Different markets yield different results

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Back in 2006, 25 Keofferam Road was listed as land for $2.195 million and sold to Sound Beach Partners (or whatever the proper name is; Jim Hoffman, Doran Sabag) a few months later for $2.250. Sound Beach builds to the very highest standards, so after they razed the existing home, built a new one, and listed it in 2008 for $5.995 million, the price didn’t seem all that outlandish to some of us (or to me, at least). But 2008 marked the beginning of the crash, and it wasn’t until 2009 that the current owners appeared, and got it for just $4.375.

And as it turns out, that was great deal for those buyers, because when they listed it with the Dutch Terror, Daphne Lamsvelt-Pol, last week priced at $6.950 million, buyers rushed in, and 8 days later it’s already pending. It’s fair to guess that this will be going for a price well into the $7s.

CORRECTION: I mistakenly gave credit for building this house to Sound Beach Partners, when in fact Peter Thalheim, under the name of 403 Sound Beach Llc was the owner/builder. It’s a beautiful house either way, but kudos to Peter.

Two more Riverside houses are pending

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13 Chapel Lane, $2.699 million, which seemed to be dragging after 43 days on the market with no action, now has fully-executed contracts and is pending.

72 lockwood

As is 72 Lockwood Road, $2.295 million, although this house went to multiple bids as soon as it hit the market.

This house has proved popular recently, but either its charm fades rapidly or it attracts fickle, footloose buyers. It sold for $1.875 million in 2020 to a gentleman from Texas; he had the gutters cleaned and then moved out and sold it to this owner from Farmington in September ‘22 for $2.1. She, in turn, had the toilets scrubbed — that’s a secret pro tip known only to and recommend by the top agents — and, as noted, placed it back up for sale last week. Success.

It's like something from the worst dystopian novel, or a dispatch from a communist country

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Former Government Official Charged With Falsely Accusing 7 Colleagues of Participating in J6 Riot

An interoffice revenge tale doesn’t particularly concern me; standard fare, even if it occured in one of the government spy agencies. It’s the second part of this story that’s so horrifying:

The FBI is still getting tips on the tipline that they set up in the immediate aftermath of J6. They have been aided by an army of private citizens who call themselves "sedition hunters" and who spend their lives pouring over video from the riot trying to find someone who might have escaped the clutches of the FBI.

The "PBS News Hour" from Jan. 3, 2024, shows Judy Woodruff interviewing one of the citizen snitches named "Sandy."

“One of the first things is just getting a face. And there is one rioter, #OrangeGoggleSpiker is his hashtag, you can see him in the tunnel section of the Capitol beating up the officers.

“Eventually, when I found his face, we were able to plug it into some facial recognition software. That popped up a picture of him at his work.”

(Laughter)

Big Brother puts out the word: “We’re looking for Citizen X, who has been determined to be an enemy of the state”, and dutiful citizens scramble to locate and denounce the criminal. It’s not just coming, it’s already here.


And way out west in King Merritt Acres ...

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118 Bowman Drive has sold. It asked $2.749 million, and got $2.680. King Merritt is a nice neighborhood, with quiet streets and spacious lawns, but its distant location from town (in Greenwich terms — in a more rural area, this would be considered practically in-town), and its older housing stock has kept prices down. Or “affordable” if you want to look at that way.

All that changed as the homes were updated and expanded, and the steadily increasing prices really took off in the post-Covid market, as you can see below.

Old Greenwich sale

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37 Lincoln Avenue was listed in January for $1.9 million, went to contract in days, and closed today at $2.250. That’s not a crazy price for Lincoln, which is a nice street, south of and within an easy walk to the Village, and there have been previous sales in this range, but those were houses that were larger and had been more recently renovated.

The market continues to chug along, ever upward — at least for now.

A perfect fit: A purveyor of erection pills, hair loss remedies, and on-line therapy sessions offers to hire rich-kid morons skilled in displaying fraudulent “outrage” and "moral courage"

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I doubt the protesters would know what to do with an erection, but therapy sessions could only help.

Hims founder offers jobs to anti-Israel protesters, hails their 'moral courage'

"Moral courage > College degree," [Andrew] Dudum wrote on X. "If you're currently protesting against the genocide of the Palestinian people & for your university's divestment from Israel, keep going. It's working."

"There are plenty of companies & CEOs eager to hire you, regardless of university discipline," he added with a link to the Hims careers page.

A full-price, but only full-price sale on Sawmill

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86 Sawmill Lane, asked for $2.195 million and accepted a bid for that price just days later. Accepting the asking price rather than holding out for more can be a very smart tactic, especially if several other offers have been made, all below ask. The real estate annals are filed with tales of owners who rejected a good price thinking that, “if there’s someone willing to pay that, there must someone out there who’ll pay more”, only to discover months later that the highest bidder had come, gone on, and not been replaced.

There are still more buyers than sellers in Riverside and Old Greenwich

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Reported pending today:

3 Gisborne Place, Old Greenwich, $4.9 million, 6 days.

And is this the same house? No, it’s 28 Verona Drive, in Riverside, $5.250 million, but also pending; 8 days, for this one

And continuing in Riverside, there’s 7 Willowmere Avenue, $3.8 million. This one’s an older house — 1933, and took longer to find a buyer, but for all that, its stay of 28 days on the market is still quick.

Well, wasn't that nice of them?

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The owners of 802 Lake Avenue purchased it from its builder for $5.7 million in March 2023, did quite a bit of finishing work*, and then put it back up for sale in October for $6.395. A nice couple from Scarsdale came to see it and they must have had quite a heart-warming story to tell, because yesterday the owners sold the house to them for the same $5.7 they’d paid.

So nice when that happens, and so rarely seen.

*802 LAKE AVE, GREENWICH, CT 06830

LIST OF IMPROVEMENTS

From Spec House to Chic, Design-Forward Home

LANDSCAPING/HARDSCRAPING:

- Installed all landscaping including trees, shrubbery and flowering plants

- Installed Irrigation System

- Fenced in property, hid pool equipment

- Added outdoor pergola on back patio with auto blinds

- Added pool deck, redesigned and installed wider stairs from kitchen to patio, added large

stepping tiles along entire back to pool and at front and mudroom doors

-Installed driveway with asphalt and gravel combination

-Removed dead trees

KITCHEN/FAMILY ROOM/ETC

-Replaced countertop with Kilimanjaro granite and backsplash with gray high-gloss tile

-Replaced kitchen island light fixtures with Tom Dixon designer lights

-Installed fireplace mantel to finish space

PAINT, DESIGNER WALLPAPER, ETC

-Painted all first floor rooms to create a dramatic and chic decor

-Installed designer wallpaper in first floor office, powder rooms, primary bathroom, etc.

LIGHT FIXTURES

-Replaced all original lights with designer chandeliers including Tom Dixon light fixture over

kitchen island and dramatic Hubbardton Forge chandelier in entry foyer

-Added dimmers to all recessed lighting

-Replaced all exterior lights with Hubbardton Forge fixtures

WINDOW TREATMENTS

-Installed window treatments throughout the home

PRIMARY BATHROOM

-Added marble tiles around double vanity and in water closet

-Installed designer wallpaper

FAMILY BATHROOMS and POWDER ROOMS

-Replaced all vanities in family bedrooms to create more storage

-Replaced all mirrors with LED medicine cabinets for brightness and storage

-Replaced all toilets to skirted design with strong pressure/minimal water-usage features

-Added wall tiles to all family bathrooms and pebble floor to one bathroom shower

-Added all towel racks, toilet paper holders, etc.

-Replaced vanity in powder room

-Installed designer wall paper in two powder rooms and lower level full bathroom

GARAGE

-Installing epoxy flooring and industrial shelving to finish garage (Oct 26-28)

-Added electric car charger

SECURITY SYSTEM

-Installed wireless ADT system with motion sensors (ground floor).

or disarmed via the ADT app which also provides access to system settings

WATER SOFTENING SYSTEM

System can be armed

-Installed state of the art water softening and filtration system