Hmm. Not sure about this price, but we'll see

43 Highview Avenue

Open house Sunday for 43 Highview Avenue, in Old Greenwich, currently asking $3.195 million. I haven''t seen the current house, but it was pretty much a wreck back in December, 2016, when these owners paid $1.295 for it. They've completely transformed it: new kitchen, new baths, created a two-car garage underneath, replacing a detached one, added central air, and, according to the listing, expanded it from 2,116 sq. ft. to 4,069 though, given FAR limitations, I suspect much of that "expansion" was achieved by finishing the basement.

Regardless, they've done a wonderful job bringing an old, 1910 house into the 21st century, and $3.195 is not an unheard-of price these days for Highview (just another nail in the coffin for ordinary people who might hope to buy south of the Village, alas, like 22 Tait Road, new construction, now under contract at $4.250 million. Tait!!! I'm not sure of the wisdom of paying twice as much as anyone else has ever paid for a house on Tait, but it's probably just the first wave of luxury homes on poor little Tait). My quibble with Highview is that the living quarters, including the bedrooms, are all on the ground floor. That's not a hugely popular configuration in our market, although the first time one of the buyers breaks a knee in Vail, they'll appreciate it. 

I'm curious to see how this house fares in our market. I'm sure it will do well, but how well? I really don't know.

CORRECTION:  I'm leaving the original post as is, so that readers can see my screw-up, but I read the listing wrong: bedrooms are on the second floor, with a small bedroom w/bath on the third. I apologize to the owners for my error.

Skakel finally free?

CT. Supreme Court reverses itself and orders (yet another) trial for Skakel

The 1975 brutal murder of 15-year-old  Belle Haven resident Martha Moxley was the story of the year(s) here in Greenwich, and though it faded after a while, it came roaring back in 2000, when neighbor Michael Skakel was arrested for the crime, Skakel was also 15 at the time of the murder, but was tried as an adult and sentenced to twenty years in prison after his conviction.

He served twelve years of that term before finally winning an appeal, based on the incompetence of his trial attorney, Mickey Sherman, who seemed to have spent more time during the trial preening on television talk shows than representing his client. Since then there have been appeals, reversals, and, today, what may be the final resolution: Martha Moxley's mother is quoted as saying that, after 45 years, she's inclined to finally give up pursuing the man.

Any parent can understand the agony of losing a child, especially to a horrid murder, but there has alway been a suspicion among many, including myself, and expressed here over the years, that the wrong Skakel was put on trial, and that older brother Tommy was the real murderer: certainly that was the consensus of his peers at the time, though of course that's not even evidence, let alone proof.

But Sherman never put Tommy on the stand Sherman was being paid by the brothers' parents, and there were claims that he was ordered to pursue a strategy of claiming unknown perpetrators, rather than focus on the other Skakel), never pursued alibis, and in general, did a better job performing on the Geraldo Rivera Show than he did in the courtroom. It seemed to me that the state, the jury, and even Mrs. Moxley didn't care which of the two brothers actually committed the crime, so long as one of them was convicted.

We'll probably never know. 

UPDATE: The NY Post has a more thorough report than the Greenwich Time article I linked to above, but it essential covers the same group this post does.

Big sale in Calhoun Drive Assoc.

29 Calhoun Drive, which just sold in April, 2017 for $5.7 million, was put back on the market not long ago at $5.875 and already has a pending sale. 

Calhoun's a good neighborhood, close to town, and if your kids are in private school, no problem. This is a Jordan Super project which, in my opinion, means no human-scaled rooms, especially bedrooms, but Saper builds to the market, and he's done very well over the years.

Those same houses usually don't do so well on resale, but in this case, after transaction costs, the seller will be coming out almost even, which for an ownership period of a year, is impressive. 

Vineyard Lane price cut or, what a difference a decade-plus makes

32 Vineyard Lane was purchased for $13.750 in 2006, returned to the market a year ago today at $11.5 before dropping to $11, and now has a new agent but the same price: $11 million.

It's not the fault of the agent who had the listing last year that this place didn't sell: he's excellent, but the market for 11,000 sq.ft., $10,000,000 homes, always thin, has almost disappeared since 2006. This 1930 house, wonderfully restored, will certainly sell, eventually, but probably not at this price, and probably years from now. I'd advise the owners to stick with their agent, but suck it up, acknowledge their folly on that 2006 price, and move on.

The Gid's former house is pending

113 Patterson Avenue, asking $2.5 million, is reported as pending.

Brother Gideon sold the place for $1.850 in 2015, the new owners came in, did a nice improvement project and placed it back on the market at $2.795 million eleven months later. That proved an overly-optimistic valuation of their work, so it was pulled that year and returned in April this year at $2.5 million, and found a buyer.

A very nice house, originally built in 1925 for Brunswick's headmaster, and the redone kitchen and baths are nice, but the Brunswick playing field that Gideon and Susie used to look over is being turned into housing, and the vacant, wooded lot to the east is being developed. Still, its central Greenwich, and who expects rural bliss in this neighborhood?

Never did like the kitchen's location on the bottom floor, with dining area one level up, though. That was a fine arrangement in 1925, when cooks and other servants knew their place, but inconvenient for today's lifestyle. 

New on Mimosa

I haven't seen 32 Mimosa Drive yet, but at $1.915, it looks like it might have some real potential. (Almost) transformed from its 1954 bones, it has a far more interesting design than the original homes in this development, Lot of renovation, additional space, and all-in-all, a nice package.

Question about the yard: it may be one of those wooded cliffs that some Mimosa lots suffer from, but it's got good schools: North Mianus and Eastern, and as was discussed here just the past day or so, Mimosa's a great neighborhood. 

Worth looking at, I think, if this is in your price range.

This room is unfortunate — a holdover from 1954?

Sale on North Street

361 North Street, $3.150 million. Started in April, 2016 at $3.495. Nice house (I'll try to find an earlier Zillow listing to provide pictures of the interior), though "setback from the road" means "back lot". In the case of North Street, that's not really a bad thing.

Nothing particularly interesting about the sale or its sale price, but for readers interested in keeping up with mid country sales, here it is.

And of course, the zebra

Structural depreciation, back country blues, or both?

New on market today, 70 Old Mill Road, at $5.45 million. It sold in 2006, newly built, for $6.4 million. 

Just sayin'. 

A steal in Riverside, a folly in Cos Cob

46 Dawn Harbor, Riverside, has closed at $3.7 million. The sellers (over) paid $4.155 for it in 2015 via an intra-office, non-MLS sale (which is why buyers should always be wary of such transactions) and spent huge sums transforming it into a beautiful, modern home. As is so often the case in executive-occupied Greenwich, the new owner was offered and accepted a better job out of state, and put it back on the market last year at $4.875 million. 

As buyers' reps, the Mickster and I mentioned that employment situation to certain clients (and that's why you want a buyer's agent: they can tell you these things, while the listing agent can't), and encouraged them to toss a bid at it: there was clearly a relocation package involved, so what would the seller care? 

In the event, our buyers chose to return to Darien, but someone else — not my client, alas — saw his opportunity and took it. 

Nice deal. 

80 cat rock: resale price ten-years on? Less.

Yesterday's sale of 80 Cat Rock Road for $3.480 million affords a nice distinction between good value and bad, and the delusional madness caused by new construction. Horrible design, mediocre construction, inferior location, especially given its back-lot siting, but it sold nonetheless. 

The two houses are different, of course, and 46 Dawn Harbor's appeal was limited by its having three, or at best four, bedrooms, but buyers would do well if they looked past the date of a home's 2 X 4s and concentrated on location and quality of build instead. 

Contract in Deer Park

9 Woodside Road, asking $6.475 million. It tried, briefly, for $8.90 in 2014-215, but was broght back on this year at its new price and found a buyer within a month. It's going to take a lot of effort to bring this home back to its 1930s magnificence, but that will be money well spent.

Quintessential Greenwich, of that era.

Your renovation can begin here