Riverside Contract

89 Summit Road, asking $2.150 million. Prices for this area have edged up recently: it sold for $1.875 in 2013, but have yet to climb back to the 2007 frenzy, when this same house, new, then, sold at $2.275.

Not my favorite house on Summit, but the railroad is below grade here, minimizing noise, and the owners have done a nice job of hedging it off. 

Some hard negotiating might have persuaded the seller to throw in the stager's ZEBRA, but I doubt it — that poor animal is in constant demand throughout the town.

No real surprise here: contract on Park Avenue, Old Greenwich

7 Park Avenue, to be specific, asking $1.515 million. There's quite a bit to be overlooked here, including a regrettable kitchen and the master bath, but the $1.5 range in OG is pretty hot, and the inventory slim. Previous iteration was listed at $1.497 in 2013 and sold for $1.5.

I can attest to the popularity of the listing this time because Mickster and I had a client interested in it, but it had already gone to accepted offer status within a few days of its hitting the market.

Feel free to criticize the house, but it's a decent one, on a good street, in an excellent location, and this price fairly represents the market for houses that meet those criteria in OG.

No to the pseudo-Roman bath, but the shower looks attractive

Photo Shopped fire — does the fireplace actually work? Most don't.

A price cut, and a non-price cut

11 Round Hill Club Road, now down to $11.950 million. I've been following this spec project since 2015, when it was newly built and priced at $17.950. Probably still has a ways to go.

No price cut at 4 Lauder Way, however, still firmly fixed at the same $12 million it was priced at in March, 2016. Mr. Ogilvy had his listing renewed today, and loyalty is a wonderful thing. It's a grand old mansion, built in 1937 and well maintained over the ensuing 81 years, and Lauder Way is close to town, so that's all to the good.

So far, buyers in this price range have resisted its charms, however, and I guess it's a battle between the sellers' determination to get their price, and buyers who are equally determined to get fair value. We'll see who wins out.

Sorry: I was busy yesterday, and bored with writing about real estate, Here are some reported contracts.

43 Mimosa

43 Mimosa Drive, asking $1.595 million. Just 56 days on the market, which suggests that it will be selling for close to that price. Useful as a price comparison for those looking in this price range.

652 Lake Ave

652 Lake Avenue, $2.750 million. Sold for $2.750 back in 1998, so no hone run here. On the market since 2015, when it asked $3.4.

704 Lake Avenue, $1.595 million. Perfectly acceptable house on the 2-acre property, but being marketed as a building lot. Started off at $1.995 a year ago.

Ho hum.

Just ... No

19 South End Court, in Old Greenwich, cut its price today to $3.495 million, down from its 2017 pre-construction price of $3.848. The latest listing claims 5,490 square feet, while the previous broker was more forthright: 3,650 above grade, 1,840 below grade. The fact that the builder chose to stuff a pair bedrooms in the basement does not, in my opinion, mean that their area should be included in the square footage recital.

The location is great: walk to town. After that, everything falls off the cliff.

I refrain from making cruel comments about new listings, but after a property has been on the market for a full year, as this one has, and the market's had its opportunity to view it, consider it, and scream its disapproval, let's have at it.

It's still under construction, so we'll have to hold off on any consideration of its interior, but the exterior shots are damning enough. 

Someone had to look at this design while it was still on paper and exclaim, "yeah, THAT'S what I want!" (Notice the carport to the right, by the way)

Speaking of cliffs, imagine the effect when the little ranch next door is replaced by a full-sized house

Nope: doesn't improve in the rear, either

New Listings

113 Meadow Wood Drive, Belle Haven, $8.250 million.

I don't get it.

32 Pecksland

32 Pecksland Road, $5.9 million. Great old 1929 house, but Pecksland's being having trouble achieving his prices over the past decade. Maybe this one will reverse that trend, because it's a very, very nice home.

17 Hendrie

17 Hendrie Drive, Old Greenwich, $4.295 million. These owners paid $4.250 for it in 2010, so I understand where this price comes from, but now that the Fountain Squatter Shack across the creek has been razed, much of the charm of the location has gone.

Back in 2008, the listing agent priced this place at $7.750, before finally selling it for the aforesaid $4.250: have I already mentioned the term "batshit crazy"? 

Sold

36 Montgomery Lane (off Stanwich — corrected), $3.6 million, on an original asking price  of $3.950 million. The sellers paid $2.825 for it in 2013, long after the spec builder had put it on the market for $8.295 million, and ostensively renovated/improved it. The house is nice enough, but considering its location, and the house itself, that $8 million price was, to use a technical realtor term, "batshit crazy".

Contracts and Pending

180 Park Avenue, Greenwich, $4.1 million is under contract. I've liked this house since it was built in 2008, when it was priced at $4.850. It's solidly built to high-quality standards and located on one our prettiest in-town streets (I define "in-town" as any place from which you can easily walk to Whole Foods). The market disagreed, and for the past  ten years it's been on and off the market, with long periods of rentals. Now it's finally found a buyer.

If I have one criticism, it's the baffling decision by the builder/owners not to plant a screening hedge on this busy curve. Had they done so back in 2008, It wouldn't have been terribly expensive, and today the back yard would enjoy great privacy.

PENDING:

50 Hillcrest

50 Hillcrest Park Road, $2.499 million. Never a favorite of mine — no back yard was just one of its drawbacks — this house has seen a slow decline in its value. It sold new for $2.885 in 2004, used for $2.565 in 2013 and now, it's going for less than $2.499 five years later. Houses can depreciate, as this one illustrates.

76 Shore Road, Old Greenwich, asking $2.295 million. The Mickster and I were involved in a rather heated bidding war between potential buyers for this 0.58-acre lot back in September, 2016, and our client "won", paying $2.502 million on an asking price of $2.295. I don't recommend entering into bidding wars, but if a client is determined, I'll o my best to achieve his goals. After purchase, a very nice new house was designed by local (excellent) Greenwich architect Doug VanderHorn was prepared, but the client changed his mind. I wasn't asked to represent him on this resale — perhaps because I "let" him bid more than he should have? Who knows?

I have no idea who's running as the Republican Gubernatorial candidate in New York, but if the Republicans were smart, they'd start contributing to Democrat Cynthia Nixon's campaign

This lesbian TV star, about as far-left-whacko as current politics permit (and that's to say she's a moonbat, orbiting Pluto) is forcing Cuomo to follow her off the cliff. That cliff is in the conservative, northern half of New York, and those citizens may no longer have the votes to defeat either one of these dreadful people, but is that such a bad thing? Either New York gets a Republican governor, or the state goes down in flames.

The former would be good for the country; the latter could only help Greenwich real estate prices.

Win win. 

Price cut on Rapids Lane

10 Rapids, to be precise, from $12.5 million (2015) to $7.595 million. Will a five-million "price improvement" do the trick? Well, it's certainly a large, impressive house. Not my taste, but I'm not the market for these behemoths. 

Photo Shopped fire, sure, but fake firewood?