DOOLEY blog | Dooley Real Estate
23 South Main Street | Kent, CT 06757
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St. John's Peak at Kent Past and Present In the mid-1980’s, the 500-plus acre tract that eventually became the St. John’s Peak at Kent subdivision was a wild, seldom-visited place beyond the ends of two abandoned town roads. It was owned by two men from Bridgeport, Norman Parsells and Newman Marsilius, who bought it in 1958 for $21,000 to use as a hunting and camping retreat.

Property Condition Disclosure Report The Law of Unintended Consequences It's been over ten years since the Connecticut legislature adopted a law (Sec. 20-327b-1) requiring sellers of residential property to provide what is known as a Property Condition Disclosure Report. Most of us in the business have assumed that sellers have very little liability in providing honest disclosure reports. That assumption has been called into question by a recent Superior Court case.

A Job Well Done Natural and Cultural Riches of Kent, CT The Kent Conservation Commission published the first edition of its Natural and Cultural Resources Inventory (NCRI) this week. We picked up a copy the other day and found ourselves mesmerized by the stories, old photographs and facts it contains about our town. The culmination of over five years of data collection, research, writing and editing, the book is a trove of interesting information.

Kent: Stirring From Lull, if Not Hibernation The dual personality of a town that swells with summer folk and tourists is best parsed in the off-season, when a community’s spine is laid bare as the trees. And so it is with Kent, a small town of under 3,000 year-round residents bisected by Route 7 some 30 miles north of Danbury.

Connecticut's PA 490 Explained PA 490 was pushed by the Connecticut legislature and passed in 1963. The intent was to provide property tax relief for the owners of farms, forests, and open space. It was meant to prevent the owners from being forced to sell because of taxes. Does your land qualify and what are the savings?

The Stampede of White Elephants Wall Street Journal - October 31, 2008 As the luxury real-estate market slows to a snail's pace, real-estate brokers find themselves struggling to sell a growing number of "trophy homes" that are quietly gaining a new title: white elephants. The term hails from a legend that Siamese royalty gave albino elephants -- revered but financially ruinous to maintain -- to unpleasant courtiers.

The Unwashed and the Upper Crust in Connecticut New York Times - August 29, 2008 ARRIVING in Kent, Conn., fresh off the Appalachian Trail, two hikers who go by the trail names Mudbug and Bones ambled for about a quarter of a mile along a country road. First they passed the well-kept athletic fields and stately brick structures of the Kent School. Then came two chocolate shops, a trio of hulking bovine statues, a smattering of art galleries and a series of sidewalk cafes.

The Newest Cottage Industry Buyers Snap Up Small Homes Wall Street Journal - July 18, 2008 Peter Moon's family of six snuggles into bench seats for dinners together. Their house is 1,100 square feet, a bit smaller than two squash courts. "We really don't need more space," says Mr. Moon, a 46-year-old software designer. "I don't mind being cozy."

Going Native in the Garden ruralintelligence.com At 19, she was a high school drop out with a good idea. At 27, Raina Weber is the founder and executive director of Project Native, a non-profit dedicated to the collection, propagation, and promotion of the flora that has grown in this region since before alien-seed-toting Europeans started gardening here in the 17th century.