We Will Make a $100 Donation to Your Favorite Charity Too!

Everyone is invited to share great holiday tips to help all of us get through this fast-paced season.  The winner will receive a $100  gift card, and the runner up will win a  holiday gift basket including coupons and gift cards to get you through the holiday season!  The Burns Real Estate Group will also make a donation to the winner’s favorite charity. Your chance to win starts November 10!

Share Your Tales of Turkeys, Secret Ingredients and More!

Everyone has a  great tip or two for handling the stresses of the holidays, and we hope that  holding this contest will be an incentive for sharing those  ideas.  Perhaps you have a tip about how to have a great holiday party, a secret recipe, even a lesson learned  from a turkey gone wrong!  Everyone wins in this contest:

• We all get to read and share ideas.
• Someone enjoys some extra cash ($100!).
• A great holiday gift basket including a gift certificate for a free haircut  by hair stylist Megan Cornell will be given away.
• A deserving charity receives a donation.
• And someone gets bragging rights! Storrs Commitment Year Round

With our continuing committment to the Storrs , Mansfield, Coventry, Tolland, Columbia, Hebron, Glastonbury, SouthWindsor and Manchester areas and all the communities surrounding these towns, Tom and I wanted to be sure this contest included a donation to a charity.  We are strong supporters and advocates of those with disabilities and caregivers who often devote much of their lives to help and care for their loved ones.  We also support a number of local and statewide charities as well as youth sports, school organizations and community events like the Mansfield CT Festival on the Green.  Last year, The Burns Real Estate Group ran a successful food drive during the holidays and we will again be making donations to the local Connecticut food bank this holiday season.

How to Enter for Your Chance to Win

In order to participate in The Happy Holidays Contest,  please leave your best holiday tip in the comments below.  You can also call Tom or me to stop by our office and drop off your entry.  Our office, located at 1066 Storrs Road in Storrs CT,  is open by appointment – so  please call ahead at 860-429-2853 before dropping off your entry or food bank donation. (We’re often out of the office meeting clients and showing properties!)

• Submit your tip, recipe or story as a comment below.
• Enter as often as you like, submitting each in a new comment.
• On the shy side? Call us at 860-429-2853  and I will submit it for you,  send me an email at elaine@theburnsteam.net, or you can drop off your submission at our Storrs office.
• The winner and one runner-up will be selected on  Monday, December 28th.

The best tips will be selected by The Burns Real Estate Group and two additional judges.

Happy Holidays to everyone…please enter often and have fun!
- Tom and Elaine Burns

Festival on the Green in Mansfield Storrs, CT

“The Mansfield Downtown Partnership invites everyone to “Celebrate Mansfield” at this year’s Festival on the Green which will be Sunday, September 13 from noon to 5:00 pm behind the Storrs Center commercial plazas.  In the event of rain, activities will move inside E.O. Smith High School. 

 The Festival on the Green, part of the Celebrate Mansfield Weekend, is an annual community event that brings together all of the individuals, organizations, and businesses that make the town unique.  All of the fun begins with the Celebrate Mansfield Parade at noon.  Plan to arrive early to find “a seat on the street” because portions of Storrs Road and Dog Lane will be closed to accommodate the Parade.  Among the planned activities at this year’s Festival are musical performances by the Kidsville Kuckoo Revue, the UConn Marching Band, and the James Montgomery Band.  The “Local Talent Showcase” will feature Pete Haddad’s Hubba Bubba Magic Show; Miss Kelly’s Dance Troupe; Spencer Hamlin and Chuck Eaton; and Husky Bhangra.  The Partnership looks forward to a variety of hands-on activities for all ages, including pottery demos, games, face-painting, and side-walk drawing.  There will also be a Juried Art Show, cooking demonstrations, a pie-eating contest, and much more.  Please visit www.mansfieldct.org/fog.html for full details.” 

Join in the Fun!
The Sixth Annual Festival on the Green
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Noon – 5 pm
Behind the Storrs Center commercial plazas
www.mansfieldct.org/fog.html

A parade, cooking demonstration, arts & crafts, music…how fun is that? Make sure to stop by and visit Tom and I at the Celebrate Storrs festival – we’ve got a booth and will be giving away food & a gift certificate Sunday afternoon. We’d love to see you there!

Festival on the Green Weekend in Storrs, CT

The entire weekend is filled with activities in Storrs CT, and Tom and I will have a booth set up on Sunday at the festival. Look for our banner – “The Burns Real Estate Group”  as we will be  handing out free popcorn and holding a contest with a $100 gift certificate to the winner!  

