‘It’s multiple offers. It’s crazy’

Yet school enrollment up only a little

Area Realtors are struggling to find homes for people coming from New York City who have $2 million in cash, while public school enrollment is near level with last year, a conundrum discussed at a Tourism and Economic Development Advisory Committee, [TEDAC], meeting on Thursday, July 23.

“There is a lot of wealth coming here — tremendous for New Canaan and for the state. There is a lot of cash buyers.” Melissa Rwambuya, president of the New Canaan Board of Realtors, said at the meeting.

“It is really tough to be a buyer’s agent right now. It is incredibly frustrating. I have cash buyers that would pay up to $2 million and they just can’t find anything,” Rwambuya said.

Though the town is seeing a dramtic influx, New Canaan Public School enrollment has increased by only 10 students since June 28, more than last year, bringing the total to 4,194 students enrolled for the upcoming school year, Director of Human Resources Darlene Pianka said at a recent Board of Education meeting.

“I am seeing on a daily basis is that stuff [inventory] is going in one day. It is going above asking. There are multiple offers. It is going to take time for all of this to close and for all of us to calibrate what all the new pricing is. But, I do think it is going to be very good for the New Canaan economy,” Rwambuya said.

“Certainly due to COVID, I have been busier this summer,” Stephanie Radman, a town greeter, said.

“I was just wondering where are all these people going to school,” Radman said.

“It is perplexing to me that there are tons of homes selling to families, but they are not enrolling their children, here we are July 23,” said Radman who mentioned she has greeted 3,200 families in her 11 years on the job.

“Maybe I can address that because I have some insight,” Rwambuya said. “Most of these people from New York City are already enrolled in private schools in the city and they have already paid their $60 grand for next year,” she said.

“The schools are offering online learning. So I think there is still the holdover and these people do believe that maybe they are going to go back to New York City next year, for some time, and they don’t want to lose those coveted spaces in the private schools,” Rwambuya said.

“What we are seeing is a lot of our new members are young families and a lot of their kids aren’t even in kindergarten yet,” Victoria Merwin, of the New Canaan Newcomers Club, said.

“I would say the majority of our newest families are in that young preschool age,” she added.

“I do think all of these renters and new residents.will become permanent residents of New Canaan so I would see a major spike the following year rather than this September,” Rwambuya said.

TEDAC Chairman Tucker Murphy asked, “Do you think they will do a full year?”

“Again their kids are still enrolled in these prestigious schools, so maybe they [their parents] are thinking their New Canaan home, that they just purchased, is a weekend home. If things change dramatically in January they will go back.

“A lot of these people held on to the residences in the city,” Rwambuya said.

“I truly believe that once you live in New Canaan and you live in this community, you are not going to go back,” she said.

“Every day I am showing houses, and there’s just not a lot of inventory and a ton of demand,” Rwambuya said.

“Definitely a lot more sales going on, so I went back to look at property transfers for the last five years,” Radman said.

During the spring and summer months, “I was surprised,” she said, to see there were more transfers in 2017 than in 2020. This year there were 106 transfers during the warmer months, and in 2017, there were 113 she said.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I do think the numbers that you are talking about are really lagging, what I am seeing on a daily basis is that stuff is going in one day, with multiple offers,” Rwambuya said.