NYT treats 50 of its reporters to an around the world tour to demonstrate carbon footprints

Whee!

No kidding. They're off on a junket, on a private jet no less, to decry global warming.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, though you don't choose your family, but my cousin Henry, the Time's "global warming expert" (Yale grad who majored in English) is probably along for the ride. We don't speak often, though that's due more to geographical, not political distance, but perhaps he'll send me a post card from Easter Island.

Old Greenwich sale

6 Ford Lane*, which entered contract February 13, has sold for $7.145 million, on an asking price of $7.5.  It's apples to oranges, of course, but Pal Nancy and I have good friends, former neighbors to this owner, who sold out after retirement and moved to Atlantic Ocean waterfront in York, Maine. You should see what thirty-cents on the dollar fetches up north.

* A reader has corrected me — 6, not 7, as originally posted

New agent, new price, but still, so what? More room here.

33 Vineyard Lane (like Cos Cob's similarly-misnamamed, arid "Pond Place", this neighborhood hasn't seen a grape vine since Leaf Erickson pulled up stakes and returned home), originally priced at $8.995 million, has been placed back on the market today at $6.495. 

I don't have all that much sympathy for agents who take ridiculously overpriced listings, but I understand: after all, we're just trying to make a living — but you sellers shouldn't necessarily punish them for going along with your fantasies. Give them a chance with a reasonable price.

Marry in haste, repent at leisure

That's not quite right: 106 Porchuck Road has been for sale since 2016, when it started at $2.995 million, but its latest listing, at $1.899, has only been on the market for three weeks, and is now under contract. These sellers paid $2 million for it in 2013, silly them, and poured a ton of money into "improving" it, to no noticeable effect. I'll point out that it was a private sale.

UPDATE: "Flash" sends along this press release from the Department of Justice; The sellers are (were, now) major drug dealers.

No, no, no —you don't want to live in a gymnasium

Nor do you want to face frying eggs in this atrocity at 6 in the morning

On the other hand, the far north isn't doing so well

14 Chateau Ridge, nestled up against our New York border, has dropped to $2.290 million, and there's probably further room for negotiation in that price. The listing insists that this is an executive transfer, not a distress sale, and I'm sure that's true, but it last sold for $3.9 million, back in 2006.

Different days.

It's got the zebra with testicles, so that should help

And the polar bear skin

The mid country perks up

5 Dairy Road, listed at $6.350 million a year ago and recently reduced to $5.495, reports a contract.

Those are big bucks, and God bless us all.

Oh dear

Does have the ironic reference to the zebra, though

And the requisite "Orange", with dead animal hide

I think the owners of this house fall too much in love with it

19 Witherell Drive has dropped from $5.795 to $5.375. Well, maybe. It's a wonderful home, close to town, but I've never really thought of it as a five-million-dollar home. The owners before these tried selling if for $8.695 in 2007, the era of "irrational exuberance", and settled for $5 in 2012, but that just demonstrates why you shouldn't look to an original asking price to determine whether you're getting a bargain.

Still and all, a wonderful property, if not a wonderful price.

Three weeks, one contract

Grab your swim fins and dive in

45 Pond Place, Cos Cob, $1.395 million. Just so you know what a Greenwich "starter home" looks like.

Listing agent Russ Pruner is a great professional and a wonderful guy, but I've never understood why he insists on describing kitchens as "granite-clad".

But to be fair, I've never understood why a street with nary a drop of water was named "Pond Place".

That's not particle board, damnit, it's stone, I tell you, stone!

From our Midwestern real estate correspondent, this listing from Detroit

And you thought Greenwich stagers were a bit limited in their imagination.

Unique barely begins to describe this one of a kind Grixdale Farms estate. Every aspect of “Lion Gate Estate” has been articulated with painstaking attention to detail and mind blowing decorative flair. Too many custom features to list!  Highlights include heated swimming pool with outdoor shower and cabana.  Custom two car garage with hand painted automotive murals. Finished basement with billiard room and entertainment area.  Fenced in yard with fountains and statuary.  Sale includes full contents of the house, including Kohler Campbell baby grand player piano, mint condition Frigidaire kitchen appliances c. 1950. One of a kind custom built 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood Sedan, One of a kind custom built 1974 Lincoln Mark IV Coupe, Custom pool table, countless automotive relics and artifacts.  Once in a lifetime offering. 48 hours notice and proof of funds mandatory for showings. Property sold AS IS, BATVAI.  Only shown on sunny days.

The linked site includes 70 glorious photos, only a few of which are included here, but really: try the entire assemblage. You'll never unsee them. Sadly, no pics of the basement "Elvis Room" but a personal tour can surely be arranged.

Sale on Dairy

38 Dairy Road

38 Dairy Road, sold for $4.9 million. That's a significant discount from its original price of $7.250 back in 2016, but I imagine the builders still made out: they paid $1.8 for the property in 2014 and rented it out while they designed a new house.

Not my cup of tea, but no one asked me for my opinion — I just offer this stuff gratis.

Who the hell deliberately designs a sink to be unusable? 

For that matter, who decided that the owners won't need toilet paper? I realize that Arabs don't use tHe stuff, but they're JUST A VERY SMALL PORTION OF OUR BUYER POOL

I UNDERSTAND THAT, FOR A PREMIUM, THE BUILDER AGREED TO REMOVE THESE CHAIRS AND TOSS 'EM INTO THE LAST CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS DUMPSTER AS IT WAS LEAVING