Market Volatility

When the stock market is at its most volatile, people become concerned--sometimes obsessed--with the value of their portfolios.  Some check the numbers every day, and talk about changing allocations.  Yet shouldn't those same people look at the value of their real estate holdings?  While they don't jump up and down in price in the same way, sometimes we don't check the values until we are thinking about selling.  Assessing real estate value should be a part of any portfolio analysis.


When financial instruments change in value, the percentage of your holdings in real estate can change at the same time, either up or down.  Many people think about buying more real estate when they feel less confident in the markets for other types of investments, but sometimes just the passage of time will move the needle on those percentages.  Could it be time for you to call your agent, and see what your properties are worth today?

New Assessments in New Haven

The new assessments have been mailed to New Haven taxpayers, and there has been a lot of talk about what that will mean for residential taxpayers.  What hasn't been touted as much is that the reassessment helps commercial taxpayers.  First of all, most of their building values have not gone up over the past ten years.  Secondly, commercial enterprises are taxed also on personal property.  Therefore, when real estate assessments go up, personal property taxes go down, making the commercial sector's share of overall city taxes go down.

Sometimes commercial taxpayers do get some breaks!