The festival will be kicking off with a parade and the UConn marching band. Don’t you just love them? I grew up going to every UConn event imaginable and loved it when the UConn band played at  football games. How DO they play and march perfectly like that? 

Sunday in Storrs, CT: Food, Music & Much More!

If you like great food there will be an excellent chef holding cooking demonstrations and yes, you get to taste the food afterwards…really great! From 3:30 – 5pm, the James Montgomery Band plays, and there is usually a bit of dancing going on. Children will enjoy the pony rides and Kidsville Kuckoo Revue and there is a pie eating contest for anyone who wants to try, not my style, but our 12 year old grandson tried it last year! Just open up the flyers attached below for some additional information about even more  fun events happening this weekend in Storrs, CT:

• Festival_2009_Flyer
• Parade_Flyer_2009
• Celebrate_Mansfield_Weekend_2009_Brochure

This just feels like the start of fall to me. I am so sad to see the summer end, but love feeling like part of such a great community and when this event takes place getting a chance to see people I have missed all summer long.  Just think, someday it will be the “new” downtown and we will be meeting up for a cup of coffee or glass of wine in the very same spot where the festival takes place!

• Need a laugh? Jim Breuer from SNL is at Catch a Rising Star at the Marriott in Stamford.
• Need a musical? The Connecticut Repertory Theatre presents “Crowns” – part of the Nutmeg Summer Series in Storrs. Kicking off tonight and running through June 21st in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre. Call 860-486-4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu for tickets & additional information.
• Need schnitzel? The semi-annual German Night Dinner at La Trattoria in Canton is the place for you with Helmet Goetz (formerly of Edelweiss in West Hartford) crafting culinary delights! Reservations & more info: 860-673-5000. 
• Need a cause? AND enjoy a good time out & about in Hartford? The festivities begin at 6 PM tonight at Spris with a fundraiser for Mercy Housing and Shelter. Portions of drink proceeds and a raffle help Mercy Housing and Shelter fight homelessness. (Bonus – no cover charge.)

A little further out on Mansfield area events calendars:

• Friday, 06/12 – The Mansfield Community Center is hosting an Artists Reception showcasing artists currently on display. The event is free to the public.
• Every Saturday – rain or shine! – head out to the Storrs Farmer’s Market. Running through November 21st, enjoy great music while discovering great local vendors! Baked goods, fresh fruit & vegetables, locally-raised beef, and much more can be found in front of EO Smith High School from 3 to 6 PM. Details on www.StorrsFarmers.org . 
• Wednesday, 06/24 – The Buchanan Auditorium at the Mansfield Public Library is hosting Storyteller Diane Postoian at 7 PM. Details for this free event can be found on the Town of Mansfield’s official website.

If you make it out to any of these events, let us know…and keep an eye out for us! You can keep up with our Mansfield Storrs summer fun - everything from Mansfield Little League to lakeside CT real estate updates - via RSS, Twitter & Facebook on www.FollowBurns.com.

Spring is really in full swing! We sponsor  Mansfield, CT Little League,  AAU Team Connecticut Baseball, and sell a lot of homes throughout the year, but Spring is typically the busiest real estate (and baseball) season. It seems like hundreds of CT kids are swinging bats and yelling “heads up” when the ball goes flying!  The CT real estate market is in full swing, too…and what about the similarity between a pitcher trying to get a batter to take a swing and a home seller “pitching” to a buyer hoping they take a swing!  

CT Real Estate Optimism?

For real estate, we have a cautious and yet optimistic outlook by the National Association of REALTORS economist, Lawrence Yun. He states:  ”Housing affordability conditions have been at historic highs, but now the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit is beginning to impact the market.  Since first-time buyers must finalize their purchases by November 30th to get the credit, we expect greater activity in the months ahead and that should spark more sales by repeat buyers.”

Northeastern Pending Home Sales are UP!

Real estate in the northeast part of the country in general?  Get this – The Pending Home Sales Index went up 32.6%  in April. How is that for a whopping increase!  This is very important because it tells us what to expect for closed sales in the next few months. I am confident that as the buyers see more and more ”sold” homes, they will become even more motivated to move forward instead of  continuing to “wait” to see what happens. What is it they say? Once everyone says we have hit the bottom of a market, you have probably already missed it?

Real Estate Markets are Regional

A very important point to pay attention to: real estate markets are regional.  This means that each and every region in the country can be vastly different and have very different rates of recovery. Some real estate markets may even continue to decline while others see a rapid recovery. You really need to pay close attention to what happens in “your” CT real estate market.

CT Baseball – Batter (or Should I say Buyer) UP!

