Returning to Normal

It's amazing how a couple of natural disasters can throw a wrench into real estate sales.  Some of us were just getting power back from Hurricane Sandy (including me--48 hours after our daughter in Lower Manhattan!) when the first nor'easter of the season hit.  Snow began falling mid-morning last Wednesday, and, by the time I was back in my office from an appointment in Milford, it was coming down like crazy.  I looked on weather.com to see what the prediction was, only to find that it was claiming that only rain was coming down now, and only rain would fall until evening.  Knowing that rain isn't white and that it doesn't stick to the ground, I was skeptical, but worked until high tide flood warnings sent me home just before dark.    Even right along the shoreline, there was enough snow to tie up all the roads and make it dicey getting up my driveway.  I was very grateful that my speaking panel and dinner in Hartford had been cancelled a few hours before!

When my kids were in school, they of course loved snow days--what kid doesn't?  I taught them early on that the sound of a ringing phone in a snowstorm was the sound of someone cancelling his or her real estate showing.  Very, very few people buy real estate in terrible weather.  That makes almost two weeks of few real estate appointments, with Thanksgiving coming next week, on the earliest day it can possibly fall.  Does that mean that the season for sales will last beyond Thanksgiving this year?  Let's hope so!

Report from Storm Central

It's hard to believe that there could have been another storm bigger than the two we had last year about this time, but here it came!  The pictures are unbelievable, and I saw a lot while I was out running this morning, but during the storm, it was hard to see much.

We were in a mandatory evacuation zone.  My husband, being the typical "defend your homestead" male, refused to leave, so the dog and I retreated from the waterfront to the home of friends in the city of New Haven.  They have power, and food, and wine, so life is good!  I stayed in and worked on catching up from the hectic week I had last week.  Since I had meetings in NYC that were all cancelled for me, I was free to stay inside and work from the comfort of (someone else's) home.  I actually went running first thing, about 6:30 on Monday morning, and it was a little windy, especially in one direction, but nothing that would have been that notable.  I was all alone, however, as my friends all slept in.  It got windier as the day went on, and there were periods of rain, but it didn't, from our vantage point, seem much different from Irene.  I kept calling home for a report from the waterfront.  My husband said that it was beautiful, with high, high tides and not too much wind.  No damage, but the power flickered and then went out about 5 PM last night.  I can't even get the Status page to come up on the CL&P site, and I don't take that as a good sign...89% of Guilford is without power, so we are not alone. I can't get back, due to flooding on our road.  I'm thinking of visiting at low tide tonight, but I'm not sure that I want to stay without power with the shorter days and longer nights of late October, even though it's plenty warm enough.  One solid week without power last August was enough for me!  Here's hoping that we get it back before the food is all ruined!