Yesterday was a county-wide open house day in Pittsfield.
House hunters’ paradise
Article Last Updated: 05/04/2008 05:55:24 AM EDTSunday, May 04
PITTSFIELD — From a modest, $79,900 two-bedroom home in North Adams to a 4,400-square-foot jaw-dropper priced at $3.2 million in Monterey, the homes for sale in Berkshire County opened their doors yesterday in a mass showing of available real estate.For the first time, the Berkshire County Board of Realtors organized area real estate agents to stage an open house extravaganza. From North County to South County, roughly 340 homes had open houses in the morning and afternoon hours.Sandra Carroll, CEO of the Berkshire County Board of Realtors, said the idea behind the event was to use it as a marketing tool for prospective buyers.
“We thought that this would let buyers get a real sense of our market,” Carroll said. “We had a great response. It really took off.”
Michael Clark, 27, of Lanesborough, hit seven open houses with his girlfriend Erlinda Shatney yesterday in Pittsfield, Dalton, Cheshire and Lenox. He’s looking to buy his first home and said the open house event was helpful in learning exactly what $200,000 will buy.
“This really gave us an idea of what’s out there,” Clark said. “It gave us a no-hassle opportunity to look at homes at our own leisure.”
Clark’s only gripe was that many of the open houses were only open for two hours, which provided for a bit of a logistical adventure.
Brandon White, an agent with Cohen & White Associates, spent the afternoon showing Mike and Rachel Rizzo’s home on Kenilworth Street in Pittsfield, a yellow, center-entrance Colonial priced at $445,000.
White reported a “steady” crowd of both out-of-towners and locals.
“We had people from New York, New Jersey and Boston looking to relocate,” he said. “But we also had a lot of locals who are looking to move up.”
White said the organized event was a great way to kick off the spring real estate season. The Rizzos are hoping the traffic yields some offers. The family moved here a year ago and completed renovations on the home.
Mike Rizzo, 33, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, was recently offered a professor’s position at the University of Rochester.
“We weren’t planning on moving, but the right job came along,” he said.
The home has been on the market for 46 days, and with two young children, the couple hopes to make a quick transition to Western New York.
The signs are in their favor. Carroll said the Berkshire County market hasn’t suffered the same decline that other areas of the country have felt. In fact, there are roughly 1,600 homes on the market, about 100 less than at the same time last year.
Sure, the market has softened a bit compared to the peak years in 2004 and 2005. And agents say there’s probably a bit more wiggle room on offers today. But if a house is priced well and appeals to buyers, it will sell.
“Slow and steady, that’s what we say about our market,” Carroll said. “We’ve maintained solid growth. Our market is very balanced. Everyone has a place in it.”
They even brought over a photographer and snapped a phote of all of us in the new kitchen. Sadly, by the time Amelia is 2.5 years old, she would have lived in FOUR different residences. Before heading off to college, I lived in the same place my entire life. Take a look here.
