What on earth is wrong with this house? Update: my reader gives his reasons for rejecting it

681 River Road, Cos Cob, on the market for almost a year, started March 28th, 2025, at $2.985 million, dropped its price again today to $2.575. This is on the prettier, east side of River Road across the Mianus, North Street and Eastern Middle schools, and I remember the house itself from visits to family friends who were renting it; it was very nice then, but that was probably 15 years or so ago, and possibly something’s changed.

I’ve dropped a note to a reader who is an active buyer — not alas, a client — who had told me that he and his wife were going to tour it a couple of weeks ago; if they did, then, clearly, they didn’t make an offer, and if he responds to my request and tells me why, I’ll add his comments here. In the meantime, the mystery remains.

Have any other of you readers seen it? All comments appreciated.

By the way, my question perfectly illustrates the dangers of letting a listing grow stale: it prompts the question asked by buyers, “what’s wrong with it?” “Usually, I answer them “nothing but the price”, but a full year in this market, and even I’m asking if there’s more to this than the price. So don’t do that with your house.

UPDATE

As I mentioned, I’d asked a reader who’d planned to tour this whether he had and if so, would he be willing to share his reactions? He had, and he is, and his comments offer a real insight into the mind of some genuine buyers — not “looki-loos”, as we (well, some of us) call them, and the current state of the market for frustrated buyers. So …

We actually pulled up to the house with the intention of making an offer since the market has been very frustrating, albeit at a much lower price than they're asking given the remarkable listing history in this crazy seller's market. 

On paper it is a large property and a large house in a terrific school district. For context, we've sent unsolicited letters to 3 properties that have all been unupdated 1960s or '70s houses. In fact, we have not made an offer on any house that is even remotely up-to-date. My wife and I are both of the mindset: if we expect to find a property that we will be happy with for a decade as 40-year-old first-time home buyers with young children under $2.5 mil in Greenwich, then we need to find something that needs to be fixed over time, but that also has at least some positive qualities, i.e. neighborhood, yard, noise level, location general layout, and/or build quality.

But it was a combination of multiple things that left both my wife and I independently saying we didn't like it at any reasonable price:

- The property, though it is listed as 2.32 acres might have 35-40% of that as usable land (which already includes the house, deck, and driveway) because of relatively steep drop-offs to where the property lines are on two sides which I wasn't able to appreciate on satellite view, listing photos, etc. I value outdoor space, especially if I'm going to pay for 2+ acres with a young family.

- Most importantly, my wife and I both felt that the house lacked any solidity. Especially the floors on both levels, and with every step. We were surprised that it was the most creaky and varying in terms of soft and firm footing versus any house we've been in built at that time or older.

- Also, it's hard to ignore things like none of the sliding glass doors to the porch are functional and they've obviously been that way for many years... There's a dead mouse in a mouse trap in an attic space (that I was encouraged to look in to see the abundant storage), which then just tells me that people aren't checking on their property etc.

Overall, we didn't feel like we were getting close to 2 acres and we didn't feel like we would be getting a solid house to refurbish and renovate overtime…..