Subprime mess misses town
With preparations already under way for the next town-wide property revaluation, the town's assessor does not expect that real estate values in Greenwich will suffer because of the subprime mortgage crisis.
Most new home buyers in town put down at least 20 percent of a property's sale price, said Ted Gwartney, the town's assessor.
'They don't go for the subprime mortgages, so I think Greenwich will not be faced with same situation as communities that have encouraged subprime mortgages may be facing.' Gwartney said. Most subprime loans are for borrowers with a troubled credit history.
Other communities could see a downward trend in real estate values because homeowners struggling to make payments on high-interest subprime mortgages could be forced to sell their properties for less than they bought them, Gwartney said.
With the help of an outside consultant, the assessor's office is doing a preliminary market analysis for the 2009 revaluation, the first in four years.
The total assessed value of Greenwich property soared from $20.4 billion to $33 billion in the five years leading up to the 2005 revaluation, with commercial assessments increasing by an average of 113 percent and residential by an average of 61 percent. Assessments equal 70 percent of a property's fair market value. Homeowners currently pay $7.76 for every $1,000 in assessed property.
Carolyn Anderson, who is president of the Greenwich Association of Realtors and owner of Anderson Associates, agreed that the town is likely insulated from the fallout over failed subprime mortgages.
'I think that is probably not going to be a worry here, I'm happy to say, in Greenwich,' Anderson said.
The town's next revaluation will be based on a statistical analysis of real estate values and inspections of properties that have not been appraised in a while.
'We think that we have a fairly good database on most homes in town, but we're always trying to improve it,' Gwartney said.
Original Norwalk Advocate article: Subprime mess misses town
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