On Thursday, Governor Ned Lamont announced details for his plans to move Connecticut into Phase 3 of the state’s reopening amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The plan, which is targeted to take effect on Thursday, October 8, will ease some of the restrictions that were put into place on businesses and gatherings, while ensuring that the state continues taking a safe approach to limit spread of the virus. The press release outlines the anticipated changes in full detail.

Tracey Hawkins, Founder and CEO of the Safety and Security Source, joined GAR members earlier today to discuss both the physical and digital risks real estate professionals face in conducting their day-to-day business. No matter your age, years of experience, or your gender, safety is not something you learn once and move on- it requires constant assessment. A recording of the presentation is available for members in ThePoint.

CTR has a new member benefit product - Forewarn, which is a REALTOR safety tool. There is no additional cost to CTR members. This product provides you with the ability to further check into those who are contacting you for showings - to help you confirm that they are who they say they are. You will be able to search by phone number or name and it will provide you with information about their automobiles, the name connected with their phone number, criminal history and foreclosures/bankruptcies. For more information, please click here.

Connecticut REALTORS® provides endorsements to candidates where there is significant rationale/evidence of support of real estate issues. Only real estate issues are considered in Association endorsements. Endorsements are made on a rolling basis, several others are pending. Click here for the complete initial list (requires login with CTR member credentials).

Please join the GAR/GMLS Board in donating to the Let there be LIGHTS initiative to light up downtown Greenwich this holiday season. With so much uncertainty of what the holiday selling season may 'look like' this year, the tradition of lighting our downtown area trees will bring needed joy to our residents (many of them new!) while creating a festive atmosphere that will encourage shoppers and diners to continue to safely come out and support our community. GAR/GMLS will be contributing $5,000 and will be matching an additional $5,000 in member donations to the Greenwich Community Projects Fund. More information about making a tax-deductible donation can be found on gwchavenue.com. Be sure to email us to let us know that you made a donation. Cheers!

October 3rd is Round Hill Association Neighbor Day. All residents in town are invited and welcome to participate in this autumn celebration, as a fun way to get to know the neighborhood! For more information regarding this event, please click here.

Since the start of the pandemic, CT REALTORS® partners at the CT Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) worked tirelessly with their statewide network of providers and government agencies to move 1,000 people from crowded shelters into temporary hotel space in order to keep them safe and healthy. Their next step is to get them into permanent housing. Thanks to a generous donation from IKEA, CCEH was able to distribute furniture across the state to help furnish 100+ new homes. However, the IKEA bed frames do not have mattresses. In conjunction with the CT REALTORS® 100th anniversary, the CT REALTORS® Foundation is stepping up to help raise funds for 100 mattresses. We need YOUR help to reach this goal!