Sales

The old family homestead at 9 William Street, Riverside, razed and replaced, has closed at $4.425 million. The new construction was not to my particular taste, but the sale price should make every other owner on our tiny street happy: we had trouble, when selling mother's house, getting agents to appreciate the 5-house lane's quirky appeal. This should help.

14 Hycliff Road, off Riversville, did not fare as well, however. It sold for just $3.;8 million, after starting off at $7.4 many years and many brokers ago, and down considerably from the $5.8 million its owners paid for it, when new, in 2005. To be fair, that 2005 price was ludicrous.

The Quonset Hut returns

On and off the market since 2005, when it was priced at $18.5 million, 18 Chimney Corner Lane is back again today, marked down to $10.750. Nice, 3-bedroom house (there's a servant's quarter that counts for a forth), but it seemed to me, back in 2005, that it was a land value sale, and $18.5 wasn't that price. 

Not sure that $10.750 is, either, but maybe $7.5?

Nothing of significance to report in real estate news

None that I can discover, at any rate. $100,000 mark-downs m $3 million houses, lots of rentals, etc. Yawn. I'll keep looking.

North Maple Avenue sells

96 North Maple, listed at $7.2 million back in November, 2015, has sold for $2.8. Discussed here several times during that period, it's pretty much of a wreck of a 1910 house, on what's now a back lot, but with plenty of its original beauty and charm. Will it survive the wrecker's ball? We'll have to see.

A substantial price cut, but is it enough?

40 Mooreland Road has dropped its price $400,000, from $3.195 million to $2.799, but I wonder whether that will be enough to entice a buyer to move this far from town into this style house. It's a perfectly nice house but of style more attractive to older couples, and they seem to be moving out of state or, at best, to downtown condominiums. 

Got the leopard, but shouldn't there be more?

Ah, there is! the zebra is here! still not sure, though, whether this will do it —  i smell land value

Belle Haven continues to impress

113 Meadow Wood Drive, safely ensconced in the Association's boundaries. is pending after just 49 DOM, asking $7.850 million. A nicely renovated 1892 home, but its address probably commanded a $3-$4 million premium.

That's a lot.

It's hard to make money on a quick re-sell

66 Tomac Avenue, Old Greenwich, purchased for $2.3 million in 2014, is reported as pending, last asking price $2.145. A pretty-much predictable 1924 house, and a tad boring, but what can you expect for two million? 

Well that didn't work out so well

Oops!

186 Shore Road, on the way to Tod's Point, sold yesterday for $5.5 million. New in 2010, it sold for $6.625, and, after improvements/additions, was returned to the market in 2013 at $7.995. It's a gorgeous house, but located right on one of our busiest (sunrise to sunset) streets, and has a neighbor in what was once its back yard, conditions that caused some of us at the time to question that 2010 price, and to laugh at it in 2013.

Location, location, location. 

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it, good and hard". H.L. Mencken

Stockton, California, largest city (so far) to declare bankruptcy, will provide a "basic income" to those earning less than $50,000, and pay for it by imposing a 50% tax on anyone earning more than $250,000.

Will that bounty attract more poor people to the city to enjoy the loot, and drive out anyone still left who makes a real salary? "I'll take 'yes', Alex".  

Quick profit

A builder paid $1.6 million for 7 Turner Drive back in January, 2017, razed it and built new, and it's now pending at $5.995 million.

From the "many a slip t'wixt cup and lip" department, I had a wonderful couple, she an artist, who almost picked up this place for $1.550, before their plans changed. I'd assured them that, so long as they didn't put much money into the existing house, they'd make out fine on a land sale down the road. Would have worked, too, dang it

Here's what it looked like back in 2014: