‘The Market Is Very Busy’—

Prudential’s Sue Catino Is Realtor Of The Year

By Dottie Evans

Sue Catino of Prudential Connecticut Realty, Newtown Office, has been formally named 2003 Realtor of the Year by The Newtown Board of Realtors. The award was based on service and time donated to the Board of Realtors and the Town of Newtown.

Ms Catino has achieved many designations, including GRI (Graduate of the Real Estate Institute), CRS (Certified Real Estate Specialist), PSCS (Professional Standards Certified Specialist), and she has her broker’s license. She has actively served on the Newtown Board of Realtors for 19 years, having received her license in 1986.

“It was the beginning of the plummeting market, so I had to start out in a downturn,” she recalled during an interview held in her 33 Church Hill Road office on April 29.

Over the next few years, Ms Catino was challenged by the closure of several realty companies where she was working. These included Fairfield County Realty, RealTech, ERA, and Newtown Country Realty. Even Raveis shut down its Newtown office during that difficult period, she added.

“So in 1995, Sandy Jossick and I started our own company, Key Realty, which was bought out by Prudential in 2000.”

Before entering the real estate field, Ms Catino had owned a store in the A&P Shopping Center [now the Big Y Queen Street Shopping Center] called Distinctive Sports.

“Then the mall came into Danbury, and we found it too tough to compete,” she said.

Asked why she has stayed in real estate so long, Ms Catino revealed the positive attitude that has carried her through so much adversity.

“I love it. No two deals are alike, and I get to meet new people all the time. I like the odd hours. I could work around the children when they were younger. You don’t have to be here 9 to 5. You can work as little or as much as you want,” she said.

Her husband is builder Dennis Catino of Signature Homes, and the couple has four children, Kristen, Candace, Jason, and Jonathon. They own a sailboat in Westbrook.

“We met sailboarding,” she noted.

Ms Catino has also donated time to many Newtown causes including the Family Counseling Center Holiday House Tours, Newtown Summer Festival, Scouts, and the Nicer-In-Newtown campaign of a decade or so ago.

“We’ve got a wide assortment of buyers coming in, partly because we’re in the relocation business, because Newtown schools have a good rep, and because buyers are coming up from lower Fairfield County where the prices have skyrocketed.

“They’re from Wilton or Weston, and they like Newtown because it’s more like their towns used to be. They like our Main Street, the flagpole, and the friendliness,” Ms Catino said.

“In Westport, they’re regularly knocking down small houses to build bigger ones. People buy a perfectly good raised ranch for $800,000 –– just for the lot,” she added.

She noted that most relocation buyers are looking in the just-over-$1 million range, but they are also interested in condominiums that may cost up to $400,000. If they’re looking for a three- or four-bedroom house at $350,000 or less, they’ll probably have to look in Woodbury or Southbury.

“There’s nothing in Newtown at that price, not even a three-bedroom house,” she added.

For greater affordability, clients may go as far as Waterbury or New Milford, where a two- bedroom condo will cost $300,000 or less. In Watertown, Ms Catino said buyers can still find a raised ranch in the $200,000s.

“I’ve got one customer who bought into the Willowbrook Condominiums on Route 7 in New Milford five years ago. He paid $79,000 then. Now he’s selling it for $200,000.”

She acknowledged that a rising interest rate might affect the market because clients will lose buying power.

“And our taxes are always going up. It’s happening everywhere, and it’s staggering,” she added.

“The owner of a $400,000 home in Newtown is going to pay about $6,000 a year in taxes.”

She explained this is a product of the shortage of land and building lots, noting that when an acre of unimproved land costs $250,000 to $300,000, a developer needs to “build big” to get his money back.

“We’ve up-zoned, meaning the lots are bigger, which boosts the costs even higher.”

Asked whether the big, so-called McMansions going up now in Newtown are selling, Ms Catino responded, “Yes, they are, once they’re finished and up. They sell.”

“The $900,000 to $1.1 million homes are selling quickly if they are a good design on a good street. People are getting a lot of house for the money.”

The more than $1.4 million homes might take a year or more to sell, she added, “because then we’re competing with houses down county.”