Sale on Dublin Hill
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42 Dublin Hill closed at $6.6 million. Dublin Hill is to the right on Stanwich, heading north, and not Dublin Road, on the left. 23+ acres in the two-ace zone; we're bound to see some development here.
Glenville Road contract
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1924 Construction. Meh.
I was off doing real estate things yesterday: price opinions, home inspections, etc., but came back to learn of some interesting developments, including a contingent contract on 18 Glenville Road, asking $3.649 million. Glenville Road's not one of my favorite locations — it's a busy thoroughfare — but houses do sell at premium prices here, and this one found a buyer after just 22 days, so I'm obviously a minority of one.
This house is almost in central Greenwich, and has the right schools: North Street and Central Middle, so I get it.
But I'm still not wild about the street.
New kitchen
And the obligatory empty wine cellar
Wisconsin politician arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after berating bank teller and calling him a "house nigger".
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Know your place!
And of course, she's a Democrat.
State Sen. Lena Taylor used a racial slur against a Milwaukee bank teller and was acting aggressively before being cited for disorderly conduct, according to police reports released Friday.
The reports released to The Associated Press and other news organizations quote multiple witnesses saying they heard Taylor... call a Wells Fargo bank teller, who is also black, a “good house (N-word).”
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The confrontation on April 6 came after a dispute over cashing an $825 check. Taylor told police she was at the bank to cash the check from a tenant in one of several Milwaukee properties she owns, but Taylor did not have an account at the bank. She wanted to verify that the person who wrote the check had enough money in their account to cash it, but the teller declined to tell her, citing bank policy, the reports said.
The teller told Taylor she had to sign the back of the check to cash it, but Taylor refused.
The newly released reports said Taylor was speaking loudly, acting aggressively, pointing at bank workers and demanding to speak to a manager.
The Milwaukee city attorney is prosecuting Taylor for disorderly conduct.
Don't you know who I am?
Hmm. Not sure about this price, but we'll see
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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?