Now, back to CT baseball. I have to say having a 12 year old in the house who LOVES playing baseball, along with the adults who love to see him play, makes for some dizzying schedules this Spring .  Mansfield CT Little League is more than half way through the season and Little League All-Stars are getting ready to gear up in a couple of weeks as well. We don’t expect to do anything except sell, sell, sell real estate and watch, watch, watch baseball games for many weeks to come. Whatever works……we enjoy it all!

Anyway,  I think we will have a bit of a break by late July in regards to baseball, but given the current market trends we are seeing, it looks to be a very busy summer of real estate.  Did you know that typically the real estate market in CT slows down in the summer?  Seems odd doesn’t it? If you think about  it though, people go on summer vacations and families want to have made a decision on their home purchase by the end of June to accomodate moving before the start of the next CT school year.

CT Real Estate Looks to be Busy

So, we expect a busy CT summer real estate season. Our company has grown significantly - even in this tough real estate market, our clients are overwhelmingly successful (which I am happy to say is a result of our never ending quest for the highest quality and best cutting edge home selling marketing ideas and materials), and we are prepared for a busier than ever summer season. 

CT Baseball… Pitching… Buyers….

I was comparing the coordination of baseball schedules and real estate transactions. Keeping uniforms clean and organized as to what team is playing where in CT and when, what color shirt is needed (never mind which hat, pants and socks)  for which game…..sheeeshhhh….could really use a personal organizer.  Then we have cleats, bats, gloves, snacks, coolers with cold drinks and all necessary accessories!  And of course, when more than one team plays on the same day…….are we out of our minds? Good thing we have a great team both on and off the field!

The preparation and coordination reminds me of the attention to detail that is needed in a real estate transaction!  Even the game is sometimes similar…who’s on first, are they making a run for home plate, will they try and “steal” a base (similar to real estate negotiations these days – oh, the various positions both buyers and sellers take thoughout the negotiations!).  And of course the pitch….. the marketing and pricing used to get those buyers to take a swing at the house!  And if they make contact, we  hope for one that will hit it out of the park and go to closing!  Now that’s what I call a grand slam!

Grand Slam for CT Real Estate

The CT buyer team…the CT seller team…will it be a tied game?  Will the closing be delayed and the game go into overtime?  You never know until you get “in” the game!  Try it – you may end up winning  a CT or UConn area home you really love!

Complete details are available on the Mansfield town website.

CKG International Summit 2009 was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

STORRS MANSFIELD, CT (May 2009) – Tom and Elaine Burns recently returned from the 2009 CKG International Summit held in Toronto, Canada where the top producing agents and brokers across North America converged to share cutting-edge marketing strategies for the evolving residential real estate industry.

CKG International, an internationally recognized company specializing in working with the world’s most successful agents, recently held a ground breaking conference for the most elite REALTORS® in the industry. Tom and Elaine Burns, and all other attendees, have met the rigorous standards required of CKG’s Mastery Program and places The Burns Real Estate Group among real estate’s premier professionals. Qualification to this exclusive group is based on their track record, sales volume and a constant and never ending commitment to their clients.

“We are always so excited when we return from these mastery events,” said Elaine Burns. “Sharing cutting-edge marketing strategies with the best agents in the world helps us refine our efforts for our clients…which results in us helping our clients achieve their goals with their Connecticut real estate. Our time at this year’s summit confirmed that our systems to maximize marketing distribution for our listings and utilizing new technology to connect home buyers with ideal properties are two key components for continued success.”

Tom & Elaine Burns

The Burns Real Estate Group was featured at this year’s event, sharing successful business strategies to help other top agents implement them in their own business models. Mrs. Burns continued, “We loved the opportunity to share some of the newest and best strategies we have implemented in the past year to help this extraordinary group of highly successful REALTORS® improve both their business and lives.” 

Success is something The Burns Real Estate Group has been providing their clients even in the 2009 real estate market. First-quarter figures for the greater Hartford, CT saw a 25% decrease versus the same time period last year, Tom and Elaine Burns’ business saw a 68% increase. And while April 2009 numbers indicate a positive increase for the Hartford area (2.85%), The Burns Real Estate Group continued to surpass the trend, maintaining a 60% increase for year-to-date compared to last year.

The Burns Real Estate Group's New Office at 1066 Storrs Road in Mansfield Storrs

A new office located at 1066 Storrs Road in Mansfield Storrs, where Tom and Elaine meet clients by appointment, and embracing new marketing technology have been part of this year’s strong business. “There is always a ‘hot’ new angle in real estate – a new web portal, a new phone, a new camera – that promises to be the end-all-be-all in the industry,” Elaine Burns explained. “We’ve learned over the years how to spot what is worth integrating into our proven marketing plan and what can be ignored. Attending seminars like the CKG International Summit lets us compare our arsenal of proven marketing tools with those of the best agents in the world and learn about real estate marketing innovations first.”

