Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more.
Greenwich, Connecticut real estate, politics, and more
43 Richmond Hill Road, which sold new in 2006 for $4.9 million, then $3.7 in 2014, has been on the market for two years and now, marked down to $3.095, reports a contract. Assuming that the final sales price will start with a 2, this won't be a bad buy; or at least I hope for the buy3r's sake that it won't be. How far down can Richmond Hill values fall?
Real estate activity is so slow today that I read a book, instead of trying to do much blogging (I've been reading a lot of books lately, including re-reading all 23 Dewey Lambdin's Alan Lewrie naval series), but up today was WSJ reporter John Carreyrou's "Bad Blood", a recounting of the supposed blood testing machine "invented" by 19-year-old wunderkind Elizabeth Holmes and the Silicon Valley firm she founded, Theranos. I spent many years chasing financial fraudsters and developed a fine sense of cynicism about the world of finance, but even I fell for the first glowing reports about Theranos; in fact, I think I forwarded the first WSJ 2013 article to my girls, as encouragement for them to pursue their own entrepreneurial drives. I was in good company, though; Silicon Valley heavyweights were sucked in, too, and eventually Elizabeth Holmes loaded her board of directors with prominent names like Henry Kissinger and George Shultz and even, briefly, Mad Dog Mattis.
It was all smoke and mirrors, and Carreyrou details how he unraveled and exposed the scheme, from the first whistle blowers who reached out to him (including George Schultz's grandson, who worked at Theranos), and the vicious fight Holmes waged to prevent the Journal from exposing the fraud.
It's a genuine whodunit, and if you enjoy this sort of tale, I highly recommend it. If not, you can't go wrong with Lamdin's world of squareriggers in the late 18th-early-19th century.
50 Lafrentz Road, a 25-acre parcel with barn, is back up again, this time asking $8.870 million. That's better than its 2010 ask of $19.5, and an improvement over most of its prices in the years since, but it's still just 25-acres and a barn.
Someone's sure to want it though, eventually.
7 Wynn Lane, asking $4.995 million, is reported as pending just 60 days after hitting the market. Nice house — hell, I sold it — and renovated, and Wynn Lane's a great street. From the (slightly) hurt feelings department, I thought I did a good job helping negotiate this property to a $4.125 price from its opening of $4.850 back in 2012, but wasn't involved on this resale. Of course, six years is a long time in which to forge new relationships, and expecting two bites of the apple is a bit greedy, so there you go.
I'm delighted the owners have found a buyer so quickly.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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