No, no, no, Daphne

shield your eyes!

Coming to the market this Thursday, 3 Random Road ( a Sotheby’s listing, Daphne Lamsvelt-Pol listing agent, but it hasn’t hit the the internet yet) will be offered for $3.795. That’s not an unreasonable price — this same house sold for $3.450 million in 2004, but a sharp-eyed agent at a competing firm has noticed that the Photoshop program that was used to “furnish” the house has filled a bookcase with virtual books, something I warned about just last week. Most young buyers won’t recognize them for what they are, but those who do will be terrified, and flee the house.

The listing agent can be forgiven this faux pas because she just arrived from her native Holland a week or so ago, and probably doesn’t realize that books are as foreign in her newly-adopted homeland as Edam cheese. Once she masters English, I’m sure Gideon or some other kindly soul will explain this to her.

Still, a rookie mistake; tch tch.

Other than that, this looks like a good buy, especially for those looking to expand an existing house. Random is a quiet dead end, and this lot comprises 0.7 of an acre in the R-12. For FAR purposes, that yields an allowable (if improbable) home size of 9,604 sq. (43,560 X0.7 X 0.315). This price probably rules a spec builder, but not, perhaps, an end user.