Outdoor Entertainment Activities Near Storrs, CT

During the winter months, most places around the country, especially up here in the north, close up shop and wait until spring. Not here in Storrs! When you buy Storrs, CT area real estate, you are guaranteed to have year around entertainment at your fingertips.

Fall and Winter Things To Do Near Storrs

Some of the best skiing around is located just outside of downtown Storrs, and just a short drive away you can go enjoy the changing leaves and first winter snow falls by hiking along the Appalachian Trial. Horseback riding, Old time inspired river boat rides, Fall foliage driving tours, and more await you when you move to Storrs, CT!

Top Skiing and Snowboarding Near Storrs, CT

These are the top items on my list of fall and winter entertainment:

• Mohawk Mountain-features 24 ski and snowboard trails, 5 chairlifts, beginners area, and an advance area showcasing a 650 foot vertical drop and a 1600 foot summit-all featuring breathtaking views of the Housatonic River and the Historic West Cornall Covered Bridge.
• Ski Sundown-features a family ski area with 15 trails, 4 chairlifts, 625 foot vertical drop and a1075 foot summit. Located in New Hartford, you can also enjoy a great meal at Chatterley’s Restaurant and then shop at Muddy Moose Antiques.
• Woodbury Ski Area-after a short, beautiful drive through the Litchfield Hills to Woodbury, you will enjoy playing in the snow at the area’s largest tubing park. Your family will also love the snowboarding and sledding trails. It features a 300 foot vertical drop and a 850 foot summit. After hitting the slopes, you can enjoy the many local Woodbury antique shops.
• Mount Southington-located in Southington, just a short drive from Storrs, CT, you will enjoy a friendly 14 trails of skiing and snowboarding, with a vertical drop of 425 feet and a summit of 525 feet.

Move To Storrs, CT

Though there are many lovely Connecticut areas to live, Storrs is unique because of its ideal location to numerous nearby day trips-ranging from skiing and outdoor activities to arts and crafts to concerts and fine dining. If you live in or have visited Storrs, what are some of your favorite winter activites to enjoy?

Storrs is set apart form other areas because it truly offers a bit of everything for everyone. If you would like to learn more about buying Storrs real estate, browsing Storrs CT homes for sale, or request our FREE Storrs Connecticut area Relocation Package, then simply contact us, Elaine and Tom Burns and The Burns Real Estate Group.

Until next time,

Elaine

Living Live In Storrs, CT

When you buy Storrs, CT real estate, you get to buy a wonderful lifestyle with it. The quiet, family friendly neighborhoods and wonderful local environment makes Storrs an ideal place to live. Also adding to the amenities Storrs can offer home buyers is the many vacation activities enjoyed without having to spend money, time or travel. Some of my top favorite day trips from Storrs are listed below-and what is really great is that you can visit them over and over again without any huge travel plans needed.

Day Trips From Storrs For Entertainment

One of the top places on my list is the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk. It features 1,000 sea animals, from 9 foot sharks to masses of colorful, mini-sized jellysish. There is also a 6-story IMAX theater, Ocean Playspace, young children’s play area, touch pools, a restaurant, and a viewing area to see harbor seals and otters frolic up close.

Maritime Aquarium Day Trip From Storrs

The Maritime Aquarium is among my favorite day trips because it offers something for the entire family and makes a great trip regardless of the weather. If you are looking for something to do one day while the kids are out of school, make a day trip to the Maritime Aquarium!

Stepping Stones and Discovery Museum Near Storrs, CT

Another great place to visit is Stepping Stones Museum For Children, located in Norwalk. Geared for children ages 10 and under, Stepping Stones features 80 hands-on activites in contemporary exhibits with hands on science-related play. Your older children will have a blast at the Discovery Museum and Planetarium, featuring the Challenger Learning Center and older age appropriate science activities.

Southern Connecticut Stew Leonards Near Storrs

For a fun, unique experience, you must stop by one of southwest Connecticut’s “great roadside wonders”-the Stew Leonards! The New York Times called Stew Leonards “the Disneyland of grocery stores”, and the description is certainly correct! There are costumed characters, live entertainment, abundant food samples, and an amazing selection of takeout foods. If you are looking for something completely different to share with visiting friends or family to, then Stew Leonard’s is the perfect choice.

Relocate To Storrs, Connecticut

Have you ever visited the Storrs community area? What are some of your favorite day trips? I would love to hear about some of the places you enjoy visiting. If you like to learn more about the charming area of Storrs and learn more about how to buy Storrs area real estate, feel free to contact us, Elaine and Tom Burns, your expert Storrs real estate agents.

Until next time,
Elaine

Hebron Ct - Hebron had 3 new listings come onto the market in the last 7 days,  2 of these are priced over $300,000.  One listing for a home expired, it was priced at $275,000, 2 homes went under deposit, priced at  244K and 359K.  No new foreclosed home or short sale properties came onto the market.

Lebanon Ct - 4 new Listings came onto the market and  none were  priced above 300K,   there was no other activity for homes for sale in Lebanon Ct.  No homes went under deposit or expired and there were no new forclosed or short sale properties.

Manchester Ct - 9 New Listings with 3 priced above 300K cam onto the market, 4 homes listings expired, they were priced between 199K-244K.  Seven homes went under deposit with only one priced above $300K, 1 Foreclosure and 1 Short Sale property came onto the market and are included in the 9 new listings.

Bolton Ct - 2 New Listings both priced above 300K, no homes expired and 2 homes went underd deposit, both were priced above 300K.  Bolton did not have any foreclosure or short slae homes come onto the market this week.

Marlborough Ct - 2 New Listings came onto the market and one was priced above 300K, No Expireds, No Deposits, No Foreclosures

Colchester Ct - 3 New Listings 1 priced above 300K, No Expireds, No Deposits.   One foreclosure and one short sale home are new to the market (this means that out of the 3 new listings, one is a foreclosed/bank owned home and one is a short sale).

The Total Number of Homes for Sale in the Towns listed above is – 464

The Total Number of New Listings from 11/14/09 -11/21/09 for the above towns is – 23

The Total Number of  New Pending Sales from 11/14/09-11/21/09  - 11

The Total Number of Homes that took price reductions  from 11/14/09-11/21/09 days in the towns  shown above – 24

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

The Homebuyer Tax Credit extension has been passed into law.   The new extension has some additions to the original bill and is  going to open the  homebuyer tax credit to a larger pool of buyers in the following manner:

1 – People who currently own a home will qualify for a $6500 tax credit when they sell their home and buy another one if  they have owned their home for 5 years or more.

2.  Home buyers with higher incomes will also now qualify for the tax credit -  income level limits have been doubled in the new bill and this could help to boost the sales of “move up” properties.  Higher priced homes have had the most difficulty selling in the current  market and the sales of these homes were not helped by the original $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers only.  At The Burns Real Estate Group and as highly experienced Realtors,  we felt the first time homebuyer tax credit was not  inclusive enough to help provide the kind of stimulus needed in the real estate market, we are glad to see that existing homeowners and higher income earners are now included in the new bill.

Storrs, CT Home Buyers Must Have signed Contracts in Hand by April 30 2010

The extension period for the homebuyer tax  credit goes through to  June of 2010 as long as a buyer enters into a contract to purchase their home before April 30 2010.

Stop the Fraud!

We do not have all the details yet, but it is reported that the new tax credit extension will tighten up the ability of the IRS to stop people from making false claims in order to receive the $8,000 tax credit, which was apparently far too easy to do in the existing first time homebuyer tax credit bill.  As we said in our earlier blog - this bill is meant to help the American people – not scammers who see an easy way to steal.

Unemployment Benefits are Also Extended in the Tax Credit Extension Bill

This bill also includes a 20 week extension of benefits for those who are unemployed, with 7,000 people in the U.S. running out of unemployment benefits every day, Congress had to act on this issue and we are glad to hear this is included in the bill.  Here in Connecticut the average adjusted unemployment rate in September was 8.4% and in towns like Storrs Ct, Tolland Ct, Coventry Ct and other communities surrounding the UConn area, the percentages ranged from 5.5% to 7.5%.  Windham Ct was higher with unemployment at 9.9%.  Our communities are not suffering as badly as some areas in the country but help is needed and the extension of benefits is important.

Let’s help Each other!

We hope that this will help the real estate market and the economy -in the meantime let’s help each other through what has been a very difficult time for many people in this country.  With that in mind,  The Burns Real Estate Group is going to have a contest for the holiday season that will help others and earn the winner some extra cash!  I will be blogging all the details in the next few days,  so if you could use a little extra holiday cash, have some great holiday tips and also want to have money donated to your favorite charity, come back and check it out soon!

The MOMS Club of Coventry and Mansfield is a support group designed for the stay at home mom of today, this club also serves Storrs, Willimantic and Windham Ct.  The club is part of the International MOMS Club which was started in 1983 by a stay at home mom in  California who was tired of being at home alone and began looking for a way to connect with other stay at home moms, when she could not find an organization that met during the day she started the MOMS Club.  The MOMS (moms  offering moms support) Club offers support as well as organized play groups for children and is designed for moms who are interested in the world around them and want a variety of activities for themselves and their children

How to Help Families Find Support in a New Ct Community

Many of the families we have helped buy and sell homes have a stay at home parent and when they relocate here, they may be leaving behind a strong support group of friends and family and are unsure of how to meet people and find support in a brand new community. Families who have lived in the area for years are often looking for ways to connect with others moms as they enter the time in their lives when they begin to have children and this is a great group for them too.

This is a group that understands the special needs of stay at home moms as they are doing the same thing!  The group is designed for moms who stay at home full-time with their children, work part-time or have a home based business. Staying at home to raise their families is something they are very proud of and they understand the unique challenges facing stay at home moms.   The group invites all stay at home moms  to join them if they can and participate in the many events they work on throughout the year.  This is the largest  and fastest growing support group specifically for ALL stay at home moms.

Its Not Just Coffee, It’s about Community Service in Ct

The Club also has a service committee called MISTO (Moms in Service to Others), which is a group of 8 women who are responsible for organizing service projects and in December 08 they provided a christmas to a family in need in Willimantic through the WAIM adopt a family program.  This is a wonderful group of moms, children and families and we have has the pleasure of helping some of these families buy and/or sell homes.  Watching their children grow and seeing them enjoy their homes, community and families is very special to us.

The MOMS club has over 2000 chapters in the US and more than 100,000 members and the Coventry.   You can reach the MOMS club by sending an email to  -  Momsclubofcoventrymansfield@yahoo.com

Identity Crisis: A Tale of Two Houses

For the past month or so, we were getting feedback about this home that was very confusing. I have to say I have never seen such diverse opinions from Realtors and clients about the condition of a house!  Some said it was in nice condition, showed well and was priced correctly. Others said it was in horrible condition. One said it smelled of dog so badly that it was clear they do not bathe their dog and did not want to sell the house (yuck). Then one agent noted fleas in the house and said she had to go home and bathe after being inside. This occurred over and over: great feedback, then horrible feedback. I felt like my head was spinning!

When I saw the house, it was clean and in nice condition, nothing extreme either one way or the other. The living room was pretty, kitchen was small but well kept, the hardwood floors were showing signs of wear. But overall it was a cute home and nicely decorated. 

After a really horrific comment, we went to the house again just to be sure things had not changed – and indeed the house was looking good the Sunday afternoon Tom and I visited; the owners assured us that it ALWAYS looked that way.  The next couple of showings went well, feedback was good and we seemed to be on the right track when suddenly, the negative comments started coming in every few showings again.

Feedback Mystery Solved?

One agent’s comments were so bad, that I shuddered to think our clients were actually reading it (something about gagging when they opened the door to the laundry room…not good). When I checked with the wife, she told me that she had stopped looking at the feedback as it was “bothering” her. I called another time and reached her husband, asked him what he thought, and he told me he was unaware of the negative feedback.

I was now starting to think that these two may not be on the same page about selling their house.

In fact, early on she had said that she wanted to move more than her daughter and husband did, but why were the showings getting such wildly different feedback?  Could someone be sabotaging the showings?  I truly began to wonder if this was possible as nothing else made sense.

Staging Matters: A Good Showing Can Bring a Full Price Offer

While this was going on, during one of the “good” showings, we received an offer, entered into negotiations and finally achieved full price for our clients……….and………..

They decide not to sell the house.

Now, I have to say this is one listing that really has made my head spin at every turn!  We are pretty good at helping our clients achieve their goals, but it does help to know what the goals are…………..!

Silver Lining for Other CT Home Owners

The good news is that we are seeing some very strong movement in the first-time home buyer market, as the $8,000 tax credit seems to be getting people off the fence and making decisions about buying a home. Even the move-up market is starting to see a bit more activity.

And……I love the fall weather, it is gorgeous here in New England and I am looking forward to getting more of our clients great offers.  Hopefully they will want to sell?

What can you do…onward and upward!