Luxury and waterfront property specialists, The Burns Real Estate Group have consistently been an industry leader in Connecticut real estate. With their continuing commitment to their community, Tom and Elaine are sponsoring their grandson Alex’s Mansfield Little League team, The Burns Team, again this season. For updates on the team’s success and quick links to Tom and Elaine’s social media sites including Facebook and Twitter, visit www.FollowElaine.com. To work with the area’s leading professionals in real estate, call The Burns Real Estate Group at 860.429.2853 or visit www.ConnAreaHomes.com and www.CTLakeLiving.com

Why Living in Storrs - and Pretty Much Anywhere in Connecticut - is Waaayyy Better…and Other News

I love where I live, I admit it. Really, compared to most other places in the country, the changing seasons are beautiful, the people are great, and we all know our mascots are better.  Do you know anyone with a better mascot that the UConn Huskie?!  And of course, real estate in my beloved Connecticut and the home of the Huskies, Storrs Mansfield, is a lot more fun than anywhere else.

Reason #1 CT is Better: Real Estate Rocks in Connecticut

Looking for a home in the small cities and towns of CT (compared to some states that have really BIG cities like Los Angeles or Dallas) is really, as I mentioned above,  just plain fun.  I like finding the right house and area for our clients.  Each city or town in CT has it’s own flavor, but this is a very small state, you can drive across the entire state in about 2 hours.

Unless you are looking for a needle in a haystack (meaning a piece of real estate that just does not exist), we can do some homework and come up with a list of  realistic “must haves.”  Once we review them, visit the homes that look to be the best fit and then determine what you will or will not compromise on, the homes fitting your criteria can be found.

Some people leave Connecticut to move to warmer states like Florida and South Carolina.  But guess what? Many of them move back…we know this because we help them!  They typically miss the changing seasons (yes, even the winter months) and get tired of living indoors in the summer due to the heat and humidity. Although we may get tired of winter weather, guess what they get tired of very quickly - hurricanes!

Reason #2 CT is Better: Our Sports Teams Can Spell

You know what makes us so totally way more rad than places like Washington D.C.?  We know how to spell our sports team’s names!  Seriously, the Washington Nationals went out and had two guys, Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman, wearing jerseys that said ‘Natinals’.  Honest.  You can see it here.  I wonder if they sing a different song at the beginning of the game… “The Natinal Anthem.”

Apparently they figured it out by the third inning and changed.  Yes… it took the equipment manager, the players, the coaches, and apparently the 600 people who go to Nationals games, THREE INNINGS to figure it out. Bless our Natin’s Capitl.

But seriusly, what’s s wrng with mitting sme “O’s” frm a few wrds?

Can you imagine being at a Huskies game and yelling, “G UCNN!”  what about the guy who leads the UConn cheer and stands up and forms the letters with his arms – talk about confusing things for him and the fans!

Reason #3 CT is Better: How’s Your Pitching ARM?

(Psst- I’m going with a baseball theme for this blog….)

ARM – the foolishly friendly sounding acronym for Adjustable Rate Mortgage… basically one of the top 5 worst inventions ever.

But check it out: If you have one, and are about to be beat over the head with it, lenders are refinancing. According to my sources at the Mortgage Bankers Association (I know people – so ARMs are better in CT!), there are so many of these loans outstanding, with people making payments that don’t even touch the interest- they need you to refinance so you don’t default and leave them with even more toxic assets.

Now THAT could be a Home Run for YOU! If you’ve got an ARM and have questions, let us know! Give us a call at 860-429-2853, or use this nifty contact us form on our website. How’s that for using your arm?

STORRS MANSFIELD, CT (January 2009) – The Burns Real Estate Group | Keller Williams is excited to announce that Tom Burns recently sat for the Connecticut Brokers examination and now is a licensed real estate broker.

“Taking the additional real estate classes so I could sit for the broker exam was one of the big events for me in 2008,” said Tom Burns. “Acquiring this new licensing level is another way The Burns Real Estate Group ensures our clients the best real estate services possible. Continuing education – and in this case, additional specialized courses for becoming a broker – keeps us at the top of the Mansfield Storrs real estate profession.”

The Burns Real Estate Group has consistently been an industry leader in Connecticut real estate. Successful marketing in the real estate market has changed as the Internet has become the leading resource for both buyers and sellers. The Burns Real Estate Group has custom designed, cutting-edge websites that give both buyers and sellers the information they need to help them succeed. To work with the area’s leading professionals in real estate, call The Burns Real Estate Group at 860.429.2853 or visit www.ConnAreaHomes.com.