut Towns” issue, profiling the rankings of our bucolic towns in the Nutmeg State. These towns are ranked based upon the the quality of public schools, the state of the local economy, the cost of living, the crime rate and local leisure and cultural resources.
While there certainly will be a bit of personal choice in your own ranking of towns, if you’re considering a move to this part of the country, this is a good place to start your search.
Here are the March 2012 results of towns with under 10,000 residents.
Towns 6,500-10,000:
1. Easton
2. Redding
3. Old Lyme
Here’s the link to all of the rankings of those towns in this category.
Towns 3,500-6,500:
1. Marlborough
2. Harwington
3. Washington
Here’s a link to all the towns in that size range.
Under 3,500:
1. Lyme
2. Hartland
3. Union
Click here to see all the towns under 3,500.
The magazine’s ranking of towns above 10,000 (in which Fairfield County towns ranked consistently at the top) were released in October 2011. The link is below.
Rankings of Towns above 10,000.
Here’s the nitty gritty on how these rankings were achieved, according to the Connecticut Magazine.
EDUCATION: This category combines five elements: the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Mastery Test results for 4th, 6th and 8th grades; results of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT); local SAT scores for 2008, 2009 and 2010 and the percentage of 2010 public high school graduates who went on to two- and four-year colleges. Test scores are weighted more heavily.
ECONOMY: The strength of the local economy was determined by the 2012 Public Investment Community score, compiled by the Office of Policy and Management, which rates all Connecticut towns under a formula based on population, per capita income, the adjusted equalized grand list per capita, the unemployment rate, the equalized mill rate and per capita aid to children.
COST OF LIVING: This category includes the median price of a house purchased from January 2010 through June 2011, a figure that predicts many other local expenses.
CRIME: This category is based on major crimes (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor-vehicle theft) committed in 2007, 2008 and 2009—the most recent statistics available—per 1,000 population.
LEISURE/CULTURE: This category includes local library expenditures per capita in 2010 (an important factor in small towns), the number of theaters, museums, festivals, concert venues, historic sites, colleges and universities, golf courses, local newspapers, radio stations, state parks and forests, voter turnout in the 2008 election and good local restaurants.
Lisa M. Bender, Lisa@CTClassicHomes.com
Wilton, CT, this time last year.
January 30th, 2012 | Published in Life in Fairfield County
Fairfield County School Grads Boast High College Completion Rate
January 13th, 2012 | Published in From Urban to Suburban, Life in Fairfield CountyFairfield County high school graduates complete college at a rate nearly 30% higher than that of other Connecticut students.
According to a report by the state Board of Regents for Higher Education based on National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), 68% of 2004 high school graduates from District Reference Group A (DRG A), a group of affluent Fairfield County towns graduated from college by 2010.
Ridgefield topped the list with a 73% graduation rate, closely followed by Weston (72%), Westport (71%) and Wilton (69%).
The actual graduation rates are likely higher than reported since some of the data is based on information records that students may opt out of having disclosed, and some colleges didn’t participate in the NSC at the time of the study. In fact, the graduation rates are probably higher than reported.
Of the DRG A grads, 45% graduated from out-of-state private schools, followed by 12% graduating from out-of-state public schools. Only 1% graduated from two-year degree programs.
View the complete report.
Lisa M. Bender
Rating Connecticut Towns: 2011
October 27th, 2011 | Published in From Urban to Suburban, Life in Fairfield County, UncategorizedFairfield County’s towns once again take top honors in Connecticut Magazine’s Annual Ranking of Towns.
Greenwich, Westport, Ridgefield and Weston came in first among towns of similar-size populations. Fairfield came in second, New Canaan came in third, and Wilton in fourth in their respective-sized towns.
While what makes a town seem like home varies from person to person, what can be measured (schools, crime, cost of living, local economy, leisure and cultural opportunities) is what the magazine uses as a measure in its study. Links to the complete findings are listed below, and towns with populations under 10,000 will be ranked in the March 2012 publication.
Lisa M. Bender, Lisa@CTClassicHomes.com
Wilton High School Named No. 1 in Connecticut, Joel Barlow Named No. 6
October 25th, 2011 | Published in From Urban to Suburban, Life in Fairfield CountyFairfield County residents have long boasted of their outstanding schools, and Newsweek validated their opinions this summer with their survey and ranking system.
Wilton High was named the No. 1 high school in Connecticut. Nearby Easton/Redding’s Joel Barlow High School came in sixth.
WHS ranked No. 141 out of 500 schools nationwide, with a 15.2 student-to-teacher ratio, a 96% graduation rate, a 95% college-bound rate and an average SAT score of 1810.
Newsweek reported that schools had to complete a survey requesting specific data from the 2009-2010 academic year. Eleven hundred schools were surveyed, and of those 500 were selected.
See the complete report: Newsweek’s Best High Schools.
Lisa Bender, Lisa@CTClassicHomes.com