Tom and I love the Mansfield Festival on the Green held in Storrs Ct every year, we get to see so many people we know, the atmosphere is great and we try to have a fun, vibrant booth.  As Realtors and life long residents in this wonderful community we look forward to being a part of many community events throughout the year and this is one of our favorites.

We have been setting  up a big, theatre style popcorn maker and giving out free popcorn for a few years now - finally everyone pretty much knows the popcorn is free,  but some people still come up and ask how much it is – when we tell them it is free they get the biggest smile on their faces!  So………550 servings of popcorn were handed out at this years festival!

Guess How Many Skittles and Win $100!

We  held a “Guess How Many Skittles are in The Jar” contest with a $100 Visa gift card prize for the winner and there were about 5 entries that were pretty close – the number of Skittles in the jar (it would have been M&M’s but Skittles were on sale…..) was 3,468 – thats a LOT of Skittles!

Our winner is the Lownes family! Chandra and Nick Lownes with their children, Thomas age 3 and Sophia, 9 months old,  live in Storrs Ct we delivered the Visa card to them  and will posting a couple of photos too!

Candy Prizes at the Toss Game

One of the other events at our booth was the toss game which our 12 year old grandson, Alex Cornell, designed and ran (at least when he was at the booth with us, other than that he was out at the dunking booth and just generally having fun with all his friends).  For his game we took his socks (clean ones only, I promise) and cut off the tops, then filled them with rice and used a twist tie to close them – very much like a bean bag.  In the area next to our booth he drew a big bulls eye,  put a basket in the middle and the kids tried to get the “sock bags” into the basket – he made sure everyone got a prize and the “Grand Prizes” were, what a surprise,  boxes of candy – it was fun!

More to Come for Mansfield Ct!

We got some great photos during the day of people having fun, the parade and the UConn marching band.  I will be posting lots of photos and blogging about the event again, we wanted to get the info out about the winner of the Guessing game contest as there were some really nice people who tried to guess the number of Skittles and I wish we could give everyone a gift card!  We will hold some sort of contest next year too – probably not the same Skittle jar because everyone knows the answer now……..!

Andover Lake in Andover Ct is one of those areas and lakes that just make you want to slow down, relax and enjoy your life a bit.  Tom and I have always loved this lake and the fact that it is so peaceful and quiet enhances the quality of the lifstyle on Andover lake even more.  I grew up in neighboring Coventry Ct, spent all my summers on Coventry lake and have always treasured the quality of  a lake lifestyle.

Lake Lifestyle Experience and Lake Expertise go Together

When you own a lake property, just waking up everyday to the view of the water pretty much gets you off to a good start – if it doesn’t, well, probably nothing will.  We have shown and sold properties on every lake in the area for years and our love of lakes and lake lifestyle has led us to own a number of different lake properties over the years. We even owned 2  lake homes at one time for about 2 years!  Lake life is unique and so is listing and selling lake homes – you really need to know what your market is and the many qualities about lake homes and the surrounding areas in order to find the perfect match when someone is ready to sell or buy a home on a wonderful lake like Andover Lake in Ct. Wth our office location in Storrs Ct and the office in West Hartford, CT we are well known expert lake home specialists for a  large part of Ct

Hmmmm……..I’d like to make a lake please

Andover Lake is known as one of the cleanest lakes in Ct and was first formed in the 1920′s.  Many people do not know this, but almost all the lakes in a large area of Ct are man made!  Usually a couple of streams were dammed up (as is the case with Andover lake) and then the bed of the lake was cleared and the lake was formed.   Years ago, you could do something like this – can you imagine dealing with the DEP now and telling them you wanted to “make a lake?”  Probably not……

Powerboat or Non Powerboat…Which Fits Your Lifestyle?

The homes on Andover lake are always highly sought after and swimming, canoeing, kayaking and fishing are some of the recreational activities enjoyed here.  There are no powerboats allowed on the lake and we have found over the years that there are two kinds of lake property buyers.  There are those who want a power boat and water skiing lake, or those who absolutely do not – Andover is the perfect lake for someone looking for a peaceful, tranquil setting for a year round home or weekend/vacation home.  I also love the proximity to everything – you can easily commute to UConn in Storrs or  Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic as well as an easy commute to Hartford Ct.  Andover is that great mix of small town America with all the amenities you could want only a short drive away – The Shoppes at Evergreen in South Windsor, one of my favorite destinations with Burtons Grill (delicious) located right there is only about 20 minutes away.  For more information on this beautiful lake check out our lake website  http://www.ctlakeliving.